Blue Ridge Launches Supply Chain Analytics at Rema Distribusjon AS

Blue Ridge implements supply chain analytics at Rema Distribusjon AS, subsidiary of the major Norwegian food retailer REMA 1000. The food distributor looks to capitalize on opportunities within the company’s supply chain planning, forecasting, replenishment, and collaboration.

Atlanta, GA and Oslo, Norway (PRWEB) March 18, 2015

Blue Ridge, a global Cloud supply chain planning and analytics provider, today announced that Rema Distribusjon has adopted the Blue Ridge Supply Chain Analytics solution. The food distributor plans to capitalize on actionable insights related to the supply chain, in-store conditions, and supplier collaboration.

Blue Ridge Supply Chain Analytics is a cloud-based solution that is used by a number of wholesalers and retailers around the world. "We have a long tradition of working closely with Rema Distribusjon within purchasing and supply chain planning. Rema has become an elite player leveraging supply chain optimization as a competitive advantage. We expect the team is well equipped to use our analytics to reach even greater bottom-line gains,” stated Greg White, CEO of Blue Ridge.

 We are now able to collaborate both internally and externally in a manner quite unprecedented...We are flowing real-time, advanced supply chain planning and analytics data to other departments as well as to key trading partners and stakeholders.

Rema is looking forward to taking advantage of the benefits of a Cloud solution. “Because Blue Ridge Supply Chain Analytics is cloud based, we get the opportunity to continuously draw on lessons made by leading players anywhere in the world. When we decided to launch the solution, we quickly noted that not only does the system provide a wealth of pre-configured analytics tailored to a food distribution and retail supply chain, but it also allows us to work in many dimensions, where we quickly can combine Supply Chain Reporting from any data source in a very effective manner,” noted Trond Eggan, Purchasing Manager at Rema Distribujson responsible for supply chain planning across six high-velocity distribution centers.

The ease of implementation and flexibility were also attractive components of the Blue Ridge solution. “The tool easily conforms to our IT architecture requirements, which has made for a rapid and cost-effective implementation,” stated Eggan.

The supply chain team at Rema is poised to use the Blue Ridge Supply Chain Analytics technology in order to fully capitalize on sharing key supply chain insights within the organization as well as with outside trading partners. "My central supply chain team has already begun exploring opportunities for new analytics and discovering powerful ways to use that data. We see the system’s powerful and flexible functions for creating dashboards and seamless information sharing as something that could prove revolutionary,” commented Eggan.

Eggan went on to say, “We are now able to collaborate both internally and externally in a manner quite unprecedented to what we were able to before and to what is available in the market. We are flowing real-time, advanced supply chain planning and analytics data to other departments as well as to key trading partners and stakeholders.”

Leadership at Rema Distribusjon sees Blue Ridge Supply Chain Analytics as a vehicle to furthering the company’s strategic advantages in the market. "Competition in the food retail market is fierce. Most players have a lot of information, but putting this information together in a way that holistically facilitates efficiency and profitability can be a great challenge,” stated Irmelin Stølen, VP Supply Chain. “At Rema we have a very specific task: To add significant value to retail stores by successfully pursuing a cost leadership strategy in the Norwegian market. I expect the Blue Ridge analytics tool to provide gains in this respect.”

About REMA 1000 
REMA 1000 is part of Reitangruppen, which engages consists of four primary business units: REMA 1000 (Food Retail), Reitan Convenience, Uno-X Gruppen (Gas Stations) and Reitan Eiendom (Property Management). Reitangrunnen also includes Spaceworld (consumer electronics) and 15.6 percent ownership in Axfood, a food retailer based in Sweden. Reitangruppen’s headquarters is located at Lade Gaard in Trondheim, and constitutes the cultural and financial center of the corporation. REMA 1000 and Reitan Convenience have their operational headquarters in Oslo, while Reitan Eiendom is situated in Trondheim. Uno-X Gruppen is based in Oslo/Copenhagen. Reitangruppen’s vision is to be known as Scandinavia’s most value driven enterprise. Including income from its franchise businesses, Reitangruppen’s sales in 2014 totaled 82 Billion Norwegian Kroner. The company employs 36,611 people throughout the Nordics and the Baltics and ranks among Norway’s top 10 largest companies.