Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY
Guest: Fab Brasca of Kinaxis on Who Is Leading in AI Adoption; The Top Five Freight Bottlenecks; A New Data Threat Is Lurking
Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY
•February 20, 2026•0 min
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Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY•Feb 20, 2026
Why It Matters
AI acceleration, freight congestion, and quantum‑ready cyber threats each demand immediate strategic action for resilient, competitive supply chains.
Key Takeaways
- •Kinaxis highlights rapid AI integration in supply chains
- •Chicago identified as nation's worst freight bottleneck
- •Quantum computing threatens encrypted data harvested today
- •Companies urged to balance AI speed with strategic planning
- •Proactive cybersecurity needed against future quantum attacks
Pulse Analysis
Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept for supply chain leaders; it is a practical tool delivering predictive analytics, demand sensing, and automated decision‑making. Companies that embed AI early, like Kinaxis, gain visibility across tiers, reduce inventory waste, and accelerate response to market shifts. However, the rush to adopt must be tempered with governance frameworks to avoid premature deployments that could create data silos or over‑reliance on opaque models. Balancing speed with strategic oversight ensures AI delivers measurable ROI without compromising operational integrity.
Freight congestion remains a critical choke point for U.S. logistics, with the American Transportation Research Institute pinpointing Chicago as the top bottleneck. The city’s dense intermodal hubs and aging infrastructure cause delays that ripple through national supply chains, inflating costs and eroding service levels. Stakeholders are urged to invest in infrastructure upgrades, leverage real‑time traffic analytics, and explore alternative routing to mitigate the impact of such bottlenecks. Addressing these physical constraints is essential for maintaining the flow of goods in an increasingly time‑sensitive market.
Meanwhile, a new cyber threat looms as quantum computing matures. Threat actors are already harvesting encrypted corporate data, banking on future quantum capabilities to break current cryptographic standards. This forward‑looking attack vector forces organizations to adopt quantum‑resistant encryption and implement data‑centric security architectures today. Proactive measures, such as transitioning to lattice‑based algorithms and continuous key rotation, can safeguard sensitive information against decryption once quantum processors become viable, preserving trust and compliance across the supply chain ecosystem.
Episode Description
Our guest on this week's episode is Fab Brasca, senior vice president of market strategy at Kinaxis. The use of artificial intelligence is growing and its potential impacts on supply chains might be practically limitless. But how fast should companies move on adopting these technologies – and who is way ahead of the pack in implementing AI? Ben Ames answers these questions with today’s guest.
Our supply chains are supposed to be in motion to be efficient, yet a lot of the time our freight is stuck in neutral due to road congestion. The American Transportation Research Institute published its annual ranking of the country’s worst freight bottlenecks this week. Find out where the worst bottleneck in America is snarling traffic.
This week we learned about a new cybersecurity threat to worry about, and this comes from a brand new technology called quantum computing. In fact, this technology is no new that it’s really still in development, not in the markets yet. But that isn’t stopping hackers from using it already, as cyber-adversaries are harvesting companies’ encrypted data now even though they can’t open those files, because they plan to decrypt it on a future date, once quantum computing becomes powerful enough
Supply Chain Xchange also offers a podcast series called Supply Chain in the Fast Lane. It is co-produced with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. The latest series is now available on Top Threats to our Supply Chains. It covers topics including Geopolitical Risks, Economic Instability, Cybersecurity Risks, Threats to energy and electric grids; Supplier Risks, and Transportation Disruptions Go to your favorite podcast platform to subscribe and to listen to past and future episodes. The podcast is also available at www.thescxchange.com.
Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:
Kinaxis
Chicago is home to the nation’s top freight bottleneck
Report: Hackers collect data today and will crack it tomorrow with quantum tech
Visit DC Velocity
Visit Supply Chain Xchange
Listen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Xchange's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcast
Send feedback about this podcast to podcast@agilebme.com
This podcast episode is sponsored by: Werner
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