Dive Brief:
- ConAgra Foods' new chief supply chain officer David Biegger will begin his task of improving the efficiency of the company's supply chain, including manufacturing, procurement, transportation, warehousing, and other operations for its retail brands, when he takes his new position Monday.
- While ConAgra CEO Sean Connolly recognizes that supply chain efficiency can involve plant shutdowns and that ConAgra has closed some of its facilities in the past, he told The Wall Street Journal that the company has "no imminent plans to do anything like that."
- ConAgra is considering a variety of strategies to cut costs and improve efficiency, including "eliminating excess ingredients that go to waste and cutting back on the variations of supplies it buys so it can get better bulk pricing," The Wall Street Journal reported.
Dive Insight:
ConAgra has been making many big changes since Connolly took the helm in March. Last week, the company announced that it would be moving its headquarters from Omaha, NE, to Chicago, cutting 1,500 jobs in the process.
ConAgra also said earlier this year that it would be booting its private-label brands, which had been unprofitable.
In its continued hunt for ways to cut costs and improve efficiency of its supply chain, other changes at ConAgra will include continuing to "cut lower-margin or low-selling items, which helps lower manufacturing costs, while boosting sales of brands with the most potential, like Hunt’s tomato sauce," Connolly said.