01-Dec-2008 By Hugh Williams
How dare you waste your chief executive's time, talking about supply chain opportunities? This is of no interest to him. Surely, it is your job to...
01-Dec-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Transport operator Norbert Dentressangle is tightening its belt in anticipation of the economic slowdown, with the objective of becoming a leaner and...
29-Oct-2008 By Hugh Williams
Let's be quite clear from the outset: arson is a crime. So why do we persist in lighting fires in our own businesses? Have you ever wondered how many...
Food and drink distribution strategy has 'fatal flaws'
29-Oct-2008 By Rod Addy
Major flaws in the food and drink industry's ethical distribution strategy have been highlighted in a Food Ethics Council report published this...
29-Sep-2008 By Hugh Williams
If you had asked me a few years ago which function would be the last to embrace supply chain thinking, I'd have got it wrong.Over time and despite...
29-Sep-2008 By Rod Addy
Spar UK suppliers are set to benefit from substantial savings and sales uplifts thanks to the launch of a major distribution programme: the National...
Tesco gets the Star treatment
29-Aug-2008
Star Refrigeration has completed the installation of a new, high efficiency refrigeration plant for Tesco at its new distribution centre in...
29-Aug-2008 By Allison Carvalho
Thanks to high demand for frozen foods, the cold storage business is currently booming. But how long can it continue? asks Allison Carvalho
Warehouse management keeps stock moves in check
29-Aug-2008
Meat processor Scotbeef has implemented the Empirica warehouse management system from Chess Logistics Technology at its new distribution cold store...
29-Aug-2008 By Paul Gander
The war is on. Supermarket chains have declared it and are fighting it with their army of price cuts and special offers. This is putting enormous...
Consolidation saves Kellogg food miles
29-Aug-2008
Kellogg has consolidated all its cereals and food warehousing onto Trafford Park in Manchester to be managed by logistics company TDG in a five-year...
Sustainable distribution soon to hit centre stage
29-Aug-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Sustainable food distribution is set to take centre stage next month when independent advisory body the Food Ethics Council (FEC) publishes the...
29-Jul-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Supply, demand and retailer promotions. Industry peers discussed supply chain issues at Food Manufacture's recent event. Rick Pendrous reports
29-Jul-2008 By Hugh Williams
Last month I attended a conference, which was supposedly about the latest trends in supply chain management. The tone was set by the chair whose...
29-Jul-2008 By Rod Addy
Major retailers announced eco-friendly initiatives at supply chain consultancy Scala's annual logistics debate last month.Delegates gathered at...
The modern alternative to 3PL
30-Jun-2008
One of the fastest growing trends is the outsourcing of logistics to so-called third-party logistics (3PL) operators. The reason is that companies...
Is your maintenance engineer a bright spark or an explosion risk?
30-Jun-2008
An increasing number of forklift trucks operate in potentially explosive atmospheres. Explosion protection specialist Pyroban argues that factory...
Robot is the star of stack handling
30-Jun-2008
Changing consumer habits, environmental pressures and traceability requirements are making efficient logistics ever more important.Freshness and food...
Walkers makes a crisp job of palletising snacks in Coventry
30-Jun-2008
Pallet logistics systems supplier CSi has completed a £3.7M project to design and install an automated sortation and palletising system for Walkers'...
30-Jun-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Producing a line of own-label ethnic ready meals for Asda is no mean feat. S&A Foods talks to Rick Pendrous about life on the short shelf
30-Jun-2008 By Michelle Knott
When it comes to making a profit in the food and drink industry, mastering supply and demand is essential. Michelle Knott reports
30-Jun-2008 By Hugh Williams
I bought a new calculator recently. I thought my old one was faulty: the numbers didn't add up! Let me explain. Over the past 10 years businesses...
30-Jun-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Road hauliers in the UK, which pay twice the diesel duty of competitors in other EU Member States, are pressurising the government to ease the...
28-May-2008 By Hugh Williams
It happened to lean and also to advanced planning and scheduling before that. Now it has happened to sales and operations planning (S&OP). Some...
28-May-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Collaboration along the supply chain is re-emerging as a buzz phrase as suppliers and their retail clients try to squeeze further costs out. At...
More companies seek IT advantage
29-Apr-2008
More and more companies are taking advantage of IT systems to match supply to demand - some with better results than others.Chilled ready meal...
29-Apr-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Promotional sales are some of the biggest sources of conflict between retailers and their suppliers in the UK today. But it is an area where better...
29-Apr-2008 By Hugh Williams
Software gone bad? I'm talking about implementations that don't deliver the expected benefits, or have gone astray over time. The result is an...
26-Mar-2008 By Hugh Williams
This is the story of an old but wise pallet. Over the years, it has seen supply chain thinking evolve and lived through many changes.Many years ago...
The corrugated board pallet evolves
26-Mar-2008
The Evolution corrugated board pallet is not the first to use the material, nor even the first from David S Smith Packaging (DSSP), but the company...
26-Mar-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Road pricing nationwide might be off the agenda following statements made by transport secretary Ruth Kelly last month, but those in the transport...
Convergence, separation, and sortation - all sorted
26-Feb-2008
The need to separate, converge or sort products, such as biscuits and cakes requiring coating with chocolate, while they are moving on a process belt...
Pallet stabiliser prevents broken bottles
26-Feb-2008
A new palletised containment system could save the glass bottling industry millions of pounds in breakages by improving pallet stability during...
26-Feb-2008 By John Dunn
Explosive materials; 'rat holing'; and hygienic design. Powder handling presents some thorny issues, says John Dunn
Move and mature cheese in same box
26-Feb-2008
Linpac Allibert has produced a reusable cheese box or crate specially designed for handling and maturing 20kg blocks of cheese. The design is a joint...
26-Feb-2008 By Hugh Williams
Pounds are becoming kilos. You are probably thinking that I am about to re-launch the debate of imperial versus metric. I'm not. I'm talking about...
26-Feb-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Warehouse and logistics provider Gazeley, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart, has committed as part of its sustainability strategy to make more...
25-Jan-2008 By Rick Pendrous
Asda is planning to replace the traditional diesel-fuelled fridges in its transport fleet with an emission-free, silent running alternative, which,...
25-Jan-2008 By Hugh Williams
Here's a riddle for you: Your raw material costs are going up rapidly. Your customers are by nature very price sensitive. Increasing your prices with...
02-Jan-2008 By Hugh Williams
I find it fascinating to watch a business open up to supply chain thinking. One day it operates in isolation, mistrusting the competition, suppliers...
Premier's Wisbech site used as benchmark
02-Jan-2008
Premier Foods has extended its largest distribution facility in Wisbech, expanding pallet capacity by almost 50%, and refurbished the existing...
02-Jan-2008 By Rick Pendrous
This month sees the creation of a new supply chain business which brings together Culina Logistics and Baylis Logistics under the Culina title,...
26-Nov-2007 By Hugh Williams
Is your business a victim of internal self-inflicted supply chain crime?Like a burglar sneaking round the back, are you being robbed by some of your...
Unilever uses warehouses to prototype
26-Nov-2007
Unilever is making use of spare space within its warehouses to prototype new developments before they are fully integrated into manufacturing...
26-Nov-2007 By Rick Pendrous
Food wholesaler Booker is seeking greater supplier involvement as it forges ahead with plans to expand its "delivered wholesale" services, following...
29-Oct-2007 By Hugh Williams
And I thought that after many years of slow but locally efficient supply chains, lean had taken over: you signed up to the fact that sending a...
29-Oct-2007 By Rick Pendrous
Supermarket chain Morrison claims to have already achieved significant business and environmental benefits since starting to bring together two very...
Susie sews up loading safety
02-Oct-2007
Frozen food maker Birds Eye has chosen Castell's Salvo to protect warehouse workers at its Hull factory from unscheduled trailer departure.Birds...
The true cost of stretch-wrapping
02-Oct-2007
Do you know what your annual spend is on packaging and what proportion of this goes on pallet stretch-wrap film? If you do know the true cost per...
02-Oct-2007
Buying lift trucks for use in the food and drink sector can be a lot more complicated than it sounds. So what sort of things do buyers tend to overlook? Robin Meczes finds out
