Gretchen Smith

From Grocery Innovator to Global Tech Enabler At Manifest 2026, Scott Luton spent time with David Scheffrahn, Vice President of Sales with Ocado Intelligent Automation, to explore how fulfillment technology is evolving in an era defined by volatility. While Ocado is widely known in the UK and Europe for its e-commerce grocery leadership, Scheffrahn explained that the company’s North American focus is different. Over 25 years of building its own advanced grocery e-commerce and fulfillment operations, Ocado developed a powerful technology stack to drive efficiency. “What we’ve done in the last five years,” he shared, “has taken the tech stack that we built for our own use, and now we’re offering it to other companies to buy and use for their operations.” Today, Ocado supports 3PLs and global brands with end-to-end automation solutions that enable companies to maintain greater control over their omnichannel fulfillment, especially those looking for alternatives to marketplace giants.   Volatility Hasn’t Gone Away When asked about dominant supply chain themes heading into 2026, Scheffrahn was direct: “Volatility has not gone away.” He described 2025 as “a massive shock in the system,” with tariffs and shifting trade policies forcing customers to pause projects and reassess strategy. “Almost…

It’s been an exciting week here at Supply Chain Now! Get ready to hear all the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams from this week right here. On Monday, we released 3 new episodes! In this episode of Supply Chain Now, we introduced the relaunch of our Supply Chain Real Estate series, in partnership with Prologis. Special host Ward Richmond of Colliers International joined our Supply Chain Now host Scott Luton to welcome Melinda McLaughlin and Megan Creecy-Herman of Prologis to the show. On This Week in Business History, Scott Luton shares 9 Things you Didn’t Know About Tina Fey. On Supply Chain Now en Espanol, host Enrique Alvarez welcomed José Luis Silva Vázquez with Dux Capital to hear stories from his childhood and how self-motivation and taking risks have gotten him where he is today. On Tuesday, we released 2 new episodes! On this episode of TEKTOK, Kelly Barner and Enrique Alvarez joined Karin Bursa and Scott Luton to discuss how the industry has bounced back since the pandemic began and how far we’ve come on a few important themes around digital supply chain and procurement. On TECHquila Sunrise, host Greg White continued his conversation with stealthy startup co-founder…