- First quarter demand for Ocean Spray products greater than
anticipated.
-
- SuperValue again advises member stores to pull
Ocean Spray products out of house ads as co-op faces problems filling orders.
-
- For the second time an internal SuperValue memo (Click here to read
Memo) has come to the attention of Cranberry Stressline (click here for previous memo dated March 2, 1999) advising
stores to remove Ocean Spray products from house ads, this time for May 23rd and May 30,
1999. These were to be promotions for the 64 oz. cranberry blends and the 48 oz.
grapefruit blends. The memo cites production problems at Ocean Spray and apologizes to the
stores for the lack of notice stating that "Ocean Spray has not lived up to their
commitments on shipping product for these promotions."
In a letter, also obtained by Stressline, dated April
16, 1999 from Nancy McDermott, Senior Vice President in charge of Ocean Spray's In-Home
Strategic Market Unit, distributors are informed that "Ocean Spray
continues to face problems filling your orders and must now reduce promotional volume to
restore the level of service you need. Effective immediately we are canceling all
promotions scheduled for May and June to help replenish our inventory".
- She goes on to attribute the problem to a misjudgment in
demand in January which depleted inventory, and stronger than anticipated demand in
February and March.
According to the letter, all previously planned promotions
with shipment dates prior to June 21, 1999 are being cancelled. Plants, it is pointed out,
are producing at capacity and have yet to reach manageable inventory levels.
- Ocean Spray is in the process of implementing their Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) program which when operational is expected to streamline all
business processes. The ERP is a $30 million high-tech system for integrating all of the
companies business operations. McDermott's letter states that Ocean Spray planned for some
slowdowns while operations transitioned into the ERP program, they did not anticipate the
high number of orders which were received.
The In-Home Division of Ocean Spray is an $800 million unit
which is responsible for marketing all Ocean Spray cranberry and grapefruit products.
McDermott was recently promoted to the head of the division from her prior position as
senior vice president of Operations-Value Chain. Her responsibilities included
managing the implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning system.
home |