Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

The recent high profile cases of horsemeat DNA appearing in products marked as beef and other meats have generated a fair amount of humour but they also place great strain on FMCG Supply Chains. Thousands of Supply Chain professionals around the…

If you live in or have visited Bucharest you may well have seen one or two stray dogs hanging around the city. Well, ok more than one or two but numbers have certainly decreased over the last couple of years. A proposal was made in 2010 to organise…

“After eating what he thought was a beef burger at a Shergar King outlet my friend was taken to a private hospital where he is now in a stable condition. While he has recovered well he has been saddled with an expensive invoice for medical services.…

I note that the faceless suits in Brussels relaxed the laws on misshapen fruit and vegetables in 2009. The soaking the UK has received last “summer” has now seen supermarket chains further relax their standards on how fresh produce should appear. I…

Back in the days when the only reality TV was live sport, a tablet got rid of your headache and a mobile was a normal phone with a longer cable, I used to run a large FMCG factory. Long before TPM was implemented the factory cost base was huge and…

Nearly the year end. Have you started planning for that party? Are the presents all sorted out? Cards ready before the final posting date? No, I thought not. All the fuss will be over before you know it and then January will see the usual raft of…

Sorry to repeat myself but Roman Abramovich is like a man who constantly returns cheese to the supermarket complaining it is mouldy and nobody is brave enough to tell him it is Roquefort. I can hardly believe I write that same text only 262 days…

The ancient Rolls Royce slowly chugged up the lane toward the big house. The thin wheels crunched at the white gravel as the car came to a halt opposite the imposing doors of the Abbey House. A full squad of staff in white and black livery was…

Marriage is quite a project, isn’t it? You take a look at what is on the market and get to know a few possibilities. You may search for a long time to find the right partner who will sweep you off your feet and eventually carry you over the…

I am not a fan of reality TV at all. These programmes seem to promote the worst in people and you end up with “celebrities” who actually have no talent and in most cases, fewer brains. Seeking more than their usually allotted 15 minutes of fame they…

The proposal by the UK and other Commonwealth governments to share diplomatic missions and facilities around the world is perhaps initially surprising but for once in the world of diplomacy, it makes great sense. When most of the activities taking…

There remains so much discussion and debate around planning, S&OP and APO etc that the “make” element of Supply Chain has not had much air time. Regional and global strategies are reasonably well represented but it is what is actually going on…

When the biology teacher tells you humans have a tail your ears prick up and you wait for the punch line and inevitable student guffaw. But it’s true! Our coccyx or tailbone is what remains of our lost tail. All mammals have a tail at one point in…

There are many ways to link all the different planning activities in your FMCG company. This could be done with one single tool like the SAP Advanced Planning Optimiser or a host of other tools and packages. As with all IT you need to know how to…

This post on migration and return of retailers to the high street had me thinking about a similar effect in manufacturing. No, I don’t mean FMCG companies are now placing factories in towns and villages next to post offices and fast “food” outlets.…