Sunday, May 18, 2008

Vendor Collaboration:

Bill Yaglou moderated a session on “Protecting margins in the face of staggering food cost inflation.” The panelist all outlined how their respective organizations have drilled down information along the supply chain and shared that information with vendors. Dairy Queen inventory levels are monitored real time so that both operator and manufacturer are aware of usage and reorder needs.
Paraphrasing Bill’s closing remarks “the time of withholding information from vendors is past. The old adage of squeezing the last cent out of a vendor or customer is over. The industry is moving beyond win/lose relationship between vendor and customer, and more into a collaborative environment where survival of both is calculated into the equation.”