Cargo Chat: Leveraging AI to maximize cargo solutions

Supply chain solutions company Kinaxis is using AI to leverage data collection for a more informed shipping process. The Ottawa, Ontario-based company recently launched Maestro , an AI-driven visibility tool that shares real-time data with customers at any point during the shipping process. [caption id="attachment_57136066" align="alignright" width="273"] (Photo/Can Stock)[/caption] With the advancement of AI technologies , Kinaxis is looking beyond AI’s generative capabilities to see how it can add a more holistic approach to supply chain optimization. “We've been working on a lot of advancements around predictive AI,” Andrew Bell , chief product officer at Kinaxis, told Air Cargo Next . “So , whether that be used for forecasting demand, or also something we call self-healing supply chain, which is around forecasting master data elements , [we can] use decision intelligence and workflow automation to automate decisions.” In addition to optimizing AI workflows, Bell discussed with Air Cargo Next how to responsibly integrate AI solutions into the supply chain. What follows is an edited version of that conversation. Air Cargo Next : How can AI be st be leveraged in the supply chain? Andrew Bell : AI is not just generative AI, though that's obviously very topical right now. And generative AI certainly has a place to expedite the way users can get value from [AI-driven] platforms. But AI is more than that. There's predictive AI , there's automation , and then even traditional analytics like optimization all have a place. So , the question is, how do you fuse those things together to create the best possible end-to-end orchestration of the supply chain as you can? That's our vision and our mission. Air Cargo Next : Kinaxis recently integrated its latest platform, Maestro, as an end-to-end visibility and data-sharing tool. How does this platform adjust to each client’s goals? AB : We've got all these different components and solutions , and we need to make sure that, while we've built them to be harmoniously integrated, … they're really unified and that the customer experience and the user experience is one unified platform. So , we said to our teams, we cannot create a massive migration, or a disruptive upgrade to move from whatever they're using today to Maestro and so that's true. Our customers today, for all intents and purposes, they're using Maestro, and as they upgrade to new versions, what the question then becomes is, what additional capability do they now want as they're using Maestro? It may be that they want to add demand sensing, or want to add transportation management, or maybe they [are requesting ] another component that's already been built to be interoperable and unified. It's a question of what parts they are using, and how can they now move forward and add on to their solution footprint more easily? Air Cargo Next : How can AI platforms help fill gaps in the supply chain? AB : There's sort of two dimensions. So, No. 1, there is so much data that's available to make better decisions, whether that is using external data to inform a better forecast or whether that's improving your master data. But the problem is that it's too much data for humans to consume and create actual valuable insights. So , one of the big things that [our technology] does and that AI does is harmonize that data in one place with that end-to-end view, and then use AI to create better insights and make better decisions. The second thing that it allows for is ... faster decision-making, where the human creative experience isn't relevant. So , there's a lot of decisions that get made on a daily basis that humans are making, and people are making them by pulling data together, looking at a chart, making the decision following a process. Air Cargo Next : How can supply chain operators leverage AI responsibly ? AB : What we would assert is that there are a few prerequisites for leveraging AI. One of them is data, and having the right data, so that your AI is properly informed . The other though, we would say, is concurrency, because if you're still operating your supply chain in silos where each silo is making decisions independently , then yes, you're going to make those decisions faster, but we know from experience that a lot of those decisions are actually counterproductive to the end goal, which is getting the product to the customer. And so, I think that's an important thing. Without those foundations, you're just going to make bad decisions faster.

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