Target has unveiled a new technology play as it continues to work to improve inventory levels in stores.The retailer’s supply chain, product and engineering teams developed Proxima, an in-house digital twin of its inventory positioning system that handles getting products from regional distribution centers to stores, the company said Thursday in a post on its website.
Proxima uses the same data and logic as Target’s live inventory platform to test how decisions could play out before applying them in practice, the company said. Target said this helps teams improve product availability for guests, reduce potential disruptions across the supply chain and test and modernize complex supply chain processes with more certainty.
Target is following the lead of other retailers such as Walmart and Lowe’s who have previously used digital twins — digital replicas of stores, warehouses or even products — to predict issues, to build out new spaces or even as a marketing tool on their e-commerce platforms, Modern Retail previously reported.
It’s the latest in many moves Target has made in hopes of improving inventory availability over the past year, including hiring a new supply chain leader, opening an experimental new supply chain facility, and reevaluating which stores it uses to fulfill online orders in place of distribution centers.
