‘AI is the new UI’: Coupa customers race to automate supply chains
Coupa executives and customers at Inspire 2026 said AI and transportation optimization tools are helping companies cut planning cycles from weeks to hours. The post ‘AI is the new UI’: Coupa customers race to automate supply chains appeared first on FreightWaves.
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LAS VEGAS — Artificial intelligence, digital twins and autonomous supply chain workflows dominated Day 2 discussions at Coupa Inspire 2026 as executives from Coupa, GAF and Sonepar USA described how AI-driven tools are rapidly reshaping procurement, transportation and network optimization.
Coupa is a cloud-based, AI-native platform designed for total spend management and supply chain optimization. The company is headquartered in Foster City, California with offices throughout Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia.
The conference, held Monday through Wednesday at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, brought together hundreds of procurement, finance and supply chain executives focused on spend management, sourcing and supply chain technology.
During the opening keynote on Tuesday, CEO Leagh Turner unveiled new AI-focused products, including the launch of Coupa Compose and Coupa Catalyst, while also announcing the acquisition of AI-based intelligent document processing company Rossum. window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag.
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display('div-gpt-ad-1709668545404-0'); }); ‘AI is the new UI’ for supply chain software Dean Bain, Coupa’s general manager and senior vice president of supply chain, said companies are moving beyond simple generative AI chatbots toward “agentic AI” systems capable of automating operational tasks and making complex supply chain decisions.
“AI is the new UI,” Bain said during an interview Wednesday with FreightWaves. “As a software company, as an innovator in the space, if that’s not the direction we head, we will be behind.”
Coupa executives said the company has developed more than 20 AI agents and plans to expand that number significantly over the next year as it embeds automation directly into procurement and supply chain workflows.
Bain said Coupa’s AI “prescriptions” technology combines agentic AI with mathematical optimization to quickly evaluate transportation networks, warehouse capacity, supplier constraints and logistics scenarios. “What we’re seeing is work that was taking four to six weeks is now being conducted in four to six hours,” Bain said.
Bain said digital twin technology is becoming increasingly important as manufacturers and retailers navigate tariffs, port congestion and geopolitical disruptions. Coupa’s digital twins create virtual representations of supply chains that allow companies to model sourcing shifts, transportation delays and inventory-balancing scenarios in real time.
“Tariffs is obviously a huge challenge for everyone right now,” Bain said. “Digital twins are allowing our customers to model those tariff scenarios.” window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag.
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push(function() {googletag. display('div-gpt-ad-1665767553440-0'); }); The systems also incorporate real-time news, social media and operational data feeds to evaluate potential disruptions across global trade networks, Bain said.
Sonepar redesigns fleet, delivery networks A breakout session at Coupa Inspire 2026, led by Sundara Maddala, director of analytics at Sonepar USA, focused on how the electrical distributor is embedding transportation and logistics decisions directly into network design across its U. S. operations.
Sonepar USA operates roughly 600 facilities nationwide, including distribution centers and cross-docks, while relying heavily on private fleet operations to support tight delivery windows for construction customers.
Maddala detailed several optimization projects involving route redesigns, fleet right-sizing and hub-and-spoke distribution strategies following acquisitions in Florida and the Northeast. One project reduced the number of 26-foot box trucks from 68 to 43 while cutting weekly mileage and generating roughly $3.
4 million in lease-cost savings, according to Maddala. Another network redesign in U. S. Carolinas consolidated inventory into centralized distribution centers while improving delivery-service performance to as high as 95%-96%, Maddala said. window. googletag = window. googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag. cmd. push(function() {googletag.
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