Milling & Baking News - December 28, 2004 - 3

T H I S

W E E K

December 28, 2004
Vol. 83, No. 44

NEWSCOMMENT

N E W S F E AT U R E

Lag in capital outlays
parallels trends
across all industry

Flour millers gearing up for
greater whole wheat demand
Story on Page 23

9

North Dakota Mill plans to add new unit
Expansion will cost $5.7 million and will lead to daily capacity of 32,000 cwts,
making the Grand Forks mill the largest in the nation. A Kraft facility in Toledo,
Ohio, currently is the largest at 31,000 cwts.

13

CHS realigns business organization, leadership

16

General Mills benefits from in-store bakery

28

Tortilla Industry Association moves to Texas

30

Consumer Price Index rises in November

Processing, Ag Business, Energy and Business Solutions now make up the
four operating divisions while Finance and Share Services are two supporting
divisions. Executive vice-presidents will lead each division.

Net income at the food company rose 19% in the second quarter thanks to contributions
from Pillsbury and Baking Products. The company also plans two cereal introductions:
chocolate Lucky Charms and a honey clusters variety of Fiber One.

The group ended its relationship with Scientific Societies because of its emphasis
on science and technology instead of equipment and ingredient exhibition. In a
related move, Irwin Steinberg will return as TIA's executive director.

Baked foods and cereal increased 2.1% from the same month a year ago. Bread
inched up 3.9%; fresh biscuits, rolls and muffins rose 2.7%; and fresh cakes and
cupcakes climbed 2.9% from November 2003.

Editorial
Business
People
Financial Results
Corn Wet Milling
Washington

EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-chief
Morton I. Sosland
Executive editor, markets
Neil N. Sosland
Editor
L. Joshua Sosland
Senior editor, markets
Jay S. Sjerven

AuditBureau
of Circulations

7
9
14
16
18
20

Industry Activities
Merchandising
Data
Health and Wellness
Supplier Innovations
International
Archive

28
29
30
33
43
44
50

Managing editor
Vice-president, chief financial officer
Eric J. Schroeder
Melanie Hepperly
Associate editor
Director of manufacturing
Jeff Gelski
Vance Spearman
Assistant editor
Director of circulation
Ron Sterk
Gwendolyn Cogshell
Editorial designer, market graphics, data
Director of design services
Christina Sullivan
Sadowna McClun
Feature designer
Circulation manager
Sarah Hill
Judith Arnone
Director of distribution
PUBLISHING STAFF
Gary Humbert
Chairman
Digital systems analyst
Charles S. Sosland
Marj Potts
Vice-chairman
Advertising Design and trafficking
L. Joshua Sosland
Becky White
President and publisher
Marketing communications
Mark Sabo
coordinator/reprint manager
Associate publisher
Carrie Land
G. Michael Gude

With some frequency, comments are made
ranking grain-based foods as extremely
hesitant when it comes to making capital
investments. Except for periods when new
plant and capacity expansion projects post
notable gains, it's difficult to argue that
returns and growth in grain-based foods
indicate the need for a marked pickup
in capital outlays. Like nearly all leaders
of American industry, grain-based foods
executives prefer focusing on outlays
that will reduce costs, seeing these as
especially important at a time when unit
volume increases are difficult to achieve.
There is little question but that the
industry has been in the forefront in using
information technology to achieve cost
reductions, either by boosting output with
the same equipment or achieving gains
in other ways. Just how this works was
thoughtfully explained by the president
of Dell Inc., the world's largest personal
computer manufacturer. Kevin Rollins, in
discussing communication with suppliers,
said, "It allows us to substitute information
for inventory, information for asset intensity,
and information for investments."
Grain-based foods has realized similar
benefits from information flows, both as
suppliers to end-product manufacturers and
as major customers. The past three years of
economic recovery are marked by the slowest
pace of capital spending by U.S. business in
recent history. Recent studies affirm that
milling and baking are no different from
other industries that have added efficiency
without large capital outlays. MBN

4800 Main St., Suite 100. Kansas
City, Mo. 64112 Phone: (816)
756-1000. Fax: (816) 756-0494.
E-mail: mbn@sosland.com

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Seminar

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©
2004 by Sosland Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
Sosland Publishing Co., a division of Sosland Companies, Inc.

4 / Milling & Baking News, December 28, 2004

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