Kimberly-Clark Powers Up Solar, PepsiCo Buys Snack Retailer, Stopping Malware

Solar Project a ‘Source of Pride”

Paper-based consumer goods manufacturer Kimberly-Clark has teamed up with United Renewable Energy to build a 3 megawatt solar power array of more than 8,600 solar panels at a non-woven materials plant in Lagrange, George.

All of the power generated by the panels — along with renewable energy credits acquired by Kimberly-Clark — will be sold or provided to Georgia Power under Georgia Power’s Renewable Energy Development Initiative, according to the company.

Kimberly-Clark is purchasing renewable energy credits from NextEra Energy Resources to offset greenhouse gas emissions.

“The project is a source of pride for LaGrange employees, and purchasing RECs from NextEra Energy Resources helps us strive towards our global goal of a 40% offset in greenhouse gas emissions by 2022,” said Jeremy Cannady, mill manager at Kimberly-Clark’s LaGrange facility.

This is not Kimberly-Clark’s first foray into renewable energy, and it follows a trend among large manufacturers trying to build renewable energy capabilities.

In 2017, for example, the Wisconsin-based company announced plans to purchase 1 million megawatt hours from wind farms in Oklahoma and Texas.

At the time, the purchase accounted for about one-third of KC’s North American manufacturing energy needs, and it permitted the company to exceed its greenhouse gas reduction goal four years early.

PepsiCo Acquires One of China’s Largest Online Snack Retailers

Online retailer Be & Cheery is known for selling nuts, dried fruits, meat snacks and baked goods via an e-commerce platform.

Now, Be & Cheery is part of PepsiCo under a $705 million deal.

In a news release regarding the acquisition, PepsiCo praised Be & Cheery’s effective use of digital tools and “strong data-led innovation capability” that allows it to quickly adjust its manufacturing posture and product portfolio to respond to consumer tastes and trends.

“Be & Cheery is highly complementary to our existing China business with its broad product portfolio, asset light model, and focus on e-commerce,” said Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo Greater China. 

Be & Cheery was founded in 2003 and has grown to become one of the largest online snack retailers in China with more than $711 million in revenues in 2019.

PepsiCo purchased the brand from jujube maker Haoxiangni Health Food Co Ltd. Jujubes are a type of Chinese red date.

The company said it decided to sell, according to Reuters, to focus on its jujube business.

How a Cybersecurity Strategy Helped One Company Avoid a ‘News Helicopter Moment of Crisis’

In GrayMatter’s latest Project X, a Fortune 500 manufacturing company teams with GrayMatter to implement a powerful, scalable cybersecurity solution.

Using threat-detection software, the company built an early-warning system that can alert the right people when someone mistakenly clicks a malicious email link or plugs in a compromised USB flash drive.

Read more about how GrayMatter’s cybersecurity collaboration allows the company to prevent a potentially costly ransomware intrusion.