Future of Supply Chain 2024

Technology at your fingertips, experts by your side

At the Future of Supply Chain event in Atlanta, Zach Jecklin, chief information officer at Echo Global Logistics, spoke with FreightWaves about Echo’s dynamic pairing of people and technology and how it’s reshaping the industry. 

Echo Global Logistics was founded in 2005 with a focus on creating its own proprietary transportation management system, which Jecklin notes is a key differentiator from other companies that use off-the-shelf technologies. As an added advantage, having its own tech...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/technology-at-your-fingertips-experts-by-your-side

Borderless insurance coverage for shippers

Live from the Future of Supply Chain in Atlanta Mark Vickers, executive vice president and head of international logistics at Reliance Partners comes on FWNOW to break down the intricacies of cross border insurance and cargo liability in Mexico. 

When it comes to cargo insurance in Mexico, it’s commonly referred to as the “Wild West,” as there isn’t any standardization like there is in the U.S. and Canada. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the U.S. has specific requirements...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/borderless-insurance-coverage-for-shippers

J.B. Hunt prioritizes balanced investment in tech and people

With the freight industry in a continued difficult market, carriers and 3PLs have had to invest in technology to find more efficiency in slim margins.

Brad Hicks, executive vice president of highway services and executive vice president of people at J.B. Hunt, says companies that don’t connect their investment in technology with their investment in people will come out behind. “If you don’t have that proper balance of people and tech working together and complementing each other, then you’re...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/j-b-hunt-prioritizes-balanced-investment-in-tech-and-people

Fraudulent actors evolving across trucking industry, Highway CEO says

ATLANTA — Jordan Graft sees a lot of corruption, bad actors and fraudsters in the trucking industry.

“People used to be able to hire a carrier based on three emails, passing a rules assessment and an insurance certification and that’s just not possible anymore. The world’s just changed,” Graft, founder and CEO of Highway, said at FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain event.

Graft was joined on stage Wednesday by FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller in a discussion titled “Trucking Fraud and Cybercrime...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fraudulent-actors-evolving-across-trucking-industry-highway-ceo-says

C.H. Robinson executive highlights promise of generative AI in logistics

ATLANTA — With AI in general and generative AI in particular the talk of the FreightWaves Future of Supply Chain event, Megan Orth of C.H. Robinson reached for several analogies to describe generative AI’s use at her freight brokerage and in logistics generally.

“It’s kind of like APIs 10 years ago,” Orth said, referring to application programming interfaces, which allow different types of software to communicate with each other.

When APIs first emerged, Orth — senior director of commercial...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/c-h-robinson-executive-highlights-promise-of-generative-ai-in-logistics

DAT vs. SONAR debate examines where freight market is headed

ATLANTA — FreightWaves and DAT Solutions squared off during FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain conference at an inaugural event, the “Great Debate — DAT vs. SONAR: Where is the Market Headed Next?”

The live event on Tuesday pitted Zach Strickland, FreightWaves SONAR director of market intelligence, against Ken Adamo, chief of analytics for DAT.

The debate was moderated by George Abernathy, a board member and adviser for freight procurement platform Emerge. Abernathy was president of...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dat-vs-sonar-debate-examines-where-freight-market-is-headed

FreightWaves announces rapid-fire demo best-in-show winners in Atlanta

Thirteen companies showcased their FreightTech innovations during two rounds of rapid-fire demo sessions Tuesday at FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain event in Atlanta.

Demos by Tai Software and MyCarrier TMS were named best in show by attendees among the competing companies’ seven-minute demonstrations about how their technological innovations benefit the freight industry.

Tai Software

Tai Software demonstrated how its software automates quote requests and shipment requests using a centralized...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/freightwaves-announces-rapid-fire-demo-best-in-show-winners-in-atlanta

National defense expert names 3 global supply chain hot spots to watch

Three areas of the world are of particular interest from an economic and supply chain perspective as international conflicts remain active, an official with a military college said. 

Speaking to FreightWaves CEO and founder Craig Fuller at the company’s Future of Supply Chain conference in Atlanta on Wednesday, Jonathan Hoffman, The Citadel’s communications and marketing vice president, said he is watching activity in Russia and Ukraine, Israel, and China. Hoffman, an expert in national defense...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/national-defense-expert-names-3-global-supply-chain-hot-spots-to-watch

Transports-only hedge fund manager hopeful despite ‘perfect negative storm’

Institutional investor Seth Holm said he’s upbeat on transportation stocks long term but noted the sector is in a “perfect negative storm,” with volumes under pressure, a collapse in pricing and roughly 50% inflation across most cost buckets. His comments were part of a fireside chat with Craig Fuller, FreightWaves founder and CEO, at Future of Supply Chain in Atlanta on Wednesday.

“I’m very, very positive … I think if you invest in anything in surface transportation, you’re going to make a lot...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/transports-only-hedge-fund-manager-hopeful-despite-perfect-negative-storm

Flexport CEO says AI poised for big things in global supply chain

ATLANTA — Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen predicts that freight logistics will see a lot more AI usage, from ocean freight contract writing to other parts of the supply chain that currently involve manual input.

“In five years we will be talking about what AI has done, which is take stuff we thought wasn’t going to be automatable, that’s taken us 10 years to wrangle data to structured ways that we  can write scripts and algorithms to process and take some action against, and it’s turned out to be...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/flexport-ceo-says-ai-poised-for-big-things-in-global-supply-chain

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