Blue Ridge Launches Blu, the First GenAI Forecasting Companion Built for Supply Chain Planning Teams
Blue Ridge Launches Blu, the First GenAI Forecasting Companion Built for Supply Chain Planning Teams
AI innovation delivers transparency, speed, and confidence to help planners, buyers and supply chain executives act faster, without guesswork.
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blue Ridge, the leader in supply chain planning software for distributors, manufacturers and retailers, today unveiled Blu, a first-of-its-kind GenAI Forecasting Companion designed to make forecasting explainable, accessible, and actionable.
“Forecasting is no longer a black box,” said Ken Carpenter, Chief Product Officer at Blue Ridge. “With Blu, our customers can have a real-time conversation with their data."
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Built exclusively for supply chain use cases, Blu is engineered to accompany the Planner and provide a conduit to converse with their forecast data and process. It exposes and explains “the why” behind the numbers, and guides better, faster decisions, to empower buyers and planners.
“We didn’t want to build just another AI tool, we wanted to build a partner for supply chain teams,” said Kyle Pexton, CEO of Blue Ridge. “Blu is like having a supply chain analyst in your back pocket. You ask; it answers. You act; it adapts. It’s a huge leap toward supply chain planning that’s not only smart, but understandable.”
Why Blu? GenAI + Explainability in Supply Chain Forecasting
Blu, the GenAI Forecasting Companion, changes the game by combining the power of GenAI with domain-specific intelligence. It enables planners, buyers, executives, and operations leaders to:
- Understand model selections, seasonality detection, and confidence levels
- Identify high-risk, high-impact forecasts before they affect service or cost
- Accelerate new planner onboarding with context-aware guidance
- Explore anomalies through natural language Q&A
“Forecasting is no longer a black box,” said Ken Carpenter, Chief Product Officer at Blue Ridge. “With Blu, our customers can have a real-time conversation with their data. Whether you’re a planner trying to understand a forecast shift or a CFO concerned with understanding revenue and cash flow impacts, Blu gives you the clarity and context to move with speed and confidence.”
Designed for the Entire Supply Chain Organization
For Planners and Buyers
Blu surfaces the output of the Machine Learning powering the forecast. Making available what’s driving forecast recommendations, from trend strength to detected seasonality, so purchasing teams can take the right action at the right time.
For Operations Leaders
Blu helps operations leaders understand forecast impacts and can give recommendations on potential strategies, helping teams prioritize limited resources and reduce manual effort.
For Executives and CFOs
Blu offers plain-language visibility into forecast complexities and cleanly summarizes financial and operational implications, supporting strategic decisions without the delay of data requests or waiting on recommendations.
Many supply chain leaders see AI as critical to their future, but too often it feels like a black box, hard to trust, and even harder to explain. Blu bridges that gap by turning forecasts into clear, conversational insights that make AI practical, transparent, and trustworthy.
See Blu in Action
Blue Ridge has released a free, on-demand webinar: “Meet Blu: Your GenAI Forecasting Companion”
See how Blu answers complex forecasting questions in seconds and enables teams with a smarter, simpler way to plan. Whether you’re managing inventory, buying decisions, or bottom-line outcomes, Blu can help.
About Blue Ridge
Blue Ridge Global is the supply chain planning software leader for distributors, manufacturers and retailers. The Blue Ridge platform combines AI-driven demand forecasting, inventory optimization, and replenishment automation with our LifeLine support to help companies improve service, free working capital, and respond faster to change. Learn more at blueridgeglobal.com
