Alicia Washkevich

At the jampacked MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, Scott Luton sat down with Brian Devine, President & CEO of Ignite Industrial Professionals, for a grounded and timely conversation about one of the most pressing issues in global supply chain: the workforce. While automation continues to dominate headlines, Devine makes one thing clear: people are still at the center of it all. And finding them is getting harder by the day.   “Fingerprints on Every Box” Despite rapid advancements in robotics and automation, Devine emphasizes a fundamental truth that often gets overlooked. “There’s still… fingerprints on boxes. Somebody’s putting their fingerprints on tons of boxes to move it to the next phase of the supply chain,” he explains. Even in many highly automated environments, human labor remains essential. Devine shares an example of a cutting-edge facility where autonomous forklifts handle part of the process, but still rely on human operators to complete the job. The takeaway? Automation is largely augmenting, rather than replacing, the workforce. And that makes the labor shortage even more critical to address.   A Shrinking Labor Pool One of the most compelling parts of the discussion centers on simple supply-and-demand economics. The labor pool isn’t just tight. It’s…

Listen Up! This week was full of thought leadership, industry news, and strategic insights, so make sure to catch all things Supply Chain Now right here!   On Monday, Charles Walker and Enrique Alvarez joined Scott and Greg to talk about Leadership Lessons Learned. Listen up if you’re ready to feel inspired!     On Tuesday, Mike Griswold, VP of Research at Gartner, joined our hosts Scott Luton and Greg White to discuss the top stories, news, and trends in supply chain today.     On Wednesday, Azaleah Davis joined us on the podcast to talk about how she found her way into engineering and biomechanics, the evolutionary journey aspriing leaders have to be willing to take to be their best self, and more!   If you missed Monday’s The Buzz livestream, then check out Thursdays podcast episode of the replay featuring the Lora Cecera, Founder of Supply Chain Insights, as she joins our hosts Scott and Greg to dive into the top news in supplu chain this week plus share her own incredible story and inspirational perspective.   And on Friday, we finished off with a Dial P for Procurement livestream. Tune in as hosts Kelly Barner and Scott…