Relex Acquires Optimity to Bolster Retail and Supply Chain Platform

Relex Solutions has acquired Optimity to add new capabilities to its retail and supply chain platform.

With the acquisition of Optimity’s supply chain planning and optimization solutions, Relex will bolster its own platform with daily production planning, optimization and production scheduling capabilities, the companies said in a Wednesday (Jan. 3) press release.

This combination will enable consumer goods companies to use one platform to synchronize demand, supply, production and distribution planning, according to the release.

“The consumer goods industry is incredibly dynamic and complex,” Mikko Kärkkäinen, co-founder and group CEO at Relex, said in the release. “Acquiring Optimity will seamlessly link downstream demand with upstream planning, so consumer goods companies can more accurately predict consumer demand, optimize production plans and schedules, adjust inventory levels, and adjust quickly to market changes or unexpected disruptions.”

Optimity’s supply chain planning and optimization solution is designed for manufacturers and distributors and is used by more than 80 customers across the food and beverage and complex manufacturing industries, according to the press release.

The company’s offerings complement those of its new owner, whose unified supply chain and retail planning solutions are used across retail and consumer goods markets, the release said.

The new or expanded capabilities from Optimity include production planning, production scheduling, network balancing, distribution planning and purchase planning, per the release.

“Our depth in some of the most complex consumer goods industries like bakery, ready-made meals, protein production and industrial manufacturing complements the vast understanding of consumer demand that RELEX has, based on their impressive expertise managing more than $700 billion of demand in grocery alone,” Optimity CEO Christer Liden said in the release.

PYMNTS Intelligence has found that 66% of retailers and 59% of manufacturers believe modernizing their business processes is the most important reason to invest in digital procurement technology.

In addition, 55% of manufacturers and 54% of retailers investing in improvements to their procurement systems are also investing or planning to invest in upgrades to logistics and supply chain functions, according to “Digital Payments: Modernizing Procurement Processes,” a PYMNTS and Corcentric collaboration.

In another recent development, Relex said on Dec. 13 that it has added artificial intelligence (AI)-driven price optimization capabilities to its retail planning solutions. These new capabilities are unified with the company’s promotion planning capabilities, giving retailers a “comprehensive and unified” decision-making solution.