Nestlé UK has announced that it is working with competitor United Biscuits (UB) on a collaborative distribution project first reported by Food Manufacture in September.
Speaking at last week’s supply chain summit organised by grocery think tank IGD Chris Tyas, Nestlé UK and Ireland supply chain director, said: “We need to collaborate at a far greater level than ever before.” Tyas, who is also co-chair of Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) UK, said: “We are collaborating with United Biscuits from our York base down into Leicester.”
Highlighting what an achievement it was for Nestlé and UB to collaborate - something that would have been unheard of a year or so ago, Tyas said: “There are no two brands more competitive than KitKat and Penguin. That’s how high the whole sustainability issue is for everybody.”
Diane Carter, zone md (east) for Sainsbury and ECR co-chair, emphasised the challenges inherent in collaborative ventures. The retailer collaborates with Nestlé UK on the transport of bottled water from France into the UK.
Elsewhere, Unilever is also collaborating with other manufacturers and retailers on supply chain initiatives. It is already working with Kimberly-Clark on a collaborative distribution project in The Netherlands, where according to Kimberly-Clark’s European supply chain director Peter Surtees, 80% of deliveries are now done through collaboration.
Kimberly-Clark now plans to roll out collaborative distribution across the rest of Europe, starting with Belgium and France. In the UK Kimberly-Clark is collaborating on a small scale with one partner but, said Surtees, it was actively seeking others.