UK logistics networks could be operating with too little headroom to withstand mounting pressure on the food system, research from global supply chain and logistics consultancy, SCALA, warns
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The report, which is based on a survey of senior supply chain leaders, found that over half (52%) of firms hold less than a quarter (25%) contingency or safety stock, while 71% could increase their UK warehouse capacity by no more than 25%. A further 43% said that no other site could fulfil dispatches if their primary warehouse became unavailable, and only a third (33%) had fully implemented the necessary response strategies, with 52% having partially done so and 14% yet to begin altogether.
While individual businesses have unique requirements that call for tailored supply chain and logistics networks, together, the challenges of limited stock, restricted capacity and a lack of tested alternatives can compound. This leaves logistics networks less able to absorb disruption caused by extreme weather, labour shortages, transport problems or geopolitical events.
The findings come as extreme heat and the decline of ecosystems supplying the UK threaten poor harvests, shortages and higher prices. Farming, retail, food manufacturing and hospitality leaders have already called for a national food resilience plan, warning that secure and affordable food supplies can no longer be taken for granted. This pressure could be further compounded by higher business rates for large logistics properties, encouraging businesses to shift to more efficient rather than resilient supply chains.
Amid this context, SCALA is calling for warehousing and transport to be treated as critical national infrastructure, given their integral role in keeping supermarkets stocked, manufacturers operating and goods moving across the country. The firm is also advising businesses to implement robust contingency plans with alternative sourcing options identified where possible.
Chris Clowes, executive director at SCALA, said: “Food supply chains are already facing growing pressure from extreme weather, geopolitical instability and rising costs. Our research suggests many businesses are entering the next major disruption severely underprepared, largely due to a focus on efficiency over resilience within logistics networks.
“Businesses should identify the suppliers, facilities and processes that could interrupt supply, establish back-up arrangements, and test how quickly stock, people and vehicles could be redirected. Sainsbury’s recent decision to increase supplies of British-grown vegetables is a great example of this thinking in practise.
“The government must also recognise warehousing and transport as critical national infrastructure, with business rates that support investment in resilient logistics capacity. Any national food resilience plan must consider how food will be stored and moved, as well as how it will be produced.”
Pace Technology UK has launched Cold Logic, a new vehicle temperature monitoring platform designed to help pharmaceutical, healthcare and regulated cold chain operators maintain product integrity, improve operational visibility and support regulatory compliance throughout the distribution process
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Developed specifically for temperature controlled logistics, Cold Logic combines live temperature monitoring, GPS journey tracking, configurable alerts and automated compliance reporting within a single platform. The solution integrates with vehicle-mounted temperature probes, refrigeration systems, independent data loggers and API-connected devices, allowing operators to enhance existing fleet infrastructure without replacing installed equipment.
Designed to support MHRA Good Distribution Practice (GDP), Cold Logic provides continuous monitoring across every stage of the distribution journey, from collection and trunking through to cross-dock operations and final-mile delivery.
The platform enables operators to identify temperature excursions as they occur, investigate incidents using complete journey data and maintain secure, time-stamped records to support audits, quality reviews and customer assurance. Automated reporting, encrypted data storage, controlled audit trails and role-based access controls help reduce administrative burden while strengthening compliance across regulated transport operations.
Cold Logic is suitable for pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesale distributors, healthcare logistics providers, hospital pharmacies, NHS supply chains, clinical trial operations and specialist temperature controlled logistics providers transporting refrigerated, frozen and ultra-low temperature products.
Steve Kealey, MD for Pace Technology UK said: “Cold Logic is redefining how the cold chain logistics sector manages temperature data across its fleets.
“As the latest addition to the Pace portfolio, Cold Logic sets a new benchmark for compliant temperature monitoring by combining modern technology with commercial practicality. The result is a seamless, reliable solution that simplifies compliance, enhances operational visibility, and delivers measurable value for cold chain operators.”
As pharmaceutical distribution networks continue to demand greater traceability and operational oversight, Cold Logic provides fleet operators with a practical solution that combines temperature monitoring, compliance reporting and journey visibility within a single platform.
On Wednesday the 16th of September, Exiger’s Executive Forum will again take place at the Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London
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This time, the topic of the event is How technology leadership separates the prepared from the exposed. We’re always talking and hearing about the need for great leadership in the pursuit of a more intelligent, more secure supply chain. This Exiger Executive Forum will dig into how to achieve that.
SCS/CPOstrategy readers can click here to request a place at the forum
Supply chain risk rarely shows up at its beginning point. Instead, it shows in missed revenue, margin erosion, and customer failure. This is despite the fact that many businesses are implementing tools that can’t keep pace with the velocity of today’s risk landscape.
September’s Exiger Executive Forum will focus on:
Compounding risks, not isolated events
Why leading CPOs manage risk at the product, part, and materials level – not the supplier level
Why all AI risk technologies are not equal
Prioritisation when everything is ‘high risk’
How regulatory acceleration, geopolitical fragmentation, and embedded cyber risk are reshaping procurement risk requirements
Click here to request a space and join your peers at the Exiger Executive Forum
Host:
Ian Cronin, Manager, Advanced Manufacturing & Supply Chains, World Economic Forum
Speakers:
Raimond Kaljulaid, Member of the Estonian Parliament
Koray Köse, CEO and Chief Analyst, Köse Advisory & Senior Fellow, GlobSEC Geotech Centre & Board Member, Slave-Free Alliance
Manik Sharma, Chief Agentic Solutions Officer, Kinaxis on the physics of supply chain orchestration
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You have attended Kinexions before. How does this year’s event compare?
“I attended Kinexions during my first period at Kinaxis, but the growth has been mind-boggling. It is probably two-and-a-half to three times the size it was back then. It is a great testament to what Kinaxis has achieved over the past few years. It makes me incredibly excited about the future for both Kinaxis and our customers.”
AI dominates many conversations at the moment. How do you see its impact on supply chains?
“AI is everywhere. It is inevitable. It is already part of our personal lives and we are all experiencing what it can bring. Organisations are also beginning to understand what is possible. The lens through which we view AI is how it can transform the current state of business. That is what makes it so exciting to hear customers discussing real outcomes.
At the same time, many organisations have been experimenting with different platforms and technologies, and there has been some dissatisfaction with the value achieved so far. When you look deeper, it comes back to first principles and what I call the ‘physics of the enterprise. We want to combine that understanding with AI to transform how work gets done.”
Which themes are you particularly excited to discuss at Kinexions this year?
“There are several. First, the importance of the enterprise’s physics, its supply chain, in powering enterprise AI.
Second, we recognise that entropy exists in every organisation. Processes, data, systems and organisational structures only become more complex over time. Our approach is not about solving those issues one at a time. It is about organising around outcomes. We describe that as moving from decisions to outcomes.
Third is composability. I often use the analogy of Lego bricks. The same building blocks can support multiple outcomes. We want to provide those bricks while allowing customers to configure them according to their unique requirements.
The fourth element is recognising the skills that already exist within organisations. Those domain skills and operational expertise are often the secret sauce that differentiates businesses. We want to provide a framework that allows companies to incorporate those capabilities.
Finally, enterprise AI is not something that can simply be sold as a packaged product. It is a capability built alongside customers, which requires a very different engagement model.”
You have introduced the concept of Forward Deployed Engineering. What does that mean in practice?
“I had experience with this model in a previous role and saw how successful it could be. Forward Deployed Engineering is about bringing the very best technical talent directly into customer engagements to build solutions alongside them. However, we are taking it a step further.
Rather than providing individual resources, we provide POD structures. These are cross-functional teams with expertise spanning technology, domain knowledge and industry experience.
Customers are not simply receiving technical capability. They are receiving a commitment of capacity and expertise that can support them as they build what we call agentic organisations.”
How much of that approach is shaped by customer needs?
“A key characteristic of these teams is an entrepreneurial mindset focused on outcomes rather than software deployment. The second characteristic is consultation. It is not about arriving with a prescribed solution. It is about listening first, understanding the organisation and then developing the right approach together…”
What does Kinexions mean to you, personally? “I’ve attended every single Kinexions since joining the company, so it’s become a…
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What does Kinexions mean to you, personally?
“I’ve attended every single Kinexions since joining the company, so it’s become a milestone event in the year for me. What I love about it is that it’s an opportunity to unveil all of the work we’ve been doing over the previous months and, in some cases, years.
What’s also amazing is seeing how much the event has grown. It’s a reflection of the impact we’re having within supply chains and the increasing interest in what we’re doing. It’s definitely something I look forward to every year.”
How have the conversations with customers shifted this year?
“One major theme is speed. It’s the speed of change and the need to achieve value faster. The discussions I’m having centre around how organisations can make progress more quickly because the need is immediate.
Another theme, which has remained consistent, but appears in different forms, is AI. Customers understand, at least in theory, how AI could positively impact their supply chains, but many are still trying to understand exactly how to achieve that potential. Those are conversations we enjoy because that’s where our expertise lies. As a technology company, our role isn’t simply to deliver technology. It’s to deliver technology that drives outcomes and achieves results.”
In your keynote, you spoke about supply chain leaders making “big bets”. What did you mean by that?
“I was definitely playing off the Las Vegas theme, but it’s true. Organisations understand the potential of these technologies, yet the practical outcomes are still emerging. They’re being inundated with offers from different providers and realising that choosing who to build their operational orchestration capability with is a significant decision. Making the right choice can lead to success. Making the wrong one can have substantial consequences.
It has to go beyond surface-level capabilities. Questions around trust, governance, enterprise scale and security all become part of that decision-making process. It really is a big bet.”
We’re operating in volatile times, of course…
“Absolutely. Volatility is the new normal. I don’t think there’s a near-term path back to stability. Volatility manifests itself in different ways and affects different regions differently, but it’s here to stay. If organisations accept that reality and build solutions that can respond to it, they’re the ones that will succeed. That’s what Maestro and Kinaxis have always been about.
The underlying realities are constantly shifting, so the speed of recalculating plans, detecting changes, resolving issues and executing those resolutions becomes one of the most important elements of a good solution.”
We hear a lot about operational orchestration, but what does it actually look like inside Maestro?
“We wanted to define orchestration more clearly because everyone seems to use the word differently. Fundamentally, a supply chain is a manifestation of an enterprise’s operations. What we mean by orchestration is connecting the dots in a continuous, concurrent way rather than through a simple sequential process.
Operational orchestration is really an extension of Kinaxis’ longstanding mission. We’ve always viewed the supply chain as one connected network rather than a collection of isolated silos. The more factors we can consider when making decisions, the better the outcomes become…”
Razat Gaurav, CEO, Kinaxis explains why Kinexions 26 is such a valuable experience
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How does it feel being at your first Kinexions as CEO?
“It has been fantastic. It has been a really positive event. Obviously, all of this takes a lot of work and effort from the broader team and they have done a tremendous job. It has been a great way for me to connect with a lot of our customers, our partner ecosystem and some of our investors. The overarching Kinaxis community comes together at this event here in North America and we will do the same again in Europe and India later this year.”
What makes this year’s Kinexions particularly important for Kinaxis and its customers?
“Some of the customers wanted to see who the new CEO is and hear from him. Beyond that, it was important for us to clearly articulate our strategy and our evolution.
We are continuing to invest in the foundations of the world’s leading supply chain planning and decisioning platform, Maestro. From there, we are extending into agentic orchestration and what we outlined as our vision for operational orchestration.
It is also always about hearing from customers, learning how they have deployed Kinaxis and Maestro, listening to our partners, facilitating connections and encouraging cross-learning. That happens at every Kinexions, but this one was particularly important because we wanted to be very clear about our product strategy.
That is why we over-indexed on it during the first day. Between Andrew (Bell), Manik (Sharma) and myself, and through all the demonstrations we showed, we helped bring customers along on the journey we’re on as we continue to bring to market the world’s leading supply chain planning, decisioning and now orchestration platform.”
In your keynote speech, you outlined some of the challenges supply chain leaders are navigating right now. What is the biggest shift?
“The biggest challenge to emerge over the last 18 to 24 months is that there is much greater volatility on both the demand and supply side. The rate of change is far greater than anything we’ve seen before.
Supply chain professionals are dealing with that volatility while also facing pressure from CEOs, boards and CFOs to drive the next wave of productivity, improve working capital efficiency and reduce costs. On top of that, they are being asked as to what they are doing with AI.
A lot of things are converging that are new and different, but they also create fantastic opportunities for us to deepen our relationships and partnerships with customers.”
You talk about operational orchestration and moving from decisions to outcomes. How do you define that?
“Business leaders are trying to optimise outcomes around cost, cash and service, and there is a fourth dimension as well, which is risk. To achieve those outcomes, organisations have to sense both internal and external signals. They have to make decisions and plan based upon those signals. Then they have to execute and act and go through learning cycles.
That is the orchestration loop we talked about. To achieve the outcomes, you have to sense, plan, act and learn continuously. Stitching those activities together is what ultimately drives business outcomes…”
George Thompson, Kinaxis Practice Lead (Americas), Genpact on why Kinexions is such an incredible experience
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So, how exactly does Genpact partner with Kinaxis?
“Genpact is a large professional services company operating across multiple industries, and we do a great deal of transformation and digital transformation work. We have a dedicated supply chain practice and Kinaxis is our longest-standing partner within that practice.
We’ve been working with Kinaxis for around 15 years, dating back to before Genpact through a previous acquisition. The partnership spans everything from technology selection and advisory services through to a large mid-market resell practice. Our core business is an enterprise-scale system implementation with Kinaxis.”
Is this your first Kinexions event?
“This is my second Kinexions. I actually took on this role immediately after Kinexions last year.”
How have the conversations evolved in just that short period of time?
“I would say they’ve evolved enormously, even in the space of a few weeks. It’s amazing to see the rate and pace of advancement. We’ve moved from discussions about core planning to conversations around AI and rapidly deploying agentic capabilities.
A few months ago we would have been talking about the art of the possible. Now we’re talking about real things that have actually been delivered. We always use the word ‘unprecedented’, but I genuinely haven’t seen this rate of change before.”
Have there been any keynote sessions or themes that have particularly resonated with you?
“I attended the kick-off sessions this morning and spent some time at Partner Day as well. What struck me was the focus on outcomes and value. Hopefully that’s always been there, but it was encouraging to see such a clear recognition that this is ultimately what matters.
The real game being played is around creating a true end-to-end supply chain. No single player is going to dominate that space. It requires partnerships, collaboration and a degree of optionality to deliver those outcomes.”
What kinds of challenges are your customers typically trying to solve?
“Personally, I’m very hands-on in the mid-market resell space, working with smaller organisations. Many of them are making this move for the first time. Perhaps they’re still using Excel and, while we joke about it, Excel remains the largest planning software in the world.
Many organisations now have an AI mandate coming from leadership. There’s often a fear of missing out. They wonder whether they’re already behind or whether they should leap straight to sophisticated AI solutions.
Often our role is to slow things down a little, focusing on building the right foundations and creating a roadmap that allows them to grow over time. We help them understand that they won’t outgrow the solution and that it can evolve alongside their business.
You can see how overwhelming the pace of change can be. That’s why the partnership between consultants and software providers is so important. We can help clients step back, think strategically and map out a journey built on solid foundations.”
What’s it like working alongside Kinaxis?
“I tell people on both sides that I have the best job at Genpact. In a company of 150,000 people, I wake up every day energised and feeling lucky to have this opportunity.
My role is to make those connections until everybody is connected. I see first-hand how every part of Kinaxis operates and they’re fantastic partners. They listen to our needs around training, they take on board feedback from the market, and they work with us across sales, product and professional services. It truly feels like one team…”
Nathan Peacey, Head of Retail and Consumer, and Tamzin Robson, Associate, at Foot Anstey, explore where the UK is falling behind on human rights in the supply chain, and how we can do better
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A decade after the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA), the UK’s once-leading framework sits at a crossroads. The Independent Anti‑Slavery Commissioner’s recent report finds that the UK transparency-based model is now viewed as fragmented and operating without meaningful enforcement. Under the current regime, businesses can legally comply by submitting a statement saying they have taken no steps to address modern slavery, and the consequences for failing to publish a statement at all are minimal in practice.
As a result, the UK is now significantly outpaced by international developments. The report concludes that a full legislative refresh, centred on mandatory, enforceable human rights due diligence (HRDD) and stronger trade enforcement, is essential to protect workers and ensure responsible businesses are not undercut. For supply‑chain‑intensive businesses reliant on stable, resilient and ethically sound sourcing, this gap poses both operational and reputational risks.
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner warns that without reforms aligned to global standards, the UK risks becoming “a dumping ground” for goods made with forced labour once the EU’s import ban takes effect. Leading businesses and investors share this concern. From major UK retailers to international consumer brands, the consensus is that robust, mandatory HRDD is critical to protect workers, safeguard the UK’s credibility and to protect UK supply chains from structural risk and reputational exposure.
Current state of play: Why the UK needs to strengthen its framework
Voluntary transparency is no longer enough. Section 54 of the MSA catalysed reporting, but it does not require companies to prevent harm, and penalties for poor or absent statements are weak. The result has been inconsistent quality and limited impact for exploited workers. In addition, fragmented domestic rules are adding cost and confusion. Sector‑specific legislation such as due‑diligence‑style obligations in NHS procurement and the Great British Energy Act 2025 has created duplication and conflicting expectations for supply chain operators trying to maintain coherent compliance systems across multiple regimes.
The scale and economics of harm are compelling. The UK faces significant recurring costs from modern slavery (estimated at around £60bn annually), while importing approximately £20bn of goods each year at risk of being produced through forced labour. With the EU’s forced‑labour product ban applying from 2027, the UK risks becoming an outlet for blocked goods unless it aligns its own regime. For supply chain leaders, this introduces a clear operational risk: diversion of non-compliant goods into the UK market could disrupt procurement, create customs delays, and expose businesses to unexpected enforcement.
A broad societal consensus supports change too. Survivors, businesses, investors and the public are all calling for mandatory, enforceable standards.
International developments – and how the UK is falling behind
Over the past decade, many of the UK’s major trading partners have moved from voluntary transparency to mandatory human rights due diligence (MHRDD) and enforceable import controls. The EU has led this shift through the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which from 2027 will impose binding HRDD duties and civil liability across global value chains, and the 2024 Forced Labour Regulation, which bans forced-labour-linked products from entering or leaving the EU. France, Germany and Norway have also enacted due diligence laws requiring structured risk assessment, stakeholder engagement, grievance mechanisms and meaningful sanctions.
Beyond Europe, the United States has tightened border enforcement through the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which presumes goods from Xinjiang are made with forced labour unless proven otherwise. Canada, South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand are likewise moving toward due-diligence-based regimes and stricter trade controls.
This global shift reflects a clear consensus: voluntary reporting does not prevent harm, and mandatory, enforceable due diligence is now the international norm. Without comparable reforms, the UK risks becoming an outlier, and potentially a “dumping ground” for goods barred from stronger jurisdictions, undermining responsible businesses and its credibility as an ethical trading partner. For supply chain executives, this means misalignment between regulatory regimes will increase operational complexity and create trade-flow friction unless the UK modernises.
What changes to the UK’s Forced Labour and Human Rights Legislative Framework is the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner proposing?
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s draft Forced Labour and Human Rights Bill 2026 sets out wide-ranging reforms to bring the UK in line with international best practice. The rules would apply to large organisations with a global turnover of £36 million or more, whether UK-based or overseas but operating in the UK, as well as public undertakings engaged in commercial activity. Financial services providers are expressly included. SMEs fall outside direct regulation but will be affected as part of larger companies’ value chains.
Key proposals include:
A statutory “failure to prevent” duty
Organisations would be legally liable where they cause, contribute to, or are directly linked to serious human rights harms anywhere in their value chain. This shifts the UK from voluntary transparency to mandatory accountability, mirroring the Bribery Act and aligning with global HRDD laws such as those in France, Germany and the CSDDD. Applying the duty to global operations reduces incentives to offshore exploitation and provides clearer expectations for supply chain oversight at every tier.
A “reasonable human rights due diligence” defence
Companies may avoid liability by demonstrating reasonable, proportionate, risk-based due diligence consistent with the UNGPs and OECD Guidelines. This balances firm duties with flexibility, allowing expectations to scale by size, resources and risk, and encouraging continuous improvement rather than tick-box compliance.
Strengthened civil enforcement
A new Office for Responsible Business Conduct would be able to issue public censures, compliance, compensation, costs and restoration notices, a penalty notice of up to 5% of global turnover, and exclusions from public procurement.
These sanctions introduce meaningful commercial consequences, reflecting EU-style enforcement and posing particular implications for public-contract-reliant sectors and for supply chain-heavy industries with complex multi-jurisdictional sourcing models.
Criminal liability for serious abuses
For offences such as slavery, trafficking, GBH or corporate manslaughter, both organisations and consenting/conniving senior officers could face criminal prosecution. This elevates human rights from a compliance issue to a criminal risk, driving greater board-level oversight.
A UK-wide forced labour product ban
The Bill would ban the import, export and sale of goods made or transported with forced labour, including presumptive bans for high-risk regions or products and a public risk database. This aligns the UK with EU, US and Canadian regimes and closes a major gap in current law by stopping forced-labour goods at the border rather than merely requiring reporting. For supply‑chain leaders, this would materially alter customs screening, supplier onboarding, and product‑traceability expectations.
A mandatory annual Human Rights Statement
In the place of the Modern Slavery Statement, a mandatory annual Human Rights Statement would create enforceable disclosure obligations. Organisations above the threshold would be required to publish a board-approved, evidence-based statement setting out any serious human rights harms for which they may be responsible; an explanation where no such harms are identified; a forward-looking plan for prevention and mitigation; and an assessment of the effectiveness of actions taken. The statement would be uploaded to a central public registry, and failure to comply could result in financial penalties, closing the long-criticised enforcement gap in the MSA. This shifts the current voluntary model into a substantive, outcome‑focused reporting requirement.
Next steps and timescales
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner urges the Government to adopt the Bill in the next King’s Speech. The legislation is designed to come into force two years after enactment, giving organisations time to embed human rights due diligence. Within six months of commencement, the Office for Responsible Business Conduct must be fully operational, and within six months of passage the forced-labour database and enforcement regulations must be established. Guidance on reasonable due diligence and other key concepts must be issued within one year.
What should your business do?
Given the practical difficulties in achieving full supply‑chain visibility, together with the direction of travel indicated by key trading partners and the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s recent recommendations, there is value in forward‑looking businesses taking early steps to prepare for potential legislative change.
This should include measures such as mapping value chains beyond Tier 1 and identifying structural risks and visibility gaps, as well as investing in evidence systems for future human rights disclosures such as traceability tools. Reviewing trade compliance is especially vital for high-risk products and regions, and supply chain leaders should also consider strengthening governance structures and ensuring board-level oversight and integration into procurement processes. The value of fostering a culture which encourages employees to speak up should also not be overlooked.
Supply chain leaders who act early will be best positioned to manage risk, assure continuity and maintain competitive advantage.
Armando Urias, Head of Revenue, Workday Planning on the secrets behind a perfect partnership
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How have you found Kinexions so far?
“It’s been great. The value of having these close, integrated connections with customers has really stood out. There have been some thoughtful discussions around the future of supply chain, where agentic AI fits in and how organisations can better connect their operational plans moving forward.
Workday recently announced a partnership with Kinaxis and have started testing the value proposition and identifying areas where we can create integrated value. We’ve already seen some very positive early signals of success.”
How did the partnership between Workday and Kinaxis originally come about?
“Initially, there was alignment at the highest levels across both organisations. As the conversations developed, both companies looked at the broader planning process within organisations and asked where the choke points exist today.
Typically, there are two distinct personas involved. There’s the supply chain and operations side of the business, and then there’s the broader financial planning component, usually sitting within FP&A. The vision was that there is enormous value in integrating those two areas to maintain the integrity of the overall financial plan.
It’s about using the capacity signals surfaced by Kinaxis and ensuring organisations are operating within cost constraints while still achieving their revenue objectives. Bringing those different perspectives together creates a much more complete planning process.”
Outcomes has been one of the major themes at Kinexions this year. How does that manifest itself through your work with Kinaxis?
“Everything is outcomes-driven. Everything we do through this partnership is focused on delivering return on investment to our shareholders and customers. It’s about understanding how quickly we can get an intent signal from Kinaxis into the supply chain, how rapidly we can ensure the plan remains intact, and how we improve areas such as forecast accuracy. Ultimately, it’s about assembling the right components and jointly driving measurable value.”
How would you describe the working relationship between Workday and Kinaxis?
“It’s great. There’s a lot of familiarity between the two organisations, so we naturally operate with transparency and a shared focus on value and customer outcomes. We have the same customer mindset, which is a relentless focus on results, a strong passion for what we’re doing and a real commitment to innovation. From an agentic perspective, with what we’re doing through Agent Factory and the rollout of agents collectively, there are strong cultural ties as well as shared ambitions around innovation.”
What will you take away from Kinexions that perhaps wasn’t on your radar before arriving?
“We explored different scenarios around agentic orchestration and how we might use Maestro together. For me, one of the biggest insights was recognising the inherent gap between supply chain constraints and capacities identified within Kinaxis, and linking those directly into workforce planning. How does that translate into headcount requirements? Who should we hire? Do we need contingent labour to address a shortfall? That was one of the strongest messages this week.
It’s now about identifying the right customers to co-innovate with and bringing together our innovation teams and agent factories to solve those problems on behalf of our customers.”
If you’re back at Kinexions next year, how do you think the conversations will have evolved?
“I think we’ll move beyond proof-of-concept and pilot discussions around agentic AI and into conversations focused on operational improvements. The question will become: how has this translated into a return on investment? We’ll start to see significant consumption of agentic capabilities and tangible examples of value being delivered. The real progress, from both an ROI and measurable value standpoint, will become much more visible, and that will be fantastic to see…”
Brent Wilson, SVP Global Supply Chain Operations at Qualcomm, explains why the future of supply chain lies in disciplined AI adoption, deeper visibility and a relentless desire to improve…
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Artificial intelligence dominates almost every conversation at Kinexions 2026 (hosted by Kinaxis). The technology has moved beyond the realm of experimentation and possibility into something far more tangible. Organisations are now wrestling with practical questions around implementation, workforce adoption and measurable outcomes. For Brent Wilson, SVP Global Supply Chain Operations at Qualcomm, that shift marks a significant turning point, both for the wider supply chain profession and for a major technology corporation that designs and manufactures semiconductors, processors and wireless telecommunications products.
Wilson, who previously shared Qualcomm’s transformation journey at Kinexions last year in Austin, returns this year with a different perspective. The journey is far from complete, he states, but there are milestones worth celebrating and lessons worth sharing.
Perhaps most importantly, there is a growing understanding that the real challenge with AI is not simply deploying the technology, but embedding it thoughtfully into the organisation.
“We are much more focused on AI and the use of AI and how it’s impacting people,” Wilson says when reflecting on how discussions have evolved over the past year. “There’s a lot of discussion around that. People are now into the implementation phase, so they’re starting to have more questions and concerns regarding how you get people to adopt it, how you talk to people about it, and make changes within the organisation due to the ramifications of what it’s providing.”
Building AI with purpose
Rather than pursuing isolated use cases or adopting technology simply because competitors are doing so, Qualcomm takes a methodical approach to AI adoption. Wilson outlines a strategy built around three interconnected areas that together provide both structure and flexibility. The first centres on redesigning the way work gets done. The intention is not merely to automate existing processes, but to rethink them entirely and identify opportunities to operate more effectively.
The second component involves understanding exactly how employees spend their time. Qualcomm conducts detailed job and task studies across the organisation to identify activities that might benefit from AI support. “For example, doing some job and task studies to understand what people are spending their time on,” Wilson explains. “Identifying which one of those are amenable to some type of an AI assistance, like an agentic type of help, or maybe machine learning.”
The final pillar focuses on widespread adoption and organisational confidence. Qualcomm establishes self-directed learning groups that encourage employees to share experiences, ask questions and explore practical applications. Importantly, these communities are not imposed by leadership. “We’ve created kind of a self-learning organisation, a user group that’s really funded by the people within the organisation, not the management structure,” Wilson reveals. “So, they feel comfortable to go in and talk to people about problems they’re having and how they might solve them using some of the new AI tools. They may have questions about how to work with them.” The approach, he adds, delivers tangible benefits. “We found that to be very, very effective.”
The influence of AI extends well beyond Qualcomm’s internal operations. It is increasingly shaping how the company thinks about its products and the experiences they enable. “It’s a direct influence on how we’re designing products now,” Wilson says…
Peter Bennett, Senior Vice President of Global Operations at Cardinal Health, explains how service levels have greatly
improved thanks to a proactive approach to agentic orchestration
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We meet Peter Bennett, Senior Vice President of Global Operations at Cardinal Health and Kinaxis‘ President of Global Commercial Operations, Mark Morgan at Kinexions 2026 in Las Vegas, to discuss how advanced scenario planning, AI and digital workers are helping one of healthcare’s largest distributors shift from reactive firefighting to proactive orchestration, thus improving service levels while keeping critical products flowing to patients…
For Cardinal Health, the supply chain is not simply about moving products efficiently from A to B. It is about ensuring a surgeon has the right device in theatre, a pharmacist has access to critical medicines and, ultimately, that patients receive the care they need when they need it. That reality has fundamentally reshaped how the healthcare giant thinks about planning, visibility and decision-making.
Cardinal Health occupies a unique position within the healthcare ecosystem. Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, the company distributes pharmaceuticals and medical products to hospitals, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centres and healthcare providers across the United States and internationally. With tens of thousands of employees and an extensive distribution network, its supply chain supports the delivery of products that healthcare professionals rely upon every day. In that environment, supply chain failures carry consequences far beyond financial performance. “A life science supply chain is regularly tested every day and the complexities that exist are global in scale,” says Peter Bennett, Senior Vice President of Global Operations at Cardinal Health, backstage at Kinexions 2026 in Las Vegas.
Mark Morgan and Pete Bennett
Bennett is joined by Mark Morgan, President of Global Commercial Operations at Kinaxis and the pair are keen to explain how the healthcare organisation has transformed its approach to supply chain execution. And their message is clear. In a world defined by disruption, speed has become the new currency.
Proactive not reactive
Prior to its work with Kinaxis, Cardinal Health relied on a patchwork of spreadsheets and disconnected systems to manage operations. “What we tried to do prior to our engagements with Kinaxis was pull all that together leveraging Excel and tools that were disparate across our entire ecosystem,” Bennett explains. “So, we needed something to pull everything together, a glue, if you will.”
The timing proved critical. Cardinal Health began working with Kinaxis approximately four years ago, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when unprecedented disruption exposed weaknesses in traditional planning processes. “We’d started during the pandemic with a real lack of visibility within our inventory and a lack of ability to scenario plan in any meaningful way without conducting weeks of analysis, and we really had a need to be able to respond faster,” Bennett reveals. “Cardinal Health had previously been very reactive in our approach to decision making and things were happening to us that we couldn’t see,” he explains. “And so, our relationship started out of a genuine need of our customers to be able to plan their organisational work, their surgeries, their procedures without the threat of more disruption.”
How AI and Operational Orchestration Took Centre Stage in Las Vegas at Kinexions 2026
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SupplyChain Strategy was honoured to get an invite to cover Kinexions 2026, in Las Vegas. Over the course of three days in June, a lot of ground was covered, as Kinaxis played host to supply chain leaders and technology partners from the world’s largest companies, to discuss the real-world outcomes of agentic and supply chain orchestration…
Las Vegas understands complexity. Beneath the glowing neon and carefully choreographed spectacle of the Strip lies an extensive network of interconnected operations that must function with outstanding precision. Thousands of hotel rooms turn over daily. Restaurants cater for unpredictable surges in demand. Entertainment venues coordinate performers, logistics and supplies. Construction crews reshape the skyline while tourists sleep. Every element relies on the invisible movement of products, people and information. The supply chain.
Held at The Cosmopolitan, the annual Kinaxis customer conference Kinexions brings together a thousand supply chain leaders, technology partners and industry practitioners from across the globe. Over three days of keynote presentations, technical workshops, customer panels and networking sessions, attendees explore the opportunities and challenges confronting modern supply chains. However, the conversations taking place this year feel noticeably different.
Gathered at the plush convention centre are some of the biggest names in global manufacturing, life sciences, consumer goods and high technology for three days of discussion centred on one urgent question: how do organisations turn better decisions into faster action? The agenda reflects an industry moving beyond visibility and forecasting “…towards what Kinaxis terms operational orchestration — the coordination of signals, plans, decisions, actions and learnings fast enough to drive meaningful business outcomes.” with executives from companies including Bristol Myers Squibb, Qualcomm, ExxonMobil, British American Tobacco, The Hershey Company, Veolia and ScottsMiracle-Gro sharing how they are responding to persistent disruption and rising complexity. Across keynote presentations, customer case studies and technical deep dives, the emphasis is firmly on practical outcomes rather than theoretical transformation.
Importantly, speakers repeatedly emphasized that this shift is not about replacing planning. Instead, it is about extending planning into coordinated operational action, with supply chain planning continuing to serve as the foundation.
Artificial intelligence is the thread running throughout the programme, but the conversation is notably grounded. A recurring theme throughout the event is that orchestration is not intended to replace planning. Rather, it extends planning into coordinated action, with Maestro serving as the foundation for Kinaxis’ broader operational orchestration vision. Rather than focusing on fully autonomous supply chains, sessions explore how agentic AI can augment planners and operators by accelerating analysis, surfacing options and helping teams execute with greater confidence. Topics range from end-to-end orchestration and governance to production scheduling, scenario planning and the combination of planning with execution. Customer presentations from organisations such as Reckitt, Castrol and CSL demonstrate how companies are applying these capabilities to improve throughput, reduce waste, increase responsiveness and align local decisions with enterprise objectives. The recurring message is that resilience today is judged not by the perfection of a plan, but by the speed and quality of the response when conditions inevitably change.
The discussion is far from theoretical. Kinaxis customers use Maestro to support decisions across hundreds of billions of dollars in inventory and millions of supply chain scenarios, illustrating the scale and complexity at which modern organizations must operate.
Change at scale
The scale of Kinexions itself underlines the growing importance of these issues. The event combines executive keynotes, dozens of breakout sessions, live product demonstrations, partner showcases and peer networking opportunities, supported by a broad ecosystem that includes Accenture, Deloitte, EY, Genpact, Google Cloud, Microsoft, PwC, Unilever and Workday. Alongside updates on the evolution of the Maestro platform from Kinaxis executives Razat Gaurav, Andrew Bell and Manik Sharma, delegates are urged to consider wider themes of leadership, adaptability and advancement. The result is an agenda that conveys the current mood of the enterprise: one in which data abundance is no longer the challenge, but coordinating people, processes and technology quickly enough to deliver conclusive action has become the defining competitive advantage. The challenge is no longer simply making better decisions faster. The challenge is coordinating those decisions across systems, teams and processes quickly enough to change outcomes. The phrase “from decisions to outcomes” appears throughout Kinexions 2026. It surfaces in keynote presentations, customer case studies and partner conversations. It reflects an understanding that supply chains are entering a new era, one in which traditional planning capabilities continue to be critical, but are no longer sufficient on their own. The challenge facing organisations today is not simply making better plans. It is acting on them to achieve better results, faster.
The new normal
For Razat Gaurav, attending Kinexions as Kinaxis’ CEO, represents both a milestone and an opportunity. “It’s just a great way for me to connect with a lot of our customers, investors and our partner ecosystem,” he tells us, backstage. “The overarching Kinaxis community really comes together at this event.”
Supply chain leaders are operating in an environment defined by persistent disruption. The assumption that stability will eventually return has largely disappeared. “I think the biggest challenge to emerge in the last 18 to 24 months is that there’s a lot more volatility on the demand and supply side and the rate of change is far greater than anything we’ve ever seen in our lives,” Gaurav says.
Organisations continue to face familiar pressures around customer service, profitability and efficiency. But what has changed is the speed with which external events reshape operating conditions. Supply chain teams are expected to respond to global political tensions, tariffs, labour shortages and changing customer behaviours in real time. At the same time, boards and executive teams are demanding productivity improvements, stronger working capital performance and demonstrable returns on technology investments. “On top of that,” Gaurav notes, “they’re getting pressure from the executive teams keen to deploy AI.” The convergence of these expectations creates unprecedented complexity. Yet it also represents opportunity…
In July, we returned to the Exiger Executive Forum, where industry leaders gathered to discuss the issue of modern slavery across the supply chain
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In all elements of business, one of the biggest topics of conversation right now is people. Whether it’s keeping humans in the loop with technology, how to care for people via change management, or wellbeing in the workplace, people are a vital topic.
This extends to how people are treated all the way along the supply chain. The latest Exiger Executive Forum, Human rights in the supply chain: From obligation to operational discipline, dug deep into human rights due diligence and how organisations can demonstrate actual defensible action and compliance.
The event returned to the stunning Great Scotland Yard Hotel in London for the occasion, on the 15th of July. During the course of the evening, an expert panel discussed some of the biggest issues regarding human rights in the supply chain right now, and hopes for how those issues will change.
Matthew Heibel from Aspen Institute Central Europe moderated the evening’s panel. He opened the conversation by outlining the discussion and its goals. “Tonight’s theme is very direct,” he said. “It’s called Human rights in the supply chain: From obligation to operational discipline.
“Human rights risk in global supply chains can no longer be treated as an annual disclosure exercise or reputation issue measured at arm’s length,” Heibel continued. “It is becoming a live operational, legal, strategic exposure. It is about customs clearance, market access, investor confidence, customer trust, regulatory scrutiny and executive accountability. This evening’s discussion will take place in three parts.
“The first part explores the why. The second part dives head-first in the real problems businesses face. The final part seeks to offer realistic solutions moving forward.”
Heibel then introduced the panel:
Caroline Haughey OBE KC
Koray Köse, Founder and Chief Analyst, Köse Advisory & Special Advisor at ODI Global, Senior Fellow, GlobSEC Geotech Centre & Board Member, Slave-Free Alliance
Tim Nelson, CEO, Hope for Justice & Slave-Free Alliance
Erika Peters, Head of Strategic Accounts, Exiger
The ‘why’
Heibel kicked off the why by asking Nelson to frame the issue of human costs, and explain what business leaders need to understand that they’ll never learn from a supplier questionnaire. Nelson’s work with the Hope for Justice and Slave-Free Alliance puts him closest to the human element, after all.
“We can identify five main areas that modern slavery falls within,” Nelson said. “The three dominant areas most people will be aware of are sexual exploitation, labour trafficking, and domestic servitude. The other two – organ harvesting and forced marriage – form part of what is modern day slavery. In the last year in this country alone, there were 19,125 victims. The estimates in this country are anywhere from 122,000 individuals that are held against their will at this moment in time. But from a global perspective, we see that nearly 50 million people are estimated to be in some form of modern day slavery, which is more people now than at any time in human history. 27 million people are estimated to be victims of forced labour, with up to 17.3 million of those exploited within the supply chains of major multinational businesses
He continued: “We’re in a day and an era now where there’s more visibility, more understanding of what the issue is, the problem and how we can solve it. And therefore we are in an era where it is possible to imagine across all aspects of modern day slavery how we can see an end to this as an issue. If we get the right strategy, we enact it with the right level of resources, we can start to close gaps where individuals are falling through the cracks and being exploited. The sad reality of where we are at the moment is not every business doing all that they can. And with what we do at Slave-Free Alliance, our aim is to try and come alongside as a trusted friend to make an impact, to help make a difference in the lives of everyday people.”
Following this, Heibel pointed out that Haughey is on the frontline of the fight against modern slavery. She prosecutes cases and shapes laws as part of her role – so what is the human cost of exploitation?
“Tim Nelson’s charity was the reason that we prosecuted Operation Fort, the largest modern slavery in human trafficking case in Europe,” Haughey explained. “We identified 350 victims. Two were women. All of them were people like you and me. One of them was a guy who accepted the job so he could pay for his mother’s chemotherapy in Poland; another accepted the job so that he could pay for his daughter’s heart transplant in Poland. These were people looking for jobs.
“The job that was offered to them was to be paid £350 a week, sorting rubbish. They would be working in Birmingham. They would be given accommodation, food, and transport to and from work. What actually happened was they were picked up and their travel ID and national identity cards were taken off them. You would find 17 of them living in a house for two with no running water, no electricity, no heating, no cooking facilities. These are ordinary people. Educated and informed people who have agreed to take an opportunity and someone has chosen to abuse their desire to work.”
Köse recently wrote a piece for Forbes which discussed the fact that some people believe businesses can’t afford to play nice, and that human rights are only a priority when they’re convenient. Heibel asked him about this article, and what Köse’s response is to that.
“I turn it around and say that playing by the rules only got us into this mess because we made it a checkbox exercise,” he said. “We wanted to meet the minimum requirements and make sure that our businesses run profitably and efficiently, which caused us to only look as far as needed – and no further. When it comes to the legal sovereignty of a country and state stopping at its border, supply chains don’t. And that’s the conundrum that we are facing when we’re trying to fix a problem that’s bigger than the reach of a single legislation of a single country. Not only that, but we are not responsible enough about the people that make products because our primary responsibility lies in outsourcing for cost and quality. With that we outsource the liability. But at the end of the day, it is all part of one supply chain. The value chain is an ecosystem. If we don’t go beyond what we can see at arm’s length and open the doors beyond the legislation that requires us to really be compliant, then we won’t change the system to be more resilient and just.”
Addressing vulnerabilities and legal standards
Heibel: “Where do you see companies getting stuck: data collection, prioritisation, internal accountability, action, or somewhere else?”
Peters: “The customers that I deal with are all so different. All of those are areas they can get stuck in. It is highly dependent on the maturity of their program. Sometimes I’m really in shock with what I see because I buy from some of these companies myself and they’re the largest in the world. And then they say, ‘I actually don’t know who my suppliers are’. Just understanding who you do business with is a question they can’t always answer. We do help them and over time, and as their program matures each of those areas are addressed.”
Heibel: “Where do you see the biggest vulnerability to human rights abuses in the operating model: sourcing strategy, cost pressure, supplier dependency, subcontracting, or lack of visibility?”
Köse: “The answer is all of the above. But the root cause is a single architectural flaw: we designed supply chains to be fast, cheap, and opaque. We optimised for cost discovery and hid everything else. These vulnerabilities aren’t independent failures – they’re symptoms of the same structural decision: the relentless outsourcing of accountability alongside the outsourcing of production. Cost pressure is the ignition source. When a buyer squeezes a Tier 1 supplier’s margins to an unsustainable point, that pressure doesn’t disappear – it travels. It gets passed down to Tier 2, to Tier 3, to informal subcontractors operating in jurisdictions where labour law is either weak or actively unenforced. That is where exploitation lives – not in the factory that passed your audit, but in the one you didn’t know existed. The reality of things is that deniability and plausible deniability does not exist anymore because you’re looking at every tier as a Tier 1.”
Heibel: “What are the legal standards companies need to comply with both to avoid the “we did not know” defense and about conduct sitting below Tier 1 suppliers? How do they make sure to avoid you [Haughey] in the courtroom?”
Haughey: “What I see from my perspective is the landscape is changing. I got asked quite literally yesterday by a very big magic circle law firm, ‘would it be possible to prosecute a company for conspiracy to traffic humans on the basis of actions that they knew were going on, but that they had failed to address?’ My answer was yes, because they are doing an act and furtherance of the criminal behavior by passively knowing it exists, but doing nothing to prevent it, and having the power to do something. The landscape is changing legally in this way as well. We have the EU director that was handed down in April, March 2024, which means that directors have to take responsibility. It’s the director’s problem. Under the company’s act, they have legal and corporate responsibility.”
Promoting hope
With the problems of modern slavery discussed, Heibel directed the panel to offer some light in the darkness. He asked Nelson how organisations like Hope for Justice can be an asset for businesses when tackling the issue of a more transparent supply chain.
“Within what we do at Hope for Justice, we have this division called the Slave-Free Alliance, which is a trusted friend to big businesses and helps them with the requirements that are placed upon them regarding modern day slavery. So we come in and we provide gap analysis to try and help pinpoint where the problems are and what needs to change. Quite often there are teams internally within companies, but we see most companies have very small teams with limited ability to be able to carry heavy weight in core areas of risk. We can also utilise experiences that we’ve had in one sector and bring it into another sector. It is the combination of great strategic advice, very good resourcing and training and understanding.”
With this in mind, Heibel asked Peters how technology – like the 1ExigerAI platform – can be a force multiplier.
“The problem is extremely large, meaning there’s just no other way to do it than using technology,” she replied. “That’s clear. And therefore in itself, it already is a force multiplier. The good news is that there is so much data out there. And I think that was really the thing that surprised a lot of people doing due diligence. There’s just so much information in this global world of the web that even bringing it all together and being able to tell a picture is actually a lot more doable than people thought.”
When asked for what the rosiest picture of the future of modern slavery in the supply chain could be, Haughey said that the best case scenario situation is that she’s out of the job.
“It’s about preventative action and collaboration with others,” she said. “There is a drive and desire to collaborate without defeating competition. If you invest now, you are not looking at your bottom line this year and next year. You’re looking at perpetuity. I want my own company to be a hundred year company and beyond, but I want it to be a good company. I want it to be a company that I am proud of saying ‘we are trying to do right’. That comes down to a use of data and fearlessness about understanding your data, as well as recognising that AI has many benefits. It’s an amazing thing for scraping information.”
Köse added that a lack of collaboration means that when a problem occurs, the spotlight is really on you – and that realisation often comes after the fact. “If ignorance versus knowledge comes in as cost versus benefit, you’re in the wrong room with the wrong mindset,” he explained, also echoing Haughey’s and Peters’ sentiment about utilising technology. “There is plentiful data in existence. It requires scalable analytics to turn these bits and pieces into a narrative that’s cohesive, clear, and actionable. And, in fact, it does run actions for the enterprise directly in a way that prevents, mitigates, and also quickly contains issues in the agentic AI way.”
Peters rounded up the conversation with a positive outlook based on her experiences with Exiger. “When you talk about human rights or ESG, the individuals who have been tasked with that actually are very forthcoming and they’re very collaborative. They actually do want to get in the room and talk about how they are solving the problem and learn from their peers because actually, there aren’t that many. I see a lot of collaboration in large companies coming together with those individuals.”
The evening’s panel made it clear that human rights due diligence can no longer be a box-ticking exercise, or a static obligation. Nor is it possible to plead ignorance anymore. Human beings cannot be seen as numbers, and modern slavery is not an abstract supply chain risk. It’s real, it’s happening right now, and it’s harming people.
Through a greater sense of responsibility, a proactive response, and valuable data, organisations can root out and put an end to modern slavery – protecting people while protecting their reputations. The conversation doesn’t end with the Exiger Executive Forum, but we all gained valuable insights from the evening.
Thank you to the Exiger team for inviting us to be part of the conversation; we look forward to the next forum.
Kӧse announced the news on LinkedIn this week. His work with organisations like Hope for Justice and Slave-Free Alliance, and the Exiger Executive Forum, has helped put KŌSE Advisory in a position where Kӧse can now contribute his perspectives directly to the World Economic Forum’s policy conversations.
Kӧse said: “We are entering a period where geopolitics, AI, industrial policy, and supply chain risk can no longer be discussed in isolation, because they are colliding and reshaping how companies compete, how governments act, and how value chains are designed, with consequences measured in trillions and in lives.”
Kӧse’s intent is to contribute actionable, tangible insights to the World Economic Forum Expert Network. These insights will be grounded in data, foresight, and human intelligence. This also includes “understanding that stability and security are the foundation from which prosperity is possible, and that the harder questions about who actually controls the AI supply chain”, he said.
“That means challenging bias and prejudice where it exists, and driving intelligence and security-informed thinking into the policy rooms that need it most.”
SupplyChain Strategy was an official partner of Manifest 2026, and here are our insights into the event that had Vegas…
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SupplyChain Strategy was an official partner of Manifest 2026, and here are our insights into the event that had Vegas rockin’.
The first thing you notice walking into the Expo Hall at Manifest 2026 is the movement. Robotics arms stack pallets a few metres from a booth showcasing AI-powered planning platforms. Autonomous trucks sit alongside warehouse automation systems. Drones buzz overhead as software startups demonstrate dashboards that track shipments in real time.
But it is not just the technology drawing crowds. Everywhere you turn, supply chain professionals are deep in conversation. Old colleagues reconnect, startup founders pitch ideas and procurement leaders debate strategy over coffee.
Pam Simon, Conference Chair, Manifest, delivers the opening keynote speech and there’s a palpable buzz around this vast hall as she whets our appetite for what’s to come…
We first got an inkling of what was to come when we spoke to Tanzil Uddin, SVP of Content and Partnerships at Manifest, back in October: “2026 will be pushing things up a notch!” And he wasn’t wrong.
Beyond the supply chain
For three days in Las Vegas, Manifest becomes something more than a conference. It becomes a real-time snapshot of the global supply chain ecosystem.
Held once again at The Venetian, Las Vegas, the 2026 edition of Manifest 2026 welcomed more than 7,000 attendees representing manufacturers, retailers, logistics providers, startups, investors and senior executives from across the industry.
And as the event continues to grow, its purpose has remained surprisingly consistent: bringing the entire supply chain ecosystem together under one roof.
From startup summit to global supply chain hub
The event’s origins date back to a much smaller gathering, the Future of Logistics Tech Summit. That boutique event focused largely on venture investors and early-stage technology companies. The modern incarnation of Manifest emerged in 2022, when the event was relaunched with a broader vision: a forum representing the entire supply chain landscape.
Today, the conference operates under Hyve Group and has rapidly grown into one of the sector’s most influential gatherings. As Uddin explains, the goal has always been to represent the entire ecosystem. “Manifest is really a full ecosystem event dedicated to the end-to-end supply chain. We bring together startups and investors, but also supply chain leadership like chief supply chain officers and chief procurement officers from retail, manufacturing, automotive, life sciences and more.”
That diversity is visible throughout the show floor, where emerging technology companies sit alongside established logistics operators and major enterprise software vendors…
As Manifest 2026 draws to a close, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, Manifest, Katie Date reflects…
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As Manifest 2026 draws to a close, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, Manifest, Katie Date reflects on record-breaking engagement, the accelerating impact of AI, and how the fast-growing event continues to unite the global supply chain community. Plus, an exciting announcement that will see Manifest’s influence spread even wider…
As the exhibition halls begin to quiet and the final meetings wrap up, the sense of momentum surrounding Manifest 2026 remains unmistakable. The event has once again positioned itself as a focal point for the global logistics and supply chain community, bringing together shippers, carriers, technology providers, investors and startups under one roof for several days of intensive networking and knowledge exchange.
For Katie Date, Senior Vice President of Industry Relations and Strategic Initiatives, the energy is the clearest measure of success. “It feels great,” she says as the event draws to a close. “This year has been so successful on so many different fronts. The energy in Manifest has truly been palpable. You just walk around and you can feel the buzz.”
That buzz is measurable as well as visible. Manifest’s proprietary badge technology tracks interactions across the venue, revealing the scale of engagement. “As of this morning,” Date explains, “our click to connect Qlik technology had recorded over 75,000 connections. By the end of today, I’m sure we’ll have surpassed 100,000 connections. We had almost 7,500 people check in to be a part of Manifest, which is just huge growth.”
For the organisers, those interactions are the event’s defining metric. “Really how we measure success here at Manifest is on those connections,” she says. “To see so many people making valuable connections really is a great measure of success.”
A platform for the entire ecosystem
From its earliest iteration, Manifest has been designed to serve the full supply chain ecosystem rather than any single segment. That founding principle continues to guide the event’s expansion. “I think we’ve done a very good job of staying close to the original vision, which was to serve the entire supply chain ecosystem,” says Date. “We’re not an event that’s just focusing on shippers or carriers or third-party logistics providers. We’re bringing them all together. We’re bringing in investors and startups. We’re creating almost three days of content and exhibition that really give them an opportunity to interact and create value.”
Speaking at Manifest 2026 in Las Vegas, Ray DeMelfi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services, and Derek Miller, Senior Account…
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Speaking at Manifest 2026 in Las Vegas, Ray DeMelfi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services, and Derek Miller, Senior Account Executive at Hy-Tek Intralogistics, present a clear view of how supply chains must evolve in a world defined by volatility, labour pressure and accelerating automation.
At Hy-Tek Intralogistics, strategy begins long before a system is installed, a robot deployed, or a facility redesigned. It begins with stepping back. The message is consistent. The companies that succeed are those that think beyond the immediate constraint and design for what comes next.
Strategy first
Hy-Tek operates as an end-to-end intralogistics partner, supporting organisations from early-stage supply chain strategy and network design through to technology integration, deployment and ongoing optimisation. The company combines consulting, software, automation partnerships and implementation expertise to deliver distribution and fulfilment systems tailored to specific operational requirements.
For Ray DeMelfi, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services, the most common mistake organisations make is focusing too narrowly on today’s operational pain points. His team works with customers to define how facilities and networks must operate, not just now, but for years to come. That means building data-driven concepts that reflect growth ambitions, service expectations and structural change across the business. “Understanding your growth is the starting point. What are you trying to achieve?” he says. “A lot of times, customers look at the constraints of today and become narrow in focus… but you have to step back and understand what your growth strategy is and what the requirements are to support that…”
At Manifest 2026 in Las Vegas, 4flow sets out a clear vision for the next phase of supply chain transformation:…
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At Manifest 2026 in Las Vegas, 4flow sets out a clear vision for the next phase of supply chain transformation: faster decisions, predictive intelligence and continuous optimisation across the entire value chain. Natalia Andreyeva, Vice President, GTM Strategy for North America, and Greg Toornman, Senior Level Global Supply Chain Executive, at 4flow, explain…
Speed is now the defining currency of supply chain performance. “What’s really changing is that everybody’s looking for the speed of decision-making,” says Natalia Andreyeva, Vice President, GTM Strategy for North America, 4flow. “The environment of the supply chain is so volatile and fast-paced, especially over the last seven years, that it needs to be timely decisions all the time. Supply chains need to move into a more adaptive and responsive state of mind. Companies that can make decisions faster will essentially earn their differentiation in the market.” Greg Toornman, Senior Level Global Supply Chain Executive, 4flow, agrees. “More organisations predictive analytics are looking to integrate that can enable them to establish workflows or game plans if an event happens. As Natalia mentioned, speed and adaptability are critical. What more can you do to respond than be prepared?”
From visibility orchestration platform strategy with execution.
4flow has long positioned itself at the intersection of consulting, software and operational execution. Its combined services and technology model spans network design, transportation optimisation and daily operational planning. Increasingly, it is bringing those capabilities together under an AI-driven, end-to-ends that connects strategy with execution.
Customers, Andreyeva explains, are under intense pressure. “Cost pressures and volatility in supply chain are among the highest priorities they bring to us. The second is fragmented systems in their tech stack. The third is how to invest in technology so that their businesses and supply chains perform better at lower cost.” The answer is not another siloed tool. It is integration. “I actually think it’s on us as solution providers to help with that,” she says. “We connect different domains together inside a unifying platform so we can bring all the data from existing systems into one place and build decision systems on top of that…”
James Wee, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Fleet Solutions at Descartes, tells us how structural supply chain transformation…
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James Wee, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Fleet Solutions at Descartes, tells us how structural supply chain transformation is needed to counter almost constant temporary disruption…
At Manifest 2026, conversations about artificial intelligence (AI), automation and the realities of last-mile delivery are everywhere. Few executives are closer to the operational front line than James Wee, General Manager, Fleet Management at Descartes. Speaking amid the energy of the Las Vegas event, he presents a clear picture of an industry navigating structural change rather than temporary disruption.
“It’s a really exhilarating event,” he says of the gathering. “Lots of people. It’s a great turnout.” The show also offers valuable opportunities to connect with partners and customers. “We’ve had a great opportunity to connect and engage with clients and partners. It’s been well worthwhile to be here.”
Technology for fleets operating in a new reality
Wee leads the business unit responsible for last-mile delivery technologies at Descartes, designed for organisations running dedicated and private fleets. Descartes powers more responsive, efficient, secure and sustainable international and domestic supply chains by uniting logistics-intensive businesses on its Global Logistics Network (GLN). Shippers, carriers, and logistics service providers connect and collaborate on the GLN leveraging technology, data and AI to manage last mile deliveries, domestic and international shipments, transportation rating and payment, global trade research, customs compliance and a variety of regulatory processes…
Speaking at Manifest 2026, Guy Gemmill, President and Co-Founder of APC Postal Logistics, explains how brands must rethink cross-border fulfilment…
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Speaking at Manifest 2026, Guy Gemmill, President and Co-Founder of APC Postal Logistics, explains how brands must rethink cross-border fulfilment to meet rising expectations from direct-to-consumer shoppers worldwide…
At a time when international ecommerce growth continues to reshape supply chains, delivery is no longer just a logistics function. It is a core part of the customer experience. Gemmill, and his three fellow founders, lead a business that specialises in international delivery for brands based in the United States selling to consumers overseas and into Canada. APC provides a portfolio of delivery options designed to match different budget levels, service requirements and customer expectations, supported by cross-border solutions that reduce friction and improve the overall buying experience. Technology underpins the model, helping brands manage everything from compliance to tracking and visibility. As Gemmill explains, the fundamentals of global fulfilment have shifted dramatically, particularly for direct-to-consumer brands.
Understanding the global consumer
For Gemmill, the biggest distinction between traditional wholesale distribution and direct-to-consumer delivery lies in who receives the parcel. “In the DTC, B2C business, the last person receiving the product is going to be a consumer,” he says. “Consumers have expectations and they’re very excited to receive the products that they’ve ordered… so it is important that the brand understand their consumer expectations and what those consumers desire…”
We met with Drew Taranto, Vice President of Product Management for eCommerce and Returns at DHL, to see how supply…
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We met with Drew Taranto, Vice President of Product Management for eCommerce and Returns at DHL, to see how supply chains are still adapting to these times of constant disruption…
Drew Taranto, Vice President of Product Management for eCommerce and Returns, is focused on growth strategy across omnichannel fulfilment and reverse logistics. His role spans working with brands across multiple industries to help them expand their eCommerce capabilities while adapting to changing consumer expectations. Taranto explains that his remit is firmly product and future-focused.
“What are we doing to provide additional services for our customers? What are we doing to change the industry in light of what’s coming from end-consumers? And really helping drive that within our company through the product development lens is really what my responsibilities are.”
Distribution at the core
As a global contract logistics provider, DHL Supply Chain designs and operates distribution centres, manages warehousing and fulfilment, and supports complex supply chain operations for manufacturers, retailers and brands worldwide. Within that landscape, distribution remains the operational backbone. Taranto is clear that the biggest structural shift for DHL lies in how its customers now think about their networks. “Warehousing is one of our core offerings,” he says. “But what I would say is that there are lots of shifts in how our customer base is thinking about and building their distribution networks. What’s important to them is constantly changing…”
Johnny Ivanyi, Global Head of Logistics at Bayer Crop Science, on managing the complexity of today’s supply chain amid a digital transformation and sustainability boom.
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Today’s supply chain is full of challenges.
Disruptions such as geopolitical tensions, climate change and the lingering impact of the pandemic have all had their respective impact on organisations and their strategies. As a result, supply chain and procurement leaders have been propelled to the top of the c-suite and are making key, strategic decisions to drive tangible impact on a company’s strategy. Quite the rise to the top for a function traditionally hidden away out of sight.
Supply chain transparency
According to Johnny Ivanyi, Global Head of Logistics at Bayer Crop Science, one of the main areas he is focused on revolves around improving the transparency and visibility of the entire end-to-end supply chain. “I want to remove silos between system and process because Bayer to improve the performance of the operation as a global company,” he tells us. “The big question is how you can transform these dots of information into complete end-to-end connectivity and we call this ‘Smart Centre.’ You have to build transparency but also at the same time you have to ask how you can ensure real-time tracking in order to make the right decision. How can my team on the ground and the field make the right decision at the right time?”
The Bayer Crop Science division is a world-leading agriculture enterprise with businesses in seeds, crop protection. The crop protection/seeds operating unit markets a broad portfolio of high-value seeds, while also providing extensive customer service for sustainable agriculture. The global supply and logistics team manages a large worldwide and local network of LSPs and suppliers to provide the ingredients necessary to make their products.
Data-driven supply chain management
In 2024, Bayer Crop Science chose a solution to provide their Supply Command Centre. Bayer joined the Digital Supply Chain Network to take advantage of a large and growing ecosystem, bringing efficiency, reliability, agility and predictability to their global supply chain operations. Speaking at the time of the announcement in 2024, Ivanyi said: “We have great expectations that this new platform will support us to improve our customer experience and our logistics operations throughout the entire global supply chain network.”
Ivanyi joined Bayer in August 2019 and today leads the global supply chain and logistics strategy. As part of his role, he is driving the logistics transformation across regions by identifying, assessing and implementing innovative, best-in-class strategy methods and new technologies. These include Global Transportation Management Solutions (TMS), Global Warehousing Management Solutions (WMS), Last Mile Visibility, and Logistics Smart Centres, such as business intelligence and data analytics. He explains that another important item on his agenda today is change management amid the rise of new innovations entering the marketplace. “We have different generations in logistics so how do you share with your teams that there is a change in the mindset of the way of working? It’s not about show-and-join experience, but about making the right decisions with data,” says Ivanyi. “The final element is data connecting with generative AI (GenAI). The big challenge is balancing and prioritising everything.”
GenAI journey
Indeed, GenAI has become one of the biggest buzzwords in the supply chain and procurement space amid a significant industry-wide boom. Automation and the acceleration of new digital tools are transforming how companies operate and do business. However, one of the biggest questions within the industry today is how mature is this technology and how many use cases are there? In Ivanyi and Bayer’s case, they can back it up.
“We actually have several use cases — at least four or five in logistics and supply chain that we’re actively working on,” he reveals. “One key use case is maximising on-time delivery in our go-to-market strategy, from our distribution centres to customers. We’re leveraging machine learning and generative AI to analyse provider performance over the last two to three years, helping us predict their reliability today. For instance, if a provider has shown consistent delays in a particular route, we can anticipate issues and take proactive measures.
“Another use case is within warehouse operations. Even though our organisation operates on a 3PL outsourcing model, we’re working on improving real-time warehouse visualisation—connecting inventory management with payment performance. The goal is to bridge the gaps between systems, improving operational efficiency.
“A third major initiative is track-and-trace visibility for our 40,000 ocean containers worldwide. We rely on manual uploads to track container locations across multiple providers and platforms. We are exploring how GenAI and automation can eliminate human intervention while ensuring seamless system integration. The objective isn’t to replace people, but rather to enhance system interoperability and reduce manual workload. These are three of our most critical use cases, and while we have several proofs of concept underway, these remain top of mind for us right now.”
Mitigating challenges
Bayer is partnering with Gartner on its digital roadmap, and following a recent in-depth conversation, how to unleash the power of data was heavily discussed. According to Ivanyi, there are several key areas tied to success within data analytics. “If you have the right data, clearly understand your use case, and define your desired outcomes, you create a strong foundation for success. These three elements—data, use case clarity, and outcome alignment—are crucial,” he tells us. “We also believe in a step-by-step approach, starting with proof of concept. Rather than tackling everything at once, we begin with a single warehouse or distribution centre and scale up from there. However, the biggest challenge remains data, especially given the complexity within our ecosystem. As we transition to S/4HANA, we must also integrate various satellite systems.
“In my view, the key to generative AI success is having the right data and a clear vision. When these align, they drive meaningful outputs and impactful business outcomes. You can have cutting-edge technology powering your GenAI, but without high-quality data as the raw material and a clear framework to measure results, you’re setting yourself up for challenges. If you don’t know how to validate your data, there will be gaps.”
Sustainability drive
Alongside digital transformation, a second key topic dominating boardrooms and conferences today is sustainability. The business world has shifted and both the expectations of the consumer and global legislation dictate that greener strategies are the way forward, especially with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the background. But Ivanyi is optimistic that things are moving in the right direction for Bayer and the wider industry. “I believe we are on the right track,” he says. “We are making significant progress and putting in a great deal of effort to drive meaningful outcomes. Our first priority is establishing the right metrics to measure CO2 emissions globally. By implementing a standardised metric, we can define our baseline and track progress toward our 2030 sustainability goals.
“Secondly, we are embedding sustainability into every aspect of continuous improvement. As I mentioned before, we are exploring ways to align digital platforms with sustainability opportunities. It’s not just about cost efficiency—we also prioritise customer experience, which is a core obsession at Bayer, while ensuring sustainability is a fundamental part of our decision-making process.
“In fact, we already have use cases in the field where real-time decisions are being made based on CO2 emissions. For example, when planning transportation from point A to point B, our Transportation Management System (TMS) can calculate mileage and estimate the CO2 emissions for a given route, enabling us to make informed, eco-conscious decisions. Ultimately, it’s about integrating sustainability into our platforms and daily operations. Every use case we develop should not only drive operational improvements but also align with our broader sustainability goals.”
However, reaching sustainability targets isn’t easy and is impossible to achieve alone. Ivanyi believes that ensuring alignment and mutual understanding with partners is a key piece of the puzzle. “A crucial aspect of collaboration is working with our partners to develop the right solutions while fostering a strong sustainability mindset,” he explains. “The key is collaboration, step by step, with transparency at the core. We need to be open about our internal goals, the opportunities we see, and where we believe improvements can be made. Our partners should align with these sustainability objectives so that we’re all moving in the same direction. Ultimately, in the world of logistics, success comes down to how well you connect with your partners. At the end of the day, they are the ones putting the wheels on the road, so building a strong, clear collaboration with them is essential to driving progress.”
Brighter future
Looking ahead, the global investment in new technologies is not going to die down anytime soon. With the supply chain and logistics space set to be digital-focused for the foreseeable future, Ivanyi explains the biggest hurdle will be tailoring digitalisation to each individual organisation because all are built differently. “There’s no turning back—everyone is moving toward digital transformation,” he tells us. “Of course, this requires changes in processes and systems, but more importantly, it requires a shift in mindset. I always say it’s about moving ‘from data to behaviour.’ It’s not just about collecting information—it’s about using it to drive smart decision-making.
“Think of it like a pilot in a cockpit. The key is having the right metrics and insights at your fingertips, enabling you to make the best decisions—whether they’re focused on customer experience, operational performance, or strategic direction. More and more, companies are investing in digitalisation because it’s the only way forward. But success doesn’t just come from implementing new technology; it comes from training teams and fostering a mindset that embraces this transformation.
“Another critical element is differentiation. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for companies operating on a global scale. You can’t apply the same tailored approach everywhere, but at the same time, there isn’t a single universal strategy that works for all. The key is striking the right balance—adapting to regional needs while maintaining a cohesive digital strategy.
“One thing is clear: digital transformation is inevitable. The real question is where each company focuses its efforts—whether in warehousing, transportation, inventory, or beyond. Everyone is on this journey; the difference will be in how mature and strategic their approach is.”
Cyrus Gilbert-Rolfe, Chief Commercial Officer at Kezzler, dives into how supply chain professionals can prepare for the future by standardising their data.
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In today’s world of fragmented value chains and increasing uncertainty, supply chain disruption is no longer an exception – it’s sadly, often, the norm. Whether due to global conflicts, climate events, pandemics, or regulatory pressure, businesses must now operate with agility and foresight. And at the heart of this transformation lies a simple but critical need: data.
More specifically, the ability to capture, share, and interpret granular supply chain data in real time is becoming a cornerstone of operational resilience, sustainability, and regulatory compliance. That’s where EPCIS 2.0, GS1’s visibility data standard, comes into play.
Unlike its predecessor, EPCIS 2.0 reflects the reality of modern supply chains. It supports richer, more structured data, enabling interoperable traceability across systems, stakeholders, and borders.
Digital traceability is no longer optional
The demand for traceability is growing exponentially. Consumers expect to know where their products come from, under what conditions they were made, and how they can be reused or recycled. Regulators, particularly in the EU, are implementing frameworks like the Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enforce such transparency.
These shifts introduce massive data requirements that legacy systems were never designed to handle. Fragmented systems, paper-based processes, and non-standard formats not only increase inefficiencies, but they also make compliance, sustainability, and recall management nearly impossible to scale.
EPCIS 2.0 is built to address this. It provides a common language for supply chain events, allowing businesses to capture detailed, event-based data such as where an item was shipped, under what temperature conditions, or which batch of raw material was used. This level of insight can be the difference between a swift product recall and a full-blown crisis.
From compliance to circularity: What EPCIS 2.0 enables
The relevance of EPCIS 2.0 extends far beyond compliance. Its core capabilities are based on capturing the ‘what, when, where, why, and how’ of each product movement or transformation, making it a foundational tool for the circular economy.
Sustainability: By embedding certifications, sustainability claims, and environmental data into digital events, companies can provide transparent proof of product provenance and lifecycle impacts.
Recall and risk management: When a problem arises, whether a contaminated food ingredient or faulty component, companies can immediately isolate and trace the affected batches, minimising financial and reputational damage.
Product lifecycle management: By tracking items from production through repair, resale, and recycling, EPCIS 2.0 supports extended producer responsibility and enables efficient returns or refurbishment programs.
Crucially, this level of traceability is achieved not through bespoke integrations or proprietary software, but through global standards, enabling seamless interoperability across borders and industries.
A real-world example: Building a data marketplace at scale
The journey toward end-to-end digital traceability can be complex. But when done right, the benefits extend far beyond logistics.
Take the case of Migros Group, Switzerland’s largest retailer. Facing challenges around fragmented data, inefficient returns processes, and lack of supply chain visibility, Migros set out to modernise its operations – not through piecemeal tools, but through the creation of a centralised Logistics Data Marketplace based on EPCIS 2.0.
This initiative involved:
Assigning unique digital identities to each returnable transport item (RTI), enabling precise tracking and reuse.
Automating data capture using RFID, which reduced reliance on manual entry and minimized errors.
Capturing EPCIS event data for key steps like aggregation, shipping, and receiving – allowing for full visibility of every batch, pallet, and shipment.
The result? Improved shelf availability, reduced waste, faster goods receiving, and a stronger foundation for sustainability reporting. Most notably, the data was not siloed – it was made available through a collaborative platform where all stakeholders, from manufacturers to distributors, could access the same real-time insights.
How supply chain leaders can prepare
While EPCIS 2.0 is technically advanced, its real power lies in its simplicity: using shared standards to enable shared visibility. But to implement it successfully, companies need to follow some strategic steps:
Start with your business problems: Whether it’s improving inventory accuracy, meeting regulatory demands, or enabling product take-back schemes, your use case should drive your data model – not the other way around.
Map your critical process steps: Identify where visibility matters most. For example, in a cold chain, temperature monitoring at transit points may be critical. In manufacturing, the transformation of raw materials into finished goods is key.
Model visibility events: Using EPCIS’s event types you can structure how each step is tracked, verified, and shared.
Use the Core Business Vocabulary (CBV): Adhering to standardised vocabulary ensures your data can be understood and used by partners and regulators alike.
Enable interoperability through Digital Link: Combining EPCIS 2.0 with the GS1 Digital Link standard allows serialized product data to be directly embedded into on-pack codes, creating a bridge between physical products and digital data.
Looking ahead: A foundation for resilience
The convergence of regulation, consumer expectation, and technology is changing how businesses think about supply chains. What was once an operational back end is now a strategic asset – central to reputation, revenue, and resilience.
By adopting EPCIS 2.0, companies are not simply responding to change – they are laying the groundwork for a future-ready infrastructure. This approach enables real-time, data-driven decision-making, facilitates transparent product journeys that help build consumer trust, and allows for faster, more accurate responses to disruptions. Additionally, it fosters smarter collaboration across supply chain networks, ensuring all stakeholders can operate with a shared understanding and greater agility.
The stakes are high, but the opportunity is greater. For those willing to embrace data standardisation and traceability, EPCIS 2.0 offers a clear and powerful path forward.
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Intelligent Supply Chain Playbook Vol.1
The Intelligent Supply Chain Playbook, produced in partnership with SE Advisory Services, highlights the senior leaders shaping the next era of procurement.
