HIGA INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.

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Domino’s Pizza Re-engineer their Store Management Systems using Ultra-compact PRIMERGY TX120 servers

HIGA INDUSTRIES CO., LTD. has implemented its new POS system in its Domino’s Pizza Stores across Japan using compact PRIMERGY TX120 servers. All 170 stores now have new management systems with nationwide remote monitoring functions. Fujitsu’s nationwide service network also provides break-fix operations support.

Overview

Based on the specific benefits of easy installation, remote operations management and Fujitsu’s nationwide support system, HIGA INDUSTRIES CO., LTD. decided to deploy Fujitsu PRIMERGY TX120 at all their Pizza stores in Japan. One noted benefit, following the system reconstruction, was a decrease in IT equipment power consumption by over 50%, contributing to a greener environment.

Background

Looking to increased online ordering sales, we placed more emphasis on reliability

HIGA INDUSTRIES was the first organization to start operating a home-delivery pizza chain in Japan, under the “Domino’s Pizza” brand. The concept of delivering hot and fresh pizzas within 30 minutes was a good match to the more affluent Japanese lifestyle of the 1980’s. The service has had continuing wide acceptance ever since. The company now operates 178 pizza stores and intends to continue to grow and facilitate innovative change by making use of the latest in information technology.

They started Internet based sales in 2004. “Like online ordering, even if customers change to ordering on the Internet, our principal attitude will not change. We deliver within 30 minutes of receipt of the order. However, by utilizing IT, we would like to shorten that time plus further improve customer service and make ordering simpler.” Says Mr. Kato, emphasizing their thinking on how they would utilize the new system.

Orders for home delivery pizza tend to be concentrated together based around the times of each main meal. But only a small percentage of online customers will use telephone ordering if the online system stops. Therefore the company places great concern on the reliability of the system. There is also no exclusive space to locate IT equipment in stores. In fact there is no choice other than to place the system inside the kitchen. In aiming for operational stability in such a severe environment, how to position the server became one of the major challenges.

Previously the store system had been managed by an add-on product or unique in-house program. But unless the problem could be solved easily they had to dispatch someone to the shop site. This became a major burden on systems management. Peak times for incoming orders are short. Downtime of 2 hours could still be tolerated, but if it stretched to 4 hours, any possibility of incoming orders is gone. So how quickly the system can be recovered, was a matter of great importance. The five members of the current Information Systems Group, including their leader have oversight of this management work on a shift basis. But the development of the company’s internal systems has been their main mission, so there was no room to increase the operation system burdens any further.

Installation background

Store servers are supported by a dust-proof rack, remote monitoring and nationwide service

The previous system had been in use for 5 years. Due to hardware maintenance issues and support of the operating system, HIGA INDUSTRIES had their timing right and had been focusing on the replacement of the equipment, while the system had been almost entirely re-engineered. It was during store server selection, they had discovered the compact PRIMERGY TX120 server at a Fujitsu exhibition booth for the distribution industry. The server closely matched their image for their operating concept, so they immediately borrowed the server from Fujitsu and undertook their hardware examination process.

Secure reliability by placing the compact, energy efficient TX120 in a dust-proof rack

Mr. Kato’s team realized the server would need to be placed in a dust-proof rack, to remove it for any negative in-store environmental factors that would cause failure or make the system unstable. They also thought that that would help to decrease the administration burden. With little room in-store they wanted as small a rack as possible. Fortunately, PRIMERGY TX120 has the world’s smallest footprint and lowest power consumption in its class. This enabled it to be use in a very small enclosure and still pass the heat dissipation tests. Another benefit of the dust proof rack was that the equipment would be insulated from the staff. With the previous system, the server was installed in the job area of the store. This caused the power cable to be occasionally pulled from the socket when retrieving objects from the floor. Such problems occurred too often, and that reinforced the reasons for wanting to place the server in a secure rack.

Graphical remote viewing and monitoring

The ServerView remote monitoring tool comes standard with PRIMERGY TX120. If the store server’s operating system goes down, details of the failure can be understood at a remote management center. Use of this remote monitoring makes it easy to identify the cause and measures required to recover from the failure. Fujitsu were able to demonstrate the actual equipment and satisfy the Systems Group of the ease of use of the graphically based interface as part of the evaluation process.

Nationwide support and structure

In cases of system breakdown, downtime would need to be as short as possible, to ensure any break in order acceptance is minimized. The nationwide Fujitsu Service Network was able to show that they could quickly have a service technician respond to any of the 178 stores. This was a major point of system dependability for the customer. Mr. Kato’s team also examined competitive products at the same time, but the advantages of TX120, which were easy to understand, and included easy installation, remote operational management, and the on-site support system, excelled over the others. The result was HIGA INDUSTRIES decided to buy Fujitsu PRIMERGY TX120 servers.

Solution Overview

Deployed nationwide and easily managed by remote monitoring function

The store system consists of a PRIMERGY TX120, UPS, POS terminal, a receipt printer and the networking equipment. The same configuration is set up in each of the 178 nationwide stores. The backup device was also changed from the previous internal data cartridge device (maximum 160GB) to remote backup at the management center. This made it much easier to access the POS data and with greater frequency. The company utilizes the remote monitoring function to its maximum. HIGA INDUSTRIES can now manage all stores without any permanent store administrators. In addition, the power consumption of the IT equipment decreased by 50%, which came as a pleasant surprise with the replacement of the older system. This also contributed to the environment by decreasing the level of CO2 emissions. Other benefits from the hardware upgrade included a reduction in the processing time of daily results, which has shortened to just 40 seconds from 7-8 minutes per store. This has made the company completely satisfied with the efficiency aspects of the system.

Future development

The store server to utilize for multipurpose

The current ratio of online ordering is 30~35%, but HIGA INDUSTRIES have set a goal to extend this to up to 50% by 2010. In addition, they are examining the remaining capacity on the in-store systems to leverage the delivery of additional content including job training. The company now also thinks it can create an environment where the System Group members can devote themselves to development due to the lightening of their operational burden. In addition they use the remote maintenance service of Fujitsu, to try to create a system that responds to technical failure as quickly as possible.

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About HIGA INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.

Headquater :
1-10-3, Iwamoto-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Founded :
March, 1965
Number of Employees :
300 Permanent employees, about 3000 part-time employees
Capital :
416 million yen
Sales Values :
15.1 billion yen (March, 2006)
Overview :
Managing home delivery pizza, the Domino’s Pizza chain operates worldwide (in more than 50 countries) and has over 7,000 stores.
Company website :
HIGA INDUSTRIES (Japanese website)