Two ways to streamline your supply chain are to increase speed and increase collaboration, says Dan DiMaggio, president of UPS Supply Chain Solutions. DiMaggio spoke in October to attendees at the Food Industry Productivity Convention and Exposition, held in Atlanta.

Much of that potential speed comes from point-of-sale information.

"Within some industries, such as grocery, there is a lot of demand from point-of-sale. We know what is purchased each day," says DiMaggio. "That information can potentially start the replenishment process all the way back to the food producers."

While such information can help reduce inventories and accelerate fulfillment, many distributors are not taking full advantage of it.

"There is an inherent fear of handing information to suppliers," says DiMaggio. "Many companies do not want them seeing their inventories. But this is a barrier to success. There has to be more collaboration."

Wal-Mart is one company that uses point-of-sale information to turn its inventories more efficiently and have less product staged at stores, he says.

DiMaggio also emphasizes the need to determine workflow and personnel structure first, then choose the tools.

"We tend to focus on technology as being the mission, rather than simply being a tool to make people more efficient," he says.