May 2007

Trade Groups Urge Floral Industry to Create Global Standards
Floral supply chain to meet June 5-6 in Miami

NEWARK, DE. - An industry-wide initiative to create product identification standards for the global, floral supply chain is being led by key trade associations who are urging floral industry growers, importers, wholesalers, supermarkets, mass markets, and transporters to collaborate June 5-6, 2007 in Miami, Florida, USA.

The organizers include the Produce Marketing Association, Floral Logistics Coalition, Wholesale Florist and Florist Supplier Association, Association of Floral Importers of Florida, California Association of Flower Growers and Shippers, California Cut Flower Commission, ASOCOLFLORES, and the international standards organization, GS1.

Representatives from both the supermarket and wholesale markets will address the industry’s immediate need for creating product identification standards for bouquets, cut flowers and greens. The standards will directly affect how floral products are ordered, invoiced, tracked, and categorized.

“This is very exciting,” said Jim Wanko, executive vice president, Wholesale Florist and Florist Supplier Association. “I have never before seen this level of excitement and desire from all segments of the supply chain and the involvement of key personnel to get this work completed.”

By first adopting uniform product identification standards, floral supply chain members can now embrace the technologies that will dramatically improve the supply chain. “The floral industry will need to transform itself from a manually-intensive, proprietary, fragmented supply chain to one that takes advantage of efficiencies and technologies,” said Clay Sieck, chairman of the Floral Logistics Coalition.

Utilizing such technologies as RFID, barcodes, and electronic commerce will increase collaboration with trading partners, automate manual activities, increase visibility throughout the supply chain, cut costs, provide better control and quality of product, and greater profitability for supply chain members.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. We can save tens of millions of dollars using these supply chain technologies. We know that an investment will be required, but we have the benefit of other industries using these technologies to know how they work and where the return on investment will be,” said Sieck.

“We strongly endorse the direction of this initiative to bring the floral industry into a more efficient world so it can utilize data standards and technologies,” says Ron McCormick, vice president, produce and floral, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “We have seen the benefits of using these standards and technologies in other areas of our store and are eager to do so with floral.”

The results of the June meeting will form the basis of a pilot program to study the implementation of the product identification standards using Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTINs) on orders, invoices, and boxes of floral products. The pilot is expected to commence later this summer and will take place over a six-month period.

Those interested in participating in the June meeting, can contact Christine Boldt at christine@afifnet.org. Questions can be directed to Gary Fleming, vice president of technology and standards, Produce Marketing Association, 303 551 0247, gfleming@pma.com.

Founded in 1949, PMA is the leading trade association serving more than 2,100 companies representing all segments of the global produce and floral supply chains. Members rely on PMA year round for the business solutions they need to increase sales and consumption, build strong professional relationships and expand their business opportunities.