CH Robinson, a global leader in Lean AI supply chain solutions, has created the first AI technology specifically designed to operate a shipper’s global supply chain while continuously evaluating and improving its performance. This new technology is now available to the company’s fourth-party logistics (4PL) managed solutions customers. The Lean AI Planner, launched last year, works in conjunction with new Lean AI engineers to build a connected system that uniquely enhances the efficiency of supply chain operations.
Traditional supply chain assessments typically take up to four weeks and often only provide a retrospective review of past events rather than a forward-looking perspective. In contrast, Lean AI engineers can conduct a comprehensive assessment of the entire supply chain in just 25 to 30 minutes, identifying improvement plans before performance is impacted. While Lean AI engineers provide intelligent insights, Lean AI planners manage freight through hundreds of interconnected AI agents, feeding more data back to Lean AI engineers to facilitate smarter system optimization.
Jordan Kass, President of Managed Solutions, stated, “The key to this breakthrough is that it’s a closed-loop AI system. It will run continuously, constantly improving operations as it runs, and self-correcting when problems arise—without alarms or human intervention to detect them first. Lean AI planners handle real-time execution, while Lean AI engineers analyze the results, identify patterns, adjust the logic, and influence future decisions. Just as we initially launched Managed Solutions to break down the barriers between Transportation Management Systems (TMS), third-party logistics (3PL), and fourth-party logistics (4PL) services, this technology completely eliminates the need for standalone supply chain intelligence and coordination tools. This is the solution that companies with complex logistics operations have been dreaming of for decades.”
Currently, this technology autonomously handles 92% of truck, sea, air, and rail freight tasks in fourth-party logistics globally, covering the entire process from order creation to bidding, route planning, delivery, exception handling, and carrier payments.
Kass stated, “This high-end logistics service has historically relied on specialists to manage complexity, make informed day-to-day decisions, and intervene in the event of disruptions. The problem is that talent cannot be scaled indefinitely. We’ve changed that by directly encoding expertise into the technology. Shippers will have a continuous stream of talent and expertise, regardless of available personnel in any time zone or how much shipments grow or surge, and that expertise will be consistently applied to every shipment. This allows their teams and our teams to focus on strategic priorities and drive optimal business outcomes.”
Like all AI, success depends on the data and context the system can access. CH Robinson, with its 450 in-house software engineers and data scientists, has built its proprietary AI context layer by systematically collecting institutional knowledge from workflows and senior freight experts within the company and continuously feeding it into the model.
Kass stated, “Our technology truly understands your supply chain from the inside out because AI fully leverages data from all aspects of your end-to-end transportation, not just isolated parts of the supply chain that isolated tools can see. It also benefits from being trained on the unique contextual information we’ve accumulated while coordinating your freight shipments—including macro and micro details about your goods, operating procedures, every pickup and delivery point, carriers, routes, and risk tolerance. That’s why Lean AI engineers know which improvements are best for you, rather than giving vague or theoretical advice. If you’re an automotive parts manufacturer shipping cross-border to just-in-time assembly lines five days a week, it would never suggest you save costs by switching to shipping once a week.”
CH Robinson’s advanced AI considers more variables than human or conventional software analysis, providing recommendations that are not only more actionable but also prioritized. After product launch, Lean AI engineers were able to identify optimizations and potential cost savings. One early adopter found that switching from a diversified shipping schedule to weekly shipments reduced shipment batches across 20 locations by 17%, saving over $1 million annually. Another customer reduced shipment batches by 81% and saved 40% in costs by reorganizing freight to allow a single pickup to serve three different delivery locations.
In the coming weeks, Lean AI engineers will roll out to more customers and begin evaluating numerous other factors, such as carrier performance. By continuously monitoring carrier behavior across different routes, modes of transport, and customer groups, it will identify early warning signs of declining performance before service disruptions occur and recommend corrective actions.
Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Arun Rajan stated, “Supply chains typically don’t lack information; what they lack is the connection between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing.’ Technologies, independent of or outside the supply chain, can aggregate data, coordinate signals, and provide recommendations, but they must rely on others to execute those signals and understand whether those actions are effective. Our technology fills this gap, providing high-end 24/7 service through an unparalleled unified system.”
About CH ROBINSON
CH Robinson is a global leader in Lean AI Supply Chain. For over a century, businesses around the world have relied on us to reshape the way goods move. Today, as we redefine the future of industries, the same driving force is propelling us toward Building Tomorrow’s Supply Chains, Today™. Trusted by 75,000 customers and 450,000 carriers, we manage an unparalleled 37 million freight orders annually, representing $23 billion in freight value. We deliver tailored solutions globally across full truckload, less-than-truckload, ocean, and air freight. Our unique combination of human insight and Lean AI enables supply chains to operate faster, smarter, and more sustainably. As a responsible global citizen, we are proud to donate millions to causes that matter most to our employees. For more information, please visit chrobinson.com . (Nasdaq: CHRW)
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