The expansion of the “Wings” platform across South America signals a shift from rigid legacy code to adaptive, AI-driven warehouse management
The automotive industry, historically burdened by the weight of massive legacy systems and complex regional tax codes, is undergoing a quiet revolution in its back-office operations. In a strategic move that highlights this transition, Ford and its global technology partner CI&T have announced the successful expansion of the Wings platform—a comprehensive parts and warehouse management system—across the South American continent. By embedding generative artificial intelligence into the core of the development lifecycle, the partnership managed to deliver the project two months ahead of schedule, proving that AI’s greatest immediate value in logistics may lie in the acceleration of human expertise and institutional knowledge.
Deciphering the Legacy: AI as a Translator for Complex Systems
The primary challenge of the South American expansion was not merely geographic, but technical. The Wings platform relied on a legacy codebase exceeding 550,000 lines of code—a “black box” of logic that governed the movement of parts across nine major regional warehouses. Traditionally, upskilling new teams on such a vast system would take months of manual documentation review and mentorship.
CI&T bypassed this bottleneck by deploying its proprietary AI management system, CI&T FLOW, in tandem with Ford’s own internal large language model (LLM). These tools acted as a digital Rosetta Stone, analyzing over 4,800 minutes of technical meetings and processing 50,000 lines of transcripts to instantly surface critical insights. This allowed developers to map code dependencies and local tax requirements with a level of precision that manual audits rarely achieve, ensuring that the platform remained compliant with the unique regulatory environments of each South American territory.
The Unified Team: Moving Beyond Traditional Outsourcing
The collaboration between Ford and CI&T represents a departure from the traditional “client-vendor” dynamic. Rather than simply hiring a workforce, Ford’s IT leadership focused on building a single, integrated unit characterized by constant experimentation. Wellyson Bianchini, IT Manager at Ford, noted that this approach moved the project “out of inertia” by encouraging teams to use AI not just for writing code, but for synthesizing logic and making strategic decisions in real time.
This model was supported by three dedicated “pods” that bridged the gap between development and continuous support. By utilizing AI to automate the more repetitive aspects of software maintenance, these teams were able to focus on high-level feature development and local market adaptation. The result was an operational stability that allowed new functionalities to be “hot-swapped” into the system without disrupting the flow of parts to dealerships and service centers.
Strategic Precision in Regional Logistics
In the context of South American logistics, the Wings platform serves as the central nervous system for Ford’s regional supply chain. Managing nine warehouses involves navigating a labyrinth of cross-border regulations, fluctuating inventory demands, and the constant pressure of just-in-time delivery. The AI-enhanced Wings platform provides:
Tax Compliance Automation: Instant adaptation to the varying fiscal requirements of different South American nations.
Predictive Knowledge Transfer: Using meeting transcripts and documentation to ensure that decision-making remains coherent even as teams scale.
Feature Accuracy: Improved precision in developing warehouse tools that specifically address the logistical bottlenecks of the region.
The Future of Tech-Integrated Business Solutions
The success of the Ford and CI&T partnership serves as a blueprint for the “Hyper Digital” era—a term used by CI&T leadership to describe a state where AI-driven productivity allows for unprecedented speed-to-value. As automotive companies continue to face supply chain volatility, the ability to modernize legacy infrastructure with AI will be a primary differentiator.
By transforming their logistics operations through AI, Ford has done more than just update a software platform; they have created a more resilient and agile supply chain. The project demonstrates that when AI is used to empower—rather than replace—human strategy, even the most complex legacy systems can be reimagined for a new era of global commerce.
