Tracking has been solved. Most companies know when their shipments are arriving, down to the window. FourKites' Aleen John argues in
Logistics IT that the next place value gets captured (or lost) is inside the yard. Most yards still run on disconnected systems, which means "what looks like a facility problem behaves like a supply chain problem."
When the yard runs slowly, the impact doesn't stay there. A slow yard means warehouses wait on inventory fifty feet from the dock and outbound shipments miss their windows. Detention and overtime pile up across budgets. When you’re operating 40+ sites, that's a significant amount of money.
More tracking won't fix this. The value comes from connecting yard automation to the shipment data already flowing in from outside the fence. A standalone yard management system can replace a clipboard. But when you connect to carrier locations, shipment status, and order priorities, it helps people make decisions at the pace the operation moves.
At Manifest 2026, FourKites staged three courtroom-style debates on AI in supply chain. In the first trial, 90% of the audience voted that AI should act autonomously on routine decisions, 
A major winter storm brought North American freight to a near standstill. 
