FourKites launches Manufacturing Advisory Board

FourKites has announced its third Customer Advisory Board. On this occasion, it has brought together leaders from the manufacturing sector to create its Manufacturing Customer Advisory Board. The announcement follows the two advisory boards that it created last year. The first was the Food and Beverage Customer Advisory Board, and the second was the Consumer Packaged Goods Advisory Board.

The Manufacturing Advisory Board will help FourKites influence and drive strategic product innovation for the manufacturing sector. It will also help to strengthen the relationship with key clients, those who have a seat at the table. The board will consist of eight supply chain leaders from manufacturing companies. The board will discuss product development, industry challenges and emerging opportunities with FourKites.

Mathew Elenjickal, FourKites Founder and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Manufacturing supply chains require precision and agility to support global production networks. By partnering with manufacturing executives who understand the demands of synchronizing raw materials, finished goods and complex logistics networks, we can build solutions that drive operational excellence.”

FourKites has appointed Brad Blizzard, former Vice President of Logistics and Product Delivery at Bridgestone Americas, to serve as chairperson of the Manufacturing Customer Advisory Board.

Blizzard commented, “Manufacturing leaders need technology that adapts to their operational reality, whether managing just-in-time delivery for production lines or coordinating global distribution networks. This advisory board will help ensure FourKites continues developing capabilities that solve the real challenges manufacturers face every day.”

Who is on the new board?

The board members have over 150 years of experience in the supply chains of manufacturing firms. FourKites hopes to provide strategic guidance for its product within the sector.

They will help provide intelligence around emerging challenges and opportunities, market validation of requirements and use cases, best practices on implementation and adoption, and strategic direction through collaborative feedback. What isn’t clear is the frequency of meetings. The members of the Manufacturing CAB include:

• Brad Blizzard — Chairperson and former Bridgestone Americas, VP, Logistics and Product Delivery (retired) (US-based, with at least 15 years of experience in supply chain)
• Bart Verbeke — First Solar, Head of Global Logistics (US-based, with at least 28 years of experience in supply chain)
• Eric Zillig — HNI Corp., VP of Distribution & Logistics (US-based with at least 25 years of experience in supply chain)
• Jeff Dudzik — Milwaukee Tool, VP, Supply Chain Transportation (US-based, with at least 23 years of experience in supply chain)
• Kris Wilson — Ardagh, SVP, Global Chief Logistics Officer, (US-based, with at least 21 years of experience in supply chain)
• Punit Menon — Medtronic, VP, Global Distribution, Logistics & Trade, (US-based, with at least 21 years of experience in supply chain)
• Scott Campbell — LyondellBasell, VP, Global Supply Chain, (US-based, with at least 9 years of experience in supply chain)
• Tom France — Trane Technologies, VP of Global Integrated Supply Chain, (US-based, with at least 18 years of experience in supply chain)

What is perhaps disappointing about the makeup of this board is the lack of international members, with no representatives from Europe or Asia, who might shed light on regional-specific challenges and opportunities for Fourkites.

FourKites listens and learns to drive innovation

As FourKites continues to create these boards, it is not the only source of information around product innovation. It reported that 90% of companies that actively use the FourKites app share new ideas on the IdeaExchange platform. FourKites has reviewed all of these requests and added 25% to the product roadmap, resulting in 250 new features.

The Manufacturing CAB will no doubt now help FourKites prioritise some of these ideas and help identify those that could make the biggest difference to manufacturers.

FourKites continues to drive innovation across its portfolio. Its most recent major innovation was the creation of the FourKites Intelligent Control Tower which now hosts several Agentic AI agents that will handle task across a multiple of functional areas. The agents already include:

• Tracy helps supply chain workers track and trace,
• Sam is a supply chain collaboration tool that helps onboard suppliers through that process,
• Alan is a scheduling agent,
• Polly, a Document Compliance Coordinator,
• Cassie, AI-Powered Customer Service.

Justin Carder, Logistics Operations Lead at First Solar, commented, “FourKites allows us to scale effortlessly to support increasing shipment volumes without proportional headcount increases. This scalability, combined with our improved cost metrics and working capital management, positions First Solar with significant competitive advantages.”

Enterprise Times: What does this mean?

FourKites continues to launch Customer Advisory Boards. These will provide FourKites with great insights over the coming months. However, should it have included representatives from outside of the United States?

The makeup of the board may reflect its customer base; however, if it intends to expand its footprint faster outside of North America, its CABs should better represent the regions. If the issue is logistical, then it might want to consider a regional Customer Advisory Board, perhaps one for EMEA and one for APAC.

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