Supply Chain & Merchandising

In the world of consumer goods, Amway is a rare success story. The company's direct-selling model has been nothing but successful, but this didn't come about by chance. Armed with a structered, yet flexible product development process, and growing network of external partners, Amway and its Open Innovation Team, is well on its way to turning a good business into a great business.

PepsiCo is about to shake things up. The company is planning to break into retail by selling its premium snacks and drinks exclusively through e-commerce platforms in India, according to reports.

McCormick & Company signed an agreement to purchase Drogheria & Alimentari (D&A), a privately held company based in Italy for $97 million. D&A is a leader in spices and seasonings with annual sales of approximately $57 million.

While traditional companies are still looking at improving traditional forecasting technologies and improving the rules for forecast consumption, Lora Cecere takes a different stance for managing the lifecycle.

Campbell's shared its new cost reduction plan as well as an initiative to simplify its organization structure to improve agility in the marketplace. The company expects these to generate annual cost savings of $200 million over a three-year period.

Logility was issued a patent entitled "Product-Family Inventory Replenishment System Using A Composite Product Mix Framework" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its Voyager Solution.

Last week, Walmart stated it will begin paying all U.S. hourly workers at least $9 an hour by April, and $10 an hour by next February. The plan will result in raises for about 500,000 workers in the first half of the fiscal year and cost about $1 billion.

The Hain Celestial Group announced the acquisition of Belvedere International, a leader in health and beauty care products including the Live Clean brand with approximately 200 baby, body and hair care products.