Talk about getting squeezed! Businesses of all sizes are feeling the pinch of rising commodity costs - from fuel and energy to flour and eggs. Leading retail, CPG, and restaurant companies are employing a variety of different approaches to cope in today’s market, including focusing on supply chain and productivity initiatives, offering drastic price cuts and, conversely, passing costs onto consumers.

Food manufacturer Heinz implemented a “Global Supply Chain Task Force” in 2007 to assist the company in countering commodity cost increases. The task force seeks to “enhance the Company’s competitive advantage by improving coordination and reporting systems across the supply chain, and to harmonize global processes and benefit from Heinz’s scale among suppliers.” Heinz is tracking towards $175M in global supply chain savings as part of the overall task force goals.