FREIGHT PAY PROVIDERS COMPOUND SAVINGS WMS SOLUTIONS HIT THE MARK YMS: FROM THE LOT TO THE SLOT
TOP 100 TRUCKERS TRUCKING PERSPECTIVES: TRACKING THE TRENDS PLUS
BITE SIZED SUPPLY CHAIN/LOGISTICS INFORMATION Info SNACKS
2M! Subaru vehicles have crossed the docks at
the Port of Vancouver USA since the rst, a blue Impreza wagon, arrived on January 7, 1993. Roughly 2,000 vehicles now arrive from Japan each week, and about 80% of them leave the port via rail. –Port of Vancouver USA
A former delivery driver for Stewart Snacks, an Ohio-based Little Debbie distributor, is charged with selling snack cakes for cash out of his truck at flea markets in western Pennsylvania. Police say he then invoiced Shop ’n Save, Giant Eagle, and Walmart for products they never received, totaling more than $13,300 worth between July and September of last year. The driver’s pay was commission-based, so the phantom sales allegedly earned him another $3,700. CRUMB TRAIL
TORQUE OF THE TOWN
Weeks without rain have dropped Rome’s Tiber River low enough to expose Nero’s Bridge, an ancient structure near St. Peter’s Basilica that is normally underwater. The bridge, built by Nero’s uncle Caligula, is believed to have been constructed as early as 39 AD. River flow has fallen below 80 cubic meters per second, about half the average for this point in the year, according to Rome’s civil protection coordinator. The bridge was last visible during a drought in 2022. DRY SPELL
Edison Motors, a Canadian start-up, has federal approval to build Class 8 diesel-electric trucks. The company’s design features a diesel engine running at constant speed, charging a small battery that powers the electric axles. The tri-drive configuration is rated at 2,400 horsepower. The trucks’ panels bolt on, parts are accessible and no proprietary software stops owner- operators from doing their own repairs. The trucks currently cost about 25% more than a comparable diesel.
COLD CASE
Over the course of one hour, two truckloads of beer disappeared from an Anheuser- Busch distribution center in California. In the second incident, police say a company posing as a subcontractor used fake paperwork to drive o with about $25,000 of Anheuser-Busch and Pabst Blue Ribbon product. Combined losses run roughly $70,000, or more than 40,000 pounds of beer. Pabst has o ered a $20,000 reward for the beer’s safe return.
September 2026 • Inbound Logistics 1
CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2026 | VOL. 46 | NO.9
FEATURES
28 TRANSPORTATION METRICS: HOW DOES YOUR CARRIER MEASURE UP? Logistics leaders must move beyond tracking endless data points and focus on the few high-impact transportation metrics tied directly to cost and service improvement.
34 TRUCKING PERSPECTIVES
Inbound Logistics’ annual market report on the trucking sectors draws on the insights of carriers and shippers to sketch an outline of an industry that has never been more critical. CONTENT PARTNERS REPORT 50 CORRAL YOUR FREIGHT DATA WITH THE RIGHT FBAP PROVIDER Freight spend and ineciency have you at the end of your rope? These freight bill audit and payment companies can help lasso your process with intelligence and precision.
40 TOP 100 TRUCKERS
In a market defined by turbulence, which carriers dominate? Inbound Logistics editors selected 100 trucking companies with the proven ability to adapt in an evolving economic landscape.
2 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
CONTENT PARTNERS REPORT 68 WMS REMIX: ATTUNED TO VARIABILITY Adaptability is key as warehouse operators navigate disruptions. A warehouse management system (WMS) has to be flexible and configurable enough to keep pace.
INPRACTICE 10 LEADERSHIP THE ART OF SCALING UP: HOW AISYA AZIZ BALANCES CODE, CLARITY, AND CULTURE LiquiDonate CTO Aisya Aziz started out customizing MySpace pages as a teenager. Today,
she scales the smart technology that reroutes retail returns directly into the hands of families in need.
CONTENT PARTNERS REPORT 80 YMS UPDATE: TURNING YARDS INTO STRATEGIC GROUND Shippers increasingly recognize the major impact yard operations have on their supply chain and look to rapidly evolving technology to help.
INFO 90 SUPPLY CHAIN INSIGHTS 94 RESOURCE CENTER
GOOD QUESTION What would you put on a motivational poster in your office or workplace? 6
INSIGHT 4 CHECKING IN
INFOCUS 1 INFO SNACKS 12 NOTED 14 TAKEAWAYS 92 IN BRIEF 96 LAST MILE
Demand-driven AI? 6 GOOD QUESTION
What would you put on a motivational poster in your office or workplace? 8 10 TIPS Preparing for peak season 22 VIEWPOINT Why I’m still betting on humans 24 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Rethink decision-making in the AI age 26 INTERMODAL No one moves freight alone; IMCs and 3PLs determine who wins
CONTENT PARTNERS 18 Stop Managing Freight Rates. Start Managing Freight Behavior. Offered by KDL Logistics 19 Transportation is Only a Fraction of the Solution Offered by CRST 20 Transportation Contingency Planning: Five Questions Shippers Should Ask Offered by Gebrüder Weiss 21 Asking the Right Questions About Hazmat Transportation Offered by Landstar
Inbound Logistics (ISSN 0888-8493, USPS 703990) is mailed monthly to approximately 60,000 business professionals who buy, specify, or recommend logistics technology, transportation, and related services, by Thomas, a Xometry company, 6116 Executive Blvd, Suite 800, North Bethesda, MD 20852. Periodicals postage paid at North Bethesda, MD, and additional mailing offices. All rights reserved. The publisher accepts no responsibility for the validity of claims of any products or services described. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic means, or stored in any information retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. Postmaster send address changes to: Inbound Logistics, P.O. Box 1167, Lowell, MA 01853-9900
September 2026 • Inbound Logistics 3
CHECKINGIN
Vol. 46, No. 9
September 2026
THE MAGAZINE FOR DEMAND-DRIVEN ENTERPRISES www.inboundlogistics.com
Demand-Driven AI?
STAFF
PUBLISHER Keith G. Biondo
D o you still rely on rearview mirror forecasting to run your front-line manufacturing operations? No bueno. For decades, the standard S&OP playbook meant extrapolating last year’s sales, tacking on a hopeful percentage bump for good luck, and praying your suppliers wouldn’t hit a wall. But in today’s volatile global supply chain ecosystem, historical data isn’t just antiquated, it’s an operational trap. Building a truly demand-driven enterprise with the
publisher@inboundlogistics.com
EDITOR Felecia J. Stratton
editor@inboundlogistics.com
SENIOR EDITOR Katrina C. Arabe
karabe@inboundlogistics.com
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC CONTENT
Amy Roach amy.roach@thomasnet.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ashley Prince
ashley.prince@thomasnet.com
Keith Biondo, Publisher
June Allan Corrigan Tom Gresham Karen M. Kroll Rich Osborne Gary Wollenhaupt
tech SC managers have today gives you additional tools to stop reacting to yesterday’s purchase orders and start sensing tomorrow’s market disruptions. That doesn’t mean you have to wait for a long implementation or a multi-year and expensive software overhaul. It means applying pragmatic, high-impact AI supported execution where it actually moves the needle. Manufacturing leaders now deploy AI to sharpen forecast accuracy, trim tied-up working capital, and smooth out operational friction across their network. A demand forecast is only as solid as your supplier’s actual capability to deliver critical parts on demand. Traditional planning models mostly assume Tier 2 and Tier 3 vendors can magically scale up production the moment your purchase orders surge. When they can’t, your production lines grind to a halt, leaving you with un nished work-in-process inventory, missed delivery windows, and angry management and customers. So ip upstream looks upside down. Don’t wait for late-shipment noti cations to reveal supply chain breakdowns. Instead feed external signals such as energy price increases, port congestion data, macroeconomic indices, raw material spot prices, weather patterns, and anything else you have into targeted machine learning models. That gives you a predictive bottleneck sensor to map external risks against your bill of materials and ag component shortages weeks before you issue the PO. That lead time can allow procurement teams to secure secondary sourcing or adjust production schedules before minor supplier hiccups turn into major operational crises. It is still upstream guessing, but now you have a backstop. Planners can then step in when the system ags a true anomaly, such as an unexpected trend break or a sudden promotional spike. By routing exceptions instead of auditing all routine items, you cut planning efforts and time while allowing your talent to focus where humans-in-the-loop matter most. Arti cial intelligence isn’t about replacing the human expertise on your logistics and planning teams; it’s about amplifying it. Operational focus shifts from reactive historical reporting to real-time, predictive demand sensing. Less supply chain waste, leaner working capital needs. Demand-driven AI gives companies a better shot at being a step ahead of customers’ needs .
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jeof Vita
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DESIGNER Arlene So
DIGITAL DESIGN MANAGER PUBLICATION MANAGER
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SALES STAFF PUBLISHER: Keith Biondo
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Inbound Logistics supports sustainable best practices. Our mission is rooted in helping companies match demand to supply, eliminating waste from the supply chain. This magazine is printed on paper sourced from fast growth renewable timber.
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4 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
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GOODQUESTION Readers Weigh In
What Would You Put on a Motivational Poster in Your Of ce or Workplace? Workplace?
REMAIN IRREVERENT. I encourage our team to adopt an innovative mindset and challenge legacy ways of thinking. Our success in commercial security is rooted in staying disciplined around this mindset and constantly reimagining what cameras can do to protect our customers’ assets while providing business intelligence at every stage of the supply chain. –Markus Scott CEO, EyeQ Monitoring
Change Is the Only Constant
This is especially true in logistics, where conditions can shift dramatically in an instant. We can’t predict every disruption, but we can create systems, processes, and teams that adapt quickly when plans change. That readiness helps keep freight moving and stakeholders in the know when the unexpected happens. –Mark Buman Chief Revenue Ocer, Magaya This is important for me to remember. Supply chain and logistics never stand still. You can’t get too high or too low because there will always be a new challenge to tackle and a new solution to find for your customers. –Paul Brinkman President, Trans-Solutions Consulting
AD ASTRA PER ASPERA. Through hardships to the stars.
Nothing about building a drone that flies itself in a GPS-denied warehouse was easy, and that is exactly why it was worth building. I want the team to be reminded daily that the friction is the point, not a sign we picked the wrong problem. –Mohammed Kabir CEO, Corvus Robotics WHEN WHEN IN IN DOUBT FOLLOW THE VALUE –Stephen Dombroski Director, Consumer Markets, QAD | Redzone
CUSTOMER FIRST. When we put the customer at the center, innovation becomes purposeful, teams become aligned, and results follow. Every improvement, no matter how small, creates value when it helps customers succeed. –Tina Goodwin Senior Director, Customer Success, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling BELIEVE. Like Coach Lasso, mine would simply say this. We are masters of our own destiny, and the first step in creating any reality is believing it’s possible. Belief fuels action, action builds momentum, and momentum creates results. –Hooman Yazhari CEO, TEN (Transportation Equipment Network)
PEOPLE POWER THE SUPPLY CHAIN. Give them the clarity, flexibility, and real-time support to keep it moving. Frontline work changes by the minute—workforce decisions should, too. –Robert O’Dwyer Senior Industry Principal, UKG HAPPY BOSS: AWESOME SAUCE. Clear and cheeky. With all things ’90s cool again (parachute pants, what? ), let’s revive workplace motivational posters, which are perfect for return-to-oce mandates and reminding corporate worker bees to respect management overlords. Plus, we have bagel Tuesdays. –Jake Taylor Managing Director, ProcureAbility
6 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
GOODQUESTION
FUEL THE
WORLD
CONNECTION CREATES OPPORTUNITY. We see what happens when businesses connect across international markets. Strong global networks help companies identify strategic partners, enter new markets, strengthen supply chains, and respond eectively to shifting trade conditions. Those connections create pathways for businesses to grow, compete, and build lasting relationships around the world. –Crystal Edn Executive Director-Member Services, World Trade Centers Association STRONG OPINIONS L SELY HELD PEOPLE FIRST. In a niche this specialized, relationships are the whole game. Customers return for our experience and expertise. Vendors go the extra mile because we’ve earned it. –Barb Slawter President, Chemical Intermodal, Odyssey Logistics FOR EVERY CHALLENGE THERE’S A SOLUTION. Trade is complicated, but that’s where we come in. We help U.S. Foreign-Trade Zone operators navigate complexity, find practical solutions, and stay competitive. Our growing membership reflects the value of that mission. –Melissa Irmen Dir. of Advocacy, NAFTZ (National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones) SPEED IS THE STRATEGY. Most companies treat speed as a byproduct of good operations. Get the processes right, buy the right systems, and speed follows. That thinking has it backwards. Speed is a choice made at the architecture level. How your systems are built, how fast you can –Shannon Hynds CEO, Quickcode
act on real-time data. In logistics, the winners are not the biggest. They are the fastest to respond. –Michelle Jones Director, Solutions Consulting, Logistics Reply UNTIL DEATH, ALL DEFEAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL. I like this quote because it reinforces resilience and perspective. Setbacks are inevitable, but how we respond to them often determines the outcome. It’s a reminder to stay focused, keep moving forward, and never give up before the challenge is truly over. –Blake Peebles Sales Engineer, Dexco TURN POTENTIAL INTO PERFORMANCE. This reflects a simple truth in both business and life: Success comes from more than good ideas, talent, or ambitious goals— it comes from timely execution. Potential creates possibility, but action creates results.
PEOPLE DON’T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE. Exceptional leaders are intentional in providing appreciation and encouragement, and communicating that you care builds trust and ensures the team’s long-term vision. –John Barlew VP of Safety, Kenco FINISH IT. Nike told us to Just Do It. But starting is the easy part. The unspoken half of that motto—the half that actually separates good operators from great ones—is Finish It. That’s where results live. –Brian Carlson Founding Partner, Cornerstone Edge THRIVE through UNCERTAINTY for CHANGE MAKE COMPLEXITY SIMPLE. Supply chains are growing more complex as customer expectations rise, demand cycles accelerate, and data-driven processes expand. The challenge is not adding more technology but using it to make operations easier to manage, more transparent, and predictable, turning complexity into measurable value. –Andreas Podwojewski Managing Director, North America & Brazil, Arvato –Brad Barry Director & Partner, Supply Chain Services, St. Onge Company BECAUSE EVERY LINK MATTERS –Amy Dean VP of Operations, SC Codeworks BUILD
–Jon Sing Founder - Principal, Dayton Management Group
–Scott Ashbaugh CEO, DHL eCommerce Americas
Answer upcoming Good Questions at: www.inboundlogistics.com/ good-question
September 2026 • Inbound Logistics 7
10 TIPS
As manufacturers, distributors, and retailers prepare for peak season across their entire supply chains, implementing these tips will help with reduced risk, higher customer satisfaction, and more consistent execution of every step in the order process. Preparing for Peak Season
1 OPTIMIZE DOCK CAPACITY BEFORE ADDING TRANSPORTATION CAPACITY
8 PLAN FOR TEMPORARY BOTTLENECKS Focus resources on constraints that have the greatest impact on performance, such as receiving, picking, packing, or shipping. Plan to recruit, onboard, and train temporary labor well before peak season begins to keep pace with heightened demand. Consider how you’ll adjust shifts to meet these increased volumes. 9 PREPARE WAREHOUSE SPACE FOR INFLUX To accommodate increased days-on-hand, consider using trailers or offsite storage for overflow inventory, particularly bulky products or high-volume SKUs. Evaluate whether higher inventory levels will stress reserve storage capacity, inbound dock availability, appointment scheduling, or transportation flows. Ensure cycle counting strategies and processes are in place to minimize errors and keep product visibility high throughout peak season.
Adding more carriers isn’t the best way to combat capacity strain and maintain on-time delivery during peak season; in fact, most delays happen at the dock, not on the road. Instead, make small changes to appointment scheduling and order release timing and use your TMS and warehouse data to identify potential overloaded shipping windows, dock congestion, and trailer queue times before peak hits.
2 MANAGE CARRIERS BY PERFORMANCE, NOT NETWORK AVERAGES Assessing carriers based on network averages can be risky, because a carrier that performs well overall may create problems at specific distribution centers. Review on-time pickup, dwell time, missed appointments, and loading efficiency by facility to ensure a more accurate performance forecast. 3 ALIGN TRANSPORT DECISIONS WITH WAREHOUSE CONDITIONS Base peak season routing decisions on what’s happening inside the four walls, not just on the road. Companies that do this move more volume and maintain service levels better than those that base decisions on freight volumes alone. 4 VALIDATE PICKING CAPACITY Make sure your employees, processes, and systems are prepared to take on extra capacity and continue meeting SLAs. Run picking
distribution center, such as carving out fast-pick areas or putting slow- moving SKUs on sale well in advance of peak season to create space in your pick faces. Consider what changes you might need to make to product allocation and slotting to run most efficiently during peak. 7 BUILD A PARTS REPLACEMENT STRATEGY When a part goes down in the warehouse, it’s not as simple as just ordering a new part, especially during peak season. Identify your critical components, do parts assessments prior to peak season, and proactively replace parts that are near end of life.
capacity modeling to see if you can complete a large number of orders outside of your normal picking process. Do this modelling well enough in advance that you can implement the necessary operational improvements ahead of peak season. 5 PERFORM EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE An unexpected equipment or system outage can halt production. Ensure you have all spare parts in case of an outage, and perform routine maintenance to keep your hardware and software in working order prior to peak. 6 ADJUST ALLOCATION AND SLOTTING STRATEGIES Peak volumes often require certain adjustments in the 10 USE PEAK SEASON DATA
TO IMPROVE NEXT YEAR’S PERFORMANCE Use the weeks that follow peak season to strengthen future planning, budgeting, and operations. Analyzing what worked, where bottlenecks occurred, and how effectively returns were managed can help you enter the next peak season with fewer risks, lower costs, and stronger operational performance.
SOURCE: BRITAIN PAVLIC, SR. DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION, AND BO THOMSON, VP OF CONSULTING, ENVISTA
8 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
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LEADERSHIP Conversations with the Captains of Industry
The Art of Scaling Up: How Aisya Aziz Balances Code, Clarity, and Culture
Aisya Aziz built her rst website, a simple guestbook, when she was seven years old. As a teen, she helped her friends jazz up their MySpace pages. Now, she’s chief technology of cer of LiquiDonate, helping to build the infrastructure that enables the company to transform excess inventory and returns into donations for communities in need. “I knew I wanted to do something good,” Aziz says of her career choice. This isn’t Aziz’s rst role with a startup. After graduating from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in computer science, Aziz joined her family’s business, Authentic Venture Sdn Bhd, which builds SaaS solutions. She started as a programmer and eventually led the software development team. “It was a true bootstrap environment,” she says, noting that she worked in customer service, sales and development, and handled government projects. Twice, she won a startup competition in Malaysia. Aziz joined LiquiDonate after receiving her M.S. in technology ventures at Carnegie Mellon University. Her education helped her learn how to balance engineering and technical excellence with a solution’s business impact. Now, Aziz is helping to steer LiquiDonate as it shifts from the startup phase to a growth stage company. She discusses her approach to leadership in a small, growing company. IL: What is your role with LiquiDonate? I lead our technology strategy and product development efforts, making sure that our technology supports our mission and vision. This means working closely with our engineering, operations, and partnership teams to build our solutions. I am hands-on in engineering, product decisions, and even coding, but I also think about our long-term vision and strategy. IL: At a high level, how does the LiquiDonate solution work? LiquiDonate quickly and easily matches and routes excess retail inventory to nearby nonpro ts. Retailers cut supply chain costs and reduce waste. We do this in two main ways. One is the easy-upload platform we offer for bulk warehouse excess. Second is a Shopify app integration that automatically routes individual returns from customers’ homes to local nonpro t organizations in need of those types of items. Customers of our retail partners have the same online returns experience they would with
Aisya Aziz, Chief Technology Of cer, LiquiDonate
Aisya Aziz, LiquiDonate’s CTO, started out customizing MySpace pages as a teenager. Today, she scales the smart technology that reroutes retail returns directly into the hands of families in need.
by Karen Kroll
10 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
LEADERSHIP
IL: What’s the most difficult part of your role as LiquiDonate moves from a startup to the growth stage? Prioritization. At this stage, there are always more opportunities than time and resources. With every decision we make to move forward with one initiative, we also choose what not to do right now. There are times when we need to focus on short-term needs, but in most cases, we focus on initiatives that will create the greatest long-term impact for our customers and for the business. IL: What is one lesson you learned earlier in your career that remains relevant in your role today? Products don’t have to be complicated or incredibly fancy. They just need to solve a real problem. It’s easy to get caught up in building the coolest technology, but if you’re not solving someone’s pain point, none of that matters. That’s something I still remind myself today. IL: What professional accomplishment brings satisfaction? Our technology is exciting, but what really sticks with me is the human impact. In one case, a mattress we donated went to a family that had just come out of homelessness. It became the first mattress in their new home. When you think about that, it stops being a logistics or software platform. It’s about creating moments that genuinely change someone’s life. Murati, Perkins, and Malaysian Food If she could host a dinner party with several leaders—living or not, famous or not—who would Aisya Aziz invite, and what would be on the menu? “If you asked me a few years ago, my answer probably would’ve been Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,” she says. “But today, I’d invite Mira Murati (former CTO with OpenAI and founder of Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup) and Melanie Perkins (co-founder and CEO of Canva, a design platform),” Aziz says. “I have so much respect for women tech entrepreneurs, especially in an industry that’s still heavily dominated by men. “Mira Murati has shown a powerful combination of technical knowledge, strength, and empathy. Imagine being the CTO at OpenAI during the time AI became accessible to the world,” she says. “I don’t think people can imagine life without AI anymore. “Melanie Perkins is inspiring for a different reason,” Aziz notes. “Her journey doesn’t follow the typical tech founder story. Nothing about it looks overly flashy, yet she built Canva into one of the world’s most successful companies. She became an incredibly strong voice through execution rather than hype. “For the menu, I’d serve Malaysian food,” she adds. “Introducing people to Malaysian delicacies is one of my favorite ways to connect with them.”
any other purchase; the matching and rerouting happens in the background. Nonprofits can easily use the portal to register, ‘shop’ for free, and receive items. Instead of traveling hundreds of miles to a warehouse, usable but unwanted products can travel several miles to a nearby nonprofit. We also provide documentation for the retailer to submit for tax benefits. IL: Given your interest in coding as a child, did you always plan to go into a technology-related field? When I was young, I didn’t know coding was a job by itself. I was 16 and building a website, when someone asked, “Do you know this is actually a job?” I said, “What? Programming?” My mom is Asian, and I thought I’d grow up to be a doctor. I had to tell her I wanted to be a programmer. My mom said it was okay. She even bought me my first laptop. IL: How do you lead your team as you move from a startup to a growth stage company? One of the complexities in this current stage is balancing speed and scalability. We need to move quickly because we’re rapidly growing, yet every technical decision comes with long- term implications. We constantly think about how to build for where we’re going, not just where we are today. In working with my team, I want people to feel empowered and comfortable sharing ideas and challenging assumptions. The best solutions rarely come from just one person. I also believe it’s important to provide clarity, transparency, and focus. I want to make sure everyone understands not just what we are building, but why we are building it. IL: What characteristics do effective leaders need, especially when leading a small, growing company? We have to be collaborative, transparent, and most importantly, empowering. As we grow, I will be moving to focus more on the vision and the team will be building the product. My role will be more about removing roadblocks and helping them prioritize. At the moment, because I’m hands-on, I understand the challenges the team faces each day. That helps me make better decisions and stay connected to the work instead of watching from a distance.
September 2026 • Inbound Logistics 11
NOTED [ IN FOCUS ]
The Supply Chain in Brief
> GOOD WORKS
> M&A
GrubMarket acquired JR Holland, a fresh produce and foodservice distributor serving North East England and Scotland. It is the California-based company’s first entry into the UK market. JR Holland employs over 120 people and makes 3,000 deliveries per week via 32 temperature-controlled vehicles. FORT Robotics, a safety platform for physical AI, is going public via a definitive business combination with Newbury Street II Acquisition Corp. The combined company has an implied enterprise value of $556.6 million and will trade on Nasdaq under the ticker FROB. The deal is expected to close in Q4 2026. Fishbowl Inventory , an AI-powered inventory and manufacturing platform for small and midsize businesses, acquired Repfabric , a CRM and commission-management platform built for manufacturers and distributors. The deal creates a single system spanning the sales pipeline, commission tracking, inventory management, and order fulfillment. American Industrial Partners completed its acquisition of Honeywell ’s Intelligrated and Transnorm, combining them with Trew under common ownership to form a warehouse automation provider with more than $1 billion in combined 2025 revenue and 3,700 employees. Alfred Rebello was named CEO of the combined organization.
• Avianca Cargo flew 60 tons of humanitarian aid, including electric generators, hygiene products, and nonperishable food, from Florida to Colombia on an A330F freighter. The company flew a total of more than 150 tons of cargo to Colombia in the first two days after the country’s latest earthquake.
• The CMA CGM Foundation announced two new Kenya-based initiatives at the Africa Forward Summit. Plans include a renovation of the University of Nairobi’s main football field and seven additional containers to expand an innovation center in Mombasa, a Red Cross-managed hub.
> UP THE CHAIN
Michael Loeffler joined BAE Systems as vice president of supply chain. He reports to President and CEO Tom Arseneault. Loeffler most recently served as vice president of global supply chain and logistics at Bell and previously held supply chain roles at L3Harris, GE Aviation, and Boeing.
> GREEN SEEDS
Leonhardt & Blumberg installed Econowind VentoFoils, compact autonomous wing systems that use boundary layer suction for additional thrust, onto one of its four new general cargo vessels. The technology is projected to cut fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by about 10%.
12 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
NOTED
> SEALED DEALS
> MILESTONES
Kardex marked five years as an AutoStore partner in the Americas, growing its North
• DHL Supply Chain will manage aftermarket parts logistics for AION, a Chinese electric
American team to nearly 100 people and deploying dozens of systems across manufacturing, retail, and healthcare. Customers include Ford, Sonepar, and Balluff. Tuas Port in Singapore handled its 25 millionth TEU since opening in September 2022, a milestone for the world’s largest fully automated container terminal. The port currently operates 14 berths and is on track to reach 18 by 2027. J.B. Hunt Transport Services celebrated its 65th anniversary by ringing the Nasdaq opening bell in New York City. Founded in 1961 by J.B. and Johnelle Hunt as a small trucking operation, the company has grown into one of the largest supply chain solutions providers in North America. Logistics Plus celebrated its 30th anniversary, having grown from a single $120,000 GE Transportation purchase order in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1996 to a nearly $1 billion enterprise with nearly 2,000 employees in 55-plus countries. Yuriy Ostapyak, recently promoted to CEO, leads the company into its next decade.
vehicle brand making its UK debut. DHL will operate a dedicated warehouse stocked with more than 1,250 genuine part lines for next-day nationwide delivery to retailers and workshops. AION is a joint venture between GAC Group and Jameel Motors.
• Spanish footwear brand Gioseppo implemented the latest version of Mecalux ’ s Easy WMS to centralize order processing
across its omnichannel sales network. The system manages 1.6 million shoe units across two warehouses in Spain, supporting online, retail chain, and franchise fulfillment from a single platform. • Medvantx opened a new pharmacy inside UPS ’ s Louisville, Kentucky facility, more than doubling its local footprint and tripling cold-chain capacity for nationwide medication and medical device fulfillment. Developed with UPS Healthcare and pharmacy automation firm iA, the facility offers direct access to UPS’s Worldport global air hub. • Korrodin , a German wholesaler of screws and fastening technology, is building a new distribution center near Nuremberg. It will include a three-aisle automated small parts warehouse of 40,000 storage locations and a 4,000-pallet manual warehouse. Klinkhammer Intralogistics is building the automated system.
> INVESTMENTS
Avatar Robotics raised $6.5 million in seed funding, led by AlleyCorp, to expand its humanoid robot workforce for warehouses and factories. The startup pairs remote human operators with AI solutions to handle picking, packing, kitting, and sorting tasks.
September 2026 • Inbound Logistics 13
TAKEAWAYS Shaping the Future of the Global Supply Chain NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY Experts weigh in on how shippers can build flexibility into sourcing and shipping decisions.
IMPORTING TIP: Consider Pivoting to the West Coast
on any single supplier or geography, onboarding new partners ef ciently, and maintaining a current view of inventory and ful llment performance. –OMAR QARI, CEO, Logicbroker CANADA TARIFFS TIP: Transition from Lowest-Cost to Resilient Sourcing supplier networks, qualifying secondary suppliers before they are needed, reducing dependence on a single country or trade corridor, and keeping more sourcing options available for strategically important products. They are also looking farther upstream, because changing a Tier 1 factory does not necessarily eliminate tariff exposure if the critical fabric, component, or raw material still originates in the affected country. To prepare for trade shifts, some brands are shifting from lowest-cost sourcing to resilient sourcing. Brands are building multi-country Ultimately, sourcing can no longer be optimized only for cost. Brands need enough data to understand tariff exposure at the product, material, supplier, and country level, and they need enough supplier optionality to shift production quickly when trade rules change. –MARK BURSTEIN, SVP of Americas, Inspectorio Flatbed capacity is being pulled toward data center construction and government infrastructure projects, so a shipper whose volumes are down can still pay multiples of last year’s rates because the equipment is chasing higher-value project freight. Adding days to the tender does little to change that math, which is why carriers are still turning down contracted freight even with more notice in hand than they had one year ago. –BRIAN CUPP, Vice President of Operations, Enablement, and Strategic Initiatives, IntelliTrans
If a shipper has the exibility to import goods into the U.S. West Coast instead of the U.S. East Coast, then they must seriously consider it because there is dramatic savings potential, even if it means a heavier reliance on truck and rail to reach the nal destination.
This underlines the dynamic approach supply chain professionals must take in managing resilience and freight spend during major market shocks. –PETER SAND, Chief Analyst, Xeneta
RETAIL TIP: Invest in Retail Supply Chain Flexibility
Tariff uncertainty has become one of the most dif cult variables in retail supply chain planning. When companies don’t know how long tariffs will remain in place or what policy change may come next, every sourcing decision carries more weight.
Rather than reacting to every announcement, retailers should focus on building supplier networks and operating systems that can adapt as conditions change. That means diversifying sourcing where practical, reducing dependence
LEAD TIME UPTICK
WHAT’S HAPPENING: Average tender lead times have climbed to 3.74 days, about 11% above the recent three-year average, as of August 2026.
WHY: Tender lead times running well above their three-year average look like better planning from the outside, but on the bulk and break-bulk side, it’s likely shippers buying insurance against a capacity market they do not control. The pressure has very little to do with the shipper’s own demand.
14 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
TAKEAWAYS
DOES AI YIELD ROI? More than half (55%) of chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) are unclear about the return on investment of their AI initiatives, even as 67% of supply chain digital investments are now allocated to AI,
resources strategically. Treat change management capacity as a scarce resource and concentrate investment on high-value AI initiatives with the greatest potential to drive supply chain outcomes and ROI. 3. Adopt a composable approach to change execution. Define different change approaches based on the scale, speed, and organizational context of each initiative, rather than relying on a single standardized methodology. 4. Build AI change leadership capabilities. Develop leaders with business acumen, workforce development expertise, and risk management capabilities so they can effectively guide AI-enabled transformation.
according to a new survey by Gartner. To achieve clear and positive returns from their AI investments, CSCOs must deploy a “right sized” change management strategy that explicitly links change execution to AI strategy, supply chain strategy, and broader enterprise priorities, Gartner says.
that centers on these four actions: 1. Establish a formal AI change strategy. Institutionalize AI change management as a distinct strategic discipline that supports the organization’s AI technology strategy and creates a foundation for intentional, outcome-driven execution. 2. Prioritize and allocate change
asi_halfpgIL_0926_final_• 8/21/26 11:28 AM Page 1 CSCOs should establish an AI change strategy that aligns change investments with business outcomes and protects AI investments from fragmented adoption. Gartner recommends an approach
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September 2026 • Inbound Logistics 15
TAKEAWAYS
Shipping at the Speed of Surcharges
Enterprise shippers poured money into shipping technology, but a new industry report suggests their operations are still stuck in a slower era. Carriers now adjust pricing, surcharges, and service terms almost continuously—while most organizations still review and react to those changes on quarterly or annual cycles, according to The State of Enterprise Shipping 2026 from Reveel and Incisiv. The result is what the report calls an “execution gap”: Companies have the tools to manage shipping intelligently, but not the operating rhythm to keep up with a market that changes daily. Here are some key data points: • 56% of enterprise shippers manage 3+ parcel carriers. • 22% manage six or more, as companies seek resilience and pricing leverage. • 41% of shippers still review carrier rate/surcharge changes only periodically, even though carriers adjust pricing and rules continuously. • Only 13% check carrier rates outside the annual General Rate Increase and contracting cycle.
• 75% have automated carrier selection, but only 10% use dynamic, real-time optimization that adapts to market shifts. • 3 in 4 organizations lack cross-functional ownership of shipping spend.
OVERHEARD
Logistics Tech’s $100 Million Club
“43% of our new business wins in 2026 came from companies outsourcing their logistics for the first time.” –HENDRIK VENTER, Global CEO, DHL Supply Chain
nondisclosure is up from about two to one the year before. These silent transactions included some of the largest deals. Honeywell’s warehouse automation business, with about $935 million in 2025 revenue, went to American Industrial Partners with terms undisclosed. The same can be said for the WWEX-Auctane merger that created ShipStation Global, Bain Capital’s carve- out of SupplyOn, and IFS’ acquisition of warehouse management vendor Softeon. Each deal could plausibly be a nine- or 10-figure transaction. The gap between deals and disclosures is notable. For companies weighing their own valuation, or brokers and 3PLs trying to judge what their technology stack is worth, the pool of verifiable comparable transactions is shrinking despite activity holding steady.
Between September 2025 and August 2026, four supply chain technology acquisitions carried a publicly disclosed price of $100 million or more: 1. Brady Corporation / Honeywell Productivity Solutions & Services: $1.4 billion, April 2026 2. Global-e Online / Passport Global: $350 million, plus up to $75 million in earnout, May 2026 3. Duravant / Matthews International’s warehouse automation unit: $232 million, November 2025 4. Descartes / Tai Software: $100 million, August 2026 Roughly 40 other in-scope acquisitions closed in the same window without published prices, 10 times the number with a named price. The rate of
NOTING A SUPPLY CHAIN SHIFT DHL Supply Chain attributes its new business wins to the increasing complexity of the supply chain, the rising importance of resiliency, and how more companies are viewing their supply chains as a strategic capability, rather than just an operational function. The company sees this trend most notably in warehousing and most prominently in sectors such as life sciences and healthcare.
16 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
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KNOWLEDGE Base CONTENT PARTNERS
Stop Managing Freight Rates. Start Managing Freight Behavior.
You negotiated the savings. Where did they go?
By Tom Cannizzo VP of Sales KDL Logistics kdlog.com
M ost companies wouldn’t allow multiple employees to make thousands of purchasing decisions without policies, controls, visibility, and accountability. Yet that is essentially how many manage one of their largest variable expenses: freight. Every day, decisions are made about which carrier to use, which service level to select, when to expedite, when to waive charges, when to override routing, which facility to ship from, and in general, when an exception is justi ed. Individually, these decisions may cost $50 here, $200 there, but across thousands of shipments, they relentlessly increase the freight expense line on the P&L.
Govern the Decision, Not Just the Rate The next opportunity in transportation management is not related to negotiating another percentage point from carriers. It’s understanding and managing the decisions taking place between the contract and the P&L. To do this requires connecting transportation data to nancial outcomes, establishing clear freight policies, measuring the exceptions, and creating accountability for what materially affects cost-to-serve. Employees need the information and guardrails required to make better decisions. At the end of the day, optimal freight performance requires four things: clear policy, disciplined execution, visibility into decisions, and governance that keeps those decisions aligned with nancial intent. Companies that master these can turn their negotiated savings into realized savings and prevent margin from quietly leaking from the P&L. Rates determine what freight should cost. Behavior determines what it does cost.
variable of how well employees adhere to the company’s freight strategy has a signi cantly greater impact on nancial performance.
The freight rate is the input, and behavior determines the nancial output. Small Decisions Undercut Financial Strategy Consider what happens after a
transportation strategy is established. Sales may promise expedited delivery to protect an important account. Customer service will waive freight to resolve an issue. Shipping picks a familiar carrier instead of the most cost- effective option, or an order ships from the wrong location. None of these decisions are necessarily wrong. In fact, each may be perfectly reasonable. The problem arises when nobody measures them collectively. Without visibility and governance, exceptions become habits. Habits become processes and eventually, higher freight costs become accepted as normal.
The Negotiated Rate Is Only the Starting Point
Transportation strategies often center on carrier negotiations. For example, a company will conduct a bid and negotiate an 8% savings. They’ll award the business, and project the savings. After a few months, they are disappointed that freight expense did not actually decline 8%. A negotiated rate establishes what a shipment should cost. Some uncontrollable market factors like fuel, carriers, or changing volume can impact actual rate, but the manageable
18 Inbound Logistics • September 2026
KNOWLEDGE Base CONTENT PARTNERS
Most companies plan the freight. The smartest companies plan the operation. Transportation Is Only a Fraction of the Solution
What a Missed Dependency Actually Costs The exposure isn’t theoretical. In manufacturing, unplanned downtime can quickly turn into idle labor, missed delivery windows, and cascading supplier costs. In retail, mistimed deliveries can mean empty shelves, excess inventory, and lost sales. These aren’t simply transportation costs, they’re business costs that ripple straight to the bottom line. Consider a Representative Example A retailer books a grand-opening fixture delivery through a standard, lowest- cost carrier instead of a coordinated, appointment-based service. The truck arrives two days late with no inside delivery team, leaving fixtures on the dock the morning of the opening.
Saving roughly $3,000 on transportation created $179,000 in downstream costs, nearly 60 times the original savings. The figures are illustrative, not an audited case, but the pattern is well documented: The transportation line is rarely where the real financial exposure lives.
By Beth Olivares Vice President of Sales CRST Specialized Solutions Sales@CRST.com CRST.com/specialized | CSCMP EDGE Booth #607
W hen freight stops, business doesn’t just slow down, it feels the impact. A delayed shipment can mean idle labor, missed production, empty shelves, lost sales, and costly recovery. The real cost of transportation isn’t always on the freight invoice; it’s what happens when the plan breaks down.
Do You Plan for Execution or Just Transportation?
Organizations managing complex supply chains increasingly treat these movements as projects, not shipments. Transportation, warehousing, inventory, communication, delivery teams, and on-site execution must function as one system since a breakdown anywhere affects the whole operation. Five Questions Before You Choose a Strategy • What happens if this shipment arrives late? A day? A week? • What happens if it arrives damaged? • Who is waiting at the destination? • What additional services go beyond transportation? • What downstream process depends on this delivery? The answers determine whether a shipment fits a traditional freight network or needs a specialized strategy. Executive Perspective Transportation should be evaluated on total cost of ownership, not cost per shipment. Every provider can quote a rate; few can quantify the value of preventing a missed installation or a delayed opening. High-complexity supply chains are built around reducing risk, not cheaper freight. In today’s supply chain, the shipment is rarely the project. It’s only one milestone within it.
The Complexity Isn’t the Freight. It’s the Dependencies.
Complexity isn’t defined by a shipment’s value, weight, or freight class. It’s defined by the operational dependencies, in three categories, required for success. Physical: size, weight, fragility, specialized handling. Operational: appointment scheduling, site access, liftgate needs, two-person delivery, installation. Business: the costliest and most overlooked––a missed milestone, an idle crew, lost production, diminished confidence. As complexity increases, transportation becomes less about moving freight and more about orchestrating execution.
Downstream Cost Category
Amount
Expedited replacement freight
$18,000
Idle installation crew (3 days)
$9,000
Lost opening-day revenue
$85,000
Extended marketing & PR spend
$12,000
Diminished customer traffic (first 30 days)
$40,000
Corporate support & coordination time
$15,000
Total Operational Impact
$179,000
CRST Specialized Solutions is a proven leader in damage-free handling, providing white-glove blanket-wrap truckload, scheduled LTL, and reverse logistics services. The company simplifies and manages complex projects, from national rollouts to equipment installations, while delivering comprehensive supply chain solutions that include inventory management and warehousing. It develops customized solutions tailored to each customer’s unique business needs.
September 2026 • Inbound Logistics 19
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