Smart & Final Upgrades Warehouse Management Capabilities
Smart & Final is upgrading its warehouse management system to increase efficiencies for suppliers and ecosystem of distribution centers.
The company is implementing the Symphony RetailAI Vendor Portal and upgrading to the latest version of Symphony RetailAI Warehouse Management System (WMS). The retailer says it wanted to update its IT infrastructure to reduce impacts to the flow of information and products to its distribution centers. To do this, it upgraded its Symphony RetailAI WMS solution to the latest version throughout six key distribution centers, which will lead to significant optimization of its warehouse processes.
“This project was a complicated undertaking,” said Vishal Kumar, Group VP of IT, Smart & Final. “However, the execution was very strong, limiting business interruption and delivering a really solid product to our distribution centers.”
Also, by implementing Symphony RetailAI Vendor Portal, Smart & Final hopes to achieve enhanced data and process collaboration for retailer and trade partners’ products, purchasing, distribution, inventory assortments, promotions and forecasts while gaining a single view of all this activity 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,” said Raju Keertipati, VP, product management and analytics platform, Smart & Final. “The flawless execution builds a lot of confidence for the next distribution centers on the list.”
In October, Smart & Final implemented Logile Inc.'s store-planning and workforce management technology solutions in all of its stores. According to Logile, these solutions enable retailers to understand true labor costs and impacts, improve labor use, and achieve unparalleled operational optimization and visibility.
Logile's software supports compliance with regulatory requirements, including predictive scheduling, which applies to several Smart & Final market areas.
Commerce, California-based Smart & Final operates 256 locations, including larger-format stores under the Smart & Final Extra! banner that combine a warehouse-store format with traditional grocery offerings. All of the chain’s stores sell groceries and household essentials in both bulk and individual sizes without a membership fee. The company is No. 57 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's list of the top food retailers in North America.
