Inbound Logistics | July 2025

AI LAUNCHPAD

AI Tackles Tariff Volatility By ROHIT TRIPATHI , VP of Industry Strategy, Manufacturing, RELEX Today’s volatile trade environment doesn’t allow for decision lag. AI-powered supply chain planning platforms are changing how companies adapt and how quickly they can sense and respond to disruptions. These sophisticated tools can process thousands of variables simultaneously, like tariff rates, supplier lead times, country-of-origin rules, and inventory positions, enabling manufacturers to simulate tariff scenarios and calculate cost impacts in minutes. The systems can also evaluate supplier alternatives, model recipe changes, and recalculate landed costs across multiple regions in real time—giving companies the agility to sense, evaluate, and respond to disruptions almost as quickly as they happen. The decisions companies face after policy changes are even more challenging when you consider how complex modern supply chains are. A product’s bill of materials might originate from six different countries, each with varying tariff constraints and lead times. When a CEO wants to know how a new policy will affect a product mix in one market, AI can analyze each component’s tariff exposure and model various scenarios. The ability to model different scenarios is also helping brands shift toward modular risk management. Brands can simulate complex trade-offs and recongure business rules on the y to see how it impacts their topline and their protability. This allows companies to embed adaptability into their planning processes instead of managing uncertainty through massive capital investments. For example, a coconut-based beverage company effectively managed tariff-related supply chain adjustments and recongurations across a global supply chain spanning 15 factories and 20+ market warehouses. The ability to represent tariff structures within the AI solution meant these were included in optimization algorithms as a key input, not an afterthought calculation on a spreadsheet. In demand planning, AI helps decipher consumer response by separating true baseline demand from short-term distortions, when customers “pre-buy” to avoid a tariff change. It can pick out subtle patterns in consumer behavior that are invisible to human analysts and optimize SKU planning by analyzing historical sales trends. Retailers can then make more informed, proactive decisions about pricing, inventory levels, and assortment adjustments, separating the true demand signal from the noise that may come through.

Net Feasa

The shipping container turns into an AI agent. Net Feasa’s new platform transforms the container into an AI agent that can initiate auctions among prospective customers seeking cargo slots on vessels. The AI-enabled container can self- manage, negotiate, and secure optimal bids. New AI agent helps other AI agents. Logistics provider C.H. Robinson created an AI agent that automates the process of classifying freight, helping shippers, particularly small-to- medium businesses, which are heavy users of both LTL shipping and email. The new agent assists other AI agents: It determines the class and code for a shipment and helps other agents turn emailed tenders into accurate orders. AI, where’s my inventory? SC Codeworks, a provider of warehouse management solutions, introduced CODI, designed to help warehouse operators and decision-makers access insights from their data. The AI-powered data retrieval and conversational command agent, built into SC Codeworks’ platform, acts as an in-house expert on the user’s own warehouse operations. Meet scheduling expert, Alan. FourKites unveiled Alan, an AI-powered digital worker for yard scheduling. Working with AutoGate AI, a computer vision technology solution, it can streamline the way facilities manage arrivals and departures. Alan handles the entire appointment lifecycle across communication channels. AI optimizes decision-making. The Kraft Heinz Company is transforming how decisions are made across its global supply chain by using AI-powered decision intelligence from Aera Technology. Aera Technology’s Aera, a decision intelligence agent, improves decision making—from support to augmentation to full decision automation. AI enables robotic cross-dock. Warp secured new capital—$10 million—to fund the expansion of its AI systems and the launch of its first fully robotic cross-dock, a flagship facility that will automate the entire freight lifecycle from inbound receiving and dimensioning to smart sortation and outbound dispatch.

Optimizing Retail Returns By PEDRO RAMOS , Chief Revenue Officer, Appriss Retail

AI can help retailers analyze real-time returns data across all channels—online, in-store, and call centers—while preserving consumer anonymity. It evaluates behavior patterns like purchase frequency, return habits, and anomalies such as the use of multiple identities, addresses, or payment methods. This gives retailers’ systems a more nuanced understanding of each transaction, enabling them to approve, warn, or decline returns based on actual risk, not rigid rules. AI-driven systems provide an omnichannel view of returns, identifying root causes such as product quality, logistical issues, serial returners, or potential abuse (like wardrobing), while also recognizing and rewarding trustworthy customers. Retailers can use these insights to power a positive impact on margin and drive more sustainable shopping options—to reduce returns and limit environmental impact. n

118 Inbound Logistics • July 2025