Panasonic El Works : JDA and Panasonic to Establish Joint Venture Company in Japan

Scottsdale, Ariz. and Osaka - April 1, 2019 -JDA Software, Inc. and Panasonic Corporation today announced an agreement between JDA Japan and Panasonic to establish a joint venture company to further promote sales of the companies' joint solutions for the manufacturing, logistics, and retail industries in Japan. Planned to start operations in October 2019 subject to governmental approval, the new company will be located in Tokyo, and will undertake customer proposals and aggressively promote sales of the companies' integrated solutions.

Deal Combines JDA Domain Expertise with Panasonic Massive Scale and Size in Japan:

JDA is the globally recognized leader of end-to-end supply chain solutions that are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities. JDA is the one and only company to have been named a leader in all five Gartner Magic Quadrants focused on supply chain and retail solutions across planning, execution and delivery, demonstrating how JDA's unmatched solutions empower customers to better predict and shape demand, transform their product delivery and deliver outstanding and seamless customer experiences. By seamlessly linking the end-to-end supply chain leveraging AI and ML technologies, JDA provides solutions for customers' factories, warehouses and retail stores which enable cognitive automation and create innovations in the supply chain. More than 4,000 of the largest retailers, manufacturers, logistics companies and distributors around the globe run integrated JDA software for supply chain planning and execution; including 75 of the world's top 100 retailers and 77 of the world's largest manufacturers. These customers are realizing optimized cost control, new value creation, improved profitability and delivery time reductions by using JDA solutions.

As part of its solutions business strategy, Panasonic is promoting its vision of 'Gemba Process Innovation.' In the supply chain field, the 'gemba' is where things are made, moved or sold - the operational frontline where value is created and problems must be confronted. By using the know-how it has cultivated over 100 years in the manufacturing industry and its sensing technologies and edge devices to address challenges at the gemba, Panasonic works closely with its customers to co-create individualized solutions and become a total solutions integrator for customers in not only the manufacturing sector, but also those in the logistics and retail fields.

Purpose of the Joint Venture:

By combining JDA's comprehensive SaaS software portfolio that span end-to-end supply chain management with Panasonic's world-class sensing technologies and edge devices, the two companies are creating new, cutting-edge solutions for businesses in the manufacturing, logistics and retails fields; and in doing so, are bringing about innovations in its customers' frontline processes. These solutions include Visual Sort Assist™ and voice-activated retail solutions that incorporate the latest innovations in virtual reality and voice response technology with best-in-class retail solutions. Additionally, warehouse managers can improve efficiency in manual package sorting and get real-time data and insights to make dynamic decisions based on actual throughput and make changes in shipping orders and personnel allocation to achieve dynamic operations.
Together, using the high global standard of JDA's leading supply chain solutions with Panasonic's expertise and edge devices, the two companies are bringing comprehensive process innovations to customers that take advantage of digital edge technologies incorporating SaaS, the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, ML, real-time sensing technologies, and advanced analytics. These include out-of-stock detection, facial recognition, and flowline analysis of human behavior, all aimed at maximizing productivity from the retail store front through to the back-end warehouse and factory floor.

By establishing the new joint venture company, the two companies aim to expand these solutions in the Japan market and help solve customers' operational challenges. Panasonic's massive salesforce size, scale and partner ecosystem in Japan will join JDA in aggressively bringing these joint solutions to more prospective customers in Japan.