Cost to serve news

Lidl has announced plans to open a regional headquarters and distribution centre (DC) in Maryland, USA. $100m investment The discounter plans to invest $100m in the two facilities, which will be in Perryville, Cecil County. The location has been strategically chosen for its transport links: it’s about halfway between Baltimore (Maryland) and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), just off the I-95 hi...

Investing in its online capabilities Jet.com was co-founded in 2014, by entrepreneur Marc Lore in an attempt to build an online store to compete with Amazon, Walmart and Costco. This acquisition will be the largest ever of an ecommerce company and reflects the commitment Walmart has to growing its ecommerce business. The deal includes $3bn in cash, plus $300m in Walmart stock, to be paid out o...

Ferrero is investing over CA$36m in expanding its manufacturing plant in Ontario, Canada. CA$36.1m project The facility will have an investment of CA$36.1m, including $1.5 from the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund. The factory, which currently produces Nutella, Tic Tacs and Ferrero Rochers for North America and Australia, will have three new lines added for distributiuon to the USA, C...

Tesco and Eddie Stobart have extended their UK distribution contract. 10-year relationship Under the contract, Eddie Stobart will continue to manage all transport operations for seven of Tesco’s distribution centres in the UK, as well as two in the Republic of Ireland. The relationship between the two companies, which began over ten years ago, is more than just contracts: Eddie Stobar...

Wincanton, the supply chain solutions business, will continue to service a number of the Co-op’s distribution centres after it signed a deal to extend its relationship with the retailer for a further five years. The deal will see up to 1,000 Co-op stores serviced by Wincanton, equating to somewhere in the region of 130,000 journeys per year. Right for both businesses Both Jon Paul Brow...

Dairy Crest has stated that its results for the first quarter of 2016 are in line with expectations. Building on 2015 successes Several major brands – including Clover, Country Life and Frylight - have been performing well, having built on momentum from the second half of 2015. Cathedral City cheese, which has just launched new branding and packaging, continues to perform in line with...

Just Eat , the takeaway food delivery service, has partnered with Starship Technologies to trial delivery robots in London. Your takeaway delivered by a robot Following Starship Technologies’ successful trial of the self-driving robots , Just Eat is the first company to put them into operational use. The robots are designed to deliver food, packages and goods to shoppers’ homes within a s...

Carlsberg UK has announced plans to outsource its secondary logistics to DHL. A more agile and responsive business In a bid to create a sustainable, long-term supply chain plan, Carlsberg UK is transferring its secondary logistics operations to DHL Tradeteam in 2017 and 2018. The strategic move follows a company-wide transformation programme that will make Carlsberg more agile and respo...

Henkel is to acquire The Sun Products Corporation a laundry and home care company in the US. In doing so, it will become number two in the laundry care market for North America. €3.2bn deal The deal, which is worth €3.2bn (US$3.6bn), will see Henkel acquire all shares in The Sun Products Corporation, which makes All, Sun and Snuggle brands, as well as private label laundry brands for ma...

Unilever is to sell its AdeS brand in Latin America to The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola FEMSA. $575m deal In a deal worth US$575m, Unilever is selling its AdeS soy beverage business, present in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay. By divesting this business, Unilever hopes to renew focus on its core brands in the region. Driving value and inn...