11/13/2026

012. Smart Plant on the Dock: Keeping Tribal Knowledge Alive While AI Runs the Warehouse

Instructor: Lisa Ryan, CSP

1:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Distribution centers are automating faster than they're documenting what their best people actually know. The counter rep who remembers which customer always needs the rush order. The forklift operator who can hear a bearing going bad before the sensor flags it. AI can capture that knowledge. It can't replace the judgment behind it. This session gives distribution leaders a framework for capturing tribal knowledge before automation rolls in. Not after the veteran who holds it walks out the door. We'll cover where AI genuinely helps (voice-guided training, agentic systems trained on your own people's expertise) and where it can't touch the human judgment that keeps freight moving and customers loyal. Leaders leave with a simple audit they can run the following Monday: who on their team is one retirement away from taking irreplaceable knowledge with them, and what to do about it this quarter.