Michael Kuhlman

Case studyLogistics & ERP integration

Taco Bell & KFC: a worldwide supply-chain backend

Before Event Network I built the backend Taco Bell and KFC used worldwide to order, ship, track and receive replacement parts for their restaurant kitchens, from the purchase order to the ship at sea to the scanner at the receiving dock.

Diagram: the Taco Bell and KFC parts supply chain: purchase order, GPS-tracked ocean cargo and inland freight, receiving at warehouses and checkpoints by barcode, QR and automated weight count, then the restaurants, with the platform integrated with the ERP systems.PURCHASE ORDERreplacement kitchen partsOCEAN CARGOlive GPS trackingINLAND FREIGHTlive GPS trackingWAREHOUSES & CHECKPOINTSbarcode · QR · automated weight countRESTAURANTSTaco Bell · KFC, worldwideERPSYSTEMSDiagram: the Taco Bell and KFC parts supply chain: purchase order, GPS-tracked ocean cargo and inland freight, receiving at warehouses and checkpoints by barcode, QR and automated weight count, then the restaurants, with the platform integrated with the ERP systems.PURCHASE ORDEROCEANGPSINLANDGPSRECEIVINGbarcode · QR · weightRESTAURANTSINTEGRATED WITH THEIR ERP SYSTEMS

Context

When a fryer or a grill breaks in a fast-food kitchen, the replacement part has to come from somewhere, and much of it moved as ocean cargo. Taco Bell and KFC needed one system to run that flow for their restaurants: ordering parts, moving them by ocean and over land, and receiving them into warehouses and checkpoints along the way.

The challenge

Large ocean cargo shipments, then inland freight, then warehouses and checkpoints where goods had to be counted and checked in. The system had to track shipments in real time, make shipping and receiving faster and more efficient, and work with the ERP systems the business already ran on.

What I did

  • Purchase orders to receiving. Built the backend for purchase orders and for receiving goods into warehouses and checkpoints.
  • Live GPS tracking. Tracked large ocean cargo shipments and the inland legs that followed with live GPS, so a shipment could be followed at sea and over land.
  • A new way to ship and receive. Designed the shipping and receiving process around barcode scanners, QR code scanners and automated weight-based counting, to save time and make shipping and receiving more efficient.
  • ERP integration. Integrated the platform with the companies' other ERP systems.

Outcome

Taco Bell and KFC ran their restaurant-parts supply chain on the system worldwide. Scanning and automated weight counting made shipping and receiving faster, shipments could be followed live by GPS, and the platform worked alongside their ERP systems. It is the same kind of work I later did on Magento at Event Network: integrations that keep orders, inventory and fulfillment in step across systems.

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