**London**: Two ex-Tesla supply chain managers have introduced Atomic, an AI-driven platform designed to optimise inventory and demand planning, backed by $3m in seed funding from notable Tesla alumnus Jon McNeill and venture capital firms.
Two former Tesla supply chain managers have launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) firm aiming to enhance inventory and demand planning for businesses. Neal Suidan, Tesla’s former Senior Manager of Global Demand Planning, and Michael Rossiter, who served as Director of Sales Operations and Senior Manager of Business Planning, officially announced their AI platform, Atomic, on Tuesday.
Atomic is designed to improve supply planning efficiency by leveraging AI to better balance the complexities of inventory management. Alongside the platform’s introduction, the company revealed a $3 million seed funding round. This round was spearheaded by DVx Ventures, a capital fund managed by Jon McNeill, former President of Tesla, and the venture capital firm Madrona.
In a LinkedIn post, Suidan articulated the motivation behind Atomic, stating: “Planners are the unsung heroes of consumer brands, holding together supply chains through spreadsheets and sheer force of will. But they deserve better tools. We built Atomic to be the inventory planning system we always wished we had.” This reflects the founders’ first-hand experience with the challenges faced in supply chain operations at Tesla.
McNeill, who worked alongside both Suidan and Rossiter during his tenure at Tesla, expressed to TechCrunch the critical nature of managing supply and demand dynamics. He emphasised how crucial it is for businesses to avoid either excess inventory that ties up capital or insufficient stock that leads to missed sales opportunities. “If you have too much capital tied up in inventory, you could really harm the business. And if you have too little, where you don’t have the right things in stock when the customer is ready to purchase, then you’re costing yourself big time,” McNeill said.
The team behind Atomic highlighted the software’s capability to simulate supply chain scenarios using real-time data, allowing businesses to anticipate and adjust to inventory needs dynamically. Reports indicate that early customers using Atomic’s AI-driven system have reduced inventory costs by between 20 and 50 percent.
Suidan spent nearly six years at Tesla, while Rossiter’s tenure lasted approximately two years, both closely collaborating with McNeill. McNeill also reflected on the development of Atomic’s foundational technology during Tesla’s critical period in ramping up Model 3 production in 2018. At that time, Tesla was attempting to increase Model 3 manufacturing from 20,000 to 100,000 cars per quarter but struggled with legacy supply chain systems and heavy reliance on spreadsheets.
In a LinkedIn post, McNeill recounted the situation: “Back in 2018, we had a big problem at Tesla. We needed to scale Model 3 production from 20k to 100k cars per quarter. But the existing supply chain systems simply couldn’t handle this growth. With only a month of cash left, we had to keep the cars moving.” He elaborated on how Suidan and Rossiter created a novel planning system that could simulate and track individual vehicles through the supply chain, drastically reducing Tesla’s inventory days from 75 to 15 and unlocking billions in working capital.
Building upon these innovations, the founders and McNeill recognised the broader applicability of this system. McNeill concluded, “Fast forward 7 years and it occurred to us that thousands of companies can use this. They are now bringing that framework to customers with Atomic.”
Atomic joins a growing trend of companies founded by former Tesla personnel tackling various sectors in technology and energy. Recent examples include Drew Baglino, former Senior Vice President at Tesla, who launched Heron Power, a grid hardware enterprise, and co-founder JB Straubel, who established Redwood Materials, focusing on battery recycling.
The Teslarati reports that Atomic’s AI platform is positioned as a significant advancement for supply chain managers, offering enhanced agility and precision in demand and inventory planning for a wide range of consumer businesses.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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