Neeraj Shah

Special Guest Blog Post written by Karin Bursa, Founder and CEO of NIRAKIO and Supply Chain Now Host   Artificial intelligence is no longer a “what if” in supply chain — it is here. In fact, Gartner predicts that 50% of cross-functional supply chain management solutions will use intelligent agents to autonomously execute decisions in the ecosystem by 2030. But how do leaders move from hype to real impact? During our recent Supply Chain Now Power Panel, I asked five senior executives to share where they see AI making the biggest impact. Their answers revealed not just excitement, but a roadmap for how supply chains can evolve. Here is how they responded, in their own words. Q: Where do you see AI making the greatest impact in your supply chain? Eliza Simeonova – VP Global Supply, Mars Pet Nutrition “AI forces operational discipline. Clean data is no longer optional. The system itself demands it. I also see AI shaping supply chain synchronization — aligning suppliers, factories, warehouses, and customers in new ways.” Whitney Shlesinger – VP Global Planning & Logistics, McCormick “For me, it’s about people. Employees want to move beyond non-value-added work. AI allows us to free them up…

Inside the reverse logistics education gap and the economic blind spot keeping it invisible Special Guest Blog Post written by Deborah Dull   Tony Sciarrotta has been asking the same question at industry conferences for years. As the Senior Director of Circularity and Reverse Logistics at the National Retail Federation, he knows what answer he’s going to get. But he keeps asking anyway. “Anybody in here go to school for returns management, reverse logistics, circularity? Any degrees in those fields the room?” It’s rare that anyone raises their hand. “That’s what’s wrong with our industry,” Sciarrotta told me at NRF Rev this January, the first conference under NRF’s new reverse logistics banner. “We still need to fix it.”   The Numbers That Should Make Headlines Here’s what makes reverse logistics so fascinating: the scale is staggering, but the infrastructure to support it needs to be stronger. According to the National Retail Federation, American retailers processed approximately $890 billion in returns in 2024 which is roughly 17% of all retail sales – and it’s higher for ecommerce. But that number almost certainly understates reality. “We have a fragmented industry,” Sciarrotta explained. “Where are all those returns going? It has to be…