Here you can view all the case studies featured on Supply Chain Analysis in one place.

Each case study shows how food & grocery industry companies are identifying and overcoming supply chain issues, and will help highlight industry best practice and provide learning for your business.

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Coca-Cola Enterprises is the world’s largest marketer, producer and distributor of Coca-Cola products. Learn about its commitment to Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, and how it has embedded it into every aspect of the business.

Winner of the 2009 Ian MacLaurin Award for Supply Chain Excellence, this case study highlights how the Booker-DHL collaboration delivered an innovative end-to-end solution meeting the unique challenges of the supply chain supporting the HM Prison Service.

The biggest threat to The Ice Company Group, the largest supplier of packaged ice cubes in Europe, and that of their customers, is Out-of-Stocks (OOS) and therefore lost business and loss of profit. To address this, this case study highlights how the company has become a fully vertically integrated manufacturer.

Palmer & Harvey (P&H) implemented some wide ranging changes in its supply chain operations with an aim to achieve flexibility, improved service level, manage continued growth and an increased level of promotional activity. This case study highlights how P&H has increased its focus on stockless supply, particularly in chill to achieve these.

Prior to developing Tesco’s Stock Reduction Toolkit alongside four other suppliers, Britvic was part of a Tesco initiative to pilot a reduction in lead times for some of its key lines. The case study highlights how this helped in the development of the toolkit in a relevant way for a wide variety of suppliers, big and small and achieving some clear business benefits including a depot service level of 99.8%.

Kimberly-Clark no longer ends its responsibility at the customer’s distribution centre. “From the Shelf Back” puts Kimberly-Clark at the heart of the supply chain – up to and including on-shelf availability. Read this exclusive case study to find out more about the progress the company has made in executing the plan.

The objectives of reducing lead time sat as an integral part of Cadbury’s Joint Supply Plan and linked into the overall Joint Business Planning process. The trial has given Cadbury’s some good results and enabled them to drive vehicle utilisation, stockholding and availability metrics whilst maintaining the service order fill.

Tesco set up the Leading Edge Supplier Forum in 2007 to harness the wealth of supplier expertise and knowledge and channel it into driving accelerated value growth for Tesco and their supply base. Through a process of pro-active supply chain engagement and an emphasis on action, the Forum has achieved breakthroughs and cascaded industry best-practice.

A successful VMI relationship has previously not existed in the wholesale channel. But, in April 2007, CCE and Booker committed to delivering a ‘full’ VMI working relationship. The CCE VMI solution in Booker has now been in place for 2 years, and is recognised by Booker as being best in class. This solution has given CCE more visibility of demand spikes and has driven increased efficiency into both supply chains.

Somerfield wanted to improve the value it obtained from spending on non-sale items like consumables (pens, paper etc), work wear and packaging. Over the last two years, Somerfield has rationalised its distribution network, consolidated its supplier base and reduced stock holding costs of non-sale SKUs by 35%.

At IGD’s Supply Chain Summit, Douglas Gurr - Strategy, Logistics & New Business Director, shared insights into ASDA’s global sourcing and imports strategy, outlining some of their proactive strategies to manage risk and maintain supply in a turbulent and rapidly globalising world.

Within Tesco there are a number of Directors who are accountable for identifying and implementing productivity improvements across the business. At IGD’s Supply Chain Summit, Douglas Nesbit – Replenishment Step Change Director, explained how Tesco use innovation to drive efficiency in their supply chain.

Over recent years, Sainsbury’s has implemented many changes in their supply chain to drive flexibility and responsiveness. At IGD’s Supply Chain Summit, Tim Goalen - Director of Supply Chain Operations, showcased some of these initiatives, whilst also providing insights into the Sainsbury’s strategy for future growth through simplifying and re-engineering replenishment processes and driving improved supplier collaboration.

Transport collaboration reduces the number of empty transport legs, the total number of road miles travelled and the carbon emissions associated with transport. ECR UK has a Sustainable Distribution initiative which involves many of the UK’s leading household brands partnering on initiatives which have saved the industry 53 million miles in 2007 and 2008.

Ceva operate a consolidation centre for the supply of Tesco’s ethnic food range. At IGD’s Supply Chain Summit, Ceva and Tesco shared some of the benefits from consolidating the delivery of products in this category.

IGD visited the Waitrose composite food warehouse at Aylesford, Kent in the UK to gain insight into how a leading supermarket retailer is managing their in-house distribution operation.

IGD took a short tour of the central warehouse for prescription medicines at Boots’ 35-acre campus in Dunkirk, Nottingham, UK.

Daventry 1 is a National Distribution Centre for Tesco clothing and home textiles, and also uses the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) to move deliveries up to the Tesco distribution centre at Livingston in Scotland via the Grangemouth Rail Terminal near Glasgow.

The ASC at Lutterworth is one of eight reverse logistics centres in the ASDA network. The Lutterworth hub also houses the national returns centre for electrical goods and some non-electrical lines. As such, this site is a flagship depot in the ASC network.

In 2002 Asda recognised the importance of locally sourced products and created a local sourcing team to develop a local sourcing hub in Plumgarth near Kendal in Cumbria, to act as a consolidation centre for local specialist food producers.

In Nestlé’s beverage division, stocks of coffee have been reduced by 47% since 2006.

Although the 7 wastes were first identified by Toyota, their relevance extends beyond the car industry.

Toyota is one of the most successful companies in the world today. Its march from humble beginnings as a textile machinery manufacturer to the world’s largest car manufacturer in 2007 is one of the most remarkable examples of managing for the long-term.

Evidence from the work of IGD’s Food Chain Centre confirms that demand amplification is prevalent across primary food chains.

High in-store stock levels were viewed by House of Fraser as hampering great customer service. Stockrooms were overloaded and were proving difficult to manage efficiently, leading to product location issues and availability problems on the shop-floor...

Accountability and execution are two important factors when delivering a change agenda. ASDA’s retail change programme for stores focused on driving accountability and improving in-store execution in the last 50 metres of the product’s journey to shelf...

Soft drinks manufacturer AG Barr has been working to implement Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) as a way to better manage a high number of SKU's, a complex distribution network, and a large and varied customer base...

Filling shelves is a core activity for any retailer and Tesco has been focussing on making far-reaching improvements to this process. With over two billion cases of product to receive, unwrap, and get onto shelf, the challenges are not insignificant...

Scottish & Newcastle looked at promotional effectiveness, covering weather, SKU volatility and the manufacturing process...

Dairy Crest worked on developing RRP solutions for its Cathedral City brand.

Although not, strictly speaking, a grocery retailer, WH Smith shares many of the same challenges in that it must make frequent deliveries of bulky, fairly low-value items to a widely-distributed store portfolio.

January 2007 was a key date for Tesco; the company, which has historically been noted for the stability and consistency of its business approach, chose to embed sustainability criteria into its business for the first time by modifying its long-standing “steering wheel” concept to include the new goals of “being a good neighbour” and “being responsible, fair and honest”.

Reckitt Benckiser provides an excellent examplar of the UK’s community of internationally-active branded grocery manufacturers.

Douglas Gurr, Strategy & Logistics Director at Asda was a key member of the FISS champions group for food transport, and has gone “on the record” at IGD events in order to promote the suggestions of the group.

Organix previously supplied Tesco with Snack Bags in a case of 10. Due to rate of sale, there were frequent availability issues, with availability previously tracking at approx 96%.

Driven by the mandate of the leading Major Multiples, Marston’s undertook a development programme to provide an SRP solution for single 500ml NRB in an eight pack format. Crucially, this solution aligns with its production plant, meets all the defined success criteria and has been acclaimed as “best in class” in a recent trade assessment.

An overview on how Woolworths is adopting RRP practices through its stores.

Details of the Global Data Synchronisation (GDS) test undertaken by Carrefour and Vania Expansion.

Key features of the work that Carrefour and Unilever have done together to improve supply chain performance.

Overview of the solutions implemented by Auchan Group's Imports/Exports team in order to ensure the smooth flow of mainly non-food, promotional merchandise from the Far East.

Auchan's use of containerised river transport in France

Carrefour has placed a significant recent focus on implementing Shelf Ready Packaging.

The problem of how to display bags of confectionery is a longstanding one. Asda, like the other major multiples, originally hung the bags from bars on the fixture. This was problematic, slow to replenish and an inefficient use of the cube. After switching to metal fixture tubs or 'buckets of fun', replenishment times improved but it was harder for the customer to identify the products – something that is vital in an area of high impulse sales.