hormel foodThe company, which makes brands like Spam, Skippy, and Planters, used an AI-enabled planning platform to optimize its supply chain.
The company uses o9 Solutions’ Digital Brain platform in partnership with Accenture to integrate advanced enterprise-wide demand and supply planning capabilities. The implementation began in March of last year and was completed in December, with the functionality now embedded at more than 70 sites within the company’s dry and refrigeration network.
AI models combined with machine learning enable contactless forecasting, reducing the need for manual overrides and improving inventory accuracy, especially during seasonal demand.
Hormel’s supply chain employees can now optimize truck loads based on weight, volume, and stacking requirements through an automated recommendation system that translates demand signals into synchronized supply, inventory, and deployment decisions. This enables the identification of opportunities and challenges early in the supply chain planning process, increases visibility throughout the process, and ensures alignment across Hormel’s network of retail, food service and international partners.
“Every day, we balance the movement of thousands of products across multiple channels and storage environments,” Will Bonifant, Hormel Foods’ chief supply chain officer, said in a statement.
Mr. Bonifant assumed the role on March 9 and was tasked with continuing Hormel’s multi-year supply chain transformation journey. Real-time data sharing Increase in-store availability and comprehensive, Integrated business planning approach.
“By connecting demand, supply, and inventory decisions in one streamlined platform, we are moving from reactive problem solving to more proactive, data-driven planning,” he said. “We believe this will strengthen our ability to operate consistently, serve our customers more reliably, and ultimately drive further growth across our portfolio of brands.”
