Panasonic buys 20% of supply chain software firm Blue Yonder
Panasonic has acquired a 20% stake in Blue Yonder (formerly JDA Software) in an investment to deepen their existing strategic partnership.
The expanded partnership between Panasonic and Blue Yonder will accelerate the promise of the Autonomous Supply Chain. Harnessing the edge via the Internet of Things (IoT), Blue Yonder’s platform utilizes machine learning to drive faster, more context-aware business decisions — all to deliver autonomous outcomes.
At the core of Blue Yonder’s solutions is its end-to-end Luminate Platform, which delivers seamless digital fulfillment experiences through AI-powered supply/demand planning and execution orchestration.
Blue Yonder and Panasonic will combine resources and work closely with partner companies in Japan to fuel growth by selling Blue Yonder’s Luminate solutions and bringing forth new, jointly-developed solutions on the Blue Yonder Luminate Platform that enhance customers’ capabilities for supply and demand forecasting, inventory and labor optimization, and streamlining business operations.
“Modern day supply chains face a number of challenges including rapidly shifting demand, hyper-personalization of consumer needs, labor shortages and operational inefficiencies, so by further developing our relationship with supply chain software specialists Blue Yonder, I believe we will be able to make larger, more transformative contributions to a greater number of customers,” stated Yasu Higuchi, Representative Director of Panasonic Corporation and CEO of Panasonic’s Connected Solutions Company.
“In order to do so, we aim to gain a deeper understanding of Blue Yonder’s advanced global solutions and business model so that we can augment and further elevate our own solutions capability. Through this collaboration, we aim to become a global leading provider of frontline process innovation.”
“I am excited about this collaboration to realize our joint vision for digital supply chain — where Blue Yonder’s platform synchronizes with Panasonic’s edge offerings to deliver more autonomous, successful business outcomes for retailers, manufacturers and logistics providers,” said Girish Rishi, CEO of Blue Yonder. “We look forward to working within our Joint Venture in Japan to deliver tremendous customer value.”
The investment via a secondary sale of shares values Blue Yonder at an enterprise value of $5.5 billion. Panasonic will have a 20% minority ownership stake while New Mountain Capital and funds managed by Blackstone continue to be majority shareholders.
