As consumers become more vocal about humanity’s impact on the planet, Corporate Social Responsibility is becoming a top priority for companies. Companies have taken on many Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects, and increased dialogue on their environmental impacts. Recent events, such as the factory fire and resulting collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have continued to raise consumer awareness of supply chains, and the impact from each node. Coupled with the increasing scarcity of critical resources and new transparency regulations, companies are now well incentivized to develop and maintain green supply chains as part of their overall CSR strategy. Many CPG companies have addressed the need for green supply chains through innovative ideas. For instance, Nestle is successfully upcycling all used coffee grounds from its products to make “Javalog”…
Collaboration: Is it Really Happening?
A recent article in Supply Chain Brain poses the question is collaboration really happening? We argue that it is, and that it is more than just collaborative forecasting. True end-to-end supply chain collaboration is about streamlining the whole supply chain from the factory to the store. This requires a level of sharing and transparency for which most companies are not yet ready. Collaboration is really happening today by leveraging third parties as the “Swiss Bankers.” ES3 enables multiple manufacturers and retailers to share warehousing and transportation infrastructure. ES3 handles the information and financials and protects all parties privacy. The result is a collaborative supply network that reduces the problems of demand forecasting with limited participants, reduces costs, AND increases service. Collaboration: Is it Really Happening? SupplyChainBrain…
Food Prices on the Rise: How Do You Appeal to Cash Strapped Consumers?
Food prices have been rising this year. In the first two months of 2014, the food-at-home (groceries) consumer price index (CPI) increased more than it did in all of 2013, reports the USDA. March food prices rose 0.4% as droughts in parts of the US and Brazil undermined agricultural output. Since 1990, grocery store prices have risen by 2.8% per year; this year, the food-at-home CPI is expected to increase by 2.5% to 3.5%. However, the ongoing drought in California could drive up this percentage even further. As food manufacturing costs continue to rise, it is getting more expensive to do business in the CPG world. Consumers are still feeling squeezed as wages remain stagnant, and do not want to pay higher shelf prices for…
Yorktown Park Playground Update
On September 27th, more than 200 volunteers from ES3, C&S, Bring On Play, the City of York, and KaBOOM! helped to build a new playground at the Yorktown Park. Since then, hundreds of children in the York, PA area have taken advantage of this new playground. We are extremely happy to see this new play space being put to good use
ES3 Reduces Non-Recyclable Waste by 40%
ES3 is committed to reducing its environmental impact. During the month of February 2014, ES3’s trash tonnage, at its York, PA facility, decreased by 40% compared with January and February of last year. February 2014 has had the least amount of compactor trash leaving the facility. The ES3 Sanitation Team is the driving force responsible for this accomplishment. The reduction is attributable to better processes that ensure that all recyclable material is correctly handled. Without ES3’s state-of-the-art waste and packaging compost program, this success would not have been possible. Bill Chirdon, Food Safety Manager at ES3, explains the process: “most packaging materials such as plastic, steel, aluminum, paper, wood, corrugate, and all food products can be made into high quality compost over a 16 week…
9. Black Hole or White Light: Harnessing Big Data
[twitter number=”5″ ] There is a lot of industry buzz about big data but few people can enunciate what it is and what benefits it will deliver. The Grocery Manufacturers’ Association (GMA) defines big data as: Data that appears in high volume, velocity, or variety, and encompasses billions of data points that can be analyzed to microtarget marketing data based on individual buying patterns. How does that differ from all of the work the industry has done to leverage transaction and shopper loyalty data? The difference is in the higher volume, faster velocity, and greater variety of forms that are the new sources of data in the “Big Data Pool”. The data streams that flood the pool come in three basic types: Transaction Data…
10. Doing More With Less: Shrinking Resources and Growing Demand
As manufacturers and retailers continue to experiment with fulfillment options, they need a nimble distribution provider. Distribution to a consumer no longer follows one path, and systems need to be set up to plan for efficient fulfillment to each node of the supply chain, whether it be a consumer, store, or pick-up point. Seamless integration across all consumer interaction points will drive manufacturer and retailers’ continued success. Changing Demographics For the next twenty years, 10,000 Baby Boomers will turn 65 each day. By the end of 2013, an additional 34% of consumers will be over the age of fifty, and in 2030 Millennials will make up 50% of the workforce. Gen Y’s current spending power is $200 billion annually, and this amount is only expected…