Dole Food Company, the world's largest producer and marketer of fresh fruits and vegetables, selected ICG Commerce as a consulting partner for a new strategic sourcing initiative in late 2002.

In nominating ICG Commerce, Robert Brunner, vice president of strategic sourcing and logistics at Dole, explains that ICG was selected because of its unique blend of two important criteria: good e-sourcing tools and excellent knowledge of the categories that were in the sourcing plan.

To date, Brunner says that Dole has worked with ICG Commerce to source nine diverse categories, including third-party containerized ocean transportation, LTL, MRO, tin-plated steel, and personal computers, among others. The company is just finishing up its third wave of sourcing efforts.

"ICG Commerce's category knowledge and their ability to analyze current sourcing options in these markets has been a valuable resource," he says.

The sourcing process has taken place on a worldwide scale involving initiatives and teams in North America, Latin America and Asia.

"So far, Dole is satisfied with the results," says Brunner.

While ICG Commerce offers a broad variety of sourcing services, including spend analysis, procurement aggregation, bid package preparation and reverse auctions, Brunner says that Dole's needs were primarily focused on true consulting services to include process coaching and category analysis.

The most recent sourcing initiatives have produced savings in all completed categories.

He concludes his nomination by pointing to three things that distinguish ICG Commerce as a consulting partner: They are pragmatic; they are aggressive; and most important of all, they get their hands "dirty."

"ICG Commerce truly functions as part of the team and they have been indistinguishable from the Dole staff," says Brunner.