RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Texas’ Region 10 Education Service Center Multi-Region Purchasing Cooperative (R10MRPC) has selected inTEAM’s GDSN Connect software solution to help its K-12 member districts easily access product specifications from the Global Data Synchronization Network® (GDSN®) to streamline their operations and ease the burden of a constantly changing supply chain. GDSN is the common language used by USDA, Manufacturers, Distributors and Operators to communicate electronically across the foodservice industry supply chain.
R10MRPC has long sought a solution to drive greater supply chain efficiencies and avoid redundant efforts across all its members. As Program Coordinator Keri Warnick, B.F.A, M.F.A, explained, “Using product specific and universally recognized GTIN® codes (often referred to as UPC codes) operators can search for planned, new or substituted products critical to program compliance and effective supply chain management.
“Preparing new bids and RFPs with products that our members are using, and then maintaining and communicating accurate vendor catalogs to our members is challenging. For our member districts that use their back of the house software to plan menus and prepare forecasts, getting this product information into each of their applications—and keeping it up to date—has been another challenge.”
GDSN Connect is an innovative solution that addresses these challenges using the industry-wide Nourish to Flourish Database, a single consolidated database containing more than 185,000 items, to make standardized product information from GDSN, USDA, and other sources accessible to K-12 operators. With GDSN Connect, R10MRPC and its members will always have the most current data they need to plan menus, forecast needs, maintain accurate inventory, and prepare for Administrative Reviews. Examples of product data available through the database include product names, images, nutrients, allergens, meal pattern credits, ingredients, handling information, and pack size information.
Beyond simply accessing product specifications, GDSN Connect also provides R10MRPC’s members with an easy way to export standardized and complete product data into their existing software applications and to get their software initially setup without a lot of manual data entry. The solution also makes it easy for R10MRPC to share contracted vendor catalogs and recipes with their members and electronically produce bid specifications based on GDSN standards for simpler and more competitive procurements.
R10MRPC and inTEAM are excited to bring this new solution to its member districts in Texas to help ease the administrative burden of serving healthy school meals to students.
About R10MRPC
The R10MRPC is one of the largest school food purchasing co-op in the United States, and they organize, administer, tabulate, advertise, award bids, and act as a coordinating center for all food purchasing bids on behalf of over 250 member school districts in Texas serving approximately one million meals daily. The goal of the R10MRPC is to offer its member districts a substantial savings on specific commercial food items, non-food items, and USDA commodity processed items and expertise on compliance with procurement regulations. By volume purchasing, districts are able to save more money than bidding as a single district. The R10MRPC offers several formal, legally procured bids to assist districts with their food purchasing needs. Visit https://www.region10.org/programs/multi-region-purchasing-cooperative/overview/ to learn more.
About inTEAM
inTEAM has a 50-year legacy of assisting K-12 school nutrition departments with solutions that have transformed the way schools approach menu planning, making critical product data available in real-time during the menu planning process. The Nourish to Flourish Database used by GDSN Connect is the result of an industry-wide effort to bring the Global Data Synchronization Network® (GDSN®) into the K-12 segment. inTEAM has worked with hundreds of suppliers to prepare their data for use by K-12 and has supplemented and the database with information from other “silo” databases such as USDA Food Data Central and Food Buying Guide to provide a comprehensive standardized product database for use throughout K-12. Visit www.e-inteam.com to learn more.
