Econews

An app based on an artificial intelligence system to reduce food waste

The innovation comes from the hands of IDA, an emerging French startup, which wants to change the way supermarkets manage their inventory, reducing the rate of waste, as well as economic losses. IDA offers through its artificial intelligence (AI) app to optimize orders of fresh products such as fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, and fish.

In general, supermarkets place orders according to estimates made by the managers of each area, based on experience or past purchasing patterns, without considering possible variables that may alter these trends, resulting in an unreliable process.

IDA offers a tablet app that is connected to a sales forecasting algorithm, so that employees have a guide for ordering fresh produce. In its initial phase it covers fruits and vegetables but plans to expand to meat and fish.

Using a probability-based inventory approach, the app considers real-life scenarios, such as sorting errors at the checkout, in addition to analyzing over a hundred variables, from the last 3 years of sales, it takes into account factors such as weather, seasonality and special offers among others, all of this data allows stores to place orders and set up a backup stock to avoid running out of specific items.

According to the startup, 70-75% of Ida's suggestions are accurate and require no manual changes. The tool not only promises to reduce food waste, but also to improve supermarkets' profitability.

IDA is an addition to projects that use sensors to contribute to a significant reduction in the environmental impact of supermarkets.

Although it is in its early stages, it has raised $2.9 million in a seed funding round, and the implementation of IDA can certainly change the way stores shop and combat fruit and other food waste. For more information visit https://www.ai-ida.com/ 

19 de Diciembre, 2023