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High-Performance Infrastructure Optimizes Logistics for Fresh Food Delivery in Switzerland
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services
Applicable Industries
- Cement
- Retail
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
- Construction Management
- Last Mile Delivery
Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Coop Group, a leading retail, wholesale, and food production company based in Basel, Switzerland, faced a significant challenge in managing its complex, fast-paced supply chain. The company, which operates almost 2,500 retail stores and generates annual revenues of CHF 30.2 billion (US$32.7 billion), needed to ensure high-quality fresh food was always available on store shelves and online. Efficiently handling the logistics around its 14 distribution centers was central to the retailer’s success. To ensure that customers could get essentials such as fruit, vegetables, and bread fresh every day, Coop relied heavily on data analytics and sophisticated forecasting. However, with growing data volumes, the company recognized the need to expand its data storage infrastructure to ensure timely logistics processes and smooth food deliveries.
About The Customer
Coop Group is a leading retail, wholesale, and food production company based in Basel, Switzerland. The company focuses its large retail business on the Swiss market, while its wholesale business operates across Europe. Coop Group employs 91,000 people and runs almost 2,500 retail stores. The company generates annual revenues of CHF 30.2 billion (US$32.7 billion). Fresh food is at the heart of its business, and ensuring high-quality produce is always available on store shelves and online is a key challenge for the company. Managing a complex, fast-paced supply chain at scale requires advanced logistics processes and quick decision-making.
The Solution
Coop Group selected a new central infrastructure based on Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) 5500 with 1.5PB all-flash storage capacity after evaluating multiple vendors. The highly consolidated storage solution drives a wide range of workloads and delivers low latency to support the company’s 30 mission-critical SAP applications. The company also deployed Hitachi VSP Unified Storage for NAS G600 and G400 with all-flash, for fast and simple file access and shared drives. As part of the standardization, the company is also using Hitachi VSP G350 arrays to reduce complexity and increase reliability in its 14 distribution centers. For audit-proof archiving and storage of high-resolution product and marketing photos, Coop Group relies on Hitachi Content Platform (HCP).
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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