Cocorico ! Vekia, a French provider of supply chain solutions, was doubly nominated by Gartner at the annual Supply Chain Executive Conference held in Phoenix from 23 to 25 May. Focus on a company that has successfully integrated Machine Learning into supply management to satisfy customers such as Galeries Lafayette, Fnac or Mr. Bricolage.

It's not nothing. Present in Phoenix on May 23rd for the annual "Supply Chain Executive Conference"organized by Gartner, the French publisher Vekia was honoured on this occasion and was doubly named in the Market Guide for Retail Forecasting and Replenishement Solutions and the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, in the "On the rise"category. Vekia's President Manuel Davy obviously welcomed this appointment on the company's website: "Vekia is one of the only two publishers in the world to be nominated twice by Gartner. The exceptional character of this double nomination demonstrates the strength of our expertise and our long experience in the field of Machine Learning for the supply chain. We are proud of this dual nomination, and we continue to invest massively to stay on the cutting edge of technology in order to provide our customers with ever-increasing performance."

Machine Learning inside stock and supply management systems

A pioneer in the use of machine learning in inventory and supply management systems, the french start-up has distinguished itself from its international counterparts by the contribution of Machine Learning in its solutions. "With the learning machine, data are fundamental and contribute to the definition of the statistical model to be applied, unlike traditional algorithms, where the model is defined before being applied to the data, explained the leader, on January 14,2016, in the columns of Echos. This is a major difference, because it is the transition from an empirical scheme to an advanced system, which adapts the solution and model to be applied independently. The primary objective is to constantly strive for the best economic performance in the short and long term."
With the use of its solutions, the brand ensures up to 97% reliability on forecasts and up to 30% stock reduction. These figures have convinced leading retail companies such as Galeries Lafayette, Mr. Bricolage and Fnac to trust him. But what about the reality?

Vekia and Machine Learning win over retail specialists

For Galeries Lafayette, the tests carried out were conclusive and allowed us to obtain sales forecasts very close to the actual sales recorded on past data. A small difference of 2.26% between the two thanks to the ProVisia solution, which convinced the group to rely on Vekia to support it in the overhaul of its supply chain management tools.




At Mr. Bricolage's finally, it has been a year since ProOrder and ProCheck solutions were adopted for the supply of stores. And their contribution is also indisputable. "You can see that the system manages better than the human being, notes Richard Crnjanski, Group Supply Chain Manager at Mr. Bricolage, in comments reported by LSA. Moreover, this tool brings rigour to the stores because the stock must be accurate and up to date. The bulk of the work is about that. We have implemented a procedure to detect suspicious stockpiles."

Consequences? The do-it-yourself retailer has doubled by improving the availability of its products on the shelves and by limiting stocks in points of sale, sometimes reducing inventories by up to 30% for some stores in just one year! And Richard Crnjanski concludes : "Currently, 64 stores use this tool and we are in the process of deploying it to the entire network. The deployment will be completed by the end of 2018."