P&G’s CIO on the Drawbacks of RPA in the AI era, and the Benefits of an ‘AI Factory’

As one of the leading consumer goods companies for the last several decades, Procter & Gamble started its AI journey years ago. And now, under Chief Information Officer Seth Cohen, the efforts are intensifying.

Notably, P&G’s new “AI Factory” is giving employees in the company access to the cross-functional data sets they need to not just adopt AI, but use it to actually deliver real-world results.

In a recent episode of the “Metis Strategy” podcast, Cohen shared the key outcomes P&G has been able to achieve since embarking on this effort to build a unified data and AI platform:

• Full product lifecycle visibility: When a consumer scans a product QR code in the Pampers Club app to get points for their purchase, P&G can trace the item across the entire value chain to surface key operational information, including where it came from or how long it took to go from the distribution center to the checkout. And if there’s a problem with the product, P&G “can quickly diagnose based on a consumer complaint,” Cohen said.
• ‍Out-of-stock inventory reduced by 15%: For those not in the retail industry, “this is huge,” Cohen said. Typically, out of stock improvements are judged by single percentage points. The big difference? P&G “freed the data up across all that value chain,” he added, including product supply, point-of-sale and retailer distribution information.