Having consolidated its internal operations, GMC began working on itssupply chain. Fully aware that ultimately the supply chain shouldimpact the revenue stream coming from its external customers, GMC setto the task of using its newly installed ERP system as a backbone forcollaborative commerce with key customers, such as the mayonnaisemanufacturer. Last year, GMC received an outstanding supplier awardfrom the latter for being its "100 percent supplier with 100 percentdelivery and quality performance."

Furthermore, GMC can take some of the credit for helping thatparticular customer grow from just being the biggest manufacturer ofmayonnaise in the Philippines, to being one of the largest in theAsia-Pacific region. "Because of our good relationship with them, theyactually shared with us that next year's orders would be tripledbecause they had been designated the regional source of mayonnaise andbread spreads. And we continue to talk in terms of [forging] acollaborative supply chain," says Bacallan.

Another customer GMC continues to satisfy as a result of its supplychain enhancements is a company it appointed as the marketer of itsanimal feed products. "We realise that our strengths are not inmarketing feeds, but in manufacturing. We share up-to-the-minuteinformation about our current cost of raw materials and inventorylevels with our marketing partner, while they share sales andmarketing data with us," says Bacallan.

He adds: "Animal feeds are peculiar because the major customers do notbuy the off-the-shelf kinds. They go for customised formulations. Abig hog or chicken farm may need a different formulation from another,and the formulation can change when prices and availability change. Wetherefore have to share with our marketing partner how much rawmaterials have been bought and their availability at any point intime, because that becomes the tool for them to price the product andmake quick business decisions on the sale of the product to the bigfarms."

"Animal feeds are a worthy business case to nurture and improve [insupply chain collaboration] as it contributes more than 30 percent ofour business turnover. We are also exploring how other farmintegrators can share with us their requirements," Bacallan says.