Deadline looms for PDC.za

Chris Havenga, technical manager of the PDC.za project, says: "South African stakeholders can simply not afford to be excluded from this global data synchronisation system. Failure to meet the deadline could have negative impact on their business."

The PDC.za aligns product data between trading partners, improving supply chain efficiencies, increasing sales and productivity and reducing costs. Accurate data synchronisation eliminates out-of-stock situations and consequent financial loss, significantly reducing labour-intensive handling of data, and concomitant wasted activities.

"The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) is actively encouraging suppliers and manufacturers to list product information on the PDC.za," says CGCSA CEO, August Iwanski.

"All participants in the supply chain, from manufacturing to selling products to consumers, consult the data for all their transactions, so it is vital for the growth of their business that all product information be available on the PDC.za."

Retailers constitute a powerful driving force behind the implementation of PDC.za, insisting that new product listings, product changes and discontinuations all be conducted through the PDC.za.

"All information relative to the PDC.za is available on the website (www.eanpdc.co.za)," says Havenga.

"Qualified staff on the helpdesk (011-781 6707) are also available to handle all queries, provide training and where necessary, assist with data cleaning, help with installation of necessary software and provide guidance for integration of internal systems."