Kraft Foods, the nation’s largest branded food company, held two reverse auctions in November for grape juice concentrate using AgEx.com’s private auction facility. The Kraft auction is the latest in a series of auctions hosted by some of the world’s largest food companies using AgEx.com’s neutral, third-party venue.
Kraft invited a selected number of its vendors to participate in the auctions, which lasted about ten to fifteen minutes each. The participating suppliers were located both in the U.S. and international locations.
“We’re proud to add Kraft to the list of companies who have discovered the benefits of using our auction facility,” said Blair Richardson, AgEx.com vice president for auction services. “Bringing vendors together from around the world to compete for contracts in real time greatly streamlines the procurement process and can reduce costs significantly.”
“We’re very pleased with the results,” said Marcia Glenn, Kraft Foods VP eProcurement. “AgEx.com’s auction site is tremendously efficient and can provides significant saving opportunities for our company.”
AgEx.com’s auction site has been used by food companies to purchase or sell products ranging from nuts to natural gas to rice to juices. Richardson said the flexibility of the site makes it a valuable tool for food and agricultural companies.
Glenn said the agricultural background of AgEx.com’s staff was an important addition to their technology. “We like to find e-partners that have deep knowledge of industry practices and develop tools that improve the overall supply chain efficiency and effectiveness.”
Kraft Foods, headquartered in Northfield, IL, is the North American food business of Philip Morris Companies Inc.
AgEx.com is the premier online agricultural product exchange site. In addition to its private auction facility, AgEx.com currently offers trading floors or information sites for almonds, walnuts, rice, pulses (dry beans and peas), dried fruit, processed tomatoes, juice concentrates, apples and other products.
