Zack Knight

Another busy week full of new episodes and livestreams at Supply Chain Now! If you missed an episode, get a quick summary and listen here. On Monday, our very own Clay “The Dawg” Phillips gives some insight on his job at Supply Chain Now. Supply Chain Now · “Recent Key Takeaways with Clay “The Dawg” Phillips”   On Tuesday, Scott & Greg welcomed Shannon Vaillancourt with RateLinx and Tim Judge with Agillitics to the show to share about optimizing supply chain decision making.   Supply Chain Now · “Optimizing Decision-Making in Supply Chain in 2020 & Beyond”   On Wednesday, we published this week’s Supply Chain Buzz, complete with the Retail Rundown and with special guest Chris Lingamfelter with 6 River Systems.   Supply Chain Now · “The Supply Chain Buzz for August 31st: The Retail Rundown & Chris Lingamfelter”   On Thursday, Scott and Greg welcomed co-host Paul Noble with Verusen to the show and featured Scott Armstrong with CONA Services LLC as their special guest.   Supply Chain Now · ” A View from the CFO’s Office: Scott Armstrong with CONA Services LLC”   And we wrapped up the week with Greg’s TECHquila Sunrise as he gives some…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Jeff Echel and Steve Lykken with e2open   Supply chain planners in high-tech don’t just manage shipments; they’re crisis managers, data detectives, and sometimes, referees in a high-stakes game of inventory tug-of-war. Why do these planners find themselves huddled in “war rooms,” surrounded by spreadsheets and urgent emails? It starts with relentless pressure: customers expect rapid, reliable service, but the reality is a maze of long lead times, outsourced manufacturing, and unpredictable global logistics. Securing critical components can take months, and a single misstep, like overstocking or missing a shipment, can ripple through the business, impacting revenue and margins. The chaos: War rooms and spreadsheet battles Add to that, the complexity of forecasting demand. Planners reconcile noisy, inconsistent data from retailers and distributors, often with little visibility, into . Forecasts are built, torn down, and rebuilt, sometimes manually, as teams try to align bottom-up channel data with top-down financial targets. Meanwhile, supply plans are constantly threatened by shortages, excess inventory, and last-minute changes. When demand surges or supply is disrupted, channels compete for limited stock, sometimes “stealing” from each other, and sometimes winning simply by being the loudest voice in the room. All of…