Serving up efficiency by reducing parts inventory
How adaptive planning fueled success for restaurant parts leader.
Overview
A leading distributor of OEM repair and maintenance parts for the restaurant and food service industries, Parts Town has grown from a small team of five to a global powerhouse of over 1,000 team members since its founding in 1987. With over $2.3 billion in revenue in 2023, Parts Town has built its success on a mission to reinvent the restaurant equipment parts industry.
By forming strategic partnerships with manufacturers, Parts Town developed an extensive inventory of OEM parts ready for rapid shipping. Their innovative approach, including launching the industry’s first mobile app, earned them a spot on the Inc. 5000 list for 13 consecutive years. However, rapid growth brought new challenges in managing inventory efficiently while maintaining momentum and supporting future expansion.
At a glance
- One of the fastest-growing restaurant parts suppliers in the industry
- Achieved 25% year-over-year (YoY) growth over the past decade
- Launched the industry’s first mobile app for researching and purchasing parts
- Implemented ketteQ's demand and replenishment planning and scenario management solutions
- Integrated ketteQ with Parts Town's legacy ERP system
- Realized a 15% inventory reduction while maintaining high service levels
It was important to me when searching for a partner to have a team with seasoned inventory practitioner experience, and we found that in spades with the ketteQ team. We didn’t want just a software engineering team deploying a solution based on math and algorithms, but a partner who would lean in and understand our business. That partnership needed to happen, and ketteQ delivered it.
Challenge
With an annual growth rate exceeding 25% over the past decade, Parts Town’s rapid expansion created a need for more locations and complex global supply chains. However, this growth exposed the limitations of their internal processes. Manual data extraction for planning was time-consuming and restrictive, and reliance on spreadsheet models couldn’t keep up with the scale.
Parts Town also struggled with traditional Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) calculations and min/max inventory methods, leading to inconsistent results. Without effective trigger-point planning, optimal order recommendations became challenging. The company needed an adaptive planning solution that could integrate its proprietary inventory algorithms with traditional forecasting methods to optimize inventory across hundreds of thousands of parts in multiple locations.
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Solution
Parts Town partnered with ketteQ to implement its PolymatiQ™-powered Demand and Service Parts Planning solution, designed to adapt to changing market conditions. ketteQ's experts conducted an in-depth analysis of Parts Town's operations to identify areas for improvement in forecasting and planning, aligning the new solution with the company’s growth strategy.
ketteQ seamlessly integrated with Parts Town's legacy ERP system, introducing scenario management and automated alerts for exception-based planning. This AI-powered software predicted part demand and optimized inventory across distribution centers, trucks, dealers, and third-party logistics (3PLs). KetteQ transformed inventory processes such as ordering, replenishment, and balancing into trigger-point decisions and time-phased plans, enhancing operational efficiency.
Additionally, ketteQ’s expert team facilitated strategy workshops and tailored approaches to support Parts Town's growth. This ensured that the solution was not just a one-time fix but a continuously evolving system designed to meet immediate needs and foster long-term success.
Results
By implementing ketteQ's PolymatiQ™-powered solution, Parts Town achieved:
- Over 15% reduction in inventory while maintaining high service levels.
- Seamless integration with legacy ERP systems, minimizing disruption during the transition.
- Enhanced scenario management for more strategic and proactive planning.
- Flexibility to redeploy capital, allowing for expanded inventory breadth or cost savings.
- Exception-based planning, enabling planners to focus on high-priority issues.
ketteQ’s PolymatiQ™-powered solution provided Parts Town with a dynamic, data-driven approach to inventory management that evolved with their growing business. By reducing inventory while maintaining high service levels, the company unlocked additional value and positioned itself for continued success.
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