Episode 26- Enhancing Supply Chain Planning and Synchronization- The Kinaxis Approach

Speaker A: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Supply Chain Matters podcast hosted by Bob Ferrari. Supply Chain Matters has consistently been recognized as one of the top Internet blogs in the field of supply chain management. Our goal in this podcast series is to provide the best insights and thought leadership for from guests experienced and knowledgeable in supply chain management. Areas to be discussed include business processes, advanced technology and various industry and individual business, product, demand and supply networks. And with that, here's your podcast host, Bob Ferrari.

Speaker B: Foreign

Speaker C: hello to all listening and welcome to episode 26 of our supply Chain Matters Podcasting series. I am Bob Ferrari, the founder and Managing Editor of our UH blogging platform and I serve as moderator of this podcast. As noted in our opening, the Supply Chain Matters blog is consistently rated as one of the top blogs in supply chain management thought leadership and since our founding in 2008 we continue in garnering a global wide readership. This podcast medium serves as a supplement to the various published content on Supply Chain Matters and is our opportunity to present a more two way conversational discussion on important topics for industry and global supply chain management teams. Now, as multi industry supply chain management teams continue in their response to many market, business and other challenges that often impact various supply chain management enabled processes, the pace of business and market changes are such that planning and product forecasting techniques cannot keep up with the constant changes in external and internal information flows including as well as required decision making needs. These same forces require that traditional supply chain planning practices and capabilities must be better synchronized with on the ground supply chain execution information flows in order to provide added context and more timely decision making. Earlier this year, supply chain planning and orchestration technology provider Kinaxis introduced what is called Maestro, described as eliminating the guesswork and grunt work associated with required supply chain planning and orchestration. In that light, we wanted to assist our Supply Chain Matters readers in gaining a broader understanding of UH what has led up to this technology platform announcement and what it means for future capabilities in the specific areas. So I am therefore very pleased to have as our guest for this episode Saj Srivasta. SAJ is the Vice President of Product Management at Kinaxis where he oversees the Kinaxis Solutions business. He leads the portfolio of software capabilities focused on supply chain orchestration. His areas of responsibility include supplier collaboration, demand planning, supply planning, inventory optimization, product UH scheduling and supply chain execution. Before joining Kinaxis, Saj held various product leadership positions at notable companies such as Amazon and Shopify, where he honed his skills in product strategy and management. He brings UH a wealth of experience in driving innovation and efficiency in the supply chain domain. Saadge holds a joint Master's Degree in Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Ms. In Software Engineering from the University of Oxford. He resides in Ottawa, Canada with his wife and son and enjoys playing sports and reading books in his spare time, which is often not there. So, Sarge, welcome. We're so pleased to have you taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with our Supply Chain Matters audience.

Speaker B: Thank you so much, Bob. It's pleasure to be here. I'm really excited to join and connect with Supply Chain Matters audience. Uh, we are at an incredible transformative moment in the world of supply chain with technology, transparency and agility becoming essential themes today. I'm looking forward to diving into some of the challenges and opportunities we are seeing in the supply chain landscape and the role of data and AI to build resilient networks which can weather uncertainty. Also looking forward to sharing some insights from our work at Kinaxis and hopefully inspire new ways to think about supply chain strategy and innovation. I'm excited to get started, so let's dive in.

Speaker C: Let's do that then. So let's begin with maybe a broader perspective, uh, what led up to the announcement of Maestro and its various technology capabilities. Are these the next generation of Kinaxis rapid response product suite?

Speaker B: Yeah, um, very relevant question. So why don't we take a quick walk down the memory lane first? So for 40 years Kinaxis has been at the forefront of innovation in supply chain. From building the first in memory MRP engine to launching the first cloud native supply planning platform. And introducing Maestro is no different. Research we conducted with IDC revealed that companies are increasingly looking for an end to end solution to orchestrate their supply chain. They want to have visibility at every part of the supply chain so they can act quickly. If you remember, we purchased MPO two years ago because we saw this opportunity to bring planning, scheduling and execution into one unified platform. And today you can just do that with Maestro. Um, but we do not have a true orchestration until we harmonize across supply chain. So every function is operating in sync to provide real value.

Speaker C: M and Saad, uh, just at that point, how do you articulate harmonization? What does that mean in supply chain?

Speaker B: So, um, Kinaxis has been forefront and always on concurrent engine, which means that data coming at each and every part of the supply chain network is transparently available and visible at uh, other functions of supply chain network. So when we harmonize that data together, we bring the insights of Execution to planners, insights of planners to execution so that they can act quickly on the information coming externally from different systems in the supply chain network.

Speaker C: Yeah, thank you for describing that because you know, harmonization sometimes is an overused word in the word in marketing channels and things like that. So I think it's important to clarify that.

Speaker B: And it's so important. Glad that you asked that question, Bob. Because it's so important because as you're infusing AI in the right way at the right time across the end to end supply chain in a very transparent, explainable way, you need to have data into the system which is harmonized across the entire network.

Speaker C: Good, good. So, um, maybe I interrupted you. So go on with your.

Speaker B: No, no, no, no, no. I mean very relevant question. So what is Maestro? Maestro is a evolution of rapid response, the next version of our platform that will enable customers to tame complexity and master uncertainty. To be very clear, Mastro is not re platform. It's a combination and culmination of everything you know and love about rapid response. With the addition of new modern technology such as data fabric, just such as fusion of different technologies together, including AI that allow our customers and their supply chain to succeed. Introducing Maestro is taking a bold step forward with our vision and positions us strongly in the market by doing the following, number one, modernizing our brand, positioning us alongside the latest and greatest technology in the industry and helping us sell more on the value we bring on the table. Customers are already getting new capabilities with Maestro, such as AI based chatbot, advanced functionality, such as demand AI supplied AI and will continue to innovate and bring more advanced technologies and relevant technologies into Mastro. Bob?

Speaker C: Yeah, and I think also I might add that you know, for our uh, Connexus, uh, rapid response listeners who are uh, you know, getting more uh, information regarding Maestro, this brings kinaxis, at least from my perspective, into the supply chain execution spectrum. You know, in the notion of synchronization, in the notion of bringing planning information and data feeds back and forth between planning and execution, which has always been a big challenge, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, no, 100%. And actually we want to take a step forward. We are no longer just a supply planning solution. We are supply chain orchestration solution, which means that connecting planning and execution together, bringing under one umbrella of control tower where you get end to end visibility of the system. Uh, Bob, um, there is no point of doing planning in silos, right? Imagine a demand forecaster, um, building a um, forecasting with three decimal point accuracy. But your trucks are late on your dock Door Your ah, ocean freight is blocked at Suez Canal and you are getting that information three days later. Uh, you're going to miss those SLAs anyway. Right? So we want to ensure that we bring agility and transparency into our platform so that demand planner supply planners will have real time information on what is happening on the execution side so they can take those corrective actions. So let's take an example. If raw material is coming from Asia all the way to Europe and that is in ocean freight and Suez Canal is blocked, if that information can on a real time be provided to supplier planners, they can look for alternate source of those raw materials. They can probably air freight that raw materials to ensure that they uh, can meet the sla. And by providing that information in real time and also providing the SNOP view which tells you how that will impact your business, those planners can take real time decision. Similarly on the execution side if they have clear visibility on the planning, they can schedule those transportation providers, the freight providers so that those um, options are available to ensure that we are meeting those SLAs. So both planning and execution and the bidirectional feedback loop is so critical uh, for the success of supply chain networks.

Speaker C: Absolutely, those are good examples. Um, so let's go a little bit further. Let's uh, maybe uh, uh, cover some of the architectural layers, the technology aspects of Maestro, because from my way of thinking that's a very important component here, uh, especially for rapid response. So maybe you can describe what are some of those architectural pieces of this.

Speaker B: Sure, yeah. So there are three layers in Maastro at a high level. Think of those as three layers of your favorite cake. Um, so the bottommost layer is a supply chain data fabric connecting internal and external data source into a single source of truth. Data is new oil and you cannot run a AI system unless you have data into your system. So that is the bottom most layer. And I'll go into the details, I'll give you high level, um, overview and then I'll go into the details of all these three layers. Then on top of that data fabric uh resides are always on intelligence engine that deliver real time insights, predictions and adaptive solutions. On top of that uh, uh, intelligence engine is our seamless intuitive user interface. Um, the best uh, products are the ones which have a user interface which encapsulates the underlying details and complexity and provide a UX which is easy to use. And that is our goal and vision with the user interface layer. So again just to summarize, uh, data fabric always on intelligence engine and an intuitive user interface. I'm happy to go into the details, Bob.

Speaker C: Yeah, maybe to help with the understanding, um, when, when we talk, at least when as we as supply uh, chain industry analysts, when we talk about supply chain planning systems and to some extent supply chain execution systems, uh, we talk about a layer of control or a system of insights or a system of control. Um, so it sounds like the layers of Maestro are being there to enhance that system of control. Correct? Is that a good observation?

Speaker B: Yeah, 100%. And there's a unified control tower where you can see the entire. It's almost like a digital twin where you can see the, see um, your entire network and you can see all the exceptions coming from various part of supply chain. So you're 100% right. That is the intuitive user interface which provides a clear, transparent and agile visibility of your entire network.

Speaker C: Good, good, that's great. So in our supply chain matters, our initial commentary, when we wrote about Maestro, I was at the customer conference of the Connexions, um, and it was well received there. But I think from my way of thinking I thought a lot of rapid uh, response customers we're trying to absorb, you know, you just can't get it all in one conference. So really what does it mean? Um, you know, Kinaxis indicated that the overall premise of this added capability is the realization of the veracity of data is equally or sometimes more important than the actual modeling, ah, or the various planning scenarios. Could you elaborate on that with some specific process examples?

Speaker B: Yeah, so if I may, I would like to uh, correct the question and reframe it in a different way. Rather than saying that veracity of data, ah, is equally or sometime more important than actual modeling, I would rather say that high quality data will support and enable better scenario modeling. It is really the prerequisite for us to have even stronger, more robust output and both go hand in hand. Veracity of data will make our scenario planning and orchestration even more powerful. Let me give you a few examples here Bob, to drive my point home. Um, let's take an example of a QSR customer who are actually using our new ML based demand forecasting solution called Demand AI. So um, by bringing external data into our system along with the historical data of that particular customer, external data in terms of events data and hyperlocal data, um, we can improve the demand forecasting of that particular QSR even more. So, let's say there is a sport, there is a sports competition happening in the city, or there is a famous uh, gig happening in the city. Um, that information will not be captured in the historical sales or shipment data. But by bringing that uh, hyper local and events data into the platform, we are partnering with a company called Printed HQ which are a solution extension partner. Um, we are bringing more insights which helps us to improve our demand forecasting solution. So that's one way to look at how stronger and better data is helping us to make our sort of the foundation system more powerful. Let's take another example. Mastro will ensure that our customers can adapt to seasonal patterns and shift in consumer behavior, um, helping them to have better inventory levels to anticipated demand reducing stockouts and overstock issue. Again by bringing external data into a system and in improving the veracity of data. There are multiple examples. You can take uh, an example from the lens of sustainability and compliance. By leveraging external CO2 emissions data, we are helping companies to make decision that align with their sustainability goal, such as choosing a greener supplier or optimizing supply routes for minimum environmental impact. So all these examples show that uh, by improving the veracity of data, uh, we are actually making our scenario modeling even more stronger and providing more robust outputs to our customers.

Speaker C: Good. I'm sorry, I had put myself on mute and I don't know why I did that. Okay, so those were good examples. Thank you Saja. Um, let's go a little further a little bit because um, in the area of supply chain planning specifically there are a lot of businesses that connect, let's say a best of breed supply chain planning application capabilities such as Kinaxis with their backbone ERP system and that gets into the notion of harmonization of data as well. So maybe let's just dive a little into some examples there. In other words, for customers that will utilize Maestro to uh, exchange information with a backbone erp, whatever that may be, what are some of the benefits of Maestro in doing that?

Speaker B: So first of all I like to say that we have 100 successful integration which are SAP certified. So we have a best in class product to integrate with those erps. Um, along with that we are also building a next generation SAP integration with SAP OData API, uh, with clean code technology. So we are heavily investing in bringing those ERP data into our system. Now I'll go back to the point that um, all this data, either it's coming from external systems like the example I talked about with Predict HQ and Events and hyperlocal data, or if they're coming from existing ERP systems, they make um, our scenarios, our outputs much more stronger because now we can leverage that data um, in a much more holistic way with decision intelligence we can look at exceptions, uh, which not only help us to provide proactive updates to our planners but also improve uh, data driven systems such as demand forecasting.

Speaker C: Good, good, that's a good example. And you know our listeners might know you know based on my um, longtime background as a supply chain technology ah, analyst, uh, I don't, I know I not only interact with uh, businesses that you know, have needs in supply chain planning and decision making and uh, enhanced intelligence but I interact with people who are strong in supply chain execution capabilities. And it's interesting and you probably know this, that when you have these conversations with the supply chain execution people, whether they're at the warehouse level, the customer fulfillment level or the execution level, you often hear the frustrations of uh, uh, uh, manifested by if I only knew what the plan was here, if I ever, if I only had some advance warning about this new tranche uh, of inventory that's now hitting you know, the execution channel. If I just knew that the customer, which happens to be a very uh, purposeful customer, uh, may meaningful customer for us just change their replenishment requirements. If I knew that up front could have done a better job of execution here, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%. And our vision of supply chain orchestration is actually to fulfill that. It's not just bringing planning and execution together but it's also bringing the underlying data of which planning system use and execution systems use together. So um, another example will be supplier collaboration. If we have the information of um, multitude of suppliers you have in your system you can better manage your risk. That uh, is also important for some of the company's sustainability goals. Um, meeting those scope 2 scope 3 requirement is not just based on what you are doing in your own organization but what your suppliers are doing in their organization as well. I just wanted to reiterate the point that um, data plays a very very big role and in supply chain orchestration all the way from upstream into collaboration and supplier management to downstream uh, in the execution and management of transportation management of CO2 emission data management, uh, of last mile delivery and even beyond uh, with circularity uh, and returns coming into the picture. So yeah it's like supply chain orchestration. You can think of this as again going back to the my analogy of three layered cake. It's that layer at the below which is connecting all the data together enables layer above to provide intelligence and user experience.

Speaker C: Good, good, good. And I think the other notion here is that whether you talk to planning uh, Audiences or whether you talk to execution side, all of the manifestations, what everybody agrees with is end to end supply chain visibility. And I think everybody right now is marching to that and we're making a lot of progress on that on both sides. But I think the notion of control tower, that uh, a uh, lot of providers are now uh, enabling, uh, is this notion of gathering that. So once you get that kind of end to end visibility, you then have the context to do the decision making you really want to do, correct?

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And the way we think about it at Kinacess is that um, it's not just providing the information to our customers with end to end visibility, but also making decisions for them wherever we can. So that's where decision uh, intelligence comes into picture. One, uh, analogy we have, uh, which sort of resonates well with, with this is difference between thermometer and thermostat. So thermometer tells you the temperature, but thermostats goes one step ahead and change and adjust your furnace or your air conditioning in the house based on that temperature reading. And that's the way we think about Mastro, is that it's not only providing that visibility but it's also helping our customers to make decision based on that data which is available into the system.

Speaker C: That's good. That's a good analogy. Very good. So before we do run a time, um, you know there's a lot of hype in the uh, technology marketing world right now about uh, advanced tech, you know, AI, large language models, ChatGPT, all of those things. And eventually we're going to see those come into play in supply chain, uh, business processes and so forth. So I think a very timely question now is how is Maestro and Maestro capabilities going to help uh, Connexus customers with preparing for that new cycle?

Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's a very relevant question, very pertinent in this day and age. Um, Bob, we are very intentional about AI. I think AI is a really strong tool but it has to be used in the right way. Um, what we are building is fusion of different technologies to provide value to our customer. Um, and what are those technologies? Um, those are gen technologies. They have their strong points. Um, there's also mathematical AI which helps us to build uh, mathematical models or uh, do things like demand forecasting. There is also a play of optimization and heuristics and supply planning. So we are fusing all these technologies, embedding those technologies to create a seamless customer experience for its user. So talk to a lot of customers and we communicate to them like Gen AI is a very strong tool uh, to provide information to users. There's a language in large language model which is underlying technology of Gen AI. Um, but you need to fuse it together with mathematical AI to create those demand forecasting. And then using Genai you can provide a request response AI Chatbot bot based interface which is already available in Mastro just for your information. Similarly there are use cases of heuristics and optimization. So to summarize it, uh, Kinexus complies with all required legal frameworks globally to ensure client data and business information is successful. And we are seeing this opportunity to provide a next level of concurrency, agility and resilience through AI technologies infused into supply chain orchestration. And that infuse is a very strong word because we uh, are bringing the right technology at the right time in the supply chain to deliver value to our customers.

Speaker C: Good, good. And then one final question, um, would Kinexus customers have the option to determine uh, which AI uh model they want to use or are they bounded by certain ones?

Speaker B: Yeah, so like certain things come by default with platforms. Our AI Chatbot which is our Genai engine, um, that is already available when you start using Maestro. So that is by default. And then on top of it you um, can enhance um, your system with uh, our advanced ML based demand forecasting solution called Demand AI or you can enhance the solution with our optimization solution called Supply AI. We also have a way to do a time series based forecasting on lead times and yield with self healing supply chain. So that gives flexibility to our customers to bring additional functionality into master platform which already comes up with AI ready um Chatbot and ability to uh, plug in all those advanced technologies on top of it.

Speaker C: Great, great. So um, Saj, I want to sincerely thank you for sharing with our listeners what uh Connexus Maestro is all about and what business value areas it will enhance. Um, any final takeaway thoughts you want to leave uh, with our listening audience regarding what you have shared?

Speaker B: Yeah, I just, I want to retrain. One point here is Maestro is evolution of rapid response. It brings all the powerful um, functionalities of rapid response which our customers have used and allowed for for many many decades now. It is a evolution of our platform. It's not a replatforming by any means. And you will continue to see evolution of our platform as we are bringing the latest and greatest technology into Maestro.

Speaker C: Great, great. And if uh, any of our listeners uh, uh, want to gather more information or maybe talk with you, how can they do so yeah.

Speaker B: Feel free to reach out to uh, my can access email which is my first initial S and my last name which is S H R I V A S T a v@conexus.com or reach out to uh Connexus Pro marketing team to get more information.

Speaker C: Great. Thank you. So this concludes our Supply chain matters episode 26 podcast episode enhancing Supply Chain Planning and and required Synchronization the Kinaxis approach. Stay tuned to the Supply Chain Matters blog for additional announcements as to upcoming guests and compelling topics related to supply chain management, business process and decision making needs. As an added note, our uh, research arm, um, will be both revisiting. Actually we actually started this this week. Art will revisiting our 2024 predictions and we're self rating them, um, which not all firms do. And we're Preparing for our 2025 predictions research advisory that we publish at the beginning of the year in the January time frame. Listeners can look forward to an upcoming State of Thought Leadership gaps on our podcast, sharing their perspectives of what to anticipate in the coming year. So as always, please feel free to contact me with your request for additional timely pod topics and guests. Our contact information is on our website. In the meantime, this is Bob Ferrari signing off until uh, our next episode. And always remember, supply chains do matter for successful business outcomes.

Speaker A: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Supply Chain Matters podcast hosted by Bob Ferrari. For further information and insights, please Visit our websites www.the Ferrari group.com or the Supply Chain Matters blog at www.suppply chain matters.com. thanks again for listening and goodbye.