Barilla Spa(a) Case Study Essay

            One reason that could have led the ice cream sale to fluctuate could have been due to Price of Related goods. For example, frozen yogurt is a substitute for ice cream, so when the price increases, more ice cream is demanded. However, hot fudge is a compliment for ice cream, therefore when its price goes up, less ice cream is demanded. Second reason leading for the ice cream sale to fluctuate could be due to income. For normal goods, the higher your income, the more you buy. For inferior goods, the higher your income, the less you buy. Taste is another factor. When taste changes, the quantity demands change.  For example, our taste for ice cream might depend on the weather. Expectations are also an important factor.  Expectations about future income or prices affect the quantity demanded today.

Since Donna Dubinsky and Roy Weaver did not address Mr. Jobs questions regarding the 1985 Distribution Business Plan, he assigned Debi Coleman to develop a new Distribution Strategy Proposal based on the “just-in-time” concept. Ms. Dubinsky was not proactive in presenting her issues and concerns regarding the “just-in-time” concept. It is assumed that she considered the idea not feasible and that it would not gain momentum; however, the exact opposite occurred.

distributors would have to submit their Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) so that Barilla can control it.

These spikes and troughs could be the result of price discounts that the company is offering due to which customers are buying in bulk and stocking up on products. This could lead to variability in demand, leading to excess demand or no demand that would lead to non-efficient production by the company. Root cause analysis should be performed, and if it is established that volume discounts are leading to this phenomenon, it is recommended that the company minimize discounting and work with the customers using a partnership model to ensure a steady demand.

A third factor contributing to the Bullwhip Effect is the specific production process of pasta. Barilla cannot re-act to demand changes quickly enough, due to production restrictions as e.g. heat and humidity specifications. That means, if a product is out of stock it cannot be produced and delivered immediately.

The high demand for the company products resulted in difficulty filling orders for its cus- tomers. Because of the rapid inventory turnover in the retail grocery trade, customers demand delivery within one week with a maximum allowance of 10 days. It generally takes four to five days lead time for Prairie Winds Pasta to put a specific product into production and an average of 4 days to ship the product to the customer. The 30 different varieties of pasta and rapid inventory turnover resulted in high levels of non-production time required to switch production from one type of pasta to another. Prairie Winds was experiencing difficulties satisfying existing customers on a timely basis. Several of the large grocery store chains had indicated that they might switch sup- pliers if they could not get a reliable shipment of goods.

Company is facing a challenge of potentially higher inventory costs. Rising prices may further result in changes in customer behavior and preferences.

In this final paper for Managerial Finance I will attempt to show how the supply chain inventory management method can be affected depending on the situation of the retailer. Studying the control method for problems in inventory, which would include both, excesses in inventory as well as shortages, and hoping to minimize loss.

The BARILLA case is an illustrative example where we can understand the effects of a phenomenon which is very common among industries that is called the Bullwhip effect. As an immediate outcome this phenomenon creates large swings in demand on the supply chain resulting from relatively small, but unplanned, variations in consumer demand

One of the underlying causes of the difficulties that the JITD program was created to solve was the effects of inconsistent demand that came from Barilla’s distributors. The extreme demand variation strained Barillas manufacturing and logistics, and made very hard for Barilla to meet that demand. For example, as noted on the case “the specific sequence of pasta production necessitated by the tight heat and humidity specifications in the tunnel kiln made it difficult to quickly produce a particular pasta that had been sold out due

Barilla’s products are divided into Fresh products and Dry products. The demand for these two distinct kinds of products is quite different, and the order, shipment and delivery methods for them are also various.

Even though direct competition has decreased, the tendency of retailers to get their products directly from manufacturers puts the company in a position of relooking its competitive edge as a distributor. The marketplace is shifting from an individuality to supply chain performance – the ability to meet end-customers needs through product availability and responsive and on-time delivery. Supply chain performance crosses both functional lines and company boundaries. Brunswick must change their way to fill customer orders faster and more efficiently than the competition.

Because of the way Barilla’s manufacturing process works, demand fluctuations have a significant impact on the company’s operations. Tight heat and humidity specifications in factory tunnel kilns require very specific sequences of pasta production, which means Barilla has limited flexibility in ramping up (or ramping down) the production of pastas experiencing unexpected demand levels. Furthermore, because of extremely high holding costs, it is simply not economically viable for Barilla to maintain substantial finished goods inventories to guarantee fulfilling distributors’ fluctuating order quantities.

Just-in-time delivery needs good collaboration with vendors of distribution services and of products. The distributor needs a continuity of demand and the chance to define routes, loads and schedules well ahead. By working toward longer-terms, higher-volume procurements with vendors, prices can be cut due to larger transport volume over a long period of time. Just-in-time delivery will cut down the operating costs if the business is substantial for the distribution partner. Just in time delivery needs more frequent deliveries from vendors however it does not voluntarily imply higher transportation costs.

A common way of decreasing the amount of inventory a business holds on a daily basis is implementing a just-in-time inventory process. A Just-In-Time inventory system means that the business gets the materials for a product, as they are demanded. “The electronic data