Case Study: McDonald’s Mesoamérica achieves 90%+ service and 7% inventory reduction with ToolsGroup SO99+

A “fast” supply chain for a giant in fast food

McDonald’s Mesoamérica, the distributor of McDonald’s products across four Central American countries with four distribution centers, three production plants and more than 150 stores, was hampered by ineffective planning, rapid expansion, perishable products and fragmented processes (planners using SAP MRP plus individual Excel files). Needing a centralized pull-based planning system to synchronize logistics, improve forecasts and raise service levels, the company selected ToolsGroup’s Service Optimizer 99+ (SO99+) after evaluating seven solutions.

ToolsGroup deployed SO99+ across all logistics centers, integrated sell-out-based forecasting into ingredient planning and extended reporting to sales, marketing and production to support S&OP and supplier agreements. The implementation cut inventory at DCs by 7% (about $550,000), raised service levels to over 90%, reduced expedited intertransfers by 83% (from 78 to 13/month) saving more than 18,000 labor hours, and improved planner productivity from 3–4 hours per order to 30–60 minutes (≈17,500 hours saved network-wide).

McDonald’s Mesoamérica

Luis Abadía

President and Director