The key to successful grocery distribution is as much about productivity as produce.

When they sit down to dinner, few people think about what it takes to get the products on the table from the manufacturing plant to the distribution center and then on to the store.

Fewer still think of how to do all that and turn a profit in the process.

And what most don't realize is that few industries are as competitive or operate on margins as thin as the wholesale food and grocery distribution business.

For that reason, grocery distributors have long recognized that running a successful grocery business isn't about the produce. It's about the productivity. That's why the grocery industry was the first to adopt best practices such as bar code scanning and real-time wireless communication; voice-guided orderpicking; an industry standard pallet (the 48 x 40 GMA); and labor management to optimize labor in the warehouse. And while it may be several years before companies reap the benefits, grocers from Albertson's in the U.S. and Mercadona in Spain are early adopters of RFID technology.

In Modern Materials Handling's October grocery supplement, we'll look at the unique challenges facing the grocery distribution supply chain. We'll also look at the materials and information handling solutions used by the best operators to improve the efficiency of their operations and lower their costs as they move product from the DC to the table.

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