Supply Chain

Fresh solution for local food distribution

02-May-2006

A new company offering a creative solution to the problem of distributing locally sourced food to supermarkets has been launched.Trans Fresh, the...

Unilever 99% shelf-ready by July as Cannock ramps up

02-May-2006 By Elaine Watson

More than eight out of 10 Unilever ambient food brands in the UK are now available in shelf-ready packaging (SRP).Speaking at the official opening of...

Get a handle on your costs

02-May-2006

I have written before about the way manufacturers respond to retailer 'requests' for supply chain redesign. I have urged all suppliers to get a...

New online exchange nets in hauliers

29-Mar-2006

A new online freight exchange has been launched in a bid to reduce empty running and increase vehicle utilisation.Haulage Exchange is the brainchild...

Share, you know it makes sense

29-Mar-2006

The Americans call it LTL (Less Than full Load) distribution. It requires a shared user network to enable it to operate at an affordable cost to the...

Race is on for Celsius assets

29-Mar-2006 By Elaine Watson

The race is on to sell the remaining assets of cold storage and distribution firm Celsius First after Yearsley Group snapped up depots in Glasgow,...

3PLs cash in on customisation co-packing opportunities

01-Mar-2006 By Elaine Watson

Wincanton is scouting around for a site suitable for a new dedicated co-packing operation in a bid to cash in on growing demands from retailers for...

Somerfield on PCC prowl

01-Mar-2006

As I explained last month, Somerfield is desperate to reduce its supply chain costs.Its chosen approach is to build PCCs (pre-consolidation centres)....

Foodservice giants bury hatchets on frozen logistics

01-Feb-2006 By Elaine Watson

The British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) is driving forward its initiative to tackle inefficiencies in the frozen foodservice supply chain by...

Suppliers foot the bill - again

01-Feb-2006

I hear that Somerfield is aiming to increase its suppliers' cost to serve. The retailer's proposition allegedly consists of a target to cut stocks,...

IT failures continue to pose the biggest risk for firms

12-Jan-2006 By Rick Pendrous

Customer and service related issues - such as a temporary loss of sales and a reduction of service levels - are the biggest concerns facing those...

Five rules to decide whether to store externally

12-Jan-2006

From time to time food manufacturers run out of warehouse space and are faced with the dilemma of either using outside storage or moving to a bigger,...

Asda flow logistics drive could push costs upstream

05-Dec-2005 By Elaine Watson

A new initiative from Asda to reduce store backroom stock of its top 1,000 ambient lines could increase supplier costs, manufacturers have...

Go with the flow, says Asda

05-Dec-2005

We thought until earlier this month that retail-ready packaging was the main current, retailer-led change initiative.However, in October Asda...

Shared user sites the way forward for UK, says Nestlé

04-Nov-2005 By Elaine Watson

While UK food retailers are world leaders in the field of supply chain management, the logistics infrastructure of much of the manufacturing base is...

Pressure rises to cut food miles

04-Nov-2005

The government taskforce on sustainable procurement has changed its rules of engagement with suppliers to rebalance the often conflicting issues of...

Radical overhaul needed for foodservice supply chain

06-Oct-2005 By Elaine Watson

The British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) has commissioned new research to explore ways of reducing costs in the distribution leg between frozen food...

No hiding place

06-Oct-2005

It is interesting how few food manufacturers have a hard measure of the profits they really make from individual customers. An ambient food...

Time for supply chain quid pro quo

06-Sep-2005

Isn't it interesting how retailer-enforced changes in the supply chain are often better supported by suppliers than by the retailers' own staff!As...

Cool new approach to cut freight costs

06-Sep-2005 By Elaine Watson

While the industry is littered with the carcases of dot.coms that have bitten the dust, those that have proved they are more than a bunch of...

Suppliers bury hatchets and collaborate

10-Aug-2005

A clutch of food suppliers --some in direct competition with each other - are working together on a project designed to reduce empty running and...

Nestlé switches to vendor managed inventory with Tesco

10-Aug-2005 By Elaine Watson

Nestlé is switching to a vendor managed inventory (VMI) relationship with Tesco this year in a bid to improve availability.By shifting...

Transparency is the key to happiness

10-Aug-2005

I recently came across a bad example of a warehouse draft contract, which failed the two basic rules of 'fit for purpose' for relationships where the...

Culina initiative slashes lead times to Northern Ireland

30-Jun-2005 By Elaine Watson

A clutch of blue chip manufacturers including Tropicana, Kraft and Kerrygold have slashed lead times and shipping costs for transporting goods to...

Wincanton both sides of the factory gate

30-Jun-2005

Factory gate pricing has proved a doubled-edged sword for Wincanton, hitting volumes going through its chilled consolidation centres on the one hand,...

Beware those inflexible contracts

30-Jun-2005

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

13-Jun-2005 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

13-Jun-2005

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...

Drinks firms pool resources to booze cruise the airwaves

13-Jun-2005 By Elaine Watson

Drinks companies that want to get to grips with radio barcoding (RFID) without making a major financial commitment are being urged to join a new...

Could this be the fastest sliding door in the West?

11-May-2005

High-speed automatic sliding door functions in freezing temperatures and still manages to maintain energy efficiency

Insulated panels show PVC strip curtains the door

11-May-2005

Improved door curtain design cuts cold store energy wastage

Truck carries fresh and frozen foods

11-May-2005

Dual temperature container design saves on costs

A chilling thought...

11-May-2005

Keeping food and drink at the right temperature throughout the supply chain isn't an especially complex task, but when corners are cut to save costs, problems can arise. Robin Meczes reports.

Pan-European disaster area?

11-May-2005

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

11-May-2005 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...

Bakery gets cold store flexibility

04-Apr-2005

Compact articulated truck raises Mantinga's cold storage space by an impressive 40%

On the road to compliance

04-Apr-2005 By Lynda Searby

The Road Transport Directive has made a 48 hour working week for drivers mandatory. But at what cost to the food industry? Lynda Searby finds out

Tesco: shelf- ready or else?

04-Apr-2005

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...

RFID skills shortage delays progress

04-Apr-2005

Progress on RFID could be severely hampered by skills shortages, according to a survey conducted by the Computing Technology Industry...

Foodservice supply chain chases £450m opportunity

04-Apr-2005 By Elaine Watson

Collaboration between food manufacturers and caterers to drag the foodservice supply chain into the 21st century is starting to bear fruit after a...

Call to arms on shelf-ready packaging

07-Mar-2005

It was only a few weeks ago that Tesco started its initiative on shelf-ready packaging (SRP). Already the big manufacturers that do not have largely...

Fears subside over road transport directive

07-Mar-2005 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

10-Feb-2005

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

Refrigerated side-loaders aid moves

10-Feb-2005

Haulier Aardvark International is using Ekeri side-loading refrigerated trailers for handling a variety of ambient, chilled and frozen products...

Smaller logistics companies unprepared for RFID roll-out

10-Feb-2005 By Rick Pendrous

Tesco’s announcement that it has signed a multi-year contract to purchase thousands of radio frequency identification (RFID) readers and antennae...

Plan ahead for peaks in demand

07-Jan-2005

For some manufacturers Christmas doubles the average sales for the rest of the year. Most work their production lines hard all year round to maximise...

Alpro signs up with Culina Logistics

07-Jan-2005

Soya milk products manufacturer Alpro, part of the Vandemoortele Group, has appointed Culina Logistics to provide it with a complete primary...

Greencore cuts errors with real-time data collection

07-Jan-2005

Greencore Cakes & Desserts, formerly known as Hazlewood, has moved to a system of real-time data collection and communications at its Hull plant...

Demand for product recall insurance is set to spiral in the new year

13-Dec-2004

A leading insurer is predicting an increase in demand for product recall insurance following the introduction of new European rules.According to AIG...

Are you 'shelf-ready' for Tesco?

13-Dec-2004

Tesco is about to cause yet another shake-up in the UK supply chain with an initiative that will send shivers down the spines of many suppliers.The...