Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a preview of AWS Supply Chain, a new application designed to help businesses increase supply chain visibility to make faster, more informed decisions that can mitigate risks, lower costs and improve the customer experience. The service already is being used by retailers including Lifetime Brands, Traeger Grills and Whole Foods Market.
AWS Supply Chain is designed to automatically combine and analyze data across multiple supply chain systems so businesses can observe their operations in real time, find trends more quickly and generate more accurate demand forecasts to ensure adequate inventory to meet customer expectations. The solution is based on nearly 30 years of Amazon.com logistics network experience.
The solution sets up a unified supply chain data lake using AWS Supply Chain’s built-in connectors, which use pre-trained machine learning models to understand, extract and aggregate data from ERP and supply chain management systems. AWS Supply Chain then contextualizes that information in a real-time visual map highlighting current inventory selection and quantity at each location, with the goal of providing inventory managers, demand planners and supply chain leaders with machine learning-generated insights for dealing with potential inventory shortages or delays.
From there, users can create watchlists to receive action alerts as risks appear. Once a risk is identified, AWS Supply Chain can automatically provide recommended actions, such as moving inventory between locations, based on the percentage of risk resolved, the distance between facilities and the sustainability impact.
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“We wanted a better view of when new inventory would arrive at our distribution centers nationwide,” said Leandro Balbinot, SVP and Chief Technology Officer at Whole Foods Market in a statement. “AWS Supply Chain combined data from our existing systems without disrupting them. AWS Supply Chain’s visual map then made it easy to see product-level inventory movement in real time. We expect AWS Supply Chain’s integrated view and predictive planning analytics to materially improve inventory management at our distribution centers.”
AWS Supply Chain is available in preview in U.S. East, based in Northern Virginia; U.S. West, in Oregon; and Europe, in Frankfurt, Germany, with availability in additional AWS Regions coming soon.
