The Supply Chain Matters blog highlights for our readers a rather unique announcement in the supply chain tech landscape, the initial instance by our recollection of a supply chain management transportation management (TMS) provider leveraging advanced technology from a supply chain modeling, network design and planning technology provider.
Last week, BluJay Solutions, a technology provider of global supply chain software and services, including a TMS, announced a partnership with a supply chain modeling and planning technology provider Llamasoft, to launch a Transportation Modeling application.
The technology which serves as a Digital Twin of a customer’s transportation network, allows shippers to leverage advanced analytics and data to be able to evaluate multiple scenarios or tradeoffs in making changes to operational policies or services. Initially featured are five pre-configured scenarios, providing users the ability to begin leveraging cost, weight, stop, utilization, and distance metrics. Additionally, users have the ability to customize and create additional transportation modeling scenarios and what-if scenarios to predict the potential impact of changes in procedures.
This announcement indicates that BluJay’s Transportation Modeling application will eventually grow to include new output scenarios which may incorporate distribution center location placement, where to locate suppliers, and fleet utilization.
Further Background
At this same time last year, Supply Chain Matters published highlights of Llamasoft’s annual Llamacon customer conference, In our commentary we made mention of the provider’s strategic technology keynote with intentions of further developing Llamasoft Cloud into areas of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence. In October of last year, the company announced the acquisition of Opex Analytics LLC, a Chicago based provider of artificial intelligence-based applications for Fortune 500 companies. That has since become the evolving basis of the llama.ai Cloud platform.
This Editor has the opportunity to speak with David Landau, Chief Product Officer at BluJay regarding the announcement. He observed that typical TMS technology tends to deal with customer order transactional data generated by resident ERP systems, which is often inflexible. BluJay’s intent was to incorporate advanced modeling but time-to-market was an important consideration. Since both companies are located in the Michigan area, Landau indicated it was rather easy to establish a positive collaboration with Llamasoft regarding the ability to leverage that firm’s advanced simulation and modeling technology in a matter of a few months.
Landau further indicated that both companies would have the opportunity to refer clients to each other. Since BluJay’s customer base tends to be concentrated among mid-sized manufacturing and services companies, the partnership involves the opportunity for such customers to be able to leverage Llamasoft’s advanced modeling technologies.
In the announcement, Llamasoft’s CEO Razat Gaurav indicated looking forward to developing additional applications leveraging the technology provider’s analytics expertise for BluJay customers.
Additional Thoughts
From our lens this announcement is a likely prelude to other future announcements involving joint technology partnerships among traditional supply chain execution, TMS or customer fulfillment technology provider with best-of-breed advanced modeling and planning tech providers.
Time to market and technology developments costs have become a crucial consideration for software applications providers and more technology partnerships may indeed be forthcoming.
Bob Ferrari
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