Len DeCandia

Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now. On Monday’s episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton leads the conversation on reverse logistics and welcomes Tony Sciarrotta with RLA and Rich Bulger with Cisco to the show. On This Week in Business History, Scott tells the rags to riches story of Airbnb and more. On Tuesday we released a classic episode of TEKTOK in which Karin Bursa shares the 3 Things C-Level Execs Need to Know About Sales & Operations Planning and Inventory Optimization. On Tuesday we also released a new episode of TECHquila Sunrise. Greg White welcomed Kubera Venture Capital’s Balaji Gopinath and special guest Robin Gregg, CEO of RoadSync. On Wednesday, Scott had the opportunity to talk with some of the University of Georgia’s up-and-coming Supply Chain Rising stars, Jessie Bailey and Elena Griggs. We also released another episode of the Supply Chain Buzz featuring Mike Griswold, and presented by OMNIA Partners. Scott, Greg, and Mike discussed everything from rising COVID-19 infections impact of the supply chain to the United Nations response to climate change. On Friday, host Page Siplon sat down with Griff Lynch…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Jeff Echel and Steve Lykken with e2open   Supply chain planners in high-tech don’t just manage shipments; they’re crisis managers, data detectives, and sometimes, referees in a high-stakes game of inventory tug-of-war. Why do these planners find themselves huddled in “war rooms,” surrounded by spreadsheets and urgent emails? It starts with relentless pressure: customers expect rapid, reliable service, but the reality is a maze of long lead times, outsourced manufacturing, and unpredictable global logistics. Securing critical components can take months, and a single misstep, like overstocking or missing a shipment, can ripple through the business, impacting revenue and margins. The chaos: War rooms and spreadsheet battles Add to that, the complexity of forecasting demand. Planners reconcile noisy, inconsistent data from retailers and distributors, often with little visibility, into . Forecasts are built, torn down, and rebuilt, sometimes manually, as teams try to align bottom-up channel data with top-down financial targets. Meanwhile, supply plans are constantly threatened by shortages, excess inventory, and last-minute changes. When demand surges or supply is disrupted, channels compete for limited stock, sometimes “stealing” from each other, and sometimes winning simply by being the loudest voice in the room. All of…