Ron Shepherd

At the 2025 Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton met with John Lash, who leads strategy and vision at e2open, a WiseTech Global Group company. E2open is a global platform powering the entire lifecycle of making, moving, and selling goods, with capabilities spanning planning, logistics, global trade, supply management, and procurement. The platform is designed not just for enterprise visibility but for true end-to-end coordination across extended supply chain ecosystems. Lash emphasized that disruptions rarely originate within a company’s four walls. “Your sub-tiers are where most of the risk lives,” he explained. “That’s where your day-to-day operations—and your long-term strategy—are truly shaped.” It’s a lesson sharply reinforced during the pandemic, which reminded leaders worldwide that no one does supply chain alone.   Old Challenges Intensified by New Realities When Luton asked about the biggest challenges facing planning teams today, Lash pointed immediately to constraints—supply constraints, manufacturing constraints, and now, the added layer of global trade volatility. Trade policies that once shifted every few years now change weekly, daily, or even hourly. Lash offered a striking example: Brazilian coffee duties jumped from 10% to 50% this summer—before returning to 0%. “How do you plan through that?” he asked.…

Get Ready to increase your supply chain IQ! We’ve got all the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams right here from Supply Chain Now this week. On Saturday, Supply Chain Now hosts Scott Luton, Greg White, and Jamin Alvidrez share their perspective on the industry, top business challenges, and what their priorities are.   On Monday, Fred Tolbert, Principal at Southeast Demand Solutions in Marietta Georgia, joined the Supply Chain Now team for a recent livestream to discuss the pandemic, the latest supply chain industry news, and what new developments we can expect to see going forward.   On Tuesday’s podcast episode, Stephanie Stuckey of Stuckey’s Corporation joined us for our Full Access series to share her professional journey.   On Wednesday, Scott welcomed Shan Muthuvelu and Steffanie Ness with UCBOS to talk about the convergence of retail and eCommerce supply chains as well as the importance of metadata   On Thursday, David Shillingford with Resilience360 joined us on the Supply Chain Buzz to discuss the top news in supply chain with Scott & Greg.   And our final episode this week Polly Mitchell-Guthrie and Patrick Van with Kinaxis join us too talk about what true supply chain resilience looks…