Chris Lankford

Listen up to the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams from Supply Chain Now this week!   On Monday, Scott Luton and guest host Will Haraway welcomed JP Wiggins with 3Gtms for a conversation on transportation management and even a little baseball!   On Tuesday, Host Karin Bursa welcomed supply chain genius Criag Ablin to TEK TOK to discuss the 6 levers that drive digital and physical success.     On Wednesday, we kicked off our Reverse Logistics series in partnership with the Reverse Logistics Association featuring Chuck Johnson, COO of goTRG. Tune in for a great conversation about peak returns season, with passionate opinions from Chuck, our hosts Scott, Greg, and Tony Sciarrotta, and our audience!   On Thursday, Scott Luton, Greg White, and Enrique Alvarez sat down to discuss all the top news and biggest stories in supply chain this week on The Supply Chain Buzz.   On Friday, Scott Luton dived into the top news in business, including industry developments in the tech and talent sector, aviation, the beverage industry, and more!   And we wrapped up with a bonus livestream this Saturday to discuss Supply Chain leadership across Africa. Which was your favorite episode? Make sure…

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with Nari Viswanathan, a veteran innovator in the planning and procurement technology space and a key leader at Coupa. The two reconnected after several recent collaborations—including webinars, industry sessions, and conversations in Dallas—and discussed the new realities of supply chain planning and how organizations are embracing technology like never before.   Coupa and Autonomous Spend Management For those less familiar with Coupa, Viswanathan explained the company as the global leader in autonomous spend management—a framework that brings together direct and indirect spending to help organizations manage total spend more intelligently. Direct spend, of course, is where supply chain operations come into focus, making planning, design, and cost optimization central to the value Coupa delivers. Viswanathan leads Coupa’s global supply chain strategy, shaping how the company positions and scales its solutions across the market. After years spent in supply chain planning technology, he now sits at the intersection of procurement, supply chain, and advanced analytics—an area he believes has never been more exciting or more critical.   Old Problems, New Pressures—and a Greater Willingness to Innovate When asked about the biggest challenges facing planners today, Viswanathan emphasized a…