Carrefour Italy

The bread and butter of supply chain excellence

Carrefour is Europe’s largest retailer and the second largest retailer in the world. The company has more than 370,000 employees worldwide and operates 12,300 stores in 30 different countries, more than 1,500 of them are hypermarkets. With a network of 1,116 points of sale all over Italy, many Italian consumers depend on Carrefour to get their bread and butter. Over 950 deliveries take place at Carrefour’s Italian locations on a daily basis. The retailer’s Italian division was looking to reduce supply chain complexity by improving visibility and efficiency in its transport network.

Improving supply chain visibility and standardization

Carrefour Italy was struggling with several challenges. They had low visibility into their overall supply chain process, and lacked process standardization. Lowering transport costs without impacting service levels was high on the agenda, but they lacked insight into how their truck fleet should adapt to meet actual needs.

To increase transport efficiency, the company needed to optimize routing and delivery times. Track & trace accuracy also needed to improve. In order to address this, they chose a combined ORTEC toolset: ORTEC Routing and Dispatch, ORTEC Web Portals and ORTEC’s Mobile App.

A combined toolset to address multiple planning needs with analytics

"Our main challenge was to lower transport costs without impacting service levels,” said Matteo Gasparini, who led the Transportation team at the time. “ORTEC proved that its optimization solution is all we needed to boost transport efficiency." added Matteo Gasparini.

ORTEC Routing & Dispatch integrated the planning and execution of Carrefour’s entire transport operations under a single and common framework. After implementing ORTEC Routing & Dispatch in several warehouses throughout Italy, Carrefour achieved the perfect balance between planning times and optimization.

For increased visibility and transparency, we implemented our Track & Trace module, which enabled the company to oversee order dispatching and execution. The tracing module imports GPS data into ORTEC Routing & Dispatch, enabling planners to trace vehicles throughout the network on a user-friendly map. Data such as actual miles travelled vs planned miles travelled is provided in visualizations. Planners also get deviation alerts and can trace unauthorized stops.

“With the Track & Trace module, we are able to monitor our service levels in-depth, while focusing on vehicle tracking from planning to Point of Sales,” Gasparini stated.

Team productivity also improved thanks to ORTEC Web Portals and ORTEC’s Mobile App. Our Web Portals build multiple connections to improve collaborations across business units. The carrier office can view planned trips, with the possibility to reject or accept requests. Point of Sales staff can get accurate ETAs and details about each delivery, with the option to provide feedback. Warehouse dispatchers can dispatch vehicles and update the status of deliveries in real-time. All vehicle execution activities are recorded via mobile devices, enabling ETA calculations in real-time and triggering warnings when needed.

“We have driven a strong change management process from ‘paper use’ to ‘system attitude,' Matteo Gasparini added. “And thanks to the ORTEC Mobile App, our drivers can easily scan QR codes to report their presence at specific locations.”

Simplified processes lead to reduced costs and lower CO₂ emissions

Marco Mariotti, Transportation Manager at Carrefour Italy says: “We are very pleased with the results obtained after implementing ORTEC Routing & Dispatch”.

Thanks to ORTEC’s advanced analytics software, Carrefour Italy was able to drive visibility and efficiency, as well as collaboration across the supply chain. Service levels improved. Vehicle utilization increased but the number of total miles travelled was reduced, resulting in lower CO₂ emissions.

“The planning process has been improved significantly. The unique structure, adapted for different DCs and Business Units, became more transparent and visible for all stakeholders. This allow us to simplify the process flow and reduce our costs,” – Marco Mariotti.