‘Artificial' Ingredient

Retailers are testing smarter technology to shore up weak links in their supply chains.

- Jenny McTaggart

The weakest links in the supermarket supply chain haven’t changed much over the years — critical areas such as ordering, replenishment and delivery, just to name a few, have persistently caused bumps on the multifaceted journey from farm to fork.

But while retailers’ challenges are largely the same today, most observers would agree that there’s a new urgency to address them, as the speed at which consumers expect to get their groceries has accelerated exponentially.

In fact, some might call this a critical juncture in supply chain planning. The “2018 State of the Retail Supply Chain Report,” published by the Auburn University Center for Supply Chain Innovation in conjunction with the Arlington, Va.-based Retail Industry Leaders Association, notes that “the industry is at an inflection point where retailers must step back and re-evaluate their age-old ways of doing business.”

Indeed, some of the “old” methods — such as relying on sticky notes to record information, waiting for vendors to replenish product instead of adopting perpetual inventory, or expecting delivery drivers to navigate the roads based on yesterday’s traffic patterns — are on the way out. In their place is new technology, including the latest tools that not only provide forecasting, but also add artificial intelligence to help businesses make the most informed decisions possible.

While artificial intelligence-enabled applications are still in their infancy in U.S. retailing, a handful of supermarket companies are involved in soft launches with technology providers, including Symphony Retail AI, based in Dallas, and Foxtrot Systems, based in San Francisco, to see just how far technology can go toward creating a faster, more efficient supply chain.