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Utz Quality Foods, the nation's No. 3 potato chip maker, is using the
Internet to slice data as finely as the 0.057-inch-thick chips it sells.



PROBLEM                            SOLUTION



Assessing promotions: Sales        New software spins out daily sales
reports took up to a month         reports so future promotions can
to generate, so execs were         be instantly matched against current
slow to pick up promotion          results.
duds.



Wasted in-store displays: If       Every product is tracked by store, and
shelves are bare, the thousands    daily e-mails target problems. A Super
spent every week on in-store       Bowl promo was salvaged in a day after
displays can be largely wasted.    stores finally got their shipments.



Poor forecasting: Outdated         Plans are in the works to generate
sales data lead to expensive       up-to-the-minute data on the usage
gluts of ingredients and sup-      of ingredients. Goal: Plants at 85%
plies. Execs estimate factory      efficiency.
efficiency is only 60% to 70%.