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Pharma firm Selects Kinaxis to Cure Supply Chain Headaches

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Kinaxis® Inc. (TSX: KXS), a global leader in end-to-end supply chain orchestration, has announced that Servier, a global independent pharmaceutical group, has selected Kinaxis to help revolutionize its supply chain planning capabilities with a view to accelerating time to market for its portfolio of life-saving drugs.

One of the world’s preeminent pharmaceutical companies, Servier has nearly 22,000 employees and a presence in 150 countries, with medicines targeting cancers, diabetes, as well as immune-inflammatory, neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular, and venous diseases. The company’s unique status as a laboratory governed by a non-profit foundation sees it invest upwards of 20% of its revenue each year from brand-name medicines into research and development, a strategy that has enabled it to accelerate research to discover new treatments faster for the benefits of patients.

As part of the deployment, Kinaxis will enable Servier to plan more effectively and gain end-to-end visibility of its supply chain; a vital requirement as competing jurisdictional regulations, demand variability, and increased global disruptions play havoc with the pharmaceutical industry’s mission to deliver high-quality products to customers at the lowest cost and with the shortest lead time.

“One of Servier’s principal ambitions is to be a resilient, growing, and sustainable company that’s focused on a few areas where we can make the greatest impact globally for patients,” said Xavier Morelon, head of supply chain at Servier. “To do so, we know we should rely on best-in-class partners like Kinaxis which are so critical to helping us become more agile and ensuring our supply chain can enable us to hit this lofty objective.”

Supply Chain Headaches

“From making sure patients have the right medications when they need them to keeping up with regulations, expiry dates, and patent cliffs, no industry can compare to life sciences when it comes to complexity,” said Fabienne Cetre, regional vice president, Central Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Belgium) at Kinaxis. “We’re thrilled to be working with Servier and are confident our deep industry expertise will enable everyone from their C-suite to their planners and analysts to see more clearly through these challenges so that they can focus on what they do best – delivering products to help people live longer and healthier lives.”

With the addition of France’s second largest pharmaceutical company to its growing customer base, Kinaxis continues to cement its leadership within the life sciences industry, which provides the brand-name and generic medicines that countless patients rely on.

Kinaxis’ AI-powered software allows companies to orchestrate their supply chain network end to end, from strategic planning to last-mile delivery. Kinaxis’ technology helps companies that supply the agricultural industry with 40% of the world’s tractors, that keep more than 110 billion teeth clean each year, and that ensures more than 35 million pets are fed nutritious meals each year.

read this:

Kinaxis Drives Digital Transformation for Volvo

 

Concurrent Planning – Know what’s going on

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Concurrent planning and execution can be achieved with the right supply chain software. David Priestman spoke to Tom Rhoads, Global VP of Sales for Kinaxis.

“Focus on quality in order management,” Rhoads declares. “Higher level customer orders require multi-tier inventory management and multimodal TMS. We provide one solution, highly secure with a single code base.” Logistics departments are very lean these days. They need many ways to communicate, in real time. Kinaxis has about 300 customers, many of them third party logistics (3PL/LSP) operators like DSV, Ceva and Geodis, as well as household names like Unilever, P&G and Ford. “We’re number 1 in planning,” Rhoads states.

“Now that memory is cheap we can do a lot more computing than before, so we can be fast and powerful. The speed of connections is key for customers,” he tells me. Kinaxis’ software platform can manage six modes of freight transport, including barge and parcels. The company’s proprietary concurrent supply chain techniques give users end-to-end orchestration capability across time horizons, business processes and organizational boundaries.

Trust in sharing data

“We help customers optimise orders in real time and maximise supply chains by decomposing an order into multiple shipments, from sourcing inventory, using different modes of transport,” Rhoads explains. “They can then take on their own micro supply chains and manage them holistically. We monitor visibility.” Companies should embrace sharing supply chain data, he advises.

Tom Rhoads, Kinaxis

But, as we all know, logistics is a movable beast and things do not always go to plan. There are black swans. What then? “Once a plan is published it’s outdated,” Rhoads accepts. “How can we adapt is the question. The product is already en route, perhaps on a ship. Our execution system can adapt via rapid response planning. Customers can automatically make a new plan, including changes, re-routing, new locations and then synchronising that.”

Create accuracy

“With labour disputes, cyber-attacks and the escalation of conflicts in global hotspots like Eastern Europe and the Middle East all threatening the movement of goods globally, businesses have never had a greater need for supply chain solutions that enable them to prepare for and respond to unexpected disruptions,” Conrad Mandala, senior vice president of global partner organization at Kinaxis, said. “The investments we are making in our PartnerLink program will strengthen our position to capitalize on this demand and deliver on our global growth objectives by ensuring our partner ecosystem has the tools they need to help customers achieve supply chain resiliency no matter what risks appear on the horizon.”

Supply chains need to reduce waste, eliminate buffers and keep costs down. “Just-in-time is the perfect world,” Rhoads informs me. “Consumers want instant gratification, so we must know where inventory is, in real time, optimise sourcing and fulfilment. It’s not about knowing or predicting with regards to inventory. It’s about scenario planning in advance, with pre-defined highways of alternative routes. 80% of our customers automate everything. It’s glass box, not black box – know what’s going on!”

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Webinar: SCM – Striking a Balance between Speed & Accuracy

 

Kinaxis Selected by Harley-Davidson as SCM Platform

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Kinaxis Inc. , a global leader in end-to-end supply chain orchestration, has announced that Harley-Davidson, the world’s most iconic motorcycle brand, has selected Kinaxis to accelerate the transformation of the company’s global supply chain.

“We’re so proud to be part of this legendary company’s journey to transform its supply chain performance,” said John Sicard, president and CEO of Kinaxis. “I’m eager to contribute to its continued success and embark on this exciting journey together.”

Kinaxis provides end-to-end supply chain transparency and improved demand planning capabilities to adapt and respond to any demand changes, faster and with more accuracy. The company was selected due to its trusted reputation within the automotive industry, with global brands such as Volvo, Ford, Subaru and General Motors, all of which have deployed Kinaxis in pursuit of supply chain resiliency.

With more than 40,000 users in 100+ countries, Kinaxis works with some of the world’s biggest brands in sectors such as CPG, automotive, high tech, life sciences, and more. Its AI-powered technology and patented concurrency technique allows companies to orchestrate their supply chain network end to end from strategic planning to last-mile delivery. Kinaxis’ technology helps companies that supply the agricultural industry with 40% of the world’s tractors, that keep more than 110 billion teeth clean each year, and that ensures more than 35 million pets are fed nutritious meals each year.

Kinaxis is a global leader in modern supply chain orchestration. The company serves supply chains and the people who manage them in service of humanity. Its software is trusted by renowned global brands to provide the agility and predictability needed to navigate today’s volatility and disruption. Kinaxis combines patented concurrency technique with a human-centered approach to AI to empower businesses of all sizes to manage their end-to-end supply chain network, from multi-year strategic planning through down-to-the-second execution and last-mile delivery.

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Webinar: Supply Chain Management

 

Drinks Digital Benefits with CloudSuite Industrial

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Inforlogic has announced that Northern Ireland-based soft drinks manufacturer, Norbev, has selected Infor CloudSuite Industrial. The platform will support an organisation-wide digital transformation strategy at the beverage leader, bringing modern, cloud-based ERP capabilities from which to extend process automation and capitalise on both business intelligence (BI) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Having outgrown its previous Sage 1000 system, Norbev undertook a detailed evaluation of all major mid-market ERP vendors. Most could replicate the standard back-office functions that Sage 1000 supported. However, only Infor could offer deep, last-mile, manufacturing capability, coupled with an innovative cloud technology platform built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), to scale and meet their digital transformation requirements.

Once live, Infor CloudSuite Industrial will eliminate manual processes and streamline all core business processes for Norbev, from Financial Management through to Scheduling, Quality Control, Plant Maintenance, and Document Management.

To support consistency and collaboration, Infor’s University, an online learning platform, combined with Process Intelligence, will allow Norbev to standardise business processes. Through having a world-class ERP platform that represents a digital set of standard operating procedures, the team not only ensures that all knowledge is retained within the business to reduce risk, but that they have a robust and scalable platform from which to embrace future growth and build market share with confidence.

“Infor CloudSuite Industrial’s intelligent reporting and analytics converge with dedicated manufacturing functionality to provide capabilities which will help us to capitalise on opportunities in a more agile way,” comments Thomas Wilson, Senior Finance Manager at Norbev. “But crucially, and the criteria from which we felt Infor scored way beyond its competitors, was its data lake and API-led composable architecture, which will allow us to innovate, embrace powerful BI and AI capabilities, and scale to support our digital transformation journey into the future.”

“The beverage industry continues to navigate a complex environment centred around unstable supply chains, sustainability targets, and the convergence of cost/health drivers in consumer purchasing patterns,” comments Chris Stock, Managing Director, Inforlogic. “In order to pursue sustainable growth, manufacturers are embracing digital as a lever for increased efficiency, automation, and performance, and world-class platforms such as Infor CloudSuite Industrial represent a means of expediting this shift.

“Our team’s in-depth experience of cloud-led ERP deployments and manufacturing environments ensures that they can support our customers in the best way as they navigate their transformational journeys, drive innovation, and gain market share in their respective industries.”

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Infor Expands ERP into the Extended Supply Chain

 

The Critical Role of Your Supply Chain

Posted on by David Priestman

Unlocking customer experience is the critical role of your supply chain, writes Roy Arguelles, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Sales, QAD.

In today’s marketplace, where products and services proliferate and competition intensifies, businesses are realizing that they need to offer more than just commodities to thrive. Enter the Experience Economy – a paradigm shift where companies are no longer just selling goods or services but crafting memorable experiences for their customers. This emerging economic model emphasizes the significance of immersive, personalized encounters that leave a lasting impression on consumers.

For consumers today, loyalty hangs by a fragile thread. With a single disappointing encounter, customers readily shift allegiance. This fickleness stems from the plethora of options available at their fingertips, facilitated by the digital age. Whether it’s subpar service, a flawed product, or a lackluster interaction, consumers swiftly abandon brands, seeking refuge elsewhere. In this cutthroat environment, businesses must recognize that each interaction is a make-or-break moment, where the slightest misstep risks losing not just a transaction but a customer’s trust and allegiance to competitors.

At the heart of the Experience Economy lies the recognition that in an era inundated with choices, customers seek more than just functional benefits. They crave emotional connections, meaningful interactions, and memorable moments. Businesses that prioritize delivering exceptional customer experiences gain a significant competitive edge. These experiences not only create customer loyalty but also drive revenue growth, brand differentiation, and sustainable success in the long term.

Delivering great experiences to end users

Exceptional experiences forge deep connections, creating loyalty, advocacy, and repeat business. Satisfied customers become brand ambassadors, spreading positive word-of-mouth and attracting new clientele. Investing in exemplary experiences is no longer a choice–it’s an imperative for survival and success, but how do companies deliver great experiences to their end users?

While one traditional key principle in delivering great end user experiences is getting the right product to the right customer at the right time, this doesn’t encompass the story in its entirety as decisions are not made in a vacuum. Companies must also consider cost implications, accurate demand forecasting, trend analysis, process automation, and logistics considerations.

Cost implications play a pivotal role in delivering exceptional experiences for end-users. By optimizing expenses, businesses can allocate resources to enhance product quality and service delivery, ensuring customer satisfaction. Accurate demand forecasting and trend analysis enable companies to anticipate customer needs, ensuring products are available when and where they’re wanted. Process automation streamlines operations, reducing errors and inefficiencies, thus improving reliability and consistency in customer interactions. Logistic considerations ensure timely delivery, minimizing delays and enhancing convenience for end-users. Together, these factors create a seamless and satisfying experience.

Another way to ensure great end-user experience is by improving customer interactions across multiple platforms—website, phone, chat, email, SMS, or social media—is essential for delivering exceptional experiences. A user-friendly website offers intuitive navigation and personalized content, enhancing engagement and satisfaction. Responsive phone support provides immediate assistance, resolving queries efficiently and courteously. Live chat offers real-time assistance, resulting in instant rapport and problem resolution. Email and SMS communications deliver timely updates and promotions, keeping customers informed and engaged. Social media platforms enable authentic engagement, allowing businesses to interact directly with customers, address concerns, and showcase brand personality. By optimizing each touchpoint, companies cultivate meaningful connections, driving loyalty and advocacy among end-users.

While ensuring fantastic customer interactions is valid, it is important to note that roughly 85 percent of the issues that customer service agents deal with are related to not having the right product at the right time in the right quantity with complete documentation. Not receiving a child’s birthday present on time or not receiving paper instructions after purchasing a piece of furniture are good examples of customer frustrations. No matter how excellent customer service interactions are, issues like these deeply impact experience and ultimately brand loyalty.

Why do companies struggle to deliver great experiences?

First, siloed views within organizations can severely hinder the customer experience. When departments operate in isolation, critical information becomes fragmented or overlooked, leading to inconsistent messaging, disjointed processes, and frustrated customers. Silos prevent a holistic understanding of customer needs and preferences, resulting in missed opportunities for personalized interactions and tailored solutions. Also, disjointed systems often lead to inefficiencies, delays, and errors, further eroding trust and satisfaction. To deliver seamless experiences, businesses must break down silos, fostering cross-departmental collaboration and data sharing. Only through a unified approach can organizations truly prioritize and enhance the end-to-end customer journey.

Secondly, identifying root cause inefficiencies presents a formidable challenge for businesses. Symptoms of operational flaws often manifest in various departments or processes, making it challenging to pinpoint the underlying issues. Additionally, interconnected systems and dependencies further complicate the analysis, obscuring the true source of inefficiency. Without a comprehensive understanding of the root causes, organizations risk implementing superficial solutions that fail to address the underlying problems. Overcoming this hurdle demands meticulous data analysis, cross-functional collaboration, and a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom.

Lastly, specifically for manufacturers, shop floor productivity is lagging. Manufacturing shop floor productivity suffers as talent retention dwindles and fails to appeal to the younger workforce. Aging demographics and outdated perceptions render manufacturing less attractive to younger generations. The absence of modernization and technological integration exacerbates this issue, further deterring potential recruits. Additionally, inadequate training and career development paths hinder employee engagement and satisfaction. To revitalize productivity, manufacturers must prioritize talent retention through competitive benefits, upskilling initiatives, and embracing technological innovations. Cultivating a dynamic work environment that values diversity, innovation, and professional growth is pivotal in attracting and retaining the next generation of skilled workers, revitalizing shop floor productivity for sustained success.

Why are great customer experiences important?

A significant key performance indicator (KPI) around customer experience is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS serves as a critical metric gauging customer loyalty and satisfaction. Derived from responses to a simple question—”How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?”—it categorizes customers into promoters, passives, or detractors. Research consistently indicates a strong correlation between high NPS scores and revenue growth. Promoters, enthusiastic advocates of a brand, not only drive customer acquisition through word-of-mouth referrals but also exhibit higher purchase frequency and lifetime value. By focusing efforts on elevating NPS, businesses can cultivate a loyal customer base, stimulate organic growth, and ultimately, bolster their bottom line.

Supply chain management profoundly influences Net Promoter Score (NPS) by directly impacting key customer touch points. Delays in delivery, whether due to logistical issues or inventory shortages, lead to dissatisfaction and diminished trust. Product availability issues frustrate customers, potentially driving them to competitors. Inadequate quality control results in defective products, tarnishing brand reputation and loyalty. Moreover, cost increases passed onto consumers can provoke negative sentiment. By prioritizing efficiency, transparency, and reliability throughout the supply chain, businesses can mitigate these risks, ensuring consistent and positive experiences.

Find a partner that enhances customer experience

It is crucial to find a partner that understands that digital transformation alone is not enough. Unlike point solution vendors who solve isolated problems, prioritize a partner that focuses on three main areas: people, processes, and systems.

A good partner will begin its approach by understanding what is actually happening with mission-critical processes in the supply chain like inbound and outbound logistics, supplier management, customer service, help desk, and financial processes. Understanding these root causes helps identify opportunities for improvement and automation. Analyzing data and feedback reveals pain points, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies within each process. Utilizing process mapping and performance metrics helps pinpoint areas ripe for enhancement. Automation technologies, like AI and machine learning, streamline repetitive tasks, reducing errors and enhancing efficiency. By continuously assessing and optimizing these processes, businesses can improve responsiveness, reduce costs, and enhance overall supply chain performance, ultimately driving customer satisfaction and competitive advantage.

In short, the Experience Economy underscores the critical shift towards prioritizing immersive, memorable customer experiences as a key differentiator for businesses. Embracing this paradigm requires innovative solutions that enhance operational efficiency, customer engagement, and overall competitiveness. Partnering with a company that offers an Industrial Transformation Platform presents an invaluable opportunity to boost operational excellence and workforce productivity. Such platforms integrate advanced technologies, analytics, and automation to optimize processes across the entire supply chain, empowering businesses to deliver exceptional experiences consistently. By leveraging these platforms, companies can adapt to evolving consumer demands, drive sustainable growth, and thrive in the dynamic landscape of the Experience Economy, securing their position as industry leaders.

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Driving brand loyalty with sustainable supply chains

 

PartnerLink Program for Supply Chain Challenges

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Kinaxis, a global provider of supply chain management solutions, announced a strategic expansion of its PartnerLink program, designed to fortify the supply chain resilience of businesses worldwide.

Launched in 2021, the PartnerLink program has rapidly evolved into a leading network of over 170 partners and 2,500+ certified consultants, offering unparalleled expertise in supply chain transformation. This expansion introduces a suite of enhancements including:

• Partner Relationship Management Portal – this new portal will serve as a dynamic, all-in-one communications hub with customizable dashboards to access valuable sales resources, marketing and deployment support, training and certification information, event news, product materials and more.

• First-Ever Global Partner Roadshow – a series of exclusive, in-person events across APAC, EMEA and North America with industry-specific deep-dive presentations from Kinaxis and industry thought leaders and a first-hand look at key product roadmap innovations.

• New Certifications – expanded list of certifications will ensure highly-skilled consultants remain on the cutting edge of new technological developments and implementation best practices.

• New Tiering System – a comprehensive tiering framework will provide access to various financial and business benefits, from training and tools to market development funds, partner advisory councils, sandbox demo environments and more. Partners will automatically enter the Silver tier and upon meeting revenue, certification and specialization requirements, graduate to higher tiers.

Supply chain orchestration

These initiatives are set to equip Kinaxis‘ partners with advanced tools, resources and knowledge, enabling accelerated deployment and optimization of supply chain solutions.

“With labour disputes, cyber-attacks and the escalation of conflicts in global hotspots like Eastern Europe and the Middle East all threatening the movement of goods globally, businesses have never had a greater need for supply chain solutions that enable them to prepare for and respond to unexpected disruptions,” said Conrad Mandala, senior vice president, global partner organization at Kinaxis. “The investments we are making in our PartnerLink program will strengthen our position to capitalize on this demand and deliver on our global growth objectives by ensuring our partner ecosystem has the tools they need to help customers achieve supply chain resiliency no matter what risks appear on the horizon.”

Read more here:

Kinaxis Drives Digital Transformation for Volvo

 

Manhattan Associates Reports Record Results

Posted on by David Priestman

Leading Supply Chain and Omnichannel Commerce Solutions provider Manhattan Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: MANH) today reported revenue of $238.3 million for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023. GAAP diluted earnings per share for Q4 2023 was $0.78 compared to $0.60 in Q4 2022. Non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share for Q4 2023 was $1.03 compared to $0.81 in Q4 2022.

“Manhattan’s business fundamentals and momentum are strong. Our fourth quarter results exceeded expectations, capping a very successful year for our company,” said Manhattan Associates president and CEO Eddie Capel.

“While appropriately cautious regarding the global economy, Manhattan enters 2024 from a position of strength, and we are optimistic about our growing market opportunity. We remain firmly committed to helping our customers succeed by delivering leading innovation across supply chain execution, omnichannel and retail point of sale markets,” Mr. Capel concluded.

FOURTH QUARTER 2023 FINANCIAL SUMMARY:

• Consolidated total revenue was $238.3 million for Q4 2023, compared to $198.1 million for Q4 2022.
• Cloud subscription revenue was $71.4 million for Q4 2023, compared to $51.7 million for Q4 2022.
• License revenue was $5.2 million for Q4 2023, compared to $5.0 million for Q4 2022.
• Services revenue was $119.1 million for Q4 2023, compared to $99.8 million for Q4 2022.
• GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.78 for Q4 2023, compared to $0.60 for Q4 2022.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share, a non-GAAP measure, was $1.03 for Q4 2023, compared to $0.81 for Q4 2022.
• GAAP operating income was $58.9 million for Q4 2023, compared to $44.7 million for Q4 2022.
• Adjusted operating income, a non-GAAP measure, was $76.8 million for Q4 2023, compared to $59.9 million for Q4 2022.
• Cash flow from operations was $88.4 million for Q4 2023, compared to $55.2 million for Q4 2022. Days Sales Outstanding was 70 days at December 31, 2023, compared to 71 days at September 30, 2023.
• Cash totalled $270.7 million at December 31, 2023, compared to $182.3 million at September 30, 2023.
• During the three months ended December 31, 2023, the Company did not repurchase shares of Manhattan Associates common stock under the share repurchase program authorized by our Board of Directors. Our $75.0 million repurchase authority replenished by our Board of Directors in October 2023 remains in effect.

FULL YEAR 2023 FINANCIAL SUMMARY:

• Consolidated total revenue for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, was $928.7 million, compared to $767.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• Cloud subscription revenue was $254.6 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $176.5 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• License revenue was $18.2 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $24.8 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• Services revenue was $487.9 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $394.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• GAAP diluted earnings per share for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, was $2.82, compared to $2.03 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share, a non-GAAP measure, was $3.74 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $2.76 for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• GAAP operating income was $209.9 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $152.7 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• Adjusted operating income, a non-GAAP measure, was $281.5 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $212.1 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• Cash flow from operations was $246.2 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, compared to $179.6 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022.
• During the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, the Company repurchased 1,024,328 shares of Manhattan Associates common stock under the share repurchase program authorized by our Board of Directors, for a total investment of $166.0 million.

Interoperable Solutions for Supply Chain Resilience

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Blue Yonder, a leading supply chain solutions provider, today announced the release of its largest product update in the history of the company, launching the first set of interoperable solutions across the entire supply chain – from planning to warehouse, transportation, and commerce – delivered on the company’s Luminate® Cognitive Platform. Leaning into interoperability allows Blue Yonder to provide its customers with increased productivity, reduced waste, and more resilient supply chains.

“Today’s supply chains are operated by a fragmented ecosystem of legacy solutions, with many being stitched together over time with custom configurations and code,” said Duncan Angove, CEO, Blue Yonder. “While many supply chain solution providers claim to offer end-to-end capabilities, it is typically confined to planning or execution spaces where they’ve integrated their own product suites. Blue Yonder is changing that. With this release, we are redefining end-to-end supply chains, and establishing a new category of solutions with interoperable capabilities aligned with our vision to create the supply chain operating system for the world.”

End-to-End Interoperability

As manufacturers, logistics companies, suppliers, and retailers look to build greater resilience and mitigate market volatility in their supply chain, they are often hampered by: siloed business processes and communications breakdowns, lack of visibility, disconnected solutions, and burdensome workflows across planning, transportation, warehouse, e-commerce, and last mile fulfillment. This can lead to inventory waste, high costs, loss of sales, slow responsiveness, lack of resilience and more.

Solving these supply chain challenges requires companies to coordinate and streamline planning and execution management across the end-to-end ecosystem. This includes:
● Orchestrating sourcing, production, logistics and network strategies in a single operating system to shorten lead times, improve service levels, optimise operational efficiencies, maximise demand, and reduce cost.
● Aligning predicted customer demand, network capacity, warehouse capacity, labour capacity, and transportation scheduling prior to sourcing or allocating goods for seamless inventory flow and reduced overhead.
● Building logistics loads that factor in real-time, on-shelf inventory to balance customer demand and waste, generating maximum revenue and margin.

Blue Yonder’s interoperable solutions answer these challenges by:
● Connecting processes, systems, and data seamlessly across Blue Yonder’s Supply Chain Planning and Execution solutions, providing a smarter, more scalable, real-time digital twin to streamline and accelerate enterprise-wide decision-making.
● Offering the end-to-end visibility needed to understand how decisions or actions impact adjacent teams so businesses can work synchronously toward a unified goal.
● Deeply embedding artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) within the systems to drive decisioning, recommendations, and actions to support a future of autonomous supply chains.
● Ensuring all solutions connect through a single source of data, allowing true real-time collaboration across functions.

The result is more agile, coordinated decision-making that reduces costs, increases revenue, and improves customer loyalty.

Interoperability Enabled by Cutting-Edge Technology Innovations

Blue Yonder’s interoperable solutions are made possible as a result of three key strategic investments by the company:
1) Cloud Native Architecture on a Cognitive Platform: Blue Yonder’s Luminate ® Cognitive Platform is the industry’s premiere cloud-native supply chain platform, delivering enterprise-level speed, scale and security with upgrade-safe extensibility across workflows, data models, and functions. The platform offers infinite intelligence with unconstrained computing power, a single source of truth, and a reimagined user experience. Because Blue Yonder’s cloud-native applications all run on this centralised platform, this then allows companies to make faster, higher-quality decisions; eliminate data siloes; uplevel team performance by increasing productivity and accelerated adoption; and unlock capacity by leveraging the power of embedded AI.

2) Composable Microservices: A composable approach enables companies to augment and enhance existing technologies with Blue Yonder’s industry-leading IP and patented solutions — transforming business functions at the speed and scale that’s right for each company’s business. Blue Yonder’s composable microservices are small, deployable components that each offer a discrete set of capabilities, seamlessly integrated on connected workflows to solve specific functional needs, and interoperable with existing Blue Yonder solutions so businesses can innovate without the need to rip and replace existing investments. With Blue Yonder, businesses can start with the application stack they need today knowing they can easily add capabilities they want, when they’re ready. And instead of lengthy monolithic projects, Blue Yonder offers Composable Journeys, which are implementation paths tailored to the specific vision and budget of each customer and rolled out in phases that can provide expedited time to value.

3) Platform Data Cloud, Powered by Snowflake: Blue Yonder is among the first enterprise supply chain solutions companies building applications to natively run on the Snowflake Data Cloud. Blue Yonder’s Platform Data Cloud, Powered by Snowflake, makes it easy to deliver the right data, at the right location, at the right time by bringing together all the required data to run your supply chain in a centralised location. By combining Blue Yonder’s market-leading supply chain technology and IP with the Snowflake Data Cloud’s powerful capabilities, Blue Yonder is changing the game for its customers by reducing the cost, complexity and time required to transform data while enabling interoperability between applications and collaboration across clouds. Learn more here.

“For years, the supply chain industry has had a data problem – there’s too much of it, it’s scattered across disparate solutions, and sharing has become so risky that some organisations have simply come to avoid it. By partnering with Blue Yonder, Snowflake is helping joint customers address these challenges by centralising data into a single source of truth, reducing the latency in decision-making, and making sharing secure, fast and easy,” said Tim Long, Global Head of Manufacturing, Snowflake. “Together, we’re enabling data, system and business process interoperability by connecting Blue Yonder’s entire end-to-end supply chain portfolio to a Blue Yonder’s Platform Data Cloud, Powered by Snowflake. Now, Blue Yonder’s solutions can deliver scale and performance that allow customers to significantly accelerate time to value, unlock team productivity, and drive greater resilience.”

Next Generation Planning

The first set of microservice-based solutions that bring together all of these interoperable features is Blue Yonder’s cognitive planning solutions. This holistic offering natively runs on the Luminate Cognitive Platform to deliver all the cognitive capabilities needed to support supply chain leaders in achieving higher forecast accuracy, accelerating decision making, and building a more resilient supply chain with fewer resources. Cognitive planning solutions are cloud-native and combine the latest data management technology with Blue Yonder’s proven supply chain planning IP.

Blue Yonder’s cognitive planning solutions also leverage the power of Blue Yonder Orchestrator, the company’s generative AI capability that allows businesses to fuel more intelligent decision-making and faster supply chain orchestration. Learn more about this capability here.

“Cognitive planning takes business planning accuracy and speed to the next level by empowering companies to realise their performance objectives. It does this by allowing them to be aware of critical events and prescribing solutions to manage risks and opportunities in both demand and supply, improving planner productivity and supply chain resilience,” said Angove.

Notably, these advanced solutions empower users to apply hundreds of demand-driving variables and patented ML models to provide unique demand projections, while factoring in business impact and risk. This allows planners to map out various scenarios, set boundaries and objectives, then fire-and-forget. The advanced algorithms autonomously reduce the problem scope to a logical set of scenarios that are realistic and most applicable. Embedded predictive AI evaluates this feasible set of scenarios and recommends the top scenarios that optimise pre-set objectives. This AI/ML-powered scenario planning reduces the average time taken from hours or even days down to minutes and allows planners to focus on more strategic decision-making and actions rather than just collating data.

Synchronised Execution

Blue Yonder is revolutionising supply chain execution by enabling seamless, autonomous collaboration across the execution network to drive unprecedented efficiency, resiliency, agility, and better customer experiences. Synchronised Execution strengthens supply chain resiliency with end-to-end execution interoperability and helps businesses manage disruptions in an optimal and automated fashion by synchronising the data and business process workflows across the order, warehouse, transportation, and resource domains. Customers will achieve operational resiliency through real-time situational awareness, real-time decision making, and the ability to predict and prevent disruptions. As an example, business process interoperability allows a business to seamlessly reallocate orders in the case of an inbound supply shortage, or create iterative optimisation loads to handle warehouse disruptions, or determine the optimal way to fulfill an order, even if it is sourced from multiple nodes.

“Retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and logistics service providers will achieve superior performance with intelligent insight and informed decisions to ensure they are ahead of every disruption with complete visibility at every point of execution. With advanced customer insights about buying behaviour and preferences, businesses can make informed decisions about inventory allocation, optimised fulfillment, transportation planning and warehouse operations,” shared Angove.

Solutions launched in this space include:
● Analyst Workbench delivers a new, user-friendly experience to explore data, visualise metrics and generate insights. These new, innovative capabilities deliver end-to-end visibility across the network and the ability to mix, match, and analyse data from any digital touch point driving more informed decisions and actions.
● Unified Commerce Simulator empowers businesses to create, analyse, and refine fulfillment sourcing strategies driving more predictable fulfillment results with less risk to the business. This digital twin environment means businesses can manipulate optimisation levers for various scenarios and run simulations against production data to enable comparisons between actual output versus output using the changed levers.

Supply Chain 2024 Predictions

Posted on by David Priestman

Joe Dunleavy, Vice President of Innovation at Endava – a global provider of digital transformation, agile development, and intelligent services – provides his insight and 2024 predictions.

1. Rapid integration of advanced technologies

In 2024, I expect that we’ll witness an accelerated integration of advanced technologies in supply chain management. In particular, I anticipate predictive analytics and machine learning algorithms will be more widely used to enhance demand forecasting, inventory management, and the overall efficiency of supply chains. This can all be achieved with the likely integration of hardware technologies such as sensors and IoT. This will reduce costs and increase agility, giving companies a competitive advantage. As well as this, it can also aid suppliers’ ability to identify opportunities which reduce their carbon footprint. Additionally, IoT will enable the real-time tracking of goods, ensuring transparency and reducing the risk of disruptions.

2. Building agile and resilient supply chains

In 2024, I expect to see a focus on building agile and resilient supply chains. This can involve leveraging technologies such as AI for predictive analytics, and cloud-based solutions for scalable and flexible infrastructure. The focus will be to build robust supply chain ecosystems which can adapt to unforeseen disruptions and maintain operational continuity. In 2024, resilient supply chains will play a crucial role in offering more efficient operations, improved productivity, and risk reduction. Resilient supply chain technologies reduce risk by allowing visibility into all operations across the network and empowering businesses to optimise and adapt their processes and logistics in real time. This shift towards resilience reflects a proactive approach to challenges, ensuring that supply chain ecosystems can not only withstand disruptions but also thrive in the face of uncertainty.

3. Robotics and automation for warehousing and fulfilment will continue to advance

Whilst robots have been implemented in warehouses for many years, the form they’ve taken continues to evolve with new types of robotics and automation being introduced every year. I expect 2024 to be no different as the warehouse robotics market size is set to see a 16.13% growth as more warehouses invest and expand their capabilities. As investments increase, I expect the deployment of advanced robotics and automation solutions in warehouse and fulfilment operations to increase in tandem. In particular, I expect to see the widespread adoption of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS & AR) in 2024. Traditionally, manual labour played a significant role in warehouse picking. However, the growing investment in robotics has prompted more warehouses to automate this process, leading to improved efficiency and a reduction in errors. This anticipated prevalence of AS & AR systems in 2024 represents a notable shift towards automation, simplifying operations and minimising manual interventions in warehouse workflows.

4. Final mile delivery and autonomous vehicles

In 2024, I expect to see a ramp up in the integration of autonomous vehicles and drones to reshape the delivery landscape. You can look at examples in the industry such as Manna Drone and Wing as a showcase of what is possible. This has the potential to reduce costs, increase delivery speeds, and improve customer satisfaction. This being said, a key challenge is set to emerge as customers are increasingly seeking free as well as faster deliveries. As the last mile represents the costliest and time-intensive phase of the supply chain, constituting up to 53% of total shipping costs, it will be important to strike a balance between meeting customer expectations for speed and cost-effectiveness while navigating innovations in last-mile technologies.

5. Competitive Last Mile Delivery Begins with Visibility

In 2024, I expect businesses to focus on developing capabilities for last mile delivery visibility to meet rising customer expectations. Consumers are increasingly anticipating visibility for every order, and businesses that can provide this information not only enhance customer satisfaction but also have the potential to reduce calls to their customer service centres. Given these rising expectations, I expect every business will aim to provide comprehensive visibility into orders. This isn’t just a response to customer preferences but also a risk mitigation strategy in case of any delivery-related issues.

 

Brita Optimizing Supply Chain Process with Kinaxis

Posted on by David Priestman

BRITA SE, a German water filtration company, has selected Kinaxis® Inc. (TSX: KXS), a leading supply chain management platform, to bring concurrent planning to its supply chain. Founded in 1966, BRITA SE invented the household water filter jug and now develops, produces, and distributes a wide range of water products for both private and commercial uses.

Recently, the company experienced significant growth, which added pressure to its demand planning and operations. With Kinaxis, BRITA SE will achieve end-to-end transparency into the entire supply chain and improved demand planning capabilities to adapt and respond to any demand changes, faster and with more accuracy.

“BRITA has continued to grow, both in our number of business segments as well as our geographical reach, so being able to understand how disruption in one area could affect the entirety of our supply chain immediately is invaluable,” said Oliver Schilling, Group Director Supply Chain Management at BRITA SE. “We’re committed to the highest standards of customer service and to our growing business, with the help of both Kinaxis and 4flow.”

With RapidResponse® BRITA SE will be able to run multiple scenarios simultaneously, giving its planners the flexibility to react to changes in demand and market volatility. Having these insights will allow BRITA to make the smartest decisions for its supply chain, faster.

“Supply chains, at their core, exist to serve humanity. BRITA provides people all around the world with filtration products providing their customers with filtered water, reducing the need for plastic water bottles,” said Claire Rychlewski, executive vice president of global field sales at Kinaxis. “We’re excited to help BRITA transform their supply chain and find resiliency, and to help them better serve humanity.”

For the implementation of RapidResponse, BRITA SE will work with 4flow, a global leader in supply chain optimization services and partner of Kinaxis to support the digitization of the supply chain.
“With our deep understanding of global supply chains and the associated IT infrastructures, we are able to support customers in partnership with Kinaxis, accelerate decision-making and break down silos,” said Dr. Marc Schleyer, Partner at 4flow and Head of Digital Practice. “We’re excited to help BRITA with a successful implementation and ensure a sustainable transformation of supply chain operations.”

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