Is This Logistics Company a 'Stealth AI Play'? Its CEO Weighs In.
Summary
Company Overview: CH Robinson is a global logistics platform, the largest of its kind, serving over 83,000 customers and 450,000 contract carriers, focusing on efficient goods movement through technology and people.
Business Model: The company operates an asset-light, two-sided marketplace, connecting shippers with carriers to provide dynamic pricing and efficient logistics solutions globally.
Supply Chain Dynamics: Post-COVID, the logistics industry is adjusting to balance capacity and demand, with expectations for normalization around 2026, driven by sectors like retail, housing, and manufacturing.
Technological Advancements: CH Robinson is leveraging AI to enhance productivity, reduce expenses, and expand margins, positioning itself as an "undervalued industrial AI play" within the logistics sector.
Market Challenges: The company is navigating a prolonged freight recession, focusing on core modes like ocean, air, truckload, and less than truckload, while adapting to shifts in global trade patterns.
Strategic Focus: CEO Dave Boseman emphasizes a transformation strategy involving a lean operating model, superior technology, and leveraging human capital to create a competitive advantage.
Global Trade and Regulation: The company advocates for consistent global trade agreements to reduce uncertainty and facilitate smoother operations, which could positively impact their business and stock performance.
Future Outlook: Despite current market challenges, CH Robinson is poised to capitalize on a rebound in the logistics sector, driven by its technological capabilities and strategic positioning.
Transcript
[Music] Hello everyone and welcome to At Barons. I'm Andy Stur and welcome to our guest Dave Boseman, CEO of CH Robinson. Dave, great to see you. Thanks for being here. >> Good seeing you, Andy. Thanks for having me. >> So, it's a freight and logistics company, publicly traded. But what exactly does the company do, Dave? Well, CH Robinson is really a global logistics platform. In fact, the largest global logistics platform. We serve over 83,000 customers. Uh also 450,000 contract carriers. Uh in a sense, at our core, we really move the all the goods to power daily life is uh is what we do. What separates us though, we do it at uh scale with technology uh and people. Uh, and we're really proud about that. >> So, how does the business model work? I mean, do you own the trucks and the ships and the planes? It's your brand name on them. It's a contract sort of business. How does it work? >> Yeah, Andy, it's a two play two-sided marketplace. So, we're asset light. Uh what we do is uh we go out for our customers or shippers uh and we get them the best dynamic pricing that they need and connect uh them with carriers to move their goods around the globe. And for carriers, we provide them with the opportunity of shippers. Uh and so it it works out both ways. We're in the middle. we broker um that that arrangement of moving those goods um for the best price and and we do that at at the most efficient way possible um within the logistics uh world and that's how we and that's how we we operate. >> And so are your customers some of the big brand name companies in the US and globally as well as the the shipping companies? >> Absolutely. We have with 83,000 customers, we have a cross-section of uh of all of global society in a sense from the very large strategic big box customers that you can think of to say Andy and Dave's transmissions and uh and we and we treat them all uh the same when it comes to professionalism and technology. That's the excitement that that we have uh right now in Robinson. >> I like that transmission business. Got to think about that afterwards. So you're talking about planes, trains, automobiles, ships, air freight, everything. And is it all and it is global as you said then, right? >> It is global and we we like to look at it as our our core markets and our our four core uh modes that we deal with would be ocean, air, truckload, and what we call uh less than truckload or LTL. Those are the four core modes that that we move product with around the world. >> Right. And and so gosh, you know, between the supply chain issues we've been talking about for years and tariffs, there's a lot of stuff going on in your world right now. First of all, let's take the supply chain which was so disrupted from COVID. Is it back to where it was before that or is it totally different? What's the state of play there? >> Two sides that I look at. It's capacity. That would be the amount of carriers that are that are in the uh in the marketplace right now. And then there's demand on the other side um for for moving goods. And to make things really really simple uh we care about services obviously for the economy but what really drives freight uh would be goods uh industrials that would be retail, housing and manufacturing. That's what really drives um freight from a demand perspective. So from a carrier perspective that would be the capacity. How many truckers are out there? um how many steamship lines, how many how much capacity is out there moving things and when you want uh really a marketplace to be uh back normal, these things have to be in balance. So there was excess uh capacity coming out of the pandemic that is burning down into almost normal levels. We think perhaps uh in 2026 we might get to some level of normality when it comes to the capacity side and there's all types of reasons why that that lingered on. But on the right side is demand which is what we're watching very closely. Uh housing as you know was down and to the right with the change in interest rates. Uh we're hoping that that can rebound but it'll be about affordability. When it comes to manufacturing that's about flat. Um we think that trade deals when they um uh if they become solid that'll bring some certainty and and perhaps manufacturing or industrials will start to rebound. And then finally retail which has in a sense been dislocated um with things have been pulled forward and moved around that's going to take some time to really kind of flatten out. Uh and when that happens you'll start getting this kind of rebound in the marketplace. So it's going to take some time. Uh, but I am positive about about what I see. In the meantime, with Robinson, you know, we said we're going to win at the low and we're gonna win at the high and just have a system ready to do that. >> But you hear so much about consumer demand and how strong it is. Um, but that's not an overwhelming part of your business then. >> It it is from a retail perspective. There's there is still a lot of demand, but what I look at is how how goods have moved. Like for example, uh there's been a record amount of product brought into the United States. Um matter of fact, the most product that has ever come in in the in the ports of Long Beach uh and LA in July in a 100 years. However, that's just not the timing that that normally happens in because now we're seeing kind of a pullback in August and you normally would see that kind of peak happen in October. So timing is off because customers are pulling things in to avoid tariffs uh and a number of other things. And we're right in the middle of that. Uh and we also see that behavior will probably happen in November. That's the next the next date that'll be up where uh different modes get used, airplanes and ships get pulled ahead. And also customers are deciding what's most u pertinent. And so we had holiday things in earlier in the year uh because they're really starting to focus on let me get the things in that I really need and and we're trying to help them decide and and do that. >> Yeah, that's got to be wreaking havoc on shippers and big businesses and you know it's one of those maybe problem slash opportunities for you. I saw you were speaking about um helping someone ship something to China and then in the middle of the situation you sent it over to Japan instead because the tariffs were going to give them a $6 million hit. Right. >> That's correct. Um and we see that it's a lot of stories like that where things can happen real time. Uh and recently we saw that where uh some some things changed uh on the on the tear front. But uh if if they're already in in the middle of the ocean, uh you have to deal with that. And uh and if that that ship, you know, embarks or or or ports into a certain city, uh you know, customers can be can be liable for that. So we're constantly trying to uh help our customers see around corners, uh using technology to help them do that. And that's why we're so excited about how we're using technology to really help them see things around the corner, see it faster, predict it. Uh, and that's why you also see a a shift in services. Customs has been uh going through the roof for us. Our customs services. Um, you know, >> does that help companies? You mean move things across borders? You mean >> move things across borders? There is uh uh paperwork and policies and things that have to happen. So if we say let's just adjust say a tariff percentage well there's a lot of uh sorry for the term but sausage making and things that has to happen behind the scenes to really make that um that happen. We do that type of work um for for a lot of customers to get their products across borders uh into different countries uh and there's just a lot of policy and and things that you have to do. >> Yeah. When you're talking about technology I imagine that's a nice segue to AI. I was reading somewhere you guys are a stealth AI play. How's that possible? >> Well, we we are I I like to say we're an undervalued industrial AI play. And the reason I say that is this. Uh you you have your hyperscalers and your chip makers and infrastructure play. Well, at the end of the day, there are companies like CH Robinson who are benefiting benefiting from AI real time. You can see it in our results. uh we have 35% productivity in the last two years. That's partly because of our technology that we're using. We are growing and reducing expenses um and expanding our margins. Something in this industry um they said can't be done. Well, this technology is actually helping us do that. Why? Because if you look at our order to cash process, very very manual in this industry to do that. Technology has allowed us to automate a lot of that process, move our people to customerf facing, solve strategic problems like they like to do and that results in what we think are superior results uh as compared to the competition. >> You became CEO a little more than two years ago. What was your mandate? What are your objectives? What's your plan been going forward? Yeah, coming in. I can't believe it's been a little bit over two years and I was facing, you know, pressure on margins uh and a and a a really tough freight market. We're four years into a a freight market. Um so really it was about turning a company around. One, getting our swagger back. Two, uh getting people in this company to win again. Uh proud to say we're we're doing that, but had to do that through a new transformation. And that involved uh what I like to say kind of the the the triple moat. Uh one, our lean operating model. I I'm a lean practitioner I think by heart and uh bringing in those kind of lean concepts of a good operating model. Two, allowing us to use uh what we think is is superior technology. And three, our logisticians, our people leveraging those three uh we think is is creating a deep and wide moat. And that was a transformation that two years later I'm pretty proud of when we look and and see where team Robinson is doing. >> Yeah, I know the stock really popped in late July, Dave. I think it's been up 35% over the past three months. A lot of that had to do, my understanding though, with cost cutting and revenue growth is dear in this business. Um, and I I was surprised to read about a freight recession. Um and and I'm curious as to what that is and then why revenue has been so tough. I know that you also I think divested a business so that's brought revenue down. But why is it so hard? I heard the economyy's humming. People are sending goods and services all around. Not services, goods all over the place. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, right now there is there has been a freight recession. We're going on uh four years uh right now on that and and partly because of demand, right? It's just been uh light demand uh overall. Uh goods have been moved but as we talked about earlier uh a lot of it is pull ahead uh and placing goods uh you know in the country before they normally are doing that. Uh but a f for the for the most part uh when it comes to actual demand at scale like we're used to uh that there's there's a pullback right now on and it has been for uh for several years. Uh and again, it's those three things, housing, retail, manufacturing. We're hoping that those really start to pop, uh and do that. Uh and when that happens, uh we'll really see the freight market really go. But outside of that, uh what we've been able to do is still grow, uh in a really kind of depressed freight market and expand margins. uh that uh we feel is related uh to our transformation to our lean operating model and to using our our technology of of generative AI and now agentic AI which we feel excited about and it's really tough to do in this marketplace of actually growing and expanding margins but we feel good about that and as you properly called out we did uh put some focus we call it being fit fast and focused uh and and we thought within our portfolio our our our the European surface transportation business. We saw that uh and we deprecated some other things just to get focused on those four core modes, ocean, air, truckload and and less than truckload and that's really paid off because the company is really um uh knows where it's going uh and is really focused on it. >> Okay. I'm sorry I should have followed up. What is less than truckload mean? Yeah, leestern truck load would be uh what what some of your listeners might hear uh you ever heard of a box truck, a smaller truck. So you see the big load >> smaller trucks right there, >> 53 foot trucks and then you have the smaller trucks >> those are that's called less than truckload that would take a few pallets and things of and that's a huge market uh within the industry and a and a core uh mode that we focus >> and maybe the last mile a little bit to smaller customers. Why not rail? Well, we do um actually have a relationship with rail and that's under the guise of what we call inner moto >> and uh in inner moto we have a relationship with all of the major rail uh ways Robinson always has and always will. Uh it's just not a a as big a mode as say a um freight for truckload. Uh but we do offer that service to our customers and it's a very important service for us. >> Yeah. What about um employment generally speaking, not just at CH Robinson with regard to AI taking away jobs? I mean, you're hearing about automated truckers, you know, trucks coming down the road as well. What's your take on that? >> Well, my take is is this. Uh we've always had technology revolutions within the world. Uh this is another one that's that's coming around. I can sit here and you and I can go back in the time machine and talk about um the PC when it came on and the advent of that. Things shift over time. For us, we don't look at it as really taking away uh jobs. We look at it as supercharging our people um and augmenting uh certain uh certain jobs. Uh for us there is a um attrition rate in this industry um that's fairly high one that I wasn't used to in the industrials but 11 to 14%. Just within the attrition rate uh by doing that we're able to not backfill certain operational roles. Um, but we're actually investing and hiring in sales, smallmedium business selling, customer selling, customerf facing, and and ultimately those jobs that uh really people don't want to do and and bringing efficiency to that. Uh, that's been kind of a balance for us at Robinson. So, we don't look at it as as as really like slassing jobs. We look at it as uh as really getting the company uh more technology focused uh and driving into the future >> globally. What are the hottest markets right now, the strongest markets and what are you sanguin about? Um and how's the China business doing? >> Well, I I I would say obviously for um the US, we're mainly uh a good portion of our business is here uh in the US. uh and we see that happening uh and continue to be uh strong for us as as we roll out our our transformation. But we're a global company and our global foring so we're in a number of different uh countries. Uh we see those uh continuing to be our China business uh is doing well. uh we divested a bit because we saw the advent of supply chain shifting uh from China into like Southeast Asia and the um uh the India subcontinent. So we've we've diverse we we've diversified a bit into some of those countries but at the end of the day uh China is still the factory to the world uh and we still have a a pretty strong team there uh with that business as well. >> And what about the competitive set? Who do you go up against in your business? >> Yeah, it's a good question. We we go up against a a number of individuals, traditional freight brokers that we would go up against um as well as global shippers. Uh and there are there are global shippers that we deal with every day and um DSV and Kanago uh and their there are freight brokers here as such as RXO and and TQL. There's just different competitors that makes us stand out. We're not just one. We do global shipping. And so it really allows us to stand ourselves out. And we really don't view ourselves, Andy, as even a a freight broker or just a global shipper. We're we're really um a global logistics platform uh based on technology. So it's like bringing technology to a logistics industry. And we used to be somewhat the disrupted company uh because of everything that was going on. We kind of feel like we are the disruptor at this point with our people, our technology, and our operating model. >> All right, we talked about tariffs a little bit. I'm wondering if you could put something out to Washington DC right here. Yeah. >> What are some things that you'd like to change maybe in terms of regulation, for instance, that you'd like to see coming out of Washington that could help your business? >> Yeah. Well, first and foremost, uh we love global trade and we love a consistent global trade. So, uh, what the the first thing I would love to have happen because I deal with a lot of customers and if there's one word that they're concerned about is uncertainty. And so, having a a trade deal done with China, having a trade deal done uh with India, having the trade deal done with Canada, right? Just having these things done where we know what they mean. what's the time base on them that I can't tell you how much that is driving customers to then say I know what I'm dealing with uh and now I can I can go forward and do that. We still see people holding back because they just don't know. So getting trade deals done would be a key key thing for us uh as a business and helping our customers. Yeah, I know your stock's been up a bit since, as I said, but can you imagine like done trade deals what that might do to your stock? >> Oh, absolutely. I mean, I I look uh we're we like to say that uh uh we're we're going to keep going no matter what. And I think we're showing that and I think uh once uh and it will because supply chain is the economy. It will snap back and when it snaps back uh we'll be uh right there in pole position uh to be there. There's a call on quality right now. Uh, and Robinson is getting that call because it's really hard out there um for for companies to deal with this and they're calling on us to really help them and we we feel good about doing that every day. >> And final question, Dave, CH Robinson, the pride of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Midwestern, you're a Midwestern guy from Chicago, went to Bradley and Peoria, you worked at Harley-Davidson, you worked at Ford, you worked at Caterpillar. >> That's right. little time with Amazon, but basically a Midwestern guy. >> That's right. >> Did you see yourself ending up in a role like this when you were growing up? >> Well, that's a great question. Um, I always had ambition. Uh, and I always consider myself a learner. Uh, did I did I in high school did I say I'm going to be a CEO? Uh, probably not. But what I said is, uh, I'm going to always continue to learn. And as I started to mature and get into leadership and executive leadership, uh, I certainly looked at that and said, number one, I think that I can affect people. It's a passion of mine. I love developing, growing, and taking people where they never thought they could do. uh and two uh improving companies and their bottom lines is something I've worked for some great companies as you said and I feel uh really proud to have helped them uh you know just improve along the way and I always said at some point now if I if I was CEO I was going to do both. I was going to improve businesses and take them where they never thought they could be and I was going to take people and develop them and take them where they never thought they could be. And I think at Robinson we're doing both. Dave Boseman, CEO of CH Robinson. Thank you so much for joining us. >> Thank you, sir. Appreciate having you. >> This is At Barren. I'm Andy Sir. We'll catch you next time.
Is This Logistics Company a 'Stealth AI Play'? Its CEO Weighs In.
Summary
Transcript
[Music] Hello everyone and welcome to At Barons. I'm Andy Stur and welcome to our guest Dave Boseman, CEO of CH Robinson. Dave, great to see you. Thanks for being here. >> Good seeing you, Andy. Thanks for having me. >> So, it's a freight and logistics company, publicly traded. But what exactly does the company do, Dave? Well, CH Robinson is really a global logistics platform. In fact, the largest global logistics platform. We serve over 83,000 customers. Uh also 450,000 contract carriers. Uh in a sense, at our core, we really move the all the goods to power daily life is uh is what we do. What separates us though, we do it at uh scale with technology uh and people. Uh, and we're really proud about that. >> So, how does the business model work? I mean, do you own the trucks and the ships and the planes? It's your brand name on them. It's a contract sort of business. How does it work? >> Yeah, Andy, it's a two play two-sided marketplace. So, we're asset light. Uh what we do is uh we go out for our customers or shippers uh and we get them the best dynamic pricing that they need and connect uh them with carriers to move their goods around the globe. And for carriers, we provide them with the opportunity of shippers. Uh and so it it works out both ways. We're in the middle. we broker um that that arrangement of moving those goods um for the best price and and we do that at at the most efficient way possible um within the logistics uh world and that's how we and that's how we we operate. >> And so are your customers some of the big brand name companies in the US and globally as well as the the shipping companies? >> Absolutely. We have with 83,000 customers, we have a cross-section of uh of all of global society in a sense from the very large strategic big box customers that you can think of to say Andy and Dave's transmissions and uh and we and we treat them all uh the same when it comes to professionalism and technology. That's the excitement that that we have uh right now in Robinson. >> I like that transmission business. Got to think about that afterwards. So you're talking about planes, trains, automobiles, ships, air freight, everything. And is it all and it is global as you said then, right? >> It is global and we we like to look at it as our our core markets and our our four core uh modes that we deal with would be ocean, air, truckload, and what we call uh less than truckload or LTL. Those are the four core modes that that we move product with around the world. >> Right. And and so gosh, you know, between the supply chain issues we've been talking about for years and tariffs, there's a lot of stuff going on in your world right now. First of all, let's take the supply chain which was so disrupted from COVID. Is it back to where it was before that or is it totally different? What's the state of play there? >> Two sides that I look at. It's capacity. That would be the amount of carriers that are that are in the uh in the marketplace right now. And then there's demand on the other side um for for moving goods. And to make things really really simple uh we care about services obviously for the economy but what really drives freight uh would be goods uh industrials that would be retail, housing and manufacturing. That's what really drives um freight from a demand perspective. So from a carrier perspective that would be the capacity. How many truckers are out there? um how many steamship lines, how many how much capacity is out there moving things and when you want uh really a marketplace to be uh back normal, these things have to be in balance. So there was excess uh capacity coming out of the pandemic that is burning down into almost normal levels. We think perhaps uh in 2026 we might get to some level of normality when it comes to the capacity side and there's all types of reasons why that that lingered on. But on the right side is demand which is what we're watching very closely. Uh housing as you know was down and to the right with the change in interest rates. Uh we're hoping that that can rebound but it'll be about affordability. When it comes to manufacturing that's about flat. Um we think that trade deals when they um uh if they become solid that'll bring some certainty and and perhaps manufacturing or industrials will start to rebound. And then finally retail which has in a sense been dislocated um with things have been pulled forward and moved around that's going to take some time to really kind of flatten out. Uh and when that happens you'll start getting this kind of rebound in the marketplace. So it's going to take some time. Uh, but I am positive about about what I see. In the meantime, with Robinson, you know, we said we're going to win at the low and we're gonna win at the high and just have a system ready to do that. >> But you hear so much about consumer demand and how strong it is. Um, but that's not an overwhelming part of your business then. >> It it is from a retail perspective. There's there is still a lot of demand, but what I look at is how how goods have moved. Like for example, uh there's been a record amount of product brought into the United States. Um matter of fact, the most product that has ever come in in the in the ports of Long Beach uh and LA in July in a 100 years. However, that's just not the timing that that normally happens in because now we're seeing kind of a pullback in August and you normally would see that kind of peak happen in October. So timing is off because customers are pulling things in to avoid tariffs uh and a number of other things. And we're right in the middle of that. Uh and we also see that behavior will probably happen in November. That's the next the next date that'll be up where uh different modes get used, airplanes and ships get pulled ahead. And also customers are deciding what's most u pertinent. And so we had holiday things in earlier in the year uh because they're really starting to focus on let me get the things in that I really need and and we're trying to help them decide and and do that. >> Yeah, that's got to be wreaking havoc on shippers and big businesses and you know it's one of those maybe problem slash opportunities for you. I saw you were speaking about um helping someone ship something to China and then in the middle of the situation you sent it over to Japan instead because the tariffs were going to give them a $6 million hit. Right. >> That's correct. Um and we see that it's a lot of stories like that where things can happen real time. Uh and recently we saw that where uh some some things changed uh on the on the tear front. But uh if if they're already in in the middle of the ocean, uh you have to deal with that. And uh and if that that ship, you know, embarks or or or ports into a certain city, uh you know, customers can be can be liable for that. So we're constantly trying to uh help our customers see around corners, uh using technology to help them do that. And that's why we're so excited about how we're using technology to really help them see things around the corner, see it faster, predict it. Uh, and that's why you also see a a shift in services. Customs has been uh going through the roof for us. Our customs services. Um, you know, >> does that help companies? You mean move things across borders? You mean >> move things across borders? There is uh uh paperwork and policies and things that have to happen. So if we say let's just adjust say a tariff percentage well there's a lot of uh sorry for the term but sausage making and things that has to happen behind the scenes to really make that um that happen. We do that type of work um for for a lot of customers to get their products across borders uh into different countries uh and there's just a lot of policy and and things that you have to do. >> Yeah. When you're talking about technology I imagine that's a nice segue to AI. I was reading somewhere you guys are a stealth AI play. How's that possible? >> Well, we we are I I like to say we're an undervalued industrial AI play. And the reason I say that is this. Uh you you have your hyperscalers and your chip makers and infrastructure play. Well, at the end of the day, there are companies like CH Robinson who are benefiting benefiting from AI real time. You can see it in our results. uh we have 35% productivity in the last two years. That's partly because of our technology that we're using. We are growing and reducing expenses um and expanding our margins. Something in this industry um they said can't be done. Well, this technology is actually helping us do that. Why? Because if you look at our order to cash process, very very manual in this industry to do that. Technology has allowed us to automate a lot of that process, move our people to customerf facing, solve strategic problems like they like to do and that results in what we think are superior results uh as compared to the competition. >> You became CEO a little more than two years ago. What was your mandate? What are your objectives? What's your plan been going forward? Yeah, coming in. I can't believe it's been a little bit over two years and I was facing, you know, pressure on margins uh and a and a a really tough freight market. We're four years into a a freight market. Um so really it was about turning a company around. One, getting our swagger back. Two, uh getting people in this company to win again. Uh proud to say we're we're doing that, but had to do that through a new transformation. And that involved uh what I like to say kind of the the the triple moat. Uh one, our lean operating model. I I'm a lean practitioner I think by heart and uh bringing in those kind of lean concepts of a good operating model. Two, allowing us to use uh what we think is is superior technology. And three, our logisticians, our people leveraging those three uh we think is is creating a deep and wide moat. And that was a transformation that two years later I'm pretty proud of when we look and and see where team Robinson is doing. >> Yeah, I know the stock really popped in late July, Dave. I think it's been up 35% over the past three months. A lot of that had to do, my understanding though, with cost cutting and revenue growth is dear in this business. Um, and I I was surprised to read about a freight recession. Um and and I'm curious as to what that is and then why revenue has been so tough. I know that you also I think divested a business so that's brought revenue down. But why is it so hard? I heard the economyy's humming. People are sending goods and services all around. Not services, goods all over the place. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, right now there is there has been a freight recession. We're going on uh four years uh right now on that and and partly because of demand, right? It's just been uh light demand uh overall. Uh goods have been moved but as we talked about earlier uh a lot of it is pull ahead uh and placing goods uh you know in the country before they normally are doing that. Uh but a f for the for the most part uh when it comes to actual demand at scale like we're used to uh that there's there's a pullback right now on and it has been for uh for several years. Uh and again, it's those three things, housing, retail, manufacturing. We're hoping that those really start to pop, uh and do that. Uh and when that happens, uh we'll really see the freight market really go. But outside of that, uh what we've been able to do is still grow, uh in a really kind of depressed freight market and expand margins. uh that uh we feel is related uh to our transformation to our lean operating model and to using our our technology of of generative AI and now agentic AI which we feel excited about and it's really tough to do in this marketplace of actually growing and expanding margins but we feel good about that and as you properly called out we did uh put some focus we call it being fit fast and focused uh and and we thought within our portfolio our our our the European surface transportation business. We saw that uh and we deprecated some other things just to get focused on those four core modes, ocean, air, truckload and and less than truckload and that's really paid off because the company is really um uh knows where it's going uh and is really focused on it. >> Okay. I'm sorry I should have followed up. What is less than truckload mean? Yeah, leestern truck load would be uh what what some of your listeners might hear uh you ever heard of a box truck, a smaller truck. So you see the big load >> smaller trucks right there, >> 53 foot trucks and then you have the smaller trucks >> those are that's called less than truckload that would take a few pallets and things of and that's a huge market uh within the industry and a and a core uh mode that we focus >> and maybe the last mile a little bit to smaller customers. Why not rail? Well, we do um actually have a relationship with rail and that's under the guise of what we call inner moto >> and uh in inner moto we have a relationship with all of the major rail uh ways Robinson always has and always will. Uh it's just not a a as big a mode as say a um freight for truckload. Uh but we do offer that service to our customers and it's a very important service for us. >> Yeah. What about um employment generally speaking, not just at CH Robinson with regard to AI taking away jobs? I mean, you're hearing about automated truckers, you know, trucks coming down the road as well. What's your take on that? >> Well, my take is is this. Uh we've always had technology revolutions within the world. Uh this is another one that's that's coming around. I can sit here and you and I can go back in the time machine and talk about um the PC when it came on and the advent of that. Things shift over time. For us, we don't look at it as really taking away uh jobs. We look at it as supercharging our people um and augmenting uh certain uh certain jobs. Uh for us there is a um attrition rate in this industry um that's fairly high one that I wasn't used to in the industrials but 11 to 14%. Just within the attrition rate uh by doing that we're able to not backfill certain operational roles. Um, but we're actually investing and hiring in sales, smallmedium business selling, customer selling, customerf facing, and and ultimately those jobs that uh really people don't want to do and and bringing efficiency to that. Uh, that's been kind of a balance for us at Robinson. So, we don't look at it as as as really like slassing jobs. We look at it as uh as really getting the company uh more technology focused uh and driving into the future >> globally. What are the hottest markets right now, the strongest markets and what are you sanguin about? Um and how's the China business doing? >> Well, I I I would say obviously for um the US, we're mainly uh a good portion of our business is here uh in the US. uh and we see that happening uh and continue to be uh strong for us as as we roll out our our transformation. But we're a global company and our global foring so we're in a number of different uh countries. Uh we see those uh continuing to be our China business uh is doing well. uh we divested a bit because we saw the advent of supply chain shifting uh from China into like Southeast Asia and the um uh the India subcontinent. So we've we've diverse we we've diversified a bit into some of those countries but at the end of the day uh China is still the factory to the world uh and we still have a a pretty strong team there uh with that business as well. >> And what about the competitive set? Who do you go up against in your business? >> Yeah, it's a good question. We we go up against a a number of individuals, traditional freight brokers that we would go up against um as well as global shippers. Uh and there are there are global shippers that we deal with every day and um DSV and Kanago uh and their there are freight brokers here as such as RXO and and TQL. There's just different competitors that makes us stand out. We're not just one. We do global shipping. And so it really allows us to stand ourselves out. And we really don't view ourselves, Andy, as even a a freight broker or just a global shipper. We're we're really um a global logistics platform uh based on technology. So it's like bringing technology to a logistics industry. And we used to be somewhat the disrupted company uh because of everything that was going on. We kind of feel like we are the disruptor at this point with our people, our technology, and our operating model. >> All right, we talked about tariffs a little bit. I'm wondering if you could put something out to Washington DC right here. Yeah. >> What are some things that you'd like to change maybe in terms of regulation, for instance, that you'd like to see coming out of Washington that could help your business? >> Yeah. Well, first and foremost, uh we love global trade and we love a consistent global trade. So, uh, what the the first thing I would love to have happen because I deal with a lot of customers and if there's one word that they're concerned about is uncertainty. And so, having a a trade deal done with China, having a trade deal done uh with India, having the trade deal done with Canada, right? Just having these things done where we know what they mean. what's the time base on them that I can't tell you how much that is driving customers to then say I know what I'm dealing with uh and now I can I can go forward and do that. We still see people holding back because they just don't know. So getting trade deals done would be a key key thing for us uh as a business and helping our customers. Yeah, I know your stock's been up a bit since, as I said, but can you imagine like done trade deals what that might do to your stock? >> Oh, absolutely. I mean, I I look uh we're we like to say that uh uh we're we're going to keep going no matter what. And I think we're showing that and I think uh once uh and it will because supply chain is the economy. It will snap back and when it snaps back uh we'll be uh right there in pole position uh to be there. There's a call on quality right now. Uh, and Robinson is getting that call because it's really hard out there um for for companies to deal with this and they're calling on us to really help them and we we feel good about doing that every day. >> And final question, Dave, CH Robinson, the pride of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Midwestern, you're a Midwestern guy from Chicago, went to Bradley and Peoria, you worked at Harley-Davidson, you worked at Ford, you worked at Caterpillar. >> That's right. little time with Amazon, but basically a Midwestern guy. >> That's right. >> Did you see yourself ending up in a role like this when you were growing up? >> Well, that's a great question. Um, I always had ambition. Uh, and I always consider myself a learner. Uh, did I did I in high school did I say I'm going to be a CEO? Uh, probably not. But what I said is, uh, I'm going to always continue to learn. And as I started to mature and get into leadership and executive leadership, uh, I certainly looked at that and said, number one, I think that I can affect people. It's a passion of mine. I love developing, growing, and taking people where they never thought they could do. uh and two uh improving companies and their bottom lines is something I've worked for some great companies as you said and I feel uh really proud to have helped them uh you know just improve along the way and I always said at some point now if I if I was CEO I was going to do both. I was going to improve businesses and take them where they never thought they could be and I was going to take people and develop them and take them where they never thought they could be. And I think at Robinson we're doing both. Dave Boseman, CEO of CH Robinson. Thank you so much for joining us. >> Thank you, sir. Appreciate having you. >> This is At Barren. I'm Andy Sir. We'll catch you next time.