H-E-B, AWI Target Unsaleables

New Unsaleables Report Near

The Food Marketing Institute here is soon expected to release the second part of a major two-part report on reducing unsaleables in the supply chain that encompasses multiple retailers and manufacturers.

The new report, produced by the Reverse Supply Chain Improvement Project, “should be finalized soon,” said Dan Raftery, president of Raftery Resources Network, Antioch, Ill., who served as a consultant on the project. The project, launched in April 2010, is sponsored by FMI with support from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the
National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

The project’s initial report, to which 58 companies contributed, focused on “defining the current state” of unsaleables, said Raftery. The report was released last July. The new report will offer best practices in the five main areas of unsaleables: damages, expiration, recalls, retailer/wholesaler discontinueds and manufacturer discontinued. Among the 41 companies contributing to the new report are: Associated Wholesalers Inc., Bozzuto’s, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Delhaize America, Harris Teeter, H.E. Butt Grocery Co., Kroger, Nash Finch, Spartan Stores, Wakefern Food Corp. and Winn-Dixie Stores.