DoorDash just made a great decision with its RELEX Solutions tie-up. Here’s why
Yesterday, we reported that DoorDash will utilise RELEX Solutions’s artificial intelligence driven supply chain planning tool to optimise product availability at its DashMart locations.
It’s a great move, according to Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant who has also worked at Amazon, Deloitte and Capgemini.
DashMart is an online store you can find within the DoorDash app, usually at the top as a promotion.
It is not a physical store. However, DashMart has physical locations that are essentially warehouses where they fulfil the orders.
This system works similarly to Amazon Fresh, where items are packed at the fulfilment locations and then picked up by delivery drivers, also called Dashers.
These micro-fulfilment centres (MFC) play a huge role in the speed at which the orders are completed.
If the Dashers had to drive around to different locations to pick up all of the ordered items, they would likely complete deliveries after several hours rather than several minutes.
The fulfilment centres also take a lot of the pressure off the Dashers, who only need to drive the deliveries and have nothing to do with packing the order.
Once a customer places an order, the MFCs begin packing it, and then a Dasher picks up the order and delivers it to the customer.
RELEX Solutions will utilise machine learning to create forecasts for these areas.
RELEX Senior Vice President Sales, Americas, “Carlos Victoria, says: “We are excited to partner with DoorDash to automate and enhance forecasting and replenishment for their DashMart locations.”
“We look forward to working with DoorDash to continue driving accuracy and efficiency in their supply chain operations."
Earlier this year, RELEX raised €500 million ($568 million) in new investment capital through a fundraising round to assist it in better meeting retailers' needs for AI solutions during ongoing supply chain delays.
Grocery stores and other businesses use its AI robots to better anticipate "which products to buy, in what quantities, and where to best allocate space for the inventory in stores and warehouses."
Relex CEO Mikko Kärkkäinen in a recent interview stated that global supply chain disturbances were one of the main reasons for conducting the round.
"Over the previous two years, I have discovered many companies’ vulnerabilities in their supply and value chains,” he commented.
In a LinkedIn post, Ladd wrote: “Mikko deserves to be recognised for his leadership.”
“A competitor of RELEX, Solvoyo, continues to disappoint me with their lack of desire to raise capital, invest in their technology, and make acquisitions, like Throughput.ai, to accelerate their growth.”
He concluded: “As DashMart grows, I anticipate that DoorDash will come to the conclusion that instead of DashMart owning and operating its own MFCs, it should partner with a company that specialises in owning and operating MFCs, and who can scale the MFCs nationwide.”
“For example, Davinci Micro Fulfilment is an ideal partner for DashMart and other retailers.”
