Lokad was created in Paris in 2008 as a software company with a strong technological and mathematical core. The goal was to bring state-of-the-art technology and science to supply chains: we were among the very early adopters of cloud computing, and today we keep the same spirit with Differentiable Programming. That led us to several generations of forecasting engine, in an endless race to improve forecasting accuracy.
While working on the R&D side we also realized how important it was to build a solution that would be directly shaped by the very real and concrete business problems of supply chains. We came to the conclusion that pure maths wouldn't manage that - however sophisticated they could be.
At the very beginning of 2014, we released Envision, a Lokad-built programming language, entirely focused on supply chain problems. It granted us the flexibility we needed to take into account the complexity and constraints of supply chain (MOQs, MOVs, Bills of Materials, …). By combining these programmatic abilities with the probabilistic perspective of our forecasting engine we were able to give a precise answer to supply chain issues: one centered about ROI, leading to prioritization of actions with a complete overview of the whole supply chain in mind.
By following this path, for years Lokad has grown an average of 50% per year. Though initially funded by love money and a couple of business angels, no investors were further involved. We are quite proud that the growth obtained so far has been organic and due to revenue generated by customers. We do our best to grow at our own pace; our clients are not to suffer from disorders generated by our own growth.
Applying incorrect recipes to a domain as complex and unforgiving as supply chains does not make them better, but worse. At Lokad, we strive for science while fighting against scientism. Reality tells whether a supply chain decision is good or bad. Unintended effects matter. Scale matters. IT landscape matters. Performance is about getting the economic trade-offs right. Our technology is forever in flux, progressing as our own understanding of the problem progresses.
Passionate about supply chain optimization, software engineering and statistical learning, graduate from the Ecole normale supérieure of Paris (and formerly teaching software engineering at the same university).
Graduate from the Ecole normale supérieure of Paris. Estelle handles the financial and administrative side of the company, as well as human resources and legal.
Graduate from the Ecole Polytechnique and Cambridge University. Previously Senior with a focus on process analysis at the Financial Advisory Department of Mazars.
Graduate from the Ecole normale supérieure of Paris with a specialty in programming language design and compiler implementation. Victor was previously founder and CTO at Runorg.
Graduate of the Ecole des Arts et Métiers (ENSAM), Swann was previously a Partner Supply Chain Scientist at Lokad, with a very strong technical background in several industries.
Graduate of the University of Cologne (CEMS MSc in Supply Chain). Before joining Lokad, Fabian held analyst roles in banking and several start-ups.
Graduate of the National University of Ireland (B.Phil. and M.Phil.). Former professor at Tsinghua University and the National University of Ireland; currently Professor of Rhetoric at Sciences Po Paris.
Check out our latest episodes on LokadTV, interviews or blog posts.
Supply Chain Science
Joannes Vermorel argues that supply chain education should begin with economic choice under uncertainty, not forecasting and planning frameworks — shifting the practitioner from plan administrator to decision architect.
Supply Chain Science
Joannes Vermorel explains why ABC-style segmentation cripples modern supply chains and shows how to replace rigid buckets with dollar-ranked decisions under uncertainty.
Supply Chain Science
Joannes Vermorel explains why spreadsheets, though useful for local analysis, become an operating liability at scale — and what an explicit, versioned, automated decision system should replace them.