iotSymphony
Customer Use Cases Supply
Chain for Just in Time Delivery
-
100+ Years of
Combined IT Experience -
Microsoft
Technology Partner -
No-cost
Proof of Concept
Business Challenge:
More and more Retail companies are looking to Just-In-Time delivery models to maintain support of product availability throughout their retail channels while limiting the amount of excess warehouse stock sitting dormant in their distribution network. Depending upon the speed of their distribution network, this warehouse stock can range from several months to a years’ worth of supply. With the explosion of IoT and analytics, retailers now have access to tremendous amounts of data on product demand and consumption behaviors, at very detailed levels. However, to realize value from this data and these technologies they must modernize their operational processes, and this is a daunting task.
If retailers were able to more effectively leverage the insights generated from the vast amounts of data they collect, they would be able to:
- Monitor consumption behaviors by product and by store or channel in real-time
- Early and more accurately understand shifts in consumption behavior
- Identify and establish a more balanced product distribution flow
Outcome for the consumer:
More consistent product availability with a higher quality, fresher product. Elimination of empty store shelves and waiting days for new product deliveries. Increased satisfaction and brand loyalty as desired products are available when a customer wants them.
Outcome for the business:
Significant savings from a reduction in warehouse stock and warehouse space, as well as the costs associated with maintaining this warehouse stock. Improved sales and market share as product availability remains more consistent, driving up customer purchase behaviors.
A better way with iotSymphony:
By leveraging the iotSymphony software platform, retail organizations can more effectively utilize the data they collect on product consumption. This will enable them to digitally transform their operational processes and move into a Just-in-Time delivery business model. And here is how:
- As telemetry data streams in from smart shelves, iotSymphony captures this data and runs it through analysis and the business rule engine to determine if immediate action is needed, or if the data requires further analysis
- If a product is selling at a rate of 2 units per day, and current supply will last 20 days, and 2 units sell, there is no need to analyze this data. Simply log the data.
- If business rules determine that units are moving at a faster rate than anticipated, the data is sent to the Analytic engine for further analysis
- If needed, additional data can be merged with telemetry data in the analytic engine where analytic models are executed
- This can be adhoc sales data, marketing campaign data, or any other data that can help the analytic models identify that causes of consumption behavior changes
- If the analytic models determine the increase in consumption is indicative of a trend, the data is sent to the decision engine to determine the best course of action
- The decision engine determines the best course of action based on the business objectives of the enterprise
- The Decision engine determines the best course of action based on all the data and the output from the analysis
- Any number of decisions can be made to achieve different outcomes based on the analysis of the data
- If the decision engine determines more product is needed now and that the regular order for this product at this store needs to increase, two actions are generated
- An action is generated in the dispatch system to automatically send a delivery driver with the required products to the desired store
- An action is sent to the order entry system to increase the number of these products in this stores next regular order
Outcome for the consumer:
The retail customer is happy as they are seeing the benefits of this automation by always having product on store shelves, which keeps their customers happy. Happy customers finding the products they want increases store sales.
Outcome for the business:
The business is happy as their retail distribution network is much happier with their ability to keep retail locations stocked with supply and reducing or eliminating occurrences of empty store shelves. In addition, the business is seeing a dramatic decrease in operations costs as they reduce the size of their distribution centers and the amount of warehouse stock they have on hand.