【AIbase News】The multinational coffee chain Starbucks in the United States announced today that it will fully deploy an artificial intelligence (AI) inventory management system in over 11,000 company-owned stores in North America by the end of September, aiming to further improve supply chain efficiency and customer experience.
According to Reuters, this system scans shelves using handheld tablets, automatically identifies product quantities, and immediately marks items with insufficient inventory. Deb Hall Lefevre, Starbucks' Chief Technology Officer, stated in a statement that the system can speed up restocking, ensuring popular ingredients such as cold foam, oat milk, and caramel sauce are always in stock, thereby enhancing the stability of beverage supply.
Lefevre emphasized that the new system not only improves inventory management efficiency, increasing the frequency of inventory checks by eight times, but also allows store employees to spend less time in the warehouse, focusing more on drink preparation and customer interaction. "Customers can always enjoy the beverages they want, and our team members can focus more on counter service," she added.
Starbucks said that this AI technology has already been applied in thousands of stores with significant results, and it will become an important step in the company's digital transformation and supply chain optimization in the future.