For immediate release

FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND E-COMMERCE PILOT PROJECT COMPLETED FOR CANADIAN FOODSERVICE SECTOR

TORONTO, ON, July 24, 2000 - Results from a first-of-its-kind e-commerce pilot project for the Canadian foodservice sector were launched during the second annual Efficient Foodservice Response (EFR) conference in May. The project marked the first time a data synchronization pilot project using the price sales catalogue transaction set was conducted in North America. The Lipton Monarch and SERCA Foodservice pilot was designed to determine best practices for implementing four purchase cycle EDI transaction sets and to determine potential savings from deployment. The four transaction sets included: price sales catalogue (832); purchase order (850); purchase order acknowledgement (855); and invoice (810).

"The foodservice industry isn't as competitive as it should be and the only way to change that is to work together to improve efficiencies," said Murray Webb, President, Lipton Monarch and EFR E-Commerce Committee Co-chair. "There is an opportunity to implement other transaction sets, not just the four included in our pilot project. We see the value and we will continue to implement EFR initiatives."

As a result of being able to automate the business cycle, Lipton Monarch experienced 34 percent savings due to efficiencies gained in the areas of customer service, billing/accounts receivable, and general administration. Similarly, SERCA reported that total debit/credit memo ratio to invoices reduced from 40 percent before the pilot, to 10 percent in the period following the deployment of the transaction sets. Furthermore, pricing errors reduced from 15 percent to 6.6 percent (the remaining error rate was due to management error not data integrity). After three months of continued monitoring, the error rate was reduced even further from 6.6 to 0 percent.

The EFR initiative is committed to eliminating paper-based transactions through the deployment of EDI transaction sets. The study conclusions showed that: data synchronization provides the foundational data for the e-commerce process; efficiencies can be gained through error-free automation of business processes; and critical mass is vital to industry-wide efficiencies in order to realize full savings potential.

"The project results showed that business processes between trading partners can be streamlined with the implementation of e-commerce," said Craig Simpson, Vice President Information Technology, SERCA Foodservice Inc. and EFR E-Commerce Committee Co-chair. "Our intent is to use the knowledge gained from this pilot to assist companies in achieving their own EDI goals."

The results have been published by the e-Commerce Council of Canada in a document entitled The Purchase Cycle Pilot: Lipton Monarch/SERCA Foodservice EDI Pilot Study. The publication includes implementation options, a self-assessment checklist, and a list of resources to help companies get started. Copies are available at a cost of $20 for EFR members and $30 for non-members. For more information or to order a copy, contact Yvonne Thibault at 1-800-567-7084 ext. 2280 or visit the web site at www.efrcanada.org. -30- Media inquiries: Amalia Kyriacou, EFR Education & Communications Secretariat Tel: 416-510-8024 ext. 2253 E-mail: amaliak@fcpmc.com