Papa John's International Inc. is the third-largest pizza company in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world with more than 3,000 restaurants. PJ Food Service provides one-stop shopping for virtually all the ingredients and supplies used in Papa John's restaurants through its 10 Quality Control Centers.
A major challenge was inventory visibility and accuracy--Papa John's lacked the carrier relationships necessary to gain visibility and to ensure the highest level of quality control. According to Eric Hartman, senior director of logistics, "A DC would place an order over the phone rather than electronically, increasing the potential for error either on our side or on the vendor side. The vendor then selected a carrier, freight was prepaid and we often wouldn't know what carrier was coming. If we had concerns regarding the load, product quality or the temperature during transit, we had to go back to the vendor, who had to go back to the carrier to get that information." In addition to achieving visibility, Papa John's goal was to reduce manual processes and increase efficiencies to better control costs and increase shareholder value.
Papa John's sought a vendor with expertise in planning and procurement, along with carrier and fleet management offerings. It also needed integration between solutions--replenishment, warehouse management, transportation and performance management.
Source: Manufacturing & Logistics IT, http://www.logisticsit.com/absolutenm/templates/article-food.aspx?articleid=4062&zoneid=44