Casey's Adds Solution to Optimize Supply Chain & Space Plans

ANKENY, Iowa — Casey's General Stores Inc. tapped RELEX Solutions, a provider of unified space planning and supply chain solutions, to improve order accuracy on a store-by-store basis across the convenience retailer's network of 2,400-plus stores.

RELEX will enable Casey's space planning team to utilize logic in a framework of business rules, which the solution will use to help produce planograms that are optimized for greater efficiency and accuracy, according to the solutions company.

This will additionally help reduce the volume of manual work in-store and support Casey's growth plans.

[Read more: Kwik Trip Automates Space Planning & Inventory]

"As the organization continues to grow, our central space planning team requires more efficient processes to manage everything from a more regionalized assortment, seasonal inventory to fresh product," said Jim Hamilton, senior space planning manager at Casey's. "RELEX provides our planners a valuable 'single source of truth' to work from, enabling them to drive improvements to the guest experience at Casey's."

Through the RELEX solution, Casey's will also benefit from improved forecasting and replenishment, promotional planning, fresh optimization and more. The unified solution will drive improvements to the retailer's supply chain by reducing waste, improving availability and optimizing markdowns, particularly for fresh products, leading to more sales and a better customer experience.

"Fresh products are a key component of our business, but we didn't have a system in place to balance freshness and availability," commented Doug Means, senior vice president of supply chain at Casey's. "We were impressed by RELEX's extensive knowledge and experience within the convenience industry. Their unified solution gives us a higher level of visibility into our plans and helps us solve operational challenges that drive value to our business and ultimately, our customers."

Atlanta-based RELEX Solutions' unified supply chain and retail planning platform helps retailers and consumer goods companies align and optimize demand, merchandise, supply chain and operations planning across the end-to-end value chain.

"RELEX has a track record of delivering rapid value on large-scale, complex implementations such as Casey's," said Keith Adams, senior vice president of North America, RELEX Solutions. "We pride ourselves on helping convenience stores improve everything from supply chain visibility to fresh product management, and we’re looking forward to delivering that same value for our partners at Casey's."

Other convenience store chains that have previously partnered with RELEX include Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz Inc. and Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go LC.

Ankeny-based Casey's is the third-largest convenience store retailer and the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States.