Robbie Cluett

At the 2025 Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with Fred Baumann, Senior Industry Principal at Kinaxis, one of the world’s most recognized leaders in supply chain planning and orchestration. Kinaxis has spent over four decades shaping the planning landscape and has been named to the Gartner Leaders Quadrant an extraordinary 11 consecutive times—a testament to its execution strength and long-term vision. Baumann’s role at Kinaxis centers on helping chief supply chain officers and senior leaders shape their strategic transformation roadmaps, quantify value, and build the business cases necessary to achieve breakthrough outcomes.   From Episodic Disruptions to Continuous Turbulence When asked about old and new challenges facing supply chain planning teams, Baumann observed a major shift: disruption is no longer episodic—it’s continuous. Historically, companies faced major disruptions every few years. Today, volatility and constraint-related challenges—whether driven by tariffs, sourcing changes, geopolitical shifts, or supply shortages—are unfolding weekly or even daily. This environment demands a new way of working. The speed of global business is accelerating, and uncertainty is at historic highs. As Baumann noted, organizations must now adjust their supply chains “much faster than they had to even last year.” The shift isn’t only…

Another great week here at Supply Chain Now! Have you listened to all the episodes? If not, you can check them all out here:   We introduced a new series on Monday, with This Week in Business History, where Scott looks back at some of the biggest historical events in business history for the week ahead.   Supply Chain Now · “June 15th- This Week in Business History: Goodyear, IBM, & More”   Then on Tuesday, we continued in the Logistics with Purpose series and welcomed Melenie York with Whitehouse & Schapiro.   Supply Chain Now · “Logistics with Purpose: Melenie York with Whitehouse & Schapiro”   On Wednesday, Scott and Greg tackled the top news in supply chain on the Supply Chain Buzz.   Supply Chain Now · “Supply Chain Buzz for June 15th: Grocery, Bots, Retail Challenges, & More”   Scott and Greg were joined by Radu Palamariu with Alcott Global on Thursday, as they discussed the current supply chain talent market.   Supply Chain Now · “Key Observations in the Current Supply Chain Talent Market: Radu Palamariu with Alcott Global”   And we wrapped up the week with a world-class supply chain leader as Scott and Greg…