Meijer, the Midwest grocery chain, strives to stay ahead of the curve in charting the progress of artificial intelligence and material handling automation, says domain architect Randy McClary.

Meijer is a family-owned grocery chain with some 280 stores in the Midwest. Distribution operations are spread across six facilities throughout the region. The company distributes dry grocery, fresh, frozen and general merchandise.

Like every grocery retailer, Meijer must cope with huge numbers of SKUs, uncertain demand and tight margins. To do that, it’s increasingly relying on automation in its distribution centers.

Choosing from the endless technology and automation options available to distributors can be daunting. In approaching the challenge, McClary says, it’s import to distinguish between invention and innovation.

Invention signifies a “novel, noteworthy” piece of technology, whether a groundbreaking new product, strategy or software application. It’s where a concept gets tested. Innovation, by contrast, is what happens when the invention becomes absorbed into the user base and is now “the framework that inventions are built on,” McClary says. He cites the internet as an example of technology that moved from invention to innovation, to the point today where “it’s just expected.”

Artificial intelligence is currently on that path, he says, as it moves from a “passing novel concept” into the mainstream. The next “killer app,” in the form of generative AI, will eventually be considered as “infrastructure.” For now, aspects of AI “are moving so fast that we’re not ready to mainstream even the ideas,” McClary says.

In evaluating and adopting new technology in its distribution centers, Meijer is determined to stay ahead of the curve in understanding its automation needs. One way to keep current on tech developments, McClary says, is to attend industry trade shows such as Modex, where nominal competitors in the grocery business can get together and discuss technology solutions “in a very non-threatening way.”