Blue Yonder

Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (formerly JDA Software Group) is an American supply chain management company operating as an independent subsidiary of Panasonic. Founded in 1985, the company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with offices globally. Its acquisitions have included Yantriks, RedPrairie, i2 Technologies, Manugistics, E3, Intactix, and Arthur.

History
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 for over $200 million.

On November 5, 2009, JDA announced its intent to acquire i2 Technologies, a Dallas-based provider of supply chain management software. 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. The case was settled in 2011.

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.

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

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

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

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

On April 21, 2021, Panasonic announced that it had agreed to acquire Blue Yonder. The acquisition was closed on September 17, 2021. The company operates under the umbrella of the Panasonic Connect group.

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

In March 2024, it was announced Blue Yonder had acquired the Dallas-headquartered digital supply chain network company, One Network Enterprises for $839 million.

Industry and Partnerships
Blue Yonder’s products and services are used in 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.

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

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.” Blue Yonder built its SaaS solutions on Microsoft Azure. 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.