CGT Inside News - 07/26/2006
| Inside News |
| Hotline |
| CGT to Name Best in Tackling Innovation and Technology July 26, 2006 - As our fall events approach, CGT is excited to begin our annual awards process. We are calling on you to help us determine which consumer goods companies will join the ranks with past award winners such as PepsiCo, Gillette, General Mills and Del Monte. This year's winners will be selected based on their exceptional ability to leverage business process and technology in the areas of product innovation, customer management and more. This year's awards are as follows: The innovation awards will be presented at the Growth & Innovation Forum, September 25-27, 2006 in the following categories:
Awards will be presented to CG firms that have risen above the pack to improve their business performance through enabling technologies. They will be presented at the eighth annual 2006 Consumer Goods Fall Conference on October 22-25, 2006, in the following categories:
We welcome you to make nominations for these prestigious awards by August 4, 2006. Please click here to fill out nomination form.
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| TechTactics |
| BCBG Max Azria Group Selects E-Commerce Partner BCBG Max Azria Group signs a multiyear agreement with GSI Commerce Inc., under which GSI Commerce will provide a full-service e-commerce solution for its BCBG Max Azria and BCBGirls brands. With an expected launch in the first quarter of 2007, the BCBG Max Azria and BCBGirls Web stores will feature a range of products, including women's ready-to-wear, evening dresses, suits, separates, denim, eyewear, swimwear, footwear, handbags and small leather goods. "We chose GSI Commerce as our partner because of the company's e-commerce expertise in the fashion apparel category and the overall quality of their e-commerce platform," says Max Azria, designer, chairman and chief executive officer of BCBG Max Azria Group. "We look forward to this partnership and to offering BCBG Max Azria and BCBGirls to our customers online." OGIO Drives Global Trade Efficiency Bag designer OGIO will implement TradeCard Platform from TradeCard Inc. to generate new process efficiencies that will eliminate paper-based and manual processes, automate transactions from order to payment and leverage online financial services to support the company's growth. TradeCard's SourceView will provide event tracking functionality to control the movement of goods in the supply chain and enable visibility to eliminate PO delivery surprises. "The TradeCard Platform and SourceView suite will help us reduce costs by automating purchase order management processes from PO issuance through chargebacks," says Gary Bowen, CFO of OGIO. "TradeCard will also enable us to better manage events in the supply chain including vendor compliance and goods receipt reconciliation." Poli-Film Minimizes Inventory and Boosts Sales |
| Pulse |
| L'Oreal OTC Sunscreen Gains FDA Approval The Food & Drug Administration approves L'Oreal's over-the-counter sunscreen called Anthelios SX that contains an ingredient that blocks the type of harmful ultraviolet radiation linked to some cancers. The product has been used overseas for years but never before in the United States. The sunscreen, produced in France, contains an ingredient (ecamsule) that blocks out ultraviolet A rays, which penetrate deeper than ultraviolet B rays associated with more common sunburns. Mattel to Acquire Radica Mattel Inc. will acquire Radica, the maker of electronic entertainment toys. The transaction, which has been approved by the companies' respective boards of directors, is valued at approximately $230 million. A leader in the electronics arena, Radica manufactures and markets a diverse line of electronic entertainment products covering multiple business areas, including electronic games carrying the Radica, 20Q and Play TV brand names and youth electronics carrying the Girl Tech brand name. "The addition of Radica to the Mattel portfolio provides Mattel the opportunity to partner our global brands with Radica's technological expertise to better participate in the burgeoning electronic toys arena," says Robert A. Eckert, chairman and chief executive officer of Mattel. "Radica's entrepreneurial spirit has allowed Radica to capture and deliver on some of the hottest trends in electronics, and the company has a proven track record of utilizing technology to reinvent basic play." Under Armour Strengthens International Reach Under Armour Inc., a developer, marketer and distributor of branded performance apparel, footwear and accessories, signs a series of agreements with key international master agents and distributors to manage the distribution of Under Armour products on a global level. These strategic partnerships are designed to service local retailers' demand for Under Armour products to help sustain Under Armour's continued growth throughout international territories. The terms of each agreement provide for distribution rights of Under Armour in the following countries: - Equation Performance: France and Andorra - Main Sport: Germany and Austria - Sportbox SRL: Italy - Fiddes Enterprises: Australia/Pacific Islands - SGA Vanneste: Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands - MnO International: Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia
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| Retail Scene |
| Self-Checkout Slashes Sales of Impulse Items Shoppers are 45.4 percent less likely to purchase impulse items when they use self-checkout, according to IHL Consulting Group's market study, "2006 North American Self-Checkout Systems." In 2005, consumers spent $110.9 billion on self-checkout transactions, up 35 percent from the previous year. However, sales of impulse items, including gum and mints, chocolates and other candy, soda and water, and magazines, have dropped significantly. Lowe's Aims to Increase Profit Lowe's implements Acorn Systems' Profitability and Analysis solution. The system provides a platform for corporate performance management and includes functionality in activity based costing. Acorn's application is designed to provide visibility into the profitability of individual stores and products. Danier Leather Improves In-Stocks Danier Leather deploys Retalon allocation expert software system. The analytic system is expected to help Danier Leather improve its in-stock position and reduce time spent on transferring merchandise between stores. The software automatically determines the viability of an inter-store merchandise transfer, allowing one store to eliminate overstocks while another decreases out-of-stocks.
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| New Technology |
| Vision Chain and Interactive Edge Partner Vision Chain and Interactive Edge intend to partner in bringing best-in-class business intelligence solutions to market for consumer goods companies. The partnership combines each company's software. End-users from sales, marketing, category management and others will be able to access the demand and supply chain information housed within Vision Chain's Demand Signal Repository through the MS PowerPoint based XP3 Suite from Interactive Edge. This will allow users of XP3 to analyze and visualize insights in a time saving manner while improving the performance of their business. RedPrairie Acquires BlueCube Software RedPrairie Corporation completes its acquisition of BlueCube Software. The combined company will unify and support all products and services from both organizations within RedPrairie's end-to-end E2e suite. BlueCube Software President Kim Eaton will continue to lead this organization under the direction of RedPrairie Company Leader John Jazwiec.
GXS Helps Reduce Data Entry Errors for SMBs GXS announces the availability of GXS Accounting Package Accelerators, an out-of-the-box service that enables small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to integrate e-commerce transactions with many of today's popular accounting software packages. With GXS Accounting Package Accelerators, businesses' electronic data interchange (EDI)-based transactions are automatically entered into their accounting systems, making the accounting integration process more efficient, increasing employee productivity and reducing data errors. |
| Management on the Move |
| Jim Beam Begins Hunt for New Marketing Chief Beam Global Spirits & Wine is looking for someone to run its marketing department now that Chief Marketing Officer Beth Bronner is leaving the company to pursue other interests. Bronner joined Beam as senior vice president-marketing in fall 2003 after working for various consumer goods companies, including Revlon, Nabisco, AT&T, Haagen Daaz, Slimfast, Citibank and Sunbeam. After Beam's $1.2 billion 2005 acquisition of brands from Allied Domeq, Bronner was charged with scaling Beam's marketing to its new stature as the world's No. 4 distiller. She increased marketing personnel to 160 from 85, and planned aggressive increases in spending abroad. John Muller, the company's senior vice president-strategy and corporate development, will take on Bronner's responsibilities until a replacement is found. Wal-Mart Appoints Head of Corporate Affairs and Government Relations Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announces that Leslie Dach will join the company as executive vice president of corporate affairs and government relations. He will report to President and Chief Executive Officer Lee Scott, and will serve as a member of the company's executive committee. Dach's responsibilities will include oversight of the company's communications and government relations, as well as the Wal-Mart Foundation. Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Dach was vice chairman of Edelman, a global public relations and strategic communications firms. In that capacity, he managed the company's Washington office, its global public affairs, crisis and technology practices, and its research and advertising companies. For the last year, he has led Edelman's team supporting Wal-Mart's corporate affairs operations.
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| Vantage Point |
| Weatherproofing the Supply Chain Let information transparency and responsiveness be your umbrellas By Michael Matacunas, vice president of product strategy, Manhattan Associates
When devastating storms, hurricanes and other natural disasters strike, they can cause chaos, product shortages and suffering. Supplies are often short in disaster areas, with customers frantically searching for essential items. However, adept use of sophisticated information tools allows retailers and suppliers to moderate the effect of natural disasters by "weatherproofing" the supply chain. That means diverting product shipments, placing inventory in forward locations and anticipating potential spikes in demand. An example of the effectiveness of weatherproofing the supply chain is a large retail chain's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The retailer used its enormous distribution network to fully stock its shelves and bolster store inventories ahead of time. It was fully prepared for massive increases in demand before and after the hurricane struck. While state and federal officials were widely criticized, the retailer was lauded for its logistical efficiency and careful disaster planning. The company reportedly had 45 tractor-trailer trucks full of goods ready at its Brookhaven, Mississippi distribution center before Katrina struck. Behind the scenes, the retailer's state-of-the-art information systems played a key role in making sure the right supplies were in the right location at the right time. The company's Hurricane Katrina plan is an excellent illustration of the two major issues in weatherproofing the supply chain: information transparency and responsiveness.
Information Transparency In times of crisis, information transparency is critical to providing visibility into the movement of product and understanding the impact on operations. Information transparency has several components, including:
For example, in a weather-related crisis, a retailer is likely to face disruptions in receiving products allocated to affected areas, particularly products that are en route. If the retailer, carrier, and supplier have the same real-time product tracking information, product can be rerouted and scheduled for a nearby distribution center or another forward location. Responsiveness Information transparency is the only way for retailers to gain the responsiveness they need to sense and react to changing demand. It also allows them to "shape demand"-moving product out of harms way by re-allocating it to other areas, and using promotional events to move more product in those areas. This type of responsiveness can help maintain top line profits even during an emergency.
There are several kinds of product movement intelligence tools, including RFID tagging on pallets and cartons. Such tools allow visibility into individual trucks, their contents and the exact location of product on the truck. The latter information is vital if a truck is rerouted since it will need to arrive at multiple destinations in the right order, facilitating efficient unloading. Product movement intelligence tools are also critical to making good financial decisions in a crisis situation. Supply chain executives need full cost visibility, including carrying, shipping and purchasing costs. They must to be able to answer "what if" questions, such as the impact of changing a transportation option on costs and margins. A second type of responsiveness tool is the ability to anticipate demand changes. Storms and other natural disasters are rarely total surprises, but companies have a very short period of time in which to react to them. The key is the ability to sense and react, and that comes in several ways. Single Point of Demand The best approach is to drive the supply chain by using a single point of demand. That means taking inventory from the chosen consumption pointtypically retail transactionsand aggregating that information to determine how much product will be sold in each location, how much product needs to be in the distribution network, and finally, how much product individual stores must buy and when. Added to that is the ability to factor in unscheduled events, such as natural disasters, that might spike or shift demand dramatically. After such information is automatically connected with supply chain activity, users can act on a set of recommended actions. Using a single point of demand means filtering out other demand "noise" from the supply chain. Traditionally, companies have tried to forecast demand by aggregating information from distribution centers and retail stores. This approach produces inaccurate demand estimates. What is needed is a single demand signal at the lowest point of consumption, which is typically in the store or on the Web when a consumer buys a product. Using a single point of demand leads to greater demand visibility because time is not wasted reconciling information from different units inside the company. This approach has allowed companies to de-bottleneck a great deal of inventory. It also gives companies a true picture of demand and eliminates problems such as a distribution center overriding an order because of its own "rules." Single point of demand information also allows more effective labor planning and warehouse scheduling. This is particularly important in emergency situations, such as natural disasters. For example, if a company is expecting high volume on a Monday, low volume on a Tuesday and resumed high volume the rest of the week, it can respond by scheduling people effectively and planning for asset replenishment back through the supply chain. Demand Shaping "Demand shaping" is another essential feature for weatherproofing the supply chain. If a disruptive event such as a major storm is predicted in one area, retailers need the ability to increase sales at other locations to protect top line profits. That may include developing an unscheduled promotion and diverting certain non-essential products from the storm-affected area to the location where the new promotion will take place. To be able to shape a scenario like this, retailers must know the true costs of and delivery times for product in the supply chain. They can then "shape" demand based on the supply chain's capacity constraints, which differ for each company. For example, a large supermarket chain might shape demand based on the fact that they have perishable goods with a three-day window, so they can't move products too far from the original destination. On the other hand, if a retailer has a large distribution center with goods on pallets that can be transported long distances, the retailer can run a different kind of sales event and optimize the investment.
Mitigating the Effects Hurricanes and other natural disasters, while devastating, can be mitigated through good planning. It is the responsibility of retailers and suppliers to help weatherproof the supply chain so it can withstand and help respond to the dislocations caused by these events. By using today's advanced planning and information tools while pursuing the twin goals of information transparency and responsiveness, we can move a long way toward that goal. |