Everest Group survey: supply chains are adopting AI faster than they are redesigning operations

A new forklift does not move the racking. Somebody still has to walk the warehouse and decide where the aisles go. In supply chains, AI has arrived before most firms have walked the floor.

The gap comes from Everest Group research released by Lean Solutions Group on October 26, 2026, based on "a survey of more than 200 U.S.-focused senior decisionmakers in transportation, logistics, and other supply chain-intensive industries." Lean Solutions Group sums it up as enterprises "adopting artificial intelligence much faster than they are redesigning operations". The numbers behind that: "69% of organizations have moved beyond isolated AI use cases, yet only 19% have significantly or extensively redesigned workflows to support collaboration between people in the form of experts in the loop and AI. Just 15% report comparable redesign of workforce roles."

The returns are mixed: "Although 84% report or expect meaningful AI value within two years, 30% report returns below expectations and only 24% report returns above expectations."

Lean Solutions Group sells an "Experts in the Loop" model, which it describes as "embedding experienced industry professionals alongside AI-enabled technology and redesigned workflows." A firm that sells people plus AI has released research finding that firms need people plus AI. That does not make the numbers wrong. It does mean reading them knowing who put them out.

Buying the forklift is the easy part. By this survey, most firms have bought it. Far fewer have moved the racking.