Blue Yonder

In 1985, James Donald Armstrong and Frederick M. Pakis formed the US-based JDA Software, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio. After signing a contract with a Phoenix-based automotive retailer in 1987, all eight JDA employees relocated to headquarters in Arizona. After 10 years of operation as a privately held firm, JDA went public on March 15, 1996.

In 2006, JDA acquired Manugistics Group Inc., a Rockville, MD developer and provider of supply chain management solutions for over $200 million.[4][5]

On November 5, 2009, JDA announced its intent to acquire i2 Technologies, a Dallas-based provider of supply chain management software.[6] The acquisition was completed in January 2010. In June 2010, Dillard's Department Stores won a $246 million judgment against i2, claiming damages from use of two supply chain management systems. JDA announced efforts to reduce or reverse this judgment, noting Dillard's still used the software and had done so since 2000.[7] The case was settled in 2011.[8]

On November 1, 2012 it was reported that RedPraire would purchase JDA for $1.9 billion. The merged companies moved forward under the JDA Software name.[9]

On August 8, 2016, JDA was reported to be exploring its sale to Honeywell International Inc.[10] The sale was challenged on August 16, 2016 by The Blackstone Group, giving an alternative to JDA by offering a financing plan.[11]

On January 30, 2017, Girish Rishi succeeded Bal Dail as CEO.[12]

On July 2, 2018, JDA announced an agreement to acquire Blue Yonder GmbH.[13] The acquisition was completed on August 7, 2018.[14]

On February 11, 2020, JDA announced that it was renaming itself to Blue Yonder, Inc.[15] On July 23, Blue Yonder announced the acquisition of Yantriks.[16]

On April 21, 2021, Panasonic announced that it had agreed to acquire Blue Yonder.[17] The acquisition was closed on September 17, 2021.[18]

In February 2022, CEO Rishi stepped down.[19] In July 2022, Duncan Angove was announced as the new CEO.[20]

Blue Yonder’s products and services are used throughout the supply chain and logistics industries. Its over 3,000 customers cover retail, manufacturing, transportation, warehouse operations, and grocery stores. Users include 3M, 7-Eleven, Ace Hardware, and Starbucks.[21]

In 2022-2023, Gartner named Blue Yonder a Leader in three Magic Quadrant reports:[22] Supply Chain Planning Solutions,[23] Warehouse Management Systems,[24] and Transportation Management Systems.[25]

Blue Yonder is involved in partnerships with several key companies in the field. For over 20 years, it has worked with Accenture to “synchronize inventory planning and forecasting.”[26] Blue Yonder built its SaaS solutions on Microsoft Azure.[27] In March 2022, Blue Yonder’s Luminate Platform joined with the Snowflake Data Cloud to make data more accessible so that users can resolve disruptions more easily.[28]

Some awards recently won by Blue Yonder include:[29]

• Blue Yonder Named a Great Place to Work® in India for 2022-2023 (third consecutive year)[30]
• Blue Yonder Named a Great Place to Work® in Mexico for 2022-2023
• Hot Company to Watch in 2022 by Nucleus Research[31]
• Arizona’s Most Admired Companies 2023 (seventh consecutive year)[32]
• 2022 Top Software & Technology Providers by Food Logistics[33]
• 2023 FreightTech 100 Winner by FreightWaves[34]
• 2023 Top 100 Logistics IT Provider by Inbound Logstics[35]
• Blue Yonder’s WMS solution is a finalist in the annual SaaS Awards in the “Best SaaS Product for Supply Chain / Warehouse Management" category[36]
• 2022 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards[37]
• 2022 “Powered By Snowflake" Award at Snowflake's Data Drivers Awards[38]

Blue Yonder’s Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Commitments strive towards “end-to-end sustainability.”[39] Its environmental programs analyze CO2 emissions, wastage, and energy consumption throughout the entire supply chain lifecycle in an effort to reduce carbon emissions.[40] Employees can receive paid volunteer time, and in 2020, over 2,500 global volunteer hours were reported.[41] It launched an Enterprise Risk Management program to ensure compliance with these goals.

Blue Yonder has been recognized for these Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Blue Yonder's Hyderabad offices are certified LEED Gold.[42] In 2022, EcoVadis awarded it a Bronze medal for its CSR Rating.[43]