David Phillips

At the 2025 Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton met with John Lash, who leads strategy and vision at e2open, a WiseTech Global Group company. E2open is a global platform powering the entire lifecycle of making, moving, and selling goods, with capabilities spanning planning, logistics, global trade, supply management, and procurement. The platform is designed not just for enterprise visibility but for true end-to-end coordination across extended supply chain ecosystems. Lash emphasized that disruptions rarely originate within a company’s four walls. “Your sub-tiers are where most of the risk lives,” he explained. “That’s where your day-to-day operations—and your long-term strategy—are truly shaped.” It’s a lesson sharply reinforced during the pandemic, which reminded leaders worldwide that no one does supply chain alone.   Old Challenges Intensified by New Realities When Luton asked about the biggest challenges facing planning teams today, Lash pointed immediately to constraints—supply constraints, manufacturing constraints, and now, the added layer of global trade volatility. Trade policies that once shifted every few years now change weekly, daily, or even hourly. Lash offered a striking example: Brazilian coffee duties jumped from 10% to 50% this summer—before returning to 0%. “How do you plan through that?” he asked.…

It might have been a short week for some, but at Supply Chain Now, it was chock-full of great interviews, conversations, livestreams, and episodes!   For a bonus episode on Saturday, Scott and Greg welcomed Tyson Steffens with Pallet Alliance and Jom Fechner with USG to the podcast to talk about building a national procurement program and optimizing your spend.   Supply Chain Now · “How and Why to Build a National Procurement Program to Optimize Your Spend”   On Monday, Scott dug back into the archives for This Week in Business History, and gave us all the story behind Labor Day.   Supply Chain Now · “This Week in Biz History for September 7th: The Story Behind Labor Day”   On Tuesday, Jamin Alvidrez joined Scott as co-host, and welcomed a couple of amazing people in logistics and transportation, Trey Griggs with Lean Sales and Nicole Glenn with Candor Expedite.   Supply Chain Now · “The Amazing People of Logistics & Transportation: Featuring Nicole Glenn & Trey Griggs”   Tim Judge with Agillitics and Nate Endicott with RateLinx joined Scott and Greg on Wednesday for a great conversation on agile decision making in supply chain.   Supply Chain Now…