Zhongpin Inc., a leading meat and food processing company in China, announced yesterday that it has implemented the first phase of a new advanced planning and scheduling (APS) system and a logistics management information system (MIS) as part of its daily operations.

The APS system utilizes multiple analytical algorithms to optimize Zhongpin's supply-chain management system and reduce the cost of raw materials. The APS system quickly integrates customer orders with current market data on the price, origin and grade of hogs, which is then used to create a purchase plan for Zhongpin's raw materials purchasing department.

The new system is capable of creating a purchase plan for raw materials based on any purchase order within one minute of inputting the purchase order into the system.

According to PR Newswire, Zhongpin has implemented the first of three phases of the APS system. The first phase involves connecting customer orders with the raw materials purchase plan. The second phase integrates customer orders with processed meat and raw materials packing materials, labels and additives. The company hopes to implement this phase in the second half of 2007 or the beginning of 2008. The third phase integrates production, sales, and logistics, and is scheduled for implementation in 2008. Once all three phases are complete, the company expects to see substantial increases in the accuracy of its pricing management and client satisfaction ratios, along with corresponding reductions in costs.