Barilla SpA (A)

Barilla SpA is the worlds largest pasta manufacturer The company sells to a wide range of Italian retailers, primarily through third party distributors During the late 1980s, Barilla suffered increasing operational inefficiencies and cost penalties that resulted from large week-to-week variations in its distributors order patterns

Barilla SpA (A) Case Study

Phil Kaminsky Global Supply Chain Management kaminsky@ieor.berkeley.edu MGT 690 June 5, 2010

Figure 5-3 Weekly Demand for Barilla Dry Products from Corteses Northeast Distribution Center to the Pedrignano CDC, 1989. (see page 150)

Questions:
What exactly is causing the distributors order pattern to look this way? What are the underlying drivers of the fluctuations?

Causes of Demand Fluctuations

Transportation discounts Volume discount Promotional activity No minimum or maximum order quantities Product proliferation Long order lead times Poor customer service rates Poor communication

Demand Fluctuations
The extreme fluctuation in Figure 5-3 on page 150 is truly remarkable when one considers the underlying aggregate demand for pasta in Italy. What does the underlying consumer demand pattern for pasta look like in Italy?

Pasta Demand Pattern in Italy The underlying pasta demand pattern in Italy is relatively flat. The pasta demand pattern at the distribution centers (DCs) shows a rather large fluctuation. This appears to be because of the channel policies and dynamics.

Demand Fluctuations
What are the differences and similarities between the Barilla channel and the beer distribution channel?

What is the impact of demand fluctuation seen in Figure 5-3?

Because the plant has high product change over costs, Barilla has either inefficient production or excess finished goods inventory Utilization of central distribution is low
Workers Equipment

Transportation costs are higher than necessary

What is the impact of demand fluctuation seen in Figure 5-3? (cont.) The distributor must build excess capacity to hold goods bought on any type of promotion, including quantity discounts, truckload discounts and canvass period discounts
What if the distributor passes the discount along to the retailers? What is the value of the promotion game?

Addressing the Problem

To address this problem, the director of logistics suggests:
Implementation of Just-in-Time Distribution (JITD) with Barillas distributors.

What is the JITD System?

Decision-making authority for determining shipments from Barilla to a distributor would transfer from the distributor to Barilla Rather than simply filling orders specified by the distributor, Barilla would monitor the flow of its product through the distributors warehouse, and then decide what to ship to the distributor and when to ship it.

Key Elements of JITD

Replace the current delivery pattern with one that it better suits the entire channel (i.e., sequential myopic optimization vs joint optimization). JITD program eliminates a false economics that drive traditional ordering processes.

Evaluation of the JITD Proposal

Clearly the variation in demand is imposing additional costs on the channel. What do you think of the JITD proposal as a mechanism for reducing these costs? Why should this work? How does it work? What makes Barilla think that it can do a better job of determining a good product/delivery sequence than its distributors?

Two Key Concepts Behind JITD

Replace sequential optimization with global optimization
Who will optimize?

Implementation Issues Resistance from the Distributors

Managing stock is my job; I dont need you to see my warehouse or my figures. I could improve my inventory and service level myself if you would deliver my orders more quickly; I would place my order and you would deliver within 36 hours. We would be giving Barilla the power to push products into our warehouse just so that Barilla can reduce its costs. ?

Eliminate some of the false economics that drive traditional ordering processes
What does this mean?

Implementation Issues Resistance from Sales and Marketing

Our sales levels would flatten if we put this program in place. How can we get the trade to push Barilla product to retailers if we dont offer some sort of incentive? If space is freed up in our distributors warehouses the distributors would then push our competitors product more than ours. the distribution organization is not yet ready to handle such a sophisticated relationship. ?

Evaluating the JITD Proposal

Q: Can Barilla act in an unbiased manner? Does Barilla have the right incentives to do so? Q: Does the JITD program eliminate the forces that drive the worst of the fluctuations? Q: What is the impact of retailers being so small?

Implementation Issues
External conflicts (the Distributors Perspective) Q: Why are Barillas customers so resistant to the JITD? Q: Why should the customers accept JITD? Q: How might Maggiali be more successful in persuading customers to at least try the JITD program?

Implementation Issues
Internal Conflicts (the Sales Perspective) Q: Why is there so much internal resistance to what seems, in concept, to be an effective idea for Barilla? Q: What are these salespeople REALLY saying?

Implementation Issues
Clearly, the implementation issues are much broader than just a logistics program. Maggiali needs to view it as a companywide effort and get top management closely involved in this. Trust needs to be developed and conditions created for people to change

How Can Maggiali Solve the Implementation Problems? Demonstrate that JITD benefits the distributors (lowering inventory, improving their service levels and increasing their returns on assets); Run experiment at one or more of Barillas 18 depots Maggiali needs to look at JITD not as a logistics program, but as a company-wide effort; Get top management closely involved Develop Trust

Evaluation
How do you evaluate the implementation process Barilla used with Cortese?