Kate Kaufman

BIG WEEK here at Supply Chain Now! Did you catch all the episodes? If not, listen here! We added a special Saturday episode on the 11th in our Logistics with Purpose series. Scott, Greg, and Enrique Alvarez hosted Jonathan Starr and Trudy Hall with the Abaarso School.   Supply Chain Now · “Logistics with Purpose: Jonathan Starr & Trudy Hall with the Abaarso School”   On Monday, we celebrated our 400TH EPISODE and the entire Supply Chain Now team shared their favorite episodes and topics in this special show!   Supply Chain Now · “The Supply Chain Now Team Reflects on 400 Episodes”     Then on Tuesday, we featured This Week in Business History, where Scott looks back at some of the biggest historical events in business history for the week ahead. This week focused on the beginnings of Boeing.   Supply Chain Now · “This Week in Business History for July 13th: Boeing Takes Off in the Pacific Northwest”     On Wednesday we published the Supply Chain Buzz, where Greg and Scott discussed the top supply chain news of the week, and were joined by special guest Kevin L. Jackson, with SourceConnecte.   Supply Chain Now ·…

Uncertainty Is the New Baseline At Manifest 2026, Scott Luton spoke with Romain Moulin, CEO and co-founder of Exotec, to discuss how warehouse automation is evolving in an era defined by volatility. “The big trend of last year was uncertainty,” Romain said, reflecting on 2025’s tariffs, economic tensions, and shifting trade dynamics. “Anything that would be done needed to deal with uncertainty.” Rather than waiting for stability, companies are designing operations that assume change is constant. “Anything that is going on now must be projects that are able to reorganize themselves,” he explained. Warehouses must be robust, agile and flexible as to whatever the next disruption brings.   From Conveyors to Configurable Robotics Exotec is known for inventing 3D warehouse robots (Skypods) that move across the floor and climb racks up to 14 meters (46 feet) to retrieve totes and deliver them to operators. But beyond the visual wow factor, the real transformation is simplification. “The time of bespoke complex warehouses tailored to a very specific need is over,” Romain said. Customers are moving toward more generic, adaptable warehouses. Exotec replaces hardware complexity with intelligent software. “We don’t program the solution,” he noted. “We let the software find the best…