The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) have issued their recommendations for reducing the volume of unsaleable products. Developed by the Unsaleables Leadership Task Force, their report outlines how manufacturers and retailers should collaborate to fix the root causes of unsaleables and improve supply chain efficiencies.
http://www.fmi.org/supply/logistics/GMA_Unsale.pdf
Key recommendations include:
* Unsaleable products should be processed through reclamation centers.
* Trading partners should use product condition data to better understand where and how damage occurs in the supply chain.
* Current data synchronization and registration initiatives should be expanded to help reduce unsaleable product volume.
* Trading partners should continue to use the voluntary guidelines and tools published in the “Joint Industry Report: Product Reclamation Centers in 1990” – now known as the JIR – for efficient product reclamation.
“Despite the advances we have made in supply chain technologies and efficiencies, the costs of unsaleables continue to increase,” says Karin Croft, GMA’s senior director of industry affairs. “To change this situation, manufacturers and retailers must work together to identify and correct the root causes of unsaleable products.”
Since the first industry benchmarks were published in 1995, the average reported rate of unsaleables has grown from 0.75% to 1.06% in 2004. The task force was formed to develop new recommendations for lowering the rate of unsaleables. It comprises representatives from more than 30 manufacturers and retailers.
