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LLamasoft Acquires Opex Analytics Forming Applied AI Powerhouse
Combined Company to Transform Enterprise Decision Making by Applying the Power of AI
LLamasoft, the leading provider of enterprise supply chain design and decision-making solutions, announced it acquired Opex Analytics LLC, a Chicago-based provider of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to Fortune 500 companies. The acquisition, backed by TPG Capital, Goldman Sachs, and MK Capital, creates a combined company that will offer productized applications and innovative solutions to global organizations to accelerate adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) with deep expertise in machine learning (ML), optimization, simulation and other advanced analytics capabilities to improve decision making. Opex Analytics will continue to operate under the Opex Analytics brand, now as a LLamasoft Company.
Opex Analytics - Rising upstart delivering Enterprise AI Solutions to Industry Innovators
With a proven record of delivering enterprise-grade AI applications, Opex Analytics has enabled large companies to use new data sources together with AI techniques to create breakthrough insights, detect and predict business performance and perform root cause analysis leading to better and more profitable decisions. Opex Analytics employs more than 140 data scientists, operational experts, and development resources located in the United States, Russia and India. With a co-innovation approach, the company has developed and deployed multiple applications for large, global corporations in areas ranging from operational predictions, dynamic pricing, incident prevention, employee retention to optimizing consumer experiences. Opex Analytics customers include well known global brands in the consumer-packaged goods, retail, transportation, manufacturing, finance and food services industries.
Combination Accelerates LLamasoft's Offering of Enterprise Decisioning Through Advanced Analytics
· With over 750 global customers, and building upon LLamasoft's
micro app architecture, the combined company will deliver
purpose-built AI applications leveraging its advanced analytics
platform, enabling rapid adoption of new AI technologies for
customers' digital transformation initiatives.
· LLamasoft's portfolio of existing optimization, simulation and
machine learning algorithmic solvers will be enhanced with the
addition of Opex Analytics artificial intelligence capabilities,
accelerating the deployment of enterprise-scale, applied AI
applications to global corporations.
· The integration of LLamasoft's applied research team with the over
100 data scientists at Opex Analytics, offers both companies'
customers access to an unmatched knowledge and co-innovation
resource base.
· Last year, LLamasoft launched its first AI/ML application for
demand forecasting achieving significant double-digit gains in
forecast accuracy leveraging AI techniques. The acquisition
provides a mechanism to leverage both firms' advanced algorithmic
solution expertise to create the future of AI solutions to accurately
model and predict demand over short- and long-term time horizons
leveraging AI along with relevant external causal factors.
CEO Comments - AI and Analytics Delivered at Enterprise Scale
"The acquisition of Opex Analytics supports our strategy to transform the future of enterprise decision making," said Razat Gaurav, CEO, LLamasoft. "The teams at LLamasoft and Opex are known for leveraging data and the power of AI to gain deep insights and solve complex problems for companies who battle a barrage of constantly changing market conditions and ever-evolving customer demands. The combination of our enterprise-grade analytics platform and our unmatched team of seasoned data scientists with simulation, optimization and machine learning expertise will uniquely position us to unlock the value potential of AI for our customers."
"We see this as an opportunity to accelerate value creation for an even broader community of customers," said Ganesh Ramakrishna, co-founder of Opex. "Over the last several years, Opex has been building the capability to bring production AI solutions to our clients and enable them to rethink their businesses with insights from AI."
"With this combined firm, we'll have additional assets and execution ability to bring solutions to the broader market at a time when many organizations are struggling to demonstrate progress on transformation initiatives." Said Dr. Michael Watson, co-founder of Opex Analytics. "I am excited for employees at both companies to continue their work with existing clients and to bring new solutions to a broader network of companies around the world."
Razat Gaurav will lead the combined company as the CEO of LLamasoft. Mike Watson and Ganesh Ramakrishna will co-lead the Opex Analytics business unit within LLamasoft. TPG Capital, Goldman Sachs, and MK Capital will continue to be active partners to the combined company.
Charlotte NC, September 23, 2024 (McLeod User Conference ) – HOPTEK, a global leader in AI-driven trucking and fleet transportation solutions, has been selected by Xtreme Trucking of Wisconsin, one of the U.S.’s leading technology-first transportation and logistics providers, for its Dispatch Engine® solution, a digital platform providing instant visibility and access to the spot load market, while matching available carrier capacity across thousands of possible options. HOPTEK’s “digital twin” will provide real-time visibility and enable Xtreme to boost operational efficiency and fleet utilization, while reducing driver turnover and deadhead miles, resulting in material cost savings and profitability.
Started as a small independent operation in 2006, Xtreme Trucking was formally established in 2009 to become a quality diversified transportation provider, with a growing revenue profile and extensive coverage across the United States. Through HOPTEK’s Dispatch Engine®, Xtreme has leveraged real-time data visibility and dynamic decision-making to drive operational velocity to achieve up to a 20% increase in both Revenue per Hour and Weekly Revenue Miles per Driver – a clear competitive advantage.
Travis Nelson, President and Founder of Xtreme Trucking said: “Between supply chain complications, market shifts, and driver shortages, the past several years have been a rollercoaster ride for our industry. Selecting HOPTEK’s Dispatch Engine solution addresses several seemingly intractable challenges, enabling us to optimize fleet utilization, increase driver satisfaction, and reduce deadhead empty miles. HOPTEK’s robust visibility platform enables us to make the best available decision, even as fleets remain dynamic, and routing and load scenarios shift constantly. We at Xtreme immediately recognized the value of HOPTEK’s strategic offering to our operation and how it would support the achievement of our goals.”
Transportation and logistics are the backbone of the U.S. economy. Xtreme fuels that economic growth by delivering best-in-class operations, innovative technology solutions, and a talented workforce. The company was seeking a solution that would address very specific issues related to driver miles, route efficiency, and utilization in one platform. Achieving these goals required a unique set of capabilities. HOPTEK’s Dispatch Engine® solution closes these gaps by creating dispatchable recommendations that consider the entire fleet, at any given moment. It gets critical information to dispatchers, planners, drivers, and other stakeholders in near real-time, supercharging efficiencies and profitability.
Balaji Guntur, CEO and Co-founder of HOPTEK said: “We’re excited and honored to have been selected as a long-term partner to Xtreme Trucking. Their keen eye for innovative technologies and solutions that genuinely add measurable value attests to why the industry will view Xtreme as a trend setter and leader in small to mid-size fleet tech adoption. We believe they have selected a solution that will enable them to achieve their technology goals, while at the same time supporting their efficiency mindset and profitability targets.”
About Xtreme
Xtreme Trucking LLC delivers superior reefer transportation and dedicated services across the United States. With a leading view on technology and a modern truck and trailer fleet, we are an essential solutions provider for customers who value the integrity of their supply chain and require safe, and exceptional service. Moreover, Xtreme strives for leading on-time delivery and customer service, and as a technologically minded fleet, and remains deeply committed to promoting both customer and driver satisfaction. To find out how Xtreme Trucking Delivers, please visit: https://www.xtremetrucking.com/
About HOPTEK
HOPTEK was founded in 2021 when global strategy and management consultancy Kearney brought its transportation and tech expertise together to help transform the trucking industry. After HOPTEK’s AI-powered system helped a leading U.S. fleet solve major operational challenges and drastically boost their performance, the company opened that technology to fleets across the U.S. With transformational technology tools such as Fleet Scanner®, Freight Finder®, and Dispatch Engine®, trucking and logistics companies can actively analyze fleet performance, identify and reduce wasteful wait times, and optimize dispatching in responsive real-time. For more information, please visit: https://www.HOPTEK.ai/
About Kearney
Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm. For nearly 100 years, we have been the trusted advisor to C-suites, government bodies, and nonprofit organizations. Our people make us who we are. Driven to be the difference between a big idea and making it happen, we help our clients break through. For more information, please visit: https://www.kearney.com/
Nulogy, a leading provider in supply chain collaboration solutions, and Kinaxis, a global leader in supply chain orchestration, have announced a partnership to develop cutting-edge solutions for brand manufacturing supply chain networks worldwide.
The new partnership aims to catalyze fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and life science brands and their supplier networks to work together more effectively through digital transformation solutions, thereby mutually improving costs, service and revenue. Combining the supply chain orchestration capabilities of Kinaxis with the collaborative external manufacturing specialization of Nulogy will enable customers to share forecasts and order information with suppliers and receive inventory capacity information faster.
Nulogy’s purpose-built multi-enterprise platform enables greater responsiveness in the supply networks of leading FMCG and life science brands, including L’Oréal, Colgate-Palmolive, and Church & Dwight, as well as their extended suppliers and hundreds of sites around the world.
“Given the speed and volatility of today’s global market, it is more important than ever for brand manufacturers to digitally synchronize with their supplier communities in order to respond with agility,” said Jason Tham, CEO at Nulogy. “Through our partnership with Kinaxis, we look forward to collaborations that will elevate the performance of supply chain networks around the world.”
Kinaxis Maestro is the AI-infused end-to-end supply chain orchestration platform for fast, intelligent decision-making. Trusted by renowned global brands to provide agility and predictability to help navigate volatility and disruptions, Kinaxis has been a leader in supply chain planning for over 40 years.
"Our partnership with Nulogy improves visibility, control and collaboration of the upstream network of critical suppliers, like contract manufacturers and co-packers, by integrating a variety of supplier data into Maestro,” said Bill Walker, Senior Director, Partner Solutions Extensions at Kinaxis. “Giving our customers the ability to better run simulations, digitize planning and connect in suppliers.”
Learn more about the partnership at ASCM Connect on September 9, 2024. Kevin Wong, Chief Operating Officer, Nulogy; Polly Mitchell-Guthrie, Supply Chain Thought Leader, Kinaxis; and German Vizcaya Leon, VP Global Planning, Colgate-Palmolive will discuss how Nulogy and Kinaxis’s solutions in Advanced Planning & Scheduling and Supplier Collaboration have played pivotal roles in interconnecting Colgate’s network.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sherri Bosslet
Title: Director of Customer Relations
Phone: 937.415.1715
Email: sbosslet@daytonfreight.com
Date: September 5, 2024
Web: daytonfreight.com
ULINE AWARDED DAYTON FREIGHT FOR EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE
DAYTON, Ohio – Dayton Freight Lines, Inc., a leading provider of regional less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services, was presented the 2023 Exceptional Performance Award and the Minnesota LTL Carrier of the Year award from Uline.
The 2023 Exceptional Performance Award and the Minnesota LTL Carrier of the Year award were presented to Dayton Freight’s Milwaukee and Hudson Service Centers, respectively. Both awards were given based on the following criteria: exemplary customer service, technological innovation and lastly, partnership and dedication.
Uline, a family-owned business, is the leading distributor of shipping, industrial and packaging materials to businesses throughout North America.
Dayton Freight’s Director of Customer Relations, Sherri Bosslet quoted, “We are incredibly proud of our Service Centers in Milwaukee and Hudson WI for receiving these awards. These accolades from Uline truly demonstrate the dedication and diligence of our Dayton Freight team. We look forward to a lasting partnership for years to come.”
Founded in 1981, Dayton Freight is a private, union-free, less-than truckload (LTL) freight carrier headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. Currently ranked as the country’s 12th largest LTL company, Dayton Freight has 70 Service Centers in 14 Midwest states, served by 6,000+ employees. Offering 1 or 2 day service to thousands of cities, Dayton Freight is known for its prudent growth, operational excellence, advanced technology and an unparalleled company culture known as The Dayton Difference.
Photo Caption: Jeremy Cutchens (Dayton Freight), Shelly Hofmeister (Dayton Freight), Ed VanGrouw (Dayton Freight), Eric Dreissig (Uline), LJ Groen (Uline)
Nulogy, a leading provider of supply chain collaboration solutions, is hosting a session during the Association of Supply Chain Management's ASCM Connect 2024. Nulogy, Kinaxis and Colgate-Palmolive executives will present “Orchestrating Digital Transformation: Nulogy & Kinaxis Empower Colgate-Palmolive’s External Network” on Monday, 9/9/2024, 3:45 - 4:45 p.m. CT in Ballroom E, Level 4.
In an era when digital transformation is paramount for sustainable growth, Colgate-Palmolive stands out as a leader in the consumer packaged goods space. With a strong digital transformation vision and strategic partners that tout the technical capabilities and expertise to bring it to life, Colgate and its extended supply network has been able to reap the benefits of digitally-infused agility, resilience and efficiency to outcompete in today’s marketplace.
The session will cover Colgate-Palmolive’s vision for transforming its supply chain planning and execution, highlighting the imperative to enhance supply chain synchronization and collaboration.
Nulogy and Kinaxis join Colgate-Palmolive in this talk to discuss how their best-of-breed solutions in advanced planning and scheduling and supplier collaboration have played pivotal roles in interconnecting Colgate’s network.
Speakers include:
Moderator: Christine Barnhart, CPIM Chief Marketing and Industry Officer, Nuology
Panelist: Kevin Wong Chief Operating Officer, Nulogy
Panelist: Polly Mitchell-Guthrie Supply Chain Thought Leader, Kinaxis
Panelist: German Vizcaya Leon VP Global Planning, Colgate-Palmolive
Check out the complete Colgate-Palmolive case study by visiting https://bit.ly/3z6xwPK.
Covington, KY — In a significant step toward redefining supply chain efficiency and boosting the local economy, Lakeshore Learning hired Zion Solutions Group, a trailblazer in advanced supply chain integration, to help implement a cutting-edge 1.2 million square foot distribution center in Garland, Utah. This collaboration is set to create over 500 jobs, showcasing an unparalleled commitment to innovation and community development.
“Our relationship with Lakeshore Learning, beginning in 2015, has been a testament to what visionary collaboration can achieve," stated Jim Shaw, President of Zion Solutions Group. “This is not just a collaboration; it’s a leap toward the future of supply chain management. By combining Lakeshore Learning’s vision with our technological expertise, we are set to introduce a distribution hub that exemplifies efficiency, sustainability, and economic growth for Garland."
Artin Ghazarian, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Lakeshore Learning, highlighted the project's ambition: "Our journey with Zion Solutions Group has been marked by a shared drive for excellence. This distribution center goes beyond expanding our logistical capabilities—it's a testament to our dedication to setting new industry standards for efficiency and environmental stewardship in supply chain management."
Jordan Frank, EVP & Co-Founder of Zion Solutions Group, emphasized the collaborative synergy: Our relationship with Lakeshore Learning is more than a partnership; it's a melding of minds aimed at redefining the future of our industry. We're not just optimizing logistics; we're crafting a model of innovation that leverages technology for smarter, more sustainable operations. Our goal is to inspire the sector by demonstrating how collaboration and technology together can create impactful solutions.”
The facility will harness the latest in automation and robotics to optimize both efficiency and scalability. Zion Solutions Group will play a crucial role in this evolution, meticulously shaping the project from its conceptual stages to its final form. This includes value-added engineering to support Lakeshore Learning’s specific needs, overseeing the procurement and engineering processes to ensure precision, and integrating advanced software solutions—including Zion Apex (WES)—for peak functionality. Beyond the project’s completion, Zion’s Customer Experience team will continue to support the operations team and provide optimization opportunities, ensuring the facility operates smoothly and evolves with technological advancements.
With an operational goal set for 2025, Lakeshore Learning’s Garland distribution center represents a major milestone in job creation and economic growth for the region. This initiative aligns with Zion's mission to drive sustainable innovation and cement its leadership in the market.
For more information about Zion Solutions Group and its groundbreaking projects, please visit https://thezsg.com/.
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About Zion Solutions Group
Zion Solutions Group, a leader in Supply Chain Integration, uses its 90+ years of knowledge to deliver memorable experiences and guide intelligent change. Specializing in material handling integration, Zion provides comprehensive services that include detailed data analytics, solution design, procurement, implementation, and post-implementation support. Our customer-centric approach and Project Lifecycle process ensure tailor-made solutions using cutting-edge technology, setting us apart in the industry. Zion, in support of its core purpose, “To Leave a Positive Impact on the Lives of Those We Touch,” is committed to driving success and sustainable growth for our partners and customers.
About Lakeshore—Products Designed with Learning in Mind®
Lakeshore Learning Materials is a leading developer and retailer of top-quality materials for early childhood education programs, elementary schools, and homes nationwide. Since 1954, Lakeshore Learning Materials has offered innovative learning materials distinguished by their quality, educational merit, and safety. To learn more, visit LakeshoreLearning.com.