Freight News, IT, Logistics


FourKites’ new staff members work around the clock

[ February 13, 2025   //   ]

Supply chain visibility firm FourKites has welcomed two new members of staff who have no need for coffee breaks, lunch breaks, annual holidays or even sleep.

Tracy and Sam are the first digital ‘workers’ in a new system of AI agents for supply chain orchestration. It says it marks a fundamental shift from software-as-a-service to service-as-software, where AI agents don’t just assist human workers but autonomously perform complex supply chain workflows.

FourKites’ Digital Workforce operates 24/7, and will help FourKites teams increase shipment handling capacity by 40% and accurately automating up to 80% of routine tasks. Through continuous learning and collaboration, these digital workers maintain superior service levels while taking autonomous action on highly specialised tasks, freeing up human workers to focus on high-impact exceptions and decisions.

FourKites says that track and trace teams can be overwhelmed with manually checking carrier updates, responding to stakeholder inquiries and managing exceptions across systems — and, despite this constant effort, they struggle to maintain accurate, real-time insights.

Tracy (pictured left, presumably) empowers track and trace teams to do more by providing 24/7 automation of repetitive tasks at scale. Unlike generic AI assistants or chatbots, she brings deep domain expertise and contextual understanding to complex supply chain workflows that previously required human judgment as well as automatically responding to shipment inquiries, mitigating shipment exceptions and keeping data accurate across systems.

The Digital Workforce is one of three components of FourKites’ recently announced Intelligent Control Tower, which includes a comprehensive network of real-time supply chain data and continuously updated digital twins to bring visibility into real-world operations. Working in concert, the digital workers turn real-time supply chain data into automated execution. Tracy and Sam are the first of several digital workers that FourKites will bring to market.

Unilever senior logistics manager, Shwetha Balagali, said: “Co-innovating and implementing the digital worker, Tracy, has helped Unilever teams in the US make our supply chain management more efficient. Within four weeks, we observed notable improvements to exception management and tracking quality. Tracy provides useful information and streamlines processes for our teams by proactively identifying risks, coordinating with carriers, and taking immediate action. This allows our people to focus on strategic initiatives.”