UNFI CEO: We are embarking on a transformation journey | Cardinal Health takes steps to cut emissions by half | Graybar sales hit record high of $10.5B in 2022
United Natural Foods is changing gears after a disappointing second quarter and plans to invest in automation and other technologies that will "address legacy integration and capability gaps in our digital and physical infrastructure," said CEO Sandy Douglas. "It has become increasingly clear to me in the 18 months since I joined UNFI that we need more scalable and streamlined capabilities and attendant cost structures so that we can more efficiently serve our growing customer base," Douglas said.
Cardinal Health aims to cut scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 -- already having diverted 60,000 pounds of waste from landfills between March and June of last year -- and the company will announce its scope 3 goals by year's end. The pharmaceutical and medical products distributor has created a program to improve supply chain emissions by consolidating shipments and reducing packaging weight, and it will add as many as five electric delivery vans to its Southern California fleet.
Graybar's net sales last year rose 20.2% to a record $10.5 billion, and net income increased 72.6% to $452.9 million. "As we look to the future, we will continue to manage our business wisely, invest in growth and explore new opportunities to strengthen our long-term position as a leader in supply chain innovation," said President and CEO Kathleen Mazzarella.
The Logistics Managers' Index plunged 5.9 percentage points in February, a record for the six-plus years of the survey of supply chain executives. A pronounced late-month decline put the index at 36.1, with the report noting: "While the freight recovery has not yet begun, it does seem that we may have hit, or at least gotten close to, the bottom of the market."
Artificial intelligence powered by data from Wi-Fi provides the visibility "to transform supply chain networks, eliminate network mysteries and issues, and ensure that networks are always reliable," writes CEO Roger Sands of Wyebot. In this tutorial, Sands outlines steps to take, pointing out that early adopters of AI have cut logistics costs by 15%.
Mike Allton, head of strategic partnerships at Agorapulse, discusses the importance of building genuine relationships for business-to-business influencer marketing and why B2B marketers should work with nano and micro influencers. Find the small influencers who are "really laser focused on a specific vertical or a tier that you're trying to reach," Allton advises.
Improve your company culture by creating aspirations for how you want your team to treat one another. Identify the top five words to describe your vision and write a paragraph about each of them, then have your team do the same and compare notes in one-on-one conversations, writes Dan Rockwell. "It's catastrophic when the tone of an organization happens by accident," Rockwell writes.
Join the best and brightest emerging leaders from across the wholesale distribution industry for a unique course at The Ohio State University! The course will take place from May 22-26, 2023. View the agenda and register.
