Maximising the profitability of fresh food counters requires close control over products and prices, merchandising and cross promotions and the status of all scales and printers. This may appear relatively straight forward if you are managing one local store, but it’s a real problem for many leading retailers when it comes to managing 100’s of counters across a large network of stores.
Now, with the launch of its MXi enterprise software Avery Berkel is offering retailers an easier way to overcome these issues.
MXi enterprise is a new scales management system that enables retailers to centrally manage multiple fresh food counters, helping to reduce operational cost and complexity.
Key benefits include comprehensive control of scales and printers from a single, centrally-located system, helping to reduce manpower time and costs; a reduction in capital expenditure on in-store computer hardware and simplified support via a standard browser interface.
The software is fully scaleable and can be used by businesses with as few as 100 scales in their network, up to organisations with many thousands of installations over hundreds of stores.
Key features
Intelligent data communication
Managed by an intelligent scheduler, MXi utilises the latest service oriented software architecture to open concurrent communication channels up to 100’s of scales simultaneously, reducing standard communication times by up to 98%. Mxi is capable of sending the full range of scale data including product prices, label designs, pictures and advertising media. The data feed is provided by seamless integration with the retailer’s central management information system, ensuring single point data entry to eliminate errors.
Anywhere… any time
Thanks to MXi’s web-based technology and ‘management by exception’ design principles, IT staff can easily manage the data communication process, from any location, using a web enabled device.
Users can view the state of scales by store, monitor the status of data transmission and manage any error conditions remotely, at any time of day. IT staff can also set user profiles with the appropriate restrictions for both central and branch users, ensuring efficient operation without loss of control.
No room for error
Errors are communicated to support staff clearly and simply and are also categorised by the type and source of the error. This allows scale, connectivity and data errors to be handled and recovered quickly and efficiently.
Remote configuration management
Complete profiles for each scale type can be easily set up and stored centrally. Every scale in the estate is assigned to one of these profiles and simple management tools allow any remote machine to be quickly reloaded with a complete profile (eg: changing a Deli scale to a Meat scale). Additionally, if a profile is updated with a revised label format, menu system or adverts, all scales affected will be highlighted to indicate where a reload is required, simplifying the process of managing deployment on a store by store basis.
Asset data and diagnostic management
MXi is currently being extended to provide comprehensive support and asset management for weighing and prepack equipment of all types, ages and versions across a retailer’s estate. This includes estate audit features, system metrics and early warning systems which identify scale problems before they reach failure point. Maintenance capability is provided by remote control of devices and the ability to reload or reprogram equipment.
MXi is compatible with the full range of Avery Berkel system scales and printers and the Enterprise Java based system is portable across a range of platforms and operating systems, including AIX, Linux, Unix and Windows.