Stacie Vroman

At the Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit in Denver, Scott Luton sat down with two leaders from Manhattan Associates—Brett Lindner, Director of Product for Supply Chain Planning, and Ryan Gifford—Senior Director of Strategic Business Development. Together, the conversations painted a clear picture of one of the most persistent challenges in supply chain—and one of the biggest opportunities ahead: unifying planning and execution to drive agility, visibility, and better outcomes.   A Unified View of the Supply Chain Manhattan Associates is widely known for its strength in supply chain execution, spanning warehouse management, transportation management, labor management, and order management. As both Lindner and Gifford emphasized, what differentiates Manhattan today is its unified platform that brings execution and planning together—not as loosely connected systems, but as a single, cohesive foundation. Lindner explained that Manhattan helps companies model and design their future supply chains, enabling better planning decisions that directly inform execution. Gifford echoed that point, describing Manhattan’s approach as “two formerly siloed applications now dancing in unison”—all driven by a shared inventory and decision framework.   The Old Problem That Won’t Go Away: Silos When asked about old and new challenges in supply chain planning, both leaders pointed to the same…

To compete in today’s supply chain landscape, you need the best talent. We can’t overstate this enough. The talent competition is fierce and has increased due to the rapid onset of machine learning and artificial intelligence. If you don’t have a talent management partner who can accelerate your leadership placements, you run the risk of missing out on the best candidates and making a bad hire. It’s better to trust professionals who can commit a full-time approach to helping you find the supply chain leaders you need, rather than disrupt your own operations, hoping you have the right access and relationships to land the best talent. Here are 5 leading supply chain recruiting and executive search organizations: SCM Talent Group The key differentiator for SCM Talent Group and other supply chain recruiters is their decades of relationships, coupled with thought leadership. Founder and Managing Partner Rodney Apple helped to build out Home Depot and Coca-Cola’s supply chains more than 20 years ago. These decades of experience allow SCM Talent Group to better identify leaders who can help to transform supply chains into competitive advantages. Apple’s deep relationships in this niche industry have allowed his team to access hard-to-find talent pools…