NASHVILLE, Tenn. & DALLAS: To honor its customers who are driving digital transformations of their supply chains, Blue Yonder recognized the most pioneering companies with the ICONic Customer Awards at the annual Blue Yonder ICON conference on May 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee.
The ICONic Customer Awards celebrate organizations that challenge the status quo, accelerate innovation, and push boundaries. The awards acknowledge the success and impact of their efforts. Blue Yonder also celebrates its customers who have gone live with their supply chain solutions during Q1 2025 and will be presenting their digital transformation stories at ICON 2025, including BJ’s Wholesale Club, Cummins, GXO Logistics, Hewlett Packard, International Paper, Medtronic, and Meijer. Blue Yonder averaged six customer go-lives per business day in Q1 2025.
“We are thrilled to honor the transformative impact this year’s winners have achieved through their innovative use of Blue Yonder solutions,” said Brittany Easley, chief customer officer, Blue Yonder. “These winners are committed to transforming their business to drive exceptional results. We are proud to collaborate with them in reaching the significant milestones that have made them winners – congratulations!”
The winners of the 2025 ICONic Customer Awards are:
- The Trendsetter: Bayer Crop Science
- This award honors a pioneering leader who has successfully leveraged Blue Yonder solutions to introduce transformative innovations, improving processes, efficiency and product quality. The winner demonstrates exceptional creativity and progress, setting new industry benchmarks and driving significant advancements in their industry.
- Why they won: Faced with complex logistical challenges, Bayer Crop Science, the world-leading agriculture enterprise company, implemented Blue Yonder’s transportation management solution and the Blue Yonder Network to enhance operational efficiency and resilience. The initiatives achieved seamless logistics integration, substantial cost savings, and improved end-to-end supply chain visibility. Bayer Crop Science’s strategic deployment across multiple regions, including a rapid rollout in APAC and EMEA, set industry benchmarks for efficiency and innovation. By fostering collaboration and data-driven decision-making, Bayer Crop Science has positioned itself as a leader in supply chain innovation, driving substantial operational and financial benefits.
- The Groundbreaker: BJ’s Wholesale Club
- This award honors a company that has leveraged Blue Yonder solutions to break new ground in their industry by challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries. The winner’s groundbreaking approach to utilizing technology sets new standards for operational efficiency and inspires transformative change.
- Why they won: After buying four cold storage distribution centers and the required private transportation fleet to insource its perishable supply chain, BJ’s Wholesale Club, a leading warehouse club operator, sought to replace the associated planning, warehousing, and transportation systems with a technology solution it could own and manage. BJ’s chose several Blue Yonder solutions, including demand planning, fulfillment, transportation management, and warehouse management, all supported by the Blue Yonder Platform, to optimize its perishables supply chain to ensure product availability and freshness. The company was able to streamline its forecasting, ordering, and logistics processes, achieving and exceeding key performance indicators.
- The Dynamic Operator: BevChain Logistics
- This award recognizes a company that demonstrates exceptional agility and adaptability in their operations by swiftly responding to market demands through the strategic use of Blue Yonder solutions. The winner has adopted dynamic strategies that drive sustained growth and competitive advantage, setting a standard for operational excellence.
- Why they won: To enhance operational efficiency and safety, BevChain Logistics, the leading provider of customized warehousing and reliable ground distribution services across Thailand and beyond, leveraged Blue Yonder’s transportation management solution. The result was improved throughput processing, workload optimization, and operational visibility while also addressing driver safety with advanced fatigue management. BevChain Logistics’ key achievements include significant reductions in manual processing time, improved financial accuracy, and enhanced data accuracy. These advancements have streamlined operations, reduced costs, and positioned BevChain Logistics for growth in the Southeast Asian market.
- The Game-Changer: DICK’s Sporting Goods
- This award celebrates the company that has best leveraged Blue Yonder solutions to drive their future business and meet the changing demands of their customers. The winner has embraced the power of technology to transform their operations, resulting in improved efficiency, customer centricity, and profitability.
- Why they won: In 2021, DICK's Sporting Goods introduced a new, experiential retail concept called House of Sport. The approximately 100,000 square foot stores provide customers with an incredible assortment of products along with in-store experiences including a climbing wall, golf bays, and multi-sport cages. To ensure these stores were properly meeting demand, DICK’s implemented Blue Yonder Category Management to enhance its space planning capabilities. This resulted in the successful addition of seven new House of Sport locations in 2024. The company plans to expand further with approximately 16 new locations in 2025.
- The Accelerator: Discount Tire
- The winner of this award has utilized Blue Yonder solutions to accelerate its transformation in order to meet the evolving needs of its business and customers. This winner exemplifies innovative thinking, sets new standards, and inspires excellence within their industry.
- Why they won: Having expanded to multiple sales channels and multi-echelon distribution, Discount Tire, a leading independent retailer of tires and wheels, needed to upgrade its technology to remain competitive. With Blue Yonder’s demand planning, replenishment, and fulfillment capabilities, Discount Tire was able to digitally transform its business, improving its 90-day purchase forecast accuracy by 600 basis points, increasing vendor fill rates by 1,000 basis points, and reducing out-of-stocks by 40%. This transformation significantly enhanced the company’s operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
- The Visionary Connector: HEINEKEN
- This award celebrates a company that excels in fostering collaboration and connectivity through seamless integration using Blue Yonder solutions. The winner’s visionary approach to connectivity demonstrates what is possible with next-generation cognitive supply chains powered by cutting-edge AI and a unified data cloud.
- Why they won: When addressing market dynamics like demand fluctuations, supply chain disruptions, and changing consumer habits, HEINEKEN, the world’s most international brewer, leverages Blue Yonder’s cognitive and AI- and ML-driven solution Demand and Supply Planning to enhance forecast accuracy and reduce forecast bias. This initiative involves integrating a unified data cloud and deploying customized ML models, allowing for substantial improvements in forecast performance, reduced write-offs, and enhanced customer service.
- The Eco-Leader: Martin Brower
- The winner of this award is leading the charge toward a more sustainable future. The winner has woven sustainability into their operations using Blue Yonder solutions to drive sustainable practices throughout their supply chain, resulting in reduced waste, improved energy efficiency, and a lower carbon footprint. Their commitment to sustainability sets a high bar for the industry and serves as an inspiration for others.
- Why they won: Martin Brower, a strategic supply chain partner to the world’s leading brands, is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 as part of its Science Based Target initiative. Utilizing Blue Yonder’s supply chain planning solutions, Martin Brower generates more accurate forecasts and optimizes inventory replenishment across distribution centers (DCs) and restaurants in multiple countries. This allows Martin Brower to effectively balance menu availability while minimizing waste, which supports its goal of zero waste in DCs, with 92% of waste diverted from landfills. Martin Brower also collaborates with customers to develop creative solutions for managing downstream waste, exemplifying their commitment to sustainable logistics and helping customers achieve their circularity goals.
- The Innovator: Micron Technology
- This award recognizes the company that has successfully leveraged Blue Yonder solutions to drive innovation and transformation in their operations. By embracing advanced technologies, the winner has enhanced supply chain efficiency, improved service delivery, and optimized logistics processes. The winner demonstrates how digital innovation can revolutionize their industry and inspire excellence across the sector.
- Why they won: Micron Technology, an industry leader in innovative memory and storage solutions, has collaborated with Blue Yonder to co-innovate AI-driven supply planning and order promising capabilities designed to optimize its supply chain processes and improve resilience and agility. By utilizing these supply planning and order promiser capabilities, along with the development of a new product planning system, Micron enabled improved time to market and inventory management. As a result, Micron achieved a 30-point improvement in customer rankings for supply chain performance and a 15-point increase in efficiently managing customer requests, demonstrating its commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction.
- The Trailblazer: Penske Logistics
- This award recognizes a forward-thinking organization that is blazing a trail of innovation by harnessing the latest Blue Yonder solutions and cloud technologies. It celebrates pioneers who not only optimize operations with Blue Yonder solutions but also set a benchmark for industry-wide collaboration, inspiring others to embrace a unified vision for success.
- Why they won: Looking to address challenges like gate bottlenecks, limited trailer visibility, and manual process inefficiencies, Penske Logistics, a leading provider of innovative supply chain and logistics solutions, deployed Blue Yonder Yard Management to automate and standardize processes, reduce human intervention, and lower operational costs. The initiative eliminated manual trailer entries, reduced quality issues, and improved compliance with real-time data capture. An enhanced warehouse management and yard management integration allowed Penske to increase data accuracy and reduce administrative workload. Penske further anticipates a measurable drop in detention charges and improved gate efficiency, strengthening its position as a logistics technology leader.
- Top Advocate: Chris Lafaire, chief information officer, Arcadia Cold
- This award recognizes an individual for their exceptional dedication and unwavering commitment to advocating for our customers. They consistently go above and beyond to provide references and success stories, building meaningful relationships that make a lasting impact. Through their expertise and passion for advocacy, they have set a shining example and truly enriched the customer experience.
- Why he won: Lafaire demonstrates exceptional leadership and has positively engaged with Blue Yonder and its customers. This includes providing guidance to his industry peers, collaborating with Blue Yonder to pilot new capabilities, and advocating for the benefits of digital supply chain transformation using Blue Yonder’s solutions.
Additional Resources:
- Blue Yonder proudly highlights the achievements of its customers by showcasing their digital transformation journeys through compelling stories. Learn how Blue Yonder’s customers are successfully navigating supply chain complexity and uncertainty here.
About Blue Yonder
Blue Yonder is the world leader in end-to-end digital supply chain transformation. With a unified, AI-driven platform and multi-tier network, Blue Yonder empowers businesses to operate sustainably, scale profitably, and delight their customers — all at machine speed. Blue Yonder’s modern supply chain innovations and unmatched industry expertise help more than 3,000 retailers, manufacturers, and logistics service providers to confidently navigate supply chain complexity and disruption. blueyonder.com
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Fonte: Business Wire
