Supply chain execs see big future for agentic AI in transportation
A next-gen artificial intelligence technology holds the potential to transform transportation management.
Supply chain commerce solution provider Manhattan Associates recently surveyed 1,450 global senior supply chain decision-makers about a number of transportation management topics, including the growing role of agentic AI.
Six-in-10 (61%) respondents anticipate fully autonomous agentic AI capable of acting independently to achieve specific goals within the next five years. However, only 37% have deeply integrated AI and machine learning in their transportation management systems.
Although almost half (48%) of respondents said that they already feel very prepared for autonomous transportation management agents by 2030, virtually all (99%) reported facing or are expecting to face hurdles. Top agentic AI concerns in transportation management include skill shortages (49%), integration difficulties (44%) and data quality and availability issues (44%).
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Sustainability compliance
Seven-in-10 (69%) respondents say sustainability is either a global mandate or an area of significant pressure, with 62% already implementing corporate sustainability directive reporting.
Other findings
- Almost half (48%) of respondents spend more than 10% of their transportation logistics budget on errors and disruptions.
- Close to eight-in-10 (78%) view transportation management as a strategic imperative for success, and this figure rises to 86% by 2030.
- Half report challenges in proactively rerouting shipments, while 49% struggle with optimizing dock and warehouse labor scheduling.
- More than eight-in-10 (82%) express strong confidence that advances in planning, forecasting and modelling will reduce freight costs by at least 5% within the next five years.
- One-in-three (34%) say they’ve factored sustainability into operational planning and 30% into procurement decisions; while 31% offer carbon-friendly fuel solutions.
- Six-in-10 have integrated their transportation management systems with sales and operations planning systems, and 56% are utilizing predictive analytics or AI (56%).
- Six-in-10 say that enhancing operational visibility in transportation management leads to greater customer satisfaction through more accurate and timely updates, while 50% cite reductions in transportation costs as a key benefit of increased operational visibility.
- Fewer than four-in-10 are utilizing historical trend analysis (38%), automated booking and tendering (36%), or real-time demand sensing (35%) in the transportation management activities.
"Transportation is the backbone of supply chains, essential to ensuring goods are delivered on time to meet customer expectations," said Bryant Smith, director, transportation management systems (TMS) at Manhattan Associates. "Yet, managing transportation is becoming increasingly complex, pressured by demands on shorter fulfilment times, capacity and cost efficiencies, tighter sustainability regulations and the growing necessity for access to end-to-end visibility across all operations."
On behalf of Manhattan Associates, Vanson Bourne surveyed 1,450 senior decision makers within the manufacturing, retail, wholesale, consumer goods, grocery and food & beverage sectors having responsibility for or knowledge of their organization’s transportation management operations. The survey interviewed respondents from North America, Latin America, Europe and Australia. All respondents came from organizations with at least $750 million in global annual revenue.
