Casey's General Store Case Study

Industry: Grocery and Retail 
Headquarters: Terre Haute, IN
Distribution Centers: North America

Casey's General Store

Overview

Casey’s began as a neighborhood country store that has continually transformed over the years in response to the community’s burgeoning patronage and their increasing needs. Today, Casey’s has grown into a community staple with 1,900+ stores. All of these stores were serviced weekly by a fleet of trucks from a single distribution center in Ankeny, Iowa until February, 2016, when Casey’s opened a second distribution center in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Business Challenge

Casey’s was using a homegrown warehouse management system for many years. In 2014, a decision was made to replace it after it was clear that limitations in the system were hindering business growth. Maintaining and supporting the system required significant resources and time. Most importantly, the existing legacy system was not designed to support more than one distribution center.

The need to upgrade the warehouse management system, along with other systems, became critical when the decision was made to open a second distribution center. It was important that this new system be robust and flexible, rules-driven and easily integrated into the existing IT infrastructure. In addition to these features, the new system would need to provide corporate wide visibility to all data in real-time, and support automation and voice operations. Most importantly, Casey’s required the solution implementation to have a guaranteed cost and time frame for completion.

Softeon Solution

Casey’s selected Softeon’s Warehouse Management System and Plan-to-Fulfill solutions to fuel growth and improve operations. In Softeon, Casey’s knew they had the right technology partner – a partner that not only offered best-of-breed solutions but one that was committed to Casey’s success.

The Softeon WMS solution met all of Casey’s objectives on-time and on-budget. The first DC went live 5 months from the start of the project, and the newest DC was enabled in less than 2 months. Casey’s experienced immediate value in terms of increased productivity, reduction in inventory carrying costs and network-wide real-time visibility. Softeon WMS also provided improved tracking abilities, allowing Casey’s to track and comply with potential changes in The FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) by the FDA.

Results

  • Paperless receiving process
  • Load planning with the ability to view a trailer before loading, significantly improving time and labor efficiency
  • Increased visibility and accuracy in receiving activity
  • Enhanced record keeping of all warehouse functions
  • Rules-based system provides flexibility to meet current business requirements without the need of involving IT or Softeon
  • In the event of a vendor recall of a product, a simple “one click” process stops shipment on any product (even if it is already picked) and prevents more of that product from being allocated for orders
  • Significant improvement in productivity across all operations
  • Quote icon

    The Softeon WMS solution has significantly improved our warehouse operations - handling complex order processing requirements to automation to voice enabled operations, timely and efficient store replenishment - especially important when we are
    adding nearly a 100 stores every year. There is more opportunity to optimize the operations across our network, while responding very quickly to changing business needs."

    Robert Ford
    VP of Operations

  • Quote icon

    This system is not just about today; it is preparing us for tomorrow, and the days and years to come. If we work with it, it will take us places we maybe never thought we could go."

    Mark Austin
    Casey’s Distribution Center Manager, Terre Haute, Indiana

 

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