Logistics giant C.H. Robinson has launched what it says is the world’s first artificial intelligence system capable of both operating and continuously improving global supply chains.
The new technology, known as the Lean AI Engineer, has been rolled out to customers using the company’s Managed Solutions 4PL service and works alongside its existing Lean AI Planner platform.
C.H. Robinson says the combined system can assess an entire supply chain in as little as 25 to 30 minutes, compared with traditional reviews that can take several weeks and typically focus on past performance.
Managed Solutions president Jordan Kass says the technology creates a closed-loop system that can identify and implement improvements while supply chains are operating.
“The breakthrough here is that it’s one closed-loop AI system,” Kass says.
“It will run continuously, improve the operation it’s running and heal itself when something breaks — without an alert or a human noticing a problem first.”
The company says the technology is now autonomously managing 92% of 4PL shipments globally across road, ocean, air and rail freight, covering processes from order creation and routing through to delivery, exception management and carrier payment.
Kass says the platform enables supply chain expertise to be applied consistently regardless of shipment volumes, location or time zone.
“This level of premium logistics service has traditionally depended on talented people to manage complexity, make smart decisions day to day and intervene during disruption,” he says.
“The problem was that talent didn’t scale. We’ve changed that by encoding expertise in the technology itself.”
The Lean AI Engineer analyses operational data and identifies opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce costs. According to C.H. Robinson, one early customer reduced loads by 17% across 20 locations through changes to shipping schedules, delivering annual savings of more than US$1 million, while another cut loads by 81% through shipment reorganisation.
Chief strategy and innovation officer Arun Rajan says the technology is designed to close the gap between supply chain analysis and execution.
“Supply chains do not generally suffer from a lack of information. They suffer from the gap between knowing and doing,” Rajan says.
“Our tech closes the gap, delivering 24/7 premium service with one unified system no one else can match.”
The company says future updates will expand the system’s capabilities, including monitoring carrier performance and identifying service risks before failures occur.
C.H. Robinson manages around 37 million shipments annually and works with approximately 75,000 customers and 450,000 carriers worldwide.
