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March 19, 2021
This Week on Supply Chain Now: March 15th – 19th
Listen Up! This week was full of thought leadership, industry news, and strategic insights, so make sure to catch all things Supply Chain Now right here! On Monday, Charles Walker and Enrique Alvarez joined Scott and Greg to talk about Leadership Lessons Learned. Listen up if you’re ready to feel inspired! On Tuesday, Mike Griswold, VP of Research at Gartner, joined our hosts Scott Luton and Greg White to discuss the top stories, news, and trends in supply chain today. On Wednesday, Azaleah Davis joined us on the podcast to talk about how she found her way into engineering and biomechanics, the evolutionary journey aspriing leaders have to be willing to take to be their best self, and more! If you missed Monday’s The Buzz livestream, then check out Thursdays podcast episode of the replay featuring the Lora Cecera, Founder of Supply Chain Insights, as she joins our hosts Scott and Greg to dive into the top news in supplu chain this week plus share her own incredible story and inspirational perspective. And on Friday, we finished off with a Dial P for Procurement livestream. Tune in as hosts Kelly Barner and Scott…
automation
April 27, 2026
Chaos, Capacity, and the Case for Automation: Pete Blair with Pickle Robot
At MODEX 2026 in Atlanta, the energy was unmistakable. With thousands of supply chain professionals gathered, one theme echoed across conversations: uncertainty is no longer episodic. It’s constant and seemingly endless. In a candid discussion with Scott Luton, Pete Blair, VP of Product & Marketing at Pickle Robot, unpacked how organizations are navigating volatility, workforce challenges, and the growing role of automation in keeping operations moving. Navigating Tariffs and a Moving Target If there’s one word defining today’s global supply chain environment, it’s unpredictability. Blair points to tariffs as a prime example; and not just their presence, but their volatility. “The biggest thing we see… is the chaos of tariffs. It’s not so much that customers have to pay tariffs or not pay tariffs, it’s that they don’t know how to plan,” Blair explains. That lack of predictability is forcing organizations to rethink their networks in real time. Companies are shifting sourcing strategies, standing up temporary distribution centers in new geographies, and even making drastic decisions about whether importing goods makes financial sense at all. What’s particularly challenging isn’t the cost itself. But rather, it’s the inability to forecast. Supply chains, while resilient, aren’t designed for abrupt swings like…