Food & Beverage

Manufacturers Need a More Data-Driven Approach to Direct Materials Sourcing

August 19, 2014

Few decisions have as much power to make or break a product's success and profitability as those around the sourcing of direct materials. The components, parts and assemblies that go into making products not only account for 70 percent of an average manufacturer's annual spend, they have a significant impact on such critical competitive factors as brand reputation, time to market and supply chain reliability.

An International Planning Case Study: Huhtamaki

August 19, 2014

SupplyChainBrain

Huhtamaki Inc., a producer of consumer-goods and food-service packaging, was looking to expand its international activities. Scott Stuckenschneider, vice president of North American supply chain, is joined by Sheila Hewitt, vice president international with Transplace, to discuss how the company formalized its global logistics program.

E-care: Delivering Customer Service Digitally Without Reducing Profits

August 19, 2014

McKinsey

A European telecommunications company wanted to lower the cost of its customer service operations but worried about the potential loss of revenue from the cross-selling that its traditional call centers did so well. So-called e-care solved the problem.

Small, Medium-sized Merchants to See 9-Percent Jump in Online Holiday Season Sales, Report Says

August 19, 2014

MultiChannel Merchant

As retailers look ahead to the holiday selling season, e-commerce platform provider Volusion predicts that online sales during the holiday season will grow 9 percent compared to last year for small- to medium-sized businesses.

Logistics Expertise Assists Entry into U.S. Market

August 18, 2014

Challenge: Recently a well-established European manufacturer of housewares decided to enter the U.S. market. Knowing how important logistics would be to the startup process, their first decision was to select an ideal logistics partner to help develop an entry plan for the American marketplace.

Epicor Creates New Version of Retail Management Software

August 18, 2014

Epicor Software Corp.

Epicor Software Corp. has created the Epicor Eagle N Series of retail-management software.

Do More Business with Data-driven Supply Chain Management

August 15, 2014

Challenge: A large manufacturer of flashlights was in need of a robust business integration solution to manage its global supply chain. Their resource-constrained IT department was looking for an automated solution that could help reduce VAN costs and be rapidly deployed with minimal staff involvement.

FORTE Helps Restaurant and Convenience-Store Chain Handle Growth

August 15, 2014

Challenge: The growth experienced by one of the largest restaurant and convenience-store chains in the United States from new, remodeled and same-store sales growth had pushed the limits of this company's current warehouse operations and transportation network.

Containership Refrigerated-cargo Capacity Expected to Increase 22 Percent by 2019

August 15, 2014

Maritime Executive

Reefer capacity on the containership fleet is expected to increase by 22 percent over the next five years, at the expense of a declining specialized reefer fleet, according to Drewry's latest Reefer Shipping Market Annual Review & Forecast.

HighJump Enhances Retail Management Software

August 13, 2014

HighJump Software Inc.

HighJump Software Inc. has added capabilities to RETAILvantage, its inventory and point-of-sale management software for home goods retailers.

Food & Beverage

The latest supply-chain news, analysis, trends and tools for executives in the food and beverage industries. Learn how food and beverage companies and their suppliers around the world are managing the flow of products across all channels of the enterprise. Experts sound off on forecasting and demand planning, supply-chain visibility, logistics outsourcing, inventory optimization, transportation management, warehouse management, supply-chain security, corporate social responsibility and more.