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by Robert Gast
Published 09/18/2007
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts has an aggressive inventory control process that involves replacing products that are
just a few hours old. If any of its computing processes fail, the delivery of
fresh inventory could be disrupted.
Top-shelf companies constantly weigh
their ability to improve business processes and guard hard-earned market share.
If you're firmly committed to providing a product or service that's better than
anyone else's (in this case it happens to be a doughnut), then you strengthen
areas where weakness may impede success.
Krispy Kreme is committed to
serving ultra-fresh doughnuts to its customers and stands behind the freshness
of the 7.5 million baked goods it makes every day. As of the 2006 fiscal year
end, North Carolina–based Krispy Kreme posted sales of $543.4 million,
which is a lot of dough by anyone's measure. Given the pace of Krispy Kreme's
expansion over the past decade, ensuring the continuity of its business systems
is central to the attainment of this mission.
Krispy Kreme got its first
System/38 in 1982. Now, it manages its wholesale operation with an EDI solution
from EXTOL that runs on an IBM System i Model 520. This system serves roughly
400 users and supports remittance processing, accounts receivable, accounts
payable, sales reporting, and many other functions.
Krispy Kreme sells
its products in 293 store-factories, 90 satellite locations, and countless
supermarkets throughout the U.S. and in eight other countries. According to
Greig Radford, manager of System i Technology, "We have trading partners sending
information to our EDI system all the time, and if it's not available, then we
could have problems. This could cause a serious ripple in our supply chain that
would hurt our wholesale operation." Krispy Kreme also relies on electronic
billing to invoice its customers. This system can generate thousands of invoices
for one big retail outlet per month, and delayed billing can seriously impact
cash flow.
From its retail manufacturing facilities, Krispy Kreme
delivers to other outlets only what each one can sell within a four-hour shift,
and then it follows up with fresh shipments a few hours later as demand
requires.
Radford needed to harden the company's systems so glitches of
varying magnitudes would not interrupt its finely tuned manufacturing and
distribution operation. With many contacts in the IBM System i user space,
Radford spoke with a few colleagues who had direct experience with
high-availability solutions. "Several people told me that HA was a gamble
because it can be hard to implement and keep running, so I wasn't sure that I
could even support this technology," says Radford.
Krispy Kreme's IT
department is remarkably small for a company wielding as much brand clout as it
does. Only 28 people manage the company's entire IT operation. "We just don't
have the manpower that companies with big IT staffs have. We didn't have
resources to put a person on an evaluation project for weeks or months on end,"
says Radford.
To reduce the impact that a software evaluation would have
on his busy IT staff, Radford decided to look at his best option first. "I was
told by one person that iTera HA from Vision Solutions was probably the most
straightforward HA solution he had ever seen, so I decided to take a closer look
at it."
Technicians at Vision Solutions' development and training
facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, helped install the product on Krispy Kreme's
production System i Model 520 and remotely on its 520 backup system. "The
installation procedure is very straightforward because all you really have to do
is provide access to your system and they handle it for you. It took less than
an hour and a half, which I believe is incredible," says Radford.
Two
technicians from Krispy Kreme then flew to Salt Lake City for three days of
training. Vision takes an approach to training that gives iTera HA users a
well-rounded understanding of the entire HA environment. Participants don't
spend days configuring a hypothetical training system and then try to remember
what they learned when they get back to their own systems. They configure their
own machines remotely from iTera's training center, with the help of a
knowledgeable mentor. Says Radford, "Vision's approach to training is really
forward-thinking. We have been able to manage this system ever since then with a
minimal amount of effort."
Krispy Kreme's backup machine resides in a
separate building several miles away from the production computer. These systems
are connected using 100MB of a 1GB Ethernet link.
At one point, Radford
says, the link between the primary and backup system was down for 12 hours. "We
had some PTF issues that were completely unrelated to the high-availability
environment. When the line came back up, we had over 12 million transactions to
replicate—lots of save files and IFS-type objects. Surprisingly, it only
took three hours to get caught up, and we didn't have a single
error."
Krispy Kreme has had iTera HA for only
a short while, but it is committed to continually testing its HA environment and
reducing the amount of time it takes to swap roles from the production system to
the backup. "This is just a matter of good housekeeping. Each time we execute a
switchover test from the production system to the backup, it take less time. I
now know exactly how it works, and I have a high level of confidence in iTera
HA. I definitely made the right decision."
About Krispy Kreme
Founded in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Krispy Kreme is a leading specialty
retailer of premium quality doughnuts, including its signature Hot Original
Glazed. Learn more at http://www.krispykreme.com.
Robert Gast reports on technology and business. He
holds degrees in journalism and marketing and has lectured on technology at
Roosevelt University in Chicago. Robert is Managing Partner of Evant Group and
can be reached at bobgast@evantgroup.com.
Vision Solutions, Inc.
17911 Von Karman
Ave.
Irvine, CA 92614
Tel: 949.253.6500
Fax: 949.253.6501
Web: www.visionsolutions.com
Email: info@visionsolutions.com
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