Exiger returns to the Great Scotland Yard Hotel for a new Executive Forum
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AI-native supply chain management platform, Exiger, is returning to the Great Scotland Yard Hotel for an exclusive executive forum. On the 15th of July at 6:30pm, Exiger will host a discussion entitled ‘Human rights in the supply chain: From obligation to operational discipline’. Leaders and experts from across supply chain will gather together at the event to dig deep into this topic – because human rights risk goes far beyond being a reputational issue.
SCS/CPOStrategy readers can click here to request a place at the Exiger Executive Forum
Supply chains are under intense scrutiny, and businesses are being held accountable for every single part of that chain. The aim of Exiger’s Executive Forum is to examine this topic, and how the topic of human rights due diligence must now be a continuous oversight. The conversation will revolve around how to embed human rights intelligence into everyday supply chain decisions.
The speakers for this event are:
Tim Fowler
Host & moderator, Client Executive, Exiger
Koray Köse
CEO and Chief Analyst, Köse Advisory & Senior Fellow, GlobSEC Geotech Centre & Board Member, Slave-Free Alliance
Tim Nelson
Co-Chair & CEO, Hope for Justice & Slave-Free Alliance
Erika Peters
Head of Customer Success & Strategic Accounts, Exiger
During the evening’s discussions, the panel will also explore insights on:
The need to evolve beyond static human rights policies
The structural realities of forced labour risk
The limitations of traditional compliance models
Moving from reactive remediation to proactive risk governance
Click here to request a space and join other supply chain professionals at the Exiger Executive Forum
Juanjo Mestre, CEO and Co-founder of Dcycle, digs into what supply chain leaders need to know about CSRD
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For years, sustainability reporting focused largely on what companies could measure within their own operations, such as energy use, waste and direct emissions.
Under CSRD (corporate sustainability reporting directive), that centre of gravity is shifting into the supply chain. Emissions, resource use, labour practices and risk exposures increasingly sit several tiers beyond the reporting entity itself. Companies are no longer being asked simply to disclose sustainability metrics; they must now support them with supplier data that is traceable and able to withstand audit scrutiny.
This shift doesn’t just raise expectations for reporting, it fundamentally changes how supply chain data must be collected, managed and trusted.
At its core, supply chain data management is about how organisations collect and manage supplier information to support both day-to-day operations and long-term decisions. Historically, that information has centred on cost, quality and delivery. Sustainability introduces a new layer: carbon intensity, material origin, process data, certifications and social indicators.
CSRD brings sustainability into the same accountability space as financial reporting. Yet our research shows that just 19% of business leaders fully trust their ESG data, compared with 68% who trust their financial data. That gap highlights the urgency of building financial-grade systems for sustainability information.
Data must be consistent and defensible. Achieving that requires clear structures, aligned processes and defined ownership across procurement, sustainability, finance and operations.
CSRD increases dependency on supplier data
CSRD doesn’t just expand disclosure requirements, it increases reliance on supplier data. Sustainability teams are becoming more dependent on procurement to gather ESG information from suppliers, many of whom are facing reporting requests for the first time, often from multiple customers and across overlapping frameworks.
The challenge is a structural one. Supply chains were not built with sustainability reporting in mind; they were built to move goods efficiently and at the right price. As a result, much of the data companies now need sits buried several layers down – patchy, loosely defined and difficult to validate with confidence.
A common misconception is that supplier ESG data simply needs to be collected. In practice, it must be aligned, checked and contextualised before it becomes usable. What companies receive is often estimated, based on differing methodologies, or tied to mismatched timeframes.
This creates a reliability gap between what is reported and what can be defended. Under CSRD, that gap becomes a material risk. Numbers need a clear trail behind them. Generic averages and opaque assumptions are increasingly difficult to justify, particularly as limited assurance is already required and deeper scrutiny will follow.
Some reports may appear complete on the surface but fail under audit or stakeholder challenge. That is where exposure lies.
Why spreadsheets and point tools break down at scale
Many organisations are trying to manage CSRD requirements using spreadsheets, email surveys and disconnected ESG tools. That may work during a pilot phase, but it quickly breaks down at scale.
Files drift across inboxes, assumptions become buried in formulas, and version control deteriorates. Over time, small errors compound into material risk.
Email-based supplier surveys create weak audit trails, while single-purpose tools solve narrow problems but rarely connect the full picture. As supplier numbers grow, control declines, teams spend more time chasing data than validating it, quality becomes reactive, and reporting turns into clean-up.
Audit-ready sustainability reporting depends on structured inputs and transparent methodologies. Supplier data must map to recognised frameworks, with calculation bases, emission factors and sources clearly documented. Validation should happen at the point of submission, not in the final weeks before a reporting deadline. Changes must be tracked transparently, not quietly overwritten.
The preparation window is closing
CSRD readiness is not a last-minute reporting exercise. It depends on the maturity of supplier data, the consistency of methodologies applied across tiers, and the infrastructure in place to collect and validate that information. None of this can be built in the final weeks before filing.
The organisations making real progress are treating CSRD as a supplier data transformation effort. They are mapping supplier dependencies, identifying weak points and putting structured collection and validation processes in place now.
Because once reporting is assured, the question is no longer whether you have a number, it’s whether you can stand behind it.
Simon Pamplin, CTO of Certes, warns of the risks of supplier breach and how that can affect you
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Many organisations still assume that once their data is handed over to a cloud provider or managed service partner, the risk goes with it. That assumption is not only wrong, it’s also dangerous. Outsourcing IT services does not mean outsourcing accountability. When sensitive information leaves your environment without strong protection, you are effectively placing your reputation, regulatory standing and customer trust in someone else’s hands. When those controls fail, as they often do, it is the data owner who ultimately pays the price.
Regulators have become increasingly clear on this point. Responsibility for protecting data sits squarely with the organisation that owns it, not the supplier processing or moving it on their behalf. Contracts, assurances and compliance statements offer little comfort once data has been exposed.
As a result, supply chain security is no longer an operational detail to be left to technical teams. It is a board level issue that affects risk, compliance, reputation and long term resilience. Senior leaders are now expected to understand where their data travels, who has access to it and how it is protected at every step.
The reality is uncomfortable but unavoidable. Risk cannot be outsourced. Services, platforms and operations can be delegated, but accountability remains firmly with the data owner. The only way to break the link between supplier failure and organisational damage is to ensure that data stays protected wherever it goes.
Why third-party breaches hurt so much
Some of the most damaging recent breaches did not begin inside the organisations that ultimately suffered the consequences. Attackers found their way in through suppliers, shared platforms or service providers that sat outside direct control. Once inside, they were able to access and extract data that belonged to someone else entirely.
Despite this, it was the data owner that faced regulatory investigation, fines, legal action and lasting reputational damage. Customers didn’t blame the supplier; they didn’t even know it existed. They blamed the organisation they trusted with their information. Boards and executives are then left explaining why sensitive data was allowed to travel unprotected through third-party environments.
The false comfort of perimeter security
A common thread in many of these incidents is over-reliance on perimeter based security. Organisations focus heavily on protecting their own networks and identities, while assuming partners will do the same. In reality, attackers rarely respect organisational boundaries. They move through supply chains, exploit weaker links and target data wherever it is most accessible.
Once data leaves your environment, perimeter controls lose their value. If the information itself is not protected, a breach at any point in the chain exposes it. This is why traditional security approaches struggle to contain the fallout from supplier compromises.
Harvest now, decrypt later is already happening
There is an additional risk that many organisations are massively underestimating. Attackers are not only stealing data for immediate use. They are also running harvest now, decrypt later campaigns. Sensitive information is being exfiltrated today, stored, and held until cryptographic advances make it readable.
This is significant because data shared across supply chains retains its importance and value over time. Financial records, personal data, intellectual property and regulated information do not expire quickly. When quantum computing capabilities mature, encryption methods that were once considered strong will no longer offer adequate protection. Data stolen years earlier can suddenly become exposed.
The assumption that quantum threats are a distant concern misses the point. The risk is not when quantum computing arrives. The risk is that the data that will be valuable then is already being collected now. Without quantum-ready, Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)-safe security protection in place today, organisations are building a future liability into their supply chains.
Organisations need to be looking at these PQC-safe solutions now that focus on ensuring data remains protected even against future cryptographic breakthroughs. When applied to data in motion, it ensures that information remains unreadable wherever it travels, across internal systems, cloud platforms and third-party environments.
Securing data across the supply chain
The most effective way to reduce supplier risk is to protect the data itself, rather than relying on each partner’s infrastructure. Encryption in transit, strong control of encryption keys and clear policies governing how data flows between systems are critical.
When data is protected end-to-end, a supplier breach does not automatically become a business crisis. Even if attackers gain access to systems, the information they intercept is unusable. This removes much of the incentive for the attack and dramatically reduces the impact if one occurs.
Crucially, this approach works with existing systems. Many organisations rely on legacy platforms that are difficult or costly to replace. Protecting data flows around those systems allows them to remain in use while still meeting modern security and regulatory expectations.
Another benefit of data-centric protection is reduced dependence on supplier assurances. Rather than relying on the assumption that every partner has implemented perfect security, organisations can enforce their own protection standards at the data level. This shifts control back to the data owner and reduces exposure to weaknesses outside their direct oversight.
It also simplifies compliance. When organisations can demonstrate that sensitive data is consistently protected wherever it moves, regulatory conversations become far more straightforward.
Protecting what actually matters
The lesson from repeated third-party breaches is clear. Attackers go where the data is, not where the organisational chart says responsibility should lie. Organisations that focus solely on infrastructure security will continue to be caught out by supplier failures.
Those who take a data focused, quantum-secure approach can change the outcome. Breaches may still occur, but their impact need not define the organisation. When stolen data is unreadable, reputation, trust and regulatory standing are far easier to protect.
The message is simple. You may rely on suppliers, but your data is still your responsibility. Protect it accordingly.
Fraser Robinson, CEO of Beacon, digs into three of the biggest challenges facing supply chain this year
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For supply chain leaders, ‘business as usual’ means one thing: ever-increasing unpredictability. It only took the first month of the year for a fresh round of Trump tariffs to land against a backdrop of ongoing geopolitical instability worldwide. While previously framed as ‘unprecedented’, this level of volatility has become routine. Month after month, year after year, uncertainty is the job.
While this uncertainty can make it hard to make specific predictions, what are some of the broader trends we can expect to shape the sector in the year ahead? And how can supply chain leaders prepare?
Targets
Supply chain targets are expected to be higher this year. Finance teams are demanding cost reductions, operations need faster delivery times and sales require guaranteed stock availability – often simultaneously. This means supply chain leaders are being asked to do more with less, while also navigating carrier on-time delivery rates that hit historic lows in 2025.
Competition is incredibly high and it’s becoming even more commonplace for companies to lose customers and contracts due to late or unreliable deliveries. In particular, heightened volatility has placed greater pressure on supply chain leaders to diversify the range of suppliers they use in order to reduce reliance on a single provider and the risk this carries.
Supply chain leaders therefore need a robust understanding of carrier options, trade routes and market trends to inform how they can achieve hitting these targets. But driving tangible improvements rests on having supply chain data that is independent, unified, standardized and accurate. This allows supply chain leaders to see where money is being left on the table and where the risk lies, like what containers are regularly at risk of demurrage fees, and what business decisions can be made to improve margins and service levels.
Tariffs
Tariffs have already been a major talking point this year. And whether by Trump (very likely) or other countries, they will be a theme we see much more of in the coming year. McKinsey’s annual survey of global supply chain leaders from December 2025 revealed that the one issue “top-of-mind” was “the potential impact of tariffs on many of the world’s most significant trade flows”, with 82% saying that their supply chains are affected by new tariffs.
Not only are tariffs impacting trade to and from the US, but other countries and regions are striking their own set of deals to manage the change. And even when deals are struck, tariffs can suddenly change again once a goal has been met or a new dispute arises.
In this ever-changing landscape, being one step ahead can feel like an uphill battle. But better control and insight into aggregated supply chain data, including carrier performance connected to your freight contracts, can ease this pressure by driving more informed decisions and providing supply chain leaders with confidence in their operation – you know exactly what happened. This confidence enables leaders to make decisions faster and with more clarity over tariffs. It also builds a sense of belief that they can adapt to situations and find solutions to abrupt changes.
Conversely, if you can’t access insights such as where shipments were at what point, or the various costs of different suppliers compared against their performance history, then maintaining this confidence becomes difficult. You’re making decisions blindfolded, and that’s when tariffs can become even more of a problem.
Technology
Supply chain leaders face a paradox – the choice of technology platforms on the market is abundant, yet procuring the wrong solution can set operations back years. With lengthy implementation timelines, high costs and integration complexity, the stakes of technology decisions have never been higher. The question isn’t whether to adopt new tech, but how to identify solutions that deliver measurable value without consuming years of implementation effort or disrupting existing operations.
The potential decision paralysis from dealing with these choices is perhaps a factor as to why tech investments are stalling (another finding from the McKinsey survey). For supply chain leaders already managing stretched teams and ongoing system implementations, the risk isn’t just the choice of the wrong platform, but also the opportunity cost of time and resources. A 12-month implementation that pulls key personnel away from daily operations can be more disruptive than the manual processes it’s meant to replace. The question becomes: what technology can integrate without requiring operational upheaval?
Most supply chains weren’t built for the power of AI. Data sits in silos, it is not standardised, technology is not connected, data isn’t kept up to date, and the infrastructure just isn’t there to take advantage of what’s now possible.
Agentic AI and advanced automation promise significant value, but if companies don’t have adequate supply chain technology that effectively unifies data and provides real-time data analytics, then new advancements like AI agents won’t. They need to be incorporated into an already highly functioning system.
Easing the pressure
Uncertainty and disruption are part and parcel of supply chains. In the year ahead, pressure to hit supply chain targets, navigate fluctuating tariffs and invest in technology that will produce value – not further disruption – will be the key trends facing the sector. What separates leaders who navigate these pressures successfully from those who struggle isn’t necessarily budget size or team capacity. It’s decision-making speed, backed by real-time, unified data.
Can you answer critical questions in minutes rather than days? When tariffs shift, can you immediately assess the impact on in-transit inventory? When targets tighten, can you identify which suppliers or carriers are underperforming? When evaluating new technology, can you distinguish platforms that integrate quickly from those requiring multi-year implementations?
This doesn’t require ripping out existing systems or embarking on transformation projects that consume years. Instead, it requires connecting the data that already exists but currently lives across fragmented carrier portals, forwarder spreadsheets, and email threads. The pressures aren’t going away – but the clarity needed to navigate them is achievable.
Alex Saric, Ivalua’s CMO, tells us how supply chain is shifting and where AI is succeeding – as well as where it’s lagging
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Last month, we attended Ivalua NOW 2026, joining 1,500+ supply chain professionals in Paris to get an up-to-date view of the landscape. As part of this vibrant event we sat down with Alex Saric, Chief Marketing Officer of Ivalua, to dig into some of the ways the industry has shifted and evolved in recent years – and the role AI has to play.
In an article that Saric wrote for our sister brand, CPOstrategy, back in 2019, he said that organisations were under more pressure than ever to innovate at speed. Seven years on, the world has drastically changed. Between COVID-19 and the lightning-fast acceleration of AI, supply chain has evolved to an unprecedented degree. So the question is: what does innovating at speed look like in 2026 compared to 2019?
“Back then, we were still driving traditional source-to-pay digitalisation and providing the transparency that’s still needed in this more uncertain, volatile world,” says Saric. “That volatility only increases every year. I think most people, probably me included, assumed that it would calm down. But I’d say, in 2026, the impetus is on making AI – and particularly agentic AI – the kind of tool you want it to be. From something that answers a question for you to something that really executes and drives more output from procurement. It’s really about taking it from pilot to production at a rapid pace, where it’s actually driving business impact.”
Changing variables
Back in 2019, nobody could have predicted the acceleration of AI in the supply chain – not even Saric. “What’s interesting is that even if you go back five or 10 years, people were talking about the commoditisation of procurement technology, which has become relatively easy to use. The capabilities are getting smaller. If anything, that has now accelerated with AI and the disparities between one organisation and another are even higher. But no, I couldn’t have predicted this level of acceleration.”
Things have evolved even since 2025. At last year’s Ivalua NOW, Saric said that “the increasingly uncertain sourcing and procurement landscape is forcing the industry to assess the impact on organisations, reassess supply strategies, and it’s all happening so fast”. When asked if that is different now, the answer is a firm “no” – but the variables do keep changing.
“It’s almost as if you’re viewing the entire supply strategy as a game. For a while, there are clear optimisation strategies to sourcing that everyone is focused on and implementing,” says Saric. “But then, suddenly, all the rules change. It’s one thing if they change just once and you adapt, set different parameters, and optimise again. But the problem now is that they change overnight, and you have no idea when. That’s a massively complicated environment for procurement. Their job has become exponentially more difficult.”
AI isn’t transformational (yet)
It’s a topic both Saric and Franck Lheureux, Ivalua’s CEO, touched on during the introduction to Ivalua NOW 2026: that things have never been more difficult for supply chain professionals. Even with the wider (and more confident) use of AI across the industry, the pace of change and the geopolitical risks and pressures weigh heavier than ever. In fact, according to Saric, AI’s impact has hardly been transformational – yet.
“The nature of enterprise technology is that it’s always a bit slower to get adopted and rolled out,” he explains. “There’s extra scrutiny, there’s change management; all these factors that have to be considered compared to consumer technology. The biggest changes last year were theoretical for the most part. There were very few organisations actually using AI in a way that’s driving value. A sizable minority of our customers are using it actively in production and they’re driving value from it. The step which still needs to come is moving from having it as a handy assistant or a way to get information faster, and actually driving a difference in how people work.”
This isn’t going to happen overnight. However, Saric expects to have customers onstage at Ivalua NOW 2027 who have completely changed their way of working via AI, and that most businesses will be using it to some extent. It is certainly creating efficiencies and values, even if it’s a slow process. For example, the application of AI for user experience is proving to be one area where it’s coming into its own.
“It’s really enabled procurement to become a much more conversational experience,” Saric explains. “Broadly, that’s the biggest impact so far. But besides that, it’s also helping make better decisions to identify contracts that have certain clauses to drive standardisation and conduct assessments with suppliers. If there’s a performance issue or you want to suggest improvement plans, AI can also help with drafting RFPs.
“There’s a whole range of pretty distinct skills that are saving a lot of time. In many cases, it’s bringing information and insights to the fingertips of the procurement users, rather than them wasting hours looking for that information.”
The procurement-IT alliance
More than technological advances like AI, strong inter-communication between procurement and the broader business is a key to success in modern organisations. Saric hosted a conversation during Ivalua NOW based around the collaboration between procurement and IT, and how to approach this partnership effectively. During this, he delved into his 25 years in the industry to guide the conversation.
“What I’ve consistently seen is that the most successful procurement digitalisation projects typically had strong collaboration with IT,” says Saric. “With AI, it’s even more important. You really have to understand AI and ensure you’re not exposing your organisation to potential security risks, or violating other policies. There’s a lot of technical detail that needs to be understood.”
He continues: “IT is the department that’s best positioned to help guide procurement through that process. The second thing is that there needs to be proactive engagement upfront with executive sponsorship from both procurement and IT. You can’t simply slap an AI tool on top of a broken foundation and think that it will be able to find and decipher all the issues in your data. Having the right foundation is critical, and that’s another reason why IT is an important partner for procurement.”
Ivalua announced the winners of its annual global customer and partner awards at Ivalua NOW in Paris.
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Ivalua’s customer awards recognise organisations that demonstrate exceptional impact, innovation, and tangible business outcomes. This year’s winners featured exceptional use of AI in procurement, rapid deployment, and effective supplier data management.
2026 Customer Award winners:
Technology Innovation and Excellence Award: Hutchinson
Procurement Trailblazer – Making a Difference: Körber
Procurement Community Team Spirit: TÜV SÜD
Best New Deployment: IPC International
IPC International commented: “This recognition celebrates the success of our Source-to-Contract deployment, which wouldn’t have been possible without exceptional collaboration”. “It shows how teamwork, strong partnerships, and a phased and structured approach to roll-out, can deliver digital transformation at pace,” noted Jenny Eisen, IPC International Project Lead.
Franck Lheureux, CEO at Ivalua, added: “Our customers’ achievements show the power of effectively combining people, technology, and processes. We are proud to support leading organisations worldwide and help them accelerate their ambitious transformation goals. Congratulations to this year’s award winners; we are honoured to be part of your journey.”
The partner awards recognize contributions to the success of Ivalua and its customers over the past year, based on joint business initiatives and the growth of certified consultants.
Partner Awards winners:
Global Partner of the Year: Deloitte
EMEA Partner of the Year: Capgemini
AMER Partner of the Year: Deloitte
APAC Partner of the Year: KPMG
Ivalua also recognized eight Value Award winners: KPMG (Northern Europe), PwC (Southern Europe/Middle East), Axys (France/Belux), Accenture (Procurement Transformation), Optis (Collaboration). Sourcing Champions (Channel Sales), Modali Consulting (Project Excellence), and Deloitte India (Ivalua Practice Development).
“From enabling organisations to fully harness our technology to helping us drive innovation, our partners play a vital role in Ivalua’s growth. The continued expansion of our partner ecosystem and community of certified Ivalua experts demonstrates the strong momentum we’re achieving together,” added Gabriel Giret, VP Global Alliances & Academy at Ivalua. “Congratulations to this year’s winners and thanks to all our partners for their ongoing, outstanding support.”
Ivalua significantly expanded its partner ecosystem in the past year as Ivalua continued to gain market share and partner interest. Certified implementation consultants grew by 27% worldwide to over 3,100. Similarly, technology partners grew by 39% as Ivalua rapidly expanded its ecosystem. Ivalua is the Source-to-Pay platform of choice for many technology partners due to Ivalua’s comprehensive, extensible data model and intelligent workflows. Partner data can be fully captured in Ivalua’s platform and used to guide intelligent workflows, automatically driving customer spending based on company policies and changing market conditions.
SupplyChain Strategy attended Ivalua NOW 2026 to gather insights on the future of procurement
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Supply chain and procurement are in a state of flux. While leaders across all industries are focusing on many of the same exciting topics – AI, ESG, automation, etc. – the world around us is experiencing uncertainty. But that type of chaos often births innovation. Ivalua NOW is shaped around embracing that innovation.
Ivalua’s global event, which took place in Paris on the 11th and 12th of March, brought together over 1,500 procurement and supply chain professionals at the Carrousel du Louvre. The stunning venue attracted leaders and experts, all of whom were determined to face geopolitical chaos and the race to adopt new technologies. Importantly, that includes ensuring the human side of business remains in focus.
It’s always been the case that supply chain leaders need to adapt in order to thrive, but the key now is also being armed with the right knowledge and tools, which are only becoming more complex. Generative AI is transforming the way we work, but the focus at Ivalua NOW 2026 was on how to apply AI effectively. GenAI is no longer a buzz word: it has real-world practical applications across the supply chain. And that’s what this event – and the whole concept of shaping new horizons – is about.
The technology is real
After the first day of customer and partner meetings, talks, and workshops, the main event kicked off on the following day with an AI video of Alex Saric, Ivalua’s CMO, flying from New York to Paris in his car. Why? “Obviously we had a little fun with technology for our opening video today, but there is a point,” Saric said in his opening speech.
“Our world is rapidly changing how we live, how we work. Technology is having a huge shift. Now the video may seem futuristic – even a little bit outlandish – but actually, all the technology in it is real and available today.”
However, Saric said, while huge change is happening around us, “what is important is maintaining the right balance in our personal and professional lives. We need to embrace the new because it’s exciting; it lets us do much more. And let’s be honest – not embracing it doesn’t mean you’re standing still. It means you’re falling behind as everyone else does embrace it.”
What humans do best
That’s not to say that everything is changing. “We need to preserve the old ways of working as well, especially when it comes to people and relationships,” Saric added. “That’s really critical. Agentic AI is already starting to fundamentally transform how we work, allowing us to make faster, more informed decisions, and freeing us from a lot of the dull and mundane tasks that still consume a huge amount of our day. By doing so, it’s going to allow us to focus on what humans do best: relationships, people, strategy. Now that’s the real promise of the human-agent operating model, which is coming.”
Saric doubled down on the fact that businesses have a choice: they can resist, and watch the future be shaped for them without their input. Or they can be proactive, and start using modern tools the way they want that fits best for their organisation. He added that the aim of Ivalua NOW 2026 was to inspire attendees by showing new innovations, showcasing customers who are succeeding on their journeys, and enabling networking opportunities.
Reshaping the supply chain world
“Your job has never been harder,” said Franck Lheureux, Ivalua’s CEO, said during his keynote address. “But there is hope. You wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Lheureux posed the questions every supply chain professional in the room is asking themselves: what talent do I need to thrive in today’s agentic world? How do I deal with cyber threats? When and how do I adopt AI for the best? How do I continue to prioritise climate change? How do I fight inflation, costs, and other impediments?
“Your impact has never been greater. You’re a force for good” – Franck Lheureux, CEO
“This is your world,” Lheureux added. “You’re reshaping your job, inventing a better future. Preparing this, a quote by Mahatma Ghandi came to my mind: ‘be the change you wish to see in the world’. You have the power to be the change, as long as you start, as long as you set yourself in motion, and set yourself in a positive direction.
“Your impact has never been greater. You’re a force for good. Every dollar you spend, you have a decisive opportunity to make it a relevant spend. Doing good for people, doing good for suppliers, doing good for your employees, society, and the planet. That’s your superpower. You have the opportunity, you have the technology, you have the appetite. More importantly, you have a mandate to make it happen.”
Acting and reacting
Lheureux inspiring words set the tone for the rest of the day. David Khuat-Duy, Founder and Chief AI Officer at Ivalua, followed with an overview of the agentic AI revolution, and what it means to both Ivalua and supply chain at large. Then, there was an educational talk through Ivalua’s innovations and trends from Pascal Bensoussan, Chief Product Officer.
Deep discussions of cutting-edge ideas and innovations continued through the day. Supply chain leaders from all walks of life presented on digital transformation, how women are driving change within procurement, why the CPO-CIO alliance is so vital, supplier dynamics, sustainability, and of course, many discussions about AI – the benefits, the risks, and beyond.
The type of guidance this event offers is invaluable. Despite the rapid pace of change, and the endless discussions about how best to move forward, forging a clear path is still a challenge. At 2025’s Ivalua NOW event, Lheureux stated that it’s hard to think about and project the future if you’re constantly forced to react on a day-to-day basis. Later in the day at this year’s event, I asked Lheureux what has changed – if anything.
“I sense that our customers have a paradoxical situation to fight the day-to-day constraints they face,” he explained. “What are the levels of a given company to cope with external shock, and still build a strategy for a long-term future? It’s supply chain resilience, and diversifying your supplier portfolio to reduce the dependency on one region.”
Ultimately, the key to moving forward proactively instead of reactively is being unlocked with technology. Lheureux added: “You need the technology to deploy best practice and policies, to shape the world, to shape the future with different results. And AI will still have something to do about it.”
Manifest Vegas 2026 took place in February, and as part of SupplyChain Strategy’s official partnership with the event, we joined in the festivities to bring back exclusive insights for our readers.
The event showcased new technologies, strategies, and other innovations for application across the supply chain. Manifest buzzed with conversations and ideas, the energy high as supply chain professionals shared their knowledge and wisdom. Looking ahead back in 2025, Tanzil Uddin, SVP of Content and Partnerships at Manifest told us, “2026 will be pushing things up a notch.”
He added: “Manifest is really a full ecosystem event, dedicated to the end-to-end supply chain. We bring together startups and investors, but also supply chain leadership like Chief Supply Chain Officers and Chief Procurement Officers from retail, manufacturing, automotive, life sciences, and more.”
Alongside our many conversations with leaders at Manifest, this issue features a conversation with Malcolm Dare, Executive Director, Commercial, at Sizewell C, about how the company is gearing up to meet 7% of the UK’s energy needs for the next 60 years. The under-construction nuclear power station is also creating education and work opportunities for the local area, which is a huge boon for Suffolk.
Dare says: “Building a sixth form college and handing it over to the education authority to run is one of the lasting legacies that we want to do. It also means that local people may choose to go through the sixth form route and then, after getting their qualifications, subsequently opt to work at Sizewell C when it’s an operating power plant. That is a generational activity that would have been left behind.”
As well as all of this, we have expert supply chain insights from Prabhat Rao Pinnaka, Eddy Massaad, and Paul Vezelis, as well as a CPOstrategy Podcast conversation with Venkatesh Srinivasan. Finally, we take a look ahead at our picks for upcoming supply chain events to keep an eye on.
Royanna Chappell and Rick Goe reveal a transformation that moves fulfilment operations towards adaptable, software-driven operations
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At Manifest 2026, conversations about supply chain transformation centre not just on automation itself, but on how organisations design operations to remain adaptable in uncertain markets. That theme comes sharply into focus during a joint discussion with Royanna Chappell, VP Business Development at Ocado Intelligent Automation, and Rick Goe, SVP Supply Chain at Distribution Management who detail an innovative and highly fruitful partnership.
From constraint to capability
Distribution Management, through its DM Fulfilment Services division, provides D2C and omnichannel fulfilment for brands and retailers. Built on a foundation of traditional distribution operations, the company increasingly supports fast-moving e-commerce clients whose product ranges and order profiles change constantly.
That shift, however, exposes the limits of conventional warehouse design.
“As we brought on third-party fulfilment into our product mix, we had SKU proliferation,” says Goe, SVP Supply Chain at Distribution Management. “Those SKUs got further and further away from the conveyor belt, which required our employees to walk, creating inefficiencies and productivity declines. It even had an impact on employee morale.”
Facility leases nearing expiration forced a strategic decision. Rather than retrofit ageing conveyor-heavy sites, the company chose to rethink its operating model entirely. “We had to decide who we wanted to be three years from that period all the way up to ten years,” Goe explains. “Did we want to invest in what we had, or be proactive and design for growth?”
For Chappell, VP Business Development at Ocado Intelligent Automation, flexibility is the defining advantage. “The reason I find AMRs so attractive is the adaptability,” she says. “Other technologies didn’t give operators this freedom. We took travel out of the equation and allowed people to be where work is, with work brought to them.”
SupplyChain Strategy was an official partner of Manifest 2026, and here are our insights into the event that had Vegas…
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SupplyChain Strategy was an official partner of Manifest 2026, and here are our insights into the event that had Vegas rockin’.
The first thing you notice walking into the Expo Hall at Manifest 2026 is the movement. Robotics arms stack pallets a few metres from a booth showcasing AI-powered planning platforms. Autonomous trucks sit alongside warehouse automation systems. Drones buzz overhead as software startups demonstrate dashboards that track shipments in real time.
But it is not just the technology drawing crowds. Everywhere you turn, supply chain professionals are deep in conversation. Old colleagues reconnect, startup founders pitch ideas and procurement leaders debate strategy over coffee.
Pam Simon, Conference Chair, Manifest, delivers the opening keynote speech and there’s a palpable buzz around this vast hall as she whets our appetite for what’s to come…
We first got an inkling of what was to come when we spoke to Tanzil Uddin, SVP of Content and Partnerships at Manifest, back in October: “2026 will be pushing things up a notch!” And he wasn’t wrong.
Beyond the supply chain
For three days in Las Vegas, Manifest becomes something more than a conference. It becomes a real-time snapshot of the global supply chain ecosystem.
Held once again at The Venetian, Las Vegas, the 2026 edition of Manifest 2026 welcomed more than 7,000 attendees representing manufacturers, retailers, logistics providers, startups, investors and senior executives from across the industry.
And as the event continues to grow, its purpose has remained surprisingly consistent: bringing the entire supply chain ecosystem together under one roof.
From startup summit to global supply chain hub
The event’s origins date back to a much smaller gathering, the Future of Logistics Tech Summit. That boutique event focused largely on venture investors and early-stage technology companies. The modern incarnation of Manifest emerged in 2022, when the event was relaunched with a broader vision: a forum representing the entire supply chain landscape.
Today, the conference operates under Hyve Group and has rapidly grown into one of the sector’s most influential gatherings. As Uddin explains, the goal has always been to represent the entire ecosystem. “Manifest is really a full ecosystem event dedicated to the end-to-end supply chain. We bring together startups and investors, but also supply chain leadership like chief supply chain officers and chief procurement officers from retail, manufacturing, automotive, life sciences and more.”
That diversity is visible throughout the show floor, where emerging technology companies sit alongside established logistics operators and major enterprise software vendors…
Surgere CEO William Wappler explains how precise, verified data is becoming the foundation of automation, resilience, and enterprise-wide decision-making
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At this year’s Manifest conference in Las Vegas, the conversation around supply chain technology repeatedly returns to one foundational theme: data accuracy. For William Wappler, CEO of Surgere, that foundation is not simply an operational advantage. It is the essential prerequisite for modern supply chain performance.
Surgere specialises in capturing, verifying and operationalising highly accurate supply chain data, using a combination of IoT, engineering-led deployment, and AI-driven analytics. The company focuses on knowing precisely what assets exist, where they are located, and how they move across complex industrial environments. That data is then fed into enterprise systems to drive automation, planning and decision making.
Accurate data
The company’s central mission is straightforward. “We only do one thing: to make sure that within that transformation, everybody has highly accurate data that they’re working on to ensure that all of the tactics and strategies they’re working on actually work.”
For decades, Wappler argues, supply chains have operated on what he calls an “assumptive model”. Organisations believed they knew what was in a shipment, where inventory sat, or whether materials had arrived, but verification was often manual and reactive. “Supply chain practitioners have existed on heroics for a long time,” he explains from Surgere’s spot in the Expo Hall of the Venetian Hotel. “We think we know what’s on that truck. We think we know where it is in the warehouse.”
Surgere’s technology is designed to remove that uncertainty. By validating shipments, tracking assets in real time and providing precise location data, the company allows organisations to operate on verified information rather than guesswork.
The scale is significant. “Today we’re doing about 15 billion transactions a month,” Wappler says, noting that the primary audience for this data is no longer people but enterprise systems themselves.
As Manifest 2026 draws to a close, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, Manifest, Katie Date reflects…
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As Manifest 2026 draws to a close, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, Manifest, Katie Date reflects on record-breaking engagement, the accelerating impact of AI, and how the fast-growing event continues to unite the global supply chain community. Plus, an exciting announcement that will see Manifest’s influence spread even wider…
As the exhibition halls begin to quiet and the final meetings wrap up, the sense of momentum surrounding Manifest 2026 remains unmistakable. The event has once again positioned itself as a focal point for the global logistics and supply chain community, bringing together shippers, carriers, technology providers, investors and startups under one roof for several days of intensive networking and knowledge exchange.
For Katie Date, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, the energy is the clearest measure of success. “It feels great,” she says as the event draws to a close. “This year has been so successful on so many different fronts. The energy in Manifest has truly been palpable. You just walk around and you can feel the buzz.”
That buzz is measurable as well as visible. Manifest’s proprietary badge technology tracks interactions across the venue, revealing the scale of engagement. “As of this morning,” Date explains, “our click to connect Qlik technology had recorded over 75,000 connections. By the end of today, I’m sure we’ll have surpassed 100,000 connections. We had almost 7,500 people check in to be a part of Manifest, which is just huge growth.”
For the organisers, those interactions are the event’s defining metric. “Really how we measure success here at Manifest is on those connections,” she says. “To see so many people making valuable connections really is a great measure of success.”
A platform for the entire ecosystem
From its earliest iteration, Manifest has been designed to serve the full supply chain ecosystem rather than any single segment. That founding principle continues to guide the event’s expansion. “I think we’ve done a very good job of staying close to the original vision, which was to serve the entire supply chain ecosystem,” says Date. “We’re not an event that’s just focusing on shippers or carriers or third-party logistics providers. We’re bringing them all together. We’re bringing in investors and startups. We’re creating almost three days of content and exhibition that really give them an opportunity to interact and create value.”
We met up with leaders at CHEP, Elida Beauty, Sun Pharma, Stanford Medicine and Covenant Logistics, to hear how strategy is being remodelled
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Supply chain resilience is no longer about recovery from isolated shocks. Leaders now describe disruption as continuous and systemic, demanding fundamentally different organisational thinking.
Sandra Leyva Martinez, Head of Sustainability, CHEP Americas, explains that organisations must prepare for overlapping risks as opposed to isolated events: “We don’t have one crisis at a time anymore. Multiple events spanning environmental, social, political and technological forces are happening simultaneously and often amplifying one another. That changes how you think about resilience. It’s no longer about predicting what might happen. It’s about building systems that respond quickly and intelligently when things happen, and making sure collaboration and transparency exist across the value chain so organisations can move together rather than react in isolation.”
Sachin Mariguddi, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Elida Beauty believes resilience is as much cultural as operational: “The rate of change is accelerating so fast that waiting to react is no longer viable. Organisations have to lean into change, experiment, learn quickly and adapt continuously. Supply chains that succeed will be those that treat uncertainty as normal and build the capability to respond in real time rather than trying to predict every disruption in advance.”
Vickram Srivastava, Head of Supply Chain North America, urges leaders to reset expectations entirely: “Supply chain disruption is here to stay. Whether it’s geopolitical tension, climate events, trade shifts or operational bottlenecks, variability is now part of the system. Leaders must reset expectations with partners, build multiple scenarios and ensure they can respond quickly when disruption occurs rather than assuming stability will return.”
Amanda Chawla, SVP Chief Supply Chain and Post Acute Care Officer, Stanford Medicine says resilience must be built into organisational architecture: “I have to change the way I fundamentally think about resiliency – from an infrastructure standpoint, from a data standpoint, from a team and analytics standpoint. It requires redesigning how decisions are made, how information flows and how quickly we can respond when supply conditions change.”
Matt McLelland, Vice President of Sustainability and Innovation, Covenant Logistics highlights operational execution: “Resilience and sustainability both come down to what actually happens on the ground. In transport, that means understanding how freight moves every day and making practical decisions that work operationally, meet customer expectations and adapt to regulatory and market changes at the same time.”
Speaking at Manifest 2026 in Las Vegas, Ray DeMelfi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services, and Derek Miller, Senior Account…
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Speaking at Manifest 2026 in Las Vegas, Ray DeMelfi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services, and Derek Miller, Senior Account Executive at Hy-Tek Intralogistics, present a clear view of how supply chains must evolve in a world defined by volatility, labour pressure and accelerating automation.
At Hy-Tek Intralogistics, strategy begins long before a system is installed, a robot deployed, or a facility redesigned. It begins with stepping back. The message is consistent. The companies that succeed are those that think beyond the immediate constraint and design for what comes next.
Strategy first
Hy-Tek operates as an end-to-end intralogistics partner, supporting organisations from early-stage supply chain strategy and network design through to technology integration, deployment and ongoing optimisation. The company combines consulting, software, automation partnerships and implementation expertise to deliver distribution and fulfilment systems tailored to specific operational requirements.
For Ray DeMelfi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services, the most common mistake organisations make is focusing too narrowly on today’s operational pain points. His team works with customers to define how facilities and networks must operate, not just now, but for years to come. That means building data-driven concepts that reflect growth ambitions, service expectations and structural change across the business. “Understanding your growth is the starting point. What are you trying to achieve?” he says. “A lot of times, customers look at the constraints of today and become narrow in focus… but you have to step back and understand what your growth strategy is and what the requirements are to support that…”
Supply Chain Now’s Scott Luton reveals an industry moving beyond AI hype to real-world execution
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Manifest 2026 in Las Vegas felt different. One sharp friend of mine (Florent Guillet-Caillot) referred to it as a “a gigantic beehive, full of energy and enthusiasm for what the future holds.” And that was before the extra buzz generated with the networking happy hours that were prevalent amongst all the friendly folks in attendance.
I enjoyed the opportunity to connect with hundreds of colleagues and friends, lead a wonderful panel discussion, and conduct more than twenty interviews with leaders from across the supply chain ecosystem: operators, technologists, investors, educators, journalists, entrepreneurs and analysts.
And after all those conversations, several observations became clear to me. None are necessarily new, but they certainly represented a doubling and tripling down of major themes across the global supply chain industry.
AI has moved from hype to execution
A couple of years ago, many conversations about AI in supply chain were still theoretical. At Manifest 2026, that wasn’t the case. In fact, my conversations in Las Vegas only added to my belief that those leaders that fail to take advantage of what has largely become the AI imperative…well, the costs to your competitive advantage have continued to rise dramatically.
In my conversation with Aadil Kazmi, Head of AI at Infios, he emphasized that the AI conversation has long shifted toward execution. Results are to be expected now; not demos and theoreticals.
One of the key points he raised was the power of unified data models. When order management, warehouse management, and transportation systems operate on the same foundation, organizations can actually act on intelligence rather than spending months stitching together fragmented datasets.
Barry Conlon and Brian Smith discuss how their organisations have spent 18 months deepening an integrated approach to freight execution
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Supply chains can no longer treat freight security as a standalone function. It must be embedded across execution, technology and partnerships. To this end, Overhaul has built its reputation around supply chain risk management, combining real-time visibility, intelligence monitoring, incident response and cargo recovery services to help organisations protect high-value and sensitive freight. Overhaul’s platform aggregates operational and security data from multiple sources, applying analytics and monitoring to detect anomalies and manage risk across the shipment lifecycle, giving more control to shippers and LSPs.
Banyan Technology sits closer to freight execution; its technology connecting shippers, brokers and logistics providers through integrated transportation management and data exchange tools that support planning, execution and financial settlement. The company’s role is to streamline freight decision-making while improving connectivity across participants within the transport process.
The partnership between Overhaul and Banyan, 18 months old and counting, effectively links execution and protection into closer alignment. Banyan’s connectivity and workflow orchestration provide critical operational data, while Overhaul applies risk intelligence, real-time monitoring and coordinated intervention capabilities. For both companies, this partnership reflects a wider shift across the industry. Security is moving closer to freight execution and has become part of day-to-day operational decision-making.
Unprecedented levels of freight fraud
Cargo theft and freight fraud have long existed, but both highly-experienced executives describe a shift in intensity that is forcing the industry to rethink its defences. “I’ve just never seen such levels of, not just sophistication, but attempts, attacks against the supply chain,” says Conlon. “It’s at unprecedented levels.”
Criminals exploit trusted relationships, operational speed and fragmented processes. They target breakpoints in the physical and digital movement of freight, moments where verification is weakest or processes slow down. The economics make the problem even more challenging. Conlon describes cargo theft as “vastly profitable and very low risk”, a combination that is attracting more organised actors into the space.
James Wee, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Fleet Solutions at Descartes, tells us how structural supply chain transformation…
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James Wee, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Fleet Solutions at Descartes, tells us how structural supply chain transformation is needed to counter almost constant temporary disruption…
At Manifest 2026, conversations about artificial intelligence (AI), automation and the realities of last-mile delivery are everywhere. Few executives are closer to the operational front line than James Wee, General Manager, Fleet Management at Descartes. Speaking amid the energy of the Las Vegas event, he presents a clear picture of an industry navigating structural change rather than temporary disruption.
“It’s a really exhilarating event,” he says of the gathering. “Lots of people. It’s a great turnout.” The show also offers valuable opportunities to connect with partners and customers. “We’ve had a great opportunity to connect and engage with clients and partners. It’s been well worthwhile to be here.”
Technology for fleets operating in a new reality
Wee leads the business unit responsible for last-mile delivery technologies at Descartes, designed for organisations running dedicated and private fleets. Descartes powers more responsive, efficient, secure and sustainable international and domestic supply chains by uniting logistics-intensive businesses on its Global Logistics Network (GLN). Shippers, carriers, and logistics service providers connect and collaborate on the GLN leveraging technology, data and AI to manage last mile deliveries, domestic and international shipments, transportation rating and payment, global trade research, customs compliance and a variety of regulatory processes…
We met with Drew Taranto, Vice President of Product Management for eCommerce and Returns at DHL, to see how supply…
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We met with Drew Taranto, Vice President of Product Management for eCommerce and Returns at DHL, to see how supply chains are still adapting to these times of constant disruption…
Drew Taranto, Vice President of Product Management for eCommerce and Returns, is focused on growth strategy across omnichannel fulfilment and reverse logistics. His role spans working with brands across multiple industries to help them expand their eCommerce capabilities while adapting to changing consumer expectations. Taranto explains that his remit is firmly product and future-focused.
“What are we doing to provide additional services for our customers? What are we doing to change the industry in light of what’s coming from end-consumers? And really helping drive that within our company through the product development lens is really what my responsibilities are.”
Distribution at the core
As a global contract logistics provider, DHL Supply Chain designs and operates distribution centres, manages warehousing and fulfilment, and supports complex supply chain operations for manufacturers, retailers and brands worldwide. Within that landscape, distribution remains the operational backbone. Taranto is clear that the biggest structural shift for DHL lies in how its customers now think about their networks. “Warehousing is one of our core offerings,” he says. “But what I would say is that there are lots of shifts in how our customer base is thinking about and building their distribution networks. What’s important to them is constantly changing…”
Stuart Clarke digs into why Open Source Intelligence is a huge asset for supply chain leaders
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Global supply chains are more complex than ever – and they often hide risks buried several layers deep. From forced labour and environmental violations to links with sanctioned entities, traditional due diligence struggles to keep pace when information is fragmented across jurisdictions and languages.
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the targeted collection and analysis of publicly available or licensable data to produce actionable insights. When applied to supply chain risk, OSINT helps investigators move beyond surface-level information to build a fuller picture of hidden vulnerabilities.
The role of OSINT sources in investigations
Many companies are under pressure to adhere to regulations (like AML and ESG), and ensure their supply chains are ethical and safe. Visibility across the supply chain is especially vital due to the increased number of cyber attacks companies have fallen victim to in recent years: there is a need to assess damage and respond quickly.
The issue is that, on paper, a supplier can appear compliant, with no public record of violations. OSINT enables investigators to surface insights from publicly available corporate records, trade data, local media and social platforms. These sources, both individually and collectively, can provide valuable extra intelligence on suppliers.
Corporate registries and beneficial ownership filings, for instance, can reveal complex entity and ownership structures. In turn, this can allow us to understand a company’s finances and detect signs of money laundering or other illicit behaviour. Trade data can then be used to highlight any unusual flows of goods, intermediaries, or counterparties in high-risk jurisdictions. Meanwhile, local and regional media reporting can surface allegations of labour or environmental abuses often missed by international outlets. Finally, publicly available social media and online forums can provide early indicators of unrest, misconduct or operational disruption.
For example, say an apparel company sources their textiles from a regional supplier. Corporate records might show that the supplier owns a subsidiary in another jurisdiction. While the subsidiary itself may look legitimate, local media reports connect it to a factory accused of poor working conditions. This information is then corroborated by social media posts from local activists and workers campaigning against these conditions. If the wider media or general public were to find out about these reports, there could be major reputational damage for the apparel company too.
By combining and contextualising this information, a picture of risk is clearly established – and it’s one that can be used across a supply chain.
Why a networked perspective matters
A networked perspective is critical for spotting hidden risks in complex supplier relationships.
As the previous example showcases, risks often emerge not from direct suppliers but from
subsidiaries, subcontractors and affiliates several steps removed. Therefore, mapping relationships across corporate hierarchies and geographies allows investigators to identify indirect exposure to sanctioned entities, politically exposed persons or problematic practices.
Let’s use another hypothetical example. A manufacturer is looking to import key electrical components from a supplier. The supplier’s self-disclosed information lists no problematic relationships. However, publicly available trade data shows how large volumes of exports are routed through a third-party logistics firm. Then, by taking a look at beneficial ownership records, the manufacturer discovers that this logistics firm in fact shares directors with another company under international sanctions – and the regional press has exposed this company’s dealings with another sanctioned contractor.
As you can see, a networked view can quickly lead the manufacturer to an awareness that, despite showing no direct ties, their supply chain could get entangled with sanctioned entities. Ultimately, taking a networked perspective supports a shift from siloed assessments of individual suppliers to a broader understanding of systemic vulnerabilities.
A proactive, technology-driven approach
Declarations from suppliers are of course important, but their use is insufficient without independent verification. OSINT helps firms proactively identify hidden risks, strengthen compliance with evolving regulatory regimes, and mitigate potential legal liabilities. This proactive approach is key: building resilience through the early detection of red flags helps to protect brand reputation and reduce the likelihood of costly disruptions.
Yet while the use of OSINT can transform how firms conduct supply chain investigations, the scale of data online can present a formidable barrier to using OSINT to its full potential. As such, teams require a combination of advanced technology and human skills to best collate and sort data – otherwise, they will be restricted in the depth and pace of their analysis.
The latest OSINT platforms can scour the surface, deep and dark web for public data relevant to an investigation, contextualise it, and then present it to investigators in a clear and structured way. What’s more, AI can now be used to intelligently automate many manual investigation processes, especially with the rapid development of agentic AI. Agentic AI enables us to reimagine supply chain workflows, by automating the collection and analysis of data from rich OSINT sources to deliver a faster, more detailed report. Humans can verify the information and sources presented to them, and act on it as needed.
Technology doesn’t only enhance the accuracy and depth of investigations: speeding up investigation timeframes provides a business advantage in many cases. Firms can latch onto business opportunities quickly with confidence and secure partnerships that might otherwise have slipped away.
Mapping risk across borders
In such a globalised world, supply chains are full of corporate and regulatory complexity. To ensure they maintain compliant and ethical supply chains, companies can’t just rely on self-disclosures from suppliers. The risk of disruption and losses is too great to be dependent on self-reported information alone. OSINT gives supply chain leaders the ability to analyse publicly available data and map risk across their supply chain.
We also live in an age where misinformation online is widespread. OSINT technology offers organisations a powerful way of sifting through this data to build accurate profiles on their suppliers and enhance the speed of their investigations. With companies facing a need to efficiently meet regulations but also maximise business opportunities, this combination can be transformative for their financial and operational performance.
Ultimately, instead of reacting to surface-level disclosures, OSINT empowers supply chain leaders to proactively uncover hidden risks across borders and cement confidence in their supply chains.
Don’t miss out on this vital discussion around the human rights side of supply chain
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ethica26, the human rights in supply chain leadership summit, is happening in London on the 17th of March. The event – presented by the Slave-Free Alliance, Hope for Justice, and Exiger – is a full day of expert talks and roundtable discussions, hosted at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London.
Human rights violations threaten the operations, reputations, and resilience of supply chains all over the world. Businesses face growing regulatory, investor, and customer pressure to take a strong stance and make the correct decisions about human rights. ethica26 will bring together over 300 supply chain leaders across various industries to help chart and guide the future of more ethical supply chains.
Why upstream volatility is no longer abstract for design and procurement teams
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If you feel like you’re paying more for your electronic components, you’re not imagining it. Thanks to upstream pressures, rising prices for key commodities used across electronics and manufacturing are filtering down into everything from copper-heavy printed circuit boards (PCBs) to metal-backed passives. Here, Chris Withers, sales director at Zel Components, an alternative electronic parts supplier, explains how engineers can respond more quickly to market volatility.
On the London Metal Exchange (LME), copper reached record territory in early January 2026, pushing above $13,300 per tonne. That’s more than 20% higher than the late 2025 average as stock tightness and strong industrial demand combined.
That matters because copper isn’t just a metal you read about in commodity news. It’s used extensively in printed circuit boards, internal connectors and wiring, as well as across many power and signal paths in electronics. As a result, movements in copper pricing directly influence the cost of the boards and assemblies engineers design and build.
Precious metals are also impacting pricing dynamics. Gold recently surged above $5,000 per ounce, reaching a series of record highs in the first few weeks of 2026 amid market volatility and safe-haven demand. While gold isn’t in every bill of materials, it’s used in contact plating and specialist components where performance meets reliability.
Likewise, aluminium has traded firmly above $3,000 per tonne on global benchmarks and is forecast to remain well supported given current market dynamics. Even when commodity analysts suggest prices might ease later in the year, the near-term story is volatility, which introduces risk.
When inputs move
Engineers regularly buy copper foil, laminates and boards priced off copper’s movement. Over 2025 and into 2026, manufacturers of copper-clad laminate — the base material for almost all FR-4 boards — began issuing public price adjustments directly linked to rising raw materials.
Some supplier notices describe increases of up to 30% across all thicknesses of copper-clad laminate and prepreg, driven by higher copper prices, glass cloth costs and processing expenses.
This is the kind of upstream movement that doesn’t stay upstream. It filters through every layer of a PCB quotation, especially in multi-layer designs where copper and prepreg content is higher.
The wider passive component landscape tells a similar story. Industry analysis shows price increases across capacitors, inductors, ferrite beads and related passives. These range from single digit to double-digit percentages for early 2026 deliveries, often citing metals and process cost inflation among the drivers.
This doesn’t mean you should panic buy every part in your current bill of materials (BOM). However, it does mean that the old “wait-and-see” strategy is getting riskier, particularly if you’re dependent on a single branded source for key sections of your design.
Alternative sourcing
Second sourcing is moving back into focus, not as a cost-cutting exercise but as a form of risk management. Pin-for-pin alternatives, for instance, allow engineering teams to maintain electrical and mechanical compatibility while reducing dependence on individual manufacturers, whose pricing or lead times may be more exposed to raw material volatility.
This approach is particularly effective for widely used regulators, discretes, interface devices and passives, where functional equivalence is well understood and validation cycles are manageable. As volatility increases, having approved alternatives already mapped can significantly reduce disruption when prices shift or allocations appear.
When suppliers combine local stock with extended inventory and effective cross-reference tools, response times improve. During a time of uncertain input costs, that flexibility is as valuable as unit price, provided performance remains consistent.
Prices might ease at some point, but it’s difficult to predict when. Volatility isn’t going away, and when raw material costs feed into electronics pricing, it’s the teams that design and source with flexibility in mind that are better positioned to respond when conditions change.
Exiger’s Executive Forum returns in March, enabling procurement and supply chain leaders to deep-dive into the latest the sector has to offer
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On Wednesday the 4th of March, Exiger’s Executive Forum arrives at Great Scotland Yard in London. The title of this event is When geopolitics hits the P&L: Redesigning supply chains for structural conflict. Concerns around instability across the world are at an all-time high, and now is not the time for procurement and supply chain professionals to bury their heads in the sand. The Exiger Executive Forum is designed to lay the relevant issues out on the table, and remove fear in a way that’s still realistic.
This particular event examines how various forces – including sanctions, export controls, financial restrictions, and resource nationalism – affect the realities of procurement. Geopolitical instability isn’t an external risk anymore; it affects every part of the supply chain. As a result, procurement leaders are redesigning contracts, sourcing strategies, and decision governance in order to turn potential disruption around.
March’s Exiger Executive Forum will focus on:
How Geopolitics Translates into P&L Impact
Supplier Liquidity, Financial Exposure, and Payment Fragility
Source to Processing and Assembly Concentration, Choke Points, and Structural Dependency
Exiger’s new tool will help fight against modern slavery in the supply chain
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Exiger has announced the launch of its no cost, open access website that allows global citizens, companies, governments, and NGOs to review whether a company or its supply chain is linked to state-sponsored forced labour. forcedlabor.ai empowers all companies, regardless of the size of their compliance budget, to make better decisions about who they do business with and ensure that their supply chain isn’t unknowingly profiting from modern slavery.
“Modern slavery is a blight on humanity,” said Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels. “An estimated 50 million people are trapped in modern slavery, many of whom are hidden in opaque supply chains. As part of our mission to make the world a safe and transparent place to succeed, Exiger has decided to make the world’s largest dataset on companies connected to state-sponsored forced labour available to everyone. Hundreds of thousands of companies and millions of global supply chains are impacted.”
forcedlabor.ai lets companies, citizens, government agencies, law enforcement, NGOs, and civil society enter the name of supplier or company to immediately see potential forced labour connections in their supply chains. Powered by Exiger’s proprietary AI capabilities, results are evidenced-based and actionable. forcedlabor.ai will cover a growing scope and currently encompasses People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored forced labour, Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) risks and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Withhold Release Orders (WRO) exposure across virtually every industry, including retail, automotive, industrials, consumer goods and electronics, and agricultural products.
“The CCP is responsible for one of the gravest human atrocities in recent history: the genocide of Uyghurs,” said Representative John Moolenaar, Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, on the launch of forcedlabor.ai. “Corporate actors must be open-eyed and take action to avoid complicity in this abuse and billions of dollars in global supply chains that rely on the CCP’s persecution of the Uyghurs.”
“When our global non-profit, which helps organisations build their resilience to modern slavery and labour exploitation, was looking for a technology to provide supply chain visibility, we reviewed over 400 platforms, and Exiger was heads and shoulders above all of the others,” said Slave-Free Alliance CEO Tim Nelson. “They’ve built the world’s largest forced labour risk database with some 20 billion records, and now they’re making incredibly valuable data available to everyone, creating a level of baseline transparency never before possible.”
The tool was developed with input from human rights and supply chain specialists including Kit Conklin, Exiger SVP of Risk & Compliance, Atlantic Council Nonresident Senior Fellow and former US House Select Committee on China Senior Advisor, as well as Dr. Laura Murphy, one of the world’s foremost experts on forced labour, Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, Senior Associate in the Human Rights Initiative at CSIS, and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Senior Policy Advisor who led the UFLPA Entity List team.
“This is a revolutionary, first-of-its-kind platform that makes regulator-grade forced labor risk intelligence accessible to everyone,” said Conklin. “The scale and universal availability of this data, powered by AI, represents a new era in forced labor transparency.”
Exiger is launching forcedlabor.ai at WEF’s 2026 Annual Meeting at Davos. Exiger CEO and WEF Governor Brandon Daniels will discuss how AI and supply chain intelligence, including forced labour data, are reshaping the industrial, economic and defence landscape alongside private sector CEOs and government officials at the USA House. The first session, Boardroom to Battlefield: Winning the AI Tempo War for Economic and National Security, is at 12:15PM CET on Wednesday, January 21, and the second, From Enforcement to Advantage: The Integrated Trade Strategy Powering America’s Industrial Revival is at 2:15PM CET on Thursday, January 22. Sessions will be livestreamed. For details on all of Exiger appearances and activations at Davos, visit https://www.exiger.com/davos2026.
The AI leader joins Hy-Tek to scale its IntraOne software platform
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Hy-Tek Intralogistics, a leading provider of warehouse and distribution technology, is excited to announce today the appointment of Jim Peters as Senior Director, Software Development. In this leadership role, Peters will oversee the engineering and product development strategy, focusing on scaling high-performance teams and advancing the architecture of the company’s software solutions.
Peters joins Hy-Tek with over 18 years of experience in senior leadership roles, bringing deep expertise in systems architecture, cloud computing, and machine learning. He has a proven track record of building and scaling engineering organisations, having successfully managed global teams across on-site and offshore locations in the US, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong.
Most recently, Peters served as Senior Software Engineering Manager at Vanderlande, where he led engineering and product teams in North America and Europe to develop next-generation Warehouse Execution Systems (WES). During his tenure, he was instrumental in updating legacy systems to modern development practices and piloting an Agentic AI development program to assist with system review and refactoring.
Robert Kluck, Vice President of Software Development at Hy-Tek Intralogistics, said: “Jim’s extensive background in WES development and his forward-thinking approach to AI and machine learning make him an invaluable asset to our technology leadership team. His ability to transform organisations using Agile methodologies aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver cutting-edge software solutions to our customers.”
At Hy-Tek, Peters will leverage his proficiency in transforming organisations and his experience with AI platforms to enhance decision support and development velocity. His leadership will be pivotal in driving the continuous evolution of Hy-Tek’s software offerings, ensuring they remain at the forefront of the supply chain industry.
We talk to Kimberley Duarte, Strategic Programs and Operations at the Circular Supply Chain Network, about her experiences in supply chain
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It’s common for procurement professionals to just fall into supply chain. How did it happen for you?
I guess I fall into the same camp. I came into supply chain through engineering. I started as an electrochemical engineer, working on energy systems. My master’s is in hydrogen economy, fuel cells, batteries, things like that.
However, I’ve always been in operations. My co-op during my bachelor’s degree was in operations engineering in a chemical coating company. My dad was a plant manager, so I was always walking the floor and looking at machines and thinking they were really cool in a manufacturing sense.
I didn’t really understand much about it until my first role coming out of my master’s program. I was heavily involved with the supply chain team. I worked with quality and sourcing for scaling up production of a component that we had. I had this realisation where that bottleneck in innovation isn’t necessarily the technology itself. You can make the technology work with all of the engineers and the scientists working hard together, but it’s the systems and the relationships that move materials, products, and ideas from prototype to production. Technology can only succeed when the supply chains are ready to carry that into production and scale that. And I found that very interesting. That’s when I felt I was way more interested in the nuances of supply chain than engineering. I liked being a part of the system that made something successful.
Tell me a bit about the Circular Supply Chain Network and what it does.
The Circular Supply Chain Network was started a few years ago by Deborah Dull. She is a thought leader and world renowned speaker on circular supply chains. I really admire her. She’s written a couple of books and she works with the ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management). She’s wonderful and brilliant, and her idea was to create a global community that’s dedicated to re-imagining supply chains as circular systems.
We bring together practitioners, innovators, leaders, and we share tools, frameworks, and stories for making circularity practical and actionable. We do that through education, peer exchange, thought leadership, speaking events, pilot projects, and so on. We work on grants when appropriate as well, and we’ll go to events and host workshops. We hold and share toolkits and training information, and we participate in accelerator type initiatives.
Can you tell me about the sessions you led at CHAINge North America earlier this year?
That was great. I really loved my time at CHAINge this year. I did a couple of things. On the first day, I worked with Deborah and she brought in some members of the Circular Supply Chain Network for us to co-facilitate her workshop. Her workshop was really fun. It was called Reboot, Repair, Reimagine the Circular Supply Chain. We were talking in this workshop about the companies that are actually implementing advanced circular supply chain solutions, to show that it’s not science fiction. They are truly who’s leading the way right now, and we discussed the steps you can take in your own company to benchmark against them or to lead yourself to these types of success. It was really fun being a part of that and working with Deborah side-by-side.
I also co-presented with Samer AlMadhoon, Managing Partner at Muhakat Institute. He had a sustainability talk and I had a circularity talk, and we worked together in our presentation. It was called Sustainability in Action: Bringing Circularity and Best Practices to Life in Your Supply Chain. I led the audience through what a circular supply chain is, and a roundtable the next day to follow up on that, and find out people’s struggles.
That brought up some really hard conversations and a lot of pain that I think supply chain professionals understand. Maybe they feel that sometimes they’re not listened to, or there’s still companies where the supply chain is supposed to manage costs and they don’t necessarily have a seat at the table.
How do sustainability and circularity differ, and how can we shine more of a spotlight on circularity?
That’s definitely challenging. If you look at sustainability, it’s the goal. It’s the big picture; it’s people, planet, profit, and circularity is a tool. Circularity is purely about material flows. It’s about how we keep the raw materials, the products, the energy that’s used in these processes in play for as long as possible. Circularity doesn’t cover water use, labour conditions, equity; it’s very focused on the materials themselves. However, circularity is also one way of getting to the sustainability boundaries, essentially. And that’s the interesting thing.
Circularity itself is huge for economic value because it is value retention, it’s material flow, and keeping those materials in play with as little effort and waste as possible. If we think of lean manufacturing and waste in that aspect of wanting as minimal waste as possible, that’s true in circularity as well. But then how do you take these waste streams and extract more value out of them? How do you protect the value of the materials and the products that you’re working with? How do you keep as much of the shell of your product going for as long as possible with minimal effort? Those are the aspects of circularity that I think need more attention and understanding.
Besides a lack of conversation around the topic, what are the biggest challenges in circularity?
I think part of it is there are very large companies that are implementing circular practices. A lot of the heavy duty equipment companies have figured out how to make their very large, very expensive machines have new life, so they have whole remanufacturing plants. And that’s great, but these large companies have something a small company doesn’t: a huge supply chain ecosystem.
Circularity isn’t really a single company solution – it takes that ecosystem. You need your suppliers, you need your customers, you need to be able to get back to your material. It needs policy makers. It needs communities working together, reverse logistics, and local infrastructure – our big missing links in circular supply chains. Without them, it doesn’t matter. The loop stays broken if you’re not able to get back your material and do something meaningful with it.
And the thing is, it’s also really hard for companies to understand the value in making those short loops, even though it’s less risky and more resilient to have share and reuse remanufacturing processes that are close and local, so you can keep those materials in circulation longer. That is a huge shift where companies are so much more used to obsolescence, like you want your product to fall apart so that somebody will come and buy a new one. So it is that business model of getting into the mindset of there actually being revenue to be had. Mindset is key.
Caroline Grey, Co-Founder and CRO, Treefera, explores how better visibility is fixing blind spots
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The world is getting noisier. Climate volatility, environmental degradation and political instability are increasing both the number and the severity of disturbances that ripple through supply chains. With each disturbance, new complexities arise from new variables, like soil health and rainfall shifts, regulatory changes and geopolitical friction. These variables compound into an opaque risk ecosystem.
The unfortunate reality is that traditional data collection methods, aimed at managing supply chains and reducing risks across the all-important first mile, now can’t keep up in this challenging environment. Manual data collection or static surveys can’t process this rising tide of complexity fast enough to inform decisions, meaning businesses don’t have access to critical information. The result? Without this primary data, businesses are “flying blind,” which means they don’t have control over their supply chain operational performance, thus impacting revenue.
Technology plays a crucial role in quietening the noise, restoring clarity and providing leaders with the insights needed to improve supply chain resilience. We’re already seeing that satellite imagery, drone information and ground truth data can all be elevated using AI agents, allowing businesses to make better decisions.
The first-mile challenge
Today, 60% of business costs and risks occur within the first mile of logistical supply chains, meaning poor management of risk in these sourcing regions can directly impact business success. At the same time, regulatory pressure and requirements are growing, with the impending EUDR and EU omnibus legislation. Businesses need to have access to the right processes and technology solutions to ensure compliance.
For the EUDR, this means that any business that operates within, or sells to, Europe will need to ensure no deforestation occurs within their supply chain. They will also need to backdate evidence from as far back 2020. While timelines for this regulation remain uncertain, acting now to prepare for compliance should be a business priority today.
Given the scale of first-mile risk, visibility is essential to build resilience. This can only be done by leaning into the right mix of technologies, including the smart use of AI to generate insights that allow for greater, better-informed decision-making. AI allows us to abstract complexity – leveraging the massive acceleration in the capabilities of satellites over the past 10 years and turning disparate and disconnected data into actionable insights at global scale and near-instant speed.
AI-nativity needs to be the first step
While the entire supply chain can be opaque, the first mile has historically been hardest to manage, with information about sourcing regions and commodity origins often fragmented, remote and expensive.Businesses need access to insightful data that uncovers what’s really happening on the ground.
Data governs the flow of capital, and the quality of this data can equip enterprises with the ability to scope out and invest in appropriate sourcing options.Satellites, drones and ground truth data help with this, but only to a point – they provide surface level information without the depth of insight necessary for action.
AI-enabled data systems make it possible to track first-mile activity in real time. These tools translate raw, real-world data into scalable insights that decision makers can act on. They can also be tailored to specific business needs – from monitoring particular geographies to aligning with the compliance frameworks that matter most.
How does this work in practice? Take a large brand sourcing cocoa in Madagascar, for example, which needs to assess the risks posed by deforestation in order to meet EUDR standards. By utilising AI and satellite technology, they can map their entire supply chain to assess deforestation, tenure and labour risks, while producing automated DDS (Due Diligence Statement) reports ready to be submitted to the EU.
Agentic AI is the enabler here, synthesising complex and vast real-world datasets into expert-grade insights that are accessible at speed and scale. AI agents build on traditional AI models through autonomy and comprehensive self-learning mechanisms. Ultimately, this technology supports businesses in understanding the risk landscape within the first mile. And when incorporated into models that include regulatory and compliance frameworks, businesses can manage accountability and maintain their governance commitments.
Building deep insights from historic blind spots
The factors that affect global supply chains show no sign of slowing down – it’s time for businesses to take a different approach to risk identification and management, especially within the first mile. By ensuring access to accurate, scalable data and utilising real-time monitoring, businesses are laying the foundation for unwavering supply chain resilience.
For the C-Suite, the stakes are clear: revenue security and enterprise value now hinge on visibility at the first mile. In a world of climate shocks, political instability and regulatory pressure, legible supply chain data is no longer a technical nice-to-have; it is the foundation for protecting continuity, defending margins and sustaining growth over the long term.
In this issue, we’re shining a spotlight on the rapidly-growing sportswear brand, On. Craig Jones, Chief Supply Chain Officer at On, has a long history of transformational excellence. We sat down with him to discuss the expertise he brought to On, and how the business has evolved.
On is a young company, founded in 2010, and has grown exponentially ever since. It has gained international attention and renown during the last 16 years, but swift growth can have unforeseen consequences. To make sure vital elements of the supply chain didn’t get overlooked with all the extra work and pressure upon it, Jones made sure to start by getting back to basics.
“After 30 years in the game, I would say I can walk around a warehouse and kind of smell where the problems and bottlenecks are,” Jones says. “A lot of it is just the basics of running a distribution centre with planning. If you think about planning, there are not many companies I know that have accurate forecasting, especially with the volatility of our environment today. So it’s important to be clear on who owns what and what needs to be done by whom. A lot of it is just about discipline without being over-the-top.”
Alongside the On profile, we have some expert insights about supply chain circularity from Kimberley Duarte, Strategic Programs and Operations at the Circular Supply Chain Network. Caroline Grey, Co-Founder and CRO at Treefera, also lends us her wisdom on the topic of building supply chain resilience through first-mile visibility. Plus, procurement and technology leader, Nedra Dickson, talks us through the value of small business.
Additionally, we’ve got fascinating round-ups from DPW Amsterdam and Exiger’s Executive Forum from the tail-end of 2025, and we’ll also be looking ahead to Manifest 2026 and other upcoming events.
Simon Bowes, CVP Manufacturing Industry Strategy EMEA at Blue Yonder, discusses AI’s role in resilience
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For some time, global supply chains have been under considerable pressure. Media coverage continues to reflect the uncertainties faced across industries as diverse as construction, chemicals, semiconductors and food, among many others. News reports point to both positive developments and persistent challenges, with stories about disruption, weak demand and slow recovery appearing alongside more encouraging signals.
On the ground, these issues are causing significant problems. Research reveals that 84% of executives have experienced supply chain disruptions, ranging from route changes and extreme weather to geopolitical unrest. These disruptions complicate planning, impacting everything from production capacity to transportation costs.
On the other hand, supply chains have also proved themselves to be incredibly resilient, with organisations everywhere adapting to unprecedented levels of disruption to keep the wheels of commerce in motion. Looking ahead, however, how can organisations strike a balance between maintaining operational continuity and adapting quickly to new risks and changing market conditions?
AI-powered digital transformation
Key to long-term success is an ongoing commitment to digital transformation, particularly the deeper integration of smart supply-chain platforms and AI-driven tools that strengthen visibility and support faster, more confident decision-making.
In this context, “smart” supply chain platforms are modern, cloud-based systems designed to connect data, processes and stakeholders across the end-to-end supply chain. They replace fragmented legacy tools and spreadsheets with a unified operating environment, integrating data from internal functions (planning, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, etc) and external partners (customers, suppliers, carriers, retailers). In doing so, they provide a single, consistent source of truth across the supply chain network.
AI can play a central role in generating insights that organisations use to radically improve planning and decision-making. By processing large data sets to detect patterns, anomalies or emerging risks more quickly than manual analysis, machine-learning models can anticipate fluctuations in demand and inventory positions, using that information to inform forward planning.
AI can also recommend actions, such as re-routing shipments or adjusting production plans, to minimise disruption while automation reduces reliance on manual decision-making and speeds up response times. Together, these capabilities help organisations adapt more quickly when conditions change, as they inevitably will.
Effective integration
Despite strong potential, integrating AI into incredibly complex supply chains is not without its challenges. For instance, many networks remain extremely fragmented, with data often trapped in multiple systems that don’t communicate well. This reduces the quality and completeness of information available to AI models, meaning organisations struggle to operationalise tools consistently across relevant functions. According to Blue Yonder’s research, 82% of leaders agree that outdated technology will hinder their supply chain’s potential, and 51% state that implementing new tech is a top strategic priority.
In the rush to deliver performance improvements, some organisations have implemented AI on a piecemeal basis, deploying point solutions that address only one area (such as warehouse optimisation or forecasting) without supporting broader end-to-end decisioning. The problem with this approach is that it can easily create new barriers by reinforcing data and process silos, making it harder to share insight across functions and limiting the ability to coordinate responses when conditions change.
So, what do AI-powered supply chain processes look like in practice? Imagine a manufacturer sourcing key components from multiple suppliers across different regions. Without prior warning, a disruption, such as a severe weather event that closes a port or a supplier’s production delay, occurs. Using traditional processes, teams would need to manually piece together information from procurement, logistics and production systems to understand the scale of the problem, a task that can take hours or even days.
Armed with the appropriate data platform and AI tools, because data from procurement, production, logistics and inventory is unified, the organisation receives an early alert. AI models quickly analyse the likely impact of the problem, such as which orders will be affected, expected delays, and how production capacity will be influenced, among other factors.
The platform then evaluates scenarios around options such as alternative suppliers, rerouting via different ports, adjusting production schedules or reallocating inventory across distribution centres. It then recommends the most effective option based on lead time, cost and service commitments.
Planners can review and approve the recommended response, supported by a clear rationale. After this point, execution steps are automatically triggered across procurement, transportation partners and warehouse operations. As conditions evolve, AI continues to monitor performance and adjust recommendations, ensuring customer commitments are met and cost impacts are minimised.
In many ways, the argument in favour of using AI to improve supply chain performance and resilience has already been won. Research has shown that 80% of industry leaders say AI is already changing how they operate. Delivering on the technology’s true potential requires a shift from experimentation to scaled deployment. That means unifying data, connecting processes and equipping teams to act on AI-driven insight with confidence.
The CRO of Kallikor discusses how supply chain professionals can become more proactive and less reactive
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Poor alignment of strategy to execution plans across supply chain operations coupled to a continuous mix of internal and external disruptions are leading to a culture of constant firefighting. Last-minute fixes and costly reactive changes to address even small bottlenecks are eroding margins and confidence at the top. And, for CEOs and CFOs, this short-term mindset in the operation leaves them incapable of making confident growth bets for the future.
Instead, decision-makers need a way to shift from firefighting to foresight, with access to a safe virtual environment that enables testing of long-term strategies, quantifying the impact of even the smallest changes and aligning decisions across finance, commercial, logistics and supply chain operations.
Starting anywhere
No more reactive, day-to-day problem solving to deal with demand changes or external factors. Instead,leaders can use composable simulation to target the real pressure points that constrain growth – whether that’s in-store operations, warehouse flows, transport strategy or outdated inventory policies. By tackling the bottlenecks that matter most, businesses gain the agility to act decisively.
With a joined-up model spanning areas of operation, changes in one domain which impact adjacent processes can be modelled together – avoiding greedy optimisation which favours one function, landing additional costs elsewhere in the business. Those might include warehouse design, store operations or network flow, with the power to move seamlessly between but balance the needs of different areas as needed. That flexibility gives executives the foresight to direct resources where they’ll unlock future growth, not just satisfy immediate local operational challenges.
From composability to adaptability
Composability is crucial for adaptability. With composable simulation, businesses can quickly adapt to changing requirements or conditions across the operation. New use cases or models can be added if needed, supporting targeted improvements on-the-fly, but critically balancing each of the elements of the end-to-end flow.
Firefighting mindsets have been exacerbated by rigid rules and policies, or guardrails, in supply chains, especially when they no longer fit today’s market dynamics. Composable simulation enables businesses to simulate different scenarios that challenge those guardrails.
The short and long-term impact of changing or removing certain policies or rules can be fully tested in a risk-free environment, enabling true foresight. It’s even possible to identify new effective ways of operating across the supply chain which may have been previously overlooked due to the established, siloed structures in place.
Accessibility that drives alignment
But even with the flexibility, impact and foresight offered by composable simulation, it only creates value if the insights are accessible to decision-makers at every level, so that impact is lessened if the platform is too complex for staff to leverage and C-suite leaders can’t gain the relevant insight.
Many old-school tools demanded near perfect data and data scientist level tech talent to deliver value. That’s no longer the case. Innovations in AI and no-code models mean composable simulation no longer requires spotless data or deep technical expertise. A happy by-product is that composable simulation avoids the downsides of data aggregation necessary to feed the traditional tools.
Even if substantial gaps are present in the available data, AI can synthesise the missing elements based on the available information. Through intelligent preparation of extensive simulation experiments it is possible to describe and fully explore complex scenarios which extend beyond the bounds of what could be achieved with ‘real’ data alone.
The result is a safe environment for testing operational decisions and modelling real-world impact, accessible to all, from technical specialists to the C-Suite.
Targeted change, strategic impact
In short, composability allows businesses to leave firefighting in the past, challenge the rigid guardrails that have held them back and achieve much-needed foresight. By building modular simulation digital twins, leaders can test new strategies, expose outdated rules and see the ripple effects of every decision before committing capital. Instead of reactively addressing bottlenecks, the supply chain becomes the cockpit for growth foresight, where the C-suite can align investors, operations and strategy – and act boldly with confidence.
A discussion with Cihan Likogullari, VP Sales EMEA & Global Key Accounts Pharma
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1.What new technological advancements are shaping the air freight cool chain for pharmaceuticals?
Temperature-controlled logistics for pharmaceuticals are rapidly advancing, driven by emerging technologies and technological advancements, real-time monitoring capabilities, and stricter compliance demands for next-generation therapies.
Real-time monitoring has become a core component of air freight cold chain operations, offering visibility that helps reduce risks and maintain the integrity of temperature-sensitive products all the way to the patient.
There is also growing emphasis on sustainability within pharmaceutical logistics. Stakeholders are prioritising the reduction of CO₂ emissions, making lightweight and space-efficient transport solutions more critical than ever to support greener, more responsible supply chains.
2.How are pharmaceutical organisations building resilience in response to increasing extreme weather and geopolitical disruptions?
Supply chain disruptions can significantly impact the delivery of pharmaceutical products, with climate change creating increasingly unpredictable weather events such as flooding, landslides, and severe storms. Additionally, the ongoing geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty continue to pose major challenges for global logistics.
Extreme weather impacts air freight routes and requires collaboration across all stakeholders and the entire supply chain. To maintain resilience and efficiency, logistics providers must manage containers proactively and be ready to respond to a variety of disruptions. A one-size-fits-all approach is no longer viable, particularly as shipments may be exposed to freezing temperatures, high heat, and humidity within a single journey.
3.What new innovations are improving risk management, excursion tracking, or real-time intervention in the cool chain?
Over the recent years, providers have increasingly adopted digital tools, ranging from IoT and blockchain to AI, to improve transparency, reliability, and operational efficiency. Real-time monitoring is deeply embedded in cold chain solutions, offering greater visibility and reducing the risk of temperature excursions.
Adopting AI remains an evolving process in the industry. Small improvements lay the foundation for long-term success. Achieving this progress depends on close collaboration between pharmaceutical companies, logistics partners, and technology providers to ensure integration and continuous innovation.
4.How has end-to-end visibility evolved to improve overall resilience and assurance?
Ensuring the safe transport of pharmaceuticals has always been a top priority, not just for supply chain stakeholders but for patients who depend on life-saving medicines. As regulatory requirements tighten and supply chains become more complex, data transparency and real-time insights are increasingly essential to a product’s efficacy.
Post-shipment data has long been available to customers, helping speed up product release and ensuring timely delivery to patients. Combining real-time data with human oversight allows for issues to be prevented, giving customers full confidence in the integrity of their shipments.
5.How are regulatory expectations influencing cold chain practices?
Stricter regulatory oversight is reshaping cold chain practices. Technological innovations such as Phase Change Materials (PCMs) and Vacuum Insulated Panels (VIPs) enable consistent internal conditions and shield products from external influences during transit. These advances help contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) meet global GDP standards and comply with diverse regional regulations.
6.How is the pharmaceutical industry addressing its environmental impact?
The pharmaceutical sector is responsible for nearly 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Of this, 80–90% stem from Scope 3 emissions – those produced indirectly throughout the supply chain. Reducing Scope 3 emissions is complex, but crucial.
One way the pharmaceutical industry is combatting this significant contributor is through the continued innovation of packaging. Forever-use packaging has been gaining momentum in recent years as it has been engineered with reliability, longevity and sustainability in mind. With its extended lifespan, it’s a clear way for industry to reduce waste and lower their CO2 emissions.
7.How have partnerships and collaborations helped the industry build greater resilience and sustainability?
Strategic partnerships between pharmaceutical companies and CDMOs or CMOs are playing a vital role in strengthening resilience and sustainability across the industry. These collaborations enhance efficiency, lower costs, and provide access to specialist knowledge and advanced technologies that accelerate innovation and improve product quality. They also improve regulatory compliance and risk management, both critical to the successful delivery of complex treatments. By aligning resources and expertise, these partnerships create more agile, responsive, and future-ready supply chains.
Sustainability must be a central aspect in supplier and partner selection. By prioritising climate-conscious collaborators, pharmaceutical organisations can reduce emissions across the supply chain. Long-term partnerships rooted in shared environmental goals not only support compliance but also deliver financial and operational benefits. In an increasingly complex world, the future of pharmaceuticals will be shaped not just by innovation – but by the strength and depth of collaboration.
Lyall Cresswell, Founder & CEO, TEG on how integrated payments are unlocking growth for SMEs in the UK’s £170bn transport and logistics sector
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Consumer fintech is booming. From instant payments to embedded finance, digital innovation has transformed how individuals manage money, access credit, and transact with businesses. Yet in B2B markets, embedded finance adoption remains stubbornly low. The question is: why?
Instant settlement alone doesn’t solve this problem. But when combined with embedded compliance it transforms how fragmented B2B markets operate. This infrastructure enables large enterprises to scale their supplier bases from dozens to thousands while giving SME carriers immediate access to working capital, all without personal financial risk.
The answer becomes clear when you examine the UK’s £170 billion logistics sector. Employing over 8% of the workforce, it’s a low margin industry ripe for financial innovation, but in reality, highly fragmented with many SME operators. Large operators at the top of the supply chain are simply unable to verify, onboard and manage large networks of suppliers through traditional methods. This creates delays and friction. I’ve watched this dynamic play out over 25 years building TEG. Smaller operators tell us the same story: ‘I need money now, not next month’. Cash flow isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s existential.
The barrier isn’t payment speed alone. It’s trust at scale. Integrated payment networks, combining instant settlement with embedded compliance and verification, create the infrastructure that enables these fragmented markets to operate differently.
Why Embedded Compliance is the Missing Link for B2B FinTech
Large enterprises don’t limit themselves to a small pool of known suppliers by choice. They do so because onboarding and compliance costs make broader collaboration prohibitively expensive. Each new supplier relationship requires verification of insurance, licensing, VAT status, and payment setup. This friction doesn’t just slow things down, it fundamentally constrains supply chains.
Recent research we conducted across six leading UK third party logistics providers (3PLs) revealed the scale of this challenge: 83% audit fewer than 10% of their subcontractors annually, and only 33% use eSourcing technology. These aren’t signs of negligence. They’re symptoms of a system where verification and onboarding are simply too resource intensive to scale.
Traditional payment solutions, from early payment programmes to invoice finance, address cash flow symptoms but miss the fundamental barrier. Without infrastructure to verify and onboard new trading partners confidently, enterprises remain trapped working with familiar suppliers even when capacity constraints or cost pressures demand alternatives. Meanwhile, SME carriers aren’t just delayed in payment, they’re excluded from opportunities entirely.
This dynamic turns large enterprises into inadvertent gatekeepers, not by choice, but because they lack the infrastructure to safely open their networks. The result is a continuous loop: constrained supplier choice for buyers, limited market access for SMEs, and a fragmented sector unable to collaborate efficiently. The solution requires rethinking the relationship between payments and compliance entirely. Integrated payment networks, embedding compliance verification directly into payment workflows, solve both problems simultaneously.
Building Trust Infrastructure Through Verified Payment Networks
The breakthrough comes when payment infrastructure and compliance verification integrate seamlessly. At TEG, we’ve built this through SmartPay’s integration with Trustd, our digital identity verification platform, embedding compliance directly into payment workflows.
The model is straightforward: carriers are verified once through real time checks of KYC, AML, VAT status, operating licences, and insurance credentials. Once verified, they can transact across the entire network. This “verify once, transact everywhere” approach removes the need for repeated onboarding across different customers or business units.
The operational impact has been significant: 90% faster invoice processing, 80% fewer supplier queries, with over 1 million invoices paid through the platform in 2025. By year end, the TEG rollout will connect 2,500 customers with 7,500 suppliers, demonstrating adoption at scale across the logistics sector.
But the real transformation lies in shifting from credit based to transaction based finance models. Many carriers have historically relied on credit cards and overdrafts to bridge cash flow gaps, costly stopgaps that eat into already thin margins. Traditional invoice finance excludes many SMEs because lenders must manage risk without transparency, often retaining portions of invoice value and demanding personal guarantees.
SmartPay changes this by leveraging verified transaction data to provide instant, non recourse access to full invoice value minus fees. No retention, no personal guarantees, simply immediate working capital based on actual trading activity. This unlocks early payment facilities for carriers who previously had no alternative to expensive short term credit.
This creates powerful network effects. As more carriers join the verified payment network, enterprises gain confidence to work with a broader supplier base. More suppliers mean better capacity, more competitive pricing, and greater resilience. For SME carriers, verified status opens doors to opportunities previously out of reach.
Verification Infrastructure and Working Capital Access
It’s crucial to understand that verified payment networks operate on two distinct but complementary tracks.
Unlocking working capital addresses the SME challenge. In a sector where margins run as low as 2% and payment cycles stretch to 90 days, liquidity is existential. Without working capital, SMEs can’t hire staff, expand capacity, or invest in growth. They’re forced to choose clients based on payment terms rather than strategic fit.
Instant settlement delivers immediate access to working capital for wages, fuel, and expansion. The UK Small Business Plan identifies late payments as one of the biggest barriers to SME growth—instant settlement directly addresses this constraint, enabling carriers to accept larger contracts and scale their operations.
These two tracks reinforce each other. Enterprises gain access to a larger, verified supplier base. SMEs gain both market access and the working capital to serve those opportunities effectively. The result is a more efficient, collaborative market structure.
The Fragmented Market Opportunity
While logistics provides the proving ground, this model applies to any fragmented B2B sector where compliance complexity limits collaboration. Construction, facilities management, and professional services all face similar dynamics: thin margins, extended payment terms, high onboarding friction, and SME suppliers excluded from opportunities.
The key requirement is neutral, collaborative infrastructure that provides a standardised verification model without competing with participants. In sectors where supplier qualification is straightforward, instant payment alone may suffice. But in regulated industries with complex credentialing requirements, verified payment networks become essential infrastructure.
The value isn’t in handling compliance alone. It’s in creating a trusted, shared layer that all participants can use without concern that the platform itself will compete with them.
The transformation only occurs when you solve both problems simultaneously: enterprises need neutral, trusted verification infrastructure to expand their networks confidently, and SMEs need instant settlement to operate sustainably within those networks. In fragmented markets where no single player can create industry wide standards, this shared infrastructure becomes essential. Address one without the other, and you’ve solved neither.
Trusted Collaboration at Scale
The narrative around embedded B2B finance needs reframing. It’s not about faster payments. It’s about removing the friction that prevents enterprises and suppliers from working together effectively—it’s about enabling trusted collaboration at scale. True transformation happens when payment infrastructure, compliance verification, and transaction transparency operate seamlessly together to unlock cash flow and expand market access for both sides.
Across TEG’s network of over 9,000 logistics businesses, we’ve seen how verified payment networks can reshape fragmented markets. Large enterprises can finally collaborate with the breadth of suppliers their operations demand. SME carriers can access opportunities and capital previously out of reach. The entire sector operates more efficiently.
This is the path to unlocking B2B embedded finance adoption: build infrastructure that solves the whole problem. Verify once, transact everywhere, and unlock cashflow. When enterprises can open their networks confidently and SMEs can operate sustainably within them, you create the conditions for genuine market transformation.
The technology exists. The business case is proven. We’ve demonstrated it works at scale. The question now is which sectors will move first to build the trust infrastructure their markets desperately need.
As pressure mounts to deliver faster and more reliably, the ability to adjust in motion becomes a vital competitive edge
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Supply chain disruption is no longer an anomaly; it’s a constant. From geopolitical tension and rising fuel costs to climate-related events and shifting regulations, logistics leaders are navigating an environment defined by volatility.
But that’s only part of the story. Rising accident rates and escalating costs are adding further strain: large truck crashes have increased since 2024, despite widespread safety efforts. At the same time, fleets are grappling with tightening regulatory and compliance pressures, from evolving emissions rules, such as the EPA’s proposed heavy-duty vehicle standards, to more stringent Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scoring.
As a result, the concept of supply chain “resilience” has evolved from a buzzword into an operational necessity. At the centre of that resilience is real-time visibility, not only across shipments and inventories, but across fleet safety and compliance too.
While many organisations have made significant strides in digitising warehouse operations, improving demand forecasting, and modernising port logistics, one area remains critically under-addressed: road transport. Despite being one of the chain’s most vulnerable and variable links, the road remains a blind spot for many. Recent research reflects this gap – more than 70% of respondents admitted their fleets lack real-time visibility into road conditions.
Supply chain leaders are grappling with an acute driver shortage that threatens the backbone of road transport. Across the EU, Norway, and the UK, there is already a shortfall of over 233,000 truck drivers, a gap projected to swell to more than 745,000 by 2028 as older drivers retire without enough new entrants to replace them. In the UK alone, an alarming 55% of HGV drivers are aged between 50 and 65, with an average age of 51, signalling that a significant portion of the workforce may leave within the next decade.
Against this backdrop, supply chain leaders must embrace real-time road intelligence, powered by artificial intelligence and edge-computing vision systems, as a key strategic tool for visibility, adaptability, and risk management.
Road transport: A dynamic environment with limited visibility
These mounting challenges highlight the urgent need for stronger oversight and proactive risk management across fleets. Unlike static warehouse environments or planned shipping schedules, roads are dynamic and unpredictable. They’re impacted by human behaviour, weather conditions, infrastructure quality, and spontaneous events, any of which can delay deliveries or damage goods. Yet visibility into these disruptions often remains alarmingly limited.
A recent survey revealed that while 84% of safety leaders identified fleet safety as a high priority, 60% admitted they have no formal fleet safety technology in place, frequently relying on nothing more than basic GPS tracking. Moreover, 46% of surveyed professionals are still unclear about the full financial impact of accidents on their businesses, underscoring how visibility gaps continue to be a serious liability. Without accurate, real-time data on driver behaviour, vehicle conditions, and external risks, companies are left reactive rather than proactive, a critical threat to supply chain resilience.
Edge-computing vision systems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) address this challenge by collecting and processing road-level data directly at the source in real-time. These systems provide immediate insight into traffic conditions, driver behaviour, and environmental hazards, turning the road from a risk point into a source of actionable intelligence. They also play a crucial role in optimising operational costs, a large fleet of delivery trucks means high expenses, and keeping these under control is a constant challenge, especially for companies managing hundreds of vehicles making multiple deliveries each day.
For instance, when weather patterns shift quickly or congestion builds on a critical route, teams can reallocate resources, reroute vehicles, or update delivery schedules in real-time. This shift from reactive management to proactive planning is one of the key advantages of road intelligence.
Systems capable of analysing 100% of drive time add another layer of value, capturing full journey context to support decision-making, coaching and incident resolution.
AI and risk mitigation
AI is a core enabler of dynamic risk mitigation. Rather than relying on historical averages or static route plans, modern AI-driven systems identify emerging patterns and adapt recommendations based on current conditions.
This includes spotting subtle indicators of risk, such as shifts in driver behaviour that suggest fatigue, or clusters of hard braking in a specific area that might point to a developing road hazard. As foundational models evolve, AI is even being trained to predict the likely movements of drivers and vehicles, enabling earlier intervention to prevent incidents before they occur. With this level of intelligence, logistics teams can anticipate disruptions before they escalate and respond proactively to keep operations on track.
Crucially, advanced driver safety platforms today do far more than just warn of lane departures or potential forward collisions. They continuously analyse driving performance in real time, issuing immediate voice alerts to correct risky actions, turning each potential hazard into a safer outcome on the spot. For example, a driver about to tailgate or showing early signs of drowsiness can receive a prompt to adjust, helping avert accidents before they happen. Many systems also incorporate positive reinforcement, recognising and rewarding safe driving habits to strengthen safety cultures across fleets.
This kind of dynamic responsiveness is essential during peak demand periods, extreme weather events, or disruptions to global trade routes. As pressure mounts to deliver faster and more reliably, the ability to adjust in motion becomes a vital competitive edge.
Building resilience into the last mile
The last mile has become one of the most scrutinised segments of the supply chain, where delays and miscommunication are most visible to customers. It’s also where efficiency and traceability are most challenging to maintain, particularly during external disruptions.
Real-time road intelligence provides the operational agility to protect this final delivery stage. By integrating road-level data into dispatch and routing systems, teams can make micro-adjustments that reduce delays, improve customer communication, and avoid costly rework.
This agility can also help prevent compliance breaches, protect product quality, and reinforce customer trust in temperature-sensitive or high-value logistics. Fleet managers using AI-driven road intelligence platforms have already seen measurable improvements, such as a 50% reduction in road accidents, by combining real-time alerts with proactive coaching sessions.
Closing the gaps: From compliance to ESG
Beyond operational continuity, road intelligence also plays a critical role in helping organisations meet growing regulatory and ESG requirements. Visibility into emissions, idling time, route efficiency, and driver behaviour helps teams identify areas for improvement and demonstrate measurable progress against sustainability goals.
It also supports ethical business practices, ensuring safety is prioritised, risky behaviours are addressed constructively, and drivers are given the tools to perform at their best. This reinforces a safety-first culture contributing to long-term resilience, driver retention, and public trust.
Real-time road data provides the insight and accountability needed to align transport operations with broader environmental and governance commitments.
Looking forward: A strategic asset, not a tactical add-on
Real-time road intelligence isn’t a tactical bolt-on; it’s becoming foundational to building resilient supply chains. By embedding AI-powered insights into core logistics processes, organisations gain the flexibility to respond faster, the foresight to avoid costly disruptions, and the intelligence to meet evolving expectations.
In a world where supply chains must operate precisely in dynamic environments, the ability to see and respond at the edge is crucial.
The road has long been treated as the most unpredictable link in the supply chain. However, with the right intelligence in place, it can become one of the most strategic. AI, when fuelled by scale, speed and visibility, becomes a force for good, reducing accidents, empowering drivers and creating a safer ecosystem for everyone on the road.
At the most recent Exiger Executive Forum, we had the opportunity to listen to the experts discuss how supply chains can shore up in chaotic times
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Most often than not, the control you have over your value chain is an illusion.
That’s the bold statement November’s Exiger Executive Forum picked to examine and dissect. The event, entitled False Security: The Illusion of Control in Modern Day Value Chains, was chosen carefully to reflect what procurement and supply and value chain leaders are concerned about today.
On the 18th of November, we joined Exiger and its distinguished guests at the beautiful Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London to dig into this topic and hear directly from the best of the best in an expert panel. The guest list reached from defence leadership, supply chain experts, world-leading analysts and senior politicians.
The aim? To challenge that illusion of control, and frame the conversation as a tough love wake-up call. Without open dialogue like this, risks can quietly accumulate in the background, leading to systemic failures.
That’s why the Exiger Executive Forum is so important. By giving the most pressing matters – especially the uncomfortable ones – a platform, issues are demystified and disempowered and real solutions to be put into place – both with deep values and credible pragmatism. This allows leaders in procurement and supply chain to resolve modern day challenges with confidence, regain lost control and determine their future and not merely react.
Tim Fowler, Client Engagement Director at Exiger, acted as moderator for the evening’s discussions. He opened the discussion with a sobering reality: that organisations all over the world are facing systemic risks. “Global supply chains are more data-driven, more regulated, more digitised than ever,” he explained. “But, paradoxically, they’ve never been more fragile with the convergence of geopolitical fragmentation, resource scarcity, technology threats, and regulatory volatility.”
The risk caused, Fowler said, is one that “hides in plain sight”. Many enterprises operate under the assumption that they have full visibility of their suppliers, and that as a result, they’re in control. However, dig a little deeper and there are many unseen dependencies, regional concentrations, and of course, human risk. With a more hopeful lilt, Fowler then reminded attendees that the goal of the Executive Forum is to explore what real control and resilience means in a chaotic and ever-changing world, with the help of the expert panel:
• Koray Köse, CEO & Chief Analyst, Köse Advisory; Senior Fellow, GlobSEC GeoTech Centre; and Board Member, Slave-Free Alliance
• Scott LaFoy, Vice President, Nuclear and Technology Security Programs, Exiger • Sven Markert, Head of Supply Chain & Logistics, Siemens Smart Infrastructure • Angela Qu, Advisor, Strategist, and former Chief Supply Chain Officer • Faysal Rahman, Director, Corporate Coverage – Global Defence Coordinator, Deutsche Bank
The illusion of control
In the first segment of the evening’s strategic expert exchange, Fowler dug into the concept of this illusion of control with the panel. For Köse, the illusion of control is one of the greatest blind spots in modern business. But why? “It’s all based on our systemic understanding or how we actually created value in the past,” he explained. “Not 50 years ago, but even just 10 or 15 years ago, the world looked very different from what we are facing today. Changing the rules of the game is something many companies still do not examine seriously. It requires a deep review of how their value chains are designed, the governance and compliance structures that guide them, and the intelligence embedded into their processes. Ultimately, it is about building resolve and the capability and capacity to not only survive the challenges of today, but to shape and compete in the markets of tomorrow.”
Following this, Qu was asked whether she has also witnessed a false sense of security within governance models in organisations she’s worked with. She pointed out that many companies now have risk mapping, risk monitoring, and risk mitigation as a top agenda since COVID-19, but shortages and disruptions continue. What’s key, for Qu, is “awareness, visibility, and overview. I think we’ve made big steps in the last 2-3 years,” she explained. “There are a lot of conflicts in the classical KPIs, which are still siloed even after the COVID crisis. That’s why you need good visibility of the whole value chain setup – not only tier one.”
For Markert, maintaining agility when managing various political, technological, and economic challenges has been a major undertaking. “The truth is, I don’t know if we really maintain the agility or just manage the chaos,” he admitted. “We’re focusing on adaptability over perfection, so we accept that full control is impossible. Then, we’re coming back to basics. This starts with processes, then technology. Lastly, people are the most important and most valuable assets you have. You have to build up cross-functional teams. We don’t want to predict the future; we want to be prepared for the future.”
From a financial standpoint, Rahman stated he believes it’s important to take a step back and contextualise the challenge we’re living in. The last few years have seen a pandemic, wars, and geopolitical tensions the likes of which have never been seen, impacting supply chains. With this in mind, Rahman believes that there “couldn’t be more of an emphasis” on supply chain resilience. “How do you make sure your operational resilience is robust so you can withstand black swan events that are becoming more and more common?” he asks. “Diversification of risk is really important.”
Sometimes, failure is simply not an option. For LaFoy, who works with national security-grade supply chains, having all of the information in front of you is great, but it means nothing if you don’t use it to take action. “Often people think they can see everything, and that’s only step one of the problem – it doesn’t fully address it,” he said. “You have to be willing to take action within the organisation, to mitigate the problem, fix it, and try to rebuild. People like to say that they’re going to fix their supply chain, but the supply chain is likely supporting a programme that has existed for so long it’s entrenched within the organisation. So it’s almost always too late.”
Vulnerabilities and systemic risk
Fowler: “Where do you see the biggest unseen vulnerabilities accumulating today?”
Köse: “It’s in the KPIs. Companies are measuring themselves against metrics that no longer drive sustainable or resilient value creation in today’s world. They still prioritise short term shareholder returns that evaporate with every risk event. KPIs shift from quarter to quarter, yet value chains take decades to build and mature, just as supplier partnerships and political relationships take decades to cultivate. Both can erode rapidly when interdependent opportunistic and negative actions and disruptions occur.”
Fowler: “How do you encourage best practice and good behaviour with your clients?”
Rahman: “The number one ingredient is confidence. Having transparency across the value chain, the supply chain, the governance procedures, is super important too. It can take 50 years to build trust and one second to lose it, so it’s important to take a very risk-averse approach while being very commercial and pragmatic.”
Fowler: “What have you seen work in terms of breaking down siloes to drive agility?”
Qu: “I usually go with strategy, organisation, technology. Technology encompasses risk mitigation, as well as ESG and compliance. We need dedicated projects, working with suppliers and engineers to reduce waste and create internal excellence. Personal resilience is also very important.”
Fowler: “How do you balance all the elements of regional concentration and supplier dependency?”
Markert: “Efficiency is still key if you want to stay competitive. We cannot optimise purely on costs anymore – that’s gone. We have to take into consideration, as Angela said, the transparency insights beyond tier one. For me, it’s all about continuity and compliance.”
Fowler: “What lessons can the private sector draw from defense-grade risk management?”
LaFoy: “The defence-grade supply chain has this draconian adherence to certain processes, and that inflexibility doesn’t always translate in a positive way. But in this case, it’s necessary to examine what key things you’re prioritising as a company.
Technology, intelligence, and the myth of visibility
It’s clear, in spite of the warnings about vulnerabilities and control, that the overall feelings for supply chain professionals are hope and determination. Fowler introduced the next segment of the conversation by mentioning that investors and PE companies are now focusing on supply chain risk and resilience as key measures. This bodes well for those in supply chain when they inevitably come to justifying proposed improvements. The fact that supply chain risk ties directly into financial risk proves once again that supply chain is a business-wide concern, if there was any remaining doubt.
For Rahman, from a financial perspective, there are a couple of areas clients are focusing on when it comes to their investments. “One is financial risk,” he told Fowler. “What we mean by that is leverage – how much debt and cash they’ve got on the balance sheet. The other is business risk, which is quite broad. It’s about how much the product is needed in the market, whether it’s a diversified product, and so on.”
When it comes to questions of compliance and ESG in supply chain, balancing those areas of focus with what investors want can be a challenge. Those investors may have a clear idea of their areas of interest when thinking about risk and resilience, and Qu’s solution for making sure those vital areas don’t get overlooked is to always see things from the customers’ perspective.
“That customer, if you want them to choose your product versus a product from competitors, they want to know you’re compliant to all regulations,” she explained. “That results in collaboration among different departments to focus on a common goal and how we achieve it. Also, you need an overview of potential risks and have solutions in place for those focus areas, supported by technology. Things can go wrong, but if that happens when you’re prepared, it’s not the end of the world. There are still activities where humans can take over.”
The conversation again turned to leadership, and how that affects organisations in a way that incentivises them to focus on protection and resilience, while not stifling innovation and agility. The key, for Köse, lies in communication and constant messaging, so vital areas don’t get forgotten. “The important factor is drawing the journey very clearly to everyone who is a stakeholder in this process, and make sure that every part of their contribution will become part of the overall value creation process. When we talk about resilience, you always need to think about the next step. We’re not necessarily predicting anything, but we’re preparing for everything.”
The conversation shifted to summarising comments, where the panellists highlighted resilience across all functions, with a heavy emphasis on supply chain, utilising AI to help navigate decisions, and simply showing up as being some of the most important aspects to getting the modern supply chain right. “We need to be able to understand, from A to Z, geopolitical interdependencies, financial impact, innovation impact, industrial history, and the most valuable assets – your people and your culture,” Köse concluded. “Showing up in that context, and driving that as leaders, is ultimately really critical.”
During the course of the evening, the expert panelists exposed the glaring issues and shattered illusions across the modern value chain, while leaving attendees hopeful that they can achieve operational resilience through a proactive commitment to preparedness. Thank you to Exiger for inviting us to join in this vital conversation; we look forward to the next one.
These milestones reflect not just commercial progress, but market validation of Exiger’s platform
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The US Army has licensed Exiger’s AI software in order to accelerate its defence acquisition, reduce lead times, and enhance operational readiness. It’s part of a multi-million collar contract that’s been awarded to Exiger to provide end-to-end supply chain risk illumiation.
“This is a revolutionary capability that will transform the way the U.S. Army approaches sustainment,” said Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels. “Our software will help identify at-risk NIINs that may be subject to undue constraints from a variety of factors. It will unlock the organic and additive capabilities that the government has invested in. And it will monitor for severe risk hiding in the supply chain, identifying where natural and manmade disasters, supplier operational and reputational risk, and foreign adversary sourcing could create disruptions in the weapons systems our warfighters depend on. Together, these capabilities deliver a more predictive industrial base, capable of responding to evolving mission needs at speed.”
Exiger has also joined forces with Palantir as part of this project, combining Palantir’s operating system with its own mission-built supply chain AI.
“This partnership combines Palantir’s and Exiger’s world-class technologies to integrate production decisions with battlefield demands, ensuring the US Army can deliver faster and more reliably to those on the front lines,” said Mike Gallagher, Head of Defense, Palantir.
“AI and automation across the supply chain enable deeper visibility, faster risk surfacing, active and proactive mitigation, and accelerated supply movement, giving commanders and portfolio acquisition executives a level of foresight and speed never before possible,” Daniels added.
The appliance company has overhauled its entire UK and Ireland logistics operations
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Global home appliance business, Versuni, known for iconic brands including Philips, Saeco, and L’OR Barista, has successfully completed a major overhaul of its UK and Ireland logistics operations, boosting performance, resilience, and readiness for growth.
The project, managed by global supply chain and logistics consultancy SCALA, saw Versuni transition its UK and Ireland 4PL operations to a new third-party logistics (3PL) provider. The transition was designed to strengthen Versuni’s service capabilities in the UK and Ireland, simplify logistics management, and improve reliability across B2B, ecommerce, and retail channels. The new arrangement offers a seamless, scalable solution well aligned with Versuni’s future growth plans.
With no UK-based supply chain team, Versuni enlisted SCALA to coordinate planning, stakeholder engagement and integration with its SAP systems environment.
The new 4PL solution is based at a shared-user facility in Kettering, where more than 7,000 pallet spaces are reserved for Versuni products. The facility provides a full range of services, including import receipt and checking, retail order picking, direct-to-consumer fulfilment, returns and reverse logistics, and transport coordination with proof-of-delivery management.
Bartosz Gruszczynski, Senior Warehousing & Distribution Manager, Europe, at Versuni, said: “The UK and Ireland are strategically important markets for Versuni and our brands. It was vital that this transition improved service levels without compromising operational continuity.
“Through strong collaboration with SCALA and our new 3PL provider, we achieved a seamless handover. The result is a more robust, reliable logistics approach that gives us the confidence and capacity to grow in the region.”
The project ran from September 2024 to April 2025. Within the first month of go-live, 95% of orders were successfully delivered, demonstrating the smooth transition between providers.
Phil Reuben, Executive Director at SCALA, added: “This project highlights what can be achieved with clear goals and a collaborative approach to delivery. We’re proud to have supported Versuni and its brands in building a logistics solution that is fit for the future – and already delivering measurable improvements.”
With the project now complete, Versuni has not only streamlined its operations but enhanced the service experience for customers of its much-loved brands. The strengthened UK and Ireland platform ensures greater scalability, visibility, and control, setting the stage for further growth across retail and ecommerce.
Expert feedback says retailers are unprepared for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules around packaging
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Josh Pitman, Managing Director at sustainable packaging firm Priory Direct, has warned that retailers are unprepared for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules around packaging, for which fees went live in October, with the firm fielding hundreds of customer queries.
EPR fees came into play from 1 October for ‘large’ producers including many affected retailers and Pitman, whose firm supplies planet-friendly packaging to more than 21,000 businesses, says: “The retail sector is simply not prepared for this shift in how their packaging data needs to be reported, and the fees payable based on weight, material and recyclability of packaging. This is particularly true of the ‘majority middle’, or those that fall just over the threshold.
“We know this because for many weeks, we’ve been dealing with between five and ten queries daily from our customers on our website chat function and directly to account managers. Many of these are basic questions like: does EPR apply to them, what data do they need to share, where do they get this from, and how do they reduce exposure to it? These are all basic but critical details that should have been established months ago, as reporting requirements have been in play since 2023.
“However, there appears to be a lack of clear, helpful guidance and limited proactive engagement with affected businesses from government, aside from some overly exclusive and expensive events featuring official spokespeople. Knowledge of how to navigate EPR is being firewalled by companies looking to profit from guiding larger clients through the change when, for it to make the most impactful change, the government should be providing clearer, more-open-access guidance on how to use this legislation to actually make a positive improvement to the impact of their business.”
He adds: “This means it is falling to the private sector to give practical support to retailers, who are seeing headlines like John Lewis revealing a £22 million cost through EPR and are rightly concerned. Without this support, these businesses would struggle to respond to EPR legislation and – what is most crucial – adopt more sustainable packaging choices to limit their exposure to the fees. Otherwise, there is a real risk that business will simply absorb the fees rather than do what EPR is designed to achieve, which is to spur a switch towards more environmentally friendly packaging.”
Extended Producer Responsibility has changed the way UK organisations responsible for packaging must carry out their recycling responsibilities. For the purposes of EPR, packaging is defined as any material that is used to cover or protect goods that are supplied and that makes handling and delivering goods easier and safer. It includes anything that’s designed to be filled at the point of sale, such as a coffee cup. This definition encapsulates a wide range of businesses including many retailers.
‘Producers’ are defined as either ‘small’, with annual turnover above between £1 and £2 million and importing or supplying 25 to 50 tonnes of packaging, or ‘large’, with a turnover above £2 million and importing or supplying more than 50 tonnes of packaging. Both small and large producers must report their packaging data, but currently only large producers need to pay fees. These producers will have received their very first invoice – or Notice of Liability (NoL) – this month, October 2025.
Pitman concludes: “This is a real opportunity for all retailers to minimise their exposure to EPR by switching to more sustainable alternatives. The cost of these alternatives is, in the majority of cases, the same or lower, as well as incurring lower EPR fees, and such steps also help to reduce the overall environmental impact of these retailers. This is a positive move at a time when legislative and consumer pressures on retailers around ESG are growing. With clearer, more practical guidance for those affected, EPR is the carrot that could make a dramatic difference to retailers’ impact on the planet.”
The acquisition allows FourCentric to expand its procurement and supply chain expertise in the defence and security sector
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FourCentric, a leader in procurement, supply chain and operations improvement services, has announced the acquisition of Evolve Commercial Ltd, a UK specialist in Commercial as a Service (CaaS). Evolve provides technology procurement and supply-chain support across both public and private sectors.
Effective 31 October 2025, Evolve Commercial joined the FourCentric group, enhancing the company’s capability to help UK government departments and private organisations efficiently optimise contracting for high-value and complex projects.
Evolve’s consultants bring extensive experience in areas such as complex tender transactions, post-contract management and commercial due diligence, helping clients unlock full supplier capability and enhance commercial outcomes.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Evolve to the group,” said Simon Terry, Group CEO of FourCentric. “This acquisition perfectly aligns with our strategy to deliver commercial services in support of complex technology transactions throughout the commercial lifecycle. Evolve’s specialists bring deep government procurement experience and a strong focus on delivering powerful outcomes in the defence and security sector. Backed by a highly secure infrastructure, clients are assured of secure, seamless integration and trusted, high-quality delivery.”
The addition of Evolve enhances FourCentric’s ability to build long-term partnerships with clients by offering new ways to drive value and improve operational performance.
“We are delighted to be part of the FourCentric group,” said Alan Riordan, Director of Evolve. “FourCentric is the ideal fit for us. Not so large that we get lost in the crowd, and not so small that it limits investment and growth opportunities for us and our clients. The FourCentric model provides a fantastic platform to enable the continued development of our business and our team for the future. This, coupled with the group’s clear vision: To be known as the leading procurement, supply chain and operations firm, recognised for creating significant, positive impact for our clients, people, and society, was a real compelling reason to join.”
Agreena now has two methodologies validated to the highest levels for their respective use cases
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Agreena, the company powering the global transition to regenerative agriculture, has achieved validation of its Scope 3 Project from SustainCERT, the independent validation and verification body recognised for its role in ensuring transparency and credibility in climate accounting.
This news comes as corporates face mounting pressure to disclose verified Scope 3 emissions under the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and upcoming US SEC climate disclosure rules. Agreena’s SustainCERT validation for its on-farm regenerative interventions is the first step toward verification into Verified Impact Units (VIUs). Once issued, VIUs will give companies a traceable, auditable way to account for investments in decarbonising their agricultural supply chains — typically the largest contributor to total Scope 3 emissions — while enabling co-claiming across the value chain.
The announcement follows the Agreena Carbon Project’s Verra Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) verification in September, which issued 2.3 million carbon credits across 1.6 million hectares of regeneratively farmed land. SustainCERT validation builds on this integrity, focusing on Scope 3 reporting and enabling core safeguards such as tracking Impact Units and Proof of Sourcing.
The validation helps companies mitigate risks like double counting and freeriding, supports multiple types of farm partnerships — whether companies source directly from those fields or engage through wider value-chain collaborations — and drives collaboration across the value chain through co-financing and co-claiming arrangements, ensuring exclusivity and confidence in reported data.
Simon Haldrup, CEO and Co-founder and CEO of Agreena, commented: “SustainCERT validation reinforces Agreena’s role as the bridge between corporate ambition and farmer action. For companies with agricultural crops in their value chains, this milestone unlocks a way to collaborate directly with farmers and suppliers to transition to more sustainable practices, reduce emissions, and verify increases in soil carbon. By enabling verified impact to be transferred along the value chain with integrity, we’re helping build a more transparent and collaborative model for agricultural decarbonisation.”
SustainCERT’s validation assessed the Agreena methodology, data model, and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) framework – confirming alignment with recognised international best practices and the globally adopted Verra VM0042 methodology. This ensures that each Impact Unit carries a comparable level of credibility and assurance to a Verra-issued carbon credit.
“The Agreena S3 Project supports farmers across Hungary, Romania, Poland, Spain and the UK in adopting regenerative agriculture practices to reduce emissions and increase soil carbon. Methodology VM0042 is used to measure GHG reductions and removals. We concluded that the design of the Agreena S3 project meets the SustainCERT Verification requirements for Value Chain Interventions,” added Marion Verles, CEO of SustainCERT.
Exiger has been awarded a huge contract to help modernise the detection of transshipment for the US government
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Exiger, the market-leading supply chain AI company, announced today that it has been awarded an exclusive, multi-million dollar contract by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to modernise the detection of illicit transshipment across global supply chains. Designed to evade tariffs, trade restrictions and sanctions, illicit transshipment is the practice of manipulating supply chains to disguise a product’s true country of origin. Exiger’s Trade AI will be adopted and deployed across CBP, serving as an additional tool for the US government’s transshipment detection capability.
Transshipment identification and enforcement are critical priorities for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CBP. Convergent Solutions, Inc., DBA Exiger Government Solutions, will equip CBP enforcement offices and personnel across the US with access to Exiger’s AI platform and data to identify illicit transshipment at-scale and in real-time.
“Billions of dollars worth of global trade move through illegal transshipment channels that seek to bypass US restrictions,” said Exiger CEO Brandon Daniels. “A core CBP mission is to enforce US trade and forced labor laws, thereby helping ensure that American manufacturers and workers are competing on a level playing field. Exiger is proud to support this mission, bringing to bear the world’s largest proprietary supply chain database and the market’s most sophisticated AI.”
Exiger’s AI will be an additional resource available to CBP personnel to:
Detect illegal transshipment across global supply chains
Monitor and enforce tariff and trade regulations
Leverage Exiger’s proprietary AI models and trade intelligence data to enrich data in CBP systems and enhance decision making
Deploy AI-enabled validations of tariff classification, value and country of origin
Create automated bills of material for products and sub-components
Map the flow of raw materials and sub-components through global supply chains
Risk-score shipments in-real time
Collect tariff revenues earlier
Trace global supply chains to enhance import visibility and risk segmentation
Exiger’s proven AI solutions have been deployed across 60+ US Government agencies, including the Department of War, Department of State, Department of Energy, DHS, the intelligence community, and armed forces.
Exiger’s technology continues to earn top recognition. In April, Exiger was named an awardee on the Government Services Administration’s Supply Chain Risk Illumination Professional Tools and Services (SCRIPTS) Blanket Purchase Agreement, and was the highest-ranked unrestricted vendor awardee of the 10-year, $919 million contract. This year, Exiger was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Supplier Risk Management Solutions, a Best-of-Breed Solution and three-time Value Leader in Spend Matters’ SolutionMap, and a Leader in Omdia’s Market Radar: Firmware and Software Supply Chain Security. Exiger also won a 2025 STEVIE® Award for AI Company of the Year.
Que Tran, VP Technology – Ports and Terminals, Europe, DP World, discusses how innovation is addressing the challenges of transporting perishables
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From Romanian blueberries to Turkish figs, Europe’s fresh produce economy depends on one thing above all else: temperature integrity. In the world of perishables, it doesn’t take much to turn a successful delivery into a costly loss. A few degrees of fluctuation can spell the difference between a market-ready shipment and a complete write-off.
As demand for fresh food increases and expectations around quality, provenance and sustainability continue to grow, the pressure on Europe’s cold chain has never been greater.
According to recent forecasts, the European cold chain market is expected to grow by $76.8 billion between 2024 and 2028, propelled by rising e-commerce, growing health consciousness and increased cross-border trade in fresh food products. For businesses shipping perishables across the continent, or around the world, that growth represents both opportunity and risk.
If we are to meet this moment, we must move beyond capacity and invest in capability: infrastructure that is smarter, more connected and fundamentally more resilient.
The perishables challenge
The logistics of perishable goods are complex by nature. Seasonal spikes, short shelf lives and exacting customer requirements all place extraordinary demands on cold chain infrastructure. Add growing geopolitical uncertainty and climate volatility such as flash floods, heatwaves and disrupted harvests, then even the most robust systems are put to the test.
Traditional cold chain facilities, especially inland, often lack the visibility and flexibility required to respond in real time to issues like route changes, power fluctuations or handling delays. And as regulators and retailers raise the bar on food waste, traceability and carbon emissions, businesses are under pressure to find solutions that go beyond compliance and deliver competitive advantage.
Smarter, cooler infrastructure
At DP World, we believe that cold chain should be as dynamic as the markets it serves. That’s why we’re investing in next-generation infrastructure, tailored specifically to the needs of perishable goods. In Türkiye and Romania, we’ve partnered with agribusiness exporters to enhance reefer handling capacity and cold storage performance across our terminals. These facilities are designed with food security and product integrity in mind, and incorporate climate-controlled chambers, smart insulation systems and modal connectivity to ensure perishable cargo arrives in prime condition.
For example, at our Constanta terminal in Romania, we’ve built new roll-on roll-off (RO-RO) facilities as part of a €130 million investment. These investments are streamlining vehicle and container flows for perishable goods and connect directly to regional rail and inland hubs. The terminal now provides direct multimodal access from Romania’s agricultural heartlands to European retailers and Middle Eastern markets, making it a vital link in the region’s evolving cold chain.
Visibility means viability
Perhaps the greatest breakthrough for Europe’s cold chain lies not in hardware, but in software. While new storage facilities and transport infrastructure are essential, it is the digital systems behind them that unlock real efficiency, visibility and control. Real-time tracking and predictive analytics are enabling logistics providers to manage complexity, respond faster to disruption and ensure temperature-sensitive goods arrive exactly as expected.
These digital solutions now available provide full visibility across the cold chain journey. With IoT-enabled sensors and real-time tracking tools, we can monitor container conditions in transit. This ensures that goods stay within their temperature thresholds and provide us with data that can be shared with shippers, regulators and retailers.
These digital tools also enable route optimisation based on weather, emissions and congestion data, crucial for avoiding delays and maintaining freshness across multimodal networks. In Türkiye, for example, these systems are supporting fruit exporters by combining predictive analytics with satellite-tracked containers, giving shippers live insights into humidity, CO2 levels and location status.
Smart solutions also make inspections faster and safer. Remote cargo inspection apps reduce the risks for surveyors and cut inspection time significantly, helping perishable shipments clear ports faster and avoid spoilage.
Greener from the ground up
Cold chain logistics have historically been carbon-intensive, but that’s changing fast. At DP World, sustainability is ingrained into the infrastructure we’re building, and the modes we prioritise.
In Antwerp, where we deal with significant volumes of perishable shipments, our terminal is powered by on-site wind turbines and a biogas plant. Our fully electric automated stacking cranes (ASCs) operate with near-zero emissions. This is at the heart of our value proposition. We’ve taken steps to reduce terminal emissions across our European network by investing in electrification, renewable energy, and more sustainable transport solutions.
We’re also rethinking how the cold chain itself operates. Through the industry-wide “The Move to Minus 15” initiative, we are working with partners across the logistics and food sectors to adopt a new global temperature standard for frozen food storage, raising it from -18°C to -15°C. This seemingly small change has the potential to reduce energy consumption and emissions at scale, without compromising food safety. By aligning temperature protocols across the industry, we can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of frozen logistics and create a more sustainable future for food distribution worldwide.
Regional focus, global impact
Europe’s cold chain is not one network: it’s many, each with its own regional characteristics. But common themes are emerging. Producers want to reach more markets, retailers want greater predictability, and consumers want freshness.
In Eastern Europe, nearshoring and agricultural investment are creating new supply centres in places like Romania, Türkiye, and Serbia. These regions need modern logistics ecosystems to match their production capacity.
At the same time, congestion and emissions are driving modal shifts in Western Europe, with countries like Belgium and the Netherlands investing heavily in inland waterways and rail. The supply chain industry is aligning its infrastructure to support these goals, offering barge-ready and rail-integrated cold storage as standard in most new terminals.
Whether it’s figs from the Aegean or citrus from the Danube, Europe’s perishables need a cold chain that’s fast, flexible and ready for the future.
The road ahead
The future of fresh trade in Europe will be defined by data, design and decarbonisation. Retrofitting old warehouses won’t be enough; we need to remodel the system entirely. That can’t be done in isolation.
To deliver a future-ready cold chain, collaboration is critical. Logistics providers, retailers, regulators and tech players must co-create solutions that make sustainable perishable trade the norm. It’s now about creating confidence as well as keeping products cold for customers.
If we get it right, the benefits go far beyond logistics. A smarter cold chain strengthens Europe’s food security, supports farmers, reduces waste and unlocks trade that truly works for everyone.
Scott Parsons, Senior Manager, Transport and Logistics Sector at Menzies, discusses beating the reactivity cycle
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The return of reciprocal US trade tariffs in August after months of delays shows how quickly global trade can shift. For companies reliant on trading with the world’s largest importer, this presents a complex reality. While newfound levy stabilities offer a more predictable planning environment, they continue to raise costs and add complexity to already strained global supply chains.
But the real danger isn’t just the tariffs themselves, but how the industry responds. Absorbing costs to stay competitive, pushing them down the chain, or scrambling to renegotiate contracts are all short-term fixes. The deeper challenge lies in the ripple effects that tariffs create: disrupted sourcing patterns, longer lead times, inventory strain and price volatility.
Years of supply chain chocks like Brexit, COVID-19, the Panama Canal drought, and ongoing geopolitical tensions, have kept UK logistics in a constant cycle of firefighting.
This period of permacrisis prevents firms from innovating and increases financial risk. To thrive, the industry must break away from short-term thinking and build future-ready, tech-enabled, and geographically adaptable supply chains. The current window of tariff stability provides an opportunity to act – and to finally break free from the reactive cycle.
Make time for strategy
The first step starts with making time for strategy. For many transport and logistics firms, the biggest obstacle to long-term planning isn’t a lack of awareness, it’s a lack of time. Our research shows that 44% of UK business leaders struggle to focus on strategic priorities, becoming absorbed in day-to-day operational demands. Without deliberate action, immediate concerns inevitably push strategy aside.
The challenge then is not recognising the value of strategy but creating the conditions for it to thrive. This means freeing up leadership capacity, delegating routine tasks, and using external support where possible to ease pressure points.
Independent challenge is also crucial to planning success. Too often, firms rely solely on internal perspectives, creating blind spots that may result in overlooked opportunities and underestimated threats. Engaging external advisers, whether for financial modelling, business restructuring, or investment planning, can provide a vital second opinion and spark the shift that turns strategy into sustained advantage.
Find growth in tariff gaps
Alongside these challenges lies opportunity. The return of tariffs brings cost and complexity, but also a chance for agile firms to gain a competitive edge. Shifts in trade policy, supply chain restructuring, and international rate disparities can present new routes to growth.
Higher levies on Chinese imports, for example, are expected to lead to reduced transatlantic shipping volumes of Chinese-origin goods, indirectly lowering freight demand for UK-based firms tied to US-Chinese trade. In turn, this may accelerate supply chain diversification and boost direct trade with the UK, or alternative Asian markets.
Notably, UK tariffs are more favourable than those of many other major trading partners. As of August 1, the UK harbours a general 10% levy, lower than the EU’s 15% and China’s 30% rate. For steel, the UK rate sits at 25%, much lower than the 50% flat rate imposed on most US trading partners. For automobiles, the UK benefits from a 10% rate on up to 100,000 vehicles exported annually to the US, compared to the EU’s 15% rate without volume caps.
These tariff imbalances offer UK firms a potential market edge. Firms that realign their sourcing strategies can strengthen their position, while freight forwarders and customs brokers may see a rise in demand for advisory services like tariff mitigation and origin planning to help navigate increasingly complex tariff structures.
Flexible warehousing, bonded storage, and multi-modal solutions are also likely to grow as businesses look to reroute goods, with providers like Clipper Logistics already expanding their offering here to meet demand.
Think beyond immediate costs
Strategic discipline matters just as much when deciding where and when to invest in technology. Tools like Automation, AI, and digital fleet management tools can cut costs and boost efficiency, but they require an upfront investment. Competitors that take the leap here gain a competitive advantage, leaving late adopters struggling to keep up.
Too often, investment decisions hinge on immediate affordability, instead of forecasting how costs and revenues will evolve. This short-term view can expose firms to sudden price increases or revenue shortfalls. Instead, firms should regularly stress test their strategies against different scenarios and risks. This helps leaders prepare for scenarios from fuel price swings to changing customer demands or new regulatory changes.
Developing a robust financial model is critical too. Tracking cashflow projections, operational costs and the impact of external market factors can further protect against risk. Building in additional tools like customs and duty optimisation software can help identify cost-saving import or export structures and even leverage free trade zones through route optimisation.
Taken together, these strategies can help position firms to seize opportunities, whether that is through expanding their fleet, adopting new technology, or exploring new markets, rather than shielding against risk.
Lead through change
Tariffs are no longer a temporary disruption – they’re becoming a defining feature of global trade. For UK transport and logistics firms, long-term success depends on moving beyond reactive crisis management and embedding resilience into every part of the supply chain. This starts with making time for deliberate strategic planning, supported by financial modelling, stress testing, and scenario analysis.
Firms that diversify sourcing, invest in automation, and leverage the UK’s relative tariff advantages will be better positioned to adapt and compete. Just as importantly, making space for long-term thinking through leadership focus, structured planning, and external insight will allow companies to turn policy shifts like tariffs into sources of stability and opportunity. The businesses that act now to future-proof their operations won’t just survive the next trade shock they’ll lead through it.
Use our exclusive discount to get $200 off your Manifest 2026 tickets
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Manifest returns to Las Vegas in February 2026, to bring the future of supply chain and logistics to over 7,200 attendees from across the globe. Between the 9th and the 11th of February 2026, Manifest will host thousands of experts in supply chain and logistics, innovators, executives, and investors to learn, share, and connect – and as a media partner, SupplyChain Strategy is proud to offer a discount to our readers.
Hosted at The Venetian, Manifest is set to feature over 400 thought leaders and pioneers, who will be sharing their wisdom and experience to help attendees future-proof their businesses.
Manifest Vegas is the largest global supply chain & logistics tech event in the world, bringing together global supply chain executives, logistics service providers, cutting edge startups, venture investors and technology leaders. Join supply chain innovators to foster new strategies and relationships.
Meet up with industry peers from 60+ countries to explore commercial relationships and share knowledge.
Discover innovative technologies that help streamline the entire supply chain.
Engage with your industry’s top decision-makers.
Learn where investors want to put their money.
Gain visibility into how other businesses are strategising.
Develop a better understanding of the competitive landscape.
Leave with a deeper insight of the supply chain landscape, ready to apply new ideas to your business.
From cutting-edge strategies to actionable insights, Manifest delivers unmatched opportunities to learn from and connect with the best of the best in supply chain and logistics. Join us at Manifest Vegas 2026, February 9th-11th, and save an additional $200 off the current price to attend!
The London Excel is hosting five unmissable events on the 12th and 13th of November 2025. Find out more here.
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Big things are happening on the 12th and 13th of November 2025, at London’s Excel. With five supply chain events all occurring at once, the Excel is sure to be abuzz with shared ideas and excitement for the future of the sector. The five events hitting London are:
White Label World Expo
Retail Supply Chain + Logistics Expo
Smart Retail Tech Show
E-Commerce, Packaging and Labelling Expo
The Business Show
Read on to find more about these events, and how you can get your tickets.
White Label World Expo
Anybody looking to connect with the top white and private label manufacturers in the world should make their way to the White Label World Expo 2025. A whopping 16,000+ attendees come to this event to meet with 50 exhibitors and hear from over 150 experts. Organisations of all shapes and sizes, from startups to Amazon sellers, flood to White Label World Expo to get a better idea of the landscape, with a particular focus on:
Home and kitchen (which is the most sought-after category among sellers on Amazon)
Health and personal care (the third-fastest growing e-commerce sales category this year)
Food and drink
Pet supplies (one of the most successful categories on Amazon)
Clothing, shoes, and jewellery
Toys and games
Tech and electronics
CBD and vape
Office supplies
…and more.
The event also celebrates some of its exhibitors with its own awards show, celebrating the most innovative and best products in online retail.
Innovation and efficiency collide at the Retail Supply Chain + Logistics expo. This is an event where attendees come face-to-face with industry leaders and experts, unlocking access to the best guidance for improving and streamlining logistics, becoming more efficient, and boosting customer satisfaction.
As the logistics landscape evolves, supply chain professionals need to keep on top of the latest in groundbreaking transport technologies and innovations, all the way to warehouse automation, in order to be equipped for the future. That’s what this event is for.
With 200+ exhibitors, over 50 seminars across the two days, and more than 5,000 visitors, the Retail Supply Chain & Logistics Expo is a must-attend for supply chain professionals all over the world.
Technology is an extremely fast-paced market, and the Smart Retail Tech Expo enables 3,000+ retail professionals to find out what’s the next big thing on the market, and how best to move forward to remain competitive.
Join in the event to witness demonstrations of the newest tech on the market, interact with peers, and learn from experts. The innovative exhibitors will be showcasing ways to improve operations, enhance the customer experience, drive growth, and enhance safety.
The Smart Retail Tech Expo is for key decision-makers across independent retailers and global chains alike. This is where retail innovation happens.
The E-commerce, Packaging & Labelling Expo shines a spotlight on the latest in sustainable packaging solutions, trends, and innovations. Over 3,000 visitors are expected to join in and learn more about this rapidly-evolving market.
The event will showcase:
More eco-friendly packaging materials
Innovative labelling technologies
New fulfillment solutions
Waste reduction strategies
Boosting the customer experience
…and more.
This event is all about supporting sustainable growth in a rapidly-evolving, increasingly complex market.
To get tickets for the E-commerce, Packaging and Labelling Expo in London, click here
The London Business Show
The Excel hosts the world’s largest business in November. The award-winning London Business Show brings together over 25,000 attendees, who flood in to find the support and resources they need to improve and scale their businesses.
Visitors will gather advice from experts and peers alike across the two-day event. With over 200 seminars and 500 exhibitors, there’s loads to see and learn about. The event includes:
Speed networking: Quick-fire networking sessions to allow you to connect with fellow professionals.
Industry-leading exhibitors: Exhibitors will be showcasing their latest products and services.
Masterclasses: Experts are on hand to offer mentorship and in-depth advice.
Want to propel your business to the next level? That’s what the London Business Show is all about.
The Global Head of Odgers’ Procurement and Supply Chain Practice explains why key leadership hires are critical
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Global supply chains are no longer frictionless. Protectionism, tariffs, and trade disputes are now embedded features of the operating environment rather than temporary shocks. The “just-in-time” era, once celebrated for efficiency, has given way to “just-in-case” strategies that prioritise resilience.
This shift presents a fundamental dilemma. How can supply chain leaders fortify networks against disruption without pricing themselves out of competitive markets? The answer lies not only in process or technology but in leadership. Talent and leadership decisions increasingly determine whether organisations navigate this landscape with agility or stumble under the weight of volatility.
Tariff volatility: The practitioner’s challenge
Tariffs and trade barriers move with the tides of politics, national security, and global disputes. Their unpredictability complicates forecasting, procurement, and strategic planning. Traditional risk models, built around stability, are no longer adequate. Supply chain leaders must now integrate geopolitical awareness and scenario planning into their daily operating models.
US-China tariff escalations reshaped sourcing strategies across electronics, apparel, and consumer goods. Meanwhile, the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism is redefining competitiveness in carbon-intensive industries, and in response to EU tariffs raised on Chinese electric vehicles, China has just imposed 62% retaliatory duties on EU pork imports.
Such examples demonstrate that tariffs are not only a financial cost but a strategic disruptor that requires continuous vigilance.
Parallel supply chains: The costs of duplication
To mitigate these risks, many organisations are reshoring, nearshoring, or creating entirely new parallel supply chains. While such moves reduce reliance on single geographies, they come at considerable cost. Duplicating factories, logistics networks, and supplier bases is expensive and operationally complex.
The challenge is not purely financial. Parallel supply chains require duplicating talent, governance structures, and culture. The strain on leadership pipelines is significant, as demand for skilled local leaders in multiple regions often outpaces supply.
The most sought-after leaders are those who combine cross-border agility with the ability to build operations from the ground up. These individuals are rare, and the competition for their expertise is fierce. Boards and CEOs must therefore think carefully about where to deploy such talent and how to retain it.
Resilience vs. affordability: Walking the tightrope
Not every supply chain needs to be duplicated. The art of leadership lies in knowing where resilience is essential and where efficiency can still prevail. Some companies overbuild redundant networks, adding unnecessary costs. Others fail to act until disruption strikes, leaving them scrambling to catch up.
Effective supply chain leadership is about defining resilience thresholds. Where is duplication non-negotiable, and where is flexibility sufficient? What risks justify investment, and what risks can be tolerated? This balance demands both financial discipline and strategic foresight.
“Smart resilience” means making selective, data-driven decisions: when to invest, when to hold back, and when to exit markets or partnerships. Leaders who master this judgement avoid both complacency and overreaction.
The end customer: Who pays for resilience?
Resilient supply chains are not cost-free, and the question of who ultimately pays is critical. While some consumers accept higher prices for security, sustainability, or ethical sourcing, others are unwilling or unable to absorb the costs.
This makes consumer sentiment a central factor in supply chain leadership. Leaders must anticipate how different markets will react and develop transparent narratives that justify pricing. Those who fail to communicate risk appearing opportunistic or disconnected from customer realities. Those who succeed position resilience not as a hidden cost but as a value proposition tied to trust, sustainability, and reliability.
The leadership imperative
The skill set required to lead supply chains is evolving rapidly. Operational excellence remains essential, but it is no longer sufficient on its own. Leaders must combine geopolitical literacy with scenario-based decision-making and cultural adaptability. They must be comfortable operating amid uncertainty and skilled in building flexible networks across borders.
The talent pool for such leaders is limited, and demand is intense. I see boards increasingly seeking individuals who are both strategists and operators, capable of managing daily complexities while positioning supply chains as competitive assets. The ability to unite tactical execution with strategic foresight is becoming the defining trait of modern supply chain leadership.
From defensive to strategic resilience
Resilience is more than a defensive posture. For those who approach it strategically, it becomes a source of competitive advantage. Leaders who embrace resilience with clarity, discipline, and courage are not merely safeguarding their organisations but redefining the future of global supply chains.
The question for boards and CEOs is not whether resilience is affordable but whether fragility is sustainable. In a fractured world, can your supply chain afford not to lead?
Strategic partnership enables 3PLs to access all-electric delivery capacity through integrated end-to-end platform
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TEG, the leading fintech-enabled platform serving transport and logistics, today announces a new partnership with HIVED, the UK’s first fully electric parcel delivery company operating a fleet of electric HGVs, enabling logistics providers to seamlessly access tailpipe emission-free delivery solutions as demand for sustainable transport accelerates.
Through TEG’s end-to-end platform, logistics providers can now seamlessly access HIVED’s 100% electric fleet, including 44 tonne electric HGVs operating seven days a week, which deliver up to 76% emission reductions per parcel and maintain a 99% on-time delivery rate across same-day, next-day and two-day services.
Key partnership benefits include:
Instant access to sustainable capacity: TEG platform members can immediately source electric vehicle capacity from HIVED without lengthy onboarding processes
Seamless settlement: TEG’s SmartPay system enables automated payments and invoicing for HIVED services
Data-driven insights: Real-time carbon tracking and analytics help 3PLs demonstrate sustainability impact to customers
Meeting growing sustainability demands
The new partnership addresses growing market demand for sustainable logistics solutions. Research from TEG’s recent 3PL whitepaper reveals that 67% of 3PLs identify sustainability as a pressing procurement challenge as new emissions regulations reshape carrier requirements.
Luke Austin, Operations Project Manager at HIVED, said: “Through our partnership with TEG, we can now offer our fully electric delivery network to their entire platform of logistics providers. TEG’s integrated compliance and payment systems make it seamless for 3PLs to access our all-electric services, enabling them to significantly reduce supply chain emissions while moving closer to their sustainability goals. With electric vans saving up to 260g of CO₂eq per kilometre, this partnership unlocks substantial carbon savings across TEG’s network.”
Technology-enabled collaboration
TEG’s platform eliminates traditional barriers to carrier collaboration by providing instant compliance verification, automated onboarding, and integrated payment solutions. The partnership with HIVED exemplifies how technology can accelerate adoption of sustainable transport solutions.
Lyall Cresswell, founder & CEO of TEG, said: “As the logistics industry faces mounting pressure to decarbonise, partnerships like this demonstrate how technology platforms can accelerate the transition to sustainable transport. By making it effortless for 3PLs to access HIVED’s fully electric network, we’re removing the friction that traditionally slows adoption of innovative, sustainable solutions.”
The new partnership comes as both companies experience rapid growth. HIVED’s rapid expansion has seen it become recognised as one of the fastest-growing startups in Europe, whilst TEG supports over 9,000 businesses and manages 2.5 million loads annually.
Camilla Gilone and Fabrice Lebecq of Heidrick & Struggles
Published
3 October 2025
Estimated Read time
4Mins
Recent global challenges have elevated the supply chain leader to the executive suite, reflecting a fundamental shift
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Over recent years, the chief supply chain officer (CSCO) role has undergone a profound transformation, particularly in sectors where supply chains are mission critical such as consumer goods, industrials, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. What was once considered a technical or operational function has evolved into a driving force behind enterprise strategy.
This evolution has been accelerated by a series of global disruptions, most notably with the COVID-19 pandemic. Nobody needs to be reminded of the deep vulnerabilities the crisis exposed across supply chains worldwide; practically overnight, a rapid reconfiguration of how supply chain leadership was structured and empowered became critical. Combined with ongoing geopolitical instability, regulatory pressures, and rising stakeholder expectations, the signs are clear: the CSCO is now essential to competitive advantage.
In response, companies are recalibrating how they staff and support their supply chain leadership. Since January 2023, 36% of the world’s largest publicly listed firms have appointed new CSCOs. These changes signal a broader rethinking of what the role entails, and who is best positioned to lead it.
From functional specialist to strategic architect
The growing scope and complexity of the CSCO role is matched by a corresponding rise in enterprise influence. Once focused primarily on cost and efficiency, today’s CSCOs must also navigate a broader landscape that includes sustainability, digital transformation, risk mitigation, and resilience.
Through conversations with seasoned supply chain executives worldwide, it is evident that the CSCO role has been evolving for some time, predating the pandemic, and has accelerated significantly in recent years. Whereas the role previously encompassed a limited set of priorities, it now spans a broader spectrum, including sustainability, digital transformation, and agility.
Within this expanded context, CSCOs are increasingly redefining their role – not as operational enablers or as executional support, but as strategic architects of enterprise value. They now sit on executive committees, report directly to CEOs, and maintain regular access to the board. In other words, boards are now much more open to the transformative power of a CSCO.
Why elevating the CSCO role matters
· Strategic alignment and faster execution The CSCO serves as a vital link between business strategy and operational delivery. With many peers on the leadership team coming from commercial backgrounds, the CSCO’s operational acumen offers a crucial balance, ensuring initiatives translate into results.
· Increased agility in a volatile world CSCOs are typically first responders when crises strike. Their ability to make rapid decisions—on everything from product line adjustments to supplier realignments—is enhanced when they have a seat at the top table.
· Talent magnetism
Elevating the CSCO position boosts its attractiveness to emerging leaders. By investing in career paths, leadership development, and visibility, some organisations are turning supply chain functions into high-potential talent pipelines.
The enterprise-centric CSCO
Today’s CSCOs must operate as business leaders first, and functional experts second. While many still come from traditional supply chain backgrounds, companies are increasingly prioritising broader business acumen, seeking candidates with commercial, P&L, or transformation experience. This shift reflects the growing need for CSCOs who can contribute strategically, anticipate regulatory and geopolitical risks, and lead complex, enterprise-wide transformations.
Equally important is the CSCO’s ability to manage a widening network of stakeholders. From peers and boards to regulators and suppliers, today’s supply chain leaders must translate operational complexity into strategic clarity. Their success now depends as much on influencing and communication as on technical mastery, marking a decisive evolution from the function’s historically executional role.
Rethinking succession and talent pipelines
Despite the strategic elevation of the role, there will always be turnover at the top, and many organisations still lack robust succession plans for CSCOs. This is especially concerning given the relatively short average tenure of a little over four years and a high rate of first-time appointments: in 2024, 65% of external CSCO hires in 2024 were step-ups.
To avoid setbacks caused by a gap in the CSCO function, succession planning must be reimagined across three key dimensions:
Future-focused profiles: Companies must define the CSCO role based on future needs.
Tailored development programs: Internal talent development is increasingly crucial.
Detailed, proactive planning: Organisations must develop data-driven, scenario-based succession plans.
The road ahead
The COVID-19 pandemic may have accelerated the shift, but the strategic ascent of the CSCO is not a short-term response – it is a long-term evolution. As companies face continued disruption, increasing complexity, and stakeholder scrutiny, the CSCO is emerging as one of the most consequential roles in the C-suite.
It’s all about flexibility and resilience. Speed of change has massively increased, and the size of those changes is becoming bigger. Organisations that invest in the right leadership, redefine the capabilities required, and reimagine succession planning will be best positioned to not only manage uncertainty, but to turn it into a strategic advantage.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding – and the evidence of TealBook’s increasingly-successful evolution lies in its client relationships
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We talked endlessly about data and AI at DPW New York 2025. A universal truth is that the successful implementation of AI requires clean data; it doesn’t have to be perfect, but businesses certainly need to have a decent handle on their data before adopting AI tools successfully.
To help make this a reality, North American data and software company TealBook has recently announced a legal entity-based data model. It’s designed to resolve supplier records to the correct legal entities, map parent-child relationships, and enrich profiles with verifiable attributes, enabling accurate supplier data to flow seamlessly into procurement systems and AI applications. “This is part of a 12-year journey for TealBook,” says Stephany Lapierre, the company’s Founder and CEO. “Our vision has always been to build a way to enable procurement organisations to have high quality data with a lot of integrity, in order to give them the trust they need to put data directly into their systems.
“Twelve years ago, we underestimated the complexity of getting large enterprises to trust a third-party data solution. As part of our journey, we started using AI early on to find information where it exists on supplier websites and databases, and start creating digital profiles in a structured way for procurement to access it, match it to their vendor master, and use it.”
TealBook’s evolution
But, again, at the beginning, TealBook couldn’t be sure whether the data was high enough quality. In 2017, the company was primarily known as a supplier discovery application, positioned as a pre-sourcing engine to help procurement teams identify alternative suppliers. At the time, TealBook’s data and models enabled it to determine which companies were similar to others, allowing users to search and find comparable suppliers to expand their sourcing options.
“But that was just a way for us to deliver something that was underserved in the market,” Lapierre continues. “Then our customers started asking for certificates, which are hard to collect and match. They needed cleaner data. They felt they were under-reporting. So in 2018, we started to see whether our technology could refine the data more, and focused on certificates and supplier diversity. We collected great use cases along this journey, and the vision never wavered.
“Just last year we released a new technology – completely different, really sophisticated – allowing us to pull from a lot more data sources, and we have provenance so our customers can actually verify where the data’s coming from. We can match it to vendor masters. And now, we also have this new model that includes 230 million verifiable global legal entities from across 145 countries’ registries. We marry this with global parent and child hierarchy, which is really hard for our customers to match themselves.”
Partnership with Kraft Heinz
Now, after 12 years of that vision, TealBook is deeply proud of what it’s achieved. Part of its ability to get to this point is due to early adoption from key customers. Kraft Heinz is a business which Lapierre describes as a “co-innovation partner”, and has been invaluable in helping TealBook achieve its recent goals.
From the perspective of Stefanie Fink, Head of Global Data and Digital Procurement at Kraft Heinz, the partnership has been an immediately valuable one. “It really started with having a visionary, like-minded relationship,” she says. “That’s an important piece of it, because my vision for procurement is that we are partners in our enterprise.
“In order for us to do our jobs, we have to bring in the right data for use. This is where Stephany’s partnership and vision really resonated. We were really looking for diversity and we could make things easier for our partners, while making sure we had the right people in our ecosystem. We also had to lift up the hood and see what was underneath everything we’ve got. Stephany brought our vision to life. TealBook has evolved too, as we’ve seen; it’s more about orchestration and software-as-a-service. It has been a partnership of need and we cannot continue to do other things without this kind of partnership around data.”
When initially dabbling with this relationship, Fink was clear that Kraft Heinz had no desire to be taking care of more stuff. What she wanted from TealBook was a strong focus on good quality data. After last year’s product release from TealBook, Kraft Heinz already saw its data enriched by 25%. The recently-announced new data model gives the business and TealBook’s other customers the right structure tied to a legal entity, which is a highly credible anchor. “We’re able to do entity resolution – all automated – remove all the duplicates, and then you start with a clean, digitised vendor master,” says Lapierre. “That’s what brings further enrichment.”
The challenge of assessing data quality
Assessing its data before involving TealBook was important for Kraft Heinz, but challenging for such a large organisation. “We had to fail first and fail fast,” says Fink. “We tried some AI around fixing things early, but that didn’t work for us. It was a real eye-opener, realising where this next evolution could take us regarding focusing on AI and agents for the right things, not the meaningless things. Before, we were asking agents to tell us if things were duplicates, when we should have been asking: what do these suppliers offer? Where is the innovation? Where is the value?”
What surprised Fink most when looking under Kraft Heinz’s hood was the lack of attention that was being paid to what the business was doing. “It was amazing that nobody had questioned it sooner,” she says. “So I said, let’s take this as a crawl, walk, run approach, and I have a wonderful CPO who really understands where we want procurement to go as a function. She was excited about us just getting it done and getting people involved, and that’s what it takes: real pride in ownership of the data.”
Getting engrossed in GenAI
True partnership and an all-in approach has enabled Kraft Heinz to work successfully with AI – something some businesses are struggling with as the conversation around artificial intelligence grows louder. For Lapierre, as the CEO of a tech company, adopting AI successfully has meant trying and failing and being fully entrenched in AI as it has evolved.
“We’ve been using AI in our technology since 2016,” she states. “We’re an early adopter. We’d be talking about scraping data, and data in the cloud, and AI models, and our customers’ pupils would widen in surprise. We’ve come a long way and the market has come a long way.
“The technology we deliver today wouldn’t be possible without the AI tools now at our disposal. We used to build models; we don’t do that anymore. We spend a lot of time investing in engineers to build and test models, and that’s made us so much more efficient. I use GenAI every day for so many things now, and I’m encouraging my team to be so involved in AI. That’s how you build expertise, and you need really strong expertise to use GenAI well.
“Getting good with AI is about taking risks and having a leadership team that pushes for new things, and suddenly the successful use of AI becomes a habit.”
The march towards agentic AI can be a daunting thing, but it’s important to get over that fear in order to make strides
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A common question when discussing AI is ‘where do humans fit in?’. The fear of technological advancements stealing our jobs is an old one, but the conclusion is always the same and always true: there will never be a time when human judgement and teamwork isn’t required.
At DPW New York 2025, we sat down with Rinus Strydom, Chief Revenue Officer at Pactum AI, and Steven Velte, Executive Director Procurement Transformation at Honeywell – a customer of Pactum AI – to discuss AI’s evolution and the human connection. As AI develops, for Strydom, Pactum’s focus is on agentic, rather than generative. There’s a key difference there, especially for initial adoption at large enterprises.
“A lot of enterprises feel a little bit afraid, because generative AI can go a little off the rails,” he explains. “But when you put agents to work, they’re always within the rails that are defined by the customers. Once we get over that hurdle and can make clients see that they can take their procurement operating model and have it just run at scale with agents, rather than being afraid that their image will get tarnished, AI can be put to work much faster.”
Putting AI to work
When it comes to strategies procurement leaders can adopt to make AI work for them, it’s a major discussion point for Strydom and Velte. As a customer, it’s important for Honeywell to feel like its work with Pactum AI is a collaboration; it’s part of what makes its strides into AI work successfully. “This collaboration goes deeper than what we’ve typically had in the past,” says Velte.
“When we go through organisational changes, we need a true partner, And when that partner gets into the elevator with you, they don’t just push the button with you – they go up to the next floor with you and sit at the table to talk about what’s happening. So a barrier to AI adoption is not having that deep collaboration and partnership.”
“I think another thing leaders can do today is really help with that psychological change management to make it feel like a safe thing,” Strydom adds. Mindset shift is such a vital part of this change, especially when it comes to successful collaboration. “It’s important to embrace agentic AI, to encourage people to become managers of agents and not run away or become fearful.”
Identifying the opportunities
The true benefits of AI are now beginning to present themselves, as people increasingly embrace AI. For Velte, businesses have to get going with their AI plans in order to realise where the real opportunities lie. “I can make a business case with tons of ROI, potential productivity gains, revenue uplift, bottom line, profit line – all of that. But the real benefits that come from AI are those hidden benefits we don’t realise. When you start looking at it, there’s a common theme of saving time, and time becomes the real benefit. Unlocking better use of time gives you more potential to work on other creative aspects of the business.”
For Strydom, the true value lies in achieving things that used to be extremely difficult to achieve. Pactum AI’s customer base is broadly looking at 10X ROI, which, now, is easily done thanks to the use of AI agents. Agents also allow procurement teams to scale extremely fast, which is something that has, historically, been hard-won.
“For example, if you need to change payment terms across your entire supply base, you can do that with thousands of agents in parallel. You could never do that before. It gives you the agility to react to global macro risk issues, like tariffs.”
Start now; perfection comes later
One of the loudest topics of conversation at DPW New York 2025 was data quality and the challenge of cleaning that data up. It’s a huge topic, and a daunting one. Many businesses fall into the trap of thinking their data has to be perfect before they can get fully involved with AI, but the conclusion many procurement leaders are coming to is that getting started is more important than perfection.
“Data quality is always the holy grail going forward,” says Velte. “Everyone’s going to look for it, and try to attain it. When you start implementing within an AI framework, you just need to go in there and know that you’re going to constantly evolve in a good way, thanks to the agents, AI programs, and initiatives. They’re going to uncover and unlock a lot of data and inconsistencies that you have. You won’t get there unless you start looking into them as an opportunity area. Data perfection is not the way to go; it’s about getting in there, starting to look at the opportunities, and being willing to be creative, disruptive, and innovating quickly.
“There’s never going to be a time when everything is 100% correct and accurate, because data is always evolving,” adds Strydom. “Start now. The data can be enriched over time with the agents’ help.”
Maximum savings, maximum momentum
Pactum is using AI specifically to enable it to be a strategic advisor for customers like Honeywell. The use cases coming out are very new, and changing fast. What Strydom and his team want is to be able to guide customers on the right strategies for them, how to get maximum savings, and maximum momentum. As this landscape becomes more complex, human intervention and guidance is more important than ever, which links back to the topic of mindset and change management.
There’s been a lot of debate within Pactum AI as to how the business embraces this. “From a marketing perspective, too, there’s the question of whether we should make our agents look human,” says Strydom. “Actually, what we’re seeing is that suppliers actually enjoy interfacing with a bot. Walmart, one of our customers, did a survey where they found that 85% of their suppliers actually prefer to negotiate with Pactum than with a human. It’s more efficient, fair, and unbiased.”
Speaking of humans, shortage of talent has been a talking point within procurement for some time. That was, until advanced tech became more widely adopted, and bringing in procurement experts became less important than bringing in technology experts who are willing to learn. With the advent of agentic AI, according to Strydom, procurement leaders are now acting as managers of agents.
“All the analyst surveys say that procurement organisations are being asked to do more with less every year,” he says. “So the type of talent is definitely transforming. What we see is that the procurement organisations of the future are much more strategic. They’re focusing on creating strategy and procurement policies and procedures, and then having the agents actually go out and do the menial day-to-day work – entering things into ERP, turning requisitions into purchase orders, onboarding suppliers, and so on. All of that can now be done very quickly and efficiently by agents. This really elevates the role, and allows procurement to become a partner to the business.”
Velte adds: “When you talk about talent shortage, it’s also that shift in the mindset we’re going through right now. The expertise is changing, and we want to be able to bring in talented people with that technology flare. When we look at the next generation of leaders coming out of university and college, they’re AI enabled already. They’re expecting AI to be available to them to accelerate their development, career goals, and ambitions.”
Making sense of the landscape
As DPW New York 2025 unfolded around us, the discussion inevitably turned to the ways in which DPW helps procurement make sense of the AI landscape. Pactum AI is actually a perfect example of how useful DPW is. Only four years ago, the business was a startup, and won a pitch contest at DPW Amsterdam. “That catapulted the business, and got us a lot of visibility,” says Strydom. “It’s a great place for visibility with practitioners, investors, and partners.”
Again, it comes back to people. Being able to meet them in real life, communicate face-to-face, and learn from one another. “It’s about reconnecting with a lot of our partners,” says Velte. “But it’s also about seeing what is out there on the forefront that’s becoming available. It’s an amazing opportunity for us to really benchmark ourselves, while also getting a glimpse of what’s coming around the corner.”
At Kinexions 2025, Jennifer Roberts, Supply Chain Leader, IBM who talked us through how the supply chain is transforming at the global giant
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Jennifer Roberts, Supply Chain Leader at IBM, is visibly buzzing as she shares her favourite Kinexions moments so far. “Kinexions is really exciting,” she says, having flown in from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina to be here. “The first thing for me is getting to see the people I work with at Kinaxis who help advance the solution within IBM,” she explains. “We have a great account management team that’s helping us look to the future. And the energy here is always exciting. They really are a motivating company when it comes to thinking about the future. I’m really thankful that IBM invested in the ability of our teams to join the event this year.”
Roberts and IBM’s C-level executive suite for supply chain are located at Raleigh-Durham’s Research Triangle Park where IBM has a large facility covering 600 acres. “It’s a good place to be,” she says. “But a large part of my team is broadly located throughout the US in Poughkeepsie, New York, Rochester and Minnesota. And then we also have a team down in Guadalajara, Mexico. The global supply chain is located everywhere, but the people I work with are primarily in those locations.”
Roberts leads Demand Planning Operations for IBM’s hardware manufacturing division, supporting mainframe, power, and storage products across both internal and contract manufacturing. She supports transformation efforts within the Demand Supply Planning and Inventory organisations.
Supply chain transformation
Roberts specialises in configuring and modelling planning architecture in Kinaxis and SAP, translating, automating and transforming business processes, while identifying and collecting the relevant data from various large unstructured data sources. Her goal is to optimise supply chain processes and tools, reduce costs, improve efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction.
The words “revolution” and “transformation” have embodied the discourse at Kinexions and these are two concepts that play out in a major way at IBM. “Our business is all about transformation,” she explains. “We are constantly looking to evolve to solve a variety of different areas of opportunity. There’s certainly never a day where we aren’t thinking about what the next disruption may be. And so within our organisation, we focus a lot on resiliency, protecting our supply chain and ensuring we can deliver quality to our clients.” Indeed, IBM onboarded Kinaxis around five years ago to help transform Demand Planning and Supply Planning. Kinaxis Maestro provides IBM with the transparency needed to see how changes in demand and supply affect each other, utilising the most current data to run multiple concurrent scenarios.
AI in supply chain
IBM’s supply chain transformation efforts are currently focused heavily on AI. Of course, IBM has been leaders in the AI space for quite some time with the Watsonx products, but supply chain is considered client zero within IBM for that platform. “We are focused on efficiencies in the organisation, digital transformation, developing digital twins and taking enterprise data and bringing it together so that we can orchestrate a plan that is visible to all through one source of truth,” she reveals. “And that’s something we can all execute against seamlessly.”
“Everyone wants data in real-time. Everyone is looking for accuracy of data. They’re looking for answers to problems faster than we’ve ever been able to perform before,” she explains. “When the next big diversion comes, the next big distraction, we need to be able to quickly align ourselves, not just within the supply chain, but upstream with our sales organisation, who are feeding us all the sales opportunities and giving us insight into where the business is going. And then our downstream suppliers need to be equally connected. So, we partner with those organisations to ensure it’s all very seamless and that our data flows in both directions so we can manage results. So, one of the advantages of our internal AI supply chain tool, which we call CSCA 360 (Cognitive Advisor), is to get a 360-degree view of the world considering all those products. And access is a big part of that because we run our S&OP and MRP (Material Requirements Planning) processes through that tool, along with our inventory management process as well.”
According to Roberts, the biggest opportunities for Supply Chain at IBM lay within ways to mitigate disruptions earlier, boosting resiliency and agility, while protecting the supply chain. “There are things that hit us between the eyes at the last minute, and we have to be as responsive as possible to solve those problems. Data insights and being able to assess them proactively, is so important. And that’s where I see our organisation heading more strategically, through taking the data, ingesting it faster, making decisions on it, using generative AI and focusing on allowing people to dig into the data more quickly and get answers on information they’re seeking. We’ve been using agentic AI for years, but we’re really starting to dig into what it can do for us now in terms of impacting productivity.”
The human touch
Although Kinexions has been showcasing transformation and technological revolution it has also stressed the importance of work culture, something vitally important to Roberts. “Our leadership drives the mindset of transformation being at the forefront of where we’re going, in order to keep up with the demands of the future,” she tells us. “We’re always being asked to look at where we can create opportunities within the business and not just taking the leadership’s advice on what we should be doing. We look to all our employees and get their ideas from the bottom up; deciding whether or not there’s business value that can be returned from things that aren’t always visible.
“I think the most important part of your business is your people. Without having the ability of your people to be transparent in where they see opportunities, you really are going to hold yourselves back. Keep an open mind, ask a lot of questions, listen closely. I’m always told you have two ears and one mouth. And I think as a leadership team, you should allow your employees to come forth with ideas, plus, we need to think about why they are suggesting them – well, it’s because they’re impacted every day by what’s going on around them. So, listen.”
Fraser Robinson discusses the challenges threatening supply chain planning, why visibility isn’t enough, and what being future-ready means
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It’s safe to say it’s been a particularly turbulent time for the global shipping and logistics industry. Disruption is ever more frequent and unpredictable. Geopolitical conflicts, tariffs, major climate events, and economic uncertainty all require constant attention and adaptation.
In just one week, the US and Japan struck a trade deal at the same time as the EU set out plans to match the US’s tariffs of 30% – the latest in a wave of rapid policy changes that continue to reshape global trade. Between October 2023 and October 2024, G20 countries introduced 91 new trade restrictions affecting over $828 billion in goods, more than triple the value seen the year before. These frequent tariff changes, with some being as large as they are too, will impact anything from freight costs to route selection and sourcing strategies.
Regarding sustainability, regulations to limit Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions and safeguard marine ecosystems can require adapted routes to increase efficiency and avoid protected areas. In April, for example, the International Maritime Organisation approved new net-zero regulations for global emissions, aiming to reach the target by 2050.
All of this shows how quickly tides can change – and why having real-time visibility over carrier shipping routes, freight rates and logistics is integral to being able to adapt just as fast. But visibility alone isn’t enough. When disruption strikes, teams need to act quickly – and relying on back and forth emails and spreadsheets won’t cut it.
Supply chain managers are in real need of digital tools that not only unify their data, but also enable real-time collaboration and seamless communication with partners across the network. Improving the speed and the accuracy of the decision making process.
The unpredictability of the modern supply chain
Tariffs can bring major changes to shipping trends and patterns. But they’re far from the only source of unpredictability. The climate crisis is triggering more damaging and widescale events that can cause disruption in the blink of an eye. A recent NASA study left researchers “amazed and alarmed” at just how sharply the rise in the frequency, length and severity of extreme weather events like floods and droughts has been in the last two years. So, it’s integral to build and evolve supply chains that are able to withstand these unprecedented changes.
Then you have a range of other factors like port congestion, labour disruption and emerging tech risks, which can all heighten unpredictability. For example, the number of parties involved in a shipment leaves the supply chain susceptible to cyberattacks such as ransomware, where cybercriminals lock down systems until they are paid a ransom.
If just one supplier suddenly can’t make a delivery as their internal systems are frozen, then shipping carriers, ports and warehouses all need to adapt to new schedules and orders to maintain operational efficiency. Not to mention the impact of cashflow from stock outs.
The (massive) need to go digital
Naturally, trying to coordinate across a global network of carriers, suppliers, warehouses and customers can be time consuming and chaotic. Spreadsheets and emails are still widely used in supply chains to organise shipments and communicate – but this creates fragmented processes, a sea of data silos and a lack of real-time coordination. No wonder 86% of operations leaders in a PwC survey said their company needed to invest in better tech to track and measure supply chain risk.
With disruption never far from shore, every partner in a supply chain needs access to the same real-time picture of moving goods. By tracking freight and providing automated alerts for any shipment disruptions or delays that take place, the latest digital platforms can display all relevant logistics data and shipping documents on a live tracking dashboard, and these dashboards are easily shareable via a link to every stakeholder.
Not only does this allow stakeholders to view and spot risk sooner, but it brings together every supply chain partner into one location. In turn, this makes it easier to triage issues and coordinate action plans to maintain the flow of goods. For example, it makes it simple for parties to confirm and share cargo ready dates with suppliers and forwarders, or resolve issues in an embedded chat. And by receiving timely notifications, supply chain professionals can act quicker to mitigate the negative impact of delays and disruptions.
Weathering future storms
The unification of data and communication is not only about firefighting immediate disruption. These capabilities are integral to taking a wider view and forming resilient supply chains that can weather the unpredictable and changeable nature of the industry. We need more advanced methods for measuring metrics like carrier performance and emissions and then using this data to optimise routes and reduce factors like demurrage and detention costs.
Are there ways to understand the frequency and severity of delays by carriers? How about understanding which carriers and forwarders are delivering the quickest, most reliable service? The monitoring of data over time can provide the answer to such questions. Supply chain managers can build ETA accuracy reports, for instance, that compare initial ETAs against ATAs. They can benchmark transit times and accrue objective performance insights that inform decisions about choosing suppliers and routes and ports. It all comes down to having data in one place that can be analysed by AI and provide key, and complex insights.
Of course, there is also an increasing onus on balancing performance with sustainability.
Carbon reports can analyse crucial metrics like distance, vessel and carrier to paint a clear picture of the carbon impact of each shipment. By understanding this impact for different routes and carriers, supply chain managers can make much more informed and sustainable choices when planning their routes. And with consumer and regulatory scrutiny set to intensify, the ability to be transparent through carbon reporting can increase trust and brand reputation.
Disruption is becoming more of a normality in supply chains – it’s something that is predictable. What supply chain professionals can’t predict is what that disruption will look like and where it might come from. As with anything in the modern world, data and communication are crucial to responding quickly to these events as well as implementing changes that improve the overall resilience of supply chains – and choosing sustainable options is generally choosing more reliable ones too.
More turbulence will come, and digital solutions offer the best route for keeping goods and shipments sailing through the storm.
AI is already transforming procurement, but meaningful value depends on more than just tools. At Beroe, that starts with aligning AI to real business problems
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As AI continues to dominate conference stages and boardroom discussions, the pressure to use it is everywhere. As this technology becomes further embedded in enterprise strategy, many organisations are still grappling with how to apply it in a way that delivers real, measurable value.
Rather than focusing on AI for the sake of innovation, the question now is how to align new tools with real business problems. That means looking beyond dashboards and pilots to deploy AI where it can simplify decision-making and improve processes.
At Beroe, this principle is central to how AI solutions are developed, deployed, and scaled. As the company behind the world’s leading procurement intelligence platform, Beroe provides real-time market data, cost analysis, and supplier risk assessments, empowering thousands of organisations globally to streamline operations and mitigate risks. Its latest advances in autonomous negotiation, supplier discovery, and predictive analytics show what it means to align AI with business objectives.
Speaking with Prerna Dhawan, Chief Product Officer at Beroe, during this year’s DPW New York conference, the discussion explored how procurement leaders can move beyond hype and start unlocking the full potential of AI.
Misalignment with business needs
There are plenty of real-world examples of how AI can improve efficiency within a business, from automating manual tasks like invoice processing to identifying new suppliers based on complex sourcing criteria. Accessing this technology is easier than ever with a wide range of tools available to procurement professionals. It can be tempting to jump on the bandwagon and integrate AI across every area of an organisation, but success requires a more nuanced approach.
The key is to ask the right questions, Dhawan explains: “We talk about all the latest and greatest technology out there, but what does it mean in practical terms? We need to ask, ‘How can I apply it today in the work I am doing as a head of product or as a procurement professional?’”
The allure of generative AI is especially strong, but business leaders should ask whether that’s the right solution for their needs. As with any decision, it’s important to consider the business problem. “It starts with a little bit of knowledge about what you’re looking for,” says Dhawan. “What are some of your biggest challenges, and which of those challenges could AI technology solve?”
Matching the right tool to the job
Once an organisation has identified a specific problem, it’s possible to find the AI solution that fits. While generative AI gets a lot of attention, other AI technologies and machine learning based systems might be more appropriate.
In some cases, prescriptive, rule-based, or predictive AI could be a better choice to solve a problem without the need for a large language model. For example, forecasting commodity prices doesn’t require generative AI, just strong, contextual machine learning.
“We are looking at AI across two dimensions,” says Dhawan. “Firstly, what is our offering to customers, in terms of procurement intelligence and autonomous negotiation technology. Second, we are looking at AI internally. Let’s say in product development, how do we use the latest AI solutions to accelerate our product development cycles so we can release new modules and capabilities more quickly.”
Regardless of the type of tool chosen, it should cover a high-impact use case. Integrating AI to solve a problem that only surfaces for a small group of people a couple of times a year won’t have a great return on investment. Instead, look for regularly occurring problems that, if fixed, could have a huge impact on productivity or quality.
Reducing the cognitive load
We’re already bombarded by information, and the use of AI to add to this doesn’t make sense. “I don’t need another dashboard in my life,” says Dhawan.
When implemented correctly, AI can make data more accessible while reducing cognitive load for users. The result is increased productivity and faster decision-making.
“I think the power of AI is to simplify access to data. This is why ChatGPT has been a success: it democratises access to information. That’s what our B2B technology world is waiting for. It gives me something simple that allows me to talk to my data. Then I can focus on what insights I need to make a decision or take action.”
For most B2B users, the key is intelligent simplification. Look for ways to simplify access to data through agent AI tools and conversational interfaces. This brings the focus back to action rather than dashboards.
Inside Beroe
While many procurement teams are still exploring AI’s potential, Beroe has already embedded it across both its platform and internal operations. The company, founded in 2006, provides procurement intelligence to thousands of organisations worldwide. Its platform delivers the critical data that professionals need to make informed sourcing decisions, from commodity prices and risk indicators to ESG scores and supplier intelligence.
“We provide all data that procurement needs for decision making, whether it’s cost data, risk data, ESG data or price data,” says Dhawan. “Our reimagination of the future is not just giving access to more data but creating that layer of recommendations that help you make decisions at speed and scale.”
One of the clearest examples of this in action is Beroe’s new ‘autonomous negotiations’ platform resulting from its recent acquisition of negotiation technology business, nnamu. Delivering a significant evolution in the procurement technology landscape the platform enhances the foundational elements of AI and game theory with Beroe’s industry-leading market intelligence and, according to Dhawan, it’s being deployed successfully in live sourcing scenarios.
“This is a technology that is being used for multilateral negotiations,” Dhawan explained. “It’s no longer just a POC or prototype, it’s live and being used at scale.” These new tools reflect Beroe’s core mission: to help procurement professionals minimise surprises and maximise margins.
Crucially, Beroe isn’t waiting for perfect data to apply these technologies. Instead, the company is using AI to work with what’s available — cleansing, interpreting, and extracting value from both structured and unstructured sources.
“You can use AI for cleansing data – even paper contracts,” Dhawan says. “Historically, we thought data had to be structured. But now, with vision models and image analytics, that’s no longer the case.”
Rather than striving for 100% accuracy before taking action, Beroe embraces a more agile mindset that balances speed and precision.
Is mindset holding procurement back?
The technology is ready. The use cases are proven. So why do so many procurement teams still hesitate to embrace AI? “There’s this subconscious fear that I think is a barrier to adoption,” she said. “And to some extent, it’s to do with our friends in Hollywood.”
There’s the myth that AI is a job-threatening black box, especially in industries where trust and experience are the backbone of good decision-making. For procurement, where professional judgement and business context are critical, the idea of handing over tasks to AI can feel risky.
But Dhawan believes this fear is misplaced. At Beroe, AI isn’t replacing procurement professionals, it’s augmenting them. Whether it’s surfacing new suppliers, automating elements of negotiation, or flagging risks earlier in the sourcing cycle, the aim is to enhance human decision-making. She says: “I think with the new kinds of AI technology that’s available to us, it is an opportunity for us in B2B tech to embrace more human-centred design with higher focus on UX.”
Looking ahead
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, Dhawan sees procurement evolving into a more personalised and responsive function – one where AI plays a critical role in both strategy and execution.
“We see hyper-personalisation coming, both in supplier relationships and internal stakeholder engagement,” she explains. “AI will be at the centre of that.”
Rather than one-size-fits-all sourcing strategies, AI will enable procurement teams to tailor their approaches to specific business units, categories, or even individual suppliers. This means smarter segmentation, more relevant insights, and stronger commercial outcomes.
Another key shift is the growing ability to connect macro events, such as geopolitical shocks or regulatory changes, with micro actions inside the business. AI can help procurement teams identify these signals earlier, respond faster, and still align with long-term goals such as cost efficiency or sustainability.
“It’s about balancing your fire-fighting reactions to market events with your long term goals and strategy,” says Dhawan. “Procurement needs visibility and flexibility at the same time.”
Beroe is already moving in this direction. Alongside its growing AI capabilities, the company is refining how it delivers intelligence, building agents and recommendation layers that not only inform decisions, but also help teams take action on them. Whether that means automating routine negotiations or proactively flagging supply risks, Beroe is evolving to meet the needs of a procurement function that’s more dynamic than ever.
As Dhawan points out, the goal isn’t to overwhelm teams with more tools, it’s to make their lives easier. “It’s about reducing complexity and giving procurement professionals confidence in what to do next,” she concludes.
For many procurement leaders, AI still feels like a long-term ambition. But the solutions are already here, and through companies like Beroe, they’re already in use. The challenge now is not whether AI can deliver value. It’s whether teams are ready to adopt the mindset and cultural shift that will allow them to unlock that value.
Jonathan Jackman, Regional VP at Kinaxis, dives into how AI is reshaping supply chain planning.
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is often seen as a threat to jobs, with a recent TUC poll showing half of UK adults worry that AI will take their job. When it comes to the supply chain sector, AI is shaping up to be a powerful tool that empowers planners to take on more creative, fulfilling roles.
The prospect of AI-enabled supply chain planning is an exciting one for both professionals and businesses. Scaling operations without the need to massively increase headcount is a major selling point for any enterprise, while for professionals, the prospect of removing the repetitive, mundane and manual processes that restrict and slow effective planning is surely a promising one.
Far from job elimination, AI is a major upgrade for supply chain workers in a number of different ways. We’re entering a new era of increasingly autonomous AI systems, which will elevate supply chain planning to new heights. So, how exactly will the day-to-day role of the planner evolve as we go further into the AI era?
Humans still in control
First, it’s important to dispel a myth: the supply chains of the future will not be “driverless”. Many believe that AI, and particularly agentic AI, has the potential to run supply chains on autopilot. This is far from reality: while AI can surface insights, automate tasks and even take action in a crisis, it will always need to be augmented by a human to fully interpret the nuances of the real-world.
This human oversight is a crucial failsafe. There will be many times where AI flags potential shortages and proposes the best way to respond, but it will only ever be as good as the insights it is fed and the guidance given by human. For example, what if it is missing a crucial bit of real-time information about an upcoming election which could lead to disruptive trade challenges? While the algorithms. may be great at crunching the numbers and making recommendations, only a human planner can assess the full context surrounding a decision before deciding action.
The future of supply chain planning isn’t AI instead of humans, it will be AI and humans. In the AI era, supply chain professionals will be the orchestrators, steering AI systems and validating recommendations with important human insights and context.
Each planner is likely to have fleets of AI agents beneath them, acting as demand forecasters, inventory optimisers and scenario simulators – feeding information back to the supply chain professionals to empower them to make the best decisions based on the maximum amount of data analysis, all done in real time.
Planners unleashed
With AI handling the mundane and routine supply chain tasks, planners will be unleashed to focus on the creative, strategic elements of the job that machines simply cannot do: building relationships, working with partners, building and selling strategy, and, of course, managing AI agents.
Consider negotiations with partners, for example, AI won’t be able to compete with a human. It will, though, supply planners with the data they need to enter those discussions armed with deeper insights than ever before, empowering them to work more effectively.
Planners will also play a critical role in shaping the very AI tools they use – training models, curating data, and ensuring outputs reflect reality. Over time, this human feedback loop will make the technology even more valuable.
One key evolutionary step we are starting to see is the emergence of Autonomous Concurrent Orchestration. Currently, many vendors focus on agents automating existing siloed processes, but in the future, we will see more agents that synchronise planning decisions across functions – procurement, logistics, manufacturing – in real time. Agent-to-agent communication will break down silos and speed up problem solving and decision making, easing the burden on supply chain professionals.
Augmenting, not replacing
Perhaps artificial intelligence is the wrong phrase when it comes to supply chains Instead, the industry should be discussing augmented intelligence, where machines unlock insights and real-time decision making that simply wasn’t possible when tasks relied on manual processes.
For planners, the AI era promises exciting change: embracing new tools and evolving alongside this technology is not only good for business, but good for the careers of supply chain professionals.
From automating decisions to redefining procurement talent, AlixPartners lays out why risk-takers lead the way.
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The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in procurement is gaining traction with many organisations already looking at how the technology can improve processes. However, there’s scope to go beyond efficiency and instead focus on transforming value delivery.
At DPW New York, we spoke to Amit Mahajan and Aaron Addicoat from AlixPartners, a management consultancy firm doing things a little differently. The organisation is advising its clients on how to implement AI to drive value, but it’s also using AI internally, too.
“AlixPartners has a unique business model,” explains Addicoat. “We have a very senior model, very few junior resources. So now you imagine taking people with 10 or 15 years experience and now you equip them with AI… For us, it’s a huge unlock.”
This is about more than just productivity gains. AlixPartners focuses on using AI to transform the way procurement teams work, while crucially, maintaining the human touch.
How procurement professionals are using AI
With the support of technology, it’s possible to shift procurement from a cost-saving exercise to a potential revenue driver. Procurement teams are already looking for these opportunities, as Mahajan explains. “They’re starting to think about new ways of doing things,” he says. “It’s not just automation, but asking how do I leapfrog and do something differently?”
There are plenty of use cases where AI is helping with automation. This is a great place to start as it frees up human workers to do more valuable jobs that need a personal touch. “I have a client who’s using AI every day,” says Addicoat. “This allows them to review documents and contracts rapidly, to find key clauses and termination dates. They’re also using it in spend control processes to identify which things need to be reviewed more thoroughly.”
Many organisations are also using AI agentically to create their own bots. This gives teams a more accessible way to review information. “One example is a client who’s using AI for their business to help with acronyms,” says Addicoat. “They built it as an acronym tool to help break down the language barrier between different functions using different terms. This led to better engagement.”
This empowers employees across an organisation to be more autonomous while still getting the full picture. Agentic AI, especially, allows them to interact with information in a way that previously would’ve required specialist technical knowledge. Now, it’s possible to query information within a contract directly.
“It’s about using agents and AI to look at anomalies within your procurement contracts,” explains Mahajan, “and be able to help the category analysts, the category specialists, and others to get more of those insights.”
While generative AI might be a hot topic, it’s not the only way to use the technology. In combining several sources of data and using AI to spot trends, it’s possible to create workflows tailored to the current environment. Addicoat explains: “We take a series of data inputs, such as weather patterns, lead times, contractual terms, inventory, and forecast. Then the AI generates the purchase order, queues it for review, and upon approval, places the order.”
This can help an organisation to place orders with the right supplier in the most timely fashion to avoid delays, and optimise for cost, for example. This fully automates the end-to-end process, using AI to interpret those important data signals.
While this is useful for procurement teams, it’s only the start. “Using AI in this way is really cool,” says Addicoat, “but what I found most fascinating is that you’re building a data model, and with AI layered into it, that over time can tell you how to optimise itself.”
This has huge implications for procurement teams looking to save money and drive revenue. “For example, it could tell us the commodity price at a certain point in time was low,” says Addicoat, “but because inventory capacity to hold resin was maxed out the client could only buy so much at that low price. So now investing in a new storage unit at a cost of a few hundred thousand dollars could, under the same scenario in the future, save millions of dollars..Data quality challenges
A roadblock that can stop procurement teams from fully embracing AI is a lack of quality data. With so many sources of information, often including paper-based documents, some might think it’s difficult to get the data AI needs to be truly useful.
“Don’t wait for everything to be perfect before you get started,” says Addicoat.
This is a sentiment echoed by Mahajan: “Use AI to solve your data problem before solving your business problems.”
This requires a mindset shift. While AI can help cleanse, enrich, and structure existing unstructured data, it’s important to take the right approach. Shift from asking ‘what can we do with our data?’ to ‘what value do we need to create?’ and work backwards from there.
With this approach, the questions are less about the data and more about the business problem. This then allows you to use AI to work with the information you have to help answer those questions.
“Start with the value proposition in mind and work backwards,” explains Addicoat. “You can get data from anywhere — it has to serve a purpose.”
Bringing back the human touch
AI can free up procurement teams to focus on tasks that need more nuance and expertise. Using technology to automate workflows and make information more accessible has a huge impact on employee productivity. “It’s fundamentally transforming the way they work, the amount of work they can do, and the type of work they’re able to do,” says Addicoat.
There’s always the worry that with any new technology, the human element will be forgotten. “With every new advancement that comes in,” says Mahajan, “whether that was a steam engine or when computers came along, everybody wondered what they were going to do. But as humans, we always find ways to start doing higher-level work.”
This means that many professionals will find new ways of doing things. “Imagine all the mundane tasks you have to do in your daily job now,” Addicoat continues. “With these new ways of working, imagine the speed with which you can turn an idea into something real. All that time you free up allows you to go talk to people and build relationships that mean something.”
On the other side of things, the sheer volume of AI-generated content out there is going to drive people towards those more meaningful interactions. “You don’t know what to trust and what to believe anymore,” Addicoat says. “That’s going to lead to a resurgence in face-to-face content, being at the office, and being at events.”
AI’s impact on procurement talent
The talent landscape is changing. With technology playing a larger part than ever before, organisations don’t just need procurement professionals, they need adaptable, tech-savvy people. The nature of the job means that those in procurement need a wide range of skills.
“We do everything,” says Addicoat, “legal, operations, supply chain, negotiation, analytics. Procurement professionals are generalists.”
Tech plays into every element of that skillset, which means tech skills are becoming even more important for candidates applying for procurement roles. “Nobody goes to college thinking they’ll be a procurement professional,” says Mahajan, “but with AI and tech, that’s changing.”
With procurement often seen as a proving ground for leadership, embedding these tech-minded generalists could have a huge impact on the future. “We have a shortage of talent,” explains Addicoat. “But with more and more CEOs and COOs coming from procurement, that speaks volumes to what procurement does and the value it brings, as well as what the future holds.”
At AlixPartners, the passion for procurement is very clear with Addicoat saying: “There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who love procurement and those who don’t know it yet.”
Change is coming
With AI of all forms steadily gaining traction, procurement could change dramatically in the coming years. It’s the organisations that are willing to take risks and embrace change that will come out on top.
“AI has the potential to disrupt the whole management consulting world,” says Mahajan. “Firms focused on transformation will thrive.”
With AI’s capabilities increasing rapidly, it’s difficult to predict what comes next. However, adaptability is key. “Hold onto your hat. In a year and a half, the world’s going to look very different,” concludes Addicoat.
Brent Wilson takes time out at Kinexions 2025, to talk us through rapid change in supply chain operations at Qualcomm
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Over the past five years, supply chain disruption has been relentless, causing many companies to rethink how they handle ongoing delays and uncertainty. Few companies have undertaken a transformation as profound as Qualcomm, a multinational corporation that designs and develops semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology.
At the heart of that transformation is Brent Wilson, Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain Operations, who joined the tech giant when supply chain volatility was at its peak. Speaking at Kinexions, the flagship supply chain conference hosted by Kinaxis in Austin, Texas, Wilson shares Qualcomm’s transformation story.
A full change in thinking
“When I joined Qualcomm,” Wilson explains, “they had lost control of the supply chain. There was no confidence in being able to promise orders to customers, and there was no real connection between the many parts needed to build a working product.” During the chaos of COVID, that was a wake-up call for the business.
Tasked with rebuilding the entire supply chain, Wilson implemented a comprehensive sales and operations planning (S&OP) process powered by Kinaxis Maestro, a process that went beyond software implementation; Qualcomm required an organisational and cultural shift.
“Up to that point, supply chain was seen as the supply chain team’s job,” Wilson explains. “We made a conscious effort to get everyone involved to get them to understand the process. This meant every department was going to have a say in what the data should be. And I think that really alleviated some of the fears.”
That shift in mindset allowed the entire business to see the supply chain as a shared responsibility. But what truly accelerated Qualcomm’s evolution was the technological backbone of Kinaxis Maestro.
Real-time impact
“The power of Maestro is its concurrency,” Wilson says. “The visibility allows us to have conversations around what might happen at the leading edge. In some cases, it allows us to change where we might point a particular design or take a softer approach into a market.”
Qualcomm’s business has evolved dramatically in recent years. Once focused almost exclusively on handsets, the company now operates in diverse markets including automotive, compute, XR (extended reality), and hyperscale servers. These sectors operate at different speeds, with different expectations and constraints. “Having better control of our supply chain means we can enter these markets flawlessly,” Wilson explains. “We can service the customers at a very high level from the very first day we start shipping, all in an efficient and cost-effective manner.”
Maestro enables Qualcomm to model what-if scenarios, evaluate long-term constraints (some as far out as three years), and even make early calls about where to push or pull investment. Wilson details: “We’ve had cases where we planned to go hard into a market, but the data showed a constraint coming years down the line, so we changed strategy. That kind of foresight was unheard of at Qualcomm before Maestro.”
Letting the results speak
Wilson’s metrics for measuring success might be simple, but that doesn’t make them easy to achieve. The first is response time — how quickly the company can commit to a customer order. The second is accuracy — how reliably they hit that first committed delivery date. “When we started tracking the metrics before the planning system, we were at 65%. Now we’re over 95%,” Wilson says.
Those gains are not only operational but also strategic. For many, supply chain disruption has become the norm. The organisations able to respond quickly and reliably have a distinct competitive advantage. Wilson believes that’s exactly what Maestro has unlocked.
People-powered transformation
While technology has been central to the change, Wilson points out that tools alone aren’t enough. “You can have the best systems in the world,” he says, “but if your people aren’t behind it, it won’t work.” To that end, Wilson and his team invested heavily in alignment. They mapped out roles and responsibilities, built transparency into data-sharing, and emphasised the principle of one source of truth. That meant breaking down silos and agreeing on common data sources, even when the data didn’t originate within Wilson’s team.
“There were fears,” he admits. “People thought this new process would take control away. You see, you have to convince people that this is going to be better for the corporation. I always say supply chain is a team sport, so it’s important to make sure everyone understands their role.”
Kinaxis became a strategic partner in Qualcomm’s transformation. Maestro’s ability to unify planning across time horizons and business functions made it the right fit for a company with Qualcomm’s complexity.
Making Kinexions
At Kinexions, Wilson finds true value in the network. “The presentations are great,” he says, “but the real value is found in the peer connections. It’s good to hear how others are implementing Maestro at different stages and to get some references from what people are going through.”
Kinexions isn’t just a stage for Kinaxis to show off its AI-driven platform. It’s a gathering of supply chain professionals all facing similar pressures: geopolitical volatility, inflation, talent shortages, and the increasing demand for agility. Wilson sees opportunity in all of it, especially when it comes to technology. He says, “The things that are being introduced with AI are really exciting, and I think we’re just tapping into the potential of what that can be.”
For Qualcomm, the transformation is ongoing, but there’s a clear trajectory that goes beyond the supply chain team. The whole organisation approach provides greater visibility, greater agility, and a deeper understanding of how supply chain touches every corner of the business.
Moving the supply chain can often be a knee-jerk reaction, but it’s important to think strategically about whether relocating is the best idea
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1. Why do you think moving the supply chain tends to be a knee-jerk reaction when tariffs rise or trade tensions flare?
It’s a reaction that comes from a place of urgency. Tariffs go up, or trade tensions escalate, and there’s a natural impulse to act quickly – especially when there’s pressure from leadership or shareholders. On the surface, moving a supply chain seems like a strong, decisive move. But in reality, it’s rarely that simple.
More often than not, relocating is a reaction to symptoms rather than strategy. Companies that take a step back and model the full impact – including the hidden costs – usually find the situation is more nuanced. As I’ve seen firsthand, staying put can often be the smarter call when you factor in the broader operational picture.
2. What’s the best way to assess total landed cost when considering a relocation?
You really need to go beyond tariffs and labor rates. A solid total landed cost analysis should include freight costs, customs duties, inventory holding, quality risks, and the cost of time – how long it’ll take to requalify a new supplier or ramp up a new site.
You also want to include softer but very real risks: supplier reliability, logistics infrastructure, responsiveness, and even talent availability. In my work, we use a scenario-based approach that models different outcomes – best case, most likely, worst case – because it’s rarely a linear comparison. You’re not just swapping one cost center for another; you’re rebuilding an ecosystem.
3. What’s the potential cost of relocating too quickly? Is there anything companies tend to overlook?
Yes – and quite a few things, actually. A big one is requalification, especially in regulated sectors. That process can take months and delay your go-to-market timeline significantly. Another is supplier know-how. Longtime partners often bring embedded knowledge – whether that’s tooling nuances, production techniques, or troubleshooting expertise – that’s hard to replicate elsewhere.
Companies also tend to overlook the operational strain. Transitioning a supply chain can drain resources internally – procurement, quality, engineering – and if you’re already stretched, that can be a real problem. Rushing into a move without a proper risk buffer can end up being far more expensive than the tariff you were trying to avoid in the first place.
4. How should companies weigh short-term political or economic incentives against long-term resilience?
It’s a balance. Short-term gains – like avoiding a specific tariff – can be compelling. But the question we often pose to clients is: Will this decision still hold up two or three years from now? Because trade policies change, political winds shift, and if your new setup is fragile, you’re simply moving from one kind of exposure to another.
Resilience is about building supply chains that can absorb shocks. That might mean sticking with a higher-cost geography because of consistency, or diversifying – not relocating – to mitigate risk. If you can model both short-term and long-term impact, and stay aligned to your strategic goals, that’s where smart decisions emerge.
5. What should companies look at when evaluating whether a country’s infrastructure or labor pool can support their supply chain needs?
There are a few core questions to ask: Can the region support the technical complexity of your product? Is the infrastructure – ports, roads, utilities – reliable? Is the labor market deep enough, and are the right skills available? And what’s the regulatory environment like – predictable, or prone to sudden shifts?
We always advise talking to companies already operating in the region. That real-world feedback – on logistics bottlenecks, compliance challenges, or workforce availability – can often highlight issues that aren’t immediately visible from data alone.
6. In your experience, what are the signs it’s time to seriously consider relocating sourcing or manufacturing?
When the risks become structural – not just a one-off disruption or a temporary cost spike. If your supplier can’t meet compliance or ESG standards, if you’re consistently seeing quality or delivery issues, or if the geopolitical environment starts affecting your ability to operate with confidence – that’s when a relocation conversation becomes necessary.
It’s also important to remember that “relocating” doesn’t always mean a full exit. Sometimes it means adding a secondary source, or shifting one tier of the supply chain, while keeping core capabilities in place.
7. How long should companies expect a country-to-country shift to take, realistically?
If we’re talking about a full shift – from decision to full production ramp-up – it’s usually 12 to 36 months. That depends on the industry, of course. A low-complexity product in a lightly regulated sector can move faster. But high-spec manufacturing? With quality controls, tooling transfer, compliance certification? That takes time – and trying to compress that timeline often leads to serious issues down the line.
8. What technologies or tools are helping companies make better sourcing location decisions now than in the past?
We’re seeing a lot of progress here. Companies are using AI and predictive analytics to model risk exposure and simulate cost scenarios. Digital twins are gaining traction – they let you map your supply chain virtually and test what would happen under different disruptions. Supplier risk platforms are also far more sophisticated, incorporating ESG data, political risk scores, and even weather patterns.
Five years ago, this kind of real-time scenario planning wasn’t widely available. Now it’s increasingly essential.
9. Given current conditions—tariffs, geopolitical risk, ESG pressure—how much more complex do you expect supply chains to become by 2030?
Significantly more complex. We’re already seeing how global trade isn’t just about economics anymore – it’s about national security, sustainability, and data sovereignty. And that’s driving more regulation, more reporting requirements, and more pressure to be agile. Add in climate volatility and changing consumer expectations, and you’re looking at a supply chain environment that’s constantly in motion.
The companies that thrive will be the ones that build optionality into their supply chains – and invest in visibility, partnerships, and technology to stay ahead of the curve.
10. Anything else to add?
Yes – just that sometimes, the smartest move is to stay where you are and optimise. It may not feel as bold as a relocation, but doubling down on what’s working – while building in resilience and flexibility – can be just as strategic. It’s not about reacting to headlines. It’s about making decisions that hold up in the long run.
We sat down with Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of ASCM, to dig into the organisation’s focus points, and how CHAINge is addressing supply chain’s needs
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Tell me a bit about your background, and how you got into supply chain.
Early in my career, I spent quite a bit of time in operations and materials management. We didn’t call it supply chain back in the day – it went by a number of different terms. Not surprisingly, given my role within ASCM, I worked closely with supply chain professionals, not only to elevate the role of the supply chain professional, but to understand the impact that supply chain has on business and society.
At ASCM, we’re focused on not only supporting that competent, capable individual, but ensuring that organisations are responsible in terms of using supply chain to really enable consumers and patients to get what they need at a reasonable price and reasonable time. This is what supply chain is about. My background combines that business management education and deep engagement with supply chain professionals. This gives me a strong appreciation for not only their challenges, but the opportunities the field faces today.
Tell me about the planning for CHAINge NA this year. What were you looking to achieve when putting ideas together?
Today, supply chain professionals are trying to balance efficiency with geographic diversity and political resilience. They’re trying to put those things together and identify what would make an individual do their job better and exchange that information with others. So our planning is centered around a key theme, which is: how do we equip supply chain professionals for what’s next?
The systems that we built for speed and cost optimisation are under stress right now. They’re struggling under the weight of complexity, volatility, consumer demands, and all the disruptions that we’re facing today. We’re being called today to rethink not only how quickly and cheaply we can move things and get them to the consumer, but how responsibly, transparently, and resiliently we can operate today. Our hope is that the engagement part of the event enables individuals to exchange information and walk away with insights and actionable strategies that can be taken back to their organisations and implemented. We’re truly looking for that engagement from the attendees. This is an event for the attendees, by the attendees.
It’s also about making the contact and relationships that we all depend on. We’re all seeking opportunities and examples of organisations that have done it better or have responded easier to the challenges that we’re facing today. This provides individuals with an opportunity to engage. We had an opportunity to do this at our European event, after which attendees overwhelmingly indicated that the engagement part – the opportunity to exchange information learned from each other – was a key element of the event itself. We’re trying to replicate that, but with the amount of issues that the US is facing versus the rest of the world, the topics are going to be a little bit different here.
What are the core topics covered at CHAINge NA that you think are most helpful for supply chain professionals?
We need to take a temperature of the current environment, and not surprisingly, we structure the event around several core themes that we’re all facing today. First, resilient and agile supply chains. The adaptability that’s required today is unlike any time that we’ve ever faced. We’ve had disruptions before, and we’ve responded as an industry. Today, we’re continuing to respond, but the pressures on these individuals due to day-to-day uncertainty has created a very different environment.
The second core topic is emerging technologies. As the focus on resiliency and agility becomes much more critical, there are only a few ways to gather the data necessary to enable organisations to make informed decisions. Not surprisingly, AI, digital twins, and a whole host of scenario planning technology tools are a focus for a lot of organisations today. Digital transformation is happening in almost every organisation to shore up their visibility, their transparency, and their traceability.
Also, advancing sustainability practices. We can’t forget that at the end of the day, we still need to be sustainable as an industry. This has been a huge focus within supply chain. It’s taken a little bit of a backseat in the current environment, but organisations are still focused on ensuring that they are sustainable and ethical in their business practices. Lastly, no discussion can be had without understanding what the talent availability is, what their capabilities are, and whether we are ensuring that we do have the right talent.
How important is collaboration (accelerated by things like CHAINge) in supply chain, especially as the landscape becomes more complex?
In today’s environment, as we focus on visibility and on connecting all parts of our supply chain end-to-end, we understand the demand signals clearly so that we can address them appropriately. Collaboration is no longer optional – it’s essential. No single individual organisation can solve today’s challenges on their own, whether it’s navigating geopolitical tensions, managing risk in a global network, or even driving sustainability. The solutions demand cross-functional and industry collaboration. It used to be that the Chief Supply Chain Officer in the back room was only called upon when there was a crisis. Well, I think we’ve got enough crises today that we need to push that individual into the front office.
First, we need to enable them to use their voice at the table to advocate for appropriate supply chain practices, but also in combination with a wide range of other roles. These are the teams that are now addressing these issues. It’s no longer just a supply chain issue; it’s an organisational issue. It’s a societal issue that we now need to address, and there’s only one way to address that; that’s through collaboration within the organisation, as well as with your partners, your vendors, and your vendor’s vendor. This is a very dynamic environment today, and enabling organisations to have that complete visibility and connectivity is critical.
There’s been a lot of talk about a shortage of talent across supply chain; how big an issue is this, from your perspective? And how can it be overcome?
From our perspective, it’s one of the defining issues of our time. As supply chain has moved from the back office to the boardroom, so has the demand for skilled professionals. More often than not, supply chain people come out of finance or engineering. In today’s environment – a very diverse workforce – digital natives are coming into the workforce. They’re not only adaptable, but very comfortable with modern technology. It’s a little bit of a reverse from the leadership that we have in supply chain today, that may still be using that Excel spreadsheet on their systems. Supply chain has the demand for those skilled individuals.
To address this, we’re focused on a number of things. First, expanding the awareness of supply chain as a rewarding career path, which our salary and satisfaction surveys confirm. Secondly, talking openly about investing in ongoing professional development. We’ve been to a lot of conferences and whether we’re talking about AI, sustainability, or disruptions, at the end of the discussion, it always comes down to people. We should be talking about the people at the beginning of the discussion as opposed to the end of it. We need to create that opportunity for individuals to see that they can not only make a difference, but that their voice is heard and followed on within their organisation. That’s what we’re preparing supply chain professionals for.
We need to provide an inclusive workplace that attracts and retains that diverse talent. As I indicated before, individuals coming into the workforce are digital natives. They’re very adept at AI and they’re more than willing to jump in with the technology. We need to enable them with problem solving, critical thinking, and experience on the job. I couldn’t be more excited about the individuals coming into the workforce today and the focus, and they’re able to change the world through supply chain.
How can supply chain professionals approach the challenge of ever-changing regulatory requirements?
Financial markets and supply chains do not like uncertainty. We like certain demand signals so we can ensure that our supplies are appropriately managed. Supply chain professionals need to have robust systems to monitor changes and provide that data, or the regulatory information and policy individuals reporting become significant. Among the concerns that we have is that more often than not, it’s become regulatory or policy and it becomes a checklist. Part of that concern is whether we’re really focused on really making a change, or focused just on those compliance checklists that often drive down to minimum effect.
Today, technology helps, but so does developing a culture of compliance and resiliency. Once again, collaboration matters, sharing best practices across industries, and enabling individuals to understand that there are ways to respond to the regulatory and the policy changes.
What are some of the most exciting innovations happening in supply chain today?
I think the combination of the people and technology is what’s going to make an exponential difference. On the technology side, tools like advanced analytics, AI, and digital twins are transforming how we forecast, manage risk, and build resiliency. The real innovation is combining cutting edge technology with a highly skilled, adaptable workforce. I heard a fantastic quote the other day: ‘AI is not going to take your job; an individual using AI is going to take your job’. That’s where the focus is right now – enabling individuals to use technology to really leverage that and enable organisations to be much more responsive and agile, as they address demands.
This month’s cover star is Marisa Schoeman, Diageo’s VP of Planning & Logistics for Africa. We spent some time with…
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This month’s cover star is Marisa Schoeman, Diageo’s VP of Planning & Logistics for Africa. We spent some time with Schoeman at Diageo’s London HQ to hear how the beverage giant’s growth in Africa is being enabled by a robust supply chain transformation with the customer at its heart.
Diageo plc is a British multinational alcoholic beverage company whose 30 malt distilleries in Scotland – that can only make Scotch whisky – are responsible for producing one in every three bottles of Scotch worldwide, with over 100 brands, such as Johnnie Walker, J&B and Buchanan’s. Its leading brands outside whisky include Guinness, Smirnoff, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray and Gordon’s.
At Diageo, Schoeman is responsible for directing the transformation of Diageo’s supply network operations in Africa, creating a simplified and integrated network designed to unlock agility, innovation, and long-term value.
“Our ambition is to grow Africa, Diageo’s fastest growing region, into a multi-billion-pound imported spirits business,” she says. “But for that, we need a flexible, segmented supply chain. Africa represents huge untapped potential as a developing environment and our consumer base is growing all the time. So, for us there is a very big focus around how we grow into a multi-billion premium spirits business…”
Elsewhere we have a host of big-name interviews from Kinexions 2025 – including Qualcomm and IBM – an exclusive report from the Exiger Executive Forum. Not only that, but we also sat down with Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of ASCM, to dig into the organisation’s current focus points, and how its conference – CHAINge – is addressing the supply chain landscape’s needs. And… we also have some highly insightful leadership pieces from DPW New York, including fascinating reveals from Beroe, Pactum AI, TealBook and AlixPartners on a host of topics relating to AI in supply chain.
The two-day event (9th-10th September) offers attendees all the tools they need to improve their resilience and adaptability.
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Be the CHAINge you want to see in supply chain, and join fellow supply chain professionals at CHAINge North America. Located at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, in the heart of Columbus, Ohio, the two-day event (9th-10th September) offers attendees all the tools they need to improve their resilience and adaptability.
SupplyChain Strategy readers receive an exclusive $200 discount when registering for CHAINge North America, by using code SCS200
The event gives attendees access to a rich agenda of learning opportunities, covering topics such as:
Supply chain digitalisation
Data visibility
Risk and resilience
Future-proofing supply chains
Woman in supply chain
Harnessing AI
And much more. Those attending CHAINge North America join their peers for two days of interactive learning, lively discussion, and novel ideas to drive change in their own supply chain.
All supply chain professionals and executives are welcome to become part of the movement and discover the latest in supply chain innovation.
Register today and use our exclusive discount code: SCS200
As well as eye-opening talks, CHAINge North America attendees gain access to:
10-minute innovation tech showcases
Educational breakout sessions
Use case theatres
Industry Q&A
Join your fellow professionals on the 9th and 10th of September for this industry-leading event. Register now and use code SCS200 for $200 off the cost.
Industry collaboration for freight decarbonisation pilot proves sustainability and profitability can go hand-in-hand as empty miles drop.
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An innovative freight decarbonisation initiative in South West England has achieved a significant milestone, with 65 loads successfully matched, generating over £68,000 in revenue for local hauliers and preventing 7,915 kg of CO2 emissions through reduced empty running, according to new data from TEG.
The collaborative project, led by Peninsula Transport and Western Gateway STBs with TEG’s Haulage Exchange platform, has demonstrated measurable environmental and economic benefits since its expansion. The initiative now includes 11 participating haulage companies across the region, with loads posted by companies for subcontracting reaching 1,906.
Key achievements from the updated pilot programme include:
Environmentalimpact: 7,915 kg of CO2 emissions prevented through 9,195 miles of optimised return journeys
Economicbenefit: Total revenue of over £68,000 generated for participating local hauliers
Operationalefficiency: 65 loads successfully allocated to vehicles that would otherwise have travelled empty
Regionalcoverage: Load matching across multiple regions, with the highest activity from Greater London (10 loads), South East (15 loads), and South West (23 loads)
The data reveals strong engagement from participating companies, with businesses joining throughout 2024 and demonstrating sustained activity. Bristol-based operators feature prominently amongst the most active participants, highlighting the project’s success in building a regional network of collaborative hauliers.
The most active freight lanes include routes from the East Midlands to Exeter (129 loads), West Midlands to Exeter (128 loads), and North East to Truro (115 loads), demonstrating how the platform is successfully connecting return journey opportunities across major UK freight corridors.
Lyall Cresswell, founder & CEO of TEG, said: “These results demonstrate the real-world impact that smart logistics technology can have on both environmental and business outcomes. By giving local hauliers access to our platform, we’re not just reducing empty miles – we’re creating tangible economic value while supporting the region’s sustainability goals. The fact that we’ve generated over £68,000 for local businesses whilst preventing nearly 8 tonnes of CO2 emissions shows how collaboration and technology can drive meaningful change.”
Cllr John Stephens, Peninsula Transport, said:“The pilot project with TEG is an example of the South West Freight Strategy in action. By cutting carbon, boosting the regional economy, and making better use of our existing freight capacity we’re pleased to be supporting cleaner, more efficient and better connected transport across the region.”
Cllr Chris Willmore, Western Gateway STB, said: “We are pleased to support the important initiative as part of our work to decarbonise freight with STB funding and guidance. Freight is so important to our economy, but is often overlooked. This pilot reduces the number of miles HGVs travel empty, which without the initiative often contribute to climate change and cost businesses money. By working collaboratively with our neighbouring STB, Peninsula Transport, we can maximise our impact on the freight industry and see our South West Freight Strategy come to life”.
The project addresses the critical industry challenge of empty running, which accounts for approximately 30% of all haulage vehicle miles according to Department for Transport data. By providing participating hauliers with access to load-matching technology through Haulage Exchange, the initiative enables businesses to find profitable return loads, improving vehicle utilisation whilst reducing environmental impact.
Vehicle types participating in the programme range from 7.5-tonne trucks to 13.6-metre articulated lorries, with 7.5-tonne vehicles showing particularly strong engagement across multiple regions.
Frank Baldrighi, Business Development Manager at Getac, explains why digital transformation across the supply chain overdue.
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Digital transformation is driving significant change across the global supply chain, leading to the adoption of new, innovative business models and cutting-edge technologies. The ability to adapt to these changes is crucial for companies aiming to remain competitive and deliver exceptional value to their customers.
Technology plays a pivotal role in accelerating change, helping companies to automate operations and enhance productivity. The modern workplace is evolving, with a growing emphasis on flexibility, sustainability, and employee well-being. Companies must navigate the challenges of integrating new systems and processes, a reality that requires a cultural shift towards innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning.
The benefits of embracing change are substantial, including improved quality, increased efficiency, and enhanced customer experiences. To successfully manage change, companies must measure its impact using data and insights to inform decision-making. Leadership plays a critical role, with a clear vision and strategy essential for success. By fostering a culture of adaptability and continuous improvement, companies can thrive in the dynamic landscape of digital transformation.
The case for (rebooting) digital transformation
Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, industry has learnt several key lessons:
Employees are critical talent and need to be deployed strategically
Asset-based industries like transport & logistics can benefit from remote monitoring and operation
These same industries also need the ability to make decisions in the field, on the edge
As organisations embrace digital transformation, many face significant challenges stemming from outdated technology and processes, which can hinder their ability to initiate this critical transformation effectively.
The goal of digital transformation is to move businesses along a customised path, from adding automation process steps to fully autonomous operations. Along the way, enterprises will pass various milestones that reduce the fraction of human involvement and orchestration into the process: from done by humans, through done with humans, to done for humans.
The key forasset-driven industries is to begin with the desired goals in mind, and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress toward those goals. The work of digital transformation involves breaking down business operations into manageable processes that can be orchestrated or automated with the help of technology.
Technology drivers of digital transformation
Data, the currency of digital transformation, enables several technologies to build new capabilities and deliver enterprises’ desired results.
Some of the technologies that can propel digital transformation include:
Artificial intelligence and machine learning, which enable autonomous decision-making at the data source.
Robotics, which performs routine, monotonous tasks independently or in collaboration with workers.
Extended reality-XR (augmented reality-AR / virtual reality-VR / mixed reality/MR), which empowers workers to collaborate remotely without being physically on site.
Internet of Things (IoT) / Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which include sensors embedded in assets that transmit data about the health of machines. This data enables predictive maintenance to maximise uptime, asset life, and capital payback.
Digital twins, a simulation of all physical assets and their interdependencies, enable enterprises to proactively predict system functions before changes are made.
Cloud computing, which enables infinite computing scale while increasing resiliency, and security.
Selecting which of these technologies best fits depends on the digital maturity of the company in question and the KPIs they intend to measure.
Digital transformation isn’t always smooth sailing
According to a 2020McKinsey research report, 70% of enterprises who pursue digital transformation find their momentum stalls at some point. It is worth understanding the reasons – e.g cultural or scalability issues – causing the slowdown because payoffs for successful transformation can be impressive; leading to more efficient operations, with enterprises enjoying autonomy beyond their operations. An entire ecosystem with data transparency functions more smoothly as inefficiencies are easier to pinpoint and fix.
Businesses must also watch market trends and shifts in consumer behaviour to adapt and thrive in the evolving landscape. The 2024 update to McKinsey’s tech trends focused on generative AI, coupling with electrification and renewables in terms of interest and investment. Gen AI is the next step in digital transformation, with the potential to enhance nearly all performance metrics.
Rugged mobile devices (especially AI-capable) contribute an invaluable benefit to the digital ecosystem. They connect workers to vital information necessary to keep operations running in harsh environments, often where and when workers need the data most.
Employees can use a rugged mobile device forasset management software or enterprise resource planning systems to troubleshoot problems quickly and efficiently whenever worker intervention is called for. Using rugged mobile devices also allows for the easier digitised recording of processes, so the enterprise always has a record related to every machine.
Limitless potential
Looking to leverage advanced technologies, organisations throughout the supply chain are taking a careful view of business operational workflows and finding ways to improve the bottom line. Expect AI-fuelled digital transformation to quickly become a mindset for companies as they move toward autonomy in their digital transformation. Rugged mobile devices will be essential today and even more so tomorrow to future-proof technology fleets. Their secure and open architecture enables enterprises to use it as a communications platform now and into the future.
SupplyChain Strategy attended July’s Exiger Executive Forum to hear from the best and the brightest in the industry.
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Supply chain resilience is one of the most pressing concerns of modern business, whether executives are aware of it or not. That was the central theme of the Exiger Executive Forum held on July 23rd 2025. Titled Supply Chain Sovereignty in a Fractured World: Winning the AI and Geopolitical Race for Resilience, the event brought together business analysts, CEOs, supply chain and procurement executives, academics, and politicians for an open discussion around supply chain sovereignty and the urgent need to secure supply chains across myriad industries and territories.
As geopolitical events, trade wars, and threats to globalised networks threaten to destabilise global and local supply chains, the case for supply chain sovereignty, which is an organisation’s ability to control its supply chain and minimise dependence on external suppliers, becomes increasingly stark. However, a myriad of stakeholders must come together to enable organisations and nations to gain independent control of supply chains, and collaboration between industry, government, and academia is essential.
Three guest speakers joined Maria Villablanca, CEO and Co-Founder of Future Insights Network, each representing voices from within politics, business, and academia: Tobias Ellwood, former UK Minister and Chair of the Defence Select Committee; Koray Köse, CEO and Chief Analyst of Köse Advisory, Senior Fellow at GlobSEC Geotech Centre, and Board Member of Slave-Free Alliance; and Karsten Machholz, Professor for Supply Chain Management and Strategic Procurement at University of Applied Sciences, Wuerzburg-Schweinfurt.
The discussion exemplified the discordancy of priorities and perspectives among senior voices from all angles regarding security, economics, policies all impacting value chains, albeit with a shared willingness to engage in secure, competitive, ethical and innovative supply chains, fuelling businesses and economies through heightened volatility in a fractured world that is recalibrating through the era of reglobalisation.
Supply chain sovereignty: Bridging political understanding, and urgency
“It is a dangerous world that we’re entering,” Ellwood warned. “If I ask you ‘Do you think the world will be safer or more dangerous in five years from now?’, I think we’d all agree in which direction it’s going. We have to then ask ourselves how we prepare for that.” To that end, Ellwood believes an increased focus on supply chain sovereignty is both an economic and military imperative.
For Ellwood, the central issue is limited understanding, both public and private, around the urgency presented by the current risk and threat environments. Through the combination of limited knowledge around supply chain complexity and an election cycle-focused impetus to enact vote-winning policies, he believes the political class lacks both the nous and urgency to prioritise supply chain sovereignty.
“After 20 years in politics, I can safely say that many politicians are simply unaware of what’s coming over the hill,” said Ellwood. “The tide took me out to the last general election, and so I went from helping to craft and nudge policy and encourage Britain to move forward to then scrutinising what we were doing, not just at home but internationally. Now that I’m outside of politics, I continue doing those same things.”
The necessity for political engagement is not lost on Köse, who through his own experiences of researching, advising and leading supply chain organisations, has been advocating for supply chain resilience as a top line driver for economies and companies, has equally encountered the depth of that disconnect.
“At an early point I realised that geopolitics is the key denominator for all value chains and all of us in this context,” he said, adding that work is overdue but starting to be underway to bridge this gap. “The London Defence Conference, as one critical congregation, is key for you all folks to be aware of. Not only because of what they do in terms of bringing the politicians into one room to debate some of the most fierce topics of the day, but it’s all about convergence. Bringing in supply chain leaders, policy makers and technology folks with a direct approach to debate.”
Villablanca noted that Ellwood’s presence was indicative of a gradually shifting tide, however. “It’s not lost on me that here we are in this panel, talking about supply chain, and we have a former politician with us,” she said. “That is very different to some of my earliest supply chain conferences where we didn’t see that, so it’s a sign of the times. Set the scene for us around why you’re here and why it’s important to discuss the geopolitical situation vis-a-vis supply chain today.”
“I spent most of my time in politics trying to strategise, trying to go four or five chess moves ahead, and I found I was on my own,” Ellwood replied. “Politicians operate for the day, for the here and now, the election cycle; the news cycle is what keeps them busy. They’re not thinking about these things and yet the world we’re now seeing in everything… everything is being weaponised because that is the change in the character of conflict.
“But today, from my perspective, I see the world splintering into two spheres of hugely competing influences. If you look at the number of countries that have signed up to China’s One Belt One Road initiative, you’ll see that many of them are either opting or hedging their bets as to where things go.
“To make matters worse, our exemplifiers of what democracy looks like aren’t in a good place. We see what’s going on in America, British politics and so on, and Europe and America are not on the same page. We aren’t promoting global law in the sense that we had a sense of determination that we had when organisations were set up in 1945. Other nations are getting together and realising that there’s an opportunity to exploit the wobbliness of our world order and do things their own way.
“That’s where the mechanisation of just about anything comes in to cause us economic harm, to sow political discord from afar. It’s very easy to do and becoming easier simply because of the openness of our society. It means, from a rudimentary perspective, anything you do can be weaponised against you.”
“It’s very easy, from afar, to then limit your supply chains and thereby limit your capabilities. There are countries that specialise in sowing economic discord from afar. They understand and learn and know supply chains better than we do, and they can work out which missing pieces will cause our assembly lines to grind to a halt.”
That lack of preparedness, he says, is an impediment to putting the nation on a footing that could support a war effort on the scale of the World Wars.
He continued: “There’s also the prospect of preparing for war, which means that we are suddenly spending more money on defence. Our ability to switch on the supply chain levers to support military capability is not there. This is why companies that have no connection with the defence world need to think about the services they provide that might have a military bearing. In five years time, you may be called upon to do exactly that.
“That is the mindset we now need to get into. Security and economy are one and the same now, and that’s what we need to learn.”
AI, foresight, and risk strategy
The conversation then shifted to the business side, where securing critical supply chains powering key technologies such as AI, defence and security, biotech, energy and quantum computing has become a more pressing concern in the wake of a range of global disruptions through the early 2020s.
Along with broad supply chain breakdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, the geopolitical environment has become more fraught. Escalating trade wars, the imposition of sweeping import tariffs in the US and heightening tensions between America and China have thrown globalised networks into question. Alongside those challenges, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) directives have placed an increased onus on supply chain leaders to sanitise their supply networks against modern slavery, conflict minerals, and indirectly sourcing materials from rogue nations. The case for establishing redundancies in supply, as well as heightening visibility on an end-to-end supply basis, was thus clear amongst the panel.
“Koray, you work with a lot of different companies,” began Villablanca. “Do you think there’s a mindset issue where politics and commerciality need to come together to realise the common goal and create resilient supply chains?”
“Directly, there probably is a mindset issue,” Köse replied. “I think there is a lack of clarity about the importance of geopolitics’ impact upon supply chains, and there is certainly the capability issue of understanding the context of geopolitics.” He then elaborated on the challenge by highlighting shortfalls in companies’ predictive capabilities.
“Companies operate with risk dashboards,” he continued. “Sometimes it’s just red, yellow, green, and that’s all you have. They have a few key risk indicators like financial compliance issues, quality issues, performance issues, but you never see strategic foresight. It’s retroactive, based on historical numbers. If you look at a production line it might say, ‘We didn’t have an incident for 80 days’. What if somebody were to say, ‘We won’t have an incident in the next 100 or 80 days’? You don’t see that in production; it always looks backwards because it is built on the past.
“A big problem in a lot of the military complex, and in politics, is thinking that the next war will be like the last one. They cannot necessarily understand that asymmetric, hybrid and proxy warfare is really where things are going, and the same goes for technology. Supply chains are often built on yesterday’s technology.”
To then end, he believes supply chain leaders should be more forthright in leveraging their profound influence upon business operations: “In supply chain, we see the conversation about having a ‘seat at the table’ for decades now and I always say, ‘Just bring your own freaking table’, and invite everybody to it. Everything, every cent in an organisation, goes through you. Own that leverage and don’t run after them, invite them to come to you. Your table is where value is generated, secured and innovation and competitiveness are established. You hold the fate of the future.”
As to politics’ place within meeting this challenge, Villablanca asked Ellwood whether the political sphere could be doing more to shape the corporate agenda.
“Yes, and that last point you said is the most critical; recognising that there is a massive risk, that this is a very different world that we’re now facing, and I expect the point that’s really being made is the absence of politicians,” he said. “The politicians themselves need to be told what we need because their expertise in understanding this arena is poor.
“China now owns the periodic table. If you are into silicon wafers, where’s your serum going to come from? If you’re into magnets, where’s your Europium going to come from? You need to know this sort of detail, and it’s not just you yourself. It’s your suppliers and the suppliers of your suppliers, too.”
While supply chain transparency has undoubtedly increased in recent years, he stressed that considerable work remains to realise total visibility.
“At a recent procurement event I was astonished at how many household names were unaware of what their second and third-tier partners were doing during the procurement cycle,” Ellwood continued. “They didn’t understand the vulnerabilities, down to the SMEs, of what’s going on. If the assembly line stops then that’s quite serious, but what’s going to happen because of that stress?
“There are people who don’t understand it over here, not recognising that our competitors are deliberately looking at our supply chains and working out where that vulnerability lies. It is so that Ford stops making trucks, so that pharmaceuticals stop making medicines. Ministers are ignorant about this and we need to become better at it. This is the frontline of the next war that we’ll fight, and that war is coming.”
“I would add that some can’t fathom the complexity of certain supply chains and the vulnerability and risk associated with multiple tiers within them,” Villablanca posited. “There’s probably a translation issue with regards to business and politics around supply chain.”
To this, Ellwood stressed that international government groups hold the keys to unlocking a broader understanding within members’ respective political spheres.
“The G7, the Five Eyes Alliance, this is where these conversations need to go,” said Ellwood. “To recognise this must be a priority within the western world, we now need to have an alternative source to make sure that we can build our aircraft, we can build our factories, we can build our products. It isn’t so much the rare earth minerals themselves, but it’s the processing. Setting up a processing factory for rare earth minerals takes almost a decade.”
Here, a guest interjected with a point that hearkened back to Ellwood’s own admission that politicians have an innate directive to focus on local, vote-winning issues: “Politicians recognise there are no votes in this. The average MP will say their inbox is full of ‘fix the NHS’, ‘get the roads fixed’.”
Resolving political challenges such as those, Ellwood replied, is predicated upon strengthening economies to open fiscal headroom for public investment.
“If our economy is affected by problems with our supply chains, there’ll be no money in the treasury,” he explained. “Not for health, transport, potholes, policing, defence. It’s imperative that if you want to fill the coffers, then we need to protect ourselves. You can only do that with supply chain resilience. As a politician, you’ve got to take the people with you if you want to make the case.”
Villablanca then repositioned the conversation with regards to pressing issues around sustainability.
“There’s a lot of risk associated with our supply chains that goes beyond geopolitics,” she said. “We also have climate issues, economic issues. How do we maintain sovereignty in our supply chains while still trying to pursue goals around sustainability?”
“Supply chain transparency is something that I advocated for when I was a young consultant in the early 2000s when my hair was not so grey,” said Machholz, highlighting the gradual shift in supply chain priorities around identifying the finer details across those networks. “It isn’t a new topic and in the EU we now have the Critical Raw Materials Act.
Machholz drew the conversation towards sustainability in the context of integrity and continuity. “I’m German, and what we have is engineering power. We are good at car and machine manufacturing, but we have no natural resources. We have a little bit of coal, but all other things need to be imported. There have to be some sources to get those things.
“There’s Trump and tariffs going up and down, and we have some other geopolitical tensions affecting supply. You might say, ‘Where do I source this particular thing from? We don’t really have a second source of supply, because both of these sources are located in the same geographical spot.’ Maybe both of them are coming out of China.”
For Machholz, lessons to be gleaned around forecasting with technology’s latest predictive capabilities were presented en masse by the pandemic. “If we look at COVID, almost all supply chains were disrupted and you were running out of materials,” he continued. “You needed to be much more risk alert, and this is the problem we have already touched on: not looking in the back mirror, but using your data and turning insights into foresights to see what could happen, and then being agile and adapting.
“Sustainability could be one thing, having several sources, having alternatives, but of course, especially if we’re talking about critical raw materials, critical parts or maybe patent-protected or monopolistic suppliers, we are in an ambitious situation, put it that way, to find some alternatives.”
Machholz stressed: “This is something that each supply chain manager, CPO, and CFO, needs to understand to set boards’ scenarios. I’m pretty sure with the help of artificial intelligence we can elaborate much more on our data and predict different scenarios so we can be more prepared rather than just reactive.”
Shifting from cost-cutting to resilience
Of course, supply chain executives are under siege from an enormous breadth of challenges, whether it’s geopolitics, technological evolution as both a benefit and a threat, and shifts in consumer behaviours precipitated by those same factors. Rising to meet those challenges on all fronts, especially in a business landscape that often adheres to cost optimisation and efficiency over investing in resilience, can give rise to decision paralysis or financially-stymied strategies.
Turning to Köse, Villablanca asked: “There’s a mountain of black swan events lurking around us, ready to attack at any minute. What are the things that a supply chain leader should be focusing on today to try to build resilience?”
“To be honest, I don’t think they’re looking at building resilience,” said Köse. “What they’re doing right now is cost optimisation, looking at inflation and making sure that the profit margins are going to be protected through the bottom line, not considering top line revenue maximisation.
“I think agility and economics always need to come back to top line, which basically means in the context of normal business 101 you are producing something, that there is a want and a need and a willingness to pay, and not necessarily hyper-focusing on the cost line or saying, ‘I’m not going to produce a bunch of bullshit that nobody’s going to pay for, just because I got to claim savings to my CFO’.”
“I’m going to challenge you there,” Villablanca interjected. “I think, theoretically, that’s great, but everybody in this room is running a business. We have our own boards, people above us, board directors and so on saying, at the end of the day, you are remunerated and we are all remunerated for our quotas. How do you deal with the day-to-day management of your business as well as building that kind of resilience, agility and visibility?”
To this, Köse stressed that the difference can be made by reframing how businesses examine and counteract risk. “We’re thinking about turning the tide by really embedding foresight in risk indicators. Those risk indicators need to incorporate geotechnical, geostrategic issues with foresight,” he continued before highlighting what he implied to be a tendency for organisations to bury their heads in the sand when faced with developing geopolitical challenges.
“I published an article before Russia invaded Ukraine, about Russia getting ready to invade Ukraine, that went through loads of red tape and debate internally that calling Russia an aggressor was cancelled out from the research note,” said Köse. “They said, ‘You can’t say that’ while it was pretty obvious that Russia were clearly the aggressors.
“The supply chain-focused function needs to spread out and have these geopolitical indicators, geotech-related risk indicators, and not just the last financial report from your supplier A to Z or tier one or tier two.
“We must then tie it back to the value and revenue you’re generating. Get away from this hyper focus and obsession with savings. In that context, make your analytics smarter with a bold analysis of things that you feel uncomfortable about. Think about ‘what now?’ and think about politics. I know we eradicated politics out of business as much as we eradicated many other beliefs from the conversation, but it has to come back.”
With this in mind, he proposed that cost optimisation is to an organisation’s detriment where resilience is concerned, not to its security. “Your indicators for success are not just on the cost line item or bottom line. Your priority must be on the top line. If I sell more, I can grow. With cost optimisation you can shrink yourself to death. That’s what some countries have done with political reviews where you shrink this, you shrink that, let’s shrink here, let’s shrink there. Potholes, collapsing bridges and rail systems, come because of the shrinkage of your investment budget for public infrastructure, for example. What I have found in the last decade of the sustainability high is that it actually impeded resilience, while the narrative said it was supposed to increase resilience.”
To this, Machholz highlighted the data behind Köse’s comments that resilience offers heightened growth potential than cost-cutting measures.
“There were some studies from McKinsey which showed that companies who are investing in risk management are 4.7 times more profitable than those who don’t,” Machholz shared, stressing that businesses engaged in this mindset are missing growth opportunities.
“People just fall back and say, ‘Okay, now the risk is over, COVID is over, whatever event is over,” he continued. “‘We can just go back to business as usual’. Resilience is just extra cost, extra inventory, maybe a second supply chain that needs attention, money, and people to take care of it, and they just simply don’t do it. This is, I think, one of the big threats that we are all facing.”
Exiger Executive Forum: A closer look
The Exiger Executive Forum (EEF) in London is a global think tank that brings together elite independent voices from strategy, policy, technology and business to equip leaders with the frameworks and foresight needed to navigate the multipolar era. The EEF is exclusively curated for industry experts, analysts, policy makers, and senior procurement and supply chain decision-makers through Exiger, a market-leading supply chain AI company. The next Exiger Executive Forum ‘War-time Economics: How Europe’s €800BN Defence Spend Will Reshape Supply Chains’ will take place in London on Thursday, September 18th, 2025.
Ellwood concurred that this lack of foresight and willingness to invest in protective supply chain measures leaves businesses undefended against interruptions both foreseen and not. “We need to prepare ourselves for unexpected events to happen as the norm,” he said. “What would happen to any business if it didn’t have power for 72 hours? How would you look after your personnel? How do you make sure you salvage the business so that, after 72 hours, you can get back up and running. These aren’t questions that we naturally posed at the moment because again, we tend to park these things.
“The mentality may be, ‘The world certainly feels like it’s getting dangerous, but my life actually looks okay.’ That isn’t the right attitude. If you go to Sweden or Finland, who are much closer to the war with Russia, they are preparing in a way that we are not for a major event or incident. It may well be that when something happens and it’s the moment where governments wake up, but you shouldn’t be waiting for that moment.”
Villablanca then highlighted the recent, universal example of poor supply chain resilience bringing business, both domestic and international, to a grinding halt. “Did we learn nothing from COVID?” she asked. “Did we not take the opportunity to stress test our supply chains and look for the vulnerabilities within multiple layers?”
In response, Ellwood invited guests to consider whether the muscle developed in response to COVID’s interruptions had been allowed to atrophy. “I think that’s a question for everybody; how much of that was retained?” he asked before blending the conversation of supply chain agility with the potential for organisations to support national security should their respective nations go to war.
“During COVID, supply opportunities came about,” he said. “Everyone here today represents diverse businesses. What services do you provide that you could tweak or add value to where something else has fallen short?
“That’s where life really becomes interesting because that’s what happened in the First and Second World Wars. We called on organisations that previously had no interest in helping out with the war effort to add support and value to the wider machine and protect ourselves from a resilience perspective.”
Challenges faced by supply chains, he explained, have analogues to business that clearly marry the political and business spheres: “When we say ‘war effort’ today, it isn’t just Army, Air Force, Navy, air, land and sea. It’s now cyber, it’s space, it’s coastguard, it’s AI. This greater warfare is where a lot of the real pain will happen. As happened in COVID, it’s going to be the clever people in the industry that step forward to say, ‘I’ve already thought about this’. They’re in the patent-esque mode, they’ve done the work to say, with a few tweaks here and there, give us some extra money, and I can alter what I’m producing to provide a solution.”
The roles of government and industry
While there are clear precedents for, and incoming needs to, prioritise supply chain resilience in both the political and business spheres, the conversation made it clear that a unified front stands to offer the most impact.
The challenge, particularly in a political environment preoccupied with economic stabilisation, increased productivity, and soothed international relations, is identifying a shared north star or galvanising body to lead the shared project.
Striking at the heart of the conversation, one guest posited: “If we want to align supply chain and geopolitics moving forward with a mutually-reinforcing relationship and shared goals, joint risk assessment, a focus on resilience over efficiency, and heightened cross-disciplinary talent and data, what are the forward steps?
“What can we within industry do in partnership with governments to move this forward?”
Representing the political voice, Ellwood replied: “There are certainly supply chain improvements that you can do on a national, sovereign basis. But from where I sit, there is a wide political threat that we face and are losing right now. One of them is to do with the energy supply, and another is the threat of AI. The quantum race will be won or lost in the next five years’ time, and that will be game-changing. It simply means that if the winner can harness the power of computing on that scale, everything’s over.”
Ellwood then invoked the technological advancements made in modern wartime, stressing that political figures must wield the mindset of those times to accelerate progress.
“I would like to see some two or three Manhattan Project equivalents, if you like, to ask, ‘How do we harness modular nuclear power?’,” he said. “That’s a very easy way to keep our lights on locally. Then, how do you harness AI? Let’s make sure it is this side of the world that wins that.
“Again, there isn’t that coordination, that sense of urgency, because it’s too far down the road,” he concluded, then highlighting that opposing forces on the world stage already have the unified capabilities that many Western nations lack. “State, industry, and academia in China, for example, are all morphed into one and that gives them huge benefits in the race for these key arenas.”
Köse elaborated on this point by highlighting Turkey’s effective coalescence of business and government.
“If you think about the private-public national defence sector in Turkey, it came from being totally dependent on the US armoury to a leading innovator of drone wars,” Köse explained. “When you think about asymmetric warfare, innovative, impactful and economic weaponry, from drones to secure soldier transportation and all of that, think about what Turkey is producing right now in technology compared to others. The headway Turkey experienced in the last decade in the defence sector is unprecedented.
“That private-public sector coalition and symbiosis has covered such a need for them in a decade that many are surprised. I think that is something that Europe has to relearn, because Europe thinks a lot about public sector dominance in an area where the private sector should actually take charge. In the US, it’s the opposite. They say, ‘keep the public sector out’. The solution lies in collaboration and bringing each sectors strength to the table while leaving out their weaknesses and flaws.
While of course not advocating for adopting the political model, he agreed with Ellwood that nations like China have an innate advantage in this race. “When you think about the way that the autocratic countries are going about it, it’s the public sector dominating the private sector environment,” he said. “That’s why they’re so hyperfocused on things and they can scale but not necessarily innovate in this sector.
“I love the government when it’s in the right place to actually do something positive and impactful. But when I’m exposed to it, I usually get anxiety issues due to the lack of pragmatism, innovation and agility. But hopefully there’s this convergence of politics, business and academia driving intelligence into critical sectors and industry, and we’re trying to drive it through this think tank here.”
The unified case for supply chain sovereignty
Exiger’s Supply Chain Sovereignty in a Fractured World event was an enlightening review of the supply chain landscape and the myriad challenges and stakeholders it encompasses.
While the panellists’ conversation in many ways highlighted the disconnect between government, business, and academia, the resonating message was one of shared pressures and goals. Where governments have pulled back on the reins of public spending, many organisations have in kind adopted a cost-optimisation mindset that may protect the bottom line but opens the door to heightened vulnerability.
Where governments must consider challenges around energy sovereignty and insulating populations against the breakdown of globalised networks – as was demonstrated upon Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – supply chain executives must create redundancies to cover lapses and minimise potential disruptions to production and wider organisational integrity.
The guests’ final comment, that states which can marry both the public and private spheres towards shared interests, neatly encapsulates the urgency with which those worlds must reunite. While much work remains to enmesh those spheres, it is clear that the conversation is progressing at pace.
James Watson and Rachel Noll, Argon & Co, explore how smarter use of data, automation, and robotics can help manufacturers unlock productivity.
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The UK government’s newly launched industrial strategy was long in the making, but has arrived with bold ambitions. Its 10-year roadmap for economic growth has a firm bet on advanced manufacturing as one of the eight high-potential industries in the UK, along with sectors like financial services, clean energy, and life sciences.
For many operating in this sector, this support couldn’t have arrived soon enough. Manufacturing has been pushed from disruption to disruption, hampered by inflation, persistent labour shortages, and global supply chain crises. Businesses have been urgently calling for tools to help them do more with less, and, against this backdrop, the government’s commitment to invest in digital transformation and skills has been widely welcomed.
The industrial strategy features investment in specialist advisory services and organisations to increase technology and robotics adoption across advanced manufacturing. But the big question is now whether it will deliver the change that manufacturers are hankering for, especially in relation to smart manufacturing.
How manufacturers can get smart: in five stages
Central to the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan is a push to scale the adoption of robotics, data, and advanced digital technologies. While cutting-edge automation and predictive AI are becoming more accessible, many manufacturers – particularly SMEs – still lack the maturity or infrastructure to implement them.
The industrial strategy aims to bridge this gap, announcing a new Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) programme, backed by an initial investment of £40 million. This will establish a new network of Robotics Adoption Hubs – physical centres with the expertise, equipment, and connections to accelerate firms’ adoption of robotics. These will be designed as a ‘one-stop shop’ to help end-users invest in RAS technologies in a safe, low-risk environment.
However, smarter manufacturing also needs to be backed by operational visibility and a strong data foundation. Here’s how manufacturers can embark on this journey successfully:
Stage one: Increase operational visibility
Manufacturers first need sight of their core operational metrics to define and monitor performance. After all, you cannot improve what you don’t measure.
Many manufacturers still rely on paper-based reports and inconsistent metrics, making it hard to compare shifts or pinpoint problems. Without operational visibility, actions tend to be reactive and retrospective. Perhaps a shift has underperformed, but without reliable data, it’s impossible to identify the cause.
The first step is defining consistent metrics across all shifts – such as operatives per line, output per line, downtime reasons, or quality defects. Even simple tools like whiteboards or spreadsheets can instil the habit of consistent data capture and begin building a mindset of continuous improvement. The input might be manual and prone to human error, but it provides a common point of reference and highlights areas needing further insight.
Stage two: Build deeper operational insight
Capturing data in an automated format is inherently more reliable, as it doesn’t require human interpretation. Data such as scan times, equipment health and performance, and employee clock-in and out times can feed into visualisation tools like Power BI or Grafana, helping to spot trends and anomalies over time.
Data is ideally stored in a data warehouse to allow for secure deposit and retrieval in a structured format. Layering information from different sources can reveal patterns. For example, does the mechanical equipment perform consistently at all hours? Are reworks linked to break times?
Organisations may spend longer in this phase retrieving, cleansing, and analysing data, but it’s a vital foundation for future analytics.
Stage three: Apply predictive analytics
One of the defining features of smarter manufacturing is being able to predict what’s happening next and act on it – and predictive analytics can bring this to the factory floor. With knowledge of trends, organisations can begin to form corrective courses of action, strategies of intervention, and avoid downtime. For instance, if the data shows that breakdowns spike after 100 hours of runtime, repairs and servicing can be scheduled in advance. Or, if absenteeism spikes after bank holidays, extra staff can be rostered.
Stage four: Use prescriptive analytics
At this stage, it is assumed the organisation has a strong data foundation. Prescriptive analytics recommends specific actions based on historical feedback loops: detecting a trend, initiating a response, and measuring its effectiveness.
By combining data sources, like weather, complaints, and inbound profiles, organisations can run probability-based models to suggest specific checks or actions. However, human judgment is still required to execute or validate these suggestions. To build trust, models should offer tracing to help users understand why a decision has been made.
Stage five: Become self-optimising
At this final stage, responses are automated, based on high confidence in the data and models. Trust in data is key to achieving full insights maturity. Getting here has likely taken time, learning, and refinement, and as a result, can be relied upon with little human intervention. Like Google Maps rerouting you in real-time around traffic, self-optimising systems react instantly to disruptions – the user only needs to accept or decline the suggestion.
A “human-in-the-loop” retains a level of control, but decisions can be made in seconds. While full automation across the value chain is ambitious, it can be prioritised in high-value areas.
The human factor
While the industrial strategy is welcomed with open arms by most in the industry, success still depends on people as much as policy. While the journey is data-driven, people are the linchpin to progress – or the lack of.
Resistance to change is common. Humans simply cannot process large volumes of data as effectively as a machine can, but their insight is vital for interpreting results and providing context. Ultimately, the most effective smart manufacturing journeys have a perfect blend of human intuition with machine intelligence.
John Santagate, Global Senior Vice President of Robotics at Infios, delves into the challenges tariffs pose.
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Successful supply chains have always been measured by how well they deal with complexity. Getting deliveries and returns right requires multiple levels of collaboration, information sharing and strategic decision making to reduce the risks of confusion or delays. In tandem, customer expectations have changed. Expedited deliveries and a smooth returns process are now intrinsically linked to a positive customer experience. Amongst US consumers, cost, transparency of shipping and flexibility and ease of returns, including real-time tracking, are now the leading delivery preferences.
With seamless buying experiences now standard, pauses in supply chain execution have major consequences for customer loyalty and brand reputation. This is particularly damaging at a time when every pound is crucial. Beyond driving cost efficiencies, enhanced speed and resilience are now equal parts of the supply chain challenge, and retailers must get this process right to succeed.
Even if brands understand that resilience is key, achieving this is another matter entirely. The volume and regularity of significant supply chain disruptions have tested the resilience of even the strongest supply chains. Organisations continually reevaluate the processes they have in place to ensure goods continue to reach customers.
Global impact of tariffs
Political upheaval, global conflicts and the introduction of trade tariffs have driven six months of unprecedented global supply chain uncertainty. It’s estimated that the economic impact of the tariff disruption alone could reach as high as $1.4 trillion globally. Ongoing tensions have destabilised established supplier relationships and created uncertainty in the cost of products and materials. Beyond costs, businesses face increased uncertainty in product availability and financial planning, adding further obstacles to already complex operations.
2025 was a fundamental milestone in supply chain strategy. Single region sourcing and rigid inventory management are rapidly fading. In its place, diversification in sourcing and real-time adaptability have become more important than ever.
At its base, for retailers, navigating the evolving tariff environment is about maintaining customer satisfaction. Organisations have opted to move manufacturing of products to new markets. Others have used previous pauses in tariff implementations, and regular legal challenges, to try and ‘time’ tariff implementations and activate previously budgeted activity at the optimum period.
Among these changes, a question has emerged – in a world that is now defined by constant tariff uncertainty, where can technology help to establish a new, more resilient approach to supply chain execution?
Does forward buying help?
Forward buying of inventory has become the most common response to tariff-inspired uncertainty, as organisations aim to maintain product levels and meet customer demand. In the short term, some stability has been achieved. Organisations have been able to maintain existing purchasing and pricing strategies and the flow of goods. Over the long term, however, this strategy carries risks. In fast moving industries, like consumer goods, demand can be linked to virality. Trends can die as quickly as they begin, increasing the risk of product redundancy. Falling demand already costs even the smallest retailers as much as £10K per year. Over the long term, tariff uncertainty will continue to disturb the balance between purchasing and investor management and could cause costs to spiral.
Staying future-ready requires businesses to enhance preparedness. Streamlining operations and building real-time visibility are an important step. As peak season planning picks up, many organisations face uncertainty around how to manage procurement and ordering in a way that minimises waste and inefficiency.
Integration of supply chain technologies, like order management (OMS) and warehouse management (WMS), provide real-time visibility across customer demand, supplier delays, and order status. Live, up-to-date information empowers teams to proactively manage and optimise supply chain operations, reducing bottlenecks and maintaining overall efficiency.
Making technology-powered decisions
The current tariff environment has also reduced the decision-making window. Taking a painstaking approach to sourcing goods and materials was once common practise. The current environment, however, necessitates companies to pivot on short notice. The announcement of any new policy or tariff could inflate costs to an unsustainable level. The ability to effectively source alternative suppliers, in markets with smaller tariff restrictions, or being able to re-route products and amend production timelines, has become a focal point of success.
This level of decision making requires the practical application of data. Predictive analytics are a powerful tool that organisations can use to understand when costs might rise, or delivery delays could happen. Real-time dashboards mitigate supply chain disruption and provide informed and expedited decision making. Businesses can monitor changing global developments; assess potential risks to their own supply chain processes and act in a greatly reduced timeframe. Traditionally, these planning cycles may have taken place on a quarterly basis. Today, data analytics tools mean pivots can be made in days or hours. The impact of this cannot be overstated, building resilience against disruption alongside a wider competitive advantage.
It is safe to say that disruption isn’t going away. Whilst tariffs undoubtably pose challenges, the opportunity for organisations to use this period for fundamental business change is clear. Technology can build stronger supply chain processes and speed up real-time decision making. Not only will this improve responses to tariff-based disruption, but ultimately it will improve the ability for businesses to meet customer expectations, which remains the end goal.
Simon Bowes, CVP Manufacturing Industry Strategy EMEA at Blue Yonder, on how to navigate challenging situations in supply chain.
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Organisations worldwide continue to face severe supply chain disruptions, creating immense operational challenges. Compounding these difficulties is a bleak economic outlook that shows few signs of improving, keeping consumer confidence stubbornly low.
Meanwhile, experts are claiming that President Trump may stand firm on his plans for sweeping global tariffs. This is despite a US trade court ruling that the President had exceeded his authority in imposing the duties and ordered an immediate block on them – only for a federal appeals court to temporarily reinstate the most sweeping of the President’s tariffs. This means tariffs remain an ongoing problem and, the UK market will likely face further disruption.
When you factor in increased costs, labour shortages, escalating geopolitical tensions, cybersecurity attacks, and weather-related disasters (like the $27 billion in damages seen in the US alone), it’s evident that constant instability has become the new normal for supply chains.
Senior executives agree, with 84% stating in a recent survey, that they have encountered disruptions within their supply chain over the past year. Therefore, organisations must be prepared for the unexpected, understand the potential consequences, and have a plan in place to mitigate such risks.
How can organisations create a strategy for the unpredictable? The answer is by building a comprehensive plan that integrates the capabilities, processes, and technologies needed to operate efficiently, no matter what happens.
End-to-end supply chain planning
The first step is to create an overarching strategy that encompasses the entire supply chain. Having visibility across all areas will support synchronised planning and communication across disparate functions.
When organisations bring together teams and processes, they can start to overcome the traditionally fragmented approach to supply chain management. Uncoordinated procedures inevitably create an inefficient and weaker supply chain, which makes it particularly vulnerable to disruptions.
Whereas, resilience is strengthened by collaboration between functions, if backed with integrated data systems and communication methods to enable sharing of real-time information. Keeping all parties in the loop, with relevant data and meaningful insights, encourages better and faster responses to problems, as well as increases awareness of potential forthcoming issues.
Ideally, what’s needed is an end-to-end connected platform where all departments, offices and sites are working from the same consistent, up-to-date data. And, are not required to change systems to find or cross-check relevant information and iron out anomalies.
Smart decision making with AI and automation
Next, it’s vital to incorporate intelligent automation to improve and speed up decision making. Companies are already using data tools to forecast supply and demand planning, but they now can incorporate AI’s ‘always-on’ capabilities to dynamically evaluate and adapt to changes in supply and demand.
AI-powered solutions can assess how work is progressing by automating data gathering for analysis and optimisation. Automation can handle routine issues, leaving supply chain professionals free to focus on more strategic tasks. Furthermore, AI can facilitate transparent, trackable decision-making to accommodate predicted supply chain disruptions or react to unexpected ones. This level of auditing provides vital insights that will help refine future decisions and actions for the next time similar circumstances materialise, improving outcomes in the long-term.
Additionally, organisations can leverage AI to predict the likelihood of disruptive events happening. Knowing how often they occur and how they have unfolded in the past can inform decision-making and planning. Whether that’s examining competitor behaviour or economic trends, AI tools can process millions of pieces of real-world data to model likely what-if and worst-case scenarios that could impact the supply chain. While these instances may seldom occur, proactive scenario pre-planning provides the foundation for an effective response in the event of real-world disruptions or disasters.
Organisations should identify the specific issues which present the highest risk to their business and ensure appropriate mitigation measures are ready to be activated immediately they are needed.
Investment in flexible, agile solutions
Restrictive working practices coupled with outdated technology can make it harder to react effectively when disruptions occur. Building long-term supply chain resilience means finding a best-in-class solution and partner with deep domain expertise to guide deployment of appropriate modern technologies.
When considering options, businesses should keep in mind fundamental requirements for flexible, agile technologies. These include checking how a software or platform supports data integration and cross-organisational collaboration, whether it can simulate market conditions in near real-time, if the technology architecture is compatible with AI, and how easily does it scale.
It’s critical to have a technology platform that’s designed for scalability and extensibility to manage changing workloads and requirements. Therefore, organisations should look for products with a cloud-native architecture for scalability and resilience, a microservices-based approach for flexibility, and solutions that are easy to configure and maintain without specialised IT expertise.
Building a resilient supply chain
In today’s volatile business landscape, organisations must embed resilience into their end-to-end supply chains, supported by the right technical infrastructure. Investing in modern technologies and platforms offers additional advantages. Advanced solutions that adapt easily to changing conditions, automate manual processes, and harness the power of AI can also provide a competitive edge. For instance, AI’s ability to crunch and analyse vast amounts of data can reveal hidden opportunities stemming from unexpected events—opportunities that might have been overlooked previously.
By making smart technology decisions, organisations can build more resilient supply chains, enabling them not only to survive in current unstable conditions but also to optimise performance and operate more profitably.
By Mohammad Mesgarpour, Head of Data Sciences at Microlise, discusses why we need to think beyond data when it comes to logistics.
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Data is everywhere — often invisible, but constantly at work behind the scenes. As we move through our day, it quietly powers much of what we experience. A simple card payment in a shop sets off a chain reaction: your bank processes the transaction, the store updates its stock levels, capturing vehicle location and driving behaviour location data by telematics box, and the company’s central system records the sale.
It’s data that informs the display board on a train platform, letting you know your train is just two minutes away. From our morning routines to our evening commutes, data is woven into how we live in 2025.
And the scale of it is immense.
Today, it’s estimated that there are around 181 zettabytes of data globally. That’s equivalent to one trillion gigabytes or one billion terabytes. In just a few years, this figure is expected to soar to 394 zettabytes — a rapid expansion that highlights just how central data has become to everyday life.
We may not always see it, but at every digital touchpoint, data is shaping the world around us.
Data in logistics
The logistics industry has long recognised the value of data and has been quick to adopt technologies that help improve performance and efficiency. As new tools and systems have emerged, the sector has consistently found ways to use them to its advantage.
It started with the basics. Early telemetry services, such as GPS tracking, gave operators a clear view of their vehicles’ location on a map – a simple yet powerful tool. From there, the industry moved into deeper insights, analysing fuel consumption patterns and driving behaviours to improve overall fuel efficiency and road safety.
Since then, the capabilities have expanded significantly.
Today, vehicles can generate ten times more data than they did just ten years ago. Thanks to advances in both hardware and software, operators now have access to a wealth of information that can transform decision-making and drive smarter logistics operations.
But this volume of data doesn’t come without challenges. More data doesn’t always mean better outcomes or deeper insights. Businesses are beginning to recognise that without the right systems; high-quality and relevant data; and effective analysis, they can become overwhelmed rather than empowered.
The real opportunity lies not just in capturing data, but in turning it into meaningful, manageable and actionable insight. It can drive operational efficiency, informed decision-making and measurable business outcome.
The appliance of data science
It’s easy to assume that simply collecting data is enough to transform logistics and haulage operations. But in reality, raw data alone won’t deliver results. To drive real value, that data needs to be refined, analysed in context of strategic business objectives. This is where the real analytical challenge begins.
There’s a well-known saying in data science: garbage in, garbage out. And it’s more relevant than ever in an era where artificial intelligence tools – like ChatGPT – are increasingly part of the conversation where the quality of data directly determines the accuracy and effectiveness of the AI model’s output.
Anyone with deep subject matter expertise will quickly spot the flaws when these models are asked about highly specific topics. They may generate convincing answers based on flawed or outdated sources, and while experts can see through the inaccuracies, others may accept them at face value. When that misinformation is reused and reinforced, the cycle continues, leading to skewed conclusions and poor decisions.
The bottom line? Better data leads to better outcomes.
This principle becomes even more important in real-world applications, such as complying with the government’s updated requirement to inspect trailer braking systems at least four times a year instead of once. With accurate, well-managed data, operators can confidently predict when inspections should take place, helping to reduce downtime, avoid unnecessary checks and keep fleets moving efficiently.
Turn around, go back
Geofencing is another area where accurate data is critical to the success of logistics operations. When systems misreport how long a delivery takes after entering a geofence (delivery site), the ripple effects can disrupt far more than just one delivery.
Inaccuracies here can throw off turnaround times, leading to incorrect arrival and departure times, delayed subsequent jobs, inaccurate performance metrics and ultimately frustrated customers. What begins as a small data issue can quickly escalate, leading to missed expectations, strained relationships and inefficiencies across the board. Moreover, if this inaccurate turnaround time is fed into a machine learning model to improve future logistics planning, it can lead to a systematic degradation in the model’s reliability and usefulness, and consequently, in the effectiveness of the plan itself.
High-quality data helps avoid these pitfalls entirely. When the source information is precise, the systems built around it work as intended. And importantly, solving data issues upstream before they feed into larger workflows is far simpler than trying to fix the consequences later on.
In logistics, precision isn’t a luxury. It’s essential.
Open source informs much more
Modern technology plays a key role in identifying the behaviours that impact operational efficiency. Actions like harsh braking, rapid acceleration or excessive cornering speed all contribute to increased fuel consumption. And today’s systems don’t just monitor them, they help correct them. Moreover, onboard sensors and telematics devices track and monitor vehicle health in real time, flagging issues before they become costly problems. Whether it’s the driver, the transport manager or fleet manager, having this information early enables proactive maintenance rather than reactive fixes.
The story doesn’t stop at the vehicle.
Open-source and crowd-sourced data brings another layer of intelligence, offering a broader context that goes beyond what’s happening inside the cab. By combining internal data with external sources, hauliers can gain insight into accident-prone areas, localised weather patterns or planned road closures; all of which influence route planning and delivery performance.
This level of enrichment adds real value. Rather than simply receiving updates every mile or minute, operators benefit from a fuller picture of the journey, making location data smarter, not just more frequent.
Reporting for duty
Accurate data – whether it’s tracking punctuality, fuel consumption or driver performance – underpins a wide range of operational reports. These insights can be tailored to suit each customer’s needs, helping them streamline operations, drive efficiencies and stay competitive in a fast-moving industry.
As we move toward an expected 394 zettabytes of global data by 2028, the value of this information lies not just in volume, but in context and quality. Future data won’t simply indicate what happened, it will increasingly help explain why it happened, too.
Take driver behaviour as an example. Instead of just recording that a driver braked harshly, new systems will identify the circumstances behind the action. This shift means drivers will be recognised for making safe, responsive decisions rather than penalised by isolated statistics.
It’s a powerful step forward. But unlocking the full potential of this data-driven future depends on how well the information is used. Data must be processed, applied and interpreted thoughtfully.
When done right, it not only enhances internal operations, but it also delivers measurable value to customers as well.
Charles Crossland, Managing Director at Goodman UK, discusses the unique challenges the food supply chain is facing.
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The food supply chain operates under unique pressures. With short product life cycles and a complex journey from source to shelf, it must navigate strict regulatory demands, price volatility, and increasing consumer expectations – all while maintaining speed, freshness, and traceability.
In recent years, global disruptions have exposed vulnerabilities. From reduced access to imported goods to increased transport costs, the sector has had to rapidly adapt. In response, many businesses are turning to technology and data-driven strategies to build resilience and agility into their supply chain operations.
Building resilience in a volatile market
Stock shortages are no longer unusual, and customers are increasingly aware of the fragility of food supply systems. There’s now greater scrutiny on how food moves through the supply chain and growing pressure on businesses to deliver consistency and transparency.
Businesses are adopting new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), predictive analytics, and automation to improve supply chain visibility and performance. AI-powered forecasting tools, for example, can help businesses respond faster to demand fluctuations, minimising waste and reducing risk.
At the same time, many have moved away from “just-in-time” approaches for non-perishable goods and are reassessing their sourcing strategies. Dual sourcing, diversified supplier bases, and increased inventory holding are helping to minimise risk and prevent single points of failure.
Smart logistics and strategic warehousing
The transport and distribution stages of the supply chain are also evolving. Soaring fuel prices, labour shortages, and carbon targets are forcing businesses to review delivery routes and optimise their warehouse networks. Proximity to customers is now more important than ever.
By investing in strategically located distribution hubs — close to major infrastructure and consumer populations — businesses can reduce lead times, optimise last-mile logistics, and cut transport-related emissions.
All logistics operations, from warehousing to transport, are increasingly equipped with smart systems for real-time tracking, allowing for greater control over stock movement and condition. For temperature-sensitive goods in particular, the use of tracking sensors helps monitor freshness, reduce spoilage, and maintain product quality throughout transit.
Extending freshness through technology
Warehousing is undergoing a quiet revolution. Robotics and automated systems are now performing tasks such as picking, sorting, and packing with improved accuracy and speed. This is especially valuable in the food sector, where shelf life and freshness are key.
Technologies being deployed include:
Grading visibility systems which assess produce quality and reduce manual handling
Advanced freshness testing which pinpoints stages of ripeness with precision
Specialised climate control systems, including zoned heating and cooling, to maintain product quality
By reducing errors, extending shelf life, and improving product flow, these innovations contribute directly to reduced food waste.
Sustainability as a supply chain driver
Sustainability is no longer a nice to have — it’s becoming central to how supply chains are designed and operated. The environmental impact of food production and distribution is under growing scrutiny from regulators, retailers, and consumers alike.
Businesses are now expected to track and report on carbon outputs across their operations. Efficient route planning, electrified fleets, and eco-friendly packaging are just some of the areas seeing rapid investment.
Data is critical here too. By using detailed analytics, organisations can identify hotspots for energy use or waste and adjust operations accordingly. Many are now measuring not only emissions but also transport efficiency in a bid to reduce their environmental footprint.
Looking ahead: A tech-enabled, resilient future
Incorporating smart technologies into warehouse workflows and logistics strategies is already delivering benefits — from productivity gains to improved safety and fewer errors. But this is just the beginning.
As food supply chains grow more connected and responsive, businesses will need to continually adapt. The future will be shaped by those able to combine agility with long-term planning — embracing innovation, forming deeper supplier relationships, and keeping sustainability at the core.
Mario van den Broek, Partner, RSM Netherlands, dives into regulatory fragmentation and how it’s affecting shipping.
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The global shipping industry has reached a critical turning point.
The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) recently agreed emissions deal has been hailed as a milestone in maritime decarbonisation – signalling long-overdue progress in regulating one of the world’s most polluting industries. But this breakthrough has been overshadowed by a stark omission: the United States’ decision to walk away from negotiations.
The US’s withdrawal raises serious questions about the enforceability and cohesion of the agreement. The IMO’s regulatory model relies on flag states to enforce compliance. If more nations opt out or water down their commitments, enforcement becomes inconsistent, and a two-tier shipping system could emerge: one made up of operators bearing the cost of compliance, and another of those operating under weaker or unenforced regimes.
More worryingly, it risks triggering a wider trend of regulatory fragmentation – with significant consequences for manufacturers, logistics providers and supply chains around the world.
Why is this a setback for companies?
For global businesses, consistency and predictability in regulation are critical. Fragmentation in maritime decarbonisation policy disrupts both. Without a unified global standard, companies must navigate a patchwork of national or regional rules – each with different timelines, thresholds and enforcement regimes. This not only creates legal and operational uncertainty but also increases the cost and complexity of compliance.
Companies that rely on international shipping, especially manufacturers, exporters and retailers, may be forced to choose between higher-cost compliant carriers or risk reputational and regulatory exposure by engaging non-compliant operators. Those costs will not be evenly distributed.
Firms operating across multiple markets may find themselves juggling multiple emissions reporting systems, carbon pricing mechanisms and verification requirements. For small and mid-sized businesses in particular, these added burdens could squeeze margins and dampen competitiveness.
There are also strategic risks. A lack of coherence in shipping policy makes long-term supply chain planning more difficult. For example, businesses that have invested heavily in decarbonisation may now hesitate to go further if they perceive competitors, especially in markets with looser regulation, are gaining an unfair advantage. This could stall progress not just in shipping, but across adjacent sectors that depend on it, from automotive to consumer goods.
The US’s decision to walk away from the IMO negotiations weakens the political legitimacy of the agreement and signals to others that opting out is a viable path. In doing so, it undermines the collective action needed to decarbonise global trade routes. The result is a business environment marked by growing divergence – where resilience is replaced by reactivity and climate ambition is undercut by regulatory uncertainty.
How can companies turn this into a strategic advantage?
While the policy landscape remains uncertain, companies can still take practical steps to prepare for change. Carbon pricing is beginning to influence shipping costs in some markets, and businesses that assess the potential impact early may be better placed to respond. This includes reviewing freight strategies, factoring potential carbon levies into budgeting and setting clearer sustainability expectations for suppliers.
Some organisations are already exploring options to reduce emissions within their supply chains, such as selecting carriers that use alternative fuels like LNG, biofuels or methanol. Manufacturers are responding too, choosing greener carriers, shortening transport routes and investing in digital tools to track and report emissions.
Moreover, embedding sustainability into core decision-making – rather than treating it as a separate or reactive issue – will help companies manage regulatory risk, meet stakeholder expectations, and identify areas for operational improvement. This not only helps them build more resilient supply chains but also aligns with rising customer expectations and investor pressure for greater environmental accountability.
Businesses must not only adapt to regulation but engage constructively in the development of future standards. By contributing insights and maintaining dialogue with industry groups and policymakers, businesses can play a role in shaping a more coordinated, transparent framework for decarbonising global shipping.
Looking ahead
The carbon divide is set to disrupt global trade. As nations diverge in their approach to maritime decarbonisation, companies will increasingly find themselves navigating a fragmented landscape that distorts competition and complicates compliance. But fragmentation doesn’t have to mean paralysis.
By preparing now, engaging constructively, and embedding sustainability into supply chain strategy, businesses can not only mitigate risk but also help shape more stable and predictable conditions for global trade.
Without trust, AI cannot deliver on its full potential, leaving manufacturers hesitant to go beyond pilot projects, says Darren Falconer.
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It’s no secret that trust is the foundation for successful AI adoption. By addressing scepticism, prioritising data quality, and ensuring algorithms are explainable and auditable, AI can become a powerful force-multiplier in manufacturing operations.
Manufacturers are increasingly looking to AI to boost efficiency, streamline operations and automate routine tasks. 75% are planning to step up their AI spending in 2025. However, much of this attention is focused on Generative AI – something that we believe is poorly suited to factory settings.
Part of this misalignment stems from a lack of understanding of AI’s practical applications in industry. With only 7% of manufacturing leaders feeling “very knowledgeable” about AI applications, scepticism and trust issues loom large.
Feedback from vendors and end-users consistently points to trust as a leading barrier to adoption. Without trust, AI cannot deliver on its full potential. This leaves many manufacturers hesitant to go beyond pilot projects, XpertRule’s Technical Director, Darren Falconer explores this further.
Overcoming the AI ‘fear factor’
The portrayal of AI in the media has long been dominated by dystopian headlines and Hollywood blockbusters, with fears of mass unemployment and doomsday narratives. For manufacturers, this continuous, subliminal bombardment creates a trust deficit before any AI project even begins.
Business leaders are having to overcome not only technical hurdles but also the deep-seated scepticism that AI solutions are uncontrollable or inherently risky. To counter this, companies must approach AI with transparency and explainability at every stage, showing that AI is a tool to amplify human capability not replace it.
For a simple comparison, think about cruise control in a car. [within cars today,] Traditional cruise control maintains a set speed but that’s all. Compare that to adaptive cruise control, which considers real-time conditions, adapts to your driving preferences and responds intelligently. Similarly, AI in manufacturing must adapt to the unique needs and complexities of each operation.
For those implementing these systems, understanding the ‘mechanics’ – how algorithms interact with data inputs and external influences – is a vital part of building trust. Explainable AI bridges the gap between automation and operator oversight, providing a clear view of how the system reacts and adapts. This clarity increases confidence among users, fostering trust in AI’s outputs.
But of course, building trust also requires a mindset shift – from a data-centric focus to a decision-centric approach.
Trust starts with decisions, not data
A common misstep in AI adoption is starting with the data instead of focusing on the desired outcomes. Many manufacturers think, We have all this data – what can we do with it? However, this approach often leads to complex systems that lack focus, transparency, fail to deliver meaningful outcomes and reinforce doubt over AI’s value.
A decision-centric approach begins by asking, What do we want to achieve, and what decisions need to be made to deliver those outcomes? Only then should businesses ask, What data supports those decisions and what are the models linking these decisions to this data?
From there, manufacturers must focus on ensuring data quality – calibrating sensors, cleaning data streams, validating inputs and standardising formats. Remember, the vast majority of AI success lies in data preparation and only a small percentage in the modelling itself.
Imagine a manufacturer aiming to improve quality control. They might gather extensive data from every step of the production process to find possible defects, leading to an overwhelming volume of disjointed data with no clear path to action.
Using a decision-centric approach, they would:
Define the goal: Improve product quality and aim to reduce defects by 10% over the next quarter.
Identify key decisions: What factors directly impact product quality? What parameters should trigger quality checks? How can inspection processes be optimised to catch defects earlier? What actions should be taken when deviations are detected?
Use AI to model the outcomes: Build AI models that analyse historical production data , to discover explainable patterns relating outcomes to metrics like machine settings, material consistency or environmental conditions. The system can then use these models in real time to flag anomalies that indicate potential defects and recommend adjustments to maintain product quality.
This clarity in purpose makes AI implementations transparent, explainable and, ultimately, more trustworthy. It also provides a clear framework for measuring success, helping to build greater confidence from engineers, users and management alike.
Decision intelligence – the missing link
A key factor in building trust is recognising that AI doesn’t replace human insights and experience – quite the opposite. Human operators and engineers bring a level of expertise, contextual knowledge and intuition that machines cannot replicate. Having a ‘human in the loop’ is therefore critical to an AI system’s effectiveness.
Decision Intelligence connects Explainable AI principles with operational trustworthiness by embedding human oversight at its core. For example, experienced technicians possess knowledge built up over years of practice. While they can’t be everywhere at once, their expertise can be integrated into AI systems to automate routine decisions while reserving complex or ambiguous scenarios for human intervention.
This balance between human and machine intelligence ensures AI systems remain transparent, reliable and dynamic. It also enables manufacturers to scale the knowledge of their experts, reducing variability across shifts and locations while maintaining trust and accountability.
From pilots to trusted partner
For AI adoption to move from pilot projects to the heart of manufacturing operations, trust must come first. A decision-centric approach offers a practical pathway to achieve this, ensuring AI systems are transparent, aligned with business goals and designed to augment human expertise.
When manufacturers trust their AI systems, they can harness the technology’s full potential, creating new opportunities for efficiency, resilience and competitive advantage. Decision Intelligence becomes the connector between Explainable AI and operational trust, moving AI from being perceived as a risk to becoming a trusted partner.
A survey reveals that specific delivery slots and real-time tracking are now consumer expectations, with many willing to pay for predictability.
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A shift is underway in e-commerce delivery expectations with new research confirming a clear trend: consumers no longer tolerate uncertainty. Four-in-ten (40%) consumers now demand non-food home deliveries to arrive within a specific time slot. This is typically a two to three-hour window. This expectation climbs higher in key markets, reaching 44% in the UK and 43% in the US. The findings signal a clear power shift towards consumers seeking unprecedented control and transparency in their online shopping experience, forcing retailers and parcel carriers to adapt or risk falling behind.
The research, commissioned by Avery Dennison, a global materials science and digital identification solutions company, surveyed 5,000 consumers across the US, UK, France, and Germany. Findings from the survey — one of the largest of its kind — underscore a growing demand not only for on-time deliveries, but also for precise control over when, and how, parcels arrive.
A shift toward greater control
Although consumers today are more sensitive to cost than ever, six-in-ten (61%) shoppers are willing to pay a premium for more detailed insight into order tracking.
When asked what would justify payment for a premium delivery service (and invited to select ‘all that apply’), 47% stated faster delivery, making this the top overall choice, followed by 31% who said ‘accurate estimated delivery times.’
The survey also reveals that tracking expectations vary depending on the type of purchase. For example, 60% of respondents say parcel tracking is ‘very important’ when ordering electronics, 43% for fashion, and 38% for health and beauty.
Personal convenience is at stake. When asked to select up to three main benefits, the top reasons respondents gave for wanting enhanced tracking are:
Flexibility to leave the house without missing deliveries (54%)
Peace of mind knowing where the parcel is (54%)
Ensuring timely arrivals for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries (44%)
To meet these exacting consumer demands, retailers and their logistics partners must act now or be left behind. Technology can assist in the drive to provide enhanced real-time visibility in the parcel delivery process.
Opportunity for elevated consumer satisfaction
For international e-commerce, real-time tracking has become even more critical as recent tariff changes disrupt cross-border shipping, causing extended delays and price increases.
Yet at the same time, cost remains a factor. According to McKinsey, 90% of consumers are willing to wait an extra two to three days if it means avoiding high shipping fees, highlighting a growing preference for flexible delivery options that balance speed with affordability.
“The message from consumers is loud and clear: they expect precision and control over their deliveries,” says Julie Vargas, Vice President and General Manager of Identification Solutions at Avery Dennison. “Customers may tolerate delays — but only if they’re kept in the loop. Real-time visibility shouldn’t be considered a luxury anymore; it’s the price of staying competitive. Retailers and carriers who embrace transparency will not only ease frustrations around shipping delays and rising costs, they’ll earn lasting customer trust in a tough logistics climate.”
Vargas adds: “There is a natural eagerness from retailers and carriers to cut down on expensive WISMO (where is my order) inquiries and manage costs more effectively. They recognise the benefits of providing self-service parcel tracking apps and tools powered by GPS and RFID technology, which ultimately help keep shipping rates affordable. Offering real-time updates on a package’s whereabouts is now a key foundation of this trust.”
Winning the parcel shipping game
Avery Dennison’s research also reveals that consumers find current tracking systems unreliable and insufficient. The most-cited frustrations are inaccurate notifications, inability to change delivery time or location, and premature ‘delivered’ status updates. Deploying intelligent labels at package-level helps vendors and distributors overcome these shortfalls in service.
Vargas concludes: “As the research highlights, to remain competitive in today’s e-commerce landscape, retailers and carriers must prioritise transparency and innovation in their delivery process. With almost two-thirds of shoppers willing to pay more for tracking and notifications, leveraging advanced technologies and offering real-time visibility is crucial. The pressure is very much on to address consumer needs, and turn frustrations into trust.”
Maria Torrent March, Managing Director, Warehousing & Logistics, Europe at Iron Mountain, digs into the F&B supply chain landscape.
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What are the characteristics and pain points specific to the food and beverage logistics and warehousing sector that set it aside from other sectors? Does it demand more speed? Environmental control?
The food and beverages (F&B) sector is large, dynamic, and continuously growing due to high consumer demand for everyday products. The warehousing and logistics (W&L) sector must remain flexible and scalable. This is in order to meet deliverables and ensure products are dispatched on time, especially when dealing with perishable items.
The F&B sector requires greater environmental control to maintain quality and safety. This can be achieved by partnering with W&L providers who are accredited with the British Retail Consortium (BRC). BRC accredited providers are required to meet strict protocols and are certified to hold food and consumer goods. Additionally, BRC warehouses offer several benefits, such as protected company reputation, implementation of industry best practices, and reduction in risks and potential liabilities. These are critical when handling sensitive items when it comes to food storage.
How is the process of managing logistics and warehousing in the F&B sector changing? What are the forces driving that change?
The management of logistics and warehousing in the F&B sector is undergoing significant transformation. This is driven by evolving consumer demands, regulatory pressures, and technological advancements. Consumers now prioritise products that are delivered quickly and sustainably. It’s pushing companies to adopt faster distribution networks, and eco-friendly practices like solar power, EV charging stations, and rainwater harvesting.
Technological innovation is also a key factor impacting the evolution of warehousing and logistics in the F&B sector. Automation and AI are optimising warehousing operations, reducing labour costs and errors while improving efficiency in handling perishable goods. The F&B sector is looking to improve efficiency and reduce transportation costs by leveraging strategic locations like the golden logistics triangle. This is a key hub for W&L because of its high number of distribution facilities and proximity to transportation networks such as rail and air. While the railway supply chain is relatively new, it can be ideal for F&B, where goods are heavy and where there are weight limitations in trucks or shipping.
Many high-street retailers stock multiple brands that each have individual supply chains. As a result, they are exploring how they can implement streamlined supply chain strategies across their businesses. They want to partner with 3PLs who can provide consultancy for managing these complex networks of supply chains, and not just a standard solution.
How do you make warehouse spaces more flexible and scalable to provide the necessary adaptability to manage fluctuating demand and seasonal peaks?
The F&B sector often faces challenges with space allocation to meet unpredictable demands. Robotics can be used to perform wall-to-wall scans of warehouses, creating a digital twin. This enables quick decision making and improves warehouse control and reliability in response to changing seasonal peaks.
Furthermore, with the use of AI, organisations can predict increases in demand due to holidays, sales, and seasonal trends. Iron Mountain has employed the use of AI across its warehouses. That allows us to predict stock locations and replenishment and improve productivity from the high-quality data received from Dexory. Dexory is a UK-based company that specialises in AI driven warehouse automation. This not only allows warehouses to make fast, real-time decisions on pricing and inventory levels but also helps to predict future demand spikes with greater accuracy.
Where do technologies like automation, digital twins, IoT, etc. fit into this picture?
AI and automation play a crucial role in inventory management. Iron Mountain considered adopting a more traditional setup with stock controllers but was concerned about potential labour shortages In 2024, it was reported that 37% of European warehousing organisations, including those in the UK, were experiencing significant labour shortages. 76% noted a noticeable shortfall. These shortages have impacted the logistics sector, making a notable difference to warehouse and logistical efficiency.
As a result, Iron Mountain partnered with Dexory to deploy an autonomous robot that provides live data insights by scanning the warehouse daily. This technology delivers full visibility of inventory, which is highly valuable for the F&B sector, where understanding how to quickly move stock based on demand is essential. Additionally, AutoStore is used to provide an automated storage and retrieval system, enabling rapid responses to customer requests. Utilising this technology makes warehouse and logistics operations more efficient, faster, and reliable.
We’re in an age where disruption is starting to feel like the norm rather than the exception. How can warehousing and logistics help supply chains be more reactive, agile, and resilient?
Disruption is common in the W&L sector, so organisations must be both flexible and reliable when it comes to supply disruptions, which can take many forms, including geopolitical conflicts, climate events, or sudden demand spikes.
Many organisations have had to think about these challenges over the last few years, starting with the pandemic. Sudden world events can force F&B companies to reorganise their supply chains. It’s important to consider these issues from their perspective. For instance, they may be seeking different suppliers in different markets. Ultimately, it’s about offering flexible solutions and tailoring them to the sector you are working with.
Over time, warehouses have adapted to become more dynamic, technology-driven, and strategically integrated into the broader supply chain. The W&L sector is always looking for scalable solutions that can be implemented when issues or disruptions arise, making it easier for supply chains to adapt and evolve in the face of challenges while maintaining operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Evan Shelley, Co-Founder and CEO of Truck Parking Club, digs into the issues caused by the truck parking problem.
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When people talk about the most pressing issues in the US supply chain, they mostly focus on port congestion, labour shortages, or last-mile delivery challenges. Rarely do they mention truck parking. But as someone who works at the intersection of transportation and real estate, I can tell you that without a doubt: the lack of safe, accessible truck parking is one of the most overlooked threats to supply chain efficiency today.
At Truck Parking Club, we’ve spoken with tens of thousands of truckers and have seen the mounting frustration they experience trying to find legal, reliable parking near their routes.
In fact, on average, truck drivers lose nearly an hour each day searching for a spot to park. That may not sound like a huge issue – until you multiply it by hundreds of thousands of drivers, every day, across the country.
The result: an estimated $7,000 in annual lost income per driver. These delays impact everything from delivery timelines to detention costs and warehouse coordination. In short: they affect the supply chain.
A crisis hidden in plain sight
For every 11 trucks on the road, there’s only one available parking space. This imbalance leads to a ripple effect: drivers park in unsafe or unauthorized areas, are forced to shut down early to secure a spot, or violate hours-of-service rules trying to find parking closer to their destinations. In turn, this leads to supply chain slowdowns, missed delivery windows, and added costs for manufacturers and logistics providers alike.
The truth is, truck parking isn’t just a driver inconvenience – it’s a logistics bottleneck that affects everything downstream. For manufacturers dependent on ‘on-time delivery’, even a small parking-related delay can throw off timelines and impact inventory flow.
Why it matters to supply chain leaders
Manufacturers and supply chain executives might not think about truck parking when evaluating risk and resilience, but they should.
Every inefficiency in freight movement adds cost, and right now, we’re paying the price for decades of underinvestment in infrastructure that supports the flow of goods.
And – you probably guessed it, because it’s obvious: the challenge isn’t going away. With new construction of truck parking spaces costing $100,000–$200,000 per spot and often taking years to develop, there’s no fast fix on the horizon. This means the burden of solving this issue is increasingly falling on the private sector and logistics decision-makers themselves.
What can be done
Innovative solutions are emerging. For example, at Truck Parking Club, we’re addressing the issue by helping landowners and businesses monetize underutilized real estate as truck parking, turning extra space at trucking companies, tow truck companies, truck repair shops, self storage facilities , and other properties into bookable parking spaces that truckers can reserve instantly. This model rapidly increases parking availability without the multi-year construction timelines.
For carriers, logistics companies, and fleet operators, partnering with solutions like ours can yield measurable benefits: more efficient hours driven, reliable scheduling, improved driver retention, and safer working conditions for the drivers you depend on.
A call to action for industry decision-makers
As the supply chain continues to evolve in the wake of e-commerce growth and shifting demand patterns, we can’t afford to ignore foundational infrastructure gaps like truck parking. Leaders in transportation and logistics need to include parking in their budgeting, risk assessments and strategic planning.
That might mean advocating for policy changes, or exploring alternative parking solutions like Truck Parking Club to complement existing facilities. But at a minimum, it means recognizing that your delivery network doesn’t just rely on trucks – it relies on a place for those trucks to stop, rest, and refuel along the way.
Truck parking is no longer a fringe issue. It’s a strategic vulnerability that deserves a seat at the supply chain strategy table. And the sooner we treat it as such, the better equipped we’ll be to build a supply chain that’s not only faster, but stronger, safer, and more reliable for everyone involved.
Eelco van der Zande, Managing Director of ReBound Returns, helps navigate the issues caused by tariffs.
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Rapid changes in global trade policy are creating serious challenges for businesses operating across borders. With tariffs soaring one day and easing the next, retailers are being forced to rethink how they handle international returns in real time.
Fluctuating import duties imposed by the US have at times exceeded 145%, and retaliatory measures from key trade partners have thrown global supply chains off balance. Even with the most recent truce reducing US tariffs on China to 30%, there’s no guarantee these figures will hold. As of June, 2025, US trade policy remains fluid, with ongoing negotiations reshaping tariff structures across multiple regions, including Europe and Asia. President Trump has noted that some levies have been suspended- not cancelled – and may rise again within months.
Adding to the uncertainty, twelve US states have filed a lawsuit in the Court of International Trade, seeking to halt to the “Liberation Day” tariffs. A US appeals court has allowed the tariffs to remain in effect while it reviews their legality.
The new risks of cross-border returns
Amongst the ambiguity, international returns are now under intense scrutiny. With each item crossing a border potentially attracting new tariffs, returning products for restocking has become costly. When an item crosses a border twice- first for sale, then for return- and possibly a third time for resale, retailers face multiple layers of duties and fees. A t-shirt sold internationally could now incur fees exceeding its original retail value. This makes it more important than ever to evaluate every return for cost-efficiency and logistical feasibility.
Volatility also makes forward planning difficult. Retailers can’t afford to be reactive; returns systems must be agile, localised, and data-driven to navigate the shifting conditions. Strategic returns management is key to future-proofing reverse logistics against unpredictable tariffs.
Localising and consolidating returns to minimise costs
One of the most effective ways to reduce tariffs exposure is to localise returns processing. Keeping returns in the country where they were purchased allows retailers to avoid costly re-importation. Processing and storing products at local returns centres and re-fulfilling them to new customers in the same region can save on shipping and duties. Repurposing items through alternative channels can also reduce costs.
Consolidating returns into fewer, larger shipments rather than handling them individually can significantly cut logistics expenses. Using regional return hubs to group items before further processing or redistribution reduces transportation spend and carbon footprint. This local-first approach not only limits fuel consumption and emissions, but also supports a circular economy by keeping goods in-region. As ESG expectations rise, aligning reverse logistics with sustainability goals becomes a competitive differentiator. This optimised, local approach enhances efficiency and makes cross-border returns more sustainable and financially viable at scale.
Faster returns to reduce inventory lag
With tariffs driving up inventory costs, time has become a critical cost factor in returns management. Every day a returned item sits idle or in transit is a day of lost revenue and tied-up capital. Slow processing delays resale and undermines profitability in an already margin-sensitive environment.
Retailers must accelerate returns processing to reduce inventory lag. That means quickly assessing, sorting, and restocking products. Fast triaging, localised warehousing and agile reverse logistics can shave days or even weeks off the cycle, improving inventory turnover and unlocking working capital. In practice, faster processing can significantly increase recovered revenue from returned goods.
Smarter and fewer returns through better data
As tariffs raise the cost of goods, each return, especially the avoidable ones, become more expensive. Retailers that harness return data across their operations can turn unpredictability into strategic insight. This requires integrating data from multiple sources into a unified view, enabling more accurate demand forecasting, better inventory planning, and identification of products that are driving unnecessary returns.
Leading retailers are also using AI-powered platforms to anticipate which items are most likely to be returned and to automatically route them to the most efficient return locations. These systems integrate seamlessly with order and warehouse management tools, reducing cycle time and cost.
Data insights can also reveal deeper patterns, such as size discrepancies, product quality issues, or customer behaviour trends, that are contributing to high return rates. Addressing these issues through refined product descriptions, size guidance, and customer education expectations better can lead to measurable reductions in returns.
Even modest drops in return rates can yield significant savings when margins are tight. Smarter use of data enables faster, more informed decisions, and stronger profitability.
Seamless returns to build customer loyalty
The increasing complexity of cross-border returns hasn’t slowed rising customer expectations. Shoppers are less forgiving of a clunky or slow returns process, especially when tariffs mean they have paid more or waited longer for their purchase. A seamless experience with fast, easy, and transparent return options is crucial.
Retailers that offer convenient local drop-off points, clear communication, and flexible refund or exchange options are far more likely to retain customers and drive repeat purchases. Quick refunds help preserve brand loyalty, even amid pricing pressures and economic uncertainty.
Retailers that prioritise returns optimisation have seen measurable improvements in customer retention and the frequency of repeat purchases. A great returns experience doesn’t just mitigate risk, it builds trust, strengthens brand reputation, and turns a potential point of friction into a loyalty driver.
Adapting returns strategies for a shifting tariff landscape
When tariffs can rise or fall overnight, international returns must be treated as a strategic function, not just a back-end process. They directly impact margins, sustainability, and customer loyalty.
Retailers that embrace smarter returns management with localised, streamlined processing, better data insight, and seamless customer experiences will be best positioned to weather ongoing volatility. To get ahead, retailers should consider conducting a full audit of their current returns operations, identifying gaps in localisation, speed, and tech adoption. Investing in smart logistics infrastructure today can unlock major savings and build long-term resilience.
Jorge Aguilar and Andy Prinz, supply chain experts at PA Consulting, discuss shapers vs. stallers.
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Volatility isn’t a shock to the system anymore – it is the system. Supply chains are absorbing more disruption than at any point in modern history, yet still expected to deliver flawlessly. Logistics lanes are being re-routed by international conflicts, cyber incidents, climate shocks, and policy shifts. The US tariffs and UK retail cyber-attacks are just some of the latest stand-out examples.
WTW’s recent Global Supply Chain Risk Survey reports that fewer than 8% of leaders believe they have complete control over their supply chain risks, and nearly two thirds continue to experience higher-than-expected supply chain losses. But against this backdrop, customers expect greater performance – instant service, total transparency, and zero excuses.
In this respect, dependable delivery isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s not even a differentiator. It’s the baseline for trust and growth. And in a world where so much is outside of businesses’ control, building systems that can still deliver when nothing else is stable is the new definition of good leadership.
Shapers vs. stallers
PA Consulting’s 2025 Brand Impact Index supports this. It found that the most successful brands – those with stronger growth, loyalty, and pricing power – are actively building the muscle to deliver dependably in the face of new shocks.
The study of 7,000 consumers and 360 major brands revealed these brands are ‘shapers’. Rather than just investing in front-end experiences, they’re transforming their operational back-end systems, re-engineering networks, and re-thinking supply chain models. These brands prioritise dependable delivery as the top investment area for growth in volatile markets.
At the other end of spectrum are ‘stallers’: brands stuck in reactive cycles, making quick fixes, and clinging to old supply chain assumptions. Notably, stallers are 1.6x less likely to plan for disruption and minimise the impact on customers.
Ask the right questions
So, how do businesses know where they fall? There are a few key questions companies should ask, starting with: is your planning designed to adapt or just explain what already went wrong? Sales and operations planning (S&OP) that can’t respond in real-time is a delay, rather than a decision-making tool.
More broadly, are you solving for yesterday’s world? If your network is still built on historic cost curves and old demand centres, what risks are you carrying forward without realising it? Do your suppliers extend your resilience or expose your gaps? And finally, is your automation unlocking flexibility, or scaling the wrong process? Technology is only useful if it makes you faster, smarter, or more stable.
These questions aren’t just philosophical; they’re what separate the leaders from the laggards in today’s market. The good news is that those falling behind don’t need to blindly guess the way forward. Rather, shapers are following a proven playbook, leveraging five clear levers to hardwire resilience, agility, and reliability into their supply chains.
Network design
First, it’s important to engineer multi-location networks that balance cost, service, and risk. The focus needs to be on proximity to demand, redundancy in key nodes, and the flexibility to shift under pressure.
BMW illustrates this well. During COVID-19, BMW redesigned its production footprint to manufacture closer to customers, reducing its exposure and increasing control at a time of global disruption. Its strategy focused on lowering risk in the upstream supply chain while increasing manufacturing in the countries where it sells cars.
In 2022, Oliver Zipse, BMW’s Chairman, shared that the company was producing over 430,000 cars in the US, 60% of which stayed in the market, alongside retaining a footprint in Central Europe and building up its presence in China. He claimed that this proximity to key markets, as well as flexibly increasing or decreasing production according to customer needs, was key to the company’s production success. This approach highlights that it isn’t about a perfect footprint, but rather having one that adapts when the map changes.
Dynamic planning
The monthly S&OP cycle can’t keep up, with Gartner research indicating that it is becoming ‘obsolete.’ Instead, shapers are treating planning as a continuous discipline, integrating signals, data, and cross-functional coordination to respond in real time. This isn’t about perfect predictions. It’s about responsive, multi-layered planning that sees around corners.
For example, Unilever has advanced its planning capabilities through an ‘always-on’ AI-powered forecasting model. It integrates market intelligence, sustainability constraints, forecast and actual sales data between Unilever and the customer to improve forecasting accuracy. Notably, the initial pilot with Walmart in Mexico increased product availability at point of sale to 98%. This approach has ultimately enabled Unilever to dynamically reallocate supply, adjust demand forecasts, and make financial and environmental trade-offs with speed and precision.
Design-to-value
‘Shapers’ are also surgical with cost, investing where it creates value and cutting where it doesn’t. This may sound simple, but in practice, it means design-to-value models aligned with what customers actually care about.
Just look at Hershey, which unlocked $35 million in hidden capacity using automation. This breakthrough came from applying advanced analytics and AI to its KitKat production network, which consists of six lines. Hershey discovered that simple changes in production scheduling and product mix could dramatically increase throughput, without much investment.
This kind of design-to-value mindset requires deep operational data, cross-functional visibility, and the discipline to say no to unnecessary complexity.
Supplier collaboration
Beyond this, traditional procurement models are increasingly shown to break under stress. Shapers build supplier ecosystems that share risk, diversify sourcing, and enable upstream visibility.
Procter & Gamble is a good example, as it has focused on supply chain transparency and agility by creating a digital control tower across its vast network of suppliers and partners. This connected infrastructure enables real-time monitoring, rapid risk response, and collaborative problem-solving when disruptions hit. It’s not just about oversight – it’s about coordinated resilience being built into the ecosystem. This stands the business in good stead to assess and respond to new shocks, such as the impact of the US tariffs.
Digital technology and automation
Finally, digitisation must do more than display data. It needs to enable control, speed, and adaptation.
Zillow is a case in point, having built an ecosystem that weaves AI and automation into every step of a consumer’s housing journey. It brings together a huge range of products and services under one umbrella through its ‘super app’, which enables renters, buyers, sellers, and real estate professionals to search, tour, finance, negotiate, and close on their housing journeys.
While not a traditional supply chain, it shows how tech-enabled orchestration can help bring consistency, speed, and reliability out of complexity. For operations leaders, the lesson is that automation matters when it makes the system stronger – not just faster.
Adapt to disruption
Disruption isn’t slowing down. But too many supply chains are still built for a world that no longer exists – optimised for predictability, driven by cost, and dependent on fragile assumptions. For supply chain leaders, the takeaway is simple: in a high-risk environment, the most strategic move isn’t to stabilise, it’s to reshape guided by a clear playbook.
Dependable delivery isn’t just about the physical movement of goods, but rather building in network flexibility, digital visibility, supplier transparency, dynamic planning, and resilience at every layer of the operation. More than ever, delivering reliably – under pressure, across borders – is what keeps businesses trusted and in motion.
Sylvain Rottier, General Manager at Tennant Company, explores how supply chain professionals are shoring up against labour shortages.
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Europe is facing an ongoing workforce crisis that demands major solutions, meaning business leaders can’t really afford to wait. The numbers are disconcerting: labour shortages across the European Union have grown from 1.7% in 2014 to 2.6% in the first quarter of 2024—a 53% increase that shows no signs of slowing.
Indeed, Europe’s demographic crisis seems to be accelerating, with projections indicating the continent will lose 95 million working-age people by 2050 compared to 2015 levels. For supply chain executives, this threatens operational continuity and competitive positioning.
The impact may vary dramatically across sectors, but few industries will feel the pressure more acutely than essential services like cleaning and facilities management. Annual turnover rates in janitorial services have reached 200-400%, creating a revolving door that diminishes institutional knowledge and operational effectiveness.
The impact beyond empty positions
Twenty-five percent of EU businesses now report production problems directly attributable to labour shortages, transforming what was once a staffing inconvenience into an operational constraint.
The financial implications are potentially severe. Companies experiencing 200% annual turnovers —unfortunately common in labour-intensive sectors—spend six-figure sums annually just on replacement hiring. This figure encompasses recruitment costs, training expenses, and the hidden price of reduced productivity during onboarding periods. However, these costs represent a small part of the problem.
Quality degradation becomes inevitable when organisations rely heavily on inexperienced workers. Higher error rates, missed cleaning protocols, equipment damage, and inconsistent service delivery damage customer satisfaction and brand reputation. In supply chain environments where precision and reliability are paramount, these quality issues can trigger costly disruptions throughout the entire network.
Perhaps most concerning is the competitive disadvantage that emerges when labour shortages force companies to reject new business opportunities. Constrained order books and inflated production costs create a vicious cycle where struggling organisations become less attractive employers, further exacerbating their staffing challenges.
From automation to intelligence
Traditional automation offered limited relief because it required extensive programming for specific tasks and was often an awkward-at-best fit for changing conditions. Today’s AI-enabled robotic systems represent a huge leap forward, delivering true operational intelligence that can learn and adapt, and also optimise performance in real-time.
Modern robotic platforms (such as BrainOS, which power Tennant AMR Machines) leverage machine learning algorithms to improve their performance based on environmental feedback and operational data. Unlike their predecessors, these systems can navigate complex, dynamic environments while avoiding obstacles, adjusting cleaning patterns based on usage data, and even predicting maintenance needs before equipment failures occur.
Integration capabilities have also come a long way. Contemporary AI-powered robots connect with existing warehouse management systems, inventory tracking platforms, and facility management software. This connectivity enables centralised monitoring, performance optimisation, and data-driven decision-making that extends far beyond the robots’ immediate task purpose.
The technology’s greatest advantage lies in its ability to maintain consistent performance standards. While human workers may struggle with fatigue, illness, or high turnover, AI-enabled robots deliver consistent results that enable accurate capacity planning and service level guarantees.
Implementation strategy
Successful AI-robotics deployment requires a shift in thinking from replacement to augmentation. The most effective implementations complement human capabilities rather than eliminate human roles entirely. This approach not only addresses practical concerns about workforce displacement but also maximises return on investment by leveraging the unique strengths of both human intelligence and artificial intelligence.
Smart organisations begin with pilot programmes that target specific, well-defined tasks within controlled environments. This approach allows teams to understand integration challenges, optimise workflows, and build internal expertise before scaling to full deployment. Critical success factors include ensuring compatibility with existing systems, establishing clear performance metrics, and maintaining open communication with affected workers throughout the transition.
The skills landscape is evolving rapidly, creating new job categories in real time. Rather than eliminating careers, thoughtful implementation transforms traditional roles into technology-empowered positions that offer greater career advancement potential and higher compensation. For sectors like cleaning services, which have long struggled with “dead-end job” perceptions, this transformation can meet turnover rates with higher-calibre talent.
Training programmes should prepare workers for collaborative environments where human judgment combines with robotic precision. These hybrid roles often prove more engaging and rewarding than traditional positions, creating career pathways that retain institutional knowledge while embracing technological advancement.
Building tomorrow’s competitive advantage
The demographic trends driving current labour shortages will intensify over the coming decades. Organisations that delay AI-robotics adoption risk falling behind competitors who embrace these technologies early and develop operational expertise while the market is still developing.
However, successful transformation requires more than technology acquisition. Companies must strike a balance between technological capabilities and the human touches that drive innovation, customer relationships, and adaptive problem-solving. The goal isn’t to create fully automated facilities but to build resilient, flexible operations that can weather demographic headwinds.
Leadership teams must think beyond immediate cost savings to consider long-term strategic positioning. AI-enabled robotics offers the foundation for sustained growth in an environment where traditional staffing models look increasingly untenable. Early adopters will develop competitive advantages that compound over time, while late movers may find themselves perpetually disadvantaged in both talent acquisition and operational efficiency.
The question isn’t whether AI-enabled robots will reshape supply chain operations—that transformation is already underway. The critical decision facing business leaders is whether they’ll proactively shape this evolution or reactively respond to competitive pressures once their options become more limited and expensive.
Europe’s demographic winter demands timely action. For forward-thinking supply chain executives, AI-enabled robotics represents not just a solution to current staffing challenges, but a strategic foundation for long-term competitive success in a potentially shaky marketplace.
When putting together a bid strategy or business proposal, it’s crucial to showcase value that extends beyond simply offering the lowest price.
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Winning new business proposals is no easy feat. And writing them is unfortunately no easier. For new or small businesses, the process of bidding for contracts can be overwhelming, and leave you feeling unsure on what you truly bring to the table, especially in the face of stiff competition.
If you’re left wondering what you can really offer a potential customer, the obvious choice might be to undercut on price. After all, better ROI and a lower price tag should tip the scales in your favour, right? But relying on a low price point not only risks damaging your credibility, but it also overlooks one key opportunity; showcasing your strengths, and positioning your business as the better choice.
The key ingredient to successfully winning new business is to accentuate your value. The experts at BWS demonstrate how to go beyond cost and demonstrate why your business is the right choice.
Why price alone doesn’t define value
Whether drafting contracts or mapping out business proposals, focusing on lower prices can hinder success, even if the tender is evaluated on Quality vs. Cost. While of course it’s important to offer a competitive price, demonstrating tangible value, expertise, and aligning with your potential client’s needs, will produce far better results.
How to position your business as the ‘best choice’
1. Prove you meet (and exceed) the requirements
The very first step in positioning your business as the obvious choice, is to establish how you meet, and exceed their requirements. You’ll want to demonstrate that you meet every specification set out by the client, and how exactly you meet them. How do you meet the technical, commercial, and qualitative criteria set out – but more importantly, how can you go above and beyond and quantify how you will add extra value – as this will set you apart from the competition.
2. Define your core messaging
While you should always start a proposal by catering to the client’s specified criteria, your business’s core needs to speak loudly too. Why should they choose YOU? What makes you a better fit? But most importantly – what is the real value you can bring to the table? Once you have determined your core messaging, and found your overarching concept or promise your brand stands behind, it will be much easier to ensure you are conveying this throughout the entire proposal.
3. Demonstrate expertise and evidence of success
Words are words until they become facts when backed up with evidence of success. Which is why it’s important to showcase relevant experience, and know-how. You can do this by offering examples of completed projects that relate to your client’s ambitions and the positive outcomes. If you are in the early stages of your business, concentrate on showcasing relevant expertise such as team experience, credentials, past roles, and case studies – that way you can showcase credibility and capability without relying solely on a long track record.
4. Offer unique solutions
Focus on how your work will benefit the client, and offer unique solutions tailored to their pain points. Demonstrate how your approach addresses their specific circumstances, avoiding vague or generic claims. Ensure you reference their industry, location, size, or operating environment, and personalise your language and tone to mirror the terminology of the client. By aligning your specific solutions – tailored to their specific needs – you will demonstrate that your proposal is custom-fit to their criteria.
5. Present as the risk-free offer
At times, when starting out as a small business, it can be tricky to avoid being seen as a higher-risk offer. Longstanding companies have larger amounts of testimonials, case studies, and project stats – which can make it difficult to compete with. But don’t let this stop you. When bidding for new tenders as an SME, ensure you present yourself as a risk-free offer by including quality assurance measures, any accreditations or insurances for peace of mind, along with contingency plans to show buyers that you are prepared, and resilient in the face of any unexpected challenges.
6. Provide value other than cost
As mentioned above, it can be easy to fall into the cost trap when starting out. But besides the fact that offering lower than market average costs can be damaging, it can erode trust and credibility in the eyes of the client. In this stage, focus on value for money rather than low-cost services. And ask yourself; do you have strong innovation plans? Are your projects injected with social value measures? And are you able to work more efficiently than other competitors? Not only does value build trust, loyalty, clients also want assurance that their investment delivers real benefits, not just savings – the key to repeat business.
Michael Baron, Managing Director at BWS weighs in:
“When reviewing business proposals, clients aren’t just buying a product or service; they’re buying partnership, trust, and the strongest indicators of a positive outcome. It’s essential to demonstrate that you understand the client’s world, and that you’re not just going to answer questions correctly, but instead anticipate their needs. Instead of solely offering value for money, consider offering a unique approach to reducing their risk, strategies that support their long-term business goals, and ways to deliver intrinsic value throughout their project lifecycle. That way, you instantly become more than a supplier – you become a strategic asset.”
Auto Supply Chain Leaders 2025 brings together the best of the best in the industry for two days of mutual learning and inspirational content.
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Join the best of the best automotive supply chain leads this October (8th -9th) at the Hilton Munich Airport, Germany, to learn, network, and be inspired. The event exists to help attendees focus on their individual needs, address challenges within their business, and discover new opportunities.
Over the course of two days, you can participate in interactive sessions, benchmark with peers, and absorb the benefits of being part of such the vibrant automotive supply chain community. It’s an event that’s custom-built for top industry leaders, and allows you to:
Connect with 150+ other leaders, all of whom have strategic responsibility for their own end-to-end supply chains.
Learn how to navigate disruptions within the industry, digitise your supply chain, and meet environmental goals.
Talk to your peers to gain collective knowledge and hear about real use cases.
With rising demands across the industry, especially regarding sustainability, keeping up-to-date with the latest knowledge, trends, and solutions is a necessity. Get in on the action at Auto Supply Chain Leaders 2025 to make sure you maintain that competitive edge.Get your tickets and find out more here
Nigel Pekenc, Partner at Kearney, gives us insights provide insights on current key trends in supply chain, as well as his thoughts on nearshoring and reshoring.
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How are global supply chains evolving to become more resilient in the face of ongoing disruption, such as geopolitical shifts, raw material shortages, and logistics volatility?
“Supply chains are undergoing a fundamental shift from static, efficiency-led structures to adaptive, digitally managed ecosystems. Companies have moved beyond simply adding redundancy or diversifying suppliers. Instead, they are building globally distributed and closely connected networks, using real-time visibility and predictive analytics to spot vulnerabilities early and respond flexibly. Strong supplier partnerships in key locations and centralised digital control towers that compile multi-tier insights are now essential to manage disruptions ranging from geopolitical unrest to material shortages and transport breakdowns. The aim is no longer just resilience but adaptive responsiveness, enabling businesses to adjust their supply chains dynamically and in real time.”
Nearshoring continues to gain attention but rarely replaces full-scale global operations. How do you see companies striking the right balance between proximity, efficiency, and cost?
“Nearshoring has gained prominence, especially amid recent trade disruptions, but companies increasingly see it as part of a strategic mix rather than a full replacement. They strike the right balance by regionalising the most critical parts of the supply chain, particularly those sensitive to lead times, geopolitical risks, or local market demands, while continuing to source globally to maintain flexibility, secure essential inputs, and benefit from specialised production. This hybrid approach often takes the form of multi-node regional hubs connected by digitally coordinated networks. The key is segmenting the supply chain by disruption sensitivity, customer proximity and value-added stages, ensuring nearshoring delivers strategic value without adding unnecessary cost. This balance enhances responsiveness, optimises costs and mitigates risks.”
What role are technologies such as AI, automation, and digital twins playing in enabling smarter, more adaptive supply chain networks?
“AI, automation and digital twins have moved from buzzwords to essential pillars of responsive supply chains. AI-driven analytics process vast, complex data to provide predictive insights, enabling proactive action amid market shifts. Digital twins offer virtual replicas of supply networks for scenario testing and stress simulation before disruptions occur. Automation enables the rapid execution of these strategies through intelligent robotics, dynamic inventory control and agile manufacturing. Together, these technologies let supply chains anticipate and adapt to disruptions, turning agility from aspiration into reality.”
With supply chains becoming increasingly multi-tiered and complex, what strategies are proving most effective in maintaining control, visibility, and risk mitigation across networks?
“Complex, multi-tier supply chains demand more than standard digitisation; they require fully orchestrated digital ecosystems. Effective companies are establishing integrated digital control towers that deliver real-time transparency and decision-making clarity across all supply chain tiers, from raw materials to end-consumer distribution. Advanced data governance protocols ensure quality information flows seamlessly through well-defined channels. Moreover, clearly established risk categories aligned to decision-making tiers within organisations empower rapid, informed decision-making. In short, the combination of robust digital infrastructure, clear governance and aligned organisational structures is proving indispensable to maintain visibility, manage risk and achieve operational responsiveness at scale.”
Looking ahead, what long-term trends do you believe will define the future of supply chain strategy, and how can companies prepare to capitalize on them?
“The future of supply chain strategy will be defined by the interplay of continuous geopolitical fragmentation, accelerated regionalisation and persistent economic volatility. Companies must architect globally distributed, digitally empowered supply ecosystems that embed flexibility and optionality by design. AI-driven predictive tools and digitally enabled scenario planning will move to the centre of strategic supply chain management, allowing businesses to anticipate disruptions and shift resources dynamically and swiftly. Preparing for this future requires immediate investment in digital capabilities, organisational readiness for decentralised decision-making and development of flexible supplier ecosystems. Companies that proactively build these capabilities today will emerge with significant competitive advantages, able to thrive and seize market share in volatile global conditions while competitors falter.”
Mark Wilkinson, Senior Vice President for OpenText’s Global Business Network, discusses AI-driven success in supply chains.
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AI in industry
AI might be transforming industries, but its ability to drive accurate workflows relies on a foundation of reliable data. For those working with supply chains, this data can generate assessments of global circumstances and highlight upcoming disruption to operations before it’s felt by the consumer.
In the past year, extreme weather, trade disputes, and geopolitics have tested the limits of business preparedness. For example, in October 2024, it was estimated that the storms that hit Valencia caused damage to its farming industry worth almost £1bn. That includes the produce lost and the rendering of underlying infrastructure as unusable. As the impact of the climate crisis drives an increase in natural disasters, supply chains must prepare for widespread disruption.
Looking to 2026 and beyond, this trend is unlikely to change for the better. To best future-proof business processes, AI will be fundamental. But where should organisations start?
Which data is good enough?
High-quality, accurate data is important for driving AI success in supply chains and providing users with accurate predictions. This enthusiasm is reflected in the expectation that the big data market will be worth over £300 billion by 2028. Despite this significant investment, most organisations, surveyed across industries, still face data-quality issues.
At present, only 12% of data and analytics professionals believe that their company’s data is ready for AI adoption despite 76% recognising data-driven decision-making as a priority. To drive success in supply chains, this lack of readiness needs to change.
Data preparation
Though action must be taken to remedy these concerns, companies shouldn’t view the quality of their own data as a blocker to innovation. Instead, they can ‘test’ the data before using it to drive insights.
As a first step, it’s essential to identify the format and quality of existing data assets. With complete knowledge of all the information available, corporations can integrate AI tools that work with their data, instead of trying to fit it into incompatible solutions.
Next, team leaders must be certain that their employees are trained on noticing hallucinations and changing processes to ensure accurate AI forecasting. Creation of the right procedures will feed into a successful long-term data governance strategy, ensuring full value is extracted by AI tools.
For ongoing insights, directly reflecting global circumstances, data must be continually fed into AI systems. By setting up the extraction of data from a reliable platform, companies can ensure that the insights they receive directly correspond with the most pressing logistical concerns.
Incompatible sources
Strategic partnerships can bring essential expertise for agile transformation, helping companies to scale at speed and improve their assessment of risks. For instance, by integrating data from a partner organisation, visibility across the global logistics landscape will be increased. Concerns arise, however, when data is formatted differently at each company. To mitigate the chance of hallucinations, data-trained workers should be proactively advised to scan insights for duplicates, misspellings, and inaccurate information.
Visibility
For operational success amid an ever-changing global landscape, the importance of preparing and ‘cleaning’, data should not be understated. To ensure accurate insights are produced by AI tools, integrated solutions should be compatible with current data-formatting, proactively mitigating the chance of hallucinations. To derive full value, the same ‘cleaning’ procedure should be used for partner data. By taking the right steps at the beginning of the adoption journey, business leaders can drive effective insights, consistently being updated, to support future growth.
Tony Hasek, CEO and Co-Founder of Goldilock, explores the future of cybersecurity across the supply chain.
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As global supply chains are restructured in response to economic uncertainty, rising tariffs, and geopolitical pressure, a new cybersecurity dilemma is coming to the foreground. The number of cyberattacks exploiting supply chain vulnerabilities is surging. 45% of businesses are expected to face software supply chain attacks this year. With three major UK retailers falling victim to cyberattacks within just 10 days of each other, the need for rapid action is clearly emphasised.
To manage cost pressures, procurement complexity, and disruption risk, many businesses have spent the last few years consolidating suppliers. This means relying more heavily on a select few. But while this strategy may offer operational simplicity, it also introduces unforeseen cybersecurity risks.
When companies buy in bulk through a few key suppliers, it becomes harder to trace where individual components or services actually come from. The benefits of scale can quickly be outweighed by a lack of transparency. This creates openings for cyber threats – compromised hardware might be introduced without detection, unverified software and firmware can slip through, and oversight often breaks down across multiple layers of third-party subcontractor and vendor networks.
Recent geopolitical shifts in global trade have added a new layer of complexity, forcing companies to quickly move to new suppliers in different regions – often building entire supply chains from scratch. In this fast-changing environment, organisations must ask: are software-only cyber defences still enough?
Supply chain fragmentation is redefining risk
Over the past decade, cybersecurity strategy has largely focused on digital defences: intrusion detection systems, firewalls, endpoint protection, and role-based identity management. These are all essential, but they rest on the assumption that all components of an end-to-end system can be trusted or at least detected if they pose a threat.
As companies pivot to new vendors, particularly in critical infrastructure, telecommunications, and manufacturing, they inherit new digital dependencies often with little time or visibility to assess risk. A growing number of cyberattacks now originate, not from obvious threat actors, but from compromised supply chain components.
In a recent survey, it was found that 55% of global supply chain professionals use a mix of local and global IT solutions, resulting in fragmented systems that create multiple weak points for cybercriminals. These threats include routers shipped with hidden backdoors, firmware with embedded vulnerabilities, or software libraries poisoned long before deployment.
The infamous SolarWinds breach is a prime example where attackers injected malware into the company’s software build system for months before being detected. Because the malware was delivered through trusted channels, it didn’t appear as a breach to downstream customers – reinforcing the dangerous assumption that a well-known software supply chain couldn’t be compromised.
This is the challenge now facing every CIO and security lead. With the global supply web constantly shifting, the threat vector has moved upstream, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell which components are compromised until it’s too late.
The blind spots in modern cybersecurity
Geopolitical pressures and economic instability have accelerated supplier diversification. As a result, organisations are often forced to onboard new hardware and software partners on compressed timelines. This leaves less room for thorough due diligence. The bigger challenge, however, is ensuring that pre-compromised components don’t make it through the door in the first place.
Modern cybersecurity tools excel at monitoring and responding to suspicious behaviour, but most still work reactively. If malicious code runs inside a network or access credentials are stolen, it’s up to the software to identify, isolate, and shut down the threat. This approach assumes detection happens quickly, before the attacker has had time to move deeper into the system.
Unfortunately, lateral movement – when attackers quietly expand their access across a network – is one of the most damaging and least understood stages of a cyberattack. Even a foothold in a non-critical system can lead to privilege escalation, data theft, and the compromise of sensitive environments. While software defences can slow this process, they often struggle to stop it entirely.
This is especially true in the case of state-sponsored attackers and advanced persistent threats (APTs), which use highly sophisticated methods and zero-day exploits that are designed to bypass detection or lie dormant until the right opportunity arises. If the initial breach comes from a trusted supply chain partner, it can slip under the radar for months hidden behind software that appears safe and behaves normally, until it’s too late.
Why physical isolation matters now
This is where physical network isolation enters the conversation. Not as a throwback to air-gapped systems of the past, but as a modern, strategic layer of defence. For years, organisations have used software-based methods like network segmentation and logical separation to compartmentalise systems. While valuable, these approaches are still vulnerable and can’t guarantee complete control. Physical connection control takes isolation further, enforcing a dynamic, hardware-based barrier – essentially a modern air-gap – that offers true separation and resilience against advanced threats and supply chain compromises.
At its core, physical network isolation does what software alone cannot. It completely severs the potential for any unauthorised communication. Systems can be placed entirely offline or connected only via out-of-band controls that are not susceptible to remote compromise. In other words, even if an attacker manages to breach a system or sneak in through a compromised component, they cannot pivot elsewhere because there’s simply nowhere to go.
In high-value environments, such as critical infrastructure, government networks, and financial systems, this approach is increasingly being revisited. The logic is simple: certain systems are too important to risk. They must be ringfenced, not just monitored.
Advances in control technologies now allow for dynamic physical disconnection. This enables systems to be securely reconnected for updates or access without maintaining constant exposure. It’s a modern interpretation of air-gapping, dynamic and perfectly adapted to today’s operational demands.
Resilient by design
A system that is physically unreachable provides a level of assurance that software-based defences alone cannot match. This makes physical isolation particularly valuable when built into supply chain security protocols. Systems receiving data or code from third-party vendors can remain physically segregated until fully verified, while backup infrastructure can stay completely offline until needed. Even control systems can be made unreachable from external networks, removing the risk of remote hijacking.
To be clear, physical isolation isn’t a silver bullet. But when it can be configured on demand, it becomes a critical layer in both threat mitigation and business continuity. It serves as a proactive first line of defence, a reactive last line of defence, and a practical way to limit the scope and timing of any potential attack.
In cybersecurity, layered defence is essential. Firewalls protect the perimeter, detection tools monitor activity, and identity systems control access. But if those are compromised, what’s left to protect the core?
Time to rethink what “secure” really means
As the digital and physical worlds become more intertwined, organisations must evolve their definition of cybersecurity. Only 30% of businesses report prioritising a secure, connected system for their supply chain. This indicates that more needs to be done. Software tools will always play a critical role, but they should not be the only line of defence. This is particularly true in an era where a single compromised component can trigger a cascade of consequences, all the way up to a network-wide breach.
Physical network isolation doesn’t replace modern cybersecurity, it reinforces it. In a future defined by volatility and hyperconnectivity, businesses must ask not just “can we detect threats?”. They also have to ask “can we better control them and contain them when detection fails?”
For those willing to embrace a multi-layered strategy that includes both virtual and physical controls, the answer will be yes.
We caught some precious time at Kinexions with Jennifer Dorsch, who outlines the transformation programme underway there.
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If ever there was a company that embodied the transformational spirit of Kinexions, it’s Syensqo, the Belgian multinational materials company. Established in December 2023, through the spin-off from Solvay, Syensqo is both emerging from its legacy company, whilst simultaneously transforming its operations during an era of unprecedented disruption. A challenging situation to say the least.
Jennifer Dorsch is the Global Head of Supply Chain Center of Excellence at Syensqo; a woman who by her own admission is “transformation driven” and skilled in operational leadership, process optimisation and leveraging technology to achieve best-in-class performance. She is seeking to spearhead global transformation initiatives, enhancing efficiency and growth through streamlined processes, systems and strategic simplification.
An inspirational leader
A results-oriented senior executive, and a former Supply Chain Excellence Director at Solvay, Dorsch has a proven record of leading high-performing teams, driving impactful change and delivering measurable results spanning the industrial, supply chain, and finance functions. “As Head of the Global Supply Chain Center of Excellence at Syensqo, I spearhead transformation of the E2E supply chain,” she explains, backstage at the Fairmont Hotel, Austin.
The core values of the CoE are based on creating an efficient and resilient supply chain through simplification, standardisation and harmonisation with efforts prioritised in support of company objectives. “We measure the benefits of transformation through supply chain improvements and cost savings and deploy effective change management strategies to ensure adoption of new systems and processes aimed at improving KPIs in support of company objectives,” she reveals. “We also created accountability in support of change management.”
Jennifer Dorsch, Global Head of Supply Chain Center of Excellence at Syensqo
Emerging from a legacy
Syensqo recently split from Solvay representing specialty chemicals while the commodity side remains Solvay. “The split of the company put us right into a transformation and the first challenge to be tackled was planning. And so we’re now using Kinaxis Maestro as a foundation for that. We’re taking it as an opportunity to bring all of our business units into a harmonised way of working through one platform. These are five business units that did things entirely differently. They didn’t even know who each other were and yet now they’re working together. This is quite transformational,” she enthuses.
Of course, there are challenges to implementing any kind of transformative program and change management nearly always tops the poll as the most demanding. “The hardest part is the change management. There were folks that couldn’t understand, couldn’t envision what it was going to be like. Everyone naturally feels that their way is unique and often don’t understand the other parts of the business. But change takes time. We had to create platforms for the teams to get together across the businesses to view the details because supply chain is very detail oriented. Supply chain professionals like to see the facts and to see how each other works in order to understand how valuable it would be for each of them to change the way they work to come together.”
According to Dorsch it’s vital to bring the people along with you on the journey. “It can’t be top down. They need to understand why and they need to feel it. However now there are more and more asking for it. Now they’re asking for Maestro and Kinaxis, which is great.”
Agility is key
So, how has Maestro enhanced agility and resilience and efficiency at Syensqo? “Well, it’s going to help us with the transparency, primarily. We will now have the information at our fingertips to make decisions in real time. We’ll be able to pull more of our planning upstream. Constraints realised further upstream in the planning relieves the pressure of the plant floor where it’s quite busy. The plant floor will be much, much calmer I would say.”
Maestro is also able to enhance the customer side too. “Our customers will certainly see a difference,” she reveals. “Our service levels will see a real improvement too. We’ll be making the right inventory and have it in the right place at the right time, ultimately improving business outcomes. Working capital and customer service will also improve.”
The people
A lot of what’s been happening at Kinexions is technologically rooted, but the power of people is also being stressed as vital in these major transformation projects. “Oh they are,” she affirms. “People are stressed. They need to feel protected. And the Kinaxis teams have done a very nice job of helping the teams feel supported by giving them examples of other companies that they’ve done this for. This lets them know it’s normal to feel stressed and to not be sure until you go live. However, you need to let them know that you’re there for them. The more examples they go through, the more comfortable the users feel. But it does take time.”
Disruptive and volatile as these times are, at least a platform such as Maestro gives users the ability to meet some of these daily challenges. “Yeah, it certainly does. I mean, the way we’re able to handle resiliency currently is that people have to work a lot harder. But the way we’re going to be able to handle resiliency going forward, when we have challenges, is going to be completely different because we’ll have such better transparency in our ability to react and respond. We will definitely adjust our focus onto using AI to make the decisions. All the routine decisions will be automated through AI and AI agents.”
So, what would Dorsch say to those supply chain leaders who have yet to make the leap into harnessing emerging technologies? “I would say think about the people that are working in the supply chain and improve their quality of life. The more you give them to make their jobs easier, the less stress there is on them. Let the system take the stress, not the people. It’s a way to retain your top talent. I would turn it more in that direction. Not to mention the fact that you get to improve outcomes for customers, financial statements, all of that, but crucially for your employees too.”
Kinaxis, the supply chain orchestration platform developer, is leveraging agentic AI in both its world-renowned Maestro platform and beyond. SupplyChain Strategy sat down with Andrew Bell, Chief Product Officer at Kinaxis, to learn more…
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Kinaxis’ Maestro is billed as an AI orchestration platform that revolutionises how supply chain leaders handle and use their data. Built upon three fundamental principles – supply chain data fabric, an intelligence engine, and the user experience – it serves to ease the challenge of gleaning actionable insights from broad data sets, as well as automating processes that are reliant on understanding shifts in that data.
Through AI, it’s a system that users can speak with: ask Maestro a question about your data, and it will give you an answer in real-time. The AI-powered system can also simulate an endless array of scenarios, massively enhancing supply chain leaders’ capacity to prepare for the future against a backdrop of regular and often-decisive volatility around the world. Keen to learn more about the ways in which the firm is leveraging agentic AI in both Maestro and beyond, SupplyChain Strategy sat down with Kinaxis’ Chief Product Officer, Andrew Bell, backstage at Kinexions 2025, to learn more.
The three AI disciplines
Before we get into the finer details, it’s important to understand what agentic AI is and where it sits in the growing family of AI-powered technologies poised to reshape the world. “For supply chain, our view is that there are three AI disciplines that are highly relevant to what we do,” explains Bell, fresh from delivering a fascinating keynote speech to the assembled global supply chain leaders gathered in Austin, on agentic AI. “The first was predictive AI with machine learning, the second, more recently, was generative AI. Continuing on from there would be agentic and autonomous AI.
“It’s not about any one of those on their own,” Bell continues, “but rather how they come together to deliver. When I think about agentic AI, it comes down to what we demonstrated in conference: the ability to chat with your data, to ask questions about your data, to get it presented to you however you want, all based on simple prompts. It’s actually a fusion of generative and agentic AI. There’s the agent that we built that works autonomously based on prompts from users; prompts that are then interpreted by the generative side.”
According to Bell, when it comes to agentic AI, the real differentiator is the notion that it operates on its own, that it operates autonomously as a result of a user prompt or data change conditions. “The idea is that it’s able to make its own decisions as it progresses through a problem; that’s what I find so powerful about it,” he enthuses. “That’s how it differentiates from other forms of automation.”
The democratisation of data
While concerns abound regarding the disruption AI could bring to workforces, namely in headcounts and the nature of their work, Bell stresses that this form of AI, as with the others, is at its best as an enabler rather than replacer. “The first thing to say is that AI on its own, especially in the supply chain space, is not going to solve our problems,” he explains. “It’s not going to deliver the value. Its real value is its democratisation of data access through the combination of the data with tools that have the ability to access and use that data, with AI sitting on top. Then I can get to my data more easily and more quickly, and so can anyone else approved to use the system.
“Users don’t need to learn a system, they don’t need to know how to navigate complex worksheets, set up filters and all the things you do in a traditional context. It means anybody, whether that’s an entry-level planner or a C-level executive can ask data-based questions, run a scenario or a simulation or execute something with less friction. I see it as a democratisation of the power of data and as an accelerant.”
That sense of democratisation extends beyond Kinaxis’ internal use and development of its agentic AI systems, with customers and partners joining the fold to inspire new and iterative action. “We’ve approached it by building an agentic framework first, and that allows for the creation of agents and the running and execution of agents,” Bell elaborates. “That’s step one. Now we’re building our own out-of-the-box agents on that framework, as well as opening that framework up to our customers so they can build their own agents. Customers know their business best, and there might be use cases that they want to apply an agent to that we haven’t thought of yet. They’ll now have the ability to do that.
“From there, we’re using our customers and the challenges they share with us to figure out what we can build or iterate upon next. We’ve started with the ‘chat with data’ agent. Because that was the number one thing: get me access to my data. The next thing is the ability to evaluate two options and execute a change. Merck, who we’re working with, shared an agent that essentially detects late supply and takes corrective action.”
Bell is evangelical regarding the adaptability of its AI framework, allowing agents to be used in isolation, or strung together. “It’s purely going to be based on the natural language prompt from the customer,” he reveals. “The framework will know all the different agents I have access to and so it can either do what the user is asking with those agents or suggest a combination of those agents.”
Data is the key
Data is the crux that all AI roads lead to and stem from. Without high-quality data, AI isn’t capable of delivering on its potential. Creating robust frameworks, exercising high levels of data hygiene, and structuring data stores in an AI-ready fashion are paramount in both the development of agentic AI and the application of those tools. For both developers and users, Bell stresses the fundamental importance of getting that data piece right. He notes, too, that its applicable advice no matter where individuals and organisations are in their AI journey. “There is the ability to start from any position on that journey,” says Bell. “It doesn’t have to be a big bang or a one-size-fits-all. No matter what, though, it is about the data. The agents, the automation, whatever it might be, is only going to be as good as the data that it can access.
“Step one is to understand the problems you’re looking to solve and figure out which data that system would need. We have capabilities that simply do exception reporting where you can implement predefined automations where your team has said ‘these are some processes that we execute on a regular basis, and we have the data, so automate it’. You can then move up the journey and say, ‘No, we’re ready to implement agents and we’re going to start using some proven native ones before going all the way to making our own.’’
“The good news is that some of the foundational requirements apply no matter where you start in the journey. Getting the data and having the right tools in place are going to benefit you across the whole journey. From Covid to more recent impediments to worldwide networks via trade war escalation, significant global interruptions and bottlenecks over the past several years have put enormous pressure on supply chains to adapt at pace. As far as disruptive influences go, agentic AI represents a welcome boon for those who can effectively wield its potential.”
“At Kinexions 2025, we had a presentation from ExxonMobil that noted how people typically think about disruptions as a negative thing, but our job is to build a supply chain that excels at managing those disruptions,” says Bell. “When we do, we have a competitive advantage. Our job at Kinaxis is to provide the tools, systems and capabilities to deliver that competitive advantage to our customers. Disruptions are going to occur. That’s a given. We don’t know what they might be, but they’re going to happen. If we’ve given you the ability to manage them effectively, that’s going to give you a strong competitive advantage.”
Diane Melul, Sanofi’s Head of Global Supply Planning, talks us through supply chain transformation at the pharmaceutical giant
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French multinational pharmaceutical leader Sanofi has quite the storied history. Having been the first global supplier of injectable polio vaccinations, it has a long-established reputation for driving disruptive, impactful and historic change.
Against a backdrop of volatility that has come to define the modern supply chain, Diane Melul, Sanofi’s Head of Global Supply Planning, is orchestrating a transformative strategy that will enhance the company’s supply chain rigor and flexibility while maximising its capacity for delivering its vital medicines to patients.
Speaking with SupplyChain Strategy at Kinexions 2025 in Austin, Texas, Melul hails the company’s digital twin solution as a turning point in creating an interconnected and robust global supply network.
Maestro enables Sanofi to simulate its global network across millions of hypothetical scenarios. The data and insights gleaned from the system have enhanced planning, agility, and integration across its supply chain network, and significant new efficiencies have been realised. Accuracy across planning has increased substantially, while real-time insights allow for optimised inventory management. The digital twin has also highlighted pain points across the production process, enabling targeted actions that have decreased process variability and reduced lead times across the cycle.
It’s a journey
“We started our journey something like eight years ago with the demand planning implementation, which has been quite successful,” says Melul. “We have around 110 markets and we’ve been deploying across all of them. So that was the first part, and then came the supply part, which is definitely more complicated to implement.
“One of the key points we’ve been learning is that effective integration is key across processes and the wider organisation. In recent implementations we’ve been working collaboratively across the business to ease the process, and we’ve been seeing much more adoption in everything because there’s clear interconnectivity.”
A key benefit for both supply chain and the wider business is the level of preparation that Maestro affords. Not only does its simulated scenarios provide crucial guidance for planning, but also for optimised reactions to surprise situations. “We love running these simulated scenarios,” continues Melul.
“That’s one of the benefits we’re getting across our complex network. We have around 40 manufacturing sites and we’ve got them connected with the markets and all the simulations we’re running. It’s allowing us to conduct a lot of parallel processing, and the decision making-process with regards to integrated business planning (IBP) is much easier than it was before we built this interconnection between different parts of the business through Maestro.”
Agility and resilience have also benefitted, especially where forecasting is concerned. “We also have a new process that will make sure we are more agile and reactive, with full visibility of the markets. As we have mapped manufacturing and markets, we can also get a full signal of what is coming next, the alerts, and how we can react. So that’s part of what we have embedded in our processes.”
Diane Melul, Sanofi’s Head of Global Supply Planning
A single source of truth
A considerable benefit to all of this is the establishment of a single source of truth that’s available across the global network, fostering greater accuracy but also stronger collaboration across what had been disparate and siloed business functions. “A single source of truth is really important,” Melul explains. “We are going beyond the supply chain, too, with a single source of truth that is transmitted through to finance teams and beyond.”
This heightened alignment allows for clearer and more confident decision-making, and greater communication across the business. Melul has overseen considerable efforts to ensure this opportunity for greater interconnectivity hasn’t gone to waste. “We have created strong standards, and we have to bring people together from across teams to work as one. Whether we’re talking about marketing, planning, site planners, supply planners, they’re all in the same team. It provides opportunities to learn from each other, and they have a sense of community that helps everyone to upskill and grow. That’s a big part of what we’re seeing.”
It’s not as simple as dropping a new tool in people’s laps and expecting seamless integration, of course, and Melul speaks candidly about the importance of managing such change effectively. “It’s a journey,” she says. “We have to make sure we are helping people to learn how to play with this tool, how to get the most out of it. We have to make sure they see the benefits, how it will positively impact their work, how it’ll impact our delivery for our patients, how it’s going to make sure that, every day, every time, our patients get their product on time.
“It’s really about making the link and showing them the end-to-end value where previous tools were not really giving us this visibility. Everyone was in their own silos, delivering to the next node without knowing what’s going next, and that’s no longer the case.”
Change management
It’s vitally important to create a sense of belief amongst teams when implementing tools like Maestro. Aligning process change, roles and responsibilities across the organisation and the tool is paramount, and Melul alludes to the sense that this groundwork can break the initial inertia that can be typical of these broad technological implementations. “We need to make sure we have strong and clear standards, that’s for sure, but we also need to listen to our people and make sure everything is aligned,” she explains. “People will then adopt the tool more readily when they see the value.
“Overall, that’s the philosophy we’re trying to get to: showing them the value, the use case, how others are doing. That’s the best way to really get motivation to go above and beyond to make use of new functionalities. You then don’t have to push so much.”
The implementation is not yet complete, with Sanofi’s vaccine manufacturing sites being the final frontier. For Melul, there’s excitement in being able to bring the learnings from the implementation thus far to this final stage. “It’s a long journey, but we’ve been learning, and we are targeting a bolder approach here to make sure we put everything together in one shot across vaccine manufacturing,” she enthuses. “That’s one of the learnings: the benefit comes quicker when the nodes are implemented in full. That’s what we’re targeting for the next implementation.”
The future
While that work is on the horizon, Melul’s attention stretches further. “Beyond that, we want to start investing more in artificial intelligence. We want to make sure we take advantage of new capabilities that can make the decision-making process more agile, to optimise the parameters, to get a proposal to override the master data. How are we doing in terms of inventory? Are we really setting the right parameters? Is the system capable of proposing something more interesting that could help us move in a new direction? That’s definitely the next stage for us after this implementation is complete.”
Here Melul demonstrates a forward-thinking mentality that has become essential to supply chain leaders in these challenging times. It’s a time where agility is vital, but also where huge opportunities have opened up for supply chain professionals to take a greater hand in broader strategic direction. “There is definitely less stability,” she agrees. “If you like having challenges to face and opportunities to find new solutions every day, it’s both interesting and a way to differentiate yourself. We have to find solutions every day.
“It’s interesting because there is no stasis; there is continuous reinvention. Maestro is a tool that will support all of this, but it’s not the only one. If we have everything in terms of process and tools working well, we can spend more time on being disruptive in the way we are working, we can be more disruptive in the approach and think outside of the box.
“In the last few years, with all these changes in the environment, we have learned how to be more disruptive in the way we approach the business, with positive and direct impact on the final business output: delivering for our patients. In the day-to-day, people want deliveries on time or sooner. Supply chain is making the difference, and we are playing a bigger role every day within the company. How can we make sure we deliver on those unexpected opportunities? How can the supply chain be more agile and be able to support those opportunities?
“We are seeing a real impact on business outcomes from that increased supply chain agility. I would say that the supply chain at Sanofi will continue to become more influential within the business. Sanofi’s evolution as a business means we will see the supply chain being more as an orchestrator, not only for the supply chain area, but for full end-to-end processes.”
For supply chain leaders looking to take on their own bold transformational projects, Melul’s advice is to make sure the foundations are properly laid. “First, of course, get strong master data,” she advises. “Make sure you go step by step. There will be a lot of ways to improve as you proceed. I believe that the adoption or transformation is easier when we get the time to explain where the benefits will be, and we can get simple initial plans that we can improve and enhance day after day. Our quick wins setup ensures we are prepared enough to proceed and move ahead to the next stage. The ambition can stay very high, but we need to make sure we have the step-by-step approach to work in an agile mode. And start simple, but start now!”
Lorenzo Romano, CEO of GCX Managed Services, explains the ways in which supply chain professionals can work around current challenges.
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The turbulence of 2025 has brought significant disruption to global supply chains, amplifying existing complexities and introducing new challenges. From a network management perspective, businesses are grappling with regional compliance standards, the security of third-party data and applications and the logistical difficulty of tracking assets worldwide, including in remote ‘dark spots’. These are no longer isolated technical concerns; they are central to business continuity and operational resilience.
Ongoing challenges, intensified by recent volatility, should prompt businesses to reassess their strategies. As cross-border operations become more critical, agility – both technological and strategic – will be essential to navigate shifting economic conditions. Those unable to adapt may find themselves facing further obstacles, especially those unable to differentiate or scale effectively. Reinforcing this point, research shows that 70% of businesses are planning to increase their investment in supply chain technology, driven by the promise of enhanced reporting, advanced analytics, improved system uptime and more seamless integration capabilities.
The role of MSPs in business resilience
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are playing a pivotal role in helping businesses navigate this uncertainty. Their value extends beyond technical support to encompass strategic guidance and operational transformation. A recent Gartner study reveals that 61% of executives view technology as a key competitive advantage in supply chain operations, while 20% highlight the importance of emerging technologies in driving supply chain innovation. The report also emphasises the need to strengthen supplier relationships as a strategic priority.
In this context, MSPs are playing a pivotal role in helping organisations reassess and realign their supply chain strategies. They support efforts to diversify supplier networks, facilitate scalable technology adoption and cultivate strategic partnerships, all of which are essential for building resilience in the face of ongoing market volatility.
Securing the supply chain with Zero Trust
A key component of supply chain resilience is the adoption of a global Zero Trust framework. When supply chains span multiple jurisdictions and involve numerous third parties, traditional perimeter-based security models are no longer fit for purpose. Zero Trust continuously verifies every user, device and application, regardless of location, thereby minimising the risk of breaches and ensuring secure access to critical systems and data.
MSPs play a crucial role in implementing and maintaining these architectures, leveraging their established relationships with regional suppliers and vendors worldwide. This enables businesses to more effectively deploy Zero Trust frameworks and strengthen their defences against increasingly sophisticated threats.
Building ecosystems for long-term success
Success depends not only on technological infrastructure but also on the strength of a business’s vendor and partner ecosystem. MSPs contribute to building these by focusing on value-added services that go beyond traditional IT support. By cultivating collaborative relationships and aligning with partners who share a commitment to innovation and agility, businesses can better withstand disruption and maintain operational continuity.
While supply chain volatility is inevitable, it does not have to be debilitating. With the right blend of innovative technology, Zero Trust security and resilient partner ecosystems, businesses can remain agile and competitive. MSPs are central to this effort, helping organisations build the operational strength and adaptability needed to thrive. As 2025 continues to unfold, it will be the capacity for rapid adjustment and strategic foresight that defines long-term success.
SupplyChain Strategy sits down with Ronald Kleijwegt, CEO at Vinturas, to explore the impact of recent tariff changes and geopolitical disruptions on global supply chains.
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Donald Trump’s global trade war seems to be in a lull right now. Reciprocal tariffs between the US and China have paused, the US auto industry managed to compel the Trump administration to ease its levies on cars and vehicle components, and a successful trade deal between the UK and US has de-escalated transatlantic tensions somewhat. Friction between the US and EU, as well as with Canada to the north, remain high, however, and if there’s one thing the last four months have taught supply chain leaders, it’s that when it comes to the current US government, it’s unwise to take any amount of stability for granted.
To take stock — as well as to try and understand what supply chain leaders can do to navigate periods of intense disruption — SupplyChain Strategy sat down with Ronald Kleijwegt, CEO at Vinturas, a Netherlands-based company that develops supply chain network software intended to provide real-time end-to-end visibility for supply chain and logistics teams. While our discussion focused on the impact of recent tariff changes and geopolitical disruptions on supply chains Kleijwegt was keen to highlight the fact that supply chains have always dealt with unpredictability and pain points of one kind or another. Citing examples like the Fukushima earthquake and the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud, Kleijwegt emphasised the importance of accurate data and technology for resilience to ensure that the supply chains of today survive to become tomorrow’s success stories.
SupplyChain Strategy: Ronald, could you help us set the stage a bit? I think it’s important to recognise that we’re operating in an increasingly unpredictable environment with a lot of pressures and headwinds. Then there’s always some specific context defining the exact moment we’re having these conversations. For example, in the last couple of days, we’ve seen restructuring in the US–China tariff relationship.
Still, uncertainty remains very high. Things are changing all the time. Could you give us a sense of where things currently stand with the latest tariff developments and what that means for organisations trying to stabilise their supply chains?
Ronald Kleijwegt: “Happy to. First of all, welcome to the world of supply chain! Maybe I’m getting a bit older, but like you said, today it’s about tariffs and trade relations with China. Tomorrow, it might be an earthquake somewhere in the world or another ash cloud grounding flights.
“Although I now run an IT software company, I spent most of my career managing large, complex supply chain operations globally. For example, I was deeply involved during the Fukushima earthquake, which had a massive impact due to sole sourcing of components in Japan. The same happened with the Icelandic ash cloud that shut down airspace.
“Now, we’re dealing with tariff changes in North America. There’s a 90-day grace period, but from a long-term supply chain management perspective, 90 days means very little. You’re still in reactive mode.
“Since COVID, the dynamics of global supply chains have intensified. Crises are no longer isolated—they’re overlapping and constant. To respond effectively, organisations need the right data and information, fast. With that, you can be agile and resilient.”
Ronald Kleijwegt, Vinturas CEO
SupplyChain Strategy:Absolutely. One other point is that these disruptions often bring ripple effects, like new regulatory hurdles or customs red tape. Could you speak to how organisations can deal with that increasing level of administrative complexity?
Ronald Kleijwegt: “It’s a good question, and the answer often depends on how governments choose to respond.
“In North America, for example, tariffs have been increased across the board. In my experience, it’s more effective when governments try to attract companies by offering incentives—like tax breaks or subsidies—not by creating blanket penalties.
“When I worked closely with governments, we had to educate them on how supply chains function. If you want to localise production, you need to lower duties on components and raise them on finished goods. That sounds obvious, but many countries still get it wrong.
“The US is now imposing tariffs across the board—including on components—which can be counterproductive. Then there’s the customs infrastructure. In some countries, like Germany, it’s still quite archaic, and delays in implementation disrupt supply chains even further. Policy decisions might be made at a boardroom level, but the operational side often lags far behind.
“A good example of a country doing things right is Morocco. They’ve successfully built a manufacturing ecosystem where over 65% of sourcing is local. This makes them highly competitive, especially with shipping access to South America and the US East Coast.
“Ultimately, companies can adapt to tariffs and regulatory shifts, but they need stability. You can’t build strategy around constantly shifting policies.
“At the end of the day, companies make decisions based on total landed cost, not just the price of production.
“Adidas, for example, adopted what they called Smart Manufacturing. Fast-moving products were produced closer to demand markets, while slower-moving items remained centralized, even if it meant slightly higher costs. It worked because the overall cost-efficiency improved.
“The problem isn’t just tariffs; it’s the constant change. You can’t build a company or strategy when the rules shift every 90 days.”
SupplyChain Strategy:Do you think we’ve entered a phase where economic policy is more deeply politicised?
Ronald Kleijwegt: “What we’re seeing in the US right now is pretty unprecedented.
“Historically, trade barriers and subsidies have always existed. Offshoring to China, for instance, was largely driven by subsidies that made manufacturing cheaper. Even the US took advantage of that.
“But politics and trade are now more openly intertwined. Still, even with sanctions—take Russia as an example—trade finds a way. Goods flow through Dubai, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and so on. You can’t stop trade entirely.”
SupplyChain Strategy: What do the next 12 to 18 months look like for supply chain organisations that want to improve visibility and resilience?
Ronald Kleijwegt: “We’re in an ongoing crisis environment—COVID, wars, trade issues. But one positive is that supply chain now has a seat at the boardroom table. That recognition is growing.
“Companies are also realising that visibility alone isn’t enough. They’re shifting from simple dashboards to full-scale network solutions that connect their entire ecosystem. That’s how you get high-quality data, and that’s how you make AI and automation work effectively.
“More companies are coming around. It’s not just about having the latest tech; it’s about transforming how supply chains operate.
“Change is coming. And, for those that embrace it, there’s a big opportunity.”
Koray Köse, Founder and Chief Analyst for Kose Advisory and Senior Fellow at GlobSEC’s GeoTech Research Center, discusses how to navigate a complex, chaotic world amid a disruptive and tumultuous geopolitical landscape
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35 years ago, the end of the Cold War in 1989 unleashed a wave of globalisation that fuelled unprecedented economic growth through trade, innovation, and economic imbalances. The US led this era, orchestrating a global order where Western economies pivoted to services and innovation, outsourcing manufacturing to Asia and the Global South.
Today, that order is unravelling. As we transition from the fifth Kondratiev Cycle’s digital revolution to the sixth cycle—powered by AI, quantum computing, space, and biotech—we face a profound recalibration of global power. At Kose Advisory, we call this the “Multipolar Resilience Recalibration Framework,” a strategic lens for navigating a world where new power blocs—China, Russia, BRICS, the Turkic belt, and a newly assertive European Union—challenge US dominance in trade, technology, and ideology.
This is not a mere transition; it’s a seismic reset. Governments struggle to regulate AI’s transformative potential, corporations grapple with fragmented supply chains, and nations slide into proxy and direct conflicts. Supranational institutions like the WTO and UN are losing relevance, undermined by bureaucracy and shifting priorities. In this multipolar chaos, data-driven insights—drawn from proprietary supply chain analytics and geopolitical foresight—reveal opportunities for those bold enough to act.
As we navigate this fractured landscape, one truth emerges: in chaos, we must create.
A changing world order: Power blocs and technological divergence
The emergence of assertive leaders—Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan—reflects a deeper struggle: no major power, especially one with a divergent ideology, willingly cedes control over global trade or technology. China’s rise is stark. It controls 69% of global rare earth production and refining (US: 1%, Europe: 15%, USGS 2024) and leads in robotics, with 470 robots per 10,000 workers compared to the US’s 295 and Europe’s 219 (Germany: 429, IFR 2024). South Korea, with 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees, sets the global benchmark.
Meanwhile, China’s AI advancements—evident in Huawei’s Ascend chips and Baidu’s Ernie models—threaten US technological primacy, forcing a strategic recalibration. The US-China trade war exemplifies this shift. By April 21, 2025, US tariffs on Chinese imports hit 145%, with China retaliating at 125%. A fragile 90-day truce, effective May 14, 2025, reduced US tariffs to 30% and Chinese tariffs to 10%, with average rates at 51.1% (US on China) and 32.6% (China on US, PIIE 2025). Yet, legal challenges, including a May 28, 2025, US Court of International Trade ruling against tariff authority, signal ongoing volatility. China’s response—curtailing rare earth exports and imposing visa restrictions on US students—underscores the stakes.
Economic warfare, though less visible, is warfare.
The same principle applies at the corporate level: navigating both macro and micro shifts requires sharp insight and unbiased, sophisticated analytics utilising AI and advanced scenario planning and supply chain risk management technology (think of leading solutions like Exiger, apexanalytix, and few more). Kose Advisory’s Multipolar Resilience Recalibration Framework advises leaders to anticipate these shifts.
In a deeply interconnected world, even minor miscalculations can escalate into major disruptions—making strategic, informed decision-making not merely advantageous, but essential for resilience and relevance.
I believe the current US administration sees this moment as a last exit ramp. Miss that, and the US might lose its ability to shape its future. Ever since the World Wars, the US has dominated global trade rules, in part because European economies haven’t been strong enough to play that role. But now, China’s not just catching up—they’re launching AI breakthroughs, chip advancements and trigger market disruptions that challenge US dominance.
Consequently, these tariffs are more than short-term wins. They’re intended to reset the entire global framework—how we trade, how we build supply chains and how we think about technology, labor and social fabrics.
A blunt approach: Strategic adaptation in a tariff-driven world
If Biden’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) was surgical by targeting China’s textiles, aluminum, and solar panel sectors with principled precision, Trump’s tariff strategy is a shock and awe therapy: it’s blunt, radical and it assumes collateral damage.
Supply chain leaders, in particular, must prepare for significant upheaval. First, that means moving past the shock. Too many companies are still waiting to “see where the chips fall.” That’s dangerous. Approaches like friendshoring must move quickly: Everyone wants to go to the “safe” zones, but if you wait too long, you’re at the back of the line. Mexico and Canada look like relative winners in this situation for anyone trading with the US. Trump knows Mexico is critical for manufacturing, and Mexico isn’t trying to dominate AI or control strategic assets like the Panama Canal.
Companies need to recalibrate quickly, even if it appears impossible. If your entire model is based on sourcing from China and selling in the US, you shouldn’t wait for tariffs to become permanent disruptors before adjusting. Yes, you’ll take short-term losses—but if you wait, you might not be able to find the capacity elsewhere, or you might not be able to afford the transition when capital becomes more expensive. Assume transformation pain and losses while you still can.
Right now, there’s still financing available, and interest rates—while high(er) than in the previous decade—are manageable. But that window may close quickly. Market manipulations can spike US bond yields overnight—done so by China which, in 2024, held an average of $772.5 billion in Treasury bonds, and is the second-largest foreign US debt holder, just behind Japan. If the Fed sees inflation and low unemployment, they won’t lower rates—no matter what Trump wants. That makes financing tougher.
Supply chain leaders must not panic, but they do need to act decisively. Assertive, educated and risk managing leaders will be positioned best. Identify the core driver of your business—whether it’s people, processes or technology—and rebuild around that in a region that offers stability for the next five or so years. Assume temporary losses, but protect yourself from catastrophic ones. Once this recalibration settles, we’ll enter a normalisation period. We will eventually enter the summer of the Kondratiev Cycle — a period of economic maturity and peak growth, where the core technologies of the cycle reach widespread adoption, driving productivity and profitability. AI and quantum computing are expected to drive growth through the 2030s, based on current technological trends.
But eventually, autumn will follow—a season of readjustment, where growth slows, financial cracks appear, and confidence begins to wane, possibly prompting renewed cooperation with former rivals to extend stability. By that point, you want to be in a strong position.
A new business triangle: Geopolitics, economics, technology
The traditional “people, process, technology” triangle no longer suffices. Success in a multipolar world demands a second triangle—geopolitics, economics, technology—with technology as the linchpin driving the sixth Kondratiev Cycle (AI, quantum computing, 2030s growth). Kose Advisory’s Multipolar Resilience Recalibration Framework integrates these triangles, enabling clients to balance operational excellence with strategic foresight.
Value chains succeed when they lead in both triangles—balancing operational excellence with strategic foresight—and keep their eyes on the day after tomorrow.
It’s no longer enough to optimise for efficiency alone. You need to understand which geopolitical blocs you’re operating in. There’s the US-anchored bloc, the emancipating North Atlantic/European bloc including the UK, the Eurasian axis led by Russia, the China-led bloc, the Turkic belt, and the BRICS nations, just to name a few of the most powerful and are diverging.
If you aim to operate across multiple blocs, your supply chain must be architected to handle that complexity and not all blocs are compatible. Some are fundamentally at odds.
Companies need to identify those blocs and build supply chains that align accordingly. And it’s no longer purely about geography—it’s also about technological and ideological compatibility. There’s a growing phenomenon known as the ‘balkanisation of technology.’ Think of it like electrical adapters in different countries… even though coding standards might be similar globally, the rules around how and where you run your tech are diverging. For instance, China strongly discourages state-run companies from running on US cloud infrastructure. They have to use a Chinese cloud provider, like Alibaba. So if you want to do business in China, you’re not just dealing with different regulations—you’re potentially rebuilding your entire tech stack. Another recent example, such as US restrictions on AI chip exports to China (reported in May 2025) or China’s retaliatory visa restrictions for US students, illustrate ongoing decoupling.
Economically, different blocs are entering divergent growth and recession cycles. If you’re operating across multiple regions, your supply chain must be elastic, adaptive, and agile enough to respond to each environment’s unique dynamics. In some cases, this may require decoupling your business operations entirely. A global tech firm, for instance, may find it necessary to develop parallel manufacturing, compliance, and data infrastructures—one for Western markets and another for China—just to maintain market access. In an increasingly fractured landscape, some countries may even say: “If you’re operating in one bloc, you’re not welcome in ours.” Tech transfer restrictions and IP risks are no longer hypothetical—they’re strategic realities. As a result, companies are being forced to choose sides and rearchitect their business models accordingly. Risk management must become your core competency.
The end of an era: Seizing opportunity in chaos
Globalisation, as we knew it, is over. The mantra of “people, process, technology” has given way to raw, lean effectiveness: what you produce, where you produce it, and how you secure it, with efficiency as a critical but secondary factor.
Kose Advisory’s Multipolar Resilience Recalibration Framework equips leaders to thrive in this chaos by prioritizing agility and foresight. Capital is critical. If you have access to it now, use it to make the necessary structural changes. In a recession, forecasting revenue becomes increasingly difficult, and the risk of failure escalates significantly – so will financing your business and investments into the day after tomorrow.
In the end, you’ve got two choices: You may die trying, or certainly die not trying. As the Turkish saying goes, “Cesurlar bir kez ölür, korkaklar her gün ölür”—the brave die once, but cowards die every day.
The future favours those bold enough to shape it.
By Koray Kose, Founder and Chief Analyst for Kose Advisory and Senior Fellow at GlobSEC’s GeoTech Research Center.
Tüpraş: Fostering sustainable operations There are few better examples of procurement’s transformation from back-office function to strategic imperative than at…
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Tüpraş: Fostering sustainable operations
There are few better examples of procurement’s transformation from back-office function to strategic imperative than at oil and petrochemical company Tüpraş, the largest industrial enterprise in Turkey that operates four refineries located in İzmit, İzmir, Kırıkkale, and Batman, with a total annual crude oil processing capacity of over 30 million tonnes. Since its privatisation in 2006, as Koç Holding’s leading company in energy sector, its success has been supported by the contributions of its overhauled procurement function.
Tüpraş’s procurement function has played a pivotal role in adopting innovative technologies, while its long-term strategies concerning ESG initiatives and further advancements in technology are also deeply reliant on this function. Effectively capturing, harnessing, and fostering the potential of procurement across such an extensive business operation is an immense challenge. Keen to learn more about the leadership behind Tüpraş’s procurement-focused successes, CPOstrategy sat down with four key players in the company’s roster.
“Procurement has truly become a strategic partner to the business,” states Göksel Baydar, the company’s Supply Chain Executive Director, “It’s no longer just a cost-saving function but plays a critical role in driving innovation, managing risks, and supporting the overall business strategy. Our procurement strategy is centred around creating value for the company by leveraging data and insights to make informed decisions.”
SEKO Logistics – building supply chain resilience through standardisation and engagement
Venditti heads up the company’s supply chain operations, with over 30 years’ experience in the field across a huge breadth of industries and logistics specialisms. “I never envisioned staying in this business,” he says of starting out in logistics with a grocery chain. “All of a sudden the more I was in this business, the more I realised I was enjoying the opportunity. I became fascinated with all the intricacies of how a product moves from point A to point B.”
As tariffs come into effect for many of the US’s major international economic partners, 3PL finds itself again bracing for impact. We speak to Mike Venditti, Former VP of Supply Chain at SEKO Logistics, who can see their impact already. “I do see a lot more of what I would call nearshoring, or bringing business within the states, than I saw prior,” he tells us.
Plus, we have three exclusive interviews from the Kinexions event in Texas earlier this year. Jennifer Dorsch, Syensqo, Diane Melul, Sanofi and Andrew Bell, Kinaxis provide the expertise, plus we have a behind-the-scenes review of the event itself.
Johnny Ivanyi, Global Head of Logistics at Bayer Crop Science, on managing the complexity of today’s supply chain amid a digital transformation and sustainability boom.
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Today’s supply chain is full of challenges.
Disruptions such as geopolitical tensions, climate change and the lingering impact of the pandemic have all had their respective impact on organisations and their strategies. As a result, supply chain and procurement leaders have been propelled to the top of the c-suite and are making key, strategic decisions to drive tangible impact on a company’s strategy. Quite the rise to the top for a function traditionally hidden away out of sight.
Supply chain transparency
According to Johnny Ivanyi, Global Head of Logistics at Bayer Crop Science, one of the main areas he is focused on revolves around improving the transparency and visibility of the entire end-to-end supply chain. “I want to remove silos between system and process because Bayer to improve the performance of the operation as a global company,” he tells us. “The big question is how you can transform these dots of information into complete end-to-end connectivity and we call this ‘Smart Centre.’ You have to build transparency but also at the same time you have to ask how you can ensure real-time tracking in order to make the right decision. How can my team on the ground and the field make the right decision at the right time?”
The Bayer Crop Science division is a world-leading agriculture enterprise with businesses in seeds, crop protection. The crop protection/seeds operating unit markets a broad portfolio of high-value seeds, while also providing extensive customer service for sustainable agriculture. The global supply and logistics team manages a large worldwide and local network of LSPs and suppliers to provide the ingredients necessary to make their products.
Data-driven supply chain management
In 2024, Bayer Crop Science chose a solution to provide their Supply Command Centre. Bayer joined the Digital Supply Chain Network to take advantage of a large and growing ecosystem, bringing efficiency, reliability, agility and predictability to their global supply chain operations. Speaking at the time of the announcement in 2024, Ivanyi said: “We have great expectations that this new platform will support us to improve our customer experience and our logistics operations throughout the entire global supply chain network.”
Ivanyi joined Bayer in August 2019 and today leads the global supply chain and logistics strategy. As part of his role, he is driving the logistics transformation across regions by identifying, assessing and implementing innovative, best-in-class strategy methods and new technologies. These include Global Transportation Management Solutions (TMS), Global Warehousing Management Solutions (WMS), Last Mile Visibility, and Logistics Smart Centres, such as business intelligence and data analytics. He explains that another important item on his agenda today is change management amid the rise of new innovations entering the marketplace. “We have different generations in logistics so how do you share with your teams that there is a change in the mindset of the way of working? It’s not about show-and-join experience, but about making the right decisions with data,” says Ivanyi. “The final element is data connecting with generative AI (GenAI). The big challenge is balancing and prioritising everything.”
GenAI journey
Indeed, GenAI has become one of the biggest buzzwords in the supply chain and procurement space amid a significant industry-wide boom. Automation and the acceleration of new digital tools are transforming how companies operate and do business. However, one of the biggest questions within the industry today is how mature is this technology and how many use cases are there? In Ivanyi and Bayer’s case, they can back it up.
“We actually have several use cases — at least four or five in logistics and supply chain that we’re actively working on,” he reveals. “One key use case is maximising on-time delivery in our go-to-market strategy, from our distribution centres to customers. We’re leveraging machine learning and generative AI to analyse provider performance over the last two to three years, helping us predict their reliability today. For instance, if a provider has shown consistent delays in a particular route, we can anticipate issues and take proactive measures.
“Another use case is within warehouse operations. Even though our organisation operates on a 3PL outsourcing model, we’re working on improving real-time warehouse visualisation—connecting inventory management with payment performance. The goal is to bridge the gaps between systems, improving operational efficiency.
“A third major initiative is track-and-trace visibility for our 40,000 ocean containers worldwide. We rely on manual uploads to track container locations across multiple providers and platforms. We are exploring how GenAI and automation can eliminate human intervention while ensuring seamless system integration. The objective isn’t to replace people, but rather to enhance system interoperability and reduce manual workload. These are three of our most critical use cases, and while we have several proofs of concept underway, these remain top of mind for us right now.”
Mitigating challenges
Bayer is partnering with Gartner on its digital roadmap, and following a recent in-depth conversation, how to unleash the power of data was heavily discussed. According to Ivanyi, there are several key areas tied to success within data analytics. “If you have the right data, clearly understand your use case, and define your desired outcomes, you create a strong foundation for success. These three elements—data, use case clarity, and outcome alignment—are crucial,” he tells us. “We also believe in a step-by-step approach, starting with proof of concept. Rather than tackling everything at once, we begin with a single warehouse or distribution centre and scale up from there. However, the biggest challenge remains data, especially given the complexity within our ecosystem. As we transition to S/4HANA, we must also integrate various satellite systems.
“In my view, the key to generative AI success is having the right data and a clear vision. When these align, they drive meaningful outputs and impactful business outcomes. You can have cutting-edge technology powering your GenAI, but without high-quality data as the raw material and a clear framework to measure results, you’re setting yourself up for challenges. If you don’t know how to validate your data, there will be gaps.”
Sustainability drive
Alongside digital transformation, a second key topic dominating boardrooms and conferences today is sustainability. The business world has shifted and both the expectations of the consumer and global legislation dictate that greener strategies are the way forward, especially with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the background. But Ivanyi is optimistic that things are moving in the right direction for Bayer and the wider industry. “I believe we are on the right track,” he says. “We are making significant progress and putting in a great deal of effort to drive meaningful outcomes. Our first priority is establishing the right metrics to measure CO2 emissions globally. By implementing a standardised metric, we can define our baseline and track progress toward our 2030 sustainability goals.
“Secondly, we are embedding sustainability into every aspect of continuous improvement. As I mentioned before, we are exploring ways to align digital platforms with sustainability opportunities. It’s not just about cost efficiency—we also prioritise customer experience, which is a core obsession at Bayer, while ensuring sustainability is a fundamental part of our decision-making process.
“In fact, we already have use cases in the field where real-time decisions are being made based on CO2 emissions. For example, when planning transportation from point A to point B, our Transportation Management System (TMS) can calculate mileage and estimate the CO2 emissions for a given route, enabling us to make informed, eco-conscious decisions. Ultimately, it’s about integrating sustainability into our platforms and daily operations. Every use case we develop should not only drive operational improvements but also align with our broader sustainability goals.”
However, reaching sustainability targets isn’t easy and is impossible to achieve alone. Ivanyi believes that ensuring alignment and mutual understanding with partners is a key piece of the puzzle. “A crucial aspect of collaboration is working with our partners to develop the right solutions while fostering a strong sustainability mindset,” he explains. “The key is collaboration, step by step, with transparency at the core. We need to be open about our internal goals, the opportunities we see, and where we believe improvements can be made. Our partners should align with these sustainability objectives so that we’re all moving in the same direction. Ultimately, in the world of logistics, success comes down to how well you connect with your partners. At the end of the day, they are the ones putting the wheels on the road, so building a strong, clear collaboration with them is essential to driving progress.”
Brighter future
Looking ahead, the global investment in new technologies is not going to die down anytime soon. With the supply chain and logistics space set to be digital-focused for the foreseeable future, Ivanyi explains the biggest hurdle will be tailoring digitalisation to each individual organisation because all are built differently. “There’s no turning back—everyone is moving toward digital transformation,” he tells us. “Of course, this requires changes in processes and systems, but more importantly, it requires a shift in mindset. I always say it’s about moving ‘from data to behaviour.’ It’s not just about collecting information—it’s about using it to drive smart decision-making.
“Think of it like a pilot in a cockpit. The key is having the right metrics and insights at your fingertips, enabling you to make the best decisions—whether they’re focused on customer experience, operational performance, or strategic direction. More and more, companies are investing in digitalisation because it’s the only way forward. But success doesn’t just come from implementing new technology; it comes from training teams and fostering a mindset that embraces this transformation.
“Another critical element is differentiation. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for companies operating on a global scale. You can’t apply the same tailored approach everywhere, but at the same time, there isn’t a single universal strategy that works for all. The key is striking the right balance—adapting to regional needs while maintaining a cohesive digital strategy.
“One thing is clear: digital transformation is inevitable. The real question is where each company focuses its efforts—whether in warehousing, transportation, inventory, or beyond. Everyone is on this journey; the difference will be in how mature and strategic their approach is.”
Cyrus Gilbert-Rolfe, Chief Commercial Officer at Kezzler, dives into how supply chain professionals can prepare for the future by standardising their data.
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In today’s world of fragmented value chains and increasing uncertainty, supply chain disruption is no longer an exception – it’s sadly, often, the norm. Whether due to global conflicts, climate events, pandemics, or regulatory pressure, businesses must now operate with agility and foresight. And at the heart of this transformation lies a simple but critical need: data.
More specifically, the ability to capture, share, and interpret granular supply chain data in real time is becoming a cornerstone of operational resilience, sustainability, and regulatory compliance. That’s where EPCIS 2.0, GS1’s visibility data standard, comes into play.
Unlike its predecessor, EPCIS 2.0 reflects the reality of modern supply chains. It supports richer, more structured data, enabling interoperable traceability across systems, stakeholders, and borders.
Digital traceability is no longer optional
The demand for traceability is growing exponentially. Consumers expect to know where their products come from, under what conditions they were made, and how they can be reused or recycled. Regulators, particularly in the EU, are implementing frameworks like the Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enforce such transparency.
These shifts introduce massive data requirements that legacy systems were never designed to handle. Fragmented systems, paper-based processes, and non-standard formats not only increase inefficiencies, but they also make compliance, sustainability, and recall management nearly impossible to scale.
EPCIS 2.0 is built to address this. It provides a common language for supply chain events, allowing businesses to capture detailed, event-based data such as where an item was shipped, under what temperature conditions, or which batch of raw material was used. This level of insight can be the difference between a swift product recall and a full-blown crisis.
From compliance to circularity: What EPCIS 2.0 enables
The relevance of EPCIS 2.0 extends far beyond compliance. Its core capabilities are based on capturing the ‘what, when, where, why, and how’ of each product movement or transformation, making it a foundational tool for the circular economy.
Sustainability: By embedding certifications, sustainability claims, and environmental data into digital events, companies can provide transparent proof of product provenance and lifecycle impacts.
Recall and risk management: When a problem arises, whether a contaminated food ingredient or faulty component, companies can immediately isolate and trace the affected batches, minimising financial and reputational damage.
Product lifecycle management: By tracking items from production through repair, resale, and recycling, EPCIS 2.0 supports extended producer responsibility and enables efficient returns or refurbishment programs.
Crucially, this level of traceability is achieved not through bespoke integrations or proprietary software, but through global standards, enabling seamless interoperability across borders and industries.
A real-world example: Building a data marketplace at scale
The journey toward end-to-end digital traceability can be complex. But when done right, the benefits extend far beyond logistics.
Take the case of Migros Group, Switzerland’s largest retailer. Facing challenges around fragmented data, inefficient returns processes, and lack of supply chain visibility, Migros set out to modernise its operations – not through piecemeal tools, but through the creation of a centralised Logistics Data Marketplace based on EPCIS 2.0.
This initiative involved:
Assigning unique digital identities to each returnable transport item (RTI), enabling precise tracking and reuse.
Automating data capture using RFID, which reduced reliance on manual entry and minimized errors.
Capturing EPCIS event data for key steps like aggregation, shipping, and receiving – allowing for full visibility of every batch, pallet, and shipment.
The result? Improved shelf availability, reduced waste, faster goods receiving, and a stronger foundation for sustainability reporting. Most notably, the data was not siloed – it was made available through a collaborative platform where all stakeholders, from manufacturers to distributors, could access the same real-time insights.
How supply chain leaders can prepare
While EPCIS 2.0 is technically advanced, its real power lies in its simplicity: using shared standards to enable shared visibility. But to implement it successfully, companies need to follow some strategic steps:
Start with your business problems: Whether it’s improving inventory accuracy, meeting regulatory demands, or enabling product take-back schemes, your use case should drive your data model – not the other way around.
Map your critical process steps: Identify where visibility matters most. For example, in a cold chain, temperature monitoring at transit points may be critical. In manufacturing, the transformation of raw materials into finished goods is key.
Model visibility events: Using EPCIS’s event types you can structure how each step is tracked, verified, and shared.
Use the Core Business Vocabulary (CBV): Adhering to standardised vocabulary ensures your data can be understood and used by partners and regulators alike.
Enable interoperability through Digital Link: Combining EPCIS 2.0 with the GS1 Digital Link standard allows serialized product data to be directly embedded into on-pack codes, creating a bridge between physical products and digital data.
Looking ahead: A foundation for resilience
The convergence of regulation, consumer expectation, and technology is changing how businesses think about supply chains. What was once an operational back end is now a strategic asset – central to reputation, revenue, and resilience.
By adopting EPCIS 2.0, companies are not simply responding to change – they are laying the groundwork for a future-ready infrastructure. This approach enables real-time, data-driven decision-making, facilitates transparent product journeys that help build consumer trust, and allows for faster, more accurate responses to disruptions. Additionally, it fosters smarter collaboration across supply chain networks, ensuring all stakeholders can operate with a shared understanding and greater agility.
The stakes are high, but the opportunity is greater. For those willing to embrace data standardisation and traceability, EPCIS 2.0 offers a clear and powerful path forward.
Dave Howorth, Executive Director at global supply chain and logistics consultancy, SCALA, discusses the ways in which food scarcity can be adjusted to.
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Empty supermarket shelves are becoming increasingly common in the UK; they act as an unsettling reminder of just how fragile our food supply has become. From climate-driven crop failures abroad to shifting political alliances and trade tariffs, the systems we rely on to stock our fridges are under increasing pressure. Once optimised for speed and cost-efficiency, today’s global food supply chains are straining under the weight of unpredictable and often overlapping crises.
The UK is heavily reliant on food imports, which renders it particularly vulnerable. Disruptions abroad can lead to ripple effects on domestic prices, availability, and consumer confidence. It’s imperative for retailers, food manufacturers, and logistics providers to reassess sourcing, transportation, and forecasting strategies to ensure food security for the long-term.
Climate and trade disruptions
Recent research underscores the vulnerability of specific crops. For example, a report by Christian Aid warns that climate change poses a severe threat to bananas, the world’s most consumed fruit and a dietary staple for over 400 million people. Alarmingly, by 2080, nearly two-thirds of banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean may become unsuitable. This is due to rising temperatures, extreme weather, and climate-induced pests. And this is not the first crop which is vanishing from UK shelves; recent reports highlight that oranges, grapes, and even tinned sardines have all been in short supply, demonstrating the very real threat of food scarcity.
Simultaneously, Trump’s tariffs could exacerbate the UK’s challenges when it comes to accessing affordable imports. Whilst the recent US-UK trade agreement has introduced certain concessions, significant challenges persist. Crucially, tariffs can lead to higher prices for imported goods, affecting both producers and their consumers in turn. Combined, these factors contribute to a volatile food system which could struggle to deliver consistent, affordable supply.
Building resilience: strategic imperatives
The good news is that a strategic, long-term approach to sourcing can help cultivate food security. The following approaches can make all the difference when it comes to building this resilience.
1. Data-driven forecasting
Advanced analytics and scenario planning are critical tools in navigating changing circumstances. AI-powered forecasting models can assess historical sales trends, climate patterns, political risk indicators, and market signals, enabling supply chain leaders to anticipate potential shortages and make informed sourcing and stocking decisions. However, accurate forecasting depends on quality data, necessitating transparency and collaboration across the entire supply chain to ensure everyone is working from the same point of ‘truth’.
2. Diversified sourcing
Relying on a single region or supplier for essential goods is a recipe for future disruption. Developing multi-sourcing strategies that include a mix of global, regional, and local providers can enhance resilience – ensuring that if one supplier can’t provide, a contingency is already in place to meet demand. While this approach introduces a level of complexity, it enables agility in responding to disruptions – whether by shifting to alternate trade partners or tapping into contingency inventories.
3. Collaborative resilience
The pandemic only underlined the necessity of supply chain collaboration and agility. Joint planning between manufacturers, retailers, and logistics providers can enable smarter demand sensing, shared transport solutions, and strategic stockholding that protect availability and the flow of product during turbulent times. Initiatives like shared visibility platforms and collaborative planning forums facilitate a shift from reactive to proactive resilience-building.
4. Nearshoring considerations
Interest in nearshoring or reshoring food production is growing as businesses seek to reduce reliance on vulnerable global trade routes. While challenges such as higher labour and land costs exist, nearshoring can offer greater control, shorter lead times, and reduced exposure to geopolitical risk. However, its feasibility depends on product type, resource availability, and long-term infrastructure investment. As such, nearshoring needs to considered as one component of a broader resilience strategy that is unique to each business.
Strengthening the foundations of food supply
To navigate the road ahead, businesses should shift from an efficiency-first mindset to one that equally prioritises endurance and adaptability. This entails investing in forecasting tools, diversifying sourcing strategies, embracing collaboration, and considering structural changes like nearshoring. Food scarcity is not inevitable – but avoiding it requires rethinking the supply chain.
SupplyChain Strategy descended upon Austin, Texas, to join the supply chain leaders keeping the world moving at Kinexions 2025 –…
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SupplyChain Strategy descended upon Austin, Texas, to join the supply chain leaders keeping the world moving at Kinexions 2025 – Kinaxis’ flagship event spotlighting the next leap in autonomous, AI-powered orchestration.
From agentic AI to a unified data foundation accelerated through its collaboration with Databricks, Kinaxis showed how it’s turning orchestration from aspiration to execution – with the speed and certainty today’s businesses demand.
Early morning and the sun was blazing outside the palatial Fairmont Hotel, in downtown Austin. Inside, there was a palpable excitement as a thousand attendees of Kinexions congregated for breakfast. We certainly felt honoured to be representing SupplyChain Strategy courtesy of Kinaxis. Kinaxis are the software gurus who have both transformed supply chain through their Maestro platform. They have also attracted the leading lights of the function from many of the world’s biggest companies. ExxonMobil, Eaton, Volvo Cars, Colgate-Palmolive, Merck & Co., General Motors, National Instruments, and Schneider Electric have all come to Texas.
Kinexions started as it meant to go on. The headline ‘A Revolution’ dominating the screens behind the huge, purple-tinted stage as the keynote speakers walked on to huge applause. Bob Courteau, Interim CEO, Kinaxis, Mark Morgan, President, Commercial Operations, Kinaxis and Andrew Bell, Chief Product Officer, Kinaxis kicked proceedings off with a blistering and inspirational set of presentations. The message was clear: true orchestration, meaning a fully connected, always aware, and-able-to act-instantly supply chain – is finally within reach. This places supply chains firmly at the table as strategic value creators and, crucially, as protectors of business.
It was a morning session that truly set the tone of this three-day event. Concerns raised by Kinaxis’ 45,000 global users – including tariffs, labour shortages, cyber-attacks and the effect of disruption on investment – were front and centre of this event with myriad symposiums, workshops and presentations that showcased how Kinaxis’ Maestro can orchestrate and empower fully-connected supply chains globally. Indeed, the tariffs on imported goods into the US dropped during Kinexions and so the timing of this conference, entirely devoted to the bolstering of supply chain operations during highly uncertain times, seemed somewhat inspired. In short, those who are transforming are surviving and outperforming.
Unified data
Kinaxis is transforming too, we were informed, as the new partnership with Databricks was unveiled. Kinaxis Maestro and Databricks’ Data Intelligence Platform have combined to power faster insights, unified data and scalable AI across global supply chains, enabling organisations to unify their data, accelerate AI adoption, and respond to change with speed and confidence. This collaboration meets growing demand for more agile, data-driven supply chains and strengthens Maestro’s supply chain data fabric. In short, this move is helping companies coalesce data from core systems like inventory and procurement, alongside external inputs such as meteorological patterns and market movement, all within one single source of governed truth, ripe for innovation. As supply chains continue to evolve, this collaboration positions both companies to lead the next era of AI-powered transformation, where decisions are faster, disruptions are less disruptive, and performance is driven by unified data.
Linked to the foundational collaboration between Kinaxis and Databricks was the second huge unveiling at Kinexions: agentic AI. Guests were shown just how easily they could create and deploy intelligent agents using an intuitive GenAI interface to enhance decision-making, respond to disruptions faster and optimise workflows, through a powerful, in-development feature of Maestro. These are agents that go beyond surfacing data to deliver real-time insights and perform actions like addressing exceptions, managing supply allocation, or adjusting safety stock. There were numerous workshops taking place over the three days where clients could get their hands on the new tools and see just how easily they could transform their supply chain operations through AI. As was stressed throughout Kinexions, this is something that is happening right now.
A community of innovation
Kinaxis places real value on keeping the dialogue open with its clients and that’s the core motivation behind Kinexions, North America and its APAC and EMEA sister events set to take place in Tokyo and Amsterdam later this year. Indeed, during our time in Austin, we were lucky enough to sit down with supply chain leaders from Sanofi, IBM, Qualcomm and Syensqo as well as leading lights from Kinaxis. You can read the interviews from those discussions, and more from Kinexions, in next month’s SCS.
The quality of the guest speakers during the three days was incredible. Staale Gjervik, President, Supply Chain, ExxonMobil discussed how the giant is bringing orchestration to its multinational supply chain, solidifying ExxonMobil’s position as a global leader by establishing an enterprise-wide global supply chain organisation. Elsewhere, Global Director of Strategy and Planning for GM, Vijay Bharadwaj and Director of Supply Chain, Alexander Heavin shared how they are now able to run a global S&OP process to better serve customers and “stay on the road to success”.
Diego Pantoja-Navajas, Managing Director, Enterprise AI Value Strategy at Accenture and Chris Reynolds, Senior Director, Digital Supply Chain Planning & Intelligence at Pfizer provided a thought-provoking discussion on how multi-agentic AI is transforming the pharmaceutical supply chain. Abhijit Pattewar, Senior Manager, Global Modelling & Network Design at Schneider Electric – the leader in sustainable energy management and digital automation – delivered an engaging talk on emerging techniques for reducing CO2 emissions without sacrificing efficiency or growth.
Paying it forward
One of the standout discussions at this year’s Kinexions was an inspiring lunch session hosted by Lizet Tymon, VP Supply Chain, Rehlko and Rozena Dendy, Global Sales & Operations Planning Leader, ExxonMobil designed to celebrate, empower, and connect women who are making a difference in their workplaces and communities. Candid stories of the moments when mentorship, support, and solidarity helped them break barriers and build bridges to success will resonate with the audience for years. Each participant wrote down one action they committed to taking to support another woman, as part of the Pay-It-Forward Commitment. “Let’s build a legacy of women helping women, together!”
One woman who has long been an inspiration is real estate mogul and business expert Barbara Corcoran who presented ‘How to build your business through troubled times and prosper’. Corcoran, currently a Shark on ABC’s hit reality show, Shark Tank, knows that bad times are the best times to move ahead. Indeed, she survived and prospered amid 18% interest rates, the bankruptcy of New York, the subprime mortgage crisis, and the tragedy of 9/11. In this session, Barbara shared “lessons from the trenches” to demonstrate her leadership methodology on how to adapt quickly, pivot, and turn every obstacle into the new opportunity it really wants to be. It’s an ethos she has certainly embodied through her career, evident in the establishment and success of The Corcoran Group, started with a mere $1,000 loan.
And the winner is…
The winners of the 2025 Kinaxis Customer Awards were also announced in Austin, further cementing links between Kinaxis and its community. “These awards honour companies and individuals pushing the boundaries of supply chain innovation, efficiency and sustainability.”
ExxonMobil, Sanofi, Schneider Electric, and British American Tobacco (BAT) were recognised for their excellence in supply chain transformation. Additionally, Hanu Gadila (Merck & Co.) received the Champion Award, and Jeffrey Jones (Qualcomm) was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for their industry contributions.
2025 Kinaxis Customer Award Winners
Pioneer Award: ExxonMobil Recognising companies that have implemented Kinaxis within the past three years. ExxonMobil is changing how the industry applies sales and operations planning. They’re leading the way in fuels, setting a new standard for Advance Planning Solution capabilities for the industry.
Champion Award: Hanu Gadila, Merck & Co. Honoring individuals demonstrating leadership, vision, and perseverance in supply chain transformation. Hanu Gadila has enhanced Merck’s use of Kinaxis Maestro™, optimising planning capabilities and efficiency through collaboration and advocacy.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Jeffrey Jones, Qualcomm Recognising long-term contributions to the supply chain industry. A steadfast Kinaxis advocate for nearly 20 years, Jeffrey Jones has championed Maestro, supporting industry-wide transformation. Jones stated, “It has been a privilege to work alongside such talented professionals and to contribute to the evolution of our industry. I look forward to continuing our journey of innovation.”
Excellence Award: Sanofi Awarded for measurable business impact through supply chain strategy. Sanofi is modernising its supply chain to reach best-in-class performance for unleashing its ambition to become the world’s leading immunology company. By leveraging digitalisation and tailored Kinaxis Maestro implementations, Sanofi has enhanced agility, resilience, and efficiency, enabling faster decisions, better risk mitigation, and seamless end-to-end operations.
Impact Award: Schneider Electric Recognising positive environmental and social contributions. Schneider Electric, the leader in sustainable energy management and digital automation, successfully conceptualised incorporating emerging CO2tools & techniques of Maestro for achieving growth and profitability with planet-friendly practices.
Innovation Award: British American Tobacco (BAT) Highlighting innovative applications of Kinaxis technology. BAT co-developed the first-ever production wheel and interchangeability functionalities, enhancing constraint management, SKU transitions, and automation.
Parting thoughts
As a veteran to many events such as Kinexions, it was refreshing to feel a jolt of genuine excitement at an event that was showing how things can actually change today, rather than in the future. This wasn’t an exercise in hypothesis, it was a call to action. If you want to harness what AI can do in orchestrating your supply chains in these unpredictable times, then act. Now.
As the four floors of symposiums, workshops and speeches were wrapping up, there was no time for rest for the guests, as it was left to none-other than the three-time Grammy-award-winning and Austin-born, Nelly to finish things off to a rapturous reception from the crowd. Hot In Herre boomed around the room, Nelly spraying the crowd with water, as another highly successful Kinexions drew to a close. It was an event that will live long in the memory. And as we departed the hospitable Austin and the incredible team behind Kinexions, it was clear that we would have to return.
Kinexions 2025 is made possible by its platinum sponsors Accenture, Capgemini and Scott Sheldon; and gold sponsors 4flow, Genpact, Microsoft, Google Cloud and Spinnaker SCA. For more information about Kinexions, including Kinexions EMEA 2025 and Kinexions APAC 2025, please visit www.kinexions.com.
Supply chain 4.0 – where preparedness and opportunity meet in the digital supply chain
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Supply chains matter. One break in the link and manufacturers can be left with costly disruptions that bring the entire operation to a standstill – and the problem isn’t going away soon. According to McKinsey research, disruptions lasting a month or longer now happen every 3.7 years on average. Whether it is issues securing raw materials, a steep rise in shipping costs, labour shortages, geopolitical conflicts, or sustainability concerns, the pressure is mounting on manufacturers to diversify their supplier partnerships and introduce more flexible operations. For manufacturers determined to create more resilient supply chains, Andrew Newton, Business Central Consultant at Columbus UK, argues that a digital transformation of supply chains will be integral to the industry’s ongoing survival.
Industry 4.0 has been the main driving force behind recent supply chain transformation with the introduction of IoT technologies such as cloud, data analytics, and AI throughout the manufacturing ecosystem. This includes smart factories that enhance manufacturing with Industry 4.0 tech and smart products offering internet-based services.
It’s now time for the supply chain to step up to the 4.0 digital plate. Market leaders, particularly in the automotive and electronics sectors, have already launched digital transformation initiatives to establish flexible and high-performing supply chains. And manufacturers of all sizes can learn from their example on how to achieve sustainable change.
When disruption is constant, an organisation’s preparation for supply chain changes will provide a significant competitive advantage. From effective data connectivity to reshoring operations, operationalising AI, and implementing a long-term sustainability agenda – successful manufacturers must be able to incorporate these factors into supply chains to drive innovation and redefine how products are created, developed, and delivered to meet evolving consumer demands.
Unearth actionable findings within the data haystack
Many businesses now have extensive data archives spanning several years, including substantial sales orders and operational performance records but the ability to extract maximum value from this data remains a common challenge. Manufacturers want to establish robust connections with shop floor assets to unlock enhanced operational efficiency and make more informed decisions. However, many lack the data-related skills to successfully link their machinery or manage the influx of data streams from sensors.
This is where the introduction of business intelligence dashboards with Supply Chain 4.0 can offer real-time production insights to inform decisions, boost efficiency, cut costs, and refine product quality.
The convergence of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) adds to the data challenge, particularly where legacy equipment is still in use. It is important to recognise that the solutions being implemented require tailored approaches due to the unique demands of each manufacturing organisation. Developing applications within a business can be tricky, with not every business having the in-house data skills to do this.
Custom applications that don’t require extensive coding expertise can address this digital skills gap. Versatile solutions that combine low-code services, self-service analytics, and automation for instance, can make it easier for manufacturers to create applications that precisely align with their specific needs, boost efficiency, and innovate in the process. The establishment of a reliable data environment with Supply Chain 4.0 ensures that manufacturers can enhance decision-making and operational efficiency, all while reducing costly errors.
Operationalise AI to stay one step ahead
AI has left a mark on every industry and when it comes to the manufacturing landscape, the story is no different. Already many businesses are using AI tools to process real-time data from shop floor sensors to provide manufacturers with immediate insights and action, especially if quality measures breach thresholds. But the capabilities of AI don’t stop at detection.
Manufacturers must consider many factors in production and delivery, such as demand versus capacity and how much materials cost along the supply chain – and this is where unsupervised AI can be a useful tool for risk identification and market trend forecasting.
For instance, AI can suggest preferred suppliers to purchase from based on their supply chain history or issue alerts for impending weather events affecting supply chains. Social media analytics enabled by AI can also be used to project patterns to better understand where the market is heading but it can’t fully predict the future. Instead, the role of AI with Supply Chain 4.0 is to help manufacturers identify shifting consumer interests and trends, spot market trends relating to offerings or brand, and forecast waning or growing interest in product types.
I want it now! Proximity sourcing can help meet customers’ changing expectations
As supply chain disruptions become part of the new business environment, it’s time for manufacturers to end the reliance on disparate and siloed operations and instead look to nearshoring as the answer.
Customer expectations around delivery times are changing, with 62% of UK consumers now expecting next-day delivery when ordering online – an expectation that traditional offshoring business operational models now struggle to match. Yes, regional or local supply chains can be more expensive and add another level of complexity, but they do allow for greater inventory control and bring the product closer to the end customer, which reduces overall lead times. This reduction with Supply Chain 4.0 ensures that manufacturers can promote higher customer responsiveness and allows for constant improvement and innovation based on consumer feedback.
Nearshoring also provides an opportunity to clamp down on miles covered and will help manufacturers introduce a circular approach to operations. With over 4 in 5 UK adults recognising their role in lessening their environmental footprint, it is clear that the manufacturing industry needs to mirror this popular attitude – and technology will play a key role here. Automation techniques for instance can improve traceability and visibility over the entire product line, highlighting how businesses use and waste materials, along with how they can reuse products for better forecasting and reduce fossil fuel usage and pollution.
Particularly in the food industry, conscious consumers will base their buying behaviour on transport miles and the environmental impact of the product’s journey. If manufacturing businesses are able to clearly share this information with transparent supply chains, they will not only open themselves up to a larger customer pool but will also play a major role in tackling environmental challenges in the industry.
Long-term commitment to sustainability goals
Nearshoring is certainly one way that manufacturers can become more sustainable but with customer sustainability expectations rising, companies now have to show a long-term commitment to creating greener supply chains.
Many businesses are making efforts to report on internal sustainable efforts such as energy consumption but extending reporting down the supply chain poses challenges, such as effectively reporting on a supplier’s energy usage. To achieve a comprehensive sustainability profile, this reporting must span the entire supply chain.
Supply Chain 4.0 brings sustainability reporting tools that provide comprehensive tracking and analysis of environmental and social impacts, which will enable manufacturers to make informed decisions, ensure regulatory compliance, and communicate sustainable practices transparently. Manufacturers are looking to achieve this connectivity, particularly in linking shopfloor equipment usage with sustainability goals.
Leading organisations are pushing for data standardisation among their supply chain suppliers but this brings its own set of pros and cons. Increased standardisation can make the supply chain more efficient and easier to review, potentially reducing a company’s risk. However, there’s more work needed to establish this standardisation.
As public and regulatory interest grows, having a clear view of supply chain processes will become even more important. In the short-term, expect leading companies to keep investing time and effort to better organise their supply chain data.
Supply Chain 4.0 – where preparation and opportunity meet in the digital supply chain
Digital transformation is a long and complex journey but preparedness plays a key role in achieving optimal outcomes. Through the process of transformation, manufacturers can more effectively adapt to ever-shifting business conditions and evolving customer demands with Supply Chain 4.0, all while maintaining a competitive edge.
The issue remains that each manufacturer faces their own unique scaling challenges that require a calculated approach to processes, planning, and implementation to create a sustainable business model. Often companies have growth ideas but lack a clear path to achieve them. The identification of key supply chain trends will set apart the laggards from the market leaders
Businesses have been forced to navigate and adapt to these challenges to ensure continuity, limit interruption and reduce risk
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From Brexit to the pandemic and the current geopolitical conflict, the supply chain industry has faced a flood of challenges in recent years. This has caused disruption to supply chains. Businesses have been forced to navigate and adapt to these challenges to ensure continuity, limit interruption and reduce risk.
Alice Strevens, Director Human Rights and Social Impact, Mazars
As part of this, it’s increasingly important for businesses to ensure they have robust human rights due diligence processes in place. These processes support companies in their decision-making during crises, and help them identify risks in their supply chains. This ultimately protects them in both stable and unstable times.
Human rights and environmental due diligence provides a basis on which to address environmental, social and governance issues that impact supply chain resilience. Companies that respond to crises with an approach based on due diligence are more likely to protect their relationships with suppliers. Plus, they get to mitigate the impact on workers in their value chain. An example of this is during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many companies saw buyers abruptly cancel orders, request refunds in full and pause orders for months. With many suppliers facing reduced sales at the time, it led to questions as to whether businesses were working alongside suppliers. Or taking advantage of the circumstances to get reduced costs.
It’s important to learn from these lessons to build strong sustainable supply chain strategies. This will help businesses remain resilient both in stable times. And in the face of significant events. There isn’t a perfect formula. However, the concept of double materiality (i.e. considering sustainability matters from both the perspective of the impact on people and the environment, and the perspective of the financial risks and opportunities to the business) is helping businesses to assess sustainability-related risk strategically.
Supplier engagement will ensure long-term success
Building a sustainable supply chain for the long-term requires engagement and collaboration with supply chain partners. Long-term relationships can provide a basis to share challenging risks and impacts transparently. Human rights and environmental due diligence foregrounds the importance of engagement and collaboration to mitigate identified risks and build resilience.
The responsible supply chain strategy should be integrated into the overarching sourcing strategy and supplier engagement approach. Delivery against the strategy should be built into performance targets and incentives. Regular reviews of impacts, targets and KPIs should be conducted at board level. Making use of the latest technological developments, including assessing their risk for social/environmental concerns and measuring and tracking performance. This will help companies stay ahead and be prepared in their processes.
An evolving regulatory landscape calls for preparedness
Another important point to keep in mind is the legislative landscape. This is especially pertinent in the EU, as the rules will make previous voluntary standards now mandatory and will impact large companies. This includes those in their supply chain, including in the UK.
Companies should therefore look to base their strategies on the authoritative voluntary frameworks on conducting human rights and environmental due diligence. Primarily the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct. This will set them up for meeting legislative requirements down the line. For example, Mazars and Shift co-wrote the UNGP Reporting Framework, which provides a framework for companies to adopt responsible practices, and manage human rights risks.
The future of supply chain is now
Ultimately, companies and suppliers should work together to ensure collaboration and a robust strategy which takes all parties into consideration. Listening to feedback and promoting good communication between stakeholders will ensure smooth sailing during the business-as-usual times. And the more tumultuous periods.
Implementing long-lasting strategies and creating resilience to risks will increase business’ market access and promote their financial value. Thus ensuring that they deliver quality goods and gain loyalty among suppliers.
Recent research conducted by InterSystems highlights a critical challenge within supply chain organisations in the UK and Ireland
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Recent research conducted by InterSystems highlights a critical challenge within supply chain organisations in the UK and Ireland: nearly half (47%) cite their dependency on manual processes for data collection and analysis as their primary technological hurdle. This reliance not only leads to inaccuracies and delays in accessing data but is also a significant barrier to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), which almost one in five (19%) anticipate will be the trend that most impacts their supply chain.
Mark Holmes, Senior Advisor for Supply Chain, InterSystems
For AI and ML adoption to be successful, models must be fed healthy, unified data. This requires supply chain organisations to move away from manual data collection and analysis and adopt a robust data strategy to underpin their efforts. This data strategy will sit at the heart of AI and ML initiatives but will also play a bigger role in the business’ overall operational strategy.
Developing a smart data strategy
A smart data strategy should encapsulate three things: data collection, analysis, and integration into organisational operations. This is where technology like the smart data fabric comes in, helping supply chain businesses to do all three things and bring their data strategy to life.
Built on modern data platform technology, the smart data fabric creates a connective tissue by accessing, transforming, and harmonising data from multiple sources, on demand. In particular, smart data fabric technology allows supply chain businesses to leverage usable, trustworthy data to make faster, more accurate decisions.
With a wide range of analytics capabilities, including data exploration, business intelligence, and machine learning embedded directly into the platform, supply chain businesses will also gain new insights and power intelligent predictive and prescriptive services and applications faster and easier.
Once these solid data foundations are in place, supply chain organisations can begin to unlock the real potential of AI and ML to augment human decision-making.
Applying AI and ML across the supply chain
The use of AI and ML can deliver operational change across supply chain organisations, from improved demand sensing and forecasting, to optimised fulfilment. For instance, SPAR, the world’s largest food retailer consortium, has turned to ML to solve some of the difficulties it was experiencing in streamlining and optimising end-to-end fulfilment processes in stores across Austria.
Operating in the extremely fast moving food and beverage sector, and with more than 600 merchants in Austria, SPAR Austria required a better way to help managers of local stores control their inventory. It consequently deployed ML for real-time sensing of demand shifts to optimise replenishment and strengthen its supply chain network. This has significantly improved on shelf availability (OSA), demand forecasting, productivity, and time to decision. In turn, it also helped SPAR increase revenue and efficiencies.
ML can also be used for production planning optimisation, using different constraints including transportation cost, or component inventory allocation to improve fill rate and optimise product shelf-life, productivity, cost, and revenues. Additionally, with access to AI and ML-driven prescriptive and predictive insights, organisations will be able to reroute or resupply at the drop of a hat, helping to maintain operations, achieve on-time in-full (OTIF) metrics, and ensuring customer satisfaction.
The automation and optimisation of these different processes also has a material impact on those working in supply chain operations. It transforms their work from reactive to proactive efforts. With less time spent on processing, more time is freed up for strategic thinking to improve fill rates and lower transportation costs, for example, making their role more rewarding and value-adding.
A strategic approach to AI-driven transformation
The transformative potential of AI and ML in supply chain management hinges on a smart data strategy that moves beyond manual processes to a seamless integration of robust data collection, analysis, and usage. By adopting smart data fabric technology, supply chain organisations can resolve their primary technological hurdles, transitioning from reliance on inaccurate and delayed data to leveraging real-time, actionable insights that fuel AI and ML initiatives. This strategic shift not only enhances operational efficiency and decision-making but also paves the way for predictive and prescriptive capabilities that dramatically improve demand forecasting, inventory management, and overall supply chain responsiveness.
The success stories of companies like SPAR Austria demonstrate the profound impact of integrating AI and ML into supply chain operations. These technologies both optimise operational tasks and empower employees by shifting their roles from mundane, reactive tasks to strategic, proactive engagements that add significant value to their organisations. By adopting a smart data strategy and embracing these advanced technologies, supply chain businesses will realise benefits that extend beyond operational efficiencies to include improved customer satisfaction, increased revenue, and a stronger competitive edge.
Without a critical supplier, entire operations for an organisation can come to a halt.
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Most modern organisations rely heavily on their supply chain partners to deliver their products and services. In the case of critical suppliers, organisations might not be able to provide most of their products and services without them. Resilience is key!
In some cases, without a critical supplier, entire operations for an organisation can come to a halt. For example, if the point-of-sale (POS) service provider is down at a retailer, they cannot bill their customers. Disruptions can strike unexpectedly, causing significant financial losses, operational challenges, and reputational damage.
Over the last few years, supply chain disruptions have gained much more executive attention due to Covid-19 and geopolitical conflicts, but they have been happening all the time even before.
In this article, Robin Agarwal, Head of Supply Chain and Operations Services at 4C Associates explores the importance of resilience in supply chains and practical strategies to enhance it.
Supply chain disruptions can happen due to many reasons, some of the most common are:
Financial disruption
A critical supplier suddenly going out of business is the biggest nightmare for senior supply chain executives. In most cases, the organisation should have alternate options, but it can take weeks, if not months, to ensure the return to business as usual. I have seen in many of my clients, procurement and supply chain executives spending weeks and weeks of dedicated time to resolve supplier bankruptcy issues while suffering significant disruption in their operations and financial losses.
Even smaller cash flow problems can take a toll on supplier performance, where I have seen suppliers not being able to fulfil the orders as needed as they are not able to pay on time for their operations and supply chain.
Reputational damage
Organisations today face intense scrutiny from the media, customers, and increased ESG regulations. A negative ethical or social incident (child labour, environment violations etc.) within your supply chain, especially when it comes out in public, has a huge reputational impact on the organisation. Executives have to react quickly in such cases and make changes to ensure integrity in their supply chain. During the horsemeat scandal I saw significant resources at my food manufacturing client going into reviewing the supply chain and marketing money going into assuring the customers.
Legal risks
Geopolitical tensions and sanctions can impact suppliers’ ability to deliver goods or risk. Organisations operating with global supply chains need to assess and mitigate these risks. Complex manufacturing organisations saw massive disruptions in their supply chain in the aftermath of Ukraine-Russia war. A major area of focus for organisations today is scrutinising their supply chain for dependency on BRICS nations.
Natural disaster
We all know what happened during the Covid-19 pandemic and how it prompted organisations to review their supply chain strategy. However, this is not a new issue. For example I was part of a risk and resilience project for a major automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that was commissioned in the aftermath of Floods in Thailand paralysing their supply chain.
Tier –N supplier disruption
Most of the big suppliers have complex supply chains. Any impact on these Tier 2, 3 suppliers can create a significant impact as well, depending on how mature is your supplier resilience. This is the most common issue I come across. While most organisations consider these as their supplier problem, when happen, they need to bear the impact as well.
The list above is not exhaustive and there are many other complex issues, ranging from cyber disruptions to boats carrying goods stuck in the Suez Canal.
The false sense of security
Many organisations operate under the assumption that supply chain disruptions won’t happen to them. They focus on cost efficiency and day-to-day operations, neglecting proactive risk and resilience management. However, this reactive approach can be detrimental when disruptions occur as there is no framework to deal with such disruptions. In these cases, senior management has to spend a significant amount of their time while incurring higher costs. And longer time to recover than their competition.
Risk monitoring tools: Necessary but insufficient
There are many tools available to supply chain professionals today from getting financial assessments of their suppliers, sanctions watch, to supplier ESG ratings. These risk monitoring tools help identify potential issues, but they often lack real-time predictive capabilities. Organisations receive retrospective alerts, leaving them scrambling to respond. Additionally, false alarms can lead to decision paralysis.
At the time of Carillion’s bankruptcy, none of these tools were able to give any actionable warning to the companies. Also, most organisations have an extensive risk framework for onboarding a new supplier, but they don’t have an effective risk framework once the supplier is in operation. And dependency increases over time with warning signs, if any, ignored.
The case for resilience
Resilience is the antidote to vulnerability. While organisations cannot predict every risk event or control how the events unfold, it is in their gift to build adaptive capacity to withstand shocks and recover swiftly. Here are some of the basics for how organisations can enhance supply chain resilience:
Supply market resilience
Overreliance on a single supplier or a geographic location affects resilience. Organisations should consciously diversify their supplier base, even if it means higher short-term costs. Also, they should know the alternate suppliers that operate in the market and have relationships with them even if they have no immediate plans to change suppliers. It would not only enhance resilience, but also help improve cost.
Know your supplier
Understand the key dependencies with your supplier including within their supply chain. A mature organisation should know the key people to reach out to in case of disruption. And who they should even bring on board if the supplier goes bust.
Contingency Planning
Develop clear contingency plans for various disruption scenarios. These plans should outline roles, responsibilities, and escalation procedures. Ask your suppliers about their contingency plans and how they will ensure business continuity when various risk scenario unfolds.
Operational Resilience
Have Contingency-SOP instructions in place. Capture the specifications and know-how on what suppliers are delivering so alternate options can be switched on swiftly if needed.
However, just having contingency plans written is not enough. Contingency plans must be stress-tested for viability and supply chain and business stakeholders ‘fire-drilled’ through those plans, so they are aligned on key steps when disruption happens, and precious time is not wasted arguing about the next steps. True resilience is an organisational culture and employees at all levels should understand their roles during disruptions.
An ongoing process
As concluded by Christopher Jones, Procurement Director at Alstom, “Resilience planning needs to be an ongoing process, your supply base and requirements are constantly evolving. Having stress tested plans means that when disruption lands your teams are ready to act and deal with the issues.”
Supply chain disruptions are inevitable, but organisations can minimise their impact through resilience. By embracing proactive risk management practices and fostering a resilient culture, organisations can navigate disruptions with confidence and stay ahead of the competition.
While environmental and climate change used to be the main topic of discussion, human rights and supply chains have taken over
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In recent years, supply chains gained momentum as the leading social issue for companies to address. While environmental and climate change used to be the main topic of discussion, human rights and supply chains have taken over. This is partly due to the scandals and allegations of exploitative labour practices from multinational companies. But also due to the increased public awareness of the role companies play in determining the management of their own supply chains.
Social sustainability
The shift to focus on social issues acknowledges the profound impact that supply chains can have on our communities, labour rights, and societal well-being. Progress has been made in greening supply chains, but addressing social sustainability is a complex challenge yet to be achieved. A holistic approach that integrates social responsibility in a meaningful way into every aspect of the supply chain is the way to go. Then businesses can make a difference in the long-term.
Understanding the social issues in supply chains
First and foremost, we need to understand what the risks and impacts are in supply chains. These largely depend on the industry and the part of the world where a given company works. Social sustainability in supply chains encompasses fair labour practices, human rights protection, community engagement, diversity and inclusion, and ethical sourcing. Building social sustainability requires a more thorough look at these issues:
Labour related issues
Labour exploitation
Supply chains often involve complex networks of subcontractors and suppliers. This can lead to challenges in monitoring and ensuring fair labour practices. Exploitative conditions such as low wages, long hours and unsafe working conditions can be prevalent, especially in industries like manufacturing and agriculture.
Worker welfare
Ensuring the well-being of workers throughout the supply chain is essential. This includes addressing issues around child labour, forced labour, discrimination, lack of access to essential benefits like healthcare. Issues around exploitation and worker welfare are especially troubling in the gig economy or in sectors with seasonally contracted workforce.
Labour rights violations
Encompassing the restriction on freedom of association and collective bargaining. I have had several clients whose subcontractors employed workers without employment contracts, completely violating local labour laws.
Human rights risks
Ethical sourcing
Companies face challenges in ensuring that their supply chains are free from human rights abuses, modern slavery, human trafficking and exploitation. Ethical sourcing policies and enhanced due diligence can screen out suppliers who can’t comply with legislation.
Conflict minerals
Sourcing minerals from conflict-affected regions can contribute to human rights abuses and armed conflict. Companies can implement measures to trace the origin of minerals and avoid financing conflict or further contribute to human rights violations.
Indigenous rights
Many supply chains involve land acquisition for resource extraction in areas inhabited by indigenous communities. Respecting Indigenous rights, including land rights and cultural heritage is crucial to avoid access restrictions to natural resources.
Community and land-related aspects
Land displacement
Though, we previously mentioned land issues in relation to indigenous people, supply chains might lead to land grabs from other communities. Proper consultation, compensation and resettlement plans are necessary to mitigate the negative impacts on affected communities.
Community engagement and development
Enterprises have the responsibility to contribute positively to the communities where they operate. In certain developing countries, these manufacturing facilities provide the only ‘good’ jobs and communities rely on them economically. Engaging with the communities and supporting local development through CSR programs is a popular way for companies to build lasting relationships.
Strategies and Tools for Enhancing Social Sustainability
Achieving social sustainability in supply chains requires a multifaceted approach that integrates social considerations into every stage of the supply chain lifecycle. When I work with my clients, I always look at three key pillars: legal requirements, voluntary standards, and management systems.
Legal requirements
The EU’s adoption of the new directives specifically targeting human rights and environmental impacts in supply chains adds to the long list of legal requirements companies need to follow to address modern slavery risks and practice corporate responsibility globally. Most of the legislation is not prescriptive in terms of what needs to be done exactly. But they do require companies to enforce corporate level standards on suppliers. Some companies have started including standard contractual clauses that require suppliers to follow legislation and adhere to the company’s policy on social topics.
Voluntary standards and certifications
There is a wide variety of voluntary standards and certifications that companies can explore on their social sustainability journey beyond legal compliance. Plus, there are certifications on Fair Trade, SA8000, Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code and decent work. There are also some more sector specific standards and certifications such as ethical fishing for food producers. It is up to companies to decide if they want to improve their practices by updating systems in line with best practices.
Supplier collaboration
Supplier collaboration through the provision of capacity building and training are great tools to raise awareness on labour rights, health and safety, diversity and inclusion and support suppliers to establish their own traceability systems. Typically, the supplier code of conduct is a legal requirement, but it could be extended to include more detailed expectation. These might include labour standards, human rights, environmental practices and ethical business conduct.
I would consider community investment through CSR programs as a voluntary initiative that allocates resources towards community development. It is ideally driven by the needs of locals and might include a combination of paying for services and providing training or education.
Management systems
Company management systems include the collection of policies, processes and management plans. Most of the policies are legal requirements as per my previous points. However, there can be additional policies focusing on areas where the company is exposed to risks in the supply chain. For example, HR policies typically include minimum age requirements.
Although, if the risk of child labour is relevant to the company, they might decide to have a separate policy on the prohibition of child labour. Following on from this example, a management plan would identify the risk of child labour. Whether it is for direct employees, contractors or subcontractors. This will describe a process to verify, record, audit and report on the age of workers. Supply chain specific management plans might include traceability and mapping, a supplier management plan, a supply chain risk assessment plan etc.
Stakeholder enagagement
The other important aspect of a company’s management system is stakeholder engagement and complaints management. Effective stakeholder engagement can facilitate the feedback mechanism from communities and workers in the supply chain.
Creating socially sustainable supply chains is not just a moral imperative. It is also a strategic business imperative in today’s interconnected world. If we prioritise social responsibility by embedding it into the operations, businesses can mitigate risks, enhance reputation and create value for society. Ultimately, building social sustainability requires a collective effort involving businesses, governments, civil society and other stakeholders.
We need to work together towards common goals to create supply chains. Not only to deliver economic value but also promote social justice, equity and dignity for all.
Ildiko Almasi Simsic is a social development specialist and Founder of E&S solutions which has developed the world’s first E&S specific research assistant – myESRA™.
Landry Giardina, Sanofi’s Global Head of Clinical Supply Chain Operations Innovation & Technology talks data-driven performance, resilience, agility and operational excellence within the clinical supply chain area…
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It’s a packed issue this month. Here’s a roll call of just some of this month’s exclusive content…
Landry Giardina, Sanofi’s Global Head of Clinical Supply Chain Operations Innovation & Technology talks data-driven performance, resilience, agility and operational excellence within the clinical supply chain area…
Sanofi has a mission: to chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives, and sometimes that means starting over with Plan B, Plan C, or even Plan Z. To do so means to work across the most complex disciplines to solve problems, to push the boundaries and not be afraid to take smart risks, and to dedicate everything to making life better for people everywhere. None of that happens without continuous and groundbreaking R&D and clinical trials to prove the medicines and vaccines it creates are safe and efficient for millions of people around the world. Which makes Landry Giardina and his colleagues’ jobs absolutely essential.
Werfen: Procurement and supply chain excellence through teamwork
Don Perigny, Director Supply Chain, at Werfen, a Specialised Diagnostics developer, manufacturer and distributor, reveals how a strong work culture can achieve incredible success during challenging times.
“It takes a village to raise a child,’ purports a famous African saying. It’s certainly a phrase that has struck a note with Don Perigny, Director Supply Chain at Werfen. For Perigny, the ‘village’ is Werfen’s supply-chain and procurement team, although he does extend the sentiment to Werfen’s wider network, including its suppliers and partners, who have kept the former professional sportsman busy at the company for over 21 years.
Werfen is a worldwide leader in the area Specialised Diagnostics for Hemostasis, Acute Care, Transfusion, Autoimmunity and Transplant. The Company also has an OEM division, focused on customised diagnostics. Werfen’s annual revenue exceeds $2bn with a worldwide workforce of 7,000, operating in approx. 35 countries and more than 100 territories through its network of distributors.
We join Perigny at his office in Bedford, Massachusetts. He’s just back from a week at Werfen’s San Diego offices, where he spent some quality time with his extended (work) family. And it’s soon clear that the people, the culture and what Werfen does for the world is crucial to Perigny and the wider workforce at the company.
Plus, we have expert-driven analysis on hot topics such as AI in supply chain, tackling global regulations and how to encourage more women into supply chain and procurement.
This month’s exclusive cover story features a fascinating discussion with Dhaval Desai, Principal Group Engineering Manager at Microsoft, regarding a massive and sustainable supply chain transformation at the tech giant…
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This month’s exclusive cover story features a fascinating discussion with Dhaval Desai, Principal Group Engineering Manager at Microsoft, regarding a massive and sustainable supply chain transformation at the tech giant…
In the past four years, Microsoft has gained more than 80,000 productivity hours and avoided hundreds of millions in costs. Did you miss that? That’s probably because these massive improvements took place behind the scenes as the technology giant moved to turn SC management into a major force driving efficiencies, enabling growth, and bringing the company closer to its sustainability goals.
Expect changes and outcomes to continue as Dhaval Desai continues to apply the learnings from the Devices Supply Chain transformation – think Xbox, Surface, VR and PC accessories and cross-industry experiences and another to the fast-growing Cloud supply chain where demand for Azure is surging. As the Principal Group Software Engineering Manager, Desai is part of the Supply Chain Engineering organisation, the global team of architects, managers, and engineers in the US, Europe, and India tasked with developing a platform and capabilities to power supply chains across Microsoft. It’s an exciting time. Desai’s staff has already quadrupled since he joined Microsoft in 2021, and it’s still growing. Within the company, he’s on the cutting edge of technology innovation testing generative AI solutions. “We are actively learning how to improve it and move forward,” he tells us.
We also have some inspiring and informative content from supply chain leaders and experts at Schneider Electric, Smart Cube, Protokol, Red Helix and Astrocast. Plus, expert predictions for 2024 from leading supply chain leaders, as well as a round-up of the best events this year has to offer!
This month’s cover story features Fiona Adams, Director of Client Value Realization at ProcurementIQ, to hear how the market leader in providing sourcing intelligence is changing the very face of procurement…
And below are just some of this month’s exclusives…
ProcurementIQ: Smart sourcing through people power
We speak to Fiona Adams, Director of Client Value Realization at ProcurementIQ, to hear how the market leader in providing sourcing intelligence is changing the very face of procurement…
The industry leader in emboldening procurement practitioners in making intelligent purchases is ProcurementIQ. ProcurementIQ provides its clients with pricing data, supplier intelligence and contract strategies right at their fingertips. Its users are working smarter and more swiftly with trustworthy market intelligence on more than 1,000 categories globally.
Fiona Adams joined ProcurementIQ in August this year as its Director of Client Value Realization. Out of all the companies vying for her attention, it was ProcurementIQ’s focus on ‘people power’ that attracted her, coupled with her positive experience utilising the platform during her time as a consultant.
Although ProcurementIQ remains on the cutting edge of technology, it is a platform driven by the expertise and passion of its people and this appealed greatly to Adams. “I want to expand my own reach and I’m excited to be problem-solving for corporate America across industries, clients and procurement organizations and teams (internal & external). I know ProcurementIQ can make a difference combined with my approach and experience. Because that passion and that drive, powered by knowledge, is where the real magic happens,” she tells us.
ASM Global: Putting people first in change management
Ama F. Erbynn, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at ASM Global, discusses her mission for driving a people-centric approach to change management in procurement…
Ripping up the carpet and starting again when entering a new organisation isn’t a sure-fire way for success.
Effective change management takes time and careful planning. It requires evaluating current processes and questioning why things are done in a certain way. Indeed, not everything needs to be changed, especially not for the sake of it, and employees used to operating in a familiar workflow or silo will naturally be fearful of disruptions to their methods. However, if done in the correct way and with a people-centric mindset, delivering change that drives significant value could hold the key to unleashing transformation.
Ama F. Erbynn, Vice President of Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at ASM Global, aligns herself with that mantra. Her mentality of being agile and responsive to change has proven to be an advantage during a turbulent past few years. For Erbynn, she thrives on leading transformations and leveraging new tools to deliver even better results. “I love change because it allows you to think outside the box,” she discusses. “I have a son and before COVID I used to hear him say, ‘I don’t want to go to school.’ He stayed home for a year and now he begs to go to school, so we adapt and it makes us stronger. COVID was a unique situation but there’s always been adversity and disruptions within supply chain and procurement, so I try and see the silver lining in things.”
SpendHQ: Realising the possible in spend management software
Pierre Laprée, Chief Product Officer at SpendHQ, discusses how customers can benefit from leveraging spend management technology to bring tangible value in procurement today…
Turning vision and strategy into highly effective action. This mantra is behind everything SpendHQ does to empower procurement teams.
The organisation is a leading best-in-class provider of enterprise Spend Intelligence (SI) and Procurement Performance Management (PPM) solutions. These products fill an important gap that has left strategic procurement out of the solution landscape. Through these solutions, customers get actionable spend insights that drive new initiatives, goals, and clear measurements of procurement’s overall value. SpendHQ exists to ultimately help procurement generate and demonstrate better financial and non-financial outcomes.
Spearheading this strategic vision is Pierre Laprée, long-time procurement veteran and SpendHQ’s Chief Product Officer since July 2022. However, despite his deep understanding of procurement teams’ needs, he wasn’t always a procurement professional. Like many in the space, his path into the industry was a complete surprise.
But that’s not all… Earlier this month, we travelled to the Netherlands to cover the first HICX Supplier Experience Live, as well as DPW Amsterdam 2023. Featured inside is our exclusive overview from each event, alongside this edition’s big question – does procurement need a rebrand? Plus, we feature a fascinating interview with Georg Rosch, Vice President Direct Procurement Strategy at JAGGAER, who discusses his organisation’s approach amid significant transformation and evolution.
We look into the need for a supply chain reset amidst inflation concerns, supply uncertainty, geopolitical issues and sustainability drives.
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Today’s supply chains are under pressure like never before.
Amidst inflation concerns, supply uncertainty, geopolitical issues and sustainability drives, the modern supply chain is having to think twice about the way it operates. It means companies are rethinking their supply chain strategy as well as the materials they source and the suppliers they work with. But such significant change doesn’t come easy and isn’t necessarily cheap either. Indeed, these factors have led to the necessity of a great supply chain reset. But this is no easy fix. It impacts the entire business model, from strategy, marketing and design all the way through packaging, storage and transportation.
Supply Chain Revolution
The first part of a supply chain overhaul is rationalising the portfolio. A major review of the product portfolio could reveal what is profitable to make or sell. In many industries, the combined effect of the rising cost of products, logistics, carbon charges for border crossings and frequent supply disruptions is increasing the cost-to-serve, reducing gross margins and making it unprofitable to hold inventory as a buffer.
Leading companies look for ways to improve communications among the supply chain, leadership, sales, and other commercial teams so that supply chain leaders clearly understand the trade-offs required to win in the market. The most successful companies are also involving other key stakeholders in the supply chain balance equation discussion, including finance, R&D, regulatory, sustainability, and procurement. This ensures everyone understands all the implications of the proposed overhaul, particularly what can actually happen.
COVID-19 disruptions pushed companies to reorient their supply chains around resilience. According to Bain & Company, management at one global apparel firm recognised early on that this would require a transformation that would have ripple effects across other parts of the business. In order to make the correct decision, it pulled together a cross-functional strategy team that included the heads of supply chain, finance, sustainability, consumer insights, and the product’s business unit. The team saw the supply chain redesign as an opening to not only boost resilience but also responsiveness and sustainability. It found reducing reliance on any one location would provide insulation from supply disruptions, and making its products closer to customers would speed up delivery and shrink the supply chain’s carbon footprint.
Design to delivery and beyond
Taking a detailed view of the entire product journey, from design to delivery and beyond, can also help to simplify sourcing, by standardising as many elements as possible, reducing the range and specification of materials used for production and packaging. This means fewer suppliers and components, which lowers the exposure to disruption. Companies should investigate whether it’s possible to use less material and/or more recycled content, and whether this can reduce total cost of manufacture.
Today, chief supply chain officers balance multiple conflicting needs of cost, service, sustainability, agility and resilience. As a result of increasingly international trade complexity and the need to manage a widening range of risks, it’s difficult to determine where products should be manufactured and sold. While the onshoring versus offshoring versus friendshoring debate remains, it is further complicated by issues such as sustainability, trade wars, agility and, increasingly, visibility.
In the era of mass offshoring, manufacturers have enjoyed the huge scale efficiencies of large manufacturing centres in low-wage countries. For a wide range of products, there is a now a considerable and visible shift to get closer to the end customer, to ensure a faster response to changing consumer demands, while avoiding tariffs, cutting logistics costs and reducing carbon footprint.
Looking ahead, supply chain has little choice. It can’t stand still and wait for the next black swan event to unfold – companies must be more resilient and fluid. A great supply chain reset may not just be a “nice to have” anymore.
We look into the supply chain production process of Easter Eggs and the journey to their final destinations in supermarkets
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Chocolate is arguably the world’s most popular sweet treat. Depending on who you ask, of course.
After, perhaps Christmas, it is the most common time for people to indulge in chocolate if they don’t do so anyway throughout the year.
And synonymous with Easter are the eggs themselves which are loved by children and adults alike all over the world.
The journey to Easter Eggs
The supply chain process is split into eight stages of production: cultivating, harvesting, splitting, fermentation, drying, winnowing, roasting and grinding. Following production, the supply chain process is extended further with logistics which is the final step to providing customers with their favourite seasonal sweet treat.
The journey actually begins with cocoa tree plantations being established which is done by scattering young cocoa trees amongst new shade trees or by planting the cocoa trees between established trees. These are planted in humid tropical climates, with temperatures between 21 and 23 degrees Celsius. This is consistent rainfall periods and a short dry season because these conditions provide good quality cocoa.
Each tree produces 20-30 cocoa pods a year which grows straight from the tree’s trunk and main branches. With this tree also yielding fruit, the crop is carefully pruned, and as a result, it is easier to harvest the cocoa pods. The next step is the labour-intensive task of harvesting the crop.
The harvest is a whole community affair on small West African farms. Large knives are then used to detach the pods from the trees and placed in large baskets on workers’ heads. The pods are then manually split open to remove the beans so they are ready for the two-step curing process. Each pod consists of between 20-40 purple cocoa beans.
The curing process consists of fermenting and drying the beans to develop the chocolate flavour. There are several fermentation methods but the most traditional is the heap method. This requires placing mounds of wet cocoa beans in between layers of banana leaves on the ground for between five to six days. Following this, the drying stage begins. This involves the wet bunch of beans being spread out in the sun or using a more advanced method of special dying equipment.
From plant to factory
Often, a lot of large chocolate brands then buy the cocoa through intermediaries. The beans are then packed into sacks ready to be exported to the brands processing facilities in other locations globally.
After arrival, the beans are cleaned and quality inspected before the winnowing stage takes place. The dried beans are cracked to separate the shell from the nib which is where the small chunks are used to produce chocolate. Afterwards, the roasting phase begins in which the nibs are baked at high temperatures reaching 120 degrees Celsius in special ovens. This is where the colour and flavour is acquired.
Subsequently, the next stage is grinding which creates the basis of all chocolate products. The roasted nibs are grounded in stone mills until a thick liquid chocolate consistency is achieved.
Chocolate to egg
The final step is creating the chocolate egg masterpiece by using highly efficient computer-operated technology which has been used since the mid-20th century. The molten chocolate is placed in heated egg molds which are rotated so there is an even thickness. Following this, the eggs are left to cool and then removed from the molds. Once cooled, the eggs are wrapped in coloured foil and packaged into individual boxes before being sent out for retail. The transportation and exportation throughout the various supply chain stages is vital being a seasonal product. This means they are heavily relied upon for their timings to deliver to large supermarkets and independent stores.
The second issue of SupplyChain Strategy is live! Features exclusive articles on TTI and McPherson’s
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Our exclusive cover story this month sees us speaking to Heath Nunnemacher, VP of Global Electronics Sourcing at TTI, who details the streamlining of its procurement function into a more efficient and effective value-unlocking enabler of business.
Techtronic Industries (TTI) is among the world’s largest manufacturers of mostly cordless power tools, outdoor power equipment, and floorcare products for both professional users and do-it-yourself (DIY) consumers.
TTI’s growth has been extraordinary – 13 years of consecutive double-digit gross margin improvement, in fact. In 2021 the company set a new revenue growth record just shy of 35%, more than twice that of its closest global competitor.
A significant driver of that growth is a strategic focus on disrupting industries through leadership in cordless technology. To do so, it requires advanced electronics and collaboration with the most innovative and biggest players in the industry. But with the chip shortage crisis looming on the horizon in late 2020, the organisation found itself challenged by a severe lack of visibility in the electronics procurement function. Enter Heath Nunnemacher, the man charged with transforming electronics procurement for the overall betterment of the business.
Not only that, but we also have a fascinating discussion with McPherson’s Supply Chain Director Mark Brady. The health, wellness, and beauty giant McPherson’s has a rich history of agile procurement through resilience and collaboration and Brady reveals its secret sauce.
Plus, we detail the important supply chain trends to look out for in 2023 as well as five top supply chain events coming up!
How can businesses cope with persistent, global supply chain issues and what are the concerns looming on the horizon?
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The Digital Insight speaks to Nirav Patel, CEO of Bristlecone (a supply chain company of the $19bn Mahindra group), who discusses how businesses can cope with persistent, global supply chain issues – and outlines the concerns looming on the horizon.
Our aim is to bring you the latest actionable insights into every issue relating to supply chain management from the world’s leading exponents. Each issue will lift the lid on the supply chain transformations taking place, right now, at enterprises across every sector and territory.
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Our cover story this month, features Thiago Braga, Director of Supply Chain Management at the City of Edmonton, Canada who discusses how improved operations are keeping the City healthy amid a range of challenges…
When Braga accepted his current role with the City of Edmonton in January 2019, a supply chain transformation program was envisioned that would evolve, and streamline, operations, while bringing in leading practices, standard practices, and best practices.
Upon his appointment, the workplace culture and environment were decentralised, more fragmented and so Braga got to work on creating a more unified approach. “Basically, my role is to support City operations,” Braga reveals. “My job is to keep buses and trains running as well as other rolling assets, like police or fire truck vehicles. Keeping the operations running and adding value while doing so would be the core.”
We also hook up with Karon Evanoff, Vice President, Global Supply Chain at QSC, to discuss supply chain transformation at the audio manufacturer. “I don’t think anyone – especially when you get to the senior management level – wants to sit in an office and just do spreadsheets every day,” Karon Evanoff says, when describing why continual learning is the number one driver for her.”
Elsewhere, we look at sustainability in the supply chain and why third-party risk should be a number one priority for businesses and chief supply chain officers.
We hope you enjoy the issue and tell your friends and colleagues!
The right time to digitalise the supply chain and reap the multiple benefits is now.
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As the global components shortage continues to challenge businesses, the value of a digitalised supply chain becomes increasingly clear. As the return to normal supply levels is still some way off and the situation is not expected to recover until 2023, the time to digitalise the supply chain and reap the multiple benefits is now. Whereas once supply chain digitalisation provided a competitive edge, it has since become an industry standard required to keep pace in an evolving industry with unpredictable challenges.
The benefits of digitalisation
Make no mistake, digitalising a business’ supply chain is not an easy task and is by no means a quick fix. It takes extensive research and planning before any updates can be made and once the transformation is underway, businesses are constantly learning and improving their operations based on feedback and data collected.
However, the business benefits of a digitalised supply chain validate the time and effort required to undergo a digital transformation of supply chain management.
Improved accuracy and efficiency are two of the most impactful factors of supply chain digitalisation. With real-time tracking and the removal of human error through software-led processes, businesses gain complete transparency of operations at every stage of the supply chain.
Software-led processes and the introduction of automation can also result in reduced processing time, greater operational productivity and maximised ROI. If the old saying rings true and ‘time is money’, then improved efficiency with greater accuracy can only be a good thing for business.
Greater flexibility and agility in responding to change is another valuable benefit brought by a digitalised supply chain. As many businesses have already experienced, supply and demand fluctuations can be rapid and circumstances outside of a business’ control can also affect supply chain management.
Though there will always be some element of the unexpected, technology such as automated stock management and predictive analytics support in the identification and handling of upcoming challenges. Armed with both big data and data specifics at a more granular level, businesses can make better-informed decisions, manage a crisis more effectively and identify areas of improvement and opportunity, at all times.
Making it happen
Every digital transformation requires a strategy and there are multiple achievements to celebrate on the way to reaching the end goal of holistic supply chain digitalisation. Identifying the areas which need priority attention will help structure your strategy. Your digitalisation plan should be a series of incremental improvements, as opposed to a sudden and radical change.
Auditing your existing supply chain is a sensible starting point for discovering opportunities for improvement, establishing strengths and weaknesses, and honing in on risk factors and threats to your operations.
Using the knowledge and expertise of IT professionals within your business and operations management staff who are familiar with the everyday running of each stage of the supply chain is the best way to gain a clear insight into which aspects of the chain are strong and which are letting you down.
Your operation management team will also be the ones using your new digitalised supply chain so gaining their insight, expertise and buy-in from the start of the project is highly valuable for future success.
Software Implementation
Software is at the heart of supply chain digitalisation and businesses are spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting digital logistics and supply-chain-management software (SCMS) that can oversee transactions, manage relationships with suppliers and streamline your processes.
There is a challenge however when it comes to deciding whether to build or buy your software solution.
Though ready-made software is the quicker and more simple option, out-of-the-box solutions may not meet the exact needs of your business and customised plugins or add-ons may be required to tailor your solution exactly as you require.
The alternative would be to build your own software in-house, which takes a huge chunk of existing resources, adding pressure to already busy teams.
Arguably outsourcing a custom-built solution from a reputable partner, who fully understands your pain points, risk factors and overall transformation strategy is the best way to gain a tailor-made software solution whilst keeping everyday operations running smoothly.
Harnessing the power of real-time data, automation and AI
Real-time data should be gathered at numerous points in the supply chain and can be gathered through a range of methods. From IoT devices to Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and GPS, the data gathered by these technologies improves your supply chain connectivity at every step.
This data also facilitates increased visibility, improved security, cost analysis insights and accountability. From production to distribution to retail, IoT, RFID and GPS provide efficiency, transparency and data-driven insights to help businesses maximize ROI and continue to improve operations.
Automation and AI also support in the processing of payments, the rapid sharing of information, inventory updates, tracking information, omnichannel retail sales, email automation and setting new cost goals.
Although these technologies will never entirely replace the human touch, they can assist with repetitive, manual tasks and be the first point of contact for customers which can direct customers to the correct individual or department.
SCMS systems can integrate real-time data, automation and AI into supply chains on each level, streamlining processes to be more efficient, making more accurate predictions and protecting a business should something unforeseeable occur.
Realising Industry 4.0
Ultimately, digitalising the supply chain, however, your business chooses to do so is the realisation of the Industry 4.0 vision which hinges on leveraging digital technology without siloed data, processes and systems.
The pillars of Industry 4.0 namely IoT, big data and data analytics are the main aspects to be updated in any supply chain digitalisation and taking a comprehensive approach to digitalising the supply chain means data is no longer siloed and useless but is integrated into every business decision, under any circumstance.
A supply chain digital twin is also a helpful tool which provides a detailed simulation of an actual supply chain using real-time data and snapshots to forecast supply chain dynamics. From this, businesses can understand their supply chain’s behaviour, predict abnormal situations, and work out an action plan. The most effective supply chain management sees digitalisation throughout and can also call upon the use of digital twins to simulate the supply chain and enable the whole ecosystem to enjoy the same level of visibility and forecasting to inform every stage of the supply chain.
Though investment in time and money, the benefits of digitalisation are evident not only in reacting to unexpected challenges but also in the day-to-day running of a business which wants to keep pace and remain competitive in the digital age.
Author: Rasheed Mohamad, Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Business Technology, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
The list of drivers to better understand global supply chains grows every day.
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The list of drivers to better understand global supply chains grows every day. Motivations range from increasing operational efficiencies, the ability to better respond to supply chain shocks, managing potential reputational risks through the exposure of unexpected issues with suppliers, as well as preparing for the wave of in-coming supply chain legislation.
So how can better quality supply chain data help with these challenges?
At Open Supply Hub, we begin our work from a clear starting point: if there’s no shared understanding of where global facilities are located, there’s certainly no understanding of the environmental or social conditions at those facilities. Historically, supply chain data has been hidden behind a lock and key which has benefited very few. In addition to this, at even as basic a level as name and address information for global production facilities, the quality of data has been surprisingly poor. What this means is that bad practices can lurk in the shadows undetected – practices which contribute to some of the fundamental issues of our time, such as deforestation, child and forced labour and the impacts of climate change.
To break it down, supply chains today have:
Untrustworthy data: where data does exist, it’s riddled with errors and duplications and is not standardised. To put it bluntly: it’s a mess.
Inaccessible information: as alluded to above, data is locked away in private databases, instead of being made available to all. This presents a huge hurdle to collaboration.
Fee-based facility IDs: without freely available facility IDs, access to information is inequitable, which prevents truly seamless exchange between systems and stakeholders.
Gaps in coverage: when data lives in silos like this, it creates difficulties in gaining a clear understanding of global supply chains.
The key to addressing this is high-quality, open supply chain data. This term “open data” is a precise one, with a technical definition: according to the Open Knowledge Foundation, “Open data is data that can be freely used, shared and built on by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose”. There are two key elements to openness:
Legal openness: you must be allowed to get the data legally, to build on it and to share it
Technical openness: there should be no technical barriers to using that data.
Through this seemingly simple mechanism of opening up supply chain data, many of the challenges described above are quickly addressed. Launching in late 2022, Open Supply Hub will be an accessible, collaborative, supply chain mapping platform, used and populated by stakeholders across sectors and supply chains.
It will provide:
One common registry: cross-sector supply chain data collected in a single place, accessible to all.
Reliable, current data: all data contributed to the platform will be cleaned and deduplicated by a matching algorithm, with each facility assigned an industry-standard ID. Continuously gathering and refreshing data from industry has the added benefit of keeping that data current which, in turn, leads to…
Global collaboration: the user-generated dataset gives visibility into which organisations are connected to which facilities, accelerating collaboration.
We know this approach works from our experience of building the Open Apparel Registry (OAR). One compelling example of how the dataset has been used to highlight risks to investors came in the immediate aftermath of global production reopening after the pandemic lockdowns.
As India sought to re-open its economy and kickstart production, many labour laws were relaxed in the state of Uttar Pradesh, removing basic protections for workers relating to mandatory overtime, work breaks and more. Investors with holdings in major global fashion brands were able to run combination searches in the OAR to understand their exposure to risk in this area and adjust their investment strategies accordingly. Without access to this open data set, the ability to understand and divest from this investment risk would have been much more challenging during a time when global supply chains were in a constant state of flux.
As we look ahead to the raft of in-coming supply chain disclosure legislation, uncertainty remains high about what exact format these various reporting requirements will take. However, one thing that will not change is that data format and standardisation will be key to ensuring that the data being gathered and shared is of practical use to create change. If data is locked away in PDFs, tables embedded in websites or scattered between disparate databases, it becomes totally impractical to work with. The power of a centralised, open data repository lies in making data comparable, actionable and usable. That’s where creating change begins.
Author: Katie Shaw, Chief Programme Officer of Open Supply Hub
We list five vital books in procurement and supply chain strategy that are reshaping the way we work.
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We list 5 essential procurement/supply chain management books that are reshaping the way we work today.
Trade Wars, Pandemics and Chaos
How digital procurement enables business success in a disordered world
Dr. Elouise Epstein
Foreword by Len DeCandia
In our conversation with procurement leaders, this book comes up time and time again. Dr. Epstein is a digital futurist and Kearney partner with over two decades of experience working as a trusted adviser with major clients to develop digital procurement and supply chain strategies.
An in-depth look at how to strategise, evaluate and approach the fast-changing realm of digital procurement, Epstein’s book identifies how, more than any other enterprise function, procurement has grown from back-office cost control to strategic business partner. Of course, today’s procurement practitioners are also at the forefront of innovation, sustainability, and social responsibility, and so making changes by directing where and how enterprises spend their money is proving increasingly vital.
This book is a hugely trusted partner in establishing a blueprint for approaching the complexities of modern procurement and how and where to make smart technology investments.
Sustainability, Innovation and Procurement
Edited by Sachin Kumar Mangla and Sunil Luthra
The world is in a constant state of unprecedented change with rising inflation and costs, geo-political and energy crises plus the effect of climate change upon our lives and businesses. Sustainable procurement is the hot topic right now. Indeed, the pursuit of sustainable objectives through the purchasing and supply process, while balancing environmental, social, and economic objectives is a common challenge facing procurement and supply chain leaders. But worry not, as this book will help readers develop new contemporary knowledge about frameworks, innovative tools and techniques to achieve sustainability in public as well as private procurement practices. The book will enable scholars and practitioners working in the domain of sustainable procurement to improve the overall performance of the supply chain and further achieve UN SDGs, by making various decisionsat the planning and strategic phase of the business.
E-Logistics – Managing Digital Supply Chains For Competitive Advantage
Edited by Yingli Wang and Stephen Pettit
Unlocking value and streamlining processes is proving to be a driver for supply chain professionals with E-Logistics fast becoming a burgeoning function. Serving as the central nervous system for the whole supply chain enabling smooth information flow within, and between, organisations, E-Logistics offers myriad benefits and value. This new and updated edition provides the latest and most comprehensive coverage on digitalisation in logistics and supply chain and covers all transport modes, plus the role of ICT in supporting an integrated freight and supply chain network.
Buying technology is easy. Buying the right technology is much harder. While buying the wrong technology can be disastrous. With the rise of cloud services and the digitisation of all business units, procurement managers need to understand how to buy technology services in order to generate revenue, drive innovation and retain customers. The Technology Procurement Handbook provides a structured and logical view of the digital buying process, including invaluable advice on how to manage digital demand, prepare sourcing strategies, analyse the cost and benefits of proposed solutions and negotiate and implement comprehensive agreements.
The Technology Procurement Handbook examines the multiple streams of data that feed into the technology procurement process and includes case studies and extensive practical advice based on the authors experience from recent procurement projects.
Disruptive Procurement Winning in a Digital World
Edited by Michael F. Strohmer, Stephen Easton, Martin Eisenhut, Dr. Elouise Epstein, Robert Kromoser, Erik R. Peterson, Enrico Rizzon
There is no doubt that procurement has undergone a major revolution in recent years and one of the most fascinating off-shoots from this change has been Disruptive Procurement; a radical new approach to creating value and innovation by challenging the status quo in the entire product and service line. It requires going far beyond conventional desktop procurement to understand the value the company brings to its customers as well as the value that suppliers bring to the company. Disruptive Procurement Winning in a Digital World boasts a strong raft of contributors, with a wealth of experience across the procurement sphere.
To move toward Disruptive Procurement, companies need a holistic view and a complete new set of capabilities for staff in marketing, sales, R&D, manufacturing, innovation, and, of course, procurement. This will only happen if procurement is fully backed by the Chief Executive Officer and companies embrace digital tools that will help make procurement slimmer and smarter.
Disruption and uncertainty mean a myriad challenges face organisations ad the weakest link in the supply chain can appear quickly and unexpectedly.
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We live in unprecedented times and such disruption and uncertainty mean myriad challenges facing organisations. And the weakest link in the supply chain can appear quickly and unexpectedly.
Over the last two years, supply chain professionals have been hit by an unprecedented raft of disruptions. As we fast forward into the future, this trend shows no sign of abating. The chaos caused by the lockdown of the world’s busiest port – Shanghai – shows that the impact of COVID on global supply chains is far from a thing of the past. The Suez Canal blockage in March 2021 and the ongoing crisis in semiconductor availability are two other examples of how macroeconomic events can impact supply chains. Now, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions it has triggered, have caused further major global trade disruptions. High global fuel prices and accessibility of other components are also affecting production and transport in many industries.
In Germany, Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW have all reduced output due to problems with the supply of wire harnesses from Ukraine, which are vital to the manufacture of cars. Russia is also an important source of many metals used in the aerospace industry and others in hi-tech and electronics.
Given all this disruption, it is little surprise that the concept of VUCA – which stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity – has rocketed up the agenda for businesses determined to ensure products arrive with customers in the right place at the right time.
This is no trivial matter. The interruption of Ukrainian agricultural processes, for example, threatens the supply of wheat to several countries, and the production lines of many consumer goods companies. In extreme cases with political consequences.
Planning and execution
The myriad challenges facing organisations means that the weakest link in the supply chain can appear quickly and from unexpected areas. This gives organisations precious little time to pivot and build a blend of resilience and agility. It makes the need to shrink the time between planning and execution crucial as volatility continues, particularly in order to meet relentlessly high consumer expectations.
This is where supporting technologies come into play. As they look to strengthen their supply chains and make them more resilient, businesses should consider solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve forecasting. AI can look at patterns across huge datasets that go far beyond human capability to write intelligent algorithms or analytics. Organisations are then able to proactively identify gaps or issues with more accurate demand forecasts, sales orders, material, capacity, shipments, and other elements of supply; with automatic alerts for any exceptions. This can then augment human expertise to help plan for the unexpected.
Organisations can go a stage further and better identify any weak or potentially weak links in supply by creating a digital twin of their end-to-end business flow. This is a virtual model that accurately represents the lifecycle of a physical supply chain using live and up-to-date data. Within a virtual environment where numerous scenarios and changes can be simulated without consequence, organisations are able to strengthen the physical supply chain’s agility and speed with tried and tested improvements.
The supply chain links at greatest risk of disruption are not the only ones that should be considered potentially weak and in need of attention.
Linear supply chain models need to give way to circularity, which allows for waste reduction and reusing and recycling of resources.
Putting sustainability at the centre of supply chain planning and decision making will add further resilience across all links, but also reduce reliance on hard-to-access and more scarcely available raw materials. It is a complex issue. However, ensuring sustainable practices would provide the resilience needed to help navigate all the challenges past, present and future.
Addressing weak spots
Supply chains are today going through major transformational change, which has been driven by a range of external challenges and emerging trends. There’s little doubt that 2022 and the years beyond will bring further hurdles. Organisations need to take action now to be best prepared for the unexpected. Particularly when you consider the increasingly interconnected nature of 21st century supply chains.
As circumstances change around organisations, they need to ensure that their supply chains continue to provide the goods and services to the end consumers that rely on them. Applying supporting technologies can enable them to shine a light on any weak spots and move quickly to rectify these, keeping the flow of products moving. Organisations can then ensure that every link is as strong as the other, future-proofing supply chain operations.
For CEOs, the importance of supply chains to their business has never been clearer. They are a key engine to business, so it is critical that they remain well-funded and at the top of the business agenda.
It’s an open secret: enterprises that want to effectively reduce their CO2 emissions need to first and foremost address their supply chain.
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It’s an open secret: enterprises that want to effectively reduce their CO2 emissions need to first and foremost address their supply chain. Up to 90% of a company’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from here. A new software-driven approach to tackle these emissions is developed in cooperation of O2 Telefónica and the startup The Climate Choice – with first results and breakthrough learnings.
It’s an open secret: enterprises that want to effectively reduce their CO2 emissions need to first and foremost address their supply chain. Up to 90% of a company’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from here. A new software-driven approach to tackle these emissions is developed in cooperation of O2 Telefónica and the startup The Climate Choice – with first results and breakthrough learnings.
O2 Telefónica aims to be net CO2 neutral by 2025 at the latest. The company has already reduced the CO2 emitted directly, in Scope 1, and indirectly through electricity purchases, in Scope 2, by 97 % since 2015. Now, the aim is to discover climate-related risks and find potential solutions in collaboration with their suppliers. This leads to the biggest corporate challenge of today: a structured climate transformation process along the supply chain needs structured climate data management. However, obtaining climate-relevant data along the supply chain and successfully engaging suppliers in decarbonisation efforts is not easy. Many questions arise: what are the challenges and risks, best practices, and opportunities to collect, validate and report this data?
A pioneering collaboration to collect climate-relevant data
To find an answer to all these questions, O2 Telefónica and climate tech startup The Climate Choice have set out to launch a joint climate data program. For this purpose, the telecommunications provider uses The Climate Choice’s software platform, to facilitate the efficient and effortless collection of climate-focused data from around 1,000 suppliers. The top 40 suppliers are also invited to carry out a software-driven climate rating in order to uncover potential for decarbonisation and to identify tailor-made fields of action. The qualitative and quantitative data resulting from this serves as the basis for a Scope 3 decarbonisation strategy for O2 Telefónica. The collaboration preceded a pilot project in which the individual climate maturity of selected suppliers was recorded and validated.
Using The Climate Choice’s new solution approach and software tool, O2 Telefónica was able to develop a transparent, scalable process for collecting comparable data on the climate maturity of its suppliers.
This data fuels The Climate Choice’s intelligent data platform and allows to obtain supply chain specific benchmarks, year-to-year comparisons and actionable reporting through dashboards, which ensures ongoing control of engagement results, core KPIs and aggregated metrics. This way one can shed light on the status of its supply chain decarbonisation journey. Find in the following our exclusive insights on this process.
From past performance to forward-looking metrics
To fully understand the decarbonisation processes of companies such as O2 Telefónica in Scope 3, we must first take a look at the data that companies need in order to fully align suppliers with their climate strategy. Typically, if you think about climate KPIs and metrics for climate action, you might think of CO2 emissions. Of course, this is not wrong, since the carbon footprint is among the most important indicators for measuring a company’s climate impact. However, its exclusive use for supplier decarbonisation is problematic for three reasons:
Availability is very limited.
Comparability is hard due to a lack of calculation standards.
Measured CO2 emissions are backward looking, so-called lagging KPIs, and only indicate what happened last year.
That is why it is crucial to look at forward-looking metrics, so-called leading KPIs. These metrics draw a picture of the direction the company will move towards over the next few years. Thus, they reveal if a company’s climate transformation is already happening and if yes, to what degree. It is therefore important to look at whether climate targets of your suppliers are being seriously pursued and if they are compatible with your own goals. Furthermore, you must know what governance processes are in place within the company, whether the company is managing climate-related risks and opportunities, and what data is already disclosed supporting this.
Author: Lara Obst, Chief Climate Office, The Climate Choice
