DC Velocity - October 2017

alliances

Louisiana-based restaurant company Raising Cane has licensed ArrowStream’s OnDemand software to better manage food spend, inventory, and auditing with its suppliers and distributors. … Consulting firm Open Sky Group performed a rapid upgrade to the newest version of JDA’s Warehouse Management solution for Matson Logistics, the first phase in a series of supply chain software improvements. … Zodiac Aerospace has deployed Birst’s cloud-based networked business analytics platform to help address order-fulfillment bottlenecks, enable self-service analytics across business units, and generate reports quickly. … Silicon Valley truck-sharing startup Doft has integrated with online load-posting platform PostEverywhere, providing customers of both companies with a more simplified freight posting process. … One20, the free membership community built exclusively for professional truck drivers, has entered into an agreement with third-party logistics service provider C.H. Robinson that allows Robinson to promote One20’s electronic logging device solution to its contracted carriers with 10 or fewer trucks. … Inttra, an electronic transaction platform and information provider for the ocean container shipping industry, and container shipping provider SM Line have announced an agreement that will expand Inttra’s reach in Korea and globally, while offering SM Line an advanced network for its customers. … Systems integrator Dematic has signed a global agreement with Norway’s AutoStore that will enable Dematic to add the AutoStore ultra-high-density storage and goods-to-person piece picking system to its portfolio. The agreement authorizes Dematic to design, configure, engineer, install, and support AutoStore as a subsystem within an overall Dematic solution or as a standalone piece picking system. … Bradford Airport Logistics has selected Zebra Technologies Corp.’s TC70 touch computer to optimize its delivery process. … Llamasoft, a developer of supply chain optimization solutions, has partnered with Zipline, a tech innovator that uses drones to deliver medical supplies in remote locations in Africa. The two are working together to optimize Zipline’s operations in Rwanda and Tanzania. … DHL eCommerce, a division of logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL Group, has partnered with FarEye, a logistics management solutions provider, to optimize its resources and provide real-time alerts and analytics. … Supply chain solutions provider NFI has partnered with Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit group that arranges for wreaths to be laid on veterans’ headstones at Arlington National Cemetery and other military cemeteries each December. Through its brokerage service, NFI will manage the transportation of more than 1. 6 million wreaths nationwide.

Freight broker and third-party logistics service provider (3PL) C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. said it has developed a software package that can help users reduce the supply chain disruption caused by hurricanes and other natural disasters by using predictive analytics to make faster decisions.

The company’s “Navisphere Vision” platform analyzes historical customer data with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technology, then quantifies supply chain threats and automatically takes action to avoid them, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Robinson said.

The platform helps shippers make their global supply chains more responsive by providing real-time visibility down to the stock-keeping unit (SKU) level and then analyzing the impacts of potential disruptions from weather, traffic, or current events, according to the company.

The Navisphere Vision product builds on Robinson’s Navisphere technology platform, a virtual network connecting the company’s own employees, customers, and service providers worldwide to improve shipment visibility and business intelligence, the company said.

“The industry has seen supply chain visibility tools before, but Navisphere Vision represents the next generation,” Jordan Kass, president of Robinson’s TMC division, said in a statement. (The TMC division offers transportation management software and consulting services.) “Not only is it global, but Navisphere Vision goes far beyond visibility and helps our customers predict supply chain disruptions before they even occur,” he said.

Software providers have been seeking ways to apply artificial intelligence to supply chain planning in recent months, attracting substantial amounts of venture capital. Some of the latest entrants include vendors like Sunnyvale, Calif.-based LevaData; Mountain View, Calif.-based Aera Technology; and San Francisco-based ClearMetal Inc.

“Navisphere Vision utilizes application programming interface (API) technology to aggregate all other supply chain and information sources into one single location, giving our customers the most streamlined, real-time solution available,” Chad Lindbloom, Robinson’s chief information officer, said in the statement. “And it brings a new level of machine learning and data science that the supply chain industry hasn’t seen to date.”