Greg Buzek

Special Guest Blog Post written by Sofia Rivas Herrera   One of my greatest joys is travelling around the world; learning about other cultures, ways of living and traditions. I often say that “everything is supply chain”, and this topic is no exception. When we plan a trip, we first start by defining origin and destination followed by when we want to travel and how. Then we evaluate how much we want/can spend and identify our non-negotiables, which start reducing the horizon of combinations and options we have. Does this sound familiar? In my mind this is very similar to processes within planning, procurement, network optimization and supply chain strategy. Here are 5 questions travel-related that I loved to be asked to help prove my point of this connection with supply chain:   What is the best way to plan a trip?   Planning a trip is no different than planning a new distribution model or redesigning your network. This process can look a bit like this: Define your route; origin and destination Identify your constraints: budget, time available, level of convenience and comfort, Run your optimization scenarios From there, you identify available lanes, available modes of transport, and available…

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with Sean Elliott, CEO of ToolsGroup, to discuss why uncertainty is no longer something supply chain leaders should fear—and how the right technology can turn volatility into advantage. Elliott brings decades of experience across supply chain execution and planning, a background that shapes his pragmatic leadership philosophy. As he noted, bad plans can cripple even the best execution environments, just as poor execution can undermine well-crafted plans. ToolsGroup’s mission sits squarely at that intersection.   What Makes ToolsGroup Different Elliott described ToolsGroup as one of the few truly probabilistic planning providers in the market. While many vendors claim probabilistic capabilities, most stop at probabilistic forecasting. ToolsGroup goes further by embedding probabilistic thinking across the full breadth of its planning technology. The company’s belief is simple but powerful: uncertainty is not the enemy—it’s an asset. Rather than chasing forecast accuracy for its own sake, ToolsGroup focuses on business outcomes. What planning organizations really care about, Elliott argued, is having the right inventory in the right place at the right time to satisfy customers. Customer satisfaction—driven by availability, pricing, and service—is the ultimate goal. Probabilistic planning enables organizations to…