Tom Jones

Special Guest Blog Post written by Demostenes (Demo) Perez, Photo by Rikin Katyal   After more than 25 years in logistics and supply chain management and having led over 200 regional distribution projects, I’ve come to realize that the questions people don’t ask are often the most important. Throughout my career, I’ve worked with global multinationals, emerging brands, and family-run businesses. I’ve helped move everything from underground mining equipment to high-fashion goods, from pharmaceuticals and food to toys and chemicals. Some supply chain models I helped design are still thriving today; others were shut down after a few years. Many didn’t even make it past the drawing board. In that time, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with logistics professionals from nearly every corner of the world and making lifelong friends in the process. Yet no matter the company size or product type, I still wish more people would ask these five questions before launching or scaling their operations in Latin America: 1. How well do I understand the diversity within Latin America? “Latin America” is often treated as a single market. It’s not. Logistics conditions in Mexico are completely different from those in Brazil. Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Chile…

This post is written in partnership with Reuters Events: Supply Chain. Reuters Events connects the world’s most senior supply chain leaders through conferences, research, and digital content. Learn more: events.reutersevents.com/supply-chain/usa   When decisions cannot keep pace with change There is a moment most planning leaders recognise right now: A tariff announcement lands. A carrier pulls capacity. Demand accelerates faster than the forecast adjusts. The decision window compresses, and by the time there is confidence in the data, the cost of delay is already building. These pressures across supply chains are not new. What has changed is the speed at which conditions move underneath a decision, often faster than organisations are set up to respond. Customer expectations do not flex when supply does not. The cost of a wrong call, whether inventory in the wrong market, capacity committed too early, or service levels slipping before anyone flags them, compounds quickly. Most organisations have responded by investing. Better tools. More data. AI pilots. Network reviews. The core problem persists: decisions are still being made without full confidence. Planning and execution do not align when conditions change. In many cases, the issue is not disruption itself. It is how long organisations take to…