New Technology Allows United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) to Shave a Day Off Some Delivery Times
Consistent with its commitment to deliver the highest quality produce, United Natural Foods, Inc. announced it has implemented new technologies and processes to enable the company to shorten certain delivery times by over a day and harness the full potential of UNFI data points to deliver fresher produce to its customers. These efforts have proven successful as UNFI has grown its produce sales ahead of industry growth even as retail produce industry numbers move with inflation.
To help UNFI deliver the freshest product to its customers, the company redesigned its produce sourcing strategy by consolidating its purchasing efforts and procuring many items directly from major Mexican suppliers. Product is then transported from those farms directly to UNFI distribution centers via a McAllen, Texas, cross-docking facility, a produce best-in-class practice. UNFI has also implemented commodity specific thresholds to accelerate the movement of product through its distribution centers and to retailers. The new sourcing model and supply chain processes have improved inventory turnover, reduced inventory shrink, and most importantly, has allowed UNFI to remove an average of over a day from its supply chain during the past year.