Barilla Spa

Barilla SpA is an Italian pasta manufacturer comprised of 7 divisions: 3 pasta, bakery, bread, catering, and international. By 1990, Barilla had become the largest pasta manufacturer in the world.

The company ships its pasta to one of two central distribution centers (CDC) where it is bought by individual supermarket distributors called пїЅgrande distribuzioneпїЅ (GD for larger supermarkets) and пїЅdistribuzione organizzataпїЅ (DO for smaller, independent supermarkets). During the late 1980s, the distributors often put Barilla in a bind with fluctuating demand patterns. As director of logistics, Giorgio Maggiali was acutely aware of the growing burden from demand fluctuations. He was contemplating the implementation of a Just-in-Time Distribution (JITD) program, which would shift the responsibility of determining shipment quantities from the distributors to Barilla.

Inventory can be blamed for many of the causes of demand fluctuation. The supermarkets and distributors tended to not have much space to hold inventory. This left the door open to events like stock outs where the distributor would run out of the product. Depending on a distributorпїЅs inventory level, the