Fifty of the world’s largest food, beverage, and consumer product
manufacturers are teaming up with the industry trade association Grocery Manufacturers of America to
explore the creation of a new, open electronic B2B marketplace.
The idea is to make the electronic marketplace accessible to all supply chain
players, beginning with the procurement of materials, supplies and services.
Companies involved include General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Coca
Cola and Kraft, among a host of other household names.
Initially, the effort would bring multiple buyers and sellers into a virtual
marketplace to support catalog purchasing, bidding and price quotes, online
sourcing and auctions
for raw materials, packaging supplies, and other goods and services critical
to their operations, the GMA said.
The exchange could eventually encompass other supply chain processes, such as
collaborative planning and demand management, flow management, order
fulfillment, customer service, new product commercialization, and
relationship management. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler recently announced
a similar initiative for the automotive industry.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is providing e-business consulting support for the
grocery initiative, including strategy, design and infrastructure consulting
services.
Participants expect to reach a definitive agreement on the terms, including
name, ownership structure for the venture, and provisions to protect the
confidentiality of a company’s information, in the second quarter.
GMA said it has been working closely with consumer packaged goods executives
to
identify areas within the industry where traditional business models and
processes can be transformed using the Internet.
“The new marketplace will dramatically change the way we do business, by
providing a standard for manufacturers and their suppliers to fill their
procurement needs and more effectively facilitate other business processes in
our industry,” said GMA President and Chief Executive Officer C. Manly Molpus.
Led by a board of 44 chief executive officers, the GMA applies legal,
scientific and political expertise from its member companies to food,
nutrition and public policy issues affecting the industry.
