By Bob Violino

Aug. 1, 2011—When Gruma Corp.'s Mission Foods subsidiary decided in 2009 to replace the disposable corrugated boxes it was using to ship products with reusable plastic containers—and to deploy a radio frequency identification system to track those containers at its Dallas, Texas, warehouse—the goal was to reduce packaging costs and improve warehouse management. Today, the RFID solution has not only fulfilled those business and operations objectives—it also has met Gruma's corporatewide green initiative.

Mission Foods is one of the world's largest producers of corn flour and tortilla products, providing nearly one-quarter of all tortillas sold throughout the world. It also manufactures wraps, salsas, snacks and other food products. The company operates production plants throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and China. Food products come into the company's 34 U.S. warehouses and plants from its manufacturing sites, and go out when Mission Foods' independent distributors pick up orders.


The company was shipping tortilla chips and other light food products in corrugated boxes that cost $1 apiece. "We were basically throwing a dollar away," says Eduardo Valdes, VP of management information systems at Gruma, in Irving, Texas, because the box was used only once. Mission Foods was purchasing nearly one million boxes annually for just its three Texas facilities, he says. Including all its U.S. locations, Mission Foods was spending more than $5 million per year on the boxes.