Lecedra Welch

For another year, Supply Chain Now Founder, CEO, and Host Scott Luton has been named to the Thinkers360 Top Voices of 2025, a prestigious global recognition honoring influential experts shaping conversations across business and technology. Described as the “definitive list of leading experts,” the Thinkers360 Top Voices Awards celebrate thought leaders who consistently share valuable insights and help advance professional knowledge across industries. Honorees are selected based on demonstrated expertise, impact, and meaningful contributions to the broader thought leadership community. Luton’s inclusion once again highlights his ongoing impact on the global supply chain community – from hosting thousands of interviews with industry leaders to spotlighting innovation, leadership, and the real-world challenges facing operations today. Through Supply Chain Now’s podcasts, livestreams, event coverage, and collaborative content, his work continues to connect practitioners with practical ideas they can immediately apply. As supply chains grow more complex and interconnected, recognition like this reflects not just individual influence, but the strength of a community committed to learning and improvement. Scott’s voice, and the voices he amplifies, continue to help leaders navigate change, build resilience, and move the industry forward. Learn more about Thinkers360 and the Thinkers360 Top Voices award here.

Prospects of supply chain automation have the industry abuzz. It’s even become a major sticking point in the International Longshoremen’s Association contract negotiations with the United States Maritime Alliance. The dockworkers do not want ports to automate processes out of fear they will lose their jobs to machines. Today, there are seemingly endless possibilities for optimization. Terms like generative artificial intelligence and machine learning have become commonplace in discussions about ways to gain efficiencies and reduce costs. Can man and machine work together as businesses leverage automation for optimization? Beyond the Buzz: Understanding the Automation Imperative Machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), is described by Business News Daily as a later-stage development in which machines take in data on their own and then analyze it. Automation, on the other hand, is fixed on repetitive tasks; after a job is performed, an automation system “thinks no further.” The Business News Daily article explained that “automation involves an entire category of technologies that provide activity or work without human involvement,” while AI involves “a machine exhibiting and practicing something similar to what we describe as human thinking – that is, the ability to interact in thousands of ways with the…