Afresh Enhances Supply Chain Capabilities with the Launch of Afresh DC Forecasts, Partnering with Albertsons Companies as the First Customer
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Albertsons Companies and Afresh: How fresh-first innovation creates chainwide value
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 2, 2024 ~ Afresh Technologies, the world's leading fresh food technology company, has announced the launch of its latest solution for distribution centers, Afresh DC Forecasts. This new AI-powered technology is specifically designed for DC buyers and aims to revolutionize the forecasting and ordering process for fresh food supply chains.

The first customer to test and implement this new solution is Albertsons Companies, Inc., a leading food and drug retailer in the United States. They will be rolling out Afresh DC Forecasts across produce, meat, seafood, deli, and food service for 17 distribution centers. This marks Afresh's first expansion beyond grocery stores as they continue to innovate and improve the fresh food supply chain.

The launch of Afresh DC Forecasts is a significant step towards maximizing product freshness for grocers. By automating the forecasting process, this technology considers a wide range of demand drivers such as promotions, store displays, seasonal trends, and holidays. This eliminates the need for DC buyers to spend hours synthesizing multiple data sources and manually calculating forecasts.

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Matt Schwartz, CEO of Afresh Technologies, explains that their goal with this new solution is to streamline fresh insights across the supply chain. He also mentions that they worked closely with their partners at Albertsons Cos. to develop a centralized data feed that meets pressing needs at the DC level.

DC buyers are responsible for updating forecasts daily for hundreds of items. When these forecasts are inaccurate or go wrong at the DC level, it can have a ripple effect on stores. Excess supply can result in food past its peak freshness while shortages lead to empty shelves and lost sales. With Afresh DC Forecasts saving buyers time on forecasting tasks, they can focus on other critical tasks such as addressing inventory issues and planning long-term buys.

Amanda Martinez, GVP of National Replenishment and Planning at Albertsons Cos., expresses excitement about their continued partnership with Afresh Technologies. She shares that after several months of testing, the new DC solution has already increased visibility and accuracy for daily forecasts across their fresh products.

Since 2022, Albertsons Cos. has been working with Afresh to improve the in-store fresh product ordering process. This has resulted in improved inventory conditions across their stores, including Safeway, Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Vons, and ACME. In 2023, Afresh expanded its services beyond produce to include other key fresh departments at Albertsons Cos. stores such as meat, seafood, deli, and prepared foods.

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Afresh Technologies remains focused on developing AI-powered solutions for grocery store ordering and inventory management. Their team of data scientists has been studying various aspects of the industry since 2017 when they launched the first AI engine for fresh grocery. Their machine learning and AI techniques have been recognized at leading AI and data science conferences such as INFORMS.

Thanks to their ongoing research and development efforts, Afresh's core technology considers more fresh-specific data points and calculations than other solutions in the market. This makes them the leading technology for grocers to use AI in navigating shelf life, sales velocity, price elasticity, shifting display sizes, seasonality, and incoming data quality to provide fresher food that customers expect.

In conclusion, Afresh Technologies' launch of Afresh DC Forecasts is a significant step towards improving efficiency and accuracy in forecasting for distribution centers. With their partnership with Albertsons Cos., they are driving innovation in the fresh food supply chain and creating value chainwide. As they continue to expand their services beyond grocery stores and invest in research and development efforts, Afresh is set to revolutionize the way we manage fresh food supply chains.
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