SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. & KARLSRUHE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--JDA Software Inc., the leading provider of end-to-end supply chain and retail solutions, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Blue Yonder, the market leader in AI solutions for retail. This acquisition reflects the increasing importance of connecting intelligent data and insights to enable more profitable Autonomous Supply Chain™ decisions and optimized customer experiences. It builds on JDA’s strategy of developing cognitive and connected solutions to power digital transformations for companies seeking to create a competitive advantage for their supply chains. The acquisition is subject to competition agency approval.
Blue Yonder – Proven Leader in AI/ML Solutions for Retail
Blue Yonder enables companies to take a transformative approach to their core processes, automating complex decisions that deliver higher profits and customer value using leading AI/ML algorithms. Blue Yonder’s proven data science capabilities will allow JDA to more quickly embed new levels of actionable intelligence across all areas of its SaaS solution roadmap, from retail/supply chain planning, to execution, to labor management and through to omni-channel delivery to create significant value realization for customers. Blue Yonder’s SaaS solutions deliver rapid time-to-value and game-changing business value.
Acquisition Will Accelerate Customers’ Digital Transformations
- The cognitive capabilities of JDA’s entire solutions portfolio – from planning to execution to delivery – will be greatly enhanced and accelerated by leveraging Blue Yonder’s advanced AI/ML capabilities.
- JDA Luminate solutions, including the first-of-its-kind Luminate ControlTower™, which connects data and enables visibility across a company’s extended supply chain, will benefit from the “brain power” of Blue Yonder’s proven cognitive capabilities and rich, deep learnings to automate more profitable business decisions.
- Blue Yonder’s intelligent Demand Forecast & Replenishment and Price Optimization solutions will further complement and enhance JDA’s own retail planning solutions, which deliver integrated, customer-centric supply chain and merchandising processes. Blue Yonder’s ML capabilities will offer immediate opportunities for JDA’s retail customers to dynamically improve their pricing, promotions, markdowns and replenishment capabilities.
- Blue Yonder’s advanced forecasting will also drive substantial benefits to fast and short lifecycle products, benefitting the fresh food chain and leading to less waste, optimized labor and improved sustainability.
As part of the world’s leading supply chain management company, Blue Yonder will be able to accelerate its growth, invest more resources to development and deliver even more innovation to customers at scale to help deliver on JDA’s vision for an Autonomous Supply Chain™. To help deliver on this joint mission, Blue Yonder founder, former CERN physicist and KIT professor Dr. Michael Feindt will provide ongoing thought and innovation leadership to both companies, and CEO Uwe Weiss will join JDA’s Operating Committee.
JDA’s acquisition of Blue Yonder is expected to close in August, subject to competition agency approval. Both companies will refrain from commenting further on the acquisition until the transaction is complete.
CEO Comments
“Major digital transformation of supply chains is underway and the ability to quickly access intelligent, actionable data and insights will determine the future winners and losers,” said JDA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Girish Rishi. “JDA’s end-to-end solution portfolio, coupled with Blue Yonder’s leading AI/ML capabilities, will enable customers to deliver more autonomous, profitable business decisions throughout their extended supply chains, unlocking the full business impact of intelligent data.”
“With JDA’s global scope and reach, we have a terrific opportunity to drive the use of our AI solutions throughout the world’s largest and most complex supply chains and to support companies in driving AI innovation and automated decisions in complex supply chains,” said Uwe Weiss, Blue Yonder CEO. “The Blue Yonder team is excited about accelerating and expanding our mission of creating best-in-class AI-based decisions to deliver outstanding customer experiences, increased revenue, and higher margins to companies around the world.”
Otto Group and Warburg Pincus Comments
"We are proud to have accompanied Blue Yonder to this day and would like to thank the Blue Yonder management team, Warburg Pincus and JDA for the close cooperation. The Otto Group's goal has always been to further develop Blue Yonder together with the Blue Yonder management team and Warburg Pincus, and to prepare the company for the next big step on its path to success,” said Dr. Rainer Hillebrand from Otto Group. “This step requires a strategic partner with whom the ambitious growth targets can be better achieved. Therefore, we are excited about this great partnership with JDA. We plan to continue working closely with Blue Yonder.”
Max Fowinkel, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus, commented, “We are very pleased with the international success Blue Yonder has achieved under Warburg Pincus’ ownership. We would like to thank the Otto Group and the Blue Yonder management team for our successful cooperation. As investors, we feel privileged to have supported the Blue Yonder team in building a leading provider of scalable SaaS-based machine learning solutions, and we wish the entire team continued success under the new ownership.”
Tweet this: .@JDASoftware to acquire Blue Yonder, leader of AI/ML #retail and #supplychain solutions. Learn how this acquisition powers the #autonomous #supplychain and accelerates customers’ digital transformations #JDABlueYonder #offwego http://bit.ly/2Kr1hf
About JDA Software, Inc.
JDA Software is the leading supply chain software provider powering
today’s digital transformations. We help companies optimize delivery to
customers by enabling them to predict and shape demand, fulfill faster
and more intelligently, and improve customer experiences and loyalty.
More than 4,000 global customers use our unmatched end-to-end software
and SaaS solutions to unify and shorten their supply chains, increase
speed of execution, and profitably deliver to their customers. Our
world-class client roster includes 76 of the top 100 retailers, 77 of
the top 100 consumer goods companies, and 8 of the top 10 global 3PLs.
Running JDA, you can plan to deliver.
Learn more at www.jda.com
About Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder enables retailers to take a transformative approach to their
core processes, automating complex decisions that deliver higher profits
and customer value using artificial intelligence (AI). With AI embedded
into their supply chain and merchandising processes, retailers can
respond quicker to changing market conditions and customer dynamics,
boosting revenues and increasing margins. Developed by one of the
largest teams of PhD-level data scientists in retail, our solution
delivers hundreds of millions of automated decisions daily to
international grocery, fashion and general merchandise retailers. Blue
Yonder was founded in 2008 in Karlsruhe, Germany, by former CERN
physicist and KIT professor Michael Feindt. The company has been awarded
the Experton Big Data Leader Award 2016, the BT Retail Week Technology
Award and the IGD Award 2017 for Supply Chain Innovation. Blue Yonder
provides its solutions through Microsoft Azure.
Learn more at www.blue-yonder.com
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“JDA” is a trademark or registered trademark of JDA Software Group, Inc. Any trade, product or service name referenced in this document using the name “JDA” is a trademark and/or property of JDA Software Group, Inc.
