Barilla Case Study: Tackles Mainly In Its Supply Chain And The System Within It
Abstract
The Barilla SpA case study tackles mainly about its supply chain and the system within it. Starting from the manufacturing of the product up to the distribution and selling of it. JITD, a distribution system which might possibly minimize the cost and inventory of the company is being considered to implement in the company’s distribution system to address the fluctuation in their demand. Advantages and disadvantages of JITD were compared.
Introduction
Barilla SpA is a pasta manufacturing firm that is founded in 1875 by Pietro Barilla in Parma, Italy and currently known as the largest pasta manu-facturer in the world. Barilla owns 25 plants across Italy comprising mostly of Italian super-markets and shops, each plant focusing on a particular product such as flour mill, pasta, and other specialty products like breads, cakes, and croissants. Barilla also has two distribution centers which are responsible in distributing their products.
In their current system, after manufacturing the pasta, the Logistics unit of the company catego-rizes the products into two groups, the dry and fresh products, to be distributed to their central distribution centers (CDCs). Fresh products are delivered and kept for only three days. While dry products, are brought to either the CDCs or Barilla-run depots. Barilla-run depots distribute dry products to small independent shops. The CDCs are responsible for distributing the dry products to two types of distributors: Grande Distribuzione, which is a distribution organiza-tion responsible for distributing to supermarket chains, and Distribuzione organizzata, which is composed of many other distributors.
However, due to some problems in distribution of products, Vitali proposed that the company use Just-in-Time Distribution (JITD) on their system to minimize the cost incurred in inventory and frequent distribution of their products.
The company now faces a problem whether and how will they implement the JITD
The Barilla SpA case study tackles mainly about its supply chain and the system within it. Starting from the manufacturing of the product up to the distribution and selling of it. JITD, a distribution system which might possibly minimize the cost and inventory of the company is being considered to implement in the company’s distribution system to address the fluctuation in their demand. Advantages and disadvantages of JITD were compared.
Introduction
Barilla SpA is a pasta manufacturing firm that is founded in 1875 by Pietro Barilla in Parma, Italy and currently known as the largest pasta manu-facturer in the world. Barilla owns 25 plants across Italy comprising mostly of Italian super-markets and shops, each plant focusing on a particular product such as flour mill, pasta, and other specialty products like breads, cakes, and croissants. Barilla also has two distribution centers which are responsible in distributing their products.
In their current system, after manufacturing the pasta, the Logistics unit of the company catego-rizes the products into two groups, the dry and fresh products, to be distributed to their central distribution centers (CDCs). Fresh products are delivered and kept for only three days. While dry products, are brought to either the CDCs or Barilla-run depots. Barilla-run depots distribute dry products to small independent shops. The CDCs are responsible for distributing the dry products to two types of distributors: Grande Distribuzione, which is a distribution organiza-tion responsible for distributing to supermarket chains, and Distribuzione organizzata, which is composed of many other distributors.
However, due to some problems in distribution of products, Vitali proposed that the company use Just-in-Time Distribution (JITD) on their system to minimize the cost incurred in inventory and frequent distribution of their products.
The company now faces a problem whether and how will they implement the JITD
References: (1) P. M. Swamidass, “Encyclopedia of Production and Manufacturing Management,” p. 363 (2) S. Brown, K. Blackmon, P. Cousins, and H. Maylor, “Operations management Policy, Practice and Performance Improvement”. Butterworth-Heinemann Publications, 2001, p. 226