From Inbox to Action: How Supply Chains Are Automating the Mess Away

In this episode of Supply Chain Now, hosts Scott W. Luton and Kevin L. Jackson sit down with Antonio Bustamante, CEO of bem, to explore how automation is reshaping the supply chain landscape in 2025. Together, they unpack the hidden costs of manual workflows, the pitfalls of outdated systems, and the massive opportunity in eliminating data friction.

Antonio shares how bem helps teams move away from time-consuming email and PDF-based processes toward self-healing, AI-powered systems that learn from every operator input. He discusses why the freight world is especially burdened by unstructured data, and how automation can free up teams to focus on serving customers, not fixing typos.

The conversation also covers the limitations of RPA and email triage, the challenge of achieving interoperability across legacy systems, and why meeting operators where they are (even if that means faxes and handwritten notes) is key to meaningful digital transformation. Plus, Antonio offers a peek at bem’s upcoming Command Center, a tool that gives ops teams the power to correct, route, and improve workflows without relying on engineering.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Intro

(03:49) The importance of automation in supply chain

(06:57) Challenges of manual data entry

(13:47) Unstructured data in supply chain

(21:06) The role of communication in logistics

(22:34) Understanding multimodal communication

(23:45) Challenges with RPA and email triage

(24:44) Embracing real-world data

(27:09) The role of handwritten notes

(27:49) BIM's impact on manual processing

(30:39) Introducing the command center

(40:08) Composable infrastructure

Additional Links & Resources:

• Learn more about bem: https://blog.bem.ai/ 
• Connect with Antonio Bustamante: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abmirayo/ 
• Loop automates data transformation at scale for new clients with bem: https://www.bem.ai/customer-stories/loop-automates-data-transformation-at-scale-for-new-clients-with-bem
• The Supply Chain Back Office Is Broken: https://lp.supplychainnow.com/bem
• For more content with bem and Supply Chain Now, check out the bem Campaign Landing Page: https://supplychainnow.com/bem
• Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com 
• Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now  
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