GOODQUESTION
STOP THROWING HUMAN HOURS at repetitive supply chain tasks. Audit operations and integrate technology to get total performance visibility. This doesn’t mean blindly getting on the AI hype train; it requires calculated, strategic advancements. Companies stubbornly repeating the past five years of processes won’t survive the next five.
Develop Adaptability
Invest in adaptability. Eciency alone is no longer enough. In the years ahead, adaptability will be the true competitive advantage. The organizations that thrive will be those that can quickly adopt new technologies, respond to change, and evolve with customer demands. -Je Jones Senior Account Executive, Made4net We’ve reached the end of the one-speed, one-channel-fits-all model. In 2026, retailers must optimize supply chain operations through the strategic use of automation and AI to support expanding channels and give consumers more control over when and how they receive goods.
-Nick Rakovsky CEO, DataDocks
REDESIGN YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN before the market does it for you. With 80%+ of supply chain cost locked in at design, and AI compressing design cycles from months to weeks, continuous network design is both possible and necessary. -Kerry Rosenhagen Expert Director and Supply Chain Design Practice Lead, EFESO Management Consultants FOCUS RUTHLESSLY ON WHAT YOU DO BEST and let trusted partners and technology own everything else. The companies that survive the next five years won’t be the ones doing more. They’ll be the ones doing less, better. Companies spreading resources across too many priorities will struggle to compete. -Will Schweda SVP, Sales, Odyssey Logistics EMBRACE AUTOMATION. Many warehouses still pick orders much as they did 20 years ago. The real question may not be how much automation to add, but whether your operations support speed, flexibility, resilience, and the ability to adapt to market changes. -Akshay Jain Director, Robotic Software Engineering, Symbotic COMPETE ON SPEED or don’t compete at all. AI has collapsed development timelines. Consumers expect dynamic routing, real-time visibility, and personalized delivery options. If you’re not innovating at that pace, you’ll be out of business in five years. -Sean Wu CEO, uShip
-Ashfaque Chowdhury CEO, Exol
Adaptability is key. Every lesson from labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and market volatility points to the same conclusion: Companies need systems that let them pivot quickly when conditions change. -Amy Dean VP of Operations, SC Codeworks
COMBINE AI ADOPTION WITH WORKFORCE UPSKILLING. AI is becoming essential for resilience, smarter decision-making, eciency, and growth. Companies that invest in helping their people work eectively with AI will be the ones that stay competitive over the next five years.
BUILD A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT. Implementing lean management principles builds a culture of continuous improvement where all employees are engaged. Kaizens, small incremental improvements submitted by associates and implemented over time, make impactful changes. -Keith Ingels Director of Lean Management, The Raymond Corporation
-Andreas Podwojewski Managing Director, North America, Arvato
BUILD A PROPRIETARY DATA LAYER NOW or you’re just running the same playbook as everyone else. The real dierentiator isn’t the AI tool, it’s the data you feed it. Companies training models on third- party or historical data are working from the same inputs as competitors. IoT-generated data, unique to your operation, is what gives artificial intelligence an edge. -Ilan Gluck Head of Go-to-Market, North America, Digital Matter
Answer upcoming Good Questions at: www.inboundlogistics.com/ good-question
August 2026 • Inbound Logistics 7
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