Newsroom
2006
Farmers to benefit from major overhaul of CWB supply chain
Winnipeg – The CWB today announced a multi-year initiative to revamp its supply chain – a move that will translate into millions of dollars in annual savings and increased e-business opportunities for farmers.
Supply Chain Transformation is a large-scale project aimed at streamlining processes in every link of the grain-marketing chain – from farmgate to customer and back again. The result will be an end-to-end overhaul of the supply chain and its many components, from grain inventory management to marketing support services to the processes that ensure reliability and consistency of supply to grain customers.
The project will also introduce new e-business options for farmers, such as online permit applications, PPO contracting and tracking, producer car ordering and farmer account management, as early as spring 2007. A fully automated farmer payment system will also be created. Most major companies re-engineer their supply chains to ensure operations flow as efficiently as possible and can effectively respond to changing market conditions.
“Grain marketing is a highly competitive industry and farmers need every edge they can get,” said CWB president and CEO Adrian Measner. “The purpose of this major overhaul is therefore to make our processes operate as smoothly and efficiently as possible. At the end of the day, that means more money in farmers’ pockets.”
This intensive three-year project, one of the largest ever undertaken by the CWB, is expected to cost about $46 million. Resulting efficiencies could save farmers as much as $10 million a year once the project is complete. It will also leave the CWB well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities to offer farmers new and improved services.
The CWB’s supply chain consists of all the tasks and support services required to market grain, source it from farmers, move it to customers and return the proceeds to farmers. Improving this chain will reinvigorate relationships with CWB partners – from grain companies and railways to terminal elevators and vessel operators.
“The goal is to create more value for farmers,” Measner said. “Right now there are two ways the CWB does that: by getting the most money it can for farmers’ grain and by controlling costs. In this project, we are taking steps to control costs associated with supply-chain logistics by making these processes more efficient.”
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. One of Canada’s biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based company sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.
For more information, please contact:
Maureen Fitzhenry
CWB media relations manager
Tel: (204) 983-3101
Cell: (204) 479-2451