AI has been transforming functions across the supply chain.
Seaports are exploring AI to plan complex movements from water to land, warehouses are flying AI-powered drones to reduce backorders and boost worker satisfaction, and logistics companies are using AI’s predictive capabilities to alleviate the headaches of last-mile deliveries.
We asked eight supply chain management leaders who oversee manufacturing, technology, logistics, and sustainability, and more, to share what has impressed and surprised them most about AI in their fields.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Their favorite use of AI
Courtesy of J-Ann Tio Toles
J-Ann Tio Toles, chief strategy officer at Arrive Logistics:
“The one that still excites me is simple in concept and was very hard to execute before AI: we take whatever a customer sends us, in whatever format and through whatever channel they prefer, and turn it into something our systems can act on.”
“Email tenders build straight into our platform. A bid arrives however the customer built it, and AI reshapes it so our pricing platforms can act on it directly. Work that took hours takes minutes; work that took minutes takes seconds. And no customer had to change a thing.”
Courtesy of Matt Yearling
Matt Yearling, CEO at YMX Logistics:
“For a large grocery retailer, we recently leveraged our AI-powered gate automation services to help them investigate a potential cargo theft case.”
“With computer vision at the gate, they had indisputable video footage of the carrier and driver, which meant they could make a claim to recover $60,000. That’s the kind of thing companies used to have to write off.”
What surprised them about workers’ attitudes toward AI
Courtesy of Mantej Singh Randhawa
Mantej Singh Randhawa, global growth leader of supply chain at Genpact:
“A lack of shared understanding around what it actually means in practice. You can ask 10 supply chain employees to define agentic AI and get 10 different answers.”
Toles:
“The resistance I expected never materialized. Digital transformation isn’t foreign to supply chain or the third-party logistics sector, so the adoption curve here started further along than it did in the app era — the conversation skipped past ‘should we’ much faster than I anticipated.”
“There is also a new wave of talent coming into our space. We hire nearly 1,000 collegiate professionals each year, and this incoming class spent their entire college experience using AI tools. That makes them early adopters of whatever we roll out, but the more valuable part is that they ask us questions. That’s pressure I welcome.”
Where they find AI is making a meaningful difference
Courtesy of Ben Massie
Ben Massie, vice president of global supply chain, servers, and storage at Lenovo:
“Planning and decision support are among the most advanced areas. What impresses me is both the speed and the breadth of information AI can consider at once.”
“Take a tariff change. You need to understand where a product can be manufactured, available capacity, logistics costs, lead times, and compliance requirements, and how changing one part of the network affects everything else. With iChain — Lenovo’s AI-powered supply chain platform — analysis that would historically take weeks can now happen in hours.”
Courtesy of Chap Achen
Chap Achen, senior director analyst at Gartner Supply Chain Practice:
“The clear early winner is demand forecasting and planning, with 82% of retailers surveyed by Gartner having implemented or currently implementing AI solutions in this area. Retailers are using AI to get a better read on what customers will want, where and when, so they can make smarter inventory and replenishment decisions.”
How AI is influencing sustainability
Courtesy of Saskia van Gendt
Saskia van Gendt, chief sustainability officer at Blue Yonder:
“We’re working closely with our customers’ sustainability leaders. These leaders are optimistic that AI will have a net benefit by making supply chains more efficient, improving manufacturing operations, generating more accurate inventory plans, and in areas like recycling and material innovation.”
“At the same time, sustainability leaders are considering the growing footprint of data centers, which require vast amounts of energy and water.”
The big AI transformations coming next
Courtesy of Bob Loycano
Bob Loycano, vice president of supply chain at FDH Aero:
“I’m excited to explore AI’s ability to source products to the appropriate manufacturers, then, taking the next step, sending out a request for quote to the supplier without human oversight.”
“If AI can successfully do all of that, it is not much of a leap to expect AI to evaluate the responses and suggest the best option. I will, however, stop short of allowing AI to place the purchase order without a human approving it.”
Courtesy of Monique Murfield
Monique Murfield, director of the Center for Supply Chain Excellence and associate professor of supply chain and operations management at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business:
“I am excited for companies to incorporate AI into reverse logistics for a more circular supply chain approach.”
“Reverse logistics does not have the clean data that AI systems in forward fulfillment or warehouse operations may have, and decisions about what to do with returned products (refurbish, resell, recycle, scrap) are complex and nuanced, often involving human judgment. AI could be used to match these product flows with appropriate buyers in the secondary markets.”
