Barilla Case

Barilla SpA (A)

Executive summary

Barilla SpA is an Italian pasta manufacturer, which to be precise it s the world’s largest pasta producer. The company is having huge problems in the logistics department and the person in charge is Giorgio Maggiali who is becoming increasingly frustrated due to the opposition of the implementation of the Just in Time Distribution -JITD- model proposed by his predecessor Brando Vitati.

Giorgio Maggiali was appointed director of logistics in late 1988 when Vitali was promoted to head one of the company’s new divisions. Shortly after his appointment, Maggiali appointed a recent college graduate, Vincenzo Battistini, to help him develop and implement the JITD program.

This report will try to analyze and propose a solution to the issues that the company has. The new JITD system is entirely different from the existing setup and many people, distributors, and departments will be reluctant to adopt it since a centralized supply chain might make them think that their current positions are being jeopardized. The new system that controls the orders will result beneficial to all the parties involved in the supply chain.

Statement of Issue

My decision is to implement the Just in Time Distribution in the Barilla SpA Company through a detailed analysis of the case.

Barilla SpA has a 35% market share in Italy and a 22% market share in Europe. In addition to the family of pastas it also manufactures bread, cookies, biscuits, sauces, breadsticks, etc. Due to the complexity of its distribution channels and to the number of KSUs the company has, Barilla is increasing its manufacturing, inventory, and distribution costs.

The new Just in Time Distribution – JITD – that Giorgio Maggiali is trying to introduce is intended to correct all these abnormalities that the company is suffering. The idea requires the distributors to share their sales data with Barilla. Based on the provided information Barilla will forecast and deliver...