FlexChain Holdings’ Adam Basson cautions against over-reliance on AI in supply chains, stressing the need for human strategy.
Many companies lose strategic thinking in logistics management, leading to avoidable overspending on freight.
There’s no such thing as ‘my business is okay even though my supply chain sucks.’ If your supply chain is good, your whole business will do better.
Relying heavily on AI optimization, whose decision making processes we don’t fully understand, requires a strong series of checks and balances. In supply chain, where even the smallest oversights lead to inefficiencies and lost profits, eliminating human logic and strategy in favor of AI can be catastrophic.
Adam Basson, Founder of innovative logistics and supply chain optimization leader FlexChain Holdings, emphasizes that accepting ‘the way it is’ without critical analysis is a common—yet costly—mistake.
A lot at stake: “Freight and shipping for the typical supply chain business is going to be usually in the 15 to 20% of their total revenue. It’s a huge bucket of spend that most businesses are not optimizing.”
Basson argues that overspending on freight isn’t inevitable — it’s often avoidable with smarter, data-driven consolidation. “There’s no such thing as ‘my business is okay even though my supply chain sucks,’” Basson said. “If your supply chain is good, your whole business will do better.”
A crucial cost center: Basson sets the scene with a striking example of how many companies lose strategic thinking in their supply chain, even in their starting days. “Early stage brands will open their first warehouse just where the founder lives. I’ve looked at brands where 80% of their shipments were long distance shipments. That’s millions of dollars, and they just see it as ‘oh well, that’s how much it costs to ship.’”
Basson acknowledges that most ecommerce companies have their sights set on growth, and often are not profitable until they reach a certain size. Their mistake, he explains, is assuming that supply chain optimization can’t start on day one. “Companies often don’t understand that there’s another way when it comes to supply chain.”
Our model is software ‘in the service’, not software as a service. I don’t think anybody wants to buy another tool or do another massive integration.
Data analytics meets operations: Basson highlights the current dissonance between data analysis and execution in logistics, signaling a lack of informed decision making. “Normally these are two sides of the house that don’t really talk to each other. There’s an ethos in supply chain of ‘we gotta get the product moving.’ You’re focusing on driving the car—let the mechanic focus on looking at the engine once a quarter.”
Details matter: FlexChain’s Zone Skipping Solution highlights how innovative shipping optimization lies in the details. From freight consolidation and strategic bulk shipping to third party warehousing and regional carriers, “now it’s all one shipping system and you’re able to eliminate 25%, 30% of your cost. It’s a massive savings opportunity.”
“I try to get a business thinking about shipping in the context of their whole business. What are the easy wins right away versus where do they need to be looking moving forward?”
Software in the service: “I’m not selling a software subscription,” insists Basson. “I’m selling a service. We wrap that service around what you’re doing today—we’ll connect in to get your shipment information and then serve up recommendations, but within your regular.”
The focus is on the customer’s best interest, working to facilitate transparency and informed decision making without disruption. “Our model is software ‘in the service’, not software as a service. I don’t think anybody wants to buy another tool or do another massive integration.”
