Amanda Luton

Special Guest Blog Post written by Jeff Eckel, Director of Product Marketing, e2open   “Dad, why are they out of my favorite cereal?” your 10-year-old asks you at the grocery store, noticing that their favorite breakfast food is missing. The answer is more complex than they could imagine – hurricanes don’t just bring bad weather; they create far-reaching supply chain disruptions that affect everything from food to toys. Each hurricane season often brings catastrophic floods and wind damage. While communities will rebuild after the devastation, supply chains – the force behind keeping stores stocked – also experience powerful shocks beyond the storms’ path. The ripple effect of hurricanes across global trade The impact extends well beyond the immediate devastation. Critical port hubs for global trade close as hurricanes batter coastal regions. Cargo ships carrying essential goods like food, medical supplies, and consumer products must reroute or anchor offshore, waiting for storms to pass. This creates massive supply chain delays. Ports with backlogs of ships trying to dock and unload. Over-the-road and rail transportation networks face fallen trees, flooded roads, and damaged infrastructure that make movement difficult. Inland distribution centers face pressure Inland distribution centers – strategically located hubs where goods…

Special Guest Blog Post written by Philip Vervloesem   If your supply chain planning still runs on a monthly cycle, 2026 will be uncomfortable. We are operating in a polycrisis where change is constant, and responses need to be fast enough to keep up. From customer conversations, industry research, and leadership discussions at the Gartner supply chain conferences, a clear pattern has emerged: the organizations pulling ahead are not planning more often. They are embedding agility, intelligence, and speed into the way they make decisions. Here are five predictions shaping supply chain excellence in 2026 – our “bingo card” for what’s now table stakes.   1. Continuous, always-on planning is a must Monthly or quarterly cycles are no longer enough. The organizations that outperform treat planning as a continuous capability embedded in daily operations, and make it part of their governance and operational excellence. Imagine this: a sudden surge in demand hits or a supplier flags a delay. Instead of waiting for the next planning cycle, teams immediately evaluate options, share insights across functions, and adjust course. Planning stops being a calendar exercise and starts shaping real-time decisions.   “By shifting from process-centric to decision-centric planning, we now run hundreds…