Responsible Manufacturer Benchmark - GENERAL MILLS

By CommonShare

General Mills, Inc. is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. It is also a leading supplier to the foodservice and commercial baking industries. The company is headquartered at One General Mills Boulevard, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.

General Mills operates in the consumer defensive sector, specifically within the packaged foods industry. It employs approximately 34,000 full-time employees. The key executives of the company include Jeffrey L. Harmening, Chairman & CEO; Kofi A. Bruce, CFO and Interim Chief Strategy & Growth Officer; Karen Wilson Thissen, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary; Jono Nudi, Group President of North America Retail and Europe & Australia; and Jaime Montemayor, Chief Digital & Technology Officer.

The company operates through four main business segments: North America Retail, which offers a variety of food products including cereals, snacks, and yogurt; International, which markets products in over 100 countries across six continents; Pet, which produces pet food products under the Blue Buffalo brand; and North America Foodservice, which supplies products to the foodservice industry.

General Mills' brand portfolio includes well-known names such as Annie's, Betty Crocker, Blue Buffalo, Cascadian Farm, Cheerios, Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Pillsbury, and Yoplait.

The company is committed to innovation and sustainability, focusing on producing high-quality food while reducing its environmental footprint. General Mills has received recognition for its efforts in corporate responsibility and workplace diversity.

Overall Rating

1.0

Under-Performing

Traceability

An increasingly important factor in global supply chains, traceability assesses the manufacturer's capability to track products and materials from origin to delivery. The Sustainable Manufacturers Benchmark® explores this through the lens of tiered supplier verification, culminating in end-to-end traceability with real-time monitoring and complete transparency.

Digitized Products

The digital landscape has transformed B2B interactions. This facet assesses the extent to which manufacturers have digitized their product offerings. The spectrum ranges from manufacturers without any online product catalog to those boasting advanced B2B e-commerce platforms, providing clients with order customization, real-time tracking, and an integrated view of the supply chain.

Preferred Materials

This aspect gauges the extent to which manufacturers incorporate sustainable, circular, and regenerative materials in their supply chain. It assesses whether companies merely use standard materials or whether they actively prioritize sustainable and preferred materials in their product range, even going so far as to offer digital verification of material certificates.

Facility Verification and Services

This dimension evaluates the openness and commitment of manufacturers regarding their facility's conditions and services. It covers a spectrum, from providing no facility details at all to showcasing comprehensive third-party audits, ensuring transparency in worker welfare and showcasing a clear commitment to maintaining top-tier facility services.

Readiness to Contract

Before entering a partnership, it's pivotal to understand a manufacturer's business legitimacy. The Sustainable Manufacturers Benchmark® checks for the presence and verification of essential documents, ranging from basic business licenses to comprehensive documentation, client testimonials, and even third-party attestations that verify a manufacturer's reliability and readiness to contract.

GENERAL MILLS

United States

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How our Responsible Manufacturer Benchmark® Works?

By CommonShare

The Responsible Manufacturer Benchmark is a comprehensive framework designed to evaluate and rate manufacturers based on their commitment to sustainability, digital integration, readiness for contracting, material sourcing, and facility standards. It provides a clear, standardized metric for assessing manufacturers in a B2B environment, helping businesses make informed decisions aligned with their sustainability objectives. The benchmark covers crucial areas like end-to-end traceability, the digital verification of supply tiers, utilization of preferred materials, and verified social audits for facilities. By incorporating both depth and granularity across its criteria, the benchmark not only promotes transparency but also encourages continuous improvement in responsible manufacturing practices.