Blog Archives
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ATCM Reveals Whether a TMS is TRU-ly Strategic
By Anthony Vitiello - Thursday February 21, 2013
A transportation management system (TMS) utilized to its fullest potential, becomes a truly strategic supply chain management tool. TMS can help enforce compliance with all manner of business rules; provide auditability to reveal deviations from planned/approved shipping activities; even deliver insight into the effects of transportation issues on overall product cost. The rub is, not all TMS solutions are created equal and the weaker ones often color the market’s perception regarding all TMS solutions – even the most robust. Want an example of how a best-in-class TMS solution adds strategic value to the overall supply chain? In 2004, the California legislature passed the Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) Airborne Toxic Control... -
Food Supply Recall and How IT Increases Efficiency
By Grant Davis - Tuesday February 12, 2013
The American food supply industry is both interesting and massive. With large operations such as food production and delivery, there is a lot of information both processed and maintained. Information Technology (IT) is what makes the machine tick, and without it, businesses across the industry would be faulty at best. A particular focus of this conversation relates directly to supply chain recall, and how the food industry in 2013 can utilize sound technology in the identification and retrieval of defective products. Identifying a Recall A huge step of a recall is identifying the affected area or product. If this is not done correctly and in a timely manner, lawsuits can spring up and the country’s health can be affected. If someone... -
Optimization Tools Find Redemption
By Anthony Vitiello - Wednesday February 6, 2013
Remember the grandfatherly Shawshank Redemption character Brooks Hatlen – incarcerated since youth – lamenting his new life outside, on parole, in a letter to his former prison-mates saying, “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry”? Well, it’s true! Supply chains are being called on to become more efficient and responsive to keep up with the demands of ever stiffening competition. And sorry, Brooksie, but the pace is only accelerating; especially when it comes to the food supply chain. Yet it wasn’t until recently that shippers began to really embrace the agility enabled by optimization software. So why weren’t shippers in a “big damn hurry” to adopt optimization and what made them come around? Back in... -
Food Waste is Just Plain Ugly
By Kevin Payne - Friday February 1, 2013
by Kevin Payne 2,000,000,000 is a big number and when applied to tons of food waste it’s a massive problem. A recent report , published by The Institute of Mechanical Engineers , a U.K.-based engineering society and think tank, states that of the four billion tons of food produced annually worldwide up to half of it goes to waste – that’s 2 billion pounds of food into landfills. Among the causes: Poor harvesting, storage and transportation methods Plain old consumer waste (people buy too much and throw it out) Overly conservative and misunderstood “sell-by” dates, driven mostly by grocers looking to avoid legal actions to reduce risk due to poor food quality I italicize the last part because part of the... -
FDA Announces FSMA Rules: The Industry Responds
By Mike Rozembajgier - Friday February 1, 2013
by Mike Rozembajgier Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed two food safety rules mandated under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) – exactly two years to the date that President Barack Obama signed this sweeping food safety legislation into law. The implementation of the FSMA, which establishes rules pertaining to fruits and vegetables, imports and outbreak prevention, came more slowly than what was originally expected following a flurry of activity and promises of sweeping reforms. What has happened during this two-year delay? According to recent Pew Health Group statistics, 15 foodborne illness outbreaks have been attributed to FDA-regulated products since the signing of the FSMA. Such... -
Recalls Highlight the Importance of Ensuring Food Safety Throughout the Supply Chain
By Mike Rozembajgier - Wednesday January 2, 2013
By Mike Rozembajgier In the coming year, millions of Americans will gather with their families around the table to share meals. Most won’t remember the number of food recall notices of 2012, but this remains top of mind for retailers. Any given grocery retail store will face between 75 and 100 recalls every year. This, along with the fact that these companies are often the direct line of communication for consumers, puts retailers on the front lines when it comes to food safety. They are the ones responsible for ensuring that recalled products are removed from shelves and providing information to consumers. But what happens when one retail chain is mentioned more often than others in news reports of recalls? Should this be a cause... -
Four Easy Ways To Save Money When Shipping Truckload
By Kellie Morgan - Wednesday December 12, 2012
By Kellie Morgan By and large, truckload is the standard mode of domestic transportation for the food and grocery supply chain industry. For many suppliers and manufacturers, the costs of shipping truckload make up a large portion of their transportation budget. When you’re shipping hundreds (or even thousands) of loads per month, saving a little bit of cash on each load can quickly add up to a significant overall savings. 1) Know the details. This one should go without saying, but make sure you provide as many details about the load as possible to the carrier. You should always be sharing what product the load consists of and the number of pallets or boxes, but most importantly, you must provide an accurate weight for the... -
FDA Exercises New FSMA Authority – What’s Next?
By Mike Rozembajgier - Monday December 3, 2012
By Mike Rozembajgier For the first time since the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently exercised its authority and shut down operations at a peanut processing plant suspected of producing unsafe food . Before the food safety law was enacted, the FDA would have had to go to court to suspend a company’s registration. But despite this latest effort by the agency to take action against repeat offenders, this new authority wasn’t used for well over a year after FSMA was passed. In fact, none of the major regulations mandated by the food safety law have been released in their provisional form. Even a lawsuit filed against FDA by the Center for Food Safety and... -
The Invisible System: Moving To A Cloud-Based WMS
By Chuck Fuerst - Tuesday November 6, 2012
By Chuck Fuerst Moving from an on-premise to cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS) is a giant undertaking, but with significant benefits: A cloud-based WMS will help you focus entirely on business operations rather than back-office systems. This can lower labor costs or free-up IT resources for customer-facing applications rather than managing a warehouse. Food and beverage companies have particular warehouse challenges due to the number of unique items managed, storage requirements and strict tracking and reporting regulations. This makes it even more important to carefully consider specific features when moving to a cloud-based WMS: Flexibility : Parameters for put-away and let-down logic must be in place to ensure... -
Recall?! Quick - Check Your ERP And CRM Systems
By Heather Angus-Lee - Monday October 22, 2012
By Heather Angus-Lee The word “recall” strikes terror in the heart of food manufacturers and distributors; ask any company that has participated in a recall, and they’ll tell you they wish they’d had more efficient traceability and recall processes in place beforehand. A food company’s ERP (enterprise resource planning) system should have built-in advanced lot traceability and recall functionality so users can meet – or exceed – the legislated minimum time of 24 hours to complete a recall. Some ERP systems, such as JustFoodERP, allow for bi-directional recalls (forward and backward on the supply chain) that include immediate integration to Microsoft Word and Outlook for letter writing and notification of customers and...
