CanGro Foods Cites Ease of Use in Switch to Chep
TORONTO, ONTARIO - November 8, 2006 - CanGro Foods, one of Canada's leading processors of vegetables and fruits, is now shipping its product on pallets from CHEP, the global leader in equipment pooling solutions, to supermarkets, grocery stores and club stores across the country. The company makes tomato-based products, soup, canned vegetables, canned fruit as well as fruit in plastic under the Del Monte, Aylmer and Primo* soup brands and as private label items.
CanGro moved to the CHEP program following the company's acquisition from Kraft Foods earlier this year. The processor had previously used a pallet exchange system that required significant management resources. The old system also had high repair costs that couldn't be accurately accounted for in the budgeting process.
"We're a smaller company than we were with Kraft. We don't have as many people managing the business, so we were looking for something that was very easy for us to manage. What I like about CHEP is it's simple; it doesn't take a lot of administration on my part," said Geoffrey Scholes, Vice President of Supply Chain, CanGro Foods, who had worked with CHEP in a previous role.
"I've always been happy with the quality of the CHEP pallets. I was also very happy that we were able to move quickly, and that CHEP was able to supply a large quantity of pallets in a short time frame. They are very responsive to our needs and customer service has been very good."
CanGro operates four canning plants, all within 300 miles of Toronto, with the majority of the product shipped to Canadian customers. One of the product handling challenges the company faces is that much of its processing is seasonal, resulting in the potential for high pallet rental fees during storage. CHEP helped the company overcome this issue by customizing a business model for the processor.
"By working closely with CanGro's management team, we developed a solution that meets their needs and is commercially acceptable to CHEP. This shows our commitment to CanGro and to the marketplace, now and in the future," said Jason Adlam, Director, Sales and Customer Service, CHEP Canada.
About CanGro Foods, Inc.
CanGro Foods, Inc. is a leading Canadian grower, processor, and canner of these premier brands: Aylmer tomatoes, vegetables and soup, Primo* soup, and owns the perpetual Canadian licensing rights for a number of Del Monte products including canned fruit and vegetables.
*PRIMO is a registered trade-mark of Primo Foods Limited and CanGro Foods Inc. a licensed user of the mark.
