Company Activity Marks Level

Dedicated carriers with responsibility for heavy traffic routes are used. Work is most often performed in this level as a special study, frequently done with the help of a third-party advisor. Significant, more comprehensive data collection typically accompanies these studies. 

An early effort in this area proved what could be accomplished by coordinating communications and delivery between supply chain partners. Nabisco, the Parsippany, New Jersey-based manufacturer of the familiar Planters Peanuts, and Wegmans Food Markets of Rochester, New York, with the help of software developed by Nistevo of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, teamed up in the fall of 2000 to develop a new way of handling delivery service from the farming of nuts through manufacture and delivery to retail stores. 

Under the new system, instead of the supplier deciding how much to ship to the retailer and pushing inventory forward in the system toward the retailer s distribution centers, the firms worked out an arrangement that was more contemporary and mutually beneficial. Nabisco and Wegmans now exchange sales forecasts via the Web and agree on the amounts to meet the retailer s needs. With a firm idea of what is needed, contact is made with the Nabisco offices in Brazil, for example, signaling the need for cashews. The nuts are picked and packed and shipments are sent to Jacksonville, Florida. 

This type of investigation can extend beyond transportation and the use of trucks, rail cars, ships, and planes, as serious consideration is given to the total assets tied up in warehouse space and DCs. Now those in the logistics center question Are the facilities in the right place Do we have more space than we need Are the facilities performing the correct function Do we have the best total cost of delivery and storage Would we do better to turn over this part of the function to a more-qualified partner  

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