Atlanta, GA & Nashville, Tenn.— In a recent member poll, The Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry (MAFSI) determined 38.7 percent of members lose us much as$25,000 in missed specification, origination, and destination credits every year. 33.3 percent of members appraise their losses between $26,000 and $50,000; and 27.9 percent of respondents believe they may be missing as much as $51,000 to $100,000 in credits in their respective MAFSI region.
“Credit tracking is incredibly laborious. It requires cooperation across multiple regions, multiple stakeholders, and multiple manufacturers” said Joe Ferri, current MAFSI president and partner at Pecinka Ferri Associates of Little Falls, New Jersey. “And that kind of cross-cooperation hardly ever happens.”
To help solve the problem, MAFSI is building a central and secure library of projects, while working closely with reps and manufacturers to gather 11-4000 specifications across North America. After MAFSI staff has carefully curated the specifications, SpecPath will process them.This intuitive software will sort and triangulate the data to determine origination, specification, and destination by region, rep firm, and manufacturer. The resulting output will be searchable by reps and manufacturers for only those items in which they have a stake. In other words, no user will be able to see another user’s data. Reps will only be able to see the manufacturers they represent, and manufacturers will only be able to see the products they make.
The data will change daily as the member-sourced specifications are uploaded into SpecPath.As these projects begin the bidding process, MAFSI staff will diligently monitor them. During this phase, SpecPath will list all bidding dealers, and subsequently update the project when an awarded dealer is announced. A dynamic and time-sensitive system, it is MAFSI’s goal to have 90 percent of all North American 11-4000 specifications in the SpecPath library.
“Our members are at the front lines – and the front doors – of everyone in the industry. They touch everyone. And they’re building a game-changing database and software platform that will ensure all of our members get the visibility they need” said MAFSI Executive Director, Alison Cody.
Additionally, a mini-spec, also known as a “take-off,” is generated for a rep agency to refer to when quoting. This would be a print or .csv export button tied to the main project screen data. Additionally, all rep and manufacturer members will be able to export any other type of data searches to run reports for other uses like spec type (prime, equal, alternate), item number, model number, etc.
As there is considerably more to relate about SpecPath, MAFSI will hold two all-industry 3D conferences, and representative and manufacturer principals are strongly encouraged to attend. This 3D immersive experience simulates real life, and helps further engagement and networking across the industry.
• Tuesday, June 17th at 11AM EDT
• Thursday, June 19th at 11AM EDT
To sign up, and find out more about SpecPath, please visit www.mafsi.org/specpath.
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