Karen Pretorius

This week at Supply Chain Now has been full of great conversations and key takewaways you don’t want to miss. Check out all the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams right here! On Saturday, Scott & Greg Chat Automotive & Leadership with Jim Liegghio & Elba Pareja-Gallagher   On Monday, Scott and Greg welcome SAP business leaders that are fueling industry 4.0, Mike Lackey and Robert Merlo, who share key takeaways from a wide variety of initiatives right here.   On Tuesday, Scott and featured guest Jonathon Karelse, CEO of Northfind Management, lead the conversation surrounding the next big idea for decision making and planning in most companies: Behavioral Economics.   On Wednesday, Scott and Greg hosted welcomed Kara Brown and Will Haraway from LeadCoverage to Supply Chain Buzz where they discussed recent developments in supply chain, key takeaways surrounding customer experience, democratization in the TMS space and technology trends.   On Thursday, Scott and Greg welcomed two business leaders from OMNIA Partners, Lisa Wittmer and Dan Grant, for a discussion on how modern GPO is future-proofing the global supply chain.   And we ended the week with an episode of TECHquila Sunrise. Featured guest Jason Perez, CEO of YARDZ,…

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton caught up with Rob Haddock, a seasoned supply chain practitioner and advisor with Demand Chain AI, to discuss the persistent planning challenges organizations face—and why maturity, discipline, and optimization still matter more than buzzwords. Demand Chain AI blends consulting services with advanced supply chain technologies, focusing on optimization across trade promotion management, demand sensing, supply planning, and detailed production scheduling. Haddock’s role centers on helping organizations strengthen business processes—particularly sales and operations planning (S&OP), performance reporting, and the practical application of technology to improve execution on both the demand and supply sides.   A Practitioner’s Perspective on Planning Gaps Haddock’s perspective is shaped by decades spent inside large, sophisticated supply chain organizations. Early in his career, he worked within an iconic, global beverage company where advanced planning environments were already in place—though, in hindsight, he admits those tools were sometimes underutilized. Today, Haddock spends much of his time working with small and mid-sized organizations that haven’t been as fortunate. In many of these environments, planning maturity is still low, foundational practices are missing, and—unsurprisingly—Excel remains the primary planning tool. “Basic business practices that have been around since the 1990s…