Sainsbury's picks Blue Yonder's AI-powered platform to transform its supply chain

The move will enable Sainsbury's to add the power of AI across multiple supply chain functions

British supermarket chain Sainsbury's announced today that it has selected Blue Yonder's AI-powered 'self-learning' platform to transform its supply chain.

The end-to-end platform offered by the US tech group Blue Yonder promises to improve the performance of the supply chain by learning about customer's behaviours.

The move will enable Sainsbury's to add the power of artificial intelligence (AI) across multiple supply chain functions, including demand prediction and replenishment, warehouse management, digital control tower, macros pace planning, staff management, range management, and yard management.

Sainsbury's Tech division will work with Blue Yonder's team to create a new autonomous supply chain system utilising the advanced machine learning capabilities of Blue Yonder.

The new system will help the stores to free up human workers for more customer-serving jobs.

Sainsbury's also plans to use Blue Yonder's Luminate platform to enable stores to manage perishable products in a better way. Luminate comes with control tower functionality, which provides supply chain visibility, collaboration and orchestration across the supply chain.

Blue Yonder's platform will work across more than 2,000 stores that are currently trading under the Sainsbury's, Habitat and Argos brands.

Sainsbury's believes that the new platform will also enable it to respond more speedily to changing needs of its customer.

"Having a predictive, autonomous and adaptive supply chain powered by world class technology products and Sainsbury's Tech engineering means we can show up for our customers whenever and however they shop with us," said John Elliott, chief technology officer - Retail at Sainsbury's.

"Blue Yonder provided a strong balance of advanced capabilities, ML experience and a culture and value set closely aligned to our own, including a commitment to sustainability," he added.

Mark Morgan, executive vice president and chief revenue officer, Blue Yonder, expressed his pleasure over the new partnership with Sainsbury's.

Morgan described Blue Yonder's end-to-end platform as "unmatched in the market" and said that the company's goal is to make AI and ML "key enablers of Sainsbury's future digital transformation."