Procurement best practice in the food industry: supplier clustering as a source of strategic competitive advantage

Looks at the way in which a pizza manufacturing company, supplying both branded and own‐label products to the Irish and UK retail markets, undertook a major restructuring of its procurement and manufacturing processes. Numerous sub‐processing activities were having adverse effects on capability utilization and manufacturing efficiency at a time of increasing demand. Process re‐engineering was required. Illustrates the approaches taken towards two projects: first, cheese supply and, second, packaging. Notes there was a steep learning curve for the management and operations staff and also resistance to change from within the firm and from some suppliers. Provides a list of critically important points learned from the experience.