Inside the New Era of Robotic Logistics with Exol

— Everybody, Scott Luton with Supply Chain Now. We're continuing our coverage of Modex 2026 right here in Atlanta, meeting with the movers and shakers. And I'm delighted to reconnect with the one and only Ashfaq Choudhury with Exxact. Uh Ashfaq, how you doing? — I'm doing great, Scott. How are you? — Wonderful. I'll tell you, the last time you joined us, you're with a big organization. Now a different big organization. And I want to say it was probably four or five years ago. — It's actually closer to six, I think. — Really? — Yeah, I think it was uh maybe five, yeah. — Well, um the world has changed. Some things are the same. Some things are very different. But you've moved on to challenge uh to solving some exciting new challenges, which we're going to dive into here today. Um so it's great to see you again. — Very good to see be here again. — So before we get into all the good stuff, the innovation you and your team are driving, and some really big news, uh I want to start with a fun warm-up question. And when we were talking pre-show, you gave me a couple of options. And I as we found, they're related. So — and I can relate to both of them. So you've tried your hand at gardening, and you golf. And that's not those neither one are your superpowers. Is that right? — That is exactly right. — Which one are you better at between gardening and golf? — Uh probably gardening. At least grew stuff. — Yeah. — Yeah, actually enjoyed gardening. Uh you know, I think I love eating more, though. — So is there with your gardening exploits, has it been all flowers, or have you grown tried tomatoes and stuff like that? — Lots of vegetables. — Yeah? lots of vegetables. You know, we are most successful venture at gardening, I think, was when we bought the pre-seeded um uh blankets, where you just put them right on top of your raised garden, and they're pre-seeded, and you just water them. And I think we had our biggest bounty. I think we grew two whole tomatoes, and maybe one zucchini. But, uh we're going to try to up our game, too, uh Ashfaq. — Good luck. — You're not going to give me any tips, huh? All right. Well, let's talk about what um some things you are great at, and you had quite a track record of, and that's driving innovation and change and uh transformation, really, in global supply chain. Um and, you know, you're doing big things when you joined us, we'll call it 5 years ago, and you continue uh to do big things here. Tell us more about uh Exotec. — So, uh Exotec is a robotic logistics platform, the first of its kind. You know, uh we built this to solve a problem that uh we've had in our industry for a while, you know, which is that robotics and AI are advancing very quickly, but very few companies can take full advantage of this progress. — Yep. — And that's because, you know, not too many companies have the scale, the time, the money that it takes in order to get the full advantage. And we are creating this platform that uh can get them the enterprise-grade fulfillment um with the speed, consistency, flexibility that most companies want and need. — So, you know, it's interesting. Uh They don't have the scale, time, they don't have the money, or they don't have the know-how. Right? — Right. — And you got to bring in a specialist, the experts, right? — Right. — Um so let's talk about you've got some really big news this week. You've launched some new facilities here in the US. As you're creating and you kind of alluded to this in your last response, you're creating this new category, fulfillment as a service for both B2B and D2C or direct to consumers uh and those brands. Tell us about that value. Tell us about this new um this new offering that you're creating in in industry. — Yeah. So, you know, we're creating an offering that's powered by robots, but most importantly, it provides a supply chain for customers that's immediately accessible. You know, that scales as uh their business evolves. You know, provides nationwide coverage wherever their customers are, supports every channel, and it's priced affordably with no large financial commitments. Now, so this is a brand new category of service that really has never existed. And we think it is really what people need.

— Mhm. And usually you get what's that old um that old adage? Um price, speed, service, pick two. But right? But with everything you just shared, in particular, what I loved um is you know, that take time and time to build it as you said as you put it is immediately accessible. I mean, it's not quite plug and play, but sounds close. — It's closer than, you know, what we've had in the past. See, you know, I think what makes X out different is that we are building the infrastructure first. We are fortunate that we have 7 and 1/2 billion dollar commitment from SoftBank and Symbotic to create this network. — Mhm. — Right. So, uh we have been putting in some time building all the technology and the facilities that we are bringing to market, so we can have this offer on the table. And I think, you know, robotics is a key game changer in our industry. You know, uh our robotic logistics platform isn't just great because it's run by robots. Right. It brings high quality, it brings reliable capacity, and lots of it. So, a brand can, you know, rely on it to, you know, have it support their needs. — And uh support those needs quickly. And the other thing you mentioned, uh in a dynamic fashion, right? You got busier uh times a year, you can scale a solution up. And then, in other parts of year where you don't need to uh quite as much of a uh uh backup and support, you can scale it down. And it sounds like a And it's affordable. What So, you may not can um uh perfectly, you know, lay out the pricing, but can you give me an idea how affordable are we talking? — Well, I think it is going to be competitive to the current cost without requiring uh a significant long-term financial commitment. We are uh offering this on a transactional basis. — [snorts] — So, uh uh — A lot cheaper than hiring the talent, — Right. — building out the infrastructure, and then waiting the 6 months to a year till when it's ready to online and ready to serve customers, huh? — That is true. Uh you know, because we have already spent the time and did the homework to try and make that available. Mhm. Uh and make the capacity here today. — So, you uh we're talking uh pre-show uh about the ex- one of the facilities y'all have launched is right here in Atlanta and one of my favorite parts of the state. Uh tell us where that that those facilities are. — So, uh we are opening six facilities. So, uh one is here in Atlanta. We have two in California, one in Northern California, which is actually fully committed to uh a customer already. — Okay. — Uh and one in Southern California that will be coming online in another three or four months. Uh and then we have facilities in Dallas, in New Jersey, and in Chicago. — Okay. It makes sense to me and hey, I heard the FOMO you're creating. You already got one facility dedicated. I like it as Um all right, so I got to ask you this question. And you know, cuz the market you could be top of the world on Monday and Tuesday, you know what the market is asking. That's great, but what's next? So, you got um uh you've made a ton of progress, you're creating this new category, you got new facilities uh that clearly is being proved out by the market given the demand you just mentioned. You've got big backing from some really big uh financial partners. Um what's next for ExaWaltz? — Well, right now our focus is scaling this network, right? So, we're starting with the first facility right here in Atlanta. Uh and then we'll add all of these sites, which are some um uh projects that are finishing up in the upcoming months. Uh but we're also excited about educating the market about our ExaWaltz robotic logistics platform. — Yeah. — Right? Uh and uh what's exciting is I think this is the beginning of a new model, a new infrastructure model for logistics. And uh we're looking forward to connecting with companies that want to explore this, access the platform, come see it, come visit our site. — So do you expect since you're creating this new model and this new value proposition, are you going to you think you're going to have a bunch of imitators and copycats? — Well, they say imitation is

— you know, since — flattery, right? — That's right. So if there is that's great. But right now I think it's I think everybody wants to know how this will work. — Yeah. — It is complex. I will say that it has taken a lot of work because you have not only the robots, we have a fantastic AI cloud-based tech platform because without that you can't make this work. There is also a lot of work involved in just physically getting them out of 6 million square feet is not — Somewhere in the block. — Yes, it's a quite a bit of work to just get the physical facilities in places well. — Okay. So scaling the network, educating the masses and then of course continuing I'm have you already scouted your next location? And of course I don't I'm sure you have an army of attorneys so we don't want to share anything we should be saying. But you already been scouting what you know the next locations? — Yes, we do. We do know how we want to expand further. I think for now though we are you know focused on first uh finishing up these six facilities and improving our service. I'm trying we're trying to make sure that we perfect what we are offering to the market. — I like it. Perfection and then world domination. Is that right Ashraf? Okay, so let's change gears. So, congrats again on all the success and innovation and um and and the solution and the innovation you're rolling out to the market. And hey, the market is clearly proven out the hard work you and your team have been putting in. Let's talk about a different version of predictive analytics. Let's break out your crystal ball, Ashfaq. So, when you think about the next couple of years, right? Heck, you think about the five years that we've been through since you and I sat down together remotely in the early stages of pandemic. And then fast forward to where we are now and you think of the next two three years. What's one bold fearless prediction you'd share with me? — Um, I'll give you a two or three. — Okay. Okay, you're you are fearless. — Uh, one I do think that, you know, um, that over the next few years, I think logistics is going to start to look more and more like cloud computing has been, you know. If you go back 10 or 20 years, every company had their data center. Today, it's all in the cloud, which is run by, you know, many massive companies. I think logistics will also become something like that where the infrastructure will get better and better. — Yep. — And the best run companies will stop asking whether they need to own every piece of infrastructure. What they're going to ask is are they getting the best service? control, visibility, flexibility that they need to grow their business the fastest? Um, secondly, I would say that the advent of AI will actually change consumer behavior. I think um I remember when people started you know spending more and more time and shopping online. Well, I think AI assisted shopping will be a thing. look different than other ways that people shop today and it will have a different level of complexity that I think will come on to our supply chains. — Really quick, there's a lot of consumers that need no help from AI and I might just be referencing someone in this podcast booth here. But it's a great prediction. What's number three? — Third is I think you know the gap between the robotic and non-automated operations are going to become more consequential. You know as we are continuing see rise of service complexity and labor is getting harder and harder. I mean there's so many pressures on getting the right labor. So when you have a supply chain that depends overly too much on manual labor, I think it's going to have a hard time delivering the quality and the reliability that customers want. So I think the best companies are going to find ways to incorporate robotics and AI in their supply chain. — Yeah. I think you got your finger on the pulse as usual and that last one is amazing when it comes to the workforce dynamics and the trends and the evolutions and the challenges that is coming

you know in part that's what is fueling this golden age of supply chain tech not suggesting so please no LinkedIn messages and emails. I'm not suggesting we're swapping out one for the other but you know empowering those beautiful humans that want to be in this industry and empowering with modern day robotics and technologies and AI. That's really a great story that's happening right now across the industry. That's terrific. Um all right, so here is as we start to kind of come down the home stretch with uh Asif Chowdhury, uh CEO of Exotec. Um what's been one of the coolest things you've seen here at Modex? I know it's day one, so we're early. But what's one of the coolest things you've seen or heard here at Modex so far? — Uh you know, I had a chance today to walk around the show. And it's just amazing how many different kinds of robots and automation and AI is here. I mean, compared to uh I think I missed the show 2 years ago, maybe uh the show before that. I mean, it's uh it's just an im- totally different. There must be a hundred different kinds of robots out there. Uh and so much innovation, so much uh you know, different uh types of things. It is totally amazing. — It is. Uh and folks, if you have not come to Modex, and there's other great shows, but Modex is really Modex and ProMat are two of my favorites. And if you haven't walked the floor, you're missing out cuz it is it really to your point, it's amazing. — Yeah. — Uh and it's all sorts of flavors and variations and solutions and you name it. You know what one of my favorites was a uh a metal uh cabinet maker. They make like industrial cabinets. And they're over there in uh C Hall. And they're from Louisville, Kentucky. — Right. — Home of Muhammad Ali. — Right. — And so what they've got is a boxing ring set up so people can take pictures and you know, Rocky pictures and that kind of stuff or Muhammad Ali pictures. And you know, everything isn't as fun. You know, there's some very practical and some serious displays. Uh you will also see pickleball courts set up, right? It really is something for everybody. Uh and so you said it well. And you know it's got to be nice cuz usually you're the one keynotes and panel sessions. It's got to be nice Ashfaq just to come and absorb and not have to worry about you know, speaking and all that good stuff, huh? — That's right. I'm really ready to go back to the show and play with some more toys. — All right. So let me ask with that in mind, let me ask you the big another question, right? Especially in your case. How can folks track you and the Exotec team down? — Well, first of all, you can connect with us at Modex. We are at booth C15868. Learn more. We have some nice videos. We have lots of people there. You can visit our website at exotec. com or connect with us on LinkedIn. And I would love to connect with companies that are interested in learning more. We are taking a lot of customers to touring our sites here in Atlanta. We are only 45 minutes away. So come see us. — Outstanding. So folks want to come out and tour the facilities are expanding left and right. Reach out to Ashfaq and the team and they'll make it happen, right? Okay, well good stuff. It's a pleasure to reconnect with you. And I'll tell you now I'm curious. When we reconnect again in 5 years, what are you going to be doing then? We'll see. — We'll see. All right. Ashfaq Choudhury, CEO with Exotec. Thanks so much for being here. — Thank you very much for having me on your show, Scott. — We'll be in touch. We're not going to let 5 years go by this time. Folks, stick around as we continue our coverage of Modex 2026 right here in Atlanta where you got movers and shakers like Ashfaq and almost 40,000 people here in attendance this week. Stay tuned as we cover it all and you can learn more at supplychainnow. com and go check us out on YouTube. Stay tuned. —