Amanda Razani speaks with Jeremiah Woodford, the chief revenue officer of Verusen, about a recent manufacturing survey conducted by the company, and what the results mean for business leaders.
Transcript Text
In this Digital CXO Leadership Insights interview, Amanda Razani speaks with Jeremiah Woodford, chief revenue officer at Verusen, about the company’s AI-driven approach to optimizing maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) inventory. Verusen’s software integrates with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise asset management (EAM) systems to analyze procurement and master data, ensuring more efficient stocking strategies. By leveraging AI, the company helps industrial organizations—including those in food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, and energy—optimize spare part inventory, reducing excess stock while ensuring critical components are available when needed.
A key focus of the discussion is Verusen’s recent survey, Future Strategies for MRO Optimization, which gathered insights from procurement, supply chain and maintenance professionals. A significant finding from the survey was that 71% of respondents believe MRO procurement should be treated as a strategic initiative rather than an afterthought. Many organizations struggle with outdated procurement strategies, relying on arbitrary stocking methods instead of data-driven decision-making. Woodford explains that AI and machine learning can address this challenge by normalizing inconsistent data sets, ensuring better inventory management. Verusen’s partnership with Georgia Tech has led to the development of a specialized large language model trained on millions of spare parts, enabling more accurate data interpretation.
Woodford highlights the growing importance of AI and automation in manufacturing and supply chain management, emphasizing that legacy systems often hinder efficiency. While most companies can benefit from AI-driven inventory optimization, some organizations still face fundamental data issues. For these cases, Verusen collaborates with consulting firms to help businesses establish proper master data catalogs before implementing AI solutions. The key takeaway from the interview is the need for alignment between procurement, supply chain, and maintenance teams to optimize inventory management. The full survey results are available on Verusen’s website for those interested in exploring the findings further.
