by Matthew Wittemeier, Director Marketing and Sales, Terminal & Distribution Logistics Division, INFORM

At the IANA Expo 2021, I had the pleasure of sitting on the automation panel with several distinguished and undoubtedly more experienced professionals. The conversation ranged from practical steps toward automating today to innovations that will come to shape the industry in a decade.

Somewhere in the middle, the moderator brought up the topic of "sustainability." I was the last to have an opportunity to voice my opinion - a fact that I'm grateful for because each of my fellow panellists talked about electrification - in any way, shape, or form - as being the primary focus of sustainability efforts in intermodal.

I took a vastly different approach.

I posited that while electrification is a positive step, it is merely scratching the surface of what could be achieved if we fundamentally rethink what sustainability is, what it means to our industry, and what would constitute a future-ready vision of sustainability in the transportation sector.

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