JapanFood and restaurants2025 – ongoingNichirei Ice
AI optimisation of packaged-ice supply chain plans
Hitachi reported about 70% less planning work at Nichirei Ice
Problem
Seasonal demand complicated packaged-ice supply planning. Staff had to reconcile production capacity with inventory and transport requirements.
Approach
Nichirei Ice began operating Hitachi's Lumada planning optimisation service. The system jointly planned production, transport and inventory using mathematical optimisation. Staff prepared inputs and checked or adjusted the generated plans.
Results
Takeaway
The time comparison included input preparation and output checks. It excluded waiting while the AI ran, so the reduction described staff work rather than elapsed processing time.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Food and restaurants
- Business function
- Logistics and supply chain
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Optimization
- Adoption
- Vendor solution
- Evidence
- Vendor case study
Sources
Source summaries
Hitachi announced operational use of its planning system at Nichirei Ice. It reported about 70% less planning work and explained which activities the comparison included.
Full details are in the original sources.
