SupplyChain Strategy descended upon Austin, Texas, to join the supply chain leaders keeping the world moving at Kinexions 2025 – Kinaxis’ flagship event spotlighting the next leap in autonomous, AI-powered orchestration.
From agentic AI to a unified data foundation accelerated through its collaboration with Databricks, Kinaxis showed how it’s turning orchestration from aspiration to execution – with the speed and certainty today’s businesses demand.
Early morning and the sun was blazing outside the palatial Fairmont Hotel, in downtown Austin. Inside, there was a palpable excitement as a thousand attendees of Kinexions congregated for breakfast. We certainly felt honoured to be representing SupplyChain Strategy courtesy of Kinaxis. Kinaxis are the software gurus who have both transformed supply chain through their Maestro platform. They have also attracted the leading lights of the function from many of the world’s biggest companies. ExxonMobil, Eaton, Volvo Cars, Colgate-Palmolive, Merck & Co., General Motors, National Instruments, and Schneider Electric have all come to Texas.
Kinexions started as it meant to go on. The headline ‘A Revolution’ dominating the screens behind the huge, purple-tinted stage as the keynote speakers walked on to huge applause. Bob Courteau, Interim CEO, Kinaxis, Mark Morgan, President, Commercial Operations, Kinaxis and Andrew Bell, Chief Product Officer, Kinaxis kicked proceedings off with a blistering and inspirational set of presentations. The message was clear: true orchestration, meaning a fully connected, always aware, and-able-to act-instantly supply chain – is finally within reach. This places supply chains firmly at the table as strategic value creators and, crucially, as protectors of business.
It was a morning session that truly set the tone of this three-day event. Concerns raised by Kinaxis’ 45,000 global users – including tariffs, labour shortages, cyber-attacks and the effect of disruption on investment – were front and centre of this event with myriad symposiums, workshops and presentations that showcased how Kinaxis’ Maestro can orchestrate and empower fully-connected supply chains globally. Indeed, the tariffs on imported goods into the US dropped during Kinexions and so the timing of this conference, entirely devoted to the bolstering of supply chain operations during highly uncertain times, seemed somewhat inspired. In short, those who are transforming are surviving and outperforming.
Unified data
Kinaxis is transforming too, we were informed, as the new partnership with Databricks was unveiled. Kinaxis Maestro and Databricks’ Data Intelligence Platform have combined to power faster insights, unified data and scalable AI across global supply chains, enabling organisations to unify their data, accelerate AI adoption, and respond to change with speed and confidence. This collaboration meets growing demand for more agile, data-driven supply chains and strengthens Maestro’s supply chain data fabric. In short, this move is helping companies coalesce data from core systems like inventory and procurement, alongside external inputs such as meteorological patterns and market movement, all within one single source of governed truth, ripe for innovation. As supply chains continue to evolve, this collaboration positions both companies to lead the next era of AI-powered transformation, where decisions are faster, disruptions are less disruptive, and performance is driven by unified data.
Linked to the foundational collaboration between Kinaxis and Databricks was the second huge unveiling at Kinexions: agentic AI. Guests were shown just how easily they could create and deploy intelligent agents using an intuitive GenAI interface to enhance decision-making, respond to disruptions faster and optimise workflows, through a powerful, in-development feature of Maestro. These are agents that go beyond surfacing data to deliver real-time insights and perform actions like addressing exceptions, managing supply allocation, or adjusting safety stock. There were numerous workshops taking place over the three days where clients could get their hands on the new tools and see just how easily they could transform their supply chain operations through AI. As was stressed throughout Kinexions, this is something that is happening right now.
A community of innovation
Kinaxis places real value on keeping the dialogue open with its clients and that’s the core motivation behind Kinexions, North America and its APAC and EMEA sister events set to take place in Tokyo and Amsterdam later this year. Indeed, during our time in Austin, we were lucky enough to sit down with supply chain leaders from Sanofi, IBM, Qualcomm and Syensqo as well as leading lights from Kinaxis. You can read the interviews from those discussions, and more from Kinexions, in next month’s SCS.
The quality of the guest speakers during the three days was incredible. Staale Gjervik, President, Supply Chain, ExxonMobil discussed how the giant is bringing orchestration to its multinational supply chain, solidifying ExxonMobil’s position as a global leader by establishing an enterprise-wide global supply chain organisation. Elsewhere, Global Director of Strategy and Planning for GM, Vijay Bharadwaj and Director of Supply Chain, Alexander Heavin shared how they are now able to run a global S&OP process to better serve customers and “stay on the road to success”.
Diego Pantoja-Navajas, Managing Director, Enterprise AI Value Strategy at Accenture and Chris Reynolds, Senior Director, Digital Supply Chain Planning & Intelligence at Pfizer provided a thought-provoking discussion on how multi-agentic AI is transforming the pharmaceutical supply chain. Abhijit Pattewar, Senior Manager, Global Modelling & Network Design at Schneider Electric – the leader in sustainable energy management and digital automation – delivered an engaging talk on emerging techniques for reducing CO2 emissions without sacrificing efficiency or growth.
Paying it forward
One of the standout discussions at this year’s Kinexions was an inspiring lunch session hosted by Lizet Tymon, VP Supply Chain, Rehlko and Rozena Dendy, Global Sales & Operations Planning Leader, ExxonMobil designed to celebrate, empower, and connect women who are making a difference in their workplaces and communities. Candid stories of the moments when mentorship, support, and solidarity helped them break barriers and build bridges to success will resonate with the audience for years. Each participant wrote down one action they committed to taking to support another woman, as part of the Pay-It-Forward Commitment. “Let’s build a legacy of women helping women, together!”
One woman who has long been an inspiration is real estate mogul and business expert Barbara Corcoran who presented ‘How to build your business through troubled times and prosper’. Corcoran, currently a Shark on ABC’s hit reality show, Shark Tank, knows that bad times are the best times to move ahead. Indeed, she survived and prospered amid 18% interest rates, the bankruptcy of New York, the subprime mortgage crisis, and the tragedy of 9/11. In this session, Barbara shared “lessons from the trenches” to demonstrate her leadership methodology on how to adapt quickly, pivot, and turn every obstacle into the new opportunity it really wants to be. It’s an ethos she has certainly embodied through her career, evident in the establishment and success of The Corcoran Group, started with a mere $1,000 loan.
And the winner is…
The winners of the 2025 Kinaxis Customer Awards were also announced in Austin, further cementing links between Kinaxis and its community. “These awards honour companies and individuals pushing the boundaries of supply chain innovation, efficiency and sustainability.”
ExxonMobil, Sanofi, Schneider Electric, and British American Tobacco (BAT) were recognised for their excellence in supply chain transformation. Additionally, Hanu Gadila (Merck & Co.) received the Champion Award, and Jeffrey Jones (Qualcomm) was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for their industry contributions.
2025 Kinaxis Customer Award Winners
- Pioneer Award: ExxonMobil
Recognising companies that have implemented Kinaxis within the past three years.
ExxonMobil is changing how the industry applies sales and operations planning. They’re leading the way in fuels, setting a new standard for Advance Planning Solution capabilities for the industry.
- Champion Award: Hanu Gadila, Merck & Co.
Honoring individuals demonstrating leadership, vision, and perseverance in supply chain transformation.
Hanu Gadila has enhanced Merck’s use of Kinaxis Maestro™, optimising planning capabilities and efficiency through collaboration and advocacy.
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Jeffrey Jones, Qualcomm
Recognising long-term contributions to the supply chain industry.
A steadfast Kinaxis advocate for nearly 20 years, Jeffrey Jones has championed Maestro, supporting industry-wide transformation. Jones stated, “It has been a privilege to work alongside such talented professionals and to contribute to the evolution of our industry. I look forward to continuing our journey of innovation.”
- Excellence Award: Sanofi
Awarded for measurable business impact through supply chain strategy.
Sanofi is modernising its supply chain to reach best-in-class performance for unleashing its ambition to become the world’s leading immunology company. By leveraging digitalisation and tailored Kinaxis Maestro implementations, Sanofi has enhanced agility, resilience, and efficiency, enabling faster decisions, better risk mitigation, and seamless end-to-end operations.
- Impact Award: Schneider Electric
Recognising positive environmental and social contributions.
Schneider Electric, the leader in sustainable energy management and digital automation, successfully conceptualised incorporating emerging CO2tools & techniques of Maestro for achieving growth and profitability with planet-friendly practices.
- Innovation Award: British American Tobacco (BAT)
Highlighting innovative applications of Kinaxis technology.
BAT co-developed the first-ever production wheel and interchangeability functionalities, enhancing constraint management, SKU transitions, and automation.
Parting thoughts
As a veteran to many events such as Kinexions, it was refreshing to feel a jolt of genuine excitement at an event that was showing how things can actually change today, rather than in the future. This wasn’t an exercise in hypothesis, it was a call to action. If you want to harness what AI can do in orchestrating your supply chains in these unpredictable times, then act. Now.
As the four floors of symposiums, workshops and speeches were wrapping up, there was no time for rest for the guests, as it was left to none-other than the three-time Grammy-award-winning and Austin-born, Nelly to finish things off to a rapturous reception from the crowd. Hot In Herre boomed around the room, Nelly spraying the crowd with water, as another highly successful Kinexions drew to a close. It was an event that will live long in the memory. And as we departed the hospitable Austin and the incredible team behind Kinexions, it was clear that we would have to return.
Kinexions 2025 is made possible by its platinum sponsors Accenture, Capgemini and Scott Sheldon; and gold sponsors 4flow, Genpact, Microsoft, Google Cloud and Spinnaker SCA. For more information about Kinexions, including Kinexions EMEA 2025 and Kinexions APAC 2025, please visit www.kinexions.com.
