Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 31 minutes ago
In this episode of The Freight Table, host David sits down with Michael Darden, a supply chain standards expert, AI subject matter expert, and newly appointed founding member of ASTM's F50 Committee on AI in Manufacturing. This conversation goes deep on standards, data quality, regulatory gaps, and why the industry may need to rethink the entire freight journey — before the box even leaves its origin.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why ASTM's brand-new AI in Manufacturing committee matters — and what it signals about where government and industry are heading on AI standards
- Why "garbage in, garbage out" isn't just a data problem — it's a standards problem that the industry has been circling for 50 years
- How AI is already forcing conversations that legacy operators have long resisted — and why that's both exciting and disruptive
- Why keeping humans in the loop isn't optional: the sensor data analogy that explains exactly when a signal becomes an action
- What surprised this SME most about the IANA AI project — and the project design choice that shaped everything
- Why the planning phase before the container arrives on shore may be the single biggest AI opportunity the industry is overlooking
- How 49 CFR 371.3 — the property broker transparency regulation — has eroded trust across the supply chain, and why enforcement matters
- Why IANA is uniquely positioned to sit at the policy table and represent the full multimodal stakeholder picture to the federal government
The chirp is getting louder. The question is whether the industry knows when to watch — and when to act.
About The Freight Table
A monthly podcast from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), connecting data, policy, and industry voices to give you a clear view of what's changing now — and what's coming next. Where intermodal comes together.
In this episode of The Freight Table, host David sits down with Michael Darden, a supply chain standards expert, AI subject matter expert, and newly appointed founding member of ASTM's F50 Committee on AI in Manufacturing. This conversation goes deep on standards, data quality, regulatory gaps, and why the industry may need to rethink the entire freight journey — before the box even leaves its origin.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why ASTM's brand-new AI in Manufacturing committee matters — and what it signals about where government and industry are heading on AI standards
- Why "garbage in, garbage out" isn't just a data problem — it's a standards problem that the industry has been circling for 50 years
- How AI is already forcing conversations that legacy operators have long resisted — and why that's both exciting and disruptive
- Why keeping humans in the loop isn't optional: the sensor data analogy that explains exactly when a signal becomes an action
- What surprised this SME most about the IANA AI project — and the project design choice that shaped everything
- Why the planning phase before the container arrives on shore may be the single biggest AI opportunity the industry is overlooking
- How 49 CFR 371.3 — the property broker transparency regulation — has eroded trust across the supply chain, and why enforcement matters
- Why IANA is uniquely positioned to sit at the policy table and represent the full multimodal stakeholder picture to the federal government
The chirp is getting louder. The question is whether the industry knows when to watch — and when to act.
About The Freight Table
A monthly podcast from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA), connecting data, policy, and industry voices to give you a clear view of what's changing now — and what's coming next. Where intermodal comes together.
