Barilla Spa Case Study Analysis Essay Example
Barilla
SpA
(A)
Case
Study
Analysis
2
Diagnose the underlying causes of the difficulties that the JITD program was created to solve.
What are the benefits and drawback of this program?
Brando Vitali, Barilla’s director of logistics, proposed the idea of Just-In-Time Distribution
(JITD) in the 1980’s as an alternative to Barilla’s traditional practice of delivering products to their distributors (Hammond, 1). Instead of distributing Barilla’s products based on the orders the distributors placed with the company, Barilla’s own logistics organization would determine the product quantities to distribute that would most effectively meet end-consumers needs. This in turn, would more evenly distribute the workload on Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics systems (Hammond, 1).
Vitali hoped his innovative idea would solve the tremendous fluctuation that occurred from week to week in the number of Barilla dry products being ordered by the distributors. The extreme demand variability seriously strained Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics operations. Barilla’s highly automated manufacturing system was not designed to accommodate large fluctuations in demand nor, was it designed to accommodate sudden changes in demand or product. The manufacturing sequences of pasta production made it very difficult to produce particular types of pasta that had been sold out due to unexpectedly high demand. The temperature and humidity in the kiln had to be precisely specified for each size and shape of pasta and had to be tightly controlled to ensure that quality was maintained
(Hammond, 3). This procedure limited the ability to rapidly shift production between different pastas.
Different sizes of pasta were also made in different plants based on the variety of equipment required for pasta production (Hammond, 3). This limited Barilla’s production flexibility to shift plant locations as needed to meet product demand.
The JITD program was also created to address the
SpA
(A)
Case
Study
Analysis
2
Diagnose the underlying causes of the difficulties that the JITD program was created to solve.
What are the benefits and drawback of this program?
Brando Vitali, Barilla’s director of logistics, proposed the idea of Just-In-Time Distribution
(JITD) in the 1980’s as an alternative to Barilla’s traditional practice of delivering products to their distributors (Hammond, 1). Instead of distributing Barilla’s products based on the orders the distributors placed with the company, Barilla’s own logistics organization would determine the product quantities to distribute that would most effectively meet end-consumers needs. This in turn, would more evenly distribute the workload on Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics systems (Hammond, 1).
Vitali hoped his innovative idea would solve the tremendous fluctuation that occurred from week to week in the number of Barilla dry products being ordered by the distributors. The extreme demand variability seriously strained Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics operations. Barilla’s highly automated manufacturing system was not designed to accommodate large fluctuations in demand nor, was it designed to accommodate sudden changes in demand or product. The manufacturing sequences of pasta production made it very difficult to produce particular types of pasta that had been sold out due to unexpectedly high demand. The temperature and humidity in the kiln had to be precisely specified for each size and shape of pasta and had to be tightly controlled to ensure that quality was maintained
(Hammond, 3). This procedure limited the ability to rapidly shift production between different pastas.
Different sizes of pasta were also made in different plants based on the variety of equipment required for pasta production (Hammond, 3). This limited Barilla’s production flexibility to shift plant locations as needed to meet product demand.
The JITD program was also created to address the