Pernod Ricard Winemakers (PRW) has signed its second contract with South Australia based artificial-intelligence (AI) company Complexica, entering phase two of the winery’s supply chain optimisation.
In June 2019, PRW partnered with Complexica for an AI Foundation project to provide AI and machine learning capabilities to various supply chain and production functions within the company.
Phase one of the project had a focus on the digitisation of business processes as well as planning and scheduling optimisation within the winery, finished goods and bottling operations.
Since then, PRW has achieved its additional go-lives through the AI company’s Decision Cloud software platform within its Australian and New Zealand wineries along with PRW’s biggest winery in the Barossa.
The second phase of the project will focus on the optimisation of vintage-related activities, including harvesting and transporting grapes into wineries for intake and crushing.
PRW CEO Simon Bennett said phase one results of Complexica modules across its Australian and New Zealand wineries have presented itself as an opportunity for smarter optimisation.
“That the go live was achieved, despite the challenges of lockdowns, is a credit to the effort and effectiveness of the joint Pernod Ricard Winemakers and Complexica team. Phase two addresses the other side of the equation through the winery intake processes and I am delighted to continue the partnership with Complexica on this strategic project,” said Bennett.
PRW’s desired outcome of this project is a complete transition from paper, whiteboard and spreadsheet-based systems, incorporating Complexica’s cloud-based applications for planning, scheduling and push/pull optimisation.
Complexica CEO Matt Michalewicz said: “Supply chains that process agricultural products and transform them into finished consumer goods through multiple, complex steps are notoriously more difficult to plan, schedule, and optimise in comparison to classical, assembly-style supply chains, with major themes being the management of capacity, variability, and quality.”
Michalewicz added that the second phase is a major milestone for PWR’s end-goal of optimised decision making across the winery’s global supply chain and they look forward to working on the project.
