Technology

Grocery warehouse taps Symphony RetailAI for greater supply, distribution efficiency

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February 22, 2021

Smart & Final, a grocery warehouse store, is deploying Symphony RetailAI's vendor portal and upgrading to the latest version of the vendor's warehouse management system in an effort to gain greater efficiency in supply and distribution.

Symphony Retail AI provides integrated AI-enable marketing, merchandising and supply chain technology for retailers and manufacturers. Smart & Final operates two banners, Smart & Final and Smart & Final Extra!.

The technology efforts updates the grocer's IT systems and will lead to a "significant optimization" of warehouse processes, according to a press release.

"This project was a complicated undertaking," Vishal Kumar, group VP of IT, Smart & Final, said in the release. "However, the execution was very strong, limiting business interruption and delivering a really solid product to our distribution centers."

Smart & Final will realize enhanced data and process collaboration for retailer and trade partners' products, purchasing, distribution, inventory assortments, promotions, and forecasts, while gaining a single view via a vendor dashboard.

"It's one thing to talk about how a project will go, but it's another to state how it went," Raju Keertipati, VP, product management and analytics platform, Smart & Final, said in the release. "The flawless execution builds a lot of confidence for the next distribution centers on the list."

Smart & Final is also looking to deploy Symphony RetailAI Supply Chain and WMS Insights. Headquartered near Los Angeles in Commerce, California, it has 254 store locations and its larger format stores, Smart & Final Extra!, combine the warehouse store with traditional grocery offerings.