Supply Chain

Smart Approaches to Sustainability in Fresh

Sustainability is a complex subject that includes aspects such as packaging, food waste, recycling and the future of plastics. The fresh industry recognizes the importance and is identifying meaningful strategies to make progress. This was clear ...

Proposed Regulatory Changes Could Offer Truckers Much Needed Flexibility

Grocers know all too well the important role the trucking industry plays not just for food retailers, but for the American economy more broadly. Trucks are responsible for moving 70% of all freight tonnage in the U.S. every year, which includes ...

Past is Prologue: Working with a New Congress to Pass the USMCA

There are 89 freshman House members in the 116thCongress and nine new Senators. Most, if not all these individuals, have not voted on a trade agreement in any context and many come from professions where the impacts and benefits of trade would not ...

Four Things to Know About FMITech@Midwinter

An abundant number of opportunities exist for technology in food retail–from shaping omnichannel success, leveraging data for enhancing customer experiences, streamlining the supply chain, machine learning and everything in between. In order to ...

The Small, But Mighty, Micro-fulfillment Center

One trend emerging at the center of food retail store design is the Micro-Fulfillment Center (MFC), a new automation in the food retail industry. Although small, as the name implies, these warehouses are well equipped to autonomously fulfill online ...

Forced Labor and the Impact on Supply Chain: What Retailers and Manufacturers Need to Know

In today’s “prosumer” world, consumers are placing greater pressure on suppliers and retailers to raise their standards and performance with regards to how products are made and who makes them. Product sourcing is a supply chain responsibility and ...

Photo Friday: FMI President and CEO Joins U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Press Conference to Urge Passage of USMCA

The USMCA takes a very good trade agreement and makes it better by bringing it into the 21st century. It maintains and secures the existing supply chain, resulting in continued growth in U.S. food and beverage exports and strengthens our food safety ...

Food Retail Supply Chain Trends That Are Here to Stay

I recently discussed the food retail supply chain with a group of industry professionals who eat, breath and live it every day. During GS1 Connect, hosted by GS1 US, I presented on a panel discussion along with John Phillips, PepsiCo, Inc. and Chris ...

Building The Supply Chain of Tomorrow At Groceryshop

Although customer-facing technologies often grab the limelight, some of the most impactful technology shifts are those increasing the speed, efficiency and transparency with which products move through the supply chain. These technologies will build ...

Why Collaboration Matters in Addressing Supply Chain Transportation Issues

At June’s TPA Transportation Summit, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Administrator Raymond Martinez acknowledged that our audience of logistics and transportation experts “fuel and feed the economy.” Administrator Martinez ...

For Food Retailers Infrastructure Isn’t Just About Reliable Roads

This week kicked-off the seventh-annual Infrastructure Week, with hundreds of organizations and companies coming together to stress the importance of a reliable, well-managed national infrastructure. This year’s iteration comes at a particularly ...

Backhaul Pilot Project Aims to Reduce Empty Trucks on the Road

The backhaul challenge in transportation is characterized by an imbalance in transport flows between locations. A backhaul, as it relates to trucking capacity and logistics, is the return trip of a commercial truck that is transporting freight back ...

How Does FMI Know the State of the Food Retail Industry?

The first ever The Food Retailing Industry Speaks (Speaks) report appeared in 1949. Seventy years later, this report continues to provide the food retail industry with important benchmarks, facts and figures that are used in our advocacy work on ...

Technology Just Might Solve the Dwell Time Conundrum

Nobody profits when drivers wait in the loading dock of a distribution center for teams to load or unload their trucks. It costs everybody in food retail. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimates “detention time,” or dwell time, ...

Supply Chain Resilience – Lessons from Florida

I recently met with leading supply chain and disaster response experts, decision makers and other stakeholders in Florida to share our experiences in preparing, responding and recovering from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017. Hosted by ...