Migros installs the latest scales technology from Bizerba

New scales technology works with manufacturer independent software, promises cost reductions and opens new areas of application

Balingen/Lucerne – 25. March 2010. The technology manufacturer Bizerba is installing 4,500 multimedia scales in the branches of the largest Swiss retailer Migros and, with it, is heralding a new era in scales technology. The visual store cash till software from IBM subsidiary S3 is being implemented to operate the scales. This decoupling of hardware, software, operating system and drivers represents a paradigm shift in retail.
Migros was already considering replacing its entire scales technology with a completely new, unique and future-proof solution in 2005. Before, Migros had worked with 42 different types of scales from several different manufacturers in its 1,600 branches. The complexity because of the different manufacturers and their own respective software platforms was enormous. The development and operation costs were also huge. The scales represented the second-largest investment and cost pool, after the cash till system. With the changeover, Migros had the principal aim of reducing these high operating and development costs.
“Our aim was to simply connect the scales with the IT department just like a PC or a laptop,” explains Hans Schwarz, head of IT, Genossenschaft Migros Lucerne. A solution “which also deals with the unknown requirements of the future with a corresponding level of flexibility” was important to him. These requirements were only able to be fulfilled by the latest scales technology from Bizerba. Bizerba provides, alongside a state of the art open-source system, PC-based scales and compatible software with open-source standards for the retail industry. “The open-source system allows us to adapt various strategies and to achieve flexibility at a level we have never seen before,” says Schwarz. He sees potential savings in comparison with the previous scales technology as a double-figure percentile as, on the one hand, investment and operating costs have been slashed and, on the other hand, the new scales technology opens up prospects for the creation of added value at the POS.
“The opening up of scales manufacturers to open-source software is a step which is long overdue. Today, scales manufacturers work with PC standards such as WEPOS, Linux, UPOS etc.,” says Matthias Harsch, spokesman of the company management at Bizerba. As a result, there were no problems in fully integrating the scales with one of the IBM environments used at Migros. The scales have the same function as a POS with an integrated weighing function and they are, just like the cash tills, controlled from a central POS server. Software and updates are also installed centrally from the server.
The integration of scales and till systems has another huge advantage; both commercial goods and in-store processes are optimised. “This does not only lead to a reduction in wastage, but also an increase in pricing accuracy,” explains Schwarz. Promotional offers would also now be easy to implement.
As the scales’ touch-screens are intuitive, there is no need for comprehensive retailer training. In the back office and with the enterprise functions, training is almost completely unnecessary as the users currently work with practically identical operating processes and systems, both with scales and also with cash tills.
“Alongside data and system management, Migros can also actively sell and inform customers through a variety of media with the new system. Considerable turnover increases are expected in this respect,” says Harsch. “Our scales have the necessary technical requirements to play any kind of information such as article information, nutritional information, prices and advertising individually on each unit. Data transfer is carried out over the centralised Migros company network.”
Through the uniform system at the cash tills and the scales, Migros will be able to implement future changes much more quickly and robustly than before.
The installation of the self-service and operating scales will be completed by the middle of the year.

About Bizerba:

Bizerba is a worldwide operating technology company offering professional system solutions for weighing, labelling, information and food field engineering in the sectors of retail, the food and manufacturing industries and logistics. Sector-specific hard and software, high-performing network compatible management systems as well as a wide range of labels and consumables as well as business services ensure the transparent control of integrated business processes and a high level of availability of Bizerba-specific service features.

Worldwide, Bizerba has a presence in over 120 countries with investments in 41companies in 23 countries and subsidiaries in 56 countries. Company turnover in 2008 stood at around 433 million euro. The company’s headquarters – with around 3100 employees – is in Balingen; further manufacturing plants are located in Meßkirch, Bochum, Vienna (Austria), Pfäffikon (Switzerland), Mailand (Italy), Shanghai (China), Forest Hill (USA) und San Louis Potosi (Mexico).

Contact:

Bizerba GmbH & Co. KG
Claudia Gross
Director Global Marketing and Communication
Wilhelm-Kraut-Straße 64
D-72336 Balingen
Germany
Telephone +49 7433 12-33 00
Fax +49 7433 12-5 33 00
E-mail: claudia.gross@bizerba.com

This release was published on openPR.