Services

Beware those inflexible contracts

Beware those inflexible contracts

I had a call the other day to be a 'marriage guidance' counsellor for a third party logistics provider (3PL) and a customer who had fallen out over...

Food goes radio ga ga

Food goes radio ga ga

By Elaine Watson

There is a business case for RFID tags on returnable assets, but the jury is still out when it comes to mass tagging of cases, says Elaine Watson

The true cost of our journeys

The true cost of our journeys

It's roughly 1,000 miles from Northern Spain to the UK Midlands by road. That journey has a current commercial cost of around 70p per case for double...

Covered for all eventualities

Covered for all eventualities

Injury rates in food and drink companies are nearly double the manufacturing industry average. Yet 80% of accidents are easily preventable through better training and reduced manual handling, says Michelle Knott

Pan-European disaster area?

Pan-European disaster area?

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is the forum in which operations and sales directors organise themselves to balance their sales effort and...

It's good to talk

It's good to talk

By Elaine Watson

Effective demand planning for promotions continues to be scuppered by poor communications both within and between companies, according to a new study...

Tesco: shelf- ready or else?

Tesco: shelf- ready or else?

Tesco has started the roll-out of shelf-ready packaging by making a special offer to suppliers. It runs roughly like this: "Commit to shelf-ready...

Fears subside over road transport directive

Fears subside over road transport directive

By Rick Pendrous

Fears of soaring driver costs as the road transport directive comes into force this month have been allayed, according to a new survey.The survey of...

Good planning meets demand

Good planning meets demand

I recently saw a very successful example of sales and operations planning (S&OP), whereby manufacturing, distribution and sales have been welded...

Sound advice to build on

Sound advice to build on

Manufacturers are opting to extend existing premises rather than build entirely new factories. But while there are savings to be made, companies underestimate the total cost of such a move at their peril, says Kathy Watson

Heinz shares gains at its NDC

Heinz shares gains at its NDC

By Rick Pendrous

Wincanton operates Heinz's national distribution centre (NDC) at Wigan under an open contract which runs until 2009. Rick Pendrous describes an arrangement where both parties benefit financially from efficiency gains made

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