Supply Chain Now

Recent Episodes

1. The Buzz: AI at Scale, Panama Canal Risk, and the Future of IBP

   Sep 18, 2026

   Dheera Anand, Partner at Bain & Company, joins Scott Luton and Tanzil Uddin to discuss critical supply chain challenges including Panama Canal disruptions, inflationary pressures, and consumer behavior shifts. The episode explores how companies are moving beyond AI pilots to create operational value, and examines the evolution of integrated business planning (IBP) in an era of constant disruption, with emphasis on scenario planning, complexity management, and always-on decision-making enabled by AI.

2. What Have We Learned Thus Far From AskLora.AI?

   Sep 16, 2026

   Lora Cecere, founder of Supply Chain Insights, and Wael Abdelmalek, CEO of Uthereal, discuss the research behind Supply Chains to Admire and how it powers AskLora.AI, a private large language model-based benchmarking and advisory platform for supply chain leaders. They explore why traditional supply chain rankings reinforce conventional thinking, how verified research and industry-specific data improve benchmarks, and why leaders must balance growth, operating margin, inventory turns, and return on capital employed rather than optimizing individual functions for cost. The conversation covers real-world use cases showing how organizations are leveraging AskLora to review strategy documents, benchmark performance, and challenge assumptions about supply chain performance.

3. Lessons Learned from 50 Years in Leadership in the Transportation World

   Sep 14, 2026

   Marcia Taylor, owner and CEO of Bennett Family of Companies, discusses 50+ years of leadership in transportation and logistics. Starting with 15 trucks and 30 trailers in 1974, she took over the company after her husband's unexpected death in 1981 and grew it into a diversified organization with 14 business units spanning general freight, heavy haul, aerospace, ammunition transport, and warehousing. The conversation explores how faith, customer relationships, family culture, and strategic diversification have enabled sustained growth while preserving core values.

4. The New Rules of Global Supply Chain Strategy

   Sep 11, 2026

   Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM), discusses how supply chain leadership is fundamentally transforming in response to AI, geopolitical complexity, and resilience demands. He explains why AI success depends on data quality, talent, and governance rather than technology alone; how globalization is being redrawn around regionalization and optionality rather than pure cost efficiency; and how the chief supply chain officer role is evolving into an enterprise strategist responsible for balancing resilience, sustainability, and competitive advantage. Eshkenazi also previews ASCM's CHANGe 2026 conference in Long Beach and his book, "The Chain: Links That Bind Us," which reframes supply chain strategy from the consumer demand signal backwards.

5. Inside Gallo's Grape-to-Glass Supply Chain

   Sep 9, 2026

   Andrew Rice, senior ERP technical product manager at Gallo, discusses the complexity of the wine supply chain from grape to glass. The episode covers unique regulatory challenges including the three-tier system, state-by-state compliance, and the role of aging in inventory management. Rice explains how weather impacts harvest and flavor consistency, and how Gallo balances luxury brands with commercial products while leveraging technology like agentic AI and automation to manage operations at scale.

6. The Buzz: From Silicon to Steel - The Supply Chains Behind AI

   Sep 4, 2026

   Gaurav Singh Chaudhary, founder and editor of Silicon and Steel, joins hosts Scott Luton and Karin Bursa to explore the physical infrastructure powering AI, EVs, and modern supply chains. The episode examines Walmart's $1.5B automated fulfillment investment in Georgia, the collapse of the Southern timber industry, nuclear energy as a critical bottleneck for AI data centers, and how EV and AI manufacturers compete for the same semiconductor and manufacturing capacity. Chaudhary emphasizes that the digital economy depends entirely on physical supply chains—chips, energy, batteries, logistics networks, and resilient global trade relationships.

7. What Global Supply Chain Can Learn from the Fintech World

   Sep 2, 2026

   Theodora Lau, founder of Unconventional Ventures, joins Scott Luton and special co-host Bill Huber to discuss trust as the primary driver of AI adoption, lessons global supply chains can learn from fintech innovation, and the critical importance of governance and data control. The conversation spans trust dynamics across geographies, open banking principles, the distinction between healthy and harmful friction in systems, and how companies should approach AI transformation responsibly.

8. Vin Vashishta on AI Agents, Semantic Layers & CIO Leadership

   Aug 31, 2026

   Vin Vashishta, CEO and AI strategist at V-Squared, discusses critical gaps in AI agent management, workflow reorchestration, and CIO leadership strategies. The episode covers intent contracts and audit trails for AI governance, budget overruns in AI deployments, semantic layers and imperfect data, and the need for evidence-based AI strategies that connect directly to business ROI rather than generic frameworks.

9. The Buzz: Decision Velocity, AI Agents, and The Future of Supply Chain Planning

   Aug 28, 2026

   Philip Vervloesem, Chief Commercial and Markets Officer at OMP, joins Scott Luton and Karin Bursa on The Buzz to discuss forces reshaping global supply chains, including extreme weather impacts, China's automotive dominance, and the critical role of decision velocity. The conversation explores how organizations can combine AI, scenario planning, and human judgment to respond more effectively to disruption, emphasizing that successful supply chain transformation requires both intelligence and emotional quotient (EQ).

10. Analysis of the Q2 2026 U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index

    Aug 26, 2026

    Supply Chain Now hosts Scott Luton and Karin Bursa discuss the Q2 2026 U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index with Bobby Holland, Director of Freight Business Analytics at U.S. Bank, and Dr. Jason Miller, Eli Broad Endowed Professor of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. The episode examines a divergence between soft freight volumes (down 1.1% QoQ, 2.8% YoY) and sharply elevated shipper spending (up 6.4% QoQ, 28% YoY), revealing a capacity-constrained market rather than a demand-driven one. Regional analysis shows the West performing strongest with 5.5% annual shipment growth, while the Southwest faces the largest volume-spending disconnect (shipments down 20.2%, spending up 40%) due to cross-border capacity constraints. The discussion covers housing market headwinds, the surging physical supply chain for AI and data centers, and implications for freight rates and capacity through the remainder of 2026.