PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Supply Chain Platform Blue Yonder Launches Forecasting Tools for Inventory, Orders and Labor

Blue Yonder has launched three new microservices that help companies better forecast inventory, orders and labor.

The new Fulfillment Item ForecastingFulfillment Ordering Forecasting and Fulfillment Labor & Resource Forecasting are designed for retailers and manufacturers, encompass online and in-store shopping, and are delivered via Blue Yonder’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, the digital supply chain platform said in a Monday (March 27) press release.

“As consumers continue to choose convenience on their own terms, retailers need forecasting and planning capabilities to predict demand and ensure high customer service no matter the consumer’s shopping preference,” Eugene Amigud, senior vice president, commerce at Blue Yonder, said in the release.

As PYMNTS reported in January, businesses are updating their organizational footprint to better leverage automated storage, retrieval and sorting systems that reduce employees’ time finding, picking, packing and shipping products for consumers.

These retailers aim to improve fulfillment to streamline operations and cut costs while helping meet new customer expectations around frictionless, repeatable delivery experiences.

Blue Yonder’s three new microservices help users fulfill and meet omnichannel demand by better predicting and forecasting item inventory, order counts and the labor required to do so, according to the press release.

Each of the microservices is a standalone offering and can enhance existing Blue Yonder Commerce and Planning solutions or other planning and resource management solutions.

“Our customers already using these microservices are seeing all the benefits that a good forecast drives from being able to stage the right inventory at the right fulfillment location and plan the right amount of labor,” Amigud said in the release.

This report comes about a year after Blue Yonder and data cloud company Snowflake formed a collaboration to improve access to supply chain data.

The companies “will collaborate to address the evolving supply chain needs of joint customers with the goal of making data more accessible and actionable,” they said in March 2022.

Earlier this month, Ramp raised $5 million in seed funding for its user and revenue forecasting platform.

The tool uses cohort-based forecasting to run scenarios and forecasts in minutes, and the firm will use the new funding to streamline the onboarding of new clients and scale its solution, Ramp said on March 3.

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024