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THE BIG CHALLENGE IS IN THE EXECUTION

Fleming is not the only grocery operation experimenting with the multitiered distribution model. slow movers into regional centers while ramping up flow-through operations on high-velocity items, said Richard Kochersperger, president of the Food Marketing Group, Wallingford, Pa.Some self-distributing retailers, like Ahold, Chantilly, Va., are also moving along these lines, he added.While theoretically

Fleming is not the only grocery operation experimenting with the multitiered distribution model.

slow movers into regional centers while ramping up flow-through operations on high-velocity items, said Richard Kochersperger, president of the Food Marketing Group, Wallingford, Pa.

Some self-distributing retailers, like Ahold, Chantilly, Va., are also moving along these lines, he added.

While theoretically sound, the challenge is in the execution, Kochersperger said.

The problem lies in the buying and procurement, not the logistics, he added.

If you do not buy right, and if you don't have the proper cooperation on the vendor side, you can't distribute right, he explained.

"The industry isn't structured to make it work," he said. "I don't know of a single distributor in the U.S. where buying and procurement belongs to logistics. Until that happens, a lot of this isn't going to work."

According to Kochersperger, the process is moving very slowly, and he has not seen any of the three major distributors take any concrete steps toward the delicate task of restructuring.

"Until we change our organizational structures to reflect the ability to control the entire chain through one executive within the organization, we cannot achieve the efficiencies that are possible," he said.