Todd Jensen

Uncertainty Is the New Baseline At Manifest 2026, Scott Luton spoke with Romain Moulin, CEO and co-founder of Exotec, to discuss how warehouse automation is evolving in an era defined by volatility. “The big trend of last year was uncertainty,” Romain said, reflecting on 2025’s tariffs, economic tensions, and shifting trade dynamics. “Anything that would be done needed to deal with uncertainty.” Rather than waiting for stability, companies are designing operations that assume change is constant. “Anything that is going on now must be projects that are able to reorganize themselves,” he explained. Warehouses must be robust, agile and flexible as to whatever the next disruption brings.   From Conveyors to Configurable Robotics Exotec is known for inventing 3D warehouse robots (Skypods) that move across the floor and climb racks up to 14 meters (46 feet) to retrieve totes and deliver them to operators. But beyond the visual wow factor, the real transformation is simplification. “The time of bespoke complex warehouses tailored to a very specific need is over,” Romain said. Customers are moving toward more generic, adaptable warehouses. Exotec replaces hardware complexity with intelligent software. “We don’t program the solution,” he noted. “We let the software find the best…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Dr. Johannes Hangl with e2open   AI is no longer an experiment in global trade compliance. It’s already being applied in product classification, document-to-declaration workflows, risk targeting, and sanctions screening. At the same time, regulators and customs authorities are adopting AI themselves. This is raising expectations for data quality, transparency, and governance across the entire trade ecosystem. With the EU AI Act set to apply from August 2026, companies that have not yet implemented human-in-the-loop controls, drift monitoring, and defensible audit trails are running out of time to close the gap.   Where AI is already adding real value today: HS and ECN classification   Product classification has become one of the most practical AI use cases. Modern tools can now suggest harmonized system (HS/ HTS) and export control (ECCN) codes, explain the rationale, and attach confidence scores and audit metadata to each decision. This direction mirrors what customs authorities are doing. Administrations such as German Customs have discussed using machine learning to improve targeting and risk detection. It appears both sides of the border are moving toward data-driven decision support. AI does not remove accountability. It changes how accountability is exercised.   Practical…