The company has deployed a new information technology system which will allow Woolworths to integrate fragmented components that currently make up its supply chain technology onto a single platform.
webMethods, the company which built the platform, said that its electronic data interchange (EDI) technology enables retailers to modernise their business processes to adopt Internet-based stock order systems.
According to webMethods, at the end of last year, 62 percent of ordering transactions between retailers and suppliers were conducted by phone and fax.
Rob Fitzpatrick, international director, Retail and Consumer Products, webMethods said the situation seemed "anachronistic in this day and age".
"It requires extraordinary duplication of effort because orders need to be re-keyed by people all along the chain," added Fitzpatrick.
The investment is the second phase of 'Project Refresh'. Announced in June 1999, Woolworths hopes the project will help it reduce operational costs by AU$5 billion.
Woolworths chief information officer, Stephen Bradley, said the program would lead to stronger integration between the company's in-house systems and those of its trading partners.
The impact of the new technology investment on Woolworths suppliers is not clear but webMethods has hinted that it could require greater cooperation between smaller operations.
"Woolworths is leveraging webMethods' technology to drive efficiency into their supply chain systems and to promote collaboration among their key suppliers," he said.
