A conversation with Dave Laverty, vice president of Materials Management Worldwide, at Revlon Consumer Products Corp.

Fast-growing Dollar General Corp. undercuts Wal-Mart on prices, even as it spends heavily on new systems to enhance transportation, warehousing and supplier links.

Improvements in warehousing and transportation have created a profit center at the publisher's centralized distribution facility.

Rapid growth, Y2K issues and the need to better control and trace inventory all led salad dressing manufacturer Naturally Fresh to implement an enterprise system that included robust supply-chain capabilities.

With industry giants invading the product niche that it created, the beverage maker turned to logistics outsourcing as a means to achieve a higher level of customer service, cost control and data integrity. Its attention now is focused on innovation and flavors.