Mickey Horner

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…

Get ready to increase your supply chain IQ! We’re looking back on the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams from this week right here. On Monday, we released 2 new episodes! In this episode of Digital Transformers,hosts Kevin L. Jackson and Scott Luton learn about the power of the IBM cloud ecosystem from Brian Fallon, Vice President of Global Sales for the IBM Partner Ecosystem. On This Week in Business History, Kelly Barner dives into the rise of Warren Buffet, the completion of the transcontinental railroad, some interesting business birthdays, & the invention of the tubeless tire. On Tuesday, we released 2 new episodes! On this episode of Supply Chain Now, Gugulethu Hughes, Founder of Clinch, joins our hosts Scott and Greg to share the number one challenge for the startup economy in Africa, why corporate social responsibility programs are falling short in eliminating child labor, & more. On TECHquila Sunrise, host Greg White welcomed stealthy startup co-founder and Venture Partner at Kubera Venture Capital, Sena Zorlu, to look into the minds of investors, revealing what makes them tick and how founders can communicate clearly with them. On Wednesday, we released an episode in our Reverse Logistics Series in collaboration…