Dr. Gordon Wilmsmeier

At MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, Scott Luton sat down with Andre Luecht, Global Strategy Lead for Transportation, Logistics & Warehousing at Zebra Technologies, to explore how synchronization, visibility, and practical innovation are shaping the next phase of supply chain performance. Interestingly, the conversation began not with technology, but with competitive dragon boat racing, a hobby of Andre Luecht’s that he enjoys in his free time. For Luecht, the analogy is clear: success depends on alignment. “The team that is the most synchronized team is the one that wins,” he explains, a principle that applies just as much to supply chains as it does to sport.   Turning Data Into Decisions At the Edge Zebra Technologies has long been known for enabling visibility across supply chains, from barcode scanning to RFID and beyond. But today, the focus is evolving toward something more powerful: decision-making at the edge. Luecht describes a world where frontline workers are empowered with real-time intelligence directly on their devices. “AI… is what you can build into a device in the hand of someone who has to decide what truck a certain pallet goes onto,” he says. This concept, what Zebra calls “frontline AI”, brings intelligence closer to…

Scott Luton: “SAP Sapphire 2026 featured a major emphasis on the Autonomous Enterprise and AI-powered business operations. From your perspective, what was one session (or prevalent theme amongst attendees) that you found to be particularly intriguing? And why?” Richard Howells: “Great session by Dominik Mark Metzger on the Future of Supply Chain – SAP Sapphire Virtual – Session Catalog. At SAP Sapphire, we’re introducing Autonomous Supply Chain Management, enabled by new Joule Assistants and Industry AI scenarios that apply this model to daily operations across planning, manufacturing, logistics, engineering, and asset management. General availability will be phased throughout 2026, starting now. By introducing a new set of AI-driven assistants and agents, we’re moving orchestration toward an autonomous operating model, where planning, manufacturing, logistics, and asset operations increasingly anticipate, coordinate, and resolve without manual intervention at every step. Highlight for me was the simple definition of the Autonomous Supply Chain where “People direct, AI Assistants orchestrate, and Agents execute”. Also, a callout to Rebecca Kaufmann from Takeda Pharmaceuticals for a great overview of how her company are, and plan to leverage AI to “augment human expertise and reduce the technical burden”.” Scott Luton: “There’s a growing sense across the industry that…