© 2025 GS1 US. All Rights Reserved
GS1 US® and design is a registered trademark of GS1 US, Inc. Trademarks appearing on this site are owned by GS1 US, Inc. unless otherwise noted, and may not be used without the permission of GS1 US, Inc.
Challenge
If your warehouse receives hundreds of products and thousands of cases each day, checking-in deliveries can be time-consuming. Receiving is quickly bottlenecked when locating the lot code on each case and manually transcribing the data may inevitably lead to missed keys, typos, and finger flubs. With pending regulatory requirements outlined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enhance food safety, companies must overcome new barriers while also improving accuracy. Dot Foods, with 13 distribution centers throughout the U.S. and an offering of 125,000 products, has been working to minimize obsolete products, maximize warehouse productivity, and improve customer satisfaction.
Solution
Dot Foods asks its 1,500 suppliers to transmit Advance Ship Notices (ASNs)1 with GS1 Standards-based data electronically using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Dot requires the supplier’s ASN to contain the following four key elements: lot code, code date2. GS1 Serialized Shipping Container Code (SSCC), and quantity. After rolling this out, Dot identified the need to develop an internal data accuracy scorecard for suppliers to track their respective ASN data completeness and accuracy. Once suppliers hit a consistently high data accuracy score, Dot developed warehouse systems and processes to automate the receiving of the item, quantity, and lot code. Together, these solutions save significant time and labor, more precisely manage product shelf life, and meet end-to-end traceability requirements of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act, Section 204(d) (FSMA Rule 204).
Benefits
Automation: This form of data exchange allows automation of common (quantity) and complex (lot code) data transactions occurring daily across the entire supply chain.
Compliance: Accuracy of key information can be used to help meet FDA requirements, including the FSMA Rule 204 going into effect in January 2026.
Cost Savings: In addition to vastly reducing the time required to receive orders, obsolescence is reduced by improved visibility to code dates. Savings may also be derived from more efficient receiving, and reduced fines from faulty data, as order precision due to trusted quantities on hand helps the business optimize efficiencies. By capturing this data electronically via the ASN, labor costs may be minimized.
Related Topics
About Dot Foods
Dot Foods, Inc. carries 125,000 products from 1,020 food industry manufacturers making it the largest food industry redistributor in North America. Through Dot Transportation, Inc., an affiliate of Dot Foods, the company distributes foodservice, convenience, retail, and vending products to distributors in all 50 states and more than 55 countries. Dot Foods operates 13 U. S. distribution centers, which are in Bullhead City, Arizona; Modesto, California; Bear, Delaware; Vidalia, Georgia; Burley, Idaho; Mt. Sterling, Illinois; University Park, Illinois; Cambridge City, Indiana; Williamsport, Maryland; Liverpool, New York; Ardmore, Oklahoma; Dyersburg, Tennessee; and Manchester, Tennessee. Dot Foods' Canadian operations are located in Ingersoll, Ontario, and Calgary, Alberta.
For information, visit DotFoods.com.
Recommended Articles
1 All references to ASN or EDI 856 refer to X12’s Supply Chain Transaction Standards. For more information refer to x12.org/products/transaction-sets
2 In scenarios where the lot code and code date are the same, Dot Foods simply passes that data forward. Dot typically receives a best by or expiration date for the code date.
