Supply Chain Decoded | Feat. Ryan Goodwin, Trinity Industries & TCU

This week on Supply Chain Decoded, host Jenni Ruiz sits down with Ryan Goodwin, Senior Director of Advanced Supply Chain at Trinity Industries and Adjunct Professor of Supply Chain Management at TCU — a leader whose approach to automation and change management is reshaping how the rail industry thinks about data, technology, and people.
Ryan’s face recently appeared on the NASDAQ billboard in Times Square — a moment that symbolizes how far he’s taken his mission to eliminate “drudgery” from supply chain work through AI and automation. In this conversation, he shares the story behind that moment and the philosophy that got him there.
Together, Jenni and Ryan decode:
AI in the wild: How Trinity Industries uses large language models to manage supplier communication — cutting through thousands of purchase orders without a single EDI integration.
Swivel chair to seamless workflows: The real meaning of moving from manual to integrated systems and what it takes to make automation actually work for people.
The classroom meets the boardroom: What teaching the next generation of supply chain professionals has revealed about AI adoption, critical thinking, and human judgment in the age of LLMs.
Built or bought: How companies can balance in-house innovation with SaaS partnerships in an era of “AI provider fatigue.”
Inventory decoded: Why this age-old topic remains the most misunderstood — and why Ryan calls it both the light and liability of the supply chain.
From his early days measuring warehouse shelves in a suit to building bots that talk to suppliers in natural language, Ryan offers a rare, grounded look at what digital transformation really looks like in practice — and why collaboration between humans and AI will define the next decade of supply chain innovation.
🎧 Listen now to explore the future of automation, education, and decision-making — straight from one of rail’s most forward-thinking minds.
--
Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Transfix, Inc. or any parent companies or affiliates or the companies with which the participants are affiliated, and may have been previously disseminated by them. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are based upon information considered reliable, but neither Transfix, Inc. nor its affiliates, nor the companies with which such participants are affiliated, warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. All such views and opinions are subject to change.