Arkestro: Flying the Flag for Predictive Procurement

Arkestro has launched dedicated research and development engine, Arkestro Labs, with the aim of pushing predictive procurement further into enterprise operations.

At its Optimal '25 Houston conference, the firm unveiled Arkestro Labs' newly-produced set of AI capabilities called Arkestro Intelligence. These new models sit inside Arkestro’s core procurement platform and are designed to enhance and accelerate day-to-day procurement work.

Introducing Arkestro Intelligence

Arkestro, which positions itself as a predictive procurement platform at enterprise scale, used Optimal ‘25 to spotlight how Arkestro Intelligence functions as a set of AI models working together.

The first feature powered by these models is now live in beta as Arkestro Opportunities, a tool designed to help teams uncover and act on sourcing and cost-saving potential across their supply chain activities.

Ben Leiken, CTO at Arkestro, says: "Arkestro Intelligence builds on our existing patented technology to act as a force multiplier for procurement teams' expertise. What we're launching with Opportunities goes beyond what we've offered to date – and well beyond competitor offerings – in that it doesn't just make intelligent recommendations; it's also capable of executing on them."

He adds that Arkestro is moving towards a long-term goal of what the company calls “continuous procurement”.

This concept describes a workflow where teams move away from one-off sourcing events and towards a model of ongoing, informed decision-making. In this approach, procurement decisions do not hinge solely on requests for quotes (RFQs) but rely on continuously updated insights drawn from historical and external data.

What is Arkestro Opportunities?

Arkestro Opportunities is the first capability to come out of Arkestro Labs, offering procurement teams a line-item level “co-pilot” that flags potential actions. These recommendations include combining similar items into a single sourcing event, adjusting timing on purchases or shifting suppliers based on historical performance and price.

The system scans purchasing, spend and quote data, and overlays it with external inputs – for example, commodity price indexes from Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) – to pinpoint where savings may lie.

All recommendations produced by Arkestro Opportunities come with time-sensitive windows, prompting users to act within a specific timeframe. This time-bounded structure reflects how Arkestro Intelligence is built – not just to suggest changes, but to help execute them quickly and in the right context.

Arkestro states that these new tools reduce time spent on data gathering and allow teams to focus their attention where it counts.

With predictions, recommendations and action tools inside the same environment, Arkestro users no longer need to jump between analysis and implementation. This “closed-loop” system keeps everything in one place, preserving the full value of insights from detection to delivery.

Trinity Industries reaps rewards

Trinity Industries, a North American manufacturer of railcars, is one of the firms trialling Opportunities during its limited beta.

Ryan Goodwin, Senior Director of Supply Chain Technology and Innovation at Trinity Industries, explains the value of working with Arkestro.

"The procurement team at Trinity is continually being challenged to deliver value to the organisation, often beyond cost savings," he says.

"We usually know where the dollars are, but a barrier to delivery can be time. We just don't have enough to address every opportunity.

"Working with Arkestro on this beta was a no-brainer for us. Arkestro shares our vision of using technology to deliver innovative solutions and adding value at scale.

"It is about making our procurement professionals ten times more efficient. It's a vision that shifts the function from a reactive, just-in-time posture to one of proactive, informed decision-making from end to end."

Optimal '25 builds momentum

Arkestro’s announcements came on day one of Optimal ‘25 Houston, the company’s annual gathering for procurement professionals using or exploring AI-powered tools.

The event brings together users and partners to share methods, outcomes and updates around predictive procurement. Sessions across the conference include keynotes, case studies and workshops aimed at helping procurement teams embed AI into everyday practice.

Attendees this year included leaders from Koch Engineered Solutions, Chevron, Nissan, JLL and others who use procurement and supply chain systems at global scale. With Arkestro Intelligence introduced as a key feature in its core platform, Arkestro used Optimal to frame this release as a marker of where procurement is heading – towards more integrated, intelligent and always-on decision-making.

Arkestro says Arkestro Labs will continue to expand this model set and integrate other data-driven features. For procurement teams facing resource pressure or tasked with finding both savings and long-term supplier value, Arkestro Intelligence aims to create more space for action.