5 Supply Chain Predictions on our 2026 Bingo Card

Special Guest Blog Post written by Philip Vervloesem

If your supply chain planning still runs on a monthly cycle, 2026 will be uncomfortable.

We are operating in a polycrisis where change is constant, and responses need to be fast enough to keep up. From customer conversations, industry research, and leadership discussions at the Gartner supply chain conferences, a clear pattern has emerged: the organizations pulling ahead are not planning more often. They are embedding agility, intelligence, and speed into the way they make decisions.

Here are five predictions shaping supply chain excellence in 2026 – our “bingo card” for what’s now table stakes.

1. Continuous, always-on planning is a must

Monthly or quarterly cycles are no longer enough. The organizations that outperform treat planning as a continuous capability embedded in daily operations, and make it part of their governance and operational excellence.

Imagine this: a sudden surge in demand hits or a supplier flags a delay. Instead of waiting for the next planning cycle, teams immediately evaluate options, share insights across functions, and adjust course. Planning stops being a calendar exercise and starts shaping real-time decisions.

“By shifting from process-centric to decision-centric planning, we now run hundreds of scenarios weekly, improving decisions and performance.” – David Kochanek, Evonik Oxeno

Events set the pace, not planning calendars.

2. Geopolitical volatility becomes structural

Tariffs and trade disruptions are no longer surprises. High-performing organizations plan for multiple futures instead of a single optimized setup.

These teams keep sourcing, production, and distribution scenarios active in parallel. When a sudden tariff occurs, they do not scramble. They already know how to shift volume, adjust exposure, or redesign networks. Decisions are pre-evaluated, fast, and backed by data rather than instinct.

Scenario-based planning is now a leadership discipline. Supported by explainable AI (XAI), it allows teams to act decisively under uncertainty, keeping business moving while others hesitate.

3. Agentic AI enters the planning workflow 

Planning is getting more complex every year, but planner capacity has not grown at the same pace. The solution is AI agents embedded directly in workflows.

These agents track signals, flag exceptions, and suggest actions before problems escalate. Planners remain firmly in the loop, bringing judgment, context, and accountability to AI-supported decisions. As highlighted in Zero100 discussions, technology only delivers value when teams have the skills to work with it confidently and critically. Skills such as interpreting AI-driven scenarios, challenging assumptions, and translating insights into action are what turn agentic AI from promise into performance.

“We’re already using generative AI to support adoption of our framework through a large language model. The next step is applying AI agents for different personas to augment planners with intelligence and help them move away from the daily planning grind.” – Mark Trainor, AstraZeneca

Instead of only a tool, AI functions as an active teammate supporting planners.

4. Generative AI becomes a planning teammate

With UnisonIQ, generative AI is already changing how planners interact with their systems. Instead of navigating dashboards or static reports, teams converse with AI to explore scenarios, test assumptions, and understand trade-offs in real time.

The impact comes when adoption is purposeful. As highlighted by Kevin O’Marah at the OMP Conference Miami 2025, the limiting factor in AI-enabled supply chains is not technology, but the people who translate AI capabilities into business decisions. Integrated fusion teams, bringing together planners, data experts, and technologists, play a critical role in making AI insights relevant, trusted, and actionable.

Generative AI becomes a true planning teammate when it supports decisions as they happen and continuously learns from outcomes. The result is faster decision-making without losing the reflection and insight needed to improve performance over time.

5. Accelerate the impact of planning success

Long, drawn-out transformation projects are losing favor. In 2026, the measure of a planning initiative is not how ambitious it is, it is how quickly it delivers impact.

A great example is Arxada, which shared in a recent webinar how they approached planning transformation in phases. By delivering measurable improvements in months instead of years, they built confidence across teams, accelerated adoption, and created opportunities to adjust processes as they went.

Time to value goes beyond efficiency and delivers real competitive advantage. Teams that respond quickly to disruption outperform those stuck in slow, rigid processes.

Are you ready or not? 

If these shifts are on your supply chain bingo card, you’re already playing to win. Continuous planning, scenario-driven decisions, and human-AI collaboration are table stakes. Teams that act now will turn disruption into opportunity, while those who wait will fall behind.

Learn how leading teams are making smarter decisions in 2026

With 22 years’ supply chain digital transformation experience in a whole range of industries, Philip Vervloesem currently leads OMP’s business and market development globally while heading up the company’s US operations. Focusing on vision, strategy, and global community building, Philip has a proven history of boundary stretching and thought leadership in supply chain planning innovation, building new markets, and growing and supporting high-performing teams on both sides of the Atlantic.