This episode explores:

• Drivers that made this year’s Future of Supply Chain Report different. (1:04)
• Capabilities CSCOs are pursuing to prepare for the future. (3:24)
• The multiple pathways to success that organizations can take. (7:07)
• How CSCOs can choose the best pathway for their organization. (15:16)
• Advice for CSCOs preparing their supply chains for the future. (16:31)

In this episode of the Supply Chain Podcast, host Lindsay Azim sits down with Pierfrancesco (Pier) Manenti, Gartner research vice president for supply chain strategy, to discuss Gartner’s yearly Future of Supply Chain Executive Report. As lead author of the report, Pier discusses how this year’s report — Supply Chain Executive Report: Future of Supply Chain 2025 — focuses on the capabilities chief supply chain officers can pursue to meet the future it outlines. Lindsay and Pier explore the various pathways organizations can take to build these capabilities before closing the show with recommendations for CSCOs pursuing those pathways.

About the Guest

Pierfrancesco (Pier) Manenti is research vice president for the Gartner supply chain strategy team. Pier provides insights and advisory support to chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) and heads of strategy of global manufacturing and retail corporations, especially with regards to future trends and key challenges affecting end-to-end supply chain strategy. He focuses on strategic transformation, digitalization, agility and design for profitability.

This episode explores:

• Kraft Heinz’s use of operational excellence programs to perfect their manual processes before adding digital tools. (1:06)
• How Kraft Heinz executives engage in servant leadership to remove roadblocks on digital project roadmaps. (5:00)
• Kraft Heinz’s future goals for a self-driving, end-to-end supply chain. (7:13)
• Standout use cases for generative AI at Kraft Heinz. (10:25)
• Recommendations for chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) driving digital transformations in their own organizations. (14:06).

In this episode of Gartner’s Supply Chain Podcast, host Thomas O’Connor speaks with Senior Vice President and Head of North America Operations at the Kraft Heinz Company, Helen Davis, about the digital transformation efforts Kraft Heinz is undertaking for its supply chain. They discuss Kraft Heinz’s commitment to creating strong foundations in manual processes, including the tools it uses to capture and maintain employee and executive buy-in. Thomas and Helen then explore Kraft Heinz’s vision for an autonomous supply chain, and then close the show with recommendations for CSCOs that want to undertake similar journeys.

About the Guest

Helen Davis has over 27 years of global supply chain experience, successfully transforming supply chains in several countries and in a variety of different industries. She is currently Senior Vice President and Head of North America Operations at the Kraft Heinz Company. Helen has also held senior supply chain roles at Unilever, Estée Lauder, Reckitt Benckiser and Coca-Cola, where she led the transformation to the “Factory of the Future” and spearheaded the “Touchless Supply Chain” concept through use of decision intelligence. 

This episode explores:

• “Decision shapers,” supply chain planning leaders that leverage three personas to guide supply chain planning leaders’ decision making through informed, data-driven recommendations. (1:22)
• The skills decision shapers leverage as part of the “codebreaker” persona to analyze and capitalize on key data points. (4:25)
• How the “alchemist” persona, a combination of business acumen, adaptability and AI readiness that decision shapers use to turn data into intelligent insights. (7:56)
• Ways the “storyteller” persona packages data and insights to meet audiences where they’re at with language that resonates with them. (13:42)
• Essential recommendations for supply chain leaders that want to become decision shapers in their own organizations. (19:35)

In this episode of the Supply Chain Podcast, host Lindsay Azim discusses the impact “decision shapers” have on supply chain planning (SCP) with guest Noha Samara, a Gartner senior director analyst. The pair explore their shared research into the current state of SCP, and how SCP leaders can evolve their approach to it through data analysis, intelligent insights and robust communication. They close the show with recommendations for SCP leaders that want to affect similar changes in their own org.

About the Guest:

Gartner Senior Director Analyst Noha Samara covers several areas of supply chain planning. She has authored and coauthored numerous research on supply chain planning processes’ evolution, supply chain planning organization design and talent, and supply chain planning transformations. She joined Gartner in 2020 after a long career at several multinational organizations such as Procter & Gamble and Microsoft where she was leading different supply chain teams. Noha has been leading the supply chain planning track agenda at Gartner Symposium for the past couple of years and currently chairs the upcoming Supply Chain Planning Summits in 2025 and 2026.