General Mills Adds More Outsourcing Partners as It Aims to Meet Packaged-Food Demand
General Mills Inc. is relying more and more on third-party manufacturers to meet heightened demand for its products, but asking third-parties comes at a significant cost to the maker of cereal and soups. Disruptions in the supply chain have made it increasingly difficult for manufacturers like General Mills to replenish stores with stock, despite its factories having now reopened and operating at full capacity.
Since March to strengthen its supply chain, General Mills has negotiated several new partnerships with contract manufacturers and suppliers of raw material and extended existing partnerships, according to Kofi Bruce, finance chief at General Mills.
General Mills will increase the number of partners by as much as 20%. This comes on top of the 200 partners the company had before the pandemic, said John Church, chief supply chain and global business solutions officer at General Mills. According to company executives, General Mills expects these third parties to be part of its supply chain until at least next summer.
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US taps camera makers to manufacture drugs, coronavirus vaccines
The Trump administration has made onshoring drug supply chains a priority. In order to achieve this, the U.S. Government is turning to some unusual candidates to help accomplish their goal. In a bid to ensure key medicines are produced in the U.S., they have enlisted two manufacturers previously known best for making cameras and film to help manufacture drug ingredients and new potential coronavirus vaccines.
Under the Defence Protection Act, the U.S. government announced plans this week to loan Eastman Kodak $765 million. This will fund a pivot by the company to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients for generic drugs.
This news came one day after the Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a joint venture between Japan’s Fujifilm and Mitsubishi, has been recruited to support coronavirus vaccine manufacturing. This has been achieved through a $265 million contract between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and Texas A&M University.
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Survey: It will be 12 months until supply chains return to pre-pandemic levels
The pandemic has caused significant disruption to the supply chain with new research revealing that 46 per cent of businesses say it will take 12 months or more before supply chains return to pre-pandemic levels. The survey also found that the disruption caused by Covid-19 will lead to permanent changes in global supply chains. Conducted by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, the survey has also found that the disruption caused by Covid-19 will lead to permanent changes in global supply chains. It also found that many businesses are looking to adapt to new ways so that they can manage the varying stages of lockdown around the world.
The disruption to global businesses and supply chains is set to continue for some time. 46 per cent of businesses stated as part of the survey that it will take at least 12 months before supply chains return to pre-Covid-19 levels of productivity.
The survey was conducted last month amongst global supply chains managers. The survey asked what effect the lockdown and the pandemic has had on their businesses and in their region. Those, which responded to the survey, said that supply chains were being reworked and developed in reaction to new and changing regulations as countries start to recover from the pandemic and negotiate further waves of the virus.
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