How Del Monte Pushed its Supply Chain Limits
Del Monte Foods, one of the largest and most well-known producers, distributors and marketers of premium quality, branded food and pet products, has undergone a successful and widely publicized demand-driven supply chain transformation journey. With its most recent project, Del Monte extended its demand-driven principles to its supply network of co-manufacturers, co-packers, raw material suppliers and 3PL providers to reduce overall inventory cost and improve operational efficiency.
On May 19, 2011, during a CGT Web seminar, attendees met Chief Procurement Officer David McLain, who revealed how Del Monte executed its supplier collaboration project with One Network Enterprises. The following are some highlights from the Web event:
--McLain detailed many aspects of Del Monte’s journey, including how it aligned strategic goals to free working capital while maintaining industry-leading service levels. He focused on continuous improvement projects and the use of cloud-based technology, which integrates with Del Monte’s ERP system to synchronize planning, execution and procurement with its supply network. “We have made several strategic investments that help us with transportation optimization, deployment execution, and really coming to our inbound supply solutions,” explained McLain. He also shared key takeaways and lessons learned along the way. These included giving your supply chain a reason to say “yes” (Del Monte does not charge suppliers for demand-driven tools and the solution provides significant visibility and benefits to its suppliers); aligning to the needs of all players in the procure-to-pay process; and don’t underestimate the importance of data quality. “Those were our three key focal points for what we could do to make it a quicker time to implementation and a quicker time to benefit,” he said.
--Todd Walker, product marketing director, One Network, joined the conversation to share his perspective as one of Del Monte’s solution providers. Walker focused on the company’s mission, which includes enabling demand-driven value networks from the end customer to the raw material supplier and its carriers, and to deliver services that allow enterprises to improve service levels and reduce costs that free up working capital. Walker closed, “We leverage the forward most demand to predict planning requirements, compute execution activity and optimize logistics.”
To listen to this event in its entirety, click here.