Elders increases commitment to livestock supply chain

Elders Rural Services managing director Mike Guerin says Elders will create a Customer Solutions Management unit solely focused on meeting customer demand for Australian meat and livestock.

“As well as servicing Australian agricultural producers, one of the most important core functions performed by Elders Rural Services is the supply of livestock to our processor, feedlot, live export and retail purchasing customers from our producer client base,” Mr Guerin said.

The new Customer Solutions Management unit will be led by Elders’ National Marketing Manager for Meat & Livestock, Hamish Browning, reporting to Elders’ General Manager Meat & Livestock, Jack Gleeson.

Mr Gleeson says the core functions of this Customer Solutions Management business unit are to:

• Develop and deliver improved and targeted service to key livestock purchasing customers.

• Facilitate the introduction of strategic innovations that drive value creation for key purchasing customer businesses.

• Mobilise, influence, and coordinate network supply chain capabilities to meet identified purchasing customer demand requirements.

Source : sl.farmonline.com.au

Study Shows Barrier to Green Supply Chain Initiatives

Companies striving to "green" their supply chains are most constrained by the inability to justify cost of implementation, according to "The Green Supply Chain Study," a new survey jointly conducted by CSC, Manhattan Associates, IBM and Supply Chain Management Review magazine.

The study focuses on the most important environmental issues faced by supply chain professionals; outlines the supply chain green initiatives currently implemented or planned in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution; gauges the level of green collaboration with extended supply chain partners; and highlights the greatest challenges for implementing sustainable business practices.

The survey revealed that 78 percent of the 250 supply chain executives who responded are either currently implementing or evaluating sustainable supply chain initiatives. Of those evaluating, close to two-thirds report the greatest barriers their organizations face with regard to establishing these business practices is cost justification. Of those currently implementing a program, 40 percent have not established a method to measure return on investment.

"CSC helped conduct this study to give supply chain executives a view into what strategic green supply chain initiatives are being implemented or planned by their peers and to help them better understand the impact of their efforts," said Brad Barton, a partner and managing director in CSC's Global Business Solutions group. "The results speak for themselves. Companies clearly need an effective method to identify and quantify high-impact areas throughout their supply chain and ensure their investments are green -- especially in cases where these efforts also drive improved profitability."

According to the survey, more than 50 percent of the respondents said they have a documented plan at the corporate level, and about the same number said their company has a senior executive, often a vice president, dedicated to this effort. Nearly two-thirds said waste disposal and recycling were the most important environmental issues to address.

"This study reveals the importance that companies place on reducing environmental impact by executing strategies that optimize efficiency in their supply chain processes," said Eddie Capel, executive vice president, Product Management and Customer Support, for Manhattan Associates.

Many of the supply chain and logistics executives surveyed are involved in at least one sustainability-related group. The study indicates that more than a third are involved in the EPA's SmartWay Transport program, and one-quarter of respondents report that their organizations are actively involved in the Green Suppliers Network and/or Carbon Disclosure Project.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))

http://www.10meters.com

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

Business is booming for SA supply chain

Despite the tendency of the media and the SA public to focus on the negative, large-scale infrastructure projects continue to forge ahead and investment continues to flow.

For those in the supply chain industry, this means an abundance of opportunities as a real enabler of economic growth.

“These are exciting times for those in the supply chain game,” said John van Wyk, director of sales and marketing at Barloworld Logistics. “We may be a small contributor to global GDP, but Africa is going through a rebirth and the forward-thinking players have great opportunities for trade.”

Barloworld Logistics has produced its 2008 supplychainforesight report, which focused on supply chain capability of local companies and the level of complexity their supply chains face. The report found a significant correlation between supply chain reform and business success. Most often, reform involved a re-evaluation of supplier and customer relationships in facing up to growth and globalisation imperatives.

“The companies that mastered complexity were usually early adopters who identified the pockets of opportunity that exist for those operating out of Africa. Those who built up supply chains early have benefited. For latecomers, there are choices — accept a move to complexity and invest in skills, or focus on being strong locally in their own markets. Playing globally requires investing in greater capability to avoid marginalisation,” said Van Wyk.

“The perennial challenge is forecasting and planning, and the better players excel in this area. Companies that plan properly are best placed to take advantage of market conditions, instead of being reactive. The reality is that too many companies focus on operational performance only,” he added. — Brendan Peacock

Source: thetimes

Juggle that carbon: IBM releases a tool for managing the impact of corporate supply chains

The services team at IBM Global Business Services has developed a software application for helping companies collect, analyze and manage the impact of their supply chains when it comes to carbon footprints.

Called the Carbon Tradeoff Modeler, the application does things like help an executive understand and balance the tradeoff between adopting a carbon emissions reduction effort and supply-chain metrics such as the ability to deliver products on time. A module called the Carbon Management Analysis Tool points out where emissions and costs can be achieved simultaneously.

Among the factors that the software can follow are packaging options, alternative operations ideas, alternative methods of transportation and fuels, and overall sourcing policies. So, if your company is thinking about switching lot sizes, you can test what impact that might have on transportation requirements and associated emissions.

Here’s the whole skinnyon the software, in IBM’s words.

IBM has also provided the link for a white paper on ideas for carbon management practices (Mastering Carbon Management: Balancing Tradeoffs to Optimize Supply Chain Efficiencies), which can be found here.

Also wanted to mention a couple of other new technologies from IBM that were announced a few weeks back during its IBM Business Partner Leadership Conference. They include an update to the IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager, which (as it might sound) keeps tabs on power consumption in data center and lets IT managers make adjustments to affect usage levels. The software works with sensor technology from SynapSense, which I’ve written about a couple of times.

The other thing worth taking a look at is an energy-efficiency benchmark tool that wasn’t developed by IBM but that it recommends businesses use to compare their power profile with other companies. The tool (produced by The Bathwick Group) can be found at this link.