
There should be little secret that as multi-industry supply chain management teams continue to deal with unprecedented levels of complexity, uncertainty and risk management. Thus, supply chain technology related to supply and demand network modeling, network design, planning, response management and more responsive decision-making is gaining increased attention and innovation.
This week, our Supply Chain Matters news desk uncovered some coincidental evidence over a period of days.
Two best-of-breed technology providers in this area, Llamasoft and Kinaxis, have each separately indicated definitive corporate expansion plans.
LLamasoft
Crain’s Detroit Business reports that Llamasoft is investing $10.7 million to expand its Ann Arbor Michigan corporate headquarters.
According to the report: “The move fits into the fast-growing company’s expansion plan as its revenue continues to increase.” The company will relocate 140 of its 260 existing employees to other office space in mid-August in order to perform the buildout of added space.
The report cites a memo from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. indicating that new jobs will involve software developers, engineers, professional services and sales representatives. The Michigan agency is providing a performance grant incentive to retain the company in the Ann Arbor area.
Kinaxis
Kinaxis announced on Monday intentions to expand to a new corporate headquarters to accommodate its growing workforce and business expansion. The new headquarters facility is anticipated to be more than double the size of its current headquarters.
The proposed new 165,000 square foot facility is located in the Kanata West Business Park.
According to a published report by the Ottawa Citizen, the supply chain planning and response management applications provider plans to occupy the entire facility in a few years, and that there is an option to add a further 100,000 square feet if needed. Local Realty Management firm Taggart will be developing and managing construction of the new property.
The report cites a TD Securities analyst as forecasting company revenues of $185 million this year and nearly $212 million next year.
Kinaxis ‘s head of human resources, Megan Paterson, indicated to the publication that the company has now outgrown two headquarters buildings. The software provider expects occupying the new facility by September 2021.
Kinaxis itself indicates that the provider has experienced a cumulative average revenue growth in excess of 20 percent since going public in 2014, with local headcount doubling in size. Over 400 employees reside in the Ottawa Canada area, 600 worldwide.
Supply and customer demand planning and response management technology is indeed experiencing continued market growth, as is the need for continuous innovation into areas of artificial intelligence, cognitive and machine learning.
Technology providers are obviously dealing with their own local and global office space capacity expansion needs.
Supply Chain Matters extends congrats to both of these providers for their continued growth
Disclosure; Kinaxis is one of other named sponsors of the Supply Chain Matters blog. Llamasoft is a former sponsor of this blog.