Medusa needed to decide how many cartons an order required—and which sizes—before the work moved through the warehouse. Solving that problem required more than an algorithm. It required operational context, real data, connected systems, and a live environment in which the solution could prove itself.
2025 winner
Innovative Use of Artificial Intelligence
Supply Chain Excellence Awards USA
The problem
Complex orders could require one carton or several, and the correct answer depended on product dimensions, quantities, packaging constraints, and how the order would move through fulfillment. A poor decision created extra handling, material waste, packing work, and avoidable shipping cost.
The objective was to calculate the carton plan early enough for operators to pick directly into the right packaging—then carry that decision through voice-directed work, labeling, and shipping.
The collaboration
The award recognized what happened when technical development and warehouse operations were allowed to shape one another.
As Medusa’s COO and the founder of IES, Andrew provided the requirements, data, operating constraints, warehouse knowledge, and continuous real-world context needed to define what a useful solution had to do.
Tomas David Ye and the Perseuss team designed and built the technology. They performed the technical development required to turn the warehouse problem and operating context into an AI-powered cartonization solution.
The live operation supplied actual orders, products, constraints, edge cases, and operator feedback. Lucas Systems helped connect the cartonization decision to the voice-directed fulfillment workflow used on the floor.
From model to floor
Read the order, item data, packaging options, and operating constraints.
Determine the carton quantity and sizes needed for the order.
Direct the operator to pick into the planned cartons through the warehouse workflow.
Carry the carton decision through packing, labeling, shipping, and feedback.
Why it was recognized
The innovation was not AI in isolation. It was the use of AI inside a daily warehouse process—supporting better packaging decisions, reducing unnecessary work and waste, and helping operators execute complex orders without adding another disconnected tool.
Perseuss with Medusa Distribution was named the 2025 winner of the Innovative Use of Artificial Intelligence Award at the Supply Chain Excellence Awards USA.
What IES brings to this kind of work
IES does not need to be the company writing every line of software or manufacturing every piece of equipment. Our value is understanding the operation deeply enough to identify the right problem, translate it into usable requirements, select and coordinate the right specialists, and provide the environment needed to test and implement the answer.
That can result in an advanced AI solution—or a much simpler change to layout, process, equipment, or systems. The goal is the same: solve the operational problem with the right level of technology.
Start with the problem
Tell us what is slowing the operation down. We will help define what the solution actually needs to do.