CAY HILL--Forbes has highlighted CC1 St. Maarten as an example of how artificial intelligence and smarter technology are no longer tools reserved only for large multinational companies, pointing to significant improvements the local beverage distributor has achieved in managing its inventory and keeping products available for customers.
In an August 11 article titledAI Is Not Just For The Big Boys, Forbes contributor Steve Banker used CC1 St. Maarten as the central example of how a mid-sized company can use modern technology in a practical way without building an expensive in-house technology operation.
The results reported by Forbes are significant. After eight months of using an inventory-planning system from Netstock, CC1 had reduced its overall inventory by 20%, cut excess stock by 10%, increased the rate at which inventory moves through the business by about 20%, and reduced instances of running out of products by 50%. Forbes also reported that the employees responsible for planning inventory were between 20% and 30% more productive.
In simpler terms, CC1 is holding less unnecessary stock in its warehouse while doing a better job of making sure the products customers actually want are available.
That is particularly important for a St. Maarten distributor that depends heavily on imported goods. Forbes reported that CC1 St. Maarten works with approximately 200 suppliers, mainly throughout the Caribbean, and manages about 1,200 different products. The company distributes a wide range of beverages, including Coca-Cola products, coffee, beer and spirits.
Managing that volume of products requires the company to constantly decide how much to order, when to order it and how much stock should remain on hand. Order too much and money is tied up in products sitting in a warehouse. Order too little and customers encounter empty shelves or unavailable items.
CC1 had previously relied heavily on spreadsheets and the knowledge of its supply-chain team to make many of those decisions. The move to Netstock gave the company a system that could analyse sales and inventory information and identify potential shortages, excess stock and other issues much faster.
Jared Ramkellowan, CC1 St. Maarten’s supply chain and IT manager, told Forbes that the company did not adopt the system simply because artificial intelligence had become popular.
“AI is a tool that allows us to move faster and get better,” Ramkellowan said, while stressing that “decision accountability stays with the people.”
That distinction is an important part of the Forbes feature.
The technology does not simply take over the company’s purchasing decisions. Instead, it analyses the available information, identifies possible problems and makes recommendations. Employees can then examine those recommendations and decide whether they make sense based on circumstances the computer may not fully understand, such as an upcoming promotion, a special event or other market conditions.
According to Forbes, CC1 initially compared the system’s recommendations with its existing spreadsheet-based planning. When the two produced different answers, employees examined why. That allowed the company to gradually build confidence in the new system rather than simply accepting whatever the technology produced.
The technology has also given different departments access to the same information. Rather than sales, purchasing and management relying on separate spreadsheets or having to ask different employees for updates, information on inventory and demand can be viewed in one place.
Netstock, in its own case study on CC1 St. Maarten, similarly reported major reductions in stock levels and shortages, saying the system had improved visibility between purchasing, sales, operations and management and reduced the company’s dependence on manual spreadsheets.
For the customer, the practical benefit is straightforward: fewer occasions when a requested product is unavailable.
For the company, it means less money being tied up in products that are not moving quickly, better information when deciding what to purchase and more time for employees to focus on planning rather than repeatedly compiling spreadsheets and reports.
The Forbes feature also places a St. Maarten-based operation in a wider discussion about how smaller and mid-sized businesses can make practical use of artificial intelligence.
Rather than presenting AI as futuristic technology designed mainly for major corporations, Forbes pointed to CC1 as evidence that the technology can already be used for everyday business problems such as determining what products to order, preventing shortages and reducing waste.
CC1’s experience also demonstrates that adopting AI does not necessarily mean replacing employees with technology. In this case, the system is being used to give employees better information and help them make decisions faster, while the final judgment remains with the people managing the business.
For St. Maarten, the feature offers a rare local example of artificial intelligence being applied not as a concept or experiment, but as part of the day-to-day operation of a company with measurable results.
