Top issues facing the Diversified Foods & Beverages Industry include: commodity price risk, consolidation of supplier base, cost inflation, innovation and lowering raw material cost. In its seventh report of the industry since 1991, CAPS Research surveyed leading Diversified Foods & Beverages organizations with combined total sales of $103.9 billion and average sales of $7.9 billion.

A few highlights from the latest report include the following:

1. Average percent of employee turnover in the supply management organization during the reporting period was 9.9 percent. Turnover was attributed to promotions and lateral assignments within the company, retirement, resignations and eliminations of position.
2. 61.0 percent of supply management employees were assigned strategic purchasing responsibilities.
3. 50.0 percent of organizations had a process in place to encourage cross-functional job training; compared to 11.1 percent of organizations from the previous report.
4. On average, 81.1 percent of spend is managed/controlled by supply management.
5. 30.7 percent of organizations tracked spend in low-cost countries. Items purchased in low-cost countries include chemicals, concentrates, dehydrated vegetables, fruit; meat, proteins, raw and packaging materials and vitamins.
6. 50.0 percent of organizations reported outsourcing the purchase of indirect goods and 57.1 percent of organizations expect the outsourcing of indirect goods to increase.
7. 76.9 percent of organizations reported the use of risk management tools. Risk management tools were used for agricultural commodities, dairy, energy, grains, ingredients, juice, metals, packaging, raw materials, soft commodities and sweeteners.

This report establishes a composite standard or benchmarking comparison of supply management peer performance in the industry. To conduct this and all benchmarking studies, CAPS Research forms an Industry Advisory Committee of industry executives to determine the specific data to be collected. Three criteria are used: usefulness of the resultant benchmark, availability of needed data within the supply management organization, and comparability of data among companies. Metrics include organizational structure, professional development, financial information, supplier relationships and technology.For the full report, go to:
http://www.capsresearch.org