Latest news with #Orchestro.AI
USA Today
4 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Last Mile Solutions ("LMS") and Orchestro.AI Partner to Power Smarter E-Commerce Delivery Networks
Last Mile Solutions (LMS), a high-performance parcel carrier designed for e-commerce, and a logistics intelligence platform transforming delivery decision-making, today announced a strategic partnership to build smarter, more adaptive shipping infrastructure for the modern commerce economy. LMS operates a flexible, California-compliant logistics network serving high-growth sectors including meal kits, fresh produce, and traditional e-commerce. With consistent next-day service, LMS meets the rising demand for precision, speed, and regulatory alignment in complex urban, suburban, and rural environments across the U.S. Through this partnership, LMS will embed Orchestro's intelligence layer into its operations – enhancing network planning, market responsiveness, and decision velocity. Orchestro will also enable integration into third-party systems – including WMS, TMS, OMS, and CRM platforms – to streamline data exchange and execution across the supply chain. The platform's predictive capabilities allow LMS to adjust delivery operations based on live weather patterns, traffic disruptions, and localized risk signals such as theft or social unrest. These signals power near real-time communications with customers and help shippers reduce losses tied to delay, damage, and package theft. The partnership enables LMS delivery stations to move beyond static dashboards and interact directly with their operational data – using conversational AI agents and augmented intelligence to make faster, smarter decisions in real time. Whether resolving a delivery exception or rerouting a driver, these tools bring intelligence to the edge of the network, where timing and context matter most. 'LMS delivers where legacy systems fall short – in sectors that demand both speed and precision,' said Doug Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder of Last Mile Solutions. 'This partnership gives us the visibility and intelligence we need to act decisively – while remaining committed to operational excellence and customer trust.' Together, the companies will deploy solutions that help LMS grow its customer base, optimize delivery performance, and streamline operations across high-volume markets. The partnership also supports LMS's expansion into a nationwide delivery network by orchestrating seamless collaboration with national and regional carrier partners – delivering consistent service, intelligence, and value at scale. 'We are architecting a new era of logistics – one where intelligence moves with the network,' said Shekar Natarajan, Founder and CEO of 'By partnering with carriers purpose-built for e-commerce, like LMS, we're transforming how delivery happens at the edge: dynamic, data-driven, and tuned for the speed of modern demand.' About Last Mile Solutions LMS is a California-based parcel carrier built for the demands of modern commerce. LMS Core: LMS's proprietary next-day delivery network powered by our professional, uniformed, background-checked drivers in commercial delivery vehicles – faster delivery, better service, lower cost. LMS Reach: LMS's network of carrier partners, complementing LMS's Core network to enable fast, cost-effective delivery to 100% of zip codes in the continental U.S. LMS Lift: Revolutionary middle mile platform, enabling 2-day delivery to over 70% of the US population at rates cheaper than traditional 5-8-day ground competition. LMS combines speed, regulatory compliance, and operational transparency across a flexible last mile delivery network. For media inquiries, please contact: Shekar Natarajan shekar@ About is a logistics intelligence platform that turns shipping data, carrier agreements, and fulfillment workflows into real-time decisions. Its AI-driven tools help carriers, shippers, and store networks plan smarter, operate faster, and adapt dynamically to an evolving delivery landscape. SOURCE: View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Orchestro.AI and PackageHub(R) Forge Strategic Partnership to Rewire Ecommerce Returns and Unlock the Last Mile
DALLAS, TX / / June 24, 2025 / E-commerce returns are broken: expensive for merchants, frustrating for consumers, and riddled with inefficiencies that no one owns. Today, the leader in intelligent decision systems for logistics and supply chains, announces a strategic partnership with PackageHub Business Centers® (PBC), the largest multi-carrier retail shipping network in the U.S., to transform reverse logistics at scale. Together, the companies are building a smarter, more profitable, and consumer-friendly returns infrastructure - blending AI-powered decision intelligence with over 4,600 retail drop-off points covering 77% of U.S. e-commerce consumers. "We're building a returns network that listens, learns, and acts - one that transforms the chaos of ecommerce returns into coordinated intelligence," said Shekar Natarajan, CEO of "What if your network could understand intent - not just scan a label - and instantly orchestrate the best path forward? That's what Orchestro enables. We're not just adding visibility; we're giving the parcel network a mind of its own - turning fragmented returns into a system that feels alive, adaptive, and almost effortless. For merchants, this means protecting the hard-won customer relationship, recovering margin, and delivering an experience that's as smart as the sale itself." Returns, Reimagined for Modern Ecommerce PackageHub® operates the largest carrier-agnostic returns network in the U.S., with more than 1,200 active franchises and access to over 3,400 additional drop-off locations. This gives brands unprecedented reach - rivaling USPS, UPS, and FedEx - with greater flexibility, control, and cost efficiency. For merchants, this means: - Branded, Amazon-grade return experiences - without the CapEx - Lower cost-to-serve through volume consolidation and smart routing - Flexibility to use any carrier, serve any brand, and meet any customer at scale This infrastructure also empowers regional carriers to compete nationally - capturing shared returns volume and enabling local service excellence with national density. "Merchants spend a fortune acquiring a customer - and a single bad return experience can lose them for good," said Greg Ojeda, Chief Product & Strategy Officer at PackageHub®. "That's why we're focused on turning returns from a churn risk into a loyalty driver. Orchestro gives us the intelligence layer to surface cost drivers, fight fraud, and deliver a smooth, branded experience at scale - exactly where our network thrives. As complexity grows inside stores, it's critical that we protect the experience of both customers and employees. AI gives us the opportunity to reduce friction, automate the messy parts, and create a simpler, more rewarding retail environment for everyone involved." Scale of the Opportunity - and the Urgency - Global ecommerce is projected to reach $6.9 trillion in 2025 - U.S. returns surpassed $890 billion in 2024, with ecommerce return rates over 17% - More than 4 billion parcels are returned annually - 60% of customers say that easy returns directly influence brand loyalty Amazon has set the standard. Everyone else is racing to catch up - and many are bleeding margin trying. Built for Margin, Loyalty, and Operational Edge powers the intelligence layer that makes returns profitable at scale: - Identifies hidden cost drivers across the reverse chain - Detects and prevents fraud at the point of return - Benchmarks and improves carrier and logistics partner performance - Simulates return paths to optimize speed, cost, and convenience Orchestro's platform acts as the digital thread weaving together every step of the reverse journey - from return label creation to drop-off, routing, processing, and refund. This visibility allows brands to treat returns not as isolated transactions, but as end-to-end, data-rich events that inform inventory, pricing, and customer strategy. All without disrupting existing workflows. The platform integrates seamlessly with a brand's systems, carriers, and networks - making every return a data-driven opportunity, not a liability. Simulate. Optimize. Orchestrate. With Orchestro, brands can test carrier mix, regional strategies, and return models before deploying anything. No more guesswork. No more rip-and-replace. Just orchestrated outcomes. Strategic Highlights of the Partnership - Returns Infrastructure at Scale - Over 4,600 drop-off locations and 77% e-commerce consumer coverage - AI-Powered Optimization - Real-time insight, routing, and performance benchmarking - Merchant-Centric Value - Reduced friction, recovered margin, smarter decisions - Empowering Regional Carriers - Creating volume density to rival national incumbents This isn't just a tech partnership - it's a new reverse logistics operating system. Together, Orchestro and PackageHub® are transforming one of ecommerce's most overlooked and costly workflows into a high-leverage engine for loyalty, margin, and growth. Contact Interested brands can reach out at to schedule a demo and explore partnership opportunities. For media inquiries, please contact:Shekar Natarajanshekar@ SOURCE: View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire
Forbes
29-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Logistics: Still Waiting For Its Internet Moment
Shekar Natarajan is the founder and CEO of The first time I saw the internet in action, I remember thinking: this will change everything. Not because of the websites or the browsers, but because it erased distance. It gave people the ability to collaborate across borders, build things faster and operate with a kind of collective visibility that simply hadn't existed before. And yet, in today's logistics, an industry that quite literally moves the world, we're still working like it's 1995. We're in a pre-internet moment, waiting for the breakthrough that brings it all together. Before the web, networks were closed. Big institutions laid down their own infrastructure and everything operated in silos. Then came shared protocols. HTTP and TCP/IP turned those private islands into a global superhighway. Suddenly, innovation exploded. Logistics today looks a lot like computing before that shift. It's centralized, fragmented and opaque. The multinationals have sophisticated routing systems and control towers, while the rest of the world cobbles together operations using WhatsApp and spreadsheets, making miracles happen with duct tape and intuition. If you're a small operator with two trucks, you're flying blind. And yet, you're expected to compete in a world that demands Amazon-level speed and precision. That's not just unfair—it's unsustainable. I've worked in large distribution centers where the technology is cutting-edge—but the magic still comes from people. It's the overnight driver who knows which back road stays open when a port closes, or the dispatcher who reroutes a critical shipment in the middle of the night, or the frontline trainer who teaches with empathy while managing chaos. In India, I saw this kind of improvisation everywhere growing up. The guy with the rickshaw giving rides to ten strangers before Lyft and Uber were ever imagined. The dabbawalas of Mumbai delivering tens of thousands of lunchboxes every day without FedEx or UPS—all coordinated by humans, not dashboards. The biggest misconception in logistics is that centralization equals efficiency. In reality, the smartest systems are decentralized. They tap into many minds, many contexts and many data points. A driver in Tanzania knows which bridge will flood first. A warehouse supervisor in Manila knows when a container will get stuck at customs. That kind of knowledge doesn't sit in the cloud—it walks around in safety vests and work boots. Another word for this kind of tribal knowledge is brilliance. But brilliance hidden in silos doesn't scale. It dies in isolation. The future of logistics isn't another proprietary system. It's a layer of open, interoperable infrastructure that anyone anywhere can plug into. Think of it as a digital backbone that lets a warehouse manager in Bihar operate with the same intelligence as a billion-dollar company. I'm talking about a platform where intelligence is shared, not hoarded, where frontline knowledge becomes part of the system and where context matters as much as code. This idea is anchored on three pillars: angels, algorithms and access. • Angels: The people on the ground—drivers, warehouse workers, dispatchers—whose decisions, instincts and experience hold the system together. • Algorithms: The tech that enhances (not replaces) people, by reducing stress, predicting risks and offering foresight (not just alerts). • Access: The need to make logistics tech available throughout the system. A small operator should be able to join a live network in minutes, not after a six-month contract negotiation. When logistics fail, the consequences cascade. Delays don't just slow down businesses, they cut into the incomes of small traders, spike prices for remote consumers and break the backs of people already operating at the edge. I left a corporate role not because I lacked opportunity—but because I couldn't unsee the human cost of broken systems—the talent going unnoticed, effort unrewarded and the human potential locked behind infrastructure gates. Logistics is not just about faster deliveries or smoother operations. It's about leveling the playing field so that someone in a small village has the same opportunity to move goods as someone in Silicon Valley. When the internet came, it didn't just connect computers. It empowered a generation of builders. Apple, Google, Uber—they didn't build the internet. They built on the internet. That's what logistics needs now: a public infrastructure that is open, participatory and just. Because logistics doesn't just move boxes. It moves lives. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
