Josh Pendrick

At Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2026 in Orlando, some of the sharpest minds in supply chain gathered to tackle one central question: what does the next operating model for supply chain actually look like? In a special livestream conversation, Scott Luton sat down with Mike Griswold, VP Analyst at Gartner, alongside fellow Supply Chain Now hosts Karin Bursa and Jake Barr, to unpack the biggest themes emerging from this year’s symposium. The consensus? Supply chain leaders are moving beyond AI fascination and toward something much bigger: redesigning how decisions, workflows, and organizations operate.   AI Is No Longer the Story. Outcomes Are One of the strongest themes from the event was a more mature, pragmatic approach to AI adoption. According to Mike Griswold, many organizations are finally moving past the “shock and awe” phase that dominated conversations a year ago. “People need to figure out exactly what problem or problems AI is going to solve for them,” Griswold explains. That may sound simple, but it represents a significant shift. Instead of experimenting with AI for AI’s sake, companies are becoming more disciplined about identifying operational value and measurable business outcomes. Griswold also warns against a familiar trap: creating “highly efficient…

Warehouses are not running out of labor. They are running out of labor that can sustain the pace. Manual firefighting, overtime, and constant reassignment push skilled associates to burn out faster than they can be replaced. The result is a cycle of turnover, training, and rising labor costs that slow performance and strain budgets. This whitepaper breaks down the current state of labor in distribution, including turnover trends, overtime risk, burnout dynamics, and the true cost of churn. Click here to download and see how labor forces impact throughput, planning, and workforce strategy today.