Manufacturer may be linked to retailer customers via EDI, with methods of communication well-honed over time. A much greater number of increasingly computer-literate customers want to deal direct with the supplier.

Just two years ago washroom and cleaning consumables distributor Cannon Disposables barely recognised it was in the logistics business. In the minds of most of its staff it merely supplied goods like toilet rolls, hand towels and floor cleaners to the nat

Food business Kerry supplies a wide range of products – poultry, milk and spring water – and also runs one of the largest fresh convenience food businesses in UK and Ireland.