The Digital Executive
Ashfaque Chowdhury: The Next Generation of Smart Logistics | Ep 1245
07 May 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Corozant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive podcast. Do you work in emerging tech, working on something innovative, maybe an entrepreneur? Apply to be a guest at www.corozant.com forward slash brand. Welcome to the Digital Executive. Today's guest is Ashfaq Chaudhry.
Ashfaqs Chaudhry is the chief executive officer of Exxon, bringing over two decades of experience in scaling global supply chain operations. His leadership is defined by driving transformative growth and innovation for some of the world's most recognized brands. Previously, Dr. Chaudhry was the CEO of North America for Siva Logistics.
Before that, as president of XPO Logistics, supply chain business in the Americas and Asia-Pacific,
Chapter 2: What experiences shaped Ashfaque Chowdhury's journey in logistics?
He spearheaded the integration of multiple acquisitions, transforming the business into the world's second largest contract logistics provider. At XPO, he oversaw a network of over 400 locations and 32,000 employees, achieving industry-leading growth while cultivating an award-winning employee-centric culture. An innovator in the field, he holds seven patents in supply chain technology.
Well, good afternoon, Ashfa. Welcome to the show. Welcome, Brian. Looking forward to talking with you today. Absolutely, my friend. I appreciate it.
Chapter 3: What problems in traditional logistics does Exol aim to solve?
And especially making the time. I know there's a lot of juggling of calendars and time zones. You're in Boston. I'm in Kansas City. So, again, really appreciate you making the time today. And Ashfaq, if I could, I'm going to jump into your first question. You've spent over two decades scaling global supply chain operations, including leadership roles at Siva Logistics and XPO.
What key experiences shaped your journey to becoming the CEO of EXO?
Well, I've had the good fortune to be involved in the logistics industry for a couple of decades here.
Chapter 4: How does Exol's platform integrate robotics and AI for logistics?
And over the years, I've always been fascinated by the different types of supply chains and the different ways we have evolved how we can meet customers' needs better and how automation and robotics has shaped that. So both at XPO and at SIVA.
I have had the background of looking at hundreds of customer supply chains, which is very helpful as you start to build a robotic logistics platform like we're doing at Exxon and a lot of exposure to the different types of automation and robotics as it has evolved over the last decade or two.
Thank you. I appreciate your fascination or curiosity with supply chain over the years. I know you've got a lot of experience in the automation, innovation, robotics area, but you are always looking to make the world a better place, providing the more efficient supply chain and improving that customer experience. So I do appreciate your insights there.
And Ashfaq, Exel is positioning itself as a robotics logistic platform.
Chapter 5: How does automation impact the economics of fulfillment?
What problem in traditional logistics were you most determined to solve with this model?
Well, I think most companies know that they need to use automation as the demands for complexity and cost continues to rise in their supply chain. But very few companies have the skill, the knowledge, sometimes the funding necessary to really develop and take advantage of the robotics and AI related advancements that are happening.
What Excel is doing is essentially providing that company a pathway to improve their supply chain, make it world-class by adopting our platform and being able to take advantage of robotics and AI.
Chapter 6: What challenges do companies face with labor shortages in logistics?
That's awesome. And you do quite a bit in this space. Obviously, I feel like you work on that cutting edge to improve that customer experience we talked about. But providing that pathway to world class supply chain for your customers is obviously number one priority in your book. And I just really appreciate that we're bringing more automation to this process.
Supply chain can be fragile sometimes, can be slow and very inefficient, but you're bringing a lot of the innovation to that market. Ashfaq, your platform combines robotics, AI native software and transportation into a single offering. How does this integrated approach change the economics and scalability of fulfillment?
Chapter 7: How will logistics evolve to resemble cloud computing?
Robotics platforms that are available today operate economically and operates well at a large scale. And so by having a platform that efficiency that comes with automation, the efficiency that comes with scale is now available to customers.
They no longer need to have a very significant upfront capital if people wanted to build it themselves or get into a very long-term rigid contract, which as business changes or grows or how the evolution of somebody's business changes, that locked in infrastructure sometimes does not fit.
So what we provide companies is the flexibility to grow and to very quickly adopt the automation that I think a lot of companies want. Finally, one of the other aspects of this platform is as continued complexity is coming into the supply chain, for example, as new channels emerge, companies are now suddenly finding themselves having to fulfill from TikTok, for example.
Chapter 8: What role will Exol play in shaping the future of global commerce?
A platform like ours enables them to continue to adopt those channels very easily, quickly.
Thank you. Really appreciate that. And customers, they always want to improve. They always want to, whenever they can, reduce that cost. And you're bringing that efficiency at scale, which is hard to do for these customers, especially if they're trying to do it themselves, as you mentioned.
But you provide that flexibility to grow so that they can adopt that technology that they need to, again, be more efficient and turn things around. Nowadays in supply chain age, when it's with rising energy costs, it's hard to really... make a decent margin on this. So I appreciate what you're doing.
And Ashfaq, as we look ahead to the future, how do you see AI, robotics and logistic infrastructure evolving over the next decade? And what role will XO play in shaping the future of global commerce?
Over the next few years, I think the logistics business will start looking more like cloud computing. The best-run companies will stop asking whether they need to own every piece of infrastructure themselves and instead ask how to access the best infrastructure with the most control, visibility, and flexibility that enables them to make their supply chain better and grow the business.
Enabling is the ability for companies to manage their business with less reliance on labor. And as you know, labor and availability of labor is a major challenge and a growing challenge in many people, in many supply chains today. And as time grows, passes, I think it's going to become more difficult to scale a manual model. So some degree of automation is going to be necessary.
So I think what Exxon will enable companies to do is be able to navigate the future of being able to enable robotics and AI in their supply chain and continue to leverage automation to grow their business.
Thank you. And I certainly appreciate you highlighting the labor part of it. It's a big cost, a big challenge. We're going to have to have some degree of automation to scale. Manually scaling just is not. It's cost prohibitive. And I understand there's a sensitive topic when you're talking humans versus machines, but I appreciate you highlighting that. But I like your note on the future.
You referenced logistics will start to run or look like cloud computing, which I thought was interesting. But we do need to bring some of that to mainstream as far as what we need to do to start innovating to give customers more control and flexibility in this supply chain. So I appreciate that. And Ashfaq, it was such a pleasure having you on today.
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