Supply Chain Ireland

IIFA to exhibit at major supply chain event

2012-02-09T23:01:00.002Z

The Irish International Freight Association (IIFA) will be hosting a Pavilion at a major supply chain event at Dublin’s Citywest in May, giving its members the opportunity to take a stand under the IIFA banner and meet the country’s top decision-makers across the whole spectrum of Ireland’s industry.

Packaging, Processing & Logistics 2012 is a complete supply chain all-Ireland event, taking place on 16 & 17 May 2012 at Dublin’s Citywest Convention Centre, bringing together Ireland’s key buyers and suppliers from the most important sectors of manufacturing and industry, including: food & beverage; pharmaceuticals; life sciences; medtech; chemical; and much more.

Universal and Arvato expand supply chain

2012-02-05T12:29:00.001Z

Arvato UK & Ireland has expanded its existing supply chain agreement with Universal Music UK to include e-commerce fulfilment and customer service direct to consumers.

Arvato will deliver music and merchandise to consumers internationally and provide product information, returns support and manage order queries via phone and email.

The agreement covers CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, headphones and clothing available on more than 70 artist stores including Lady Gaga, The Rolling Stones, Take That, Justin Bieber and Star in the Hood clothing. It also includes the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones series available on the Beats Official European e-commerce store.

Arvato aims to maximise Universal’s stock across multiple channels and improve turnaround times, by integrating Universal’s e-commerce order management systems with the existing B2B order management and warehouse management system in Arvato’s Milton Keynes facility. Integrated customer service will be managed from one of Arvato’s contact centres, located in Liverpool.

Scottish wind firm passes milestone

2012-01-19T21:32:00.000Z

The Scottish renewable energy giant SSE says its rapid expansion of onshore wind farms has resulted in its surpassing the 1-gigawatt installed capacity mark.

"With construction work continuing at sites in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, we expect that our operating onshore wind farm capacity will continue to grow significantly in the coming months," SSE Chief Executive Ian Marchant said.

European Supply Chain Awards shortlist announced

2011-10-23T10:07:00.000+01:00

The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards were launched in 1997 as an initiative to recognise and reward organisations in Europe that demonstrate excellence in their supply chain operations

The shortlist can be viewed here:

http://www.supplychainexcellenceawards.com/shortlist.aspx

The winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony in London on November 1st.

Wind-generated electricity can make a major contribution to Ireland’s recovery

2011-10-01T11:09:00.001+01:00

The achievement of environmental goals has long been redundant as the sole reason for green investment. However, as an export industry, wind-generated electricity has the potential to be one of the most valuable assets Ireland possesses in its drive towards recovery.

To give an indication of the conceivable value to the Irish economy, by simply meeting our 2020 targets laid out in the EU's National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP), a study by Deloitte found that €9bn of capital investment is required with the estimated creation 10,000 jobs.

There are severe penalties for not reaching our commitments and such fines are designed to outweigh the spending required to reach these goals.

Ireland is committed to ensuring that, by 2020, 16% of all energy consumed in the state comes from renewables. Within that pledge, the Government has set a target of 40% of electricity generation to come from renewable sources.

The most recent figures from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) show that in 2010 the renewable contribution to electricity was 14.6% – wind alone accounted for 11.3% of the total figure.

Last year saw a decline in the installation of new wind generation capacity, down to 115 megawatts (MW) in 2010 from a record high of 279.2 MW in 2009. Each tranche of proposed connections to come on board is known within the industry a 'gate' and the next round is expected to be the largest so far. It is perhaps needed however, as the SEAI estimates that to reach our stated targets, the 2009 installation figures need to be beaten every year until 2020.

Compass reduces miles traveled with consolidated deliveries

2011-04-26T19:43:00.001+01:00

Compass, a leading foodservice and support services provider, has removed 1.4 million miles from its distribution operation and saved 2,200 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, by implementing a consolidated delivery network in Ireland.

To engineer this step-change in its supply chain operations, Compass established Project Emerald, which has helped remove complexity from the supply chain, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs.

McDonald’s Europe is the single largest purchaser of Irish beef

2011-04-03T12:10:00.006+01:00

McDonald’s Europe is the single largest purchaser of Irish beef and one in every five hamburgers sold in McDonald’s across Europe every year is of Irish origin.

Around €110m worth of Irish beef was exported into the McDonald’s international supply chain in 2010, representing a €30m increase since 2007.

McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland, which employs nearly 4,000 people in Ireland, today announced that grew its exports of Irish beef to €110m in 2010, up from €80m in 2007.

The company said it will commence use of the Bord Bia Certified Member mark on its new Ciabatta Deluxe product in recognition of the fact that McDonald’s Ireland sources all of its beef from Bord Bia certified Irish farms.

The product will go on sale in McDonald’s restaurants across the country from March 23rd 2011 until the beginning of May.

Irish Group Creates Clinical Lab Automated Stockroom System

2011-02-26T08:51:00.000Z

Three nonprofit organizations in Ireland have joined efforts to develop a model for endovascular-device tracking that would include RFID technology and bar codes from the point of manufacture to the operating room. With that goal in mind, Georgia Tech Ireland (GTI), standards organization GS1 Ireland and the Western Vascular Institute (a clinical vascular research foundation) have completed a pilot at Galway Clinic, finding that UHF RFID tags on high-value implantable endovascular products, such as catheters and stents, can be successfully used in a high-volume clinical setting to improve patient safety and lower costs by reducing the risk of errors, out-of-stocks and product expiration.

The team intends the project, known as the Clinical Laboratory Automated Stockroom System (CLASS) Project, to provide a model solution, based on global standards, for more effectively managing inventory throughout the entire medical-device supply chain, from manufacture through to point of use.

Musgrave saves over EUR1.3m from supply chain

2011-02-17T22:34:00.003Z

Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland, the operator of the SuperValue and Centra brands, has saved over €1.3m (£1.1m) from its supply chain through a combination of reducing road miles travelled and improving fuel efficiency in its transport operation.

Musgrave has an extensive supply chain operation in Ireland, delivering 80 million cases to 660 retailer stores across the country. The 5,900 deliveries undertaken each week meant the retailer's fleet travelled 12.98 million miles and used 7.1 million litres of diesel in 2009.

To improve supply chain efficiency and reduce costs, Musgrave's goal for 2010 was to reduce the number of miles travelled throughout the year by one million and improve fuel efficiency in the remaining miles travelled.

Tesco adds barcode scanner to iPhone app

2011-02-05T10:02:00.000Z

Supermarket giant Tesco has updated its popular grocery app for iPhone to include a barcode reader – allowing people to add things to their online shopping list more easily.

One idea behind the barcode reader is that when you find yourself running low on a product thats already in you cupboard at home, you can scan the label and add it directly to your online shopping basket. You may also decide to walk around the supermarket scanning items and then complete your order online later for home delivery.

According to CEO of Tesco.com Laura Wade-Gery "The barcode scanner will make online ordering much quicker for those that have an iPhone. Customers can simply scan the barcode of grocery products stocked by Tesco whilst on the go and add them into their online shopping basket".
The app is available for free from the App Store.

Gartner offers five high level supply chain predictions for 2011

2011-01-25T18:23:00.002Z

Gartner offers five high level supply chain predictions for 2011:

• Supply chain leaders will focus on redesigning their demand management processes and technology to help drive stronger market insights.

• Determining how to manage supplier risk will become a key requirement for leading organizations.

• Supply chain management (SCM) technologies based on software as a service (SaaS) and the cloud will continue to gain traction, but mainly in process areas, with strong alignment to the unique characteristics of these delivery models.

• Although in the last couple years the pendulum has swung back to favoring best-of-breed (BOB) SCM applications over ERP, supply chain leaders have identified a successful hybrid model that leverages the power of both.

• Supply chain segmentation is gaining traction in the business, and leading companies are figuring out how to formalize the process to make it consistent and repeatable.

Apple Criticized by Chinese Environmental Groups

2011-01-23T17:25:00.000Z

Environmental groups in China have criticized Apple for a lack of regard for its Chinese suppliers, blaming the Cupertino company for poor environmental and work safety standards.

Reuters reported this week that the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) published a critical report on the Apple supply chain, accusing the company of only caring about the "price and quality" of its products.

"We've found that Apple isn't honoring its commitment in ensuring its supply chain's work safety and environmental responsibility and giving dignity and respect to the workers," Ma Jun of IPE told Reuters.
"In some ways they drive the suppliers to cut corners to win their contracts."

In response, Apple said that its own supplier responsibility reports "document the progress of our extensive auditing program since 2006."

A spate of suicides at Foxconn's campus in Shenzhen last year were blamed on working conditions but Apple strongly denied this.

The use of N-hexane at a plant in Suzhou, a toxic substance banned in many countries, caused controversy in January 2010 and IPE claimed that at least 47 workers in the factory, which makes LCD screens, fell ill.