Tag: Food Supply Chain

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AgTech

Beyond TP and Sanitizers: Why a Virtual Exchange Platform Serves the Food Industry Year Round

Just because it felt like 40 days of blizzard shopping during the pandemic stock-up this spring doesn’t mean that blizzards won’t send shoppers scrambling again to empty store shelves. And don’t forget hurricane season is here, along with back-to-school season and autumn rife with concerns about ongoing spread of COVID-19. In short, the food industry needs to prepare for any eventuality.

The new Food Industry Exchange, an electronic, subscription-based sustainable marketplace developed for FMI-The Food Industry Association powered by The Seam is a valuable tool in shoring-up supply chains in anticipation of disruption. The Food Industry Exchange launched during the early weeks of the pandemic, when demand at retail was swelling and foodservice vendors were faced with high levels of supplies. Since then, the platform has addressed the urgent needs of retailers, wholesalers, suppliers and, ultimately, consumers.

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Company News

MBJ Straight Talk: The Food Supply Chain

MBJ Straight Talk Food Supply Chain

The food supply chain was the topic of the latest edition of the Memphis Business Journal‘s weekly Straight Talk webinar series.

Panelists included Rick James, owner of the local Cash Saver grocery stores; Dr. Ernest Nichols, associate professor in the Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management at the University of Memphis; and Mark Pryor, CEO of The Seam, a leading provider of commodities trading and agriculture software solutions. The series is moderated Meagan Nichols, MBJ’s managing editor.

The following is an excerpt from the MBJ:

Nichols said that even slight bumps to the chain can affect the whole industry.

Pryor’s company, The Seam, along with The Food Industry Association (FMI), established the Food Industry Exchange, launched in early May, to address such issues.

“The problem that was needing to be solved is the supply chain disruption,” Pryor said. “We had suppliers with excess capacity because the schools are closed. Restaurants are closed. There [are] no sporting events. There are no events in general, and you’d had perishable products and things like that, and no home for it.

“And then on the flip side, you had retailers like Rick [James] saying that the shelves were getting bare in certain cases because of the run on the stores for various things, and people were stockpiling,” Pryor continued. “So, what was needed was a platform to digitally introduce suppliers — the sellers — with buyers — the wholesalers and retailers that have certain needs. So, it’s actually a two-way marketplace.”

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AgTech Company News

FMI and The Seam Partner to Create Digitized Food Supply Chain Platform

Food Industry Exchange sponsored by FMI powered by The Seam launches

MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 6, 2020 – FMI—The Food Industry Association and The Seam, a leading provider of commodities trading and agriculture software solutions, today announced the launch of the Food Industry Exchange sponsored by FMI powered by The Seam. The sustainable marketplace was created to immediately address the urgent needs of retailers and wholesalers by showcasing products and services available in a digital space and on an ongoing basis.

The primary purpose of the platform is to bring vast efficiencies to the food supply chain, while also serving as a critical tool in times of need. Retailers requiring additional resources to fulfill needs at grocery stores, are connected with sellers that have capacity of products, transportation services, labor, and warehousing services.

Not only specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform also fills long-term needs of FMI retailers/wholesalers for product discovery and procurement now, in future times of disruption and in good, blue-sky days.

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