In the Trenches: Why Suply Was Built to See What Others Can’t
By Barry Rollins
Founder, Suply
Like many of you, I read Arthur Mesher’s now-legendary takedown of the Gartner echo chamber with a mix of relief and recognition. Relief that someone finally said what so many of us have felt. Recognition that our own journey at Suply has been the opposite of that world: not built in keynote halls, but in the field — alongside exporters losing cargo to smuggling, bad actors, and silent failures.
We didn’t start with AI decks or Gartner badges. We started with problems.
AI Only Where Humans Can’t See the Signal
We use AI—but only when it solves a real-world pain point better than a human can. Like when a container disappears off GPS for six hours in central Chile, then reappears after a light event, a humidity spike, and a cell tower ping from a blacklisted zone. Humans can’t track that pattern consistently across thousands of shipments. Our system can—and flags it instantly.
That’s not hype. That’s life-or-death for the integrity of a cold chain.
Narcotics Risk Doesn’t Look Like a Quadrant
We’ve seen narcotics risk emerge in the quiet places. A reefer unit left running on idle at port for 13 hours longer than usual. A detour through Curacaví when it should’ve gone straight to San Antonio. A late-night door light event 20 km off route. These aren’t on a Gartner quadrant—they’re on our map, in our lat/long logs, in our AI-detected anomalies.
Our intelligence layer doesn’t just watch data. It watches for intent.
Surface What Matters, Suppress the Noise
Anyone can generate alerts. What we’ve built is a system that prioritizes signal. That means knowing when a temperature spike is a normal defrost cycle — and when it’s a potential cover for tampering. It means understanding that a light flash at a low-risk port is probably nothing, but that same flash at midnight, after a route deviation and a powered idle event? That’s a pattern.
Our customers don’t just get data. They get judgment.
Built by Freight People, Not Fantasy Vendors
Suply wasn’t born in a lab. It was built by people who’ve had their cargo delayed, stolen, or rejected. People who know that what you don’t see is what costs you. That’s why our AI isn’t a magic wand—it’s a flashlight in a dark warehouse. It helps shippers see what they’ve never been able to before.
Not a buzzword. A better outcome.
This Isn’t a Rant. It’s a Rallying Call.
We don’t need another “digital twin orchestration suite.” We need smarter visibility. We need systems that reduce loss, speed up claims, and hold the line against increasingly sophisticated tampering.
At Suply, we’re proud to be part of that push. And if you're building for the real world—not the Gartner stage—we’re probably already aligned.
Let’s leave the hype to the hallways. We’ve got work to do.
