Michael Caney

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton caught up with Rob Haddock, a seasoned supply chain practitioner and advisor with Demand Chain AI, to discuss the persistent planning challenges organizations face—and why maturity, discipline, and optimization still matter more than buzzwords. Demand Chain AI blends consulting services with advanced supply chain technologies, focusing on optimization across trade promotion management, demand sensing, supply planning, and detailed production scheduling. Haddock’s role centers on helping organizations strengthen business processes—particularly sales and operations planning (S&OP), performance reporting, and the practical application of technology to improve execution on both the demand and supply sides.   A Practitioner’s Perspective on Planning Gaps Haddock’s perspective is shaped by decades spent inside large, sophisticated supply chain organizations. Early in his career, he worked within an iconic, global beverage company where advanced planning environments were already in place—though, in hindsight, he admits those tools were sometimes underutilized. Today, Haddock spends much of his time working with small and mid-sized organizations that haven’t been as fortunate. In many of these environments, planning maturity is still low, foundational practices are missing, and—unsurprisingly—Excel remains the primary planning tool. “Basic business practices that have been around since the 1990s…

This post is written in partnership with Reuters Events: Supply Chain. Reuters Events connects the world’s most senior supply chain leaders through conferences, research, and digital content. Learn more: events.reutersevents.com/supply-chain/usa   When decisions cannot keep pace with change There is a moment most planning leaders recognise right now: A tariff announcement lands. A carrier pulls capacity. Demand accelerates faster than the forecast adjusts. The decision window compresses, and by the time there is confidence in the data, the cost of delay is already building. These pressures across supply chains are not new. What has changed is the speed at which conditions move underneath a decision, often faster than organisations are set up to respond. Customer expectations do not flex when supply does not. The cost of a wrong call, whether inventory in the wrong market, capacity committed too early, or service levels slipping before anyone flags them, compounds quickly. Most organisations have responded by investing. Better tools. More data. AI pilots. Network reviews. The core problem persists: decisions are still being made without full confidence. Planning and execution do not align when conditions change. In many cases, the issue is not disruption itself. It is how long organisations take to…