Ken Ackerman

It has been another busy week for Supply Chain Now! Did you catch all the episodes? If not, no worries! Check them all out here:   We started out the week with a new episode in our Logistics with a Purpose series sponsored by our good friends at Vector Global Logistics. Listen as Scott, Greg, and Enrique have a great conversation with Mickey Horner with Rise Against Hunger.     On Tuesday, Scott and Greg were joined by AIAG’s CR Summit speaker Joerg Walden, CEO of iPoint.     Then we published the new and improved Supply Chain Buzz, with Scott and Greg sharing and discussing the latest news and events in Supply Chain and beyond.     Scott and Greg were joined by Randy Strang with MedShare on Thursday for another episode in the Logistics with a Purpose series, sponsored by Vector Global Logistics.     And to wrap up the week, Scott and fellow host Fred Tolbert with Demand Solutions were proud to host three exceptional Supply Chain students from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.  

At Manifest 2026, Scott Luton spent time with Josh Gruenstein, Co-Founder and CEO of Tutor Intelligence, to talk about a future that’s no longer theoretical: AI-powered robot workers operating inside America’s warehouses and factories. And this isn’t a science experiment. It’s already happening.   From MIT to the Warehouse Floor Gruenstein and his team came out of MIT’s Computer Science and AI Lab with a bold idea: build AI-powered robot workers that can handle the manual labor people don’t want to do. “We build physical robots,” Gruenstein explained. “We build AI models that enable robots to perceive their environments, and then we deploy those robots into factories and warehouses across the United States to do manual labor that people don’t want to do.” Unlike traditional automation projects that require massive capital outlays, Tutor Intelligence operates on a robots-as-a-service model. Companies can engage a Tutor robot for roughly $14–$18 an hour, creating a flexible, scalable path to automation without multimillion-dollar implementation risk.   Automation Isn’t New. AI Is Changing the Playbook. When asked about dominant supply chain themes, Gruenstein pointed to a constant drumbeat: automation. But 2026 feels different. “Automation is obviously a constant theme,” he said. “What really seems different…