Megan Bowen

Supply Chain Now is the voice of the supply chain industry, and our hosts are experts in the field. Podcast listeners and webinar viewers tune in to hear the sage advice of host Jake Barr, heralded as an architect of global supply chain strategy and creator of “profit powerhouses.” Earning His Spot on Stage Barr today is the CEO of BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, which provides support to such Fortune 500 companies as Cargill, Caterpillar, 3M, PepsiCo, and Pfizer and helps them bring products to market. “We place a premium on accelerating speed to market by leveraging supply chain transformation,” he says. “The result is better operating margin performance and the opportunity to drive faster growth in revenue.” During his more than 33 years with Procter & Gamble, Barr served as the global director of supply network operations and led the end-to-end planning transformation project, which created control towers that now manage the daily business globally and earned him recognition as the architect for the company’s demand-driven supply chain strategy. He served on the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics advisory council for its Supply Chain 2020 Project, was named to the League of Leaders for retail and consumer goods…

Warehousing historically hasn’t been a particularly exciting topic. But times have changed. Thanks to technological innovations, warehouse automation has made the receiving, housing, and distributing of goods truly fascinating stuff. At Supply Chain Now, we spotlight companies doing exciting things throughout the industry. In modern warehousing, the innovations garnering attention include systems integrations involving robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI); the use of optical character recognition (OCR) technology in yard management; an “elegant” automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS); and a solution called Chuck. Warehousing at a Crossroads: Innovation for Efficiency “The warehousing industry is experiencing a technological revolution, with advancements in automation, robotics, IoT, AI, and data analytics transforming operations and driving efficiency. These innovations are not just enhancing operational capabilities but are also paving the way for smarter, more connected, and efficient warehouse environments,” an October report by Taiwan-based logistics property developer ALP said. ALP said AS/RSs, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and robotics “are at the forefront of the smart warehousing revolution. These systems enhance efficiency, reduce labor costs, and improve accuracy.” AI and Robotics: A New Frontier for Modern Warehousing A Forbes Council post in November said that “one of the most visible impacts of AI and…