Wes Arentson

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…

Technology is advancing quickly and we all get to experience quick changes in innovation devices. It has become almost impossible today to do any job without using technology. Our lives are greatly influenced by technology, to an extent that from our daily chores at home to our professional jobs and interactions, everything is being affected by technology. What is AI? Artificial Intelligence refers to the ability of an advanced computer to perform operations normally executed by humans. To lay it out plainly, AI has human-like capacities regarding programming, however, it runs on significantly more impressive equipment. In contrast to people, smart machines can deal with huge amounts of information in real-time. AI Spring in Action The last few decades have witnessed the spring of AI. The dramatic surge in AI resulted from its progress in advanced neural networks NNs and genetic algorithms GAs from the ‘60s and ‘70s. For any organization planning to move ahead and succeed, integration of technology in its operation is a must. AI Incorporation Artificial Intelligence is now being incorporated by organizations all across the globe in a variety of ways, from robotizing a part of interacting with customers to deciding upon the products best suited…