Lee A. Klaskow

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with Sean Elliott, CEO of ToolsGroup, to discuss why uncertainty is no longer something supply chain leaders should fear—and how the right technology can turn volatility into advantage. Elliott brings decades of experience across supply chain execution and planning, a background that shapes his pragmatic leadership philosophy. As he noted, bad plans can cripple even the best execution environments, just as poor execution can undermine well-crafted plans. ToolsGroup’s mission sits squarely at that intersection.   What Makes ToolsGroup Different Elliott described ToolsGroup as one of the few truly probabilistic planning providers in the market. While many vendors claim probabilistic capabilities, most stop at probabilistic forecasting. ToolsGroup goes further by embedding probabilistic thinking across the full breadth of its planning technology. The company’s belief is simple but powerful: uncertainty is not the enemy—it’s an asset. Rather than chasing forecast accuracy for its own sake, ToolsGroup focuses on business outcomes. What planning organizations really care about, Elliott argued, is having the right inventory in the right place at the right time to satisfy customers. Customer satisfaction—driven by availability, pricing, and service—is the ultimate goal. Probabilistic planning enables organizations to…

At MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, Scott Luton sat down with Christine Barnhart, Head of Industry Engagement & Alliances at Miebach. She is known by many across industry as “The Supply Chain Whisperer.” Their conversation covered everything from AI and supply chain maturity to workforce evolution and the importance of practical execution. Through it all, Barnhart offered a grounded perspective shaped by years of operational leadership and transformation work. And if there’s one central takeaway from the discussion, it’s this: the companies that succeed won’t be the ones chasing hype. But they WILL be the ones building resilient, executable supply chains.   There Is No “Normal” Anymore Supply chain leaders have spent years navigating disruption, but Barnhart believes the industry has finally reached an important realization. “People have finally come to this conclusion that there is no such thing as normal anymore,” she explains. That mindset shift is changing how organizations think about planning, investment, and agility. Network design exercises that once happened every three to five years are now being revisited continuously. Companies are investing in tools that shorten decision cycles and improve responsiveness in near real time. The old approach that focused on “design once, optimize later” – –…