Chips, Ships & Price Dips: Corporate Giants Shuffle the Deck
Decisions made in distant boardrooms can trickle down to your daily operations, and this week’s update offers a glimpse into how.?
PepsiCo is redefining partnership as it enlists its entire supply chain in the fight against climate change. Online shopping experiences might change too, as shipping giant Pitney Bowes bows out of e-commerce. Meanwhile, as inflation whispers of retreat, the Fed finds itself at a crossroads, Primark stitches sustainability into the very fabric of fast fashion and Mondelēz International prepares to rewrite the recipe for food and beverage production with a $1.8 billion tech overhaul. Let’s get started.?
How PepsiCo’s Partners Slash Hidden Emissions
PepsiCo’s got a monster of a challenge on its hands: hitting net-zero emissions by 2040. Making matters even more challenging? Most of those pesky greenhouse gasses aren’t even coming from their own factories. So how’s a company that churns out everything from Doritos to Gatorade tackling this invisible enemy? PepsiCo’s VP of Global Sustainability, Roberta Barbieri, recently laid all the chips on the table to Food & Drink Digital .
Green Rewards: Financing a Cleaner Supply Chain
PepsiCo offers suppliers a compelling reason to cut emissions — cold, hard cash. One standout initiative is its partnership with Citi, which provides lower financing rates to suppliers who meet specific ESG targets. The program, which kicked off in Brazil in 2022, rewards progress in areas like sustainable sourcing and resource management. PepsiCo also runs a Clean Energy Procurement Academy in Asia, empowering suppliers to access renewable power in challenging markets.
Farm to Shelf: Tackling Emissions at Every Stage
Beyond last mile delivery , PepsiCo’s strategy spans the entire product lifecycle. They’re partnering with farmers to implement regenerative agriculture across 7 million acres by 2030. On the packaging front, PepsiCo joined the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty to advocate for decisive UN action against plastic pollution. Clearly, PepsiCo’s looking at the big picture, from the farmers’ fields to your recycling bin, because, let’s face it — you can’t cut sneaky Scope 3 emissions without transformation at every level of the supply chain.?
Pitney Bowes Pulls the Plug on E-commerce Logistics Unit
Shipping giant Pitney Bowes dropped a bombshell on August 8 after its e-commerce entities filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . While this move abruptly ends the company’s foray into e-commerce logistics, putting $500 million in both debts and assets on the line, it leaves more questions than answers.?
Hilco Global Steps in to Manage the Liquidation
Faced with a $136 million loss in 2023, Pitney Bowes made the difficult call to hand over control of its floundering e-commerce business to Hilco Global. Hilco’s unenviable job? Dismantling the entire operation and selling it off piece by piece. Interim CEO Lance Rosenzweig views this drastic move as essential, hoping it will streamline operations and steer the company back on course. But will it pay off?
Oaktree Capital Backs the Bankruptcy Plan
Adding another layer to this corporate drama, Oaktree Capital Management, a major bondholder and secured creditor of Pitney Bowes, threw its weight behind the Chapter 11 filing. Pitney Bowes isn’t taking any chances with the bankruptcy proceedings either, loaning the e-commerce unit $45 million to handle the insolvency case. That said, Pitney Bowes offered a glimmer of hope for its future after assuring that its SendTech and Presort segments will continue business as usual.
Producer Prices Cool Off: Is a Fed Rate Cut on the Horizon?
Everything costs an arm and a leg these days, thanks to our 3-year battle with inflation. However, there’s cautious optimism after July’s producer price inflation (PPI) cooled more than expected.?
PPI Numbers Paint a Promising Picture
Producer prices, which measure what suppliers charge, rose by 2.2% in the 12 months through July. That’s a noticeable improvement from June’s 2.7% jump. Even better, when you remove the volatile food and energy prices, that core number didn’t budge from June to July and hit its lowest point in four months. What does this mean for everyone? If suppliers aren’t jacking up prices as much, there’s a good chance we’ll see that reflected in everyday purchases soon.?
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The Fed’s Next Move: Rate Cut Coming to a Theater Near You?
The Fed’s benchmark interest rate still sits at a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5%, and it’s anyone’s guess how much longer it’ll stay that high. The latest PPI data has traders increasingly bullish on the possibility of a Fed rate cut, with odds for a half-point cut in September jumping to 55%. However, some Fed officials, like Governor Michelle Bowman, caution that the inflation fight is far from over.?
How Primark Tackles Sustainability from Factory Floor to Closet
Clothing retailer Primark is lacing up its boots and getting to work to go green. With lofty eco-goals, like slashing greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, it certainly has its work cut out.
Teaming Up with Suppliers for a Greener Wardrobe
Primark recognizes that true sustainability starts at the source. That’s why it’s invited suppliers representing over 70% of its turnover to complete the Higg Facilities Environmental Model assessment. The assessment covers everything from how suppliers manage waste to how much water and energy they use, a big deal considering 95% of most retailers’ carbon emissions come from the products they buy and sell.
Teaching Customers to Love Their Clothes Longer
Primark’s also on a mission to educate shoppers about what a circular economy really means . In 2023, they ran 100 workshops that showed people how to patch up and jazz up their old clothes instead of tossing them out. And if you’re more of a DIY type, they’ve plastered QR codes around their stores that’ll hook you up with online tutorials. It’s all part of their master plan to get consumers thinking more about clothes over the long term, instead of heading to the dumpster.?
Snack Giant Mondelēz Cooks Up a Recipe for Success
Ever wondered how your favorite Oreos or Cadbury chocolates make it from factory to shelf? Mondelēz International, the company behind these beloved snacks, is about to give its behind-the-scenes operations a major upgrade by pouring a whopping $1.2 billion into revamping their tech systems and supply chain over the next four years.?
Cracking Open the Piggy Bank: What’s on Mondelēz’s Shopping List?
In July 2024, Mondelēz’s top brass gave the thumbs up to this ambitious plan. They’re not rushing in blind, though. The company’s been quietly preparing for this moment for a year and a half and doing their homework to avoid nasty surprises. That’s why they plan to roll out these changes step by step until 2028, hopefully making the whole process as smooth as spreading Nutella on toast.
Tech’s Dream Team: SAP, Accenture & o9 Join the Snack Party
Mondelēz isn’t tackling this alone. They’ve called in the big guns, SAP , Accenture and o9, to use their collective brainpower to bring the master plan to fruition. With this crew on board, Mondelēz is gearing up to turn its operations into a well-oiled snack-making machine for the digital age and show everyone the true value of partnerships and collaboration .
How OneRail Delivers Where Others Detour
While big brands wrestle with sustainability and tech upgrades, your business needs a logistics partner that’s already ahead of the curve. With OneRail , you have a one-stop solution for streamlined, efficient and future-proof last mile logistics and more:
No matter your industry, OneRail can transform your logistics strategy. Schedule a demo today to find out how.