United Natural Foods, Inc. Optimizes Supply Chain Processes With Manhattan SCOPE(R) Solution Suite

ATLANTA, Oct. 21, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A fully optimized supply chain is an essential ingredient for food distribution companies, where freshness, shelf-time, seasonality and inventory management are year-round customer service considerations. As such, United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), the largest distributor to the natural, organic and specialty food industry in the United States, has selected solutions from each suite of the Manhattan SCOPE(R) supply chain process platform from Manhattan Associates (Nasdaq:MANH), to optimize its supply chain from planning through execution.

"Our supply chain transformation is driven by an overall goal of improving our service to customers while better managing inventory and ultimately the operating performance for our company, as well as our vendors and suppliers," said John Stern, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, UNFI. "In addition, a fully optimized supply chain will support our plans for growth over the next 3-5 years."

With a common process platform and key visibility, predictive technologies, advanced intelligence and adaptive functionality, Manhattan SCOPE leverages the spectrum of people, tasks and events across the supply chain for the most efficient, accurate performance possible. SCOPE's modular service-oriented architecture facilitates the creation of cross-suite applications to address specific requirements for the goals of each Manhattan customer.

"Manhattan SCOPE will support UNFI's mission to fulfill the highest standards for quality, consistency, sustainability, product assortments, dependability, value-added support services and integrity in the food distribution industry," said Pete Sinisgalli, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manhattan Associates. "The capabilities of Manhattan SCOPE are well-suited to wisely using fuel, fully tapping capacity in trucks and warehouses, intelligently delivering different types of products with varying shelf lives to the right stores and managing inventory to reduce waste."

UNFI's Manhattan SCOPE portfolio selections include:

-- Solutions from the Manhattan Distribution Management product suite will be implemented within UNFI distribution centers across the country.

-- Solutions from the Transportation Lifecycle Management suite will optimize the logistics of delivering more than 60,000 products to more than 17,000 customers.

-- Manhattan Inventory Optimization and Demand Forecasting solutions will replenish inventory and free cash flow while getting the right products to the right place at the right time.