The Friday Report: July 31st, 2020

General Mills Ramps Up Production by Outsourcing

Supply chain disruptions have made it challenging for food manufacturers to replenish stores, even though production facilities have reopened and are working at full capacity.  General Mills has reached out to contract manufacturers as well as to suppliers of raw materials to negotiate new partnerships to help service the increased demand for its products.

Reportedly, General Mills has increased the numbers of outsourced partnerships by nearly 20%, on top of the 200 partners it had established before the pandemic.

Boost Performance by Boosting Workforce Morale

During a year filled with stress and uncertainty, focusing on enhancing workforce morale can help to improve performance and productivity.  Here are some tips from Prologistix, a warehouse staffing firm:

• Managers need to listen, be responsive and flexible
• Consider out-of-the-box solutions for compensation

For more details, continue reading here.

Vaccine Vial Production to Escalate with New Corning Funding

The United States Department of Health and Human Services will facilitate a funding of $204 million to Corning Inc. to increase the domestic production of glass vaccine vials that will be needed for the COVID-19 vaccine.  The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, known as BARDA will provide the actual funding.

BARDA is involved in funding COVID-19 treatments and vaccines being developed by other American companies.  A public statement issued by Corning promised that “designated” fellow BARDA partners will be provided with priority access to the supply of glass vaccine vials.

A new special glass product developed by Corning in collaboration with Merck and Pfizer, Corning’s Valor glass will be used in the production of the glass vaccine vials.  The new glass product facilitates faster filling and capping than that which is possible with conventional vials.  This has been reported to increase the manufacturing throughput up to 50 % over that currently possible with conventional filling lines.

The funding provided by BARDA will be used to scale up manufacturing facilities and associated assets for the glass vaccine vials in Durham, North Carolina, Vineland, New Jersey and Big Flats, New York.