The Pulse -- June 2005

P&G Builds New Product Category
Procter & Gamble (P&G) attributes the success of its $16 billion-dollar brands to consumer-driven innovation. Building upon a significant potential for new dishwashing products, P&G has now created an entirely new consumer product and Airspray market segment category with the introduction of an instant-foam dishwashing liquid. In mature categories with infrequent innovations, consumers have responded well to the introduction of instant foam variants. The one-touch, dispensing technology will be used in PGUK's Fairy brand of dishwashing liquid, currently being shipped to retail. Initial distribution of this consumer product will be throughout the United Kingdom. Fairy is a mainstay of the $13.9 billion Fabric and Home Care unit.

UCCNET/TRANSORA Unite
In the latest move toward Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) consolidation, UCCnet and Transora will unite their operations, business strategies and vision to form a single organization that can more effectively serve companies seeking value from data synchronization. As a subsidiary of the Uniform Code Council Inc. (UCC), the organization will represent more than 4,500 consumer products companies and many of the word's leading retail organizations.

While AMR Research Analyst Kara Romanow says consolidation will likely spur the adoption of the GDSN, she says there are too many outstanding critical issues to call this deal a slam dunk. To be successful, the newly merged UCCnet/Transora organization needs to reconcile how it adheres to standards while continuing to drive new pre-standard functionality. "It is as much of a cultural transition as a technology fusion, and the combined company will need to prioritize its approach according to its customer demand short- and long-term business strategy," say Romanow. "In fact, over the long term, Transora/UCCnet needs to sit down with GNX/WWRE and determine how they will coexist in order to really accelerate global GDSN adoption."

In May, GNX and the WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE) also entered into an agreement to merge, combining their technology solutions into a single platform that connects retailers, manufacturers and business trading partners to share information and manage work processes. According to Romanow, this merger "will ultimately improve the collaborative interactions between retailers and suppliers."

Ballantine RFID Bears Fruitful Rewards
To better track the movement of goods throughout the supply chain with RFID, Ballantine Produce Company, one of the largest companies producing and marketing tree fruit and grapes, purchases Manhattan Associates' Integration Platform for RFID and Warehouse Management solution. In an industry where daily and even hourly variations in temperature can affect a product's shelf life, Ballantine anticipates that RFID will revolutionize the tracking of its produce movement. By deploying Manhattan Associates' RFID-enabled supply chain execution and optimization solutions, Ballantine hopes to achieve increased order accuracy and inventory visibility and to reduce operational costs. With a plan of action already in place, the large produce supplier volunteered to meet its retail customers' RFID compliance initiatives.

Hershey, R.J. Reynolds Praised for Online Customer Respect
The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat customers online, names Hershey Foods best overall in its second quarter 2005 Online Customer Respect Study of the country's largest food, beverage & tobacco firms. McCormick & Co., ConAgra Foods, The Coca-Cola Company, Cargill, Nestlé, Kellogg Company, General Mills, Sara Lee Corporation and H.J. Heinz Company rounded out the top 10 in the consumer foods category, while R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company took home first prize for the tobacco category. The Customer Respect Group study assigns a Customer Respect Index (CRI) rating to each company, which is a qualitative and quantitative analysis and independent measure of a customer's online experience when interacting with companies via the Internet.

Swire Supports 100% Supply Chain Growth
Coca-Cola bottler, Swire Beverages, recently reveled that it achieved all internal forecasting and accuracy goals thanks to the implementation of Manugistics Group Inc.'s solutions. Three years ago, the supply chain servicing Swire's network of eight production facilities and more than 100 sales centers was planned with a manual system that was rapidly reaching breaking point. Swire chose Manugistics to build a specialized Advanced Planning & Scheduling system to help improve planning and enhance efficiency. By enabling more accurate and centralized production planning. Swire's supply chain supported almost 100 percent growth in volume and planning complexity in the last three years without incurring any significant supply chain disruption.