Technology Can Help Optimize a Distribution Network

As a worldwide manufacturer of some of the world’s best-loved pasta products, the 138 year-old corporation knew it needed state-of-the-art technology to elevate it to the “next level” of supply chain management. Based in Italy, the company relies on numerous warehouses situated throughout Europe to serve as the distribution network for its pastas, bakery products and other edible creations. Until recently, the company relied on a combination of proprietary software systems and manual processes to manage its transportation network.

One of the manufacturer’s biggest challenges, for example, tied directly to a core distribution model that relied on static schedules (shipping directly to stores) that were previously handled manually. Using those static schedules, the company would attempt to “lock up” carrier capacity early in the morning to ensure that the vehicles were available to handle schedule runs.

Managing this process was difficult at best in a non automated environment. “It was basically impossible for a human being to manage manually,” says Doug Surrett, Vice President of International Solutions at MercuryGate in Cary, N.C. “Multiply the process across multiple DCs, and for a volume of several hundred orders/demand profiles (several times a day), and the challenge quickly became insurmountable.”