Fred Tolbert

Did you catch all the episodes from Supply Chain Now this week? If not, get a quick summary and listen here! We added TWO additional episodes this week starting on Saturday, July 25th. We continued our Logistics with Purpose series, sponsored by Vector Global Logistics, and welcomed Kevin Carvajal with Salesian Missions. Supply Chain Now · “Logistics with Purpose: Kevin Carvajal with Salesian Missions”     On Sunday, we featured our recent webinar, “Stand Up & Sound Off: A Conversation About Race in Industry,” and welcomed panelists Dyci Sfregola and David Burton to Supply Chain Now.   Supply Chain Now · “Stand Up & Sound Off: A Conversation About Race in Industry”     We featured another great episode in This Week in Business History on Monday, where Scott looks back at some of the biggest historical events in business history for the week ahead. This week, he spoke about the past, present, and future of the cannabis industry.   Supply Chain Now · “This Week in Business History for July 27th: The Past, Present, & Future of the Cannabis Industry”     Then on Tuesday, we shared our live-stream with Jeff Cashman of GreyOrange with our podcast audience, as…

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with Caglar Ozdag, a supply chain leader at ZS. Known for its deep analytics and technology expertise across industries such as life sciences, airlines, consumer goods, and agriculture, ZS has become a trusted partner for organizations looking to elevate their planning and manufacturing performance. Ozdag leads the firm’s supply chain practice with a focus on planning from detailed forecasting through detailed scheduling. As a former practitioner himself—having led planning operations at large global enterprises—he brings a grounded, real-world perspective to the challenges facing today’s supply chain leaders.   Old Problems Persist—and New Ones Are Emerging When asked about classic and emerging challenges in planning, Ozdag didn’t hesitate: firefighting isn’t going away. From supply planning disruptions to last-minute schedule changes, firefighting remains a daily reality. “Life happens,” Ozdag noted. Plans rarely match reality, and organizations must constantly adjust. But today, a new layer has been added: AI uncertainty. Everywhere he goes, leaders are asking the same questions: “Is AI the right investment?” “Will the ROI materialize?” “Are we adopting the right tools, or just chasing hype?” This blend of enduring complexity and emerging skepticism has become a defining…