o9 Solutions: How Google & HPE Master Supply Chain Agility

In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, traditional functional optimisation is not enough for manufacturers. 

When things are highly interconnected, improvements in one department can create problems in another. 

o9 Solutions’ Executive Chairman, Co-Founder and CEO Chakri Gottemukkala has introduced the APEX operating model: agile, adaptive and autonomous planning and execution.

APEX is powered by neuro-symbolic AI that combines large language models with structured reasoning. 

Manufacturing supply chain leaders from companies including Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Apollo Tyres and Silicon Labs are addressing critical challenges using the o9 platform and driving continuous improvements. 

Chakri explains: “When LLMs emerged, we immediately saw their strengths and weaknesses in an enterprise decision-making context. 

“Given our AI roots, we were laser-focused on connecting them to the Enterprise Knowledge Graph to solve the toughest challenges in driving operational value.”

Google’s agility supply chain value

Google Networking Operations has achieved ROI by codifying decision logic, o9 says. 

It has embedded agility across the supply chain that supports its critical global data centre infrastructure. 

Supriya Iyer, Director of Networking SC & Operations at Google, told o9: “We achieved double-digit improvements in order-to-delivery performance. 

“Delivery in full, on time improved by double digits in the first year. It then improved by another 10% the following year.”

Previously, Google’s responsiveness relied on what she called “heroics”, but the team decided to engineer agility into the operating model using the o9 platform. 

HPE’s Centre of Excellence

HPE saved millions of dollars in avoided external development costs by committing to continuous improvement and created a Centre of Excellence (CoE) behind a planning transformation, o9 says. 

The CoE was designed as a business-owned capability responsible for governance, prioritisation, configuration, onboarding and continuous enhancement of the o9 platform. 

Brian Louis, Senior Director of Digital Transformation and Analytics at HPE, told o9 that the goal was to create “an engine that could continuously improve the system, grow adoption, and keep proving value”. 

The CoE helped the organisation move from expected value to realised value. 

This included introducing monthly tracking of KPIs and verified benefits to ensure impact is measurable and sustained. 

Silicon Labs’ self-service planning model

Using o9, Silicon Labs now operates with automated supply plans, monthly executive versions, daily refreshes and scenario simulations. 

The company designs chips and outsources manufacturing across wafer fabrication, assembly and testing partners. 

Its self-service model helped to establish a single source of truth and improve data quality at the source. 

This helped to improve performance, increasing batch runtime by more than 15%, o9 says. 

It also embedded quality controls and introduced structured prioritisation, evaluating requests based on business value and impact, urgency and available resources. 

Chakri says:  “With o9’s breakthrough Neuro-Symbolic AI technology to power the APEX Model, enterprises can now learn systematically from post-game analysis, improve faster across functions, deploy new capabilities at the pace of the market and continuously evolve their operations. 

“Our clients see APEX as a strategic differentiator for their businesses in the coming years.”