**US:** Palantir leverages military-grade AI to create digital twins that optimise operations for Wendy’s and Walgreens, cutting inventory costs, improving supply chain responsiveness, and increasing efficiency across thousands of stores with real-time data integration and AI-driven workflows.
Artificial intelligence company Palantir Technologies is leveraging its expertise in military intelligence to transform operations for major retail clients, including Wendy’s and Walgreens, by employing AI-powered digital twins to optimise supply chain and operational efficiency.
Palantir’s approach involves creating digital twins—virtual replicas of clients’ entire operations—through a semantic layer that integrates disparate data sources into a single, unified dashboard. This technology provides real-time visibility and AI-driven decision-making capabilities, allowing companies to better manage complex workflows and supply networks.
Anita Beveridge-Raffo, Palantir’s lead deployment strategist, explained in an interview with PYMNTS that the company has adapted its government-grade data integration and analytics methods for the commercial sector. Palantir aims to support two primary AI objectives in retail: personalising the customer experience to drive revenue and automating processes to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Beveridge-Raffo noted, “AI has unlocked not only personalisation capabilities but also automation capabilities. You can look at processes that are cumbersome, that cross multiple different sources of data and systems, and you can use AI agents or agentic workflows within our platform to streamline those processes.”
This context aligns with findings from the PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Getting to Know You: How AI Is Shaping the Future of Shopping,” which highlights increasing consumer demand for AI-assisted shopping experiences. The report found that more than half of consumers want at least one AI-enabled shopping feature, with higher demand among those earning over $100,000 annually.
A Case Study from Wendy’s: Resolving a Syrup Shortage Efficiently
Wendy’s faced typical supply chain challenges associated with the foodservice industry’s reliance on high inventory buffers to manage disruptions. Pete Suerken, CEO of Wendy’s Quality Supply Chain Coop (QSCC), shared at Palantir’s customer conference that Wendy’s carried approximately $370 million in inventory across its North American restaurants to maintain consistent menu offerings, including the popular $9 combo meal, an approach becoming increasingly unsustainable due to rising labour and storage costs.
Previously dependent on fragmented, Excel-based systems, Wendy’s supply chain response was labour-intensive and slow. The company utilised Palantir’s digital twin to oversee its vast supply network, tracking over 3,500 transportation assets, including trucks, railcars, ships, and barges, connected to 60 partners, 250 shipping points, 34 distribution centres, and 6,450 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada.
The digital twin enabled real-time alerts on potential stock issues, facilitating proactive adjustments such as rerouting or rescheduling deliveries. A notable instance involved Wendy’s syrup supply for its Frosty desserts. The system detected excessive demand at an Oregon distribution centre despite network-wide syrup inventory levels. Palantir’s platform recommended reducing shipments to stores with sufficient stock and uncovered a broader shortage of 10,200 syrup cases across the network.
The AI system analysed supplier data, identifying 8,300 cases available at other locations and calculated an immediate order requirement of 3,500 cases to prevent disruption, alongside identifying stores that could absorb demand increases. Suerken noted the immense efficiency gain: “It took Wendy’s five minutes to manage the syrup supply issue. A year ago, it would have taken 15 people a full day—calling stores, talking to distribution centres—to do the same thing.”
Walgreens’ Use of AI for Operational Modernisation
Walgreens, with over 8,500 stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico and a workforce of 220,000 employees serving roughly nine million customers daily, sought to modernise both customer and employee experiences through improved data integration and process optimisation, according to Jeff Hoffman, vice president of product management for Walgreens’ pharmacy and healthcare businesses, as presented at Palantir’s customer conference.
Facing challenges due to segregated data systems, Walgreens struggled with real-time operational decision-making. Hoffman stated, “In essence, these limitations have prevented us from maximising the full network effects of our pharmacy business end-to-end across the enterprise.”
Palantir developed a digital twin of Walgreens’ operations in under 45 days, integrating the company’s vast data, models, and transactional systems. The AI-powered system provided real-time insights allowing intelligent workload routing and dynamic decision-making focused on ensuring tasks are completed efficiently: “We always wanted to make sure that the right work was being completed in the right location by the right individual at the right time,” Hoffman said, emphasizing differentiation between pharmacists’ and pharmacy technicians’ roles.
Starting with a pilot in 10 stores over six months, Walgreens scaled the system to 4,000 stores within eight months. Tracking pharmacy task inflow and outflow in 15-minute increments enabled routing tasks to centralised staff as needed, supplementing in-store work. This led to a reported 30% reduction in time spent on certain tasks. Hoffman remarked, “We are still very early in the journey, but this has proven to be impactful relatively quickly and truly allows us to understand all the working components of our business simultaneously with greater intelligence.”
Palantir’s AI-powered digital twin solutions continue to reshape operational capabilities for large retailers by integrating fragmented data systems and enabling more efficient, AI-driven decision-making processes.
Source: Noah Wire Services
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