Wawa Gains Visibility and Control Across its Entire Store Network

MILWAUKEE, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ — Wawa, Inc., a leading convenience store retailer with more than 550 store locations in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, has recently partnered with Catalyst International, a certified SAP(R) services partner and global provider of supply chain execution (SCE) solutions, to implement a complete wireless data collection solution, utilizing SAPConsole(TM), across their entire store network.


Wawa, an SAP for Retail(R) client, wanted to leverage their existing SAP investment and migrate from a legacy store inventory solution, which limited their visibility and control, to a native SAP-based solution which would provide real-time connectivity to their core SAP system. After a thorough vendor evaluation process, they selected Catalyst as their partner for this project based on their extensive experience within the SAP Logistics Execution marketplace. A key result of the implementation is that Wawa now has access to key operational metrics that will enable more than 16,000 Wawa associates across five states to make more informed decisions around inventory, item replenishment, and order fulfillment.


The hand-held solution included over a dozen wireless-enabled transactions tailored for Wawa from Catalyst’s extensive library of transaction templates. The initial installation was completed in September 2006.


A key factor to the success of this project was the seamless implementation, which Wawa credits to the close collaboration between Catalyst, Wawa and SAP on all aspects of the project.


“The ability to perform many of the critical inventory transactions on an easy to use handheld device will be an invaluable tool to our Store Associates,” said Michael Kinzly, Wawa Project Director. “Additionally, Catalyst has proven to be an excellent partner, particularly due to their specific SAP knowledge and with a number of different templates and best practices that have helped to ensure an on-time, on-budget, and successful implementation.”


“We are appreciative of the opportunity to help Wawa leverage its SAP investment and achieve its goals of increasing visibility and control within their supply chain,” said Michael Eleftheriou, President and CEO of Catalyst. “We look forward to partnering with Wawa in the near future as they continue to rollout the solution and to support them in their continued efforts in optimizing their supply chain.”


About Wawa, Inc.


Wawa, Inc., a privately held company, traces its roots back to 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Toward the end of the 19th century, owner George Wood took an interest in dairy farming and the family opened a processing plant in Wawa, Pennsylvania, in 1902. The milk business was a huge success due to its quality, cleanliness and “certified” process. As home delivery of milk declined in the early 1960s, Grahame Wood, George’s grandson, opened the first Wawa Food Market in 1964 as an outlet for its dairy products. Today, the company operates more than 550 stores in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Wawa consistently ranks among Forbes’ top 200 privately held companies.

  For more information, call toll-free or visit http://www.wawa.com/ .

About Catalyst International


Catalyst International, Inc. builds and delivers software-based solutions that enable companies to optimize the performance of their enterprise supply chains. Catalyst combines more than 25 years of industry leadership in warehouse and logistics software development. The Logistics solutions delivered by Catalyst are based on its proprietary integrated suite of software, CatalystComplete(TM), and/or the SAP Supply Chain Execution Platform. Catalyst is a certified SAP(R) Services Partner with extensive experience in implementing SAP’s Supply Chain Execution Components. Catalyst is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has its UK/EMEA headquarters located in London. In addition Catalyst is represented in Italy, Mexico, Latin America, Canada, China, and India, and implements logistics solutions for clients around the world. For more information, call toll-free 800-236- 4600 or visit http://www.catalystinternational.com/ .