Albertsons is on a journey to a destination. Our vision is to become the #1 food and drug retailer in the world... not just the biggest, but the best in every dimension. To realize that vision, our associates work together as a unified team to build the most efficient and customer-focused company in the supermarket and drugstore industries.
Two years ago we launched an ambitious restructuring program under the guidance of a new leadership team. As part of that effort, we committed to take $750 million dollars out of our cost structure by the end of 2004. This focus on efficiency is a continuous process that now extends throughout our company and is rapidly becoming a part of the DNA that defines our culture.
By year-end 2002, we had achieved well over $400 million in cost savings and we are ahead of schedule on our way to achieve our $750 million goal. Albertsons is becoming more competitive by bringing best practices to every area of our organization, eliminating bureaucracy as well as streamlining processes in our stores, distribution centers and corporate headquarters. The next major step in our cost reduction and process control effort centers around improving and optimizing our supply chain efficiency. A major program has been launched in this area and is showing outstanding potential.
Over 80 sourcing and procurement initiatives are being implemented and we are seeing improvements in a number of key areas. For example, on the procurement side of our business, we are using adaptive business networking to drive strategic sourcing and supply chain management to a new level. All of these initiatives help build shareholder value by taking unnecessary costs out of the system and in the end ensuring that our customers can count on us to find the right product, at the right place, at the right time.
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