Tapiwa Mukwashi

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…

What a week at Supply Chain Now! If you missed an episode, get a quick summary and listen here. On Monday, we published an excellent episode with Jon Gold, the VP of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. Supply Chain Now · “The Voice of Retail: Jon Gold with the National Retail Federation”   On Tuesday, Scott & Greg welcomed two APICS legends to the podcast, Anthony “Z” Zampello & Fred Tolbert, for a lesson in S&OP fundamentals and best practices.   Supply Chain Now · “S&OP Fundamentals & Best Practices: Anthony “Z” Zampello & Fred Tolbert”   On Wednesday, we published this week’s Supply Chain Buzz, with an update on Hurricane Laura from Riskpulse Chief Meteorologist Jon Davis, and then covered the top news in supply chain with Kara Brown and Will Haraway with Lead Coverage.   Supply Chain Now · “The Supply Chain Buzz for August 24th Featuring Jon Davis, Kara Brown, & Will Haraway”   On Thursday, Greg welcomed Flourish CEO Colton Griffin to the TECHquila Sunrise podcast for a great conversation on the ins and outs of founding a tech company, the start-up life, and the cannabis industry.   Supply Chain Now…