Ioma Logistics Guide
CAM Data is going to offer downloads in the future, but due to the size of the software, initially, Retail ICE will only be sold and serviced through CAM Data's Web site. The handbook inventory Ioma logistics management software is free, however, there is a nominal charge of $30 (plus tax) for the CD, documentation, shipping and handling costs. In addition to offering software, CAM Data offers a variety of hardware, including receipt printers, bar code scanners and printers, cash drawers, customer display poles and computers, which are recommended for retailers who want to maximize Retail ICE's features.
Based in Fountain Valley, CAM Data Systems is the largest supplier of microcomputer-based inventory management and point-of-sale solutions for small to medium-sized retailers. CAM Data Systems provides software, hardware, installation, training, service and ongoing enhancements necessary to implement and maintain a retail management system. Longs Drug Stores had a big inventory problem. The cost of stocking a typical pharmacy was getting out of hand, soaring to $200,000 a year from $28,000 two decades ago. President of the Walnut Creek chain, was looking for ways to curb the costs when he stumbled on a San Francisco startup called Nonstop Solutions at a technology conference a few years ago. The meeting proved profitable. Longs became the first company to test the firm's novel service that allows pharmacies to cut delivery costs without hurting customer service. Since April 2006, Longs has cut the time that inventory sits in its central warehouse by 58 percent (from 24.3 days to 10.2 days) and cut the time prescription medications sit at 362 stores by 25 percent (from 41.6 days to 31 days). Despite the changes, Longs Pharmacies are still able to fill 98 percent of prescriptions from stock on hand. Furthermore, Nonstop has helped Longs cut inventory financing costs by about $60 million, which freed enough capital to buy a 20-store drug chain. The software is the brainchild of Nonstop co-founders Hau Lee, who teaches business and industrial engineering at Stanford University. Plenty of academics and entrepreneurs have focused on just-in-time inventory practices and other methods to maximize use of materials and lower costs on the manufacturing side of business. But comparatively few have studied what happens to products once they leave the factory and wend their way to wholesalers, retailers and eventually customers. Nonstop and its venture capital investors, who have plowed $9.5 million into the company over the past two years, believe Lee's methodology is the first breakthrough in managing inventory flow for wholesalers and retailers in three decades. |