Alle afleveringen
127 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Judgment Is the Skill AI Can’t Touch. Are You Building It?
3 november 2026 · 20 min
Everyone says judgment is the human skill that will keep us ahead of the machines. But few organizations have defined what good judgment looks like, let alone how to build or measure it. This week, Lauren Acoba (VP, Head of Intelligence & Advisory) sits down with Caroline Chumakov and Geraint John (VPs, Intelligence & Advisory) to change that. As AI takes on more of the transactional work, they explore what judgment actually is, why it’s getting harder to learn on the job, and what the best supply chain and operations leaders are doing to build it on purpose. Lees meer
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The New Economics of Enterprise AI
27 oktober 2026 · 18 min
For years, enterprise AI has been framed as a build decision. But as agents move into full-scale operations, the real cost is running them every day – and the meter doesn’t stop running. This week, Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah sits down with VP, Intelligence & Advisory Kelly Coutinho to unpack the new economics of enterprise AI. They explore why a paper mill and a McDonald’s promotion need very different kinds of AI and compute, what to meter versus where to commit to dedicated capacity, and why what your business knows, not access to frontier models, is what delivers a lasting competitive edge. Lees meer
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AI as Foundation: How Rivian Is Architecting the Future of Automotive
21 oktober 2026 · 24 min
What’s harder: transforming a century-old carmaker for the digital age, or building one from scratch with no safety net? In this special episode, Zero100 Executive in Residence Jim Rowan – former CEO of Volvo Cars and Dyson – reunites with his former Volvo colleague Javier Varela, now Chief Operations Officer at Rivian, to explore how a software-first foundation is paving the way for AI-defined operations. Javier shares how Rivian uses the vehicle itself as part of the factory system, why early architectural choices helped cut the R2’s bill of materials in half, and how its homegrown “Large Driving Model” and custom silicon position the company to win in autonomy. Lees meer
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The Orchestrated Factory: Rethinking Spend, Scale, and AI Maturity
13 oktober 2026 · 22 min
For years, leaders have talked about how difficult it is to secure funding beyond standard operations, assuming that breaking through requires a massive balance sheet and a deep tech budget. But Zero100’s latest research reveals a surprising truth: the correlation between investment and digital maturity is virtually nonexistent. This week, Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Jenna Fink to explore findings from her upcoming report on the future of the orchestrated factory, discussing how to open up the “black box” of production, leverage the agility of smaller footprints, navigate integration hurdles in brownfield sites, and shift toward network-level decision-making. Lees meer
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AI Slop or Strategic Edge? The Great Human vs Machine Debate
7 oktober 2026 · 26 min
With AI rapidly flooding the world with text, design, and code, will the market place a premium on human-made craftsmanship and strategic thought, or will efficiency and utility entirely eclipse the human element? This week, Zero100 Chief Content Officer Matt Davis moderates as Lauren Acoba (VP, Head of Research & Advisory) and Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) debate the future value of human work. Tune in as they unpack everything from “AI slop” and the hidden costs of unthoughtful content generation to agentic workflows, accountability, and why supply chain leaders must experiment while building rigorous human judgment. Lees meer
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The Limits of Visibility: Closing Supply Chain's Intervention Gap
29 september 2026 · 21 min
We’ve spent the last decade building better control towers and gathering more data than ever. So why is the supply chain still slowing down when a disruption hits? VP, Research & Advisory Jenna Fink and Senior Director, Research & Advisory Justin Gillebo unpack why visibility isn’t the problem anymore, the tough realities of 3PL data ownership, why physical freight automation (like driverless trucks) might actually outpace our control rooms, and how leaders can finally bridge the gap between control room insights and real-world execution. Lees meer
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Designing the Self-Healing Supply Chain at AstraZeneca
22 september 2026 · 15 min
This week, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with Arun Krishnan – SVP, Global Supply Chain & Strategy at AstraZeneca – to explore the Holy Grail of modern operations: the self-healing supply chain. Pulling back the curtain, Arun shares how AI and human judgment are combining to automate the routine, eliminate the guesswork, and protect patient safety at scale, all while bringing a genuine sense of joy back to the team by freeing them up for higher-level work. Lees meer
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Closing the Gap Between AI Conviction and Execution at Zero100 Live EU
8 september 2026 · 15 min
With AI capabilities evolving quarter-on-quarter and executive leadership demanding immediate ROI, treating digital transformation as a static, once-a-year roadmap is a trap. Fresh off the floor at Zero100 Live EU – our flagship London gathering for operations and supply chain leaders – Matt Davis (Chief Content Officer), Lauren Acoba (VP, Head of Research & Advisory), and Caroline Chumakov (VP, Research & Advisory) sit down for a real-time debrief, unpicking why intelligence is no longer the bottleneck in supply chain, how agentic AI is shifting human roles toward high-stakes judgment, and why the real path forward lies in rewiring cross-functional workflows into end-to-end Power Threads. Lees meer
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Has the “Just Reroute It” Supply Chain Strategy Reached Its Limit?
1 september 2026 · 21 min
For years, the default rule of global logistics was simple: when a shipping lane gets blocked, you reroute. But with the Strait of Hormuz functionally closed, the Red Sea facing persistent conflict, and drought constraining the Panama Canal, the “just reroute it” playbook is officially broken. This week, Geraint John (VP, Research & Advisory) sits down with Oliver Sawbridge (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) to unpack why temporary workarounds and inventory buffers are no longer enough, breaking down how compounding climate and geopolitical risks at key global chokepoints are forcing leading operations teams toward regionalized network design for true resilience. Lees meer
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Build, Buy, or Partner? Rethinking Enterprise Tech in the Age of AI
25 augustus 2026 · 24 min
With AI evolving month-on-month and boardrooms demanding instant tech strategies, the old binary choice of “build versus buy” is starting to look like a trap. On this episode of The Zero100 Podcast, Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) sits down with Kelly Coutinho (VP, Research & Advisory) and Rahul George (Director, Data Products) to unpack why enterprise tech strategy has shifted into a new triad: build, buy, or partner. Tune in as they explore why building has become cheap while ownership hasn’t, how to evaluate when a “bolt-on” AI solution makes sense, and why your ultimate goal shouldn't be predicting 2029, but building the operational agility to adapt when it arrives. Lees meer
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Are We Measuring AI ROI All Wrong?
18 augustus 2026 · 24 min
Enterprise leaders are facing a massive dilemma: AI bills are exploding, yet finance leaders are struggling to see where any of that money is coming back to the business. But are companies making a fundamental mistake by treating AI like just another IT project chasing quick savings? This week on the podcast, Cody Stack (VP, Data & Analytics) is joined by Geraint John (VP, Research & Advisory) and Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) to unpack why it’s time rethink the true value of AI. Lees meer
Drawing from real-world examples – from Walmart’s autonomous tail-spend agents to multi-hundred-million-dollar commodity cost intelligence – they challenge the trap of chasing isolated 90-day ROI and simple headcount cuts. Instead, they outline how mature operators are managing token costs, metrics like decision latency, and end-to-end workflow orchestration to move past quick-win science fairs and build true, lasting enterprise value.
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How CVS Turned Supply Chain Into a Growth Engine – and Merchandising's Best Friend
11 augustus 2026 · 23 min
For most of his 20+ year career, Josh White watched supply chain get treated like every other retailer treats it: a cost to be minimized. But as Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer at CVS, he's spent his tenure rewriting that narrative: repositioning supply chain as a growth enabler that his Chief Merchandising Officer now calls “his supply chain.” This week, Josh tells Zero100’s Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah how he pulled off both transformations at once. The growth piece required automation that punches above its weight, AI-powered demand sensing, and flexible systems built for future capabilities. But winning over merchandising required something harder: a shift from “that plan will break our network” to “here's what it would take to make that possible.” Lees meer
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The Zero100 Mailbag: Chinese vs US LLMs, Plus Your Top AI Scaling Questions Answered
4 augustus 2026 · 17 min
Should companies bet on US or Chinese AI models – and is that even the right question? How can teams push past “too small to matter” AI pilots and ambitious projects that never ship? And is “our data isn’t ready yet” still a valid reason to delay AI adoption? This week, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Caroline and Senior Research Director Oliver Sawbridge to unpack these questions, alongside others from the Zero100 community, getting into everything from process debt to overhyped fears we think will change drastically over the next twelve months. Lees meer
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The Hidden Timeline of Supply Chain Shocks
28 juli 2026 · 28 min
When a disruption hits a major shipping lane, consumers and markets often presume that if prices don't spike the next day, the danger has passed. But that calm is a dangerous illusion. This week, VP, Data & Analytics Data Cody Stack and VPs, Research Geraint John and Jenna Fink unpack why the most dangerous disruptions aren't always the high-profile consumer tech stories, but the quieter shocks to food, fertilizer, fuel, plastics, and packaging. They explore why standard risk playbooks consistently miss industrial raw material crises, how fixed seasonal windows in agriculture trap businesses on delayed timelines, and why resilience must shift from a reactive function to an embedded design capability across sourcing, planning, logistics, and product design. Lees meer
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Operational Sovereignty: The Supply Chain Imperative for 2028
21 juli 2026 · 21 min
What happens when the supply chain playbook you’ve spent decades building becomes obsolete overnight? Fresh from Zero100’s Off the Grid event in the Irish countryside, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Kelly Coutinho, and Account Manager Lewis Barnes to discuss the supply chain shift to “operational sovereignty,” and why 2028 is shaping up to be a defining year for operations. They also explore why 60% of workflows belong to no single function, how AI is exposing decades of process debt, and why the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn't technological, but human. Lees meer
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Are AI Layoffs Really About AI?
14 juli 2026 · 22 min
Major companies like Meta, Google, and Amazon are increasingly pointing to AI efficiency as a primary driver for workforce restructuring. But is the narrative of “doing more with less” the whole story? This week, Zero100 VPs, Research & Advisory Lauren Acoba and Caroline Chumakov move past the headlines to explore how companies are navigating this transition. They discuss why headcount reduction is often more complicated than it appears, how to preserve vital institutional knowledge, and why forward-thinking leaders are using AI to redeploy talent into new, high-value roles that drive long-term resilience. Lees meer
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Is Your Agentic Rollout Creating New Cybersecurity Risks?
7 juli 2026 · 24 min
When Zero100 surveyed COOs, cybersecurity breaches emerged as the #1 business continuity risk for 2026, outranking geopolitics and tariffs. The driving force behind this anxiety? The rapid rise of agentic AI. Unlike traditional software, these autonomous systems learn and evolve through use, introducing a massive new risk landscape. This week, Senior Director, Research & Advisory Justin Gillebo sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Geraint John and Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah to unpack why agentic workflows require continuous operational governance, and how to balance fast-paced citizen innovation with strict guardrails before your supply chain misfires. Lees meer
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From Taiwan to Tariffs: How Supply Chain Leaders Are Thinking About Risk
30 juni 2026 · 23 min
Zero100 surveyed 100 supply chain leaders to find out how they're thinking about risk, resilience, and global trade. 85% say geopolitical chaos is wrecking their operations. Cybersecurity is a top-three threat. 55% say low-cost sourcing is dead. Nearly half think China will move on Taiwan by 2030. But while most companies are stuck firefighting each new crisis, a small group of leaders is doing something fundamentally different: they're treating resilience not as insurance, but as a competitive advantage. This week, Senior Director, Research & Advisory Justin Gillebo sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Geraint John and Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah to unpack the findings, break down the concrete plays top performers are running, and explain why resilience is no longer about defense alone. Lees meer
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IT vs Ops: Who Really Owns AI?
23 juni 2026 · 19 min
As coding becomes democratized, who actually owns AI implementation: operations or IT? The answer isn't either/or. This week, VPs, Research & Advisory Lauren Acoba and Kelly Coutinho, and Senior Research Analyst Jalen Thibou, tackle the difference between vibe coding prototypes and running production-scale code across geographies with proper security. They expose the hidden language barrier causing pilots to falter, reveal the specific ownership boundaries needed to scale, and explain why both roles are expanding – not competing – in ways most leaders haven't considered. Lees meer
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Is SynBio Manufacturing's Next Frontier?
9 juni 2026 · 19 min
Synthetic biology promises to revolutionize manufacturing, growing materials in fermentation tanks instead of relying on traditional industrial or agricultural sources. But can it scale? Zero100 Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with Mathias Cousin, Managing Director at Monitor Deloitte and a SynBio veteran, to find out. Mathias reveals why manufacturing economics, not science, determines who survives, how AI is compressing design cycles from years to months, and why the biggest breakthroughs may come from replacing cows, not crude oil. With real-world examples, he shows what supply chain leaders need to understand as biological manufacturing moves from the lab to industrial reality. Lees meer
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What Will Humans Do When 60% of Work Is Automated?
26 mei 2026 · 21 min
Zero100 predicts that by 2030, 60% of supply chain’s functional activities will shift to automated or autonomous execution. But what happens to the workers in that equation? This week on the podcast, Zero100’s Matt Davis, Caroline Chumakov, and Lauren Acoba deliver the honest answer. Drawing from analyses of 413 solution providers and over a million job descriptions, they reveal how the division of labor is already shifting, explore and what work will remain distinctly human as data tasks move to automation and strategic judgment, supplier relationships, and systems thinking become the competitive advantage. With examples from BMW’s frontline upskilling programs and Fortune 100 adoption strategies, they show how winning companies bring entire workforces along this journey. Lees meer
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Breaking Free from AI Pilot Purgatory with PowerThreads
19 mei 2026 · 22 min
“If one more person brings me another pilot, they're getting fired," one C-level supply chain executive told Zero100 — and they’re far from alone in their frustration. Most companies are drowning in AI projects that never scale because they’re optimizing functions in isolation while ignoring how decisions actually flow across the business. The solution? PowerThreads: end-to-end AI-enabled workflows that connect sensing, deciding, and acting across organizational silos. Lees meer
This week, VPs, Research & Advisory Lauren Acoba, Jenna Fink, and Geraint John break down the five core PowerThreads driving 95% of enterprise value, share a $300M sourcing transformation that required five years of unglamorous foundation-building, and explain why optimizing one bottleneck without understanding the full system often just moves the problem downstream.
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The Great Planning-Sourcing Standoff (And How to End It)
6 mei 2026 · 20 min
Planning and sourcing should be natural partners. So why does it so often feel like they’re working out of sync? This week, VPs, Research Kelly Coutinho and Geraint John dissect the disconnect – and, more importantly, how to bridge it. They share how leading companies are turning functional friction into competitive advantage by using AI to translate demand signals into sourcing actions, creating continuous planning rhythms that keep both teams aligned, and building cross-functional crisis protocols built to survive disruption. Lees meer
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Global Capability Centers: What to Move, Where to Invest, and How to Build Trust
28 april 2026 · 25 min
Target's running a quarter of HQ operations remotely. Unilever's outsourcing demand planning to seven global hubs. Lowe's manages North American inventory from thousands of miles away. Today's Global Capability Centers have evolved far beyond back-office support – they're making the calls that drive your business. But without trust, governance, and the right talent strategy, they'll never live up to their potential. This week, Caroline Chumakov and Geraint John (VPs, Research & Advisory) and Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) break down what actually belongs in a GCC, why India isn't the only answer, and how to avoid the “us vs them" trap that hinders most implementations. Lees meer
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The Zero100 Mailbag: Who Owns AI's Bad Calls – and What’s Happening to Entry-Level Jobs?
21 april 2026 · 20 min
Should you fix broken planning processes before automating them, or does that just delay progress? When an AI agent makes a bad decision, who's actually accountable? And how do junior employees build expertise when AI handles the foundational work they used to learn from? This week, Cody Stack (VP, Research Analytics) sits down with Kelly Coutinho (VP, Research & Advisory) and Lauren Acoba (VP, Head of Research & Advisory) to tackle these questions and others from Zero100’s supply chain and operations community. Lees meer
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How On Built Supply Chain as Its Competitive Edge
14 april 2026 · 19 min
At 16 years old, On has a rare advantage: young enough to be agile, mature enough to scale globally. This week, Chief Supply Chain Officer Craig Jones tells Kelly Coutinho (VP, Research & Advisory) how the company’s using this window to build supply chain as a competitive advantage, not a cost center – from the development of LightSpray’s three-minute shoe uppers to AI built on obsessively clean data. His philosophy? Automate the mundane to liberate the magnificent, finish the race together, and build the company you want to be in five years, not the one you are today. Lees meer
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Build to Adapt, Not to Last: Church & Dwight's Manufacturing Evolution
7 april 2026 · 21 min
When Carlos Ruiz joined Church & Dwight as Chief Supply Chain Officer, he realized the company's biggest asset – rigid, built-to-last manufacturing lines – was actually holding it back. His solution: stop building equipment for 15-year depreciation schedules and start building for speed and flexibility. But the real challenge isn't the technology or capital approval – it’s convincing people to let go of what worked yesterday. This week on the podcast, Carlos tells Zero100's Jenna Fink (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) how he’s tackling change management, navigating board expectations, and leading Church & Dwight's evolution from Lean foundations to end-to-end operational excellence. Lees meer
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What Everyone Gets Wrong About Humanoids
31 maart 2026 · 20 min
Backflips and kung fu routines make great viral videos, but what's the actual business case for humanoid robots? Zero100’s Lauren Acoba (VP, Head of Research & Advisory), Kevin O'Marah (Chief Research Officer), and Jenna Fink (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) cut through the hype to explain why we predict a 1000% jump in real humanoid workflows this year. Turns out, the biggest advantage isn’t the robot itself – it’s that humanoids can drop into existing workflows without expensive facility redesigns, cutting integration costs by 80%. The team explores lessons from BMW’s approach in Spartanburg, why China's robotics lead matters, what makes a use case worth pursuing, and how to tell when a demo is operationally credible or just impressive theater. Lees meer
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Zero100 Forum 2026: Scaling AI in a Fragmenting World
24 maart 2026 · 25 min
Zero100’s Forum brought CSCOs and COOs to the Arizona desert to tackle the question keeping operations leaders up at night: how do you scale AI when insights outpace execution? Caroline Chumakov and Justin Gillebo (Senior Directors, Research & Advisory) sit down with Sophia Pouzyrev (Account Executive) to unpack the candid conversations that defined the event – from the Rt Hon Sir Tony Blair’s insights on the unwinding of 30 years of globalization to Scott Galloway's challenge on designing work for Gen Z. The verdict: leaders have moved past pilots. 2026 is about production, orchestration, and building talent that can keep pace with technology. If you're stuck between insight and action, this debrief captures what's actually working. Lees meer
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The Strait of Hormuz Crisis: Inside Maersk’s Operational Response
19 maart 2026 · 19 min
As war in the Middle East disrupts one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, container shipping networks face unprecedented operational challenges. Rabab Boulos, Chief Operating Officer at A.P. Moller - Maersk, joins Kevin O’Marah, Chief Research Officer at Zero100, to discuss how the company is managing through extraordinary disruption in the Gulf – from suspending bookings and rerouting vessels to redesigning fuel supply chains in real time. Rabab shares Maersk’s crisis management framework, how technology enables visibility when conditions change by the hour, and what it will take to restore normal service. Lees meer
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Think It, Build It, Scale It: Vibe Coding Lessons from the Zero100 Team
17 maart 2026 · 18 min
Two years ago, building an app required an engineering team and weeks of back-and-forth. Now, it can be done in two and a half hours using plain English. In this episode, VP, Research & Advisory Kelly Coutinho, Data Analyst Andreas Arghyrou, and Head of Digital Member Experience Ryan Mahoney dive into the wonderful world of vibe coding. None of them are developers, yet all three are using tools like Replit and Lovable to create prototypes, dashboards, and monitoring systems without writing a line of code. From prompt patterns and early demos to the guardrails needed to move from MVP to production, this conversation offers a practical lens on what leaders should do now as the tech–ops gap narrows fast. Lees meer
The Zero100 team’s first “Wait – I just built that?” moments (01:29)
Ops, meet your new superpower: building MVPs without engineers (03:03)
First vibe coding faceplants and why iteration beats “failure” (04:52)
Prompting that works: context, clarity, and a little finesse (07:07)
Getting buy-in fast – bring a demo, not a deck (09:35)
When prototypes need to graduate to production (11:18)
Separating experimentation from enterprise rigor (13:22)
The supply chain future where everyone codes (but the real skill is knowing what to build) (15:20)
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Data First, AI Second: The Roadmap to a Digitally Mature Supply Chain
10 maart 2026 · 22 min
Companies are running tons of AI pilots, yet most struggle to move from experimentation to scaled impact. Zero100’s latest research reveals why: only 15% of organizations say their data foundation is ready to support AI at scale, while the rest wrestle with fragmentated data and meetings where teams spend more time debating which numbers to trust than making decisions. This week, Kelly Coutinho (VP, Research & Advisory), Julia “JD” Dahlgren ( Director, Data Science), and Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) explore what “decision safe data” actually means, why agentic systems raise the bar on clarity, and working from one source of truth. Lees meer
The data cleanliness issue that gave 500,000 free gas and electricity (01:11)
Why 85% of companies aren’t ready for “decision-safe” AI (02:18)
How humans and AI fail differently (07:40)
How "good enough" data can lead to misaligned metrics and escalating operational costs (10:04)
The human in the loop – from training a replacement to becoming a collaborator (13:57)
The “decision agreement” test: How to know when your AI is ready for production (15:49)
The ultimate prize? Compressing the time between signal and response (17:37)
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Beyond Circularity: How Asia's Manufacturers Turn Sustainability Into Strategy
3 maart 2026 · 25 min
Circularity is climbing the agenda in fashion, but what actually drives results? Former Puma Chief Sourcing Officer Anne-Laure Descours has spent 30 years working across Asia’s supply chains, seeing firsthand which sustainability efforts stick… and which stall. In this episode, she joins Senior Director, Research & Advisory Jenna Fink to explore how manufacturers are embedding sustainability into real business performance. From the limits of textile recycling to the coalitions and production decisions shaping material innovation, Anne-Laure explains why the competitive edge sits upstream, and why suppliers often see the commercial logic more clearly than brands. Lees meer
When “doing it right” became a competitive edge (01:10)
China’s “Two Mountains” philosophy: green growth = real growth (02:43)
Metrics matter… but the real work happens in factories (05:42)
The unsung heroes: machinery and suppliers driving the backstage innovation (07:33)
RE:FIBRE, circularity hype, and why we can’t recycle 150B garments a year (08:17)
The waste-to-energy pivot (because sorting doesn’t scale) (11:38)
Making the business case for sustainability: wins, fails, and supplier-led change (14:03)
Boardroom perspectives, DNA traceability, and giving makers their due (18:06)
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The Paradox of Legacy and Digital Transformation
24 februari 2026 · 29 min
Toyota practically wrote the book on continuous improvement. But can the plays that won championships before still win them today? This week, Kevin Austin, Group Vice President, Supply Chain at Toyota North America, tackles one of the hardest leadership challenges: transforming a company built on discipline and proven systems without losing what made it great. In conversation with Zero100 Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah (yes, two Kevins), he reveals why TPS is the foundation that makes transformation possible, and what happens when AI meets craftspeople who've spent 30 years building cars. Lees meer
The tension between pride, legacy, and a world that got way more complex (01:20)
How to know when digital transformation isn’t working (and you’re the bottleneck) (03:37)
Early missteps and why noble missions beat shiny tools (05:37)
Fixing friction from forecasting all the way to customer delivery (08:20)
When customers can track a $10 pizza but not a $50,000 vehicle (12:37)
How TPS creates a stable backbone for experimentation (15:17)
When AI meets craftsmanship: Amplifying 30 years of judgment with technology (17:07)
What stays Toyota, what must change, and Kevin's north star (22:24)
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The COO Decade: Why Operations Leaders Own AI's Future
17 februari 2026 · 25 min
For every bold AI vision from a CEO, there's a COO thinking: “That's not happening on your timeline.” Zero100’s new survey reveals the scale of the disconnect: 83% of COOs see a significant gap between what’s being promised and what’s operationally feasible. But COOs aren't skeptics – they’re realists who know what execution actually takes. Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah and VP, Research & Advisory Services Lauren Acoba reveal how top COOs are bridging the gap: targeting specific workflows, building on existing tech stacks, and playing the long game while delivering near-term wins. Lees meer
Inside the data: What 100 COOs told us about AI (01:45)
Closing the loop and creating value beyond the sale (05:32)
Why COOs want to move from execution to strategy (and why CEOs should be relieved) (09:16)
Stop! Don’t rip out your tech stack: Why layering AI is the smarter play (14:31)
The Goldilocks approach to placing successful AI bets (17:50)
The COO decade and why ops leaders are built for what’s next (21:11)
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The Zero100 Mailbag: Data, Agents, and Transforming Without Burning Out
10 februari 2026 · 27 min
The Zero100 mailbag is open – and the questions inside reveal what's really keeping supply chain leaders up at night. With a little help from our own agentic AI sorting system, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis, Principal, Research Jenna Fink, and VP, Research Geraint John tackle what they've been hearing from the community. How do you move logistics from dashboards to execution? How do you orchestrate multiple AI agents on the same process? And how do you transform operations when the same people driving change are also keeping everything from falling apart? Lees meer
How to sell a data cleanup project (and the CPG that cut 192 hours of downtime) (02:12)
Why procurement is having its AI moment (05:37)
The transformation paradox: how do you change while keeping the wheels turning? (08:20)
Orchestration: Zero100's word of the year (12:05)
The visibility-to-execution gap (and why logistics is lagging) (16:26)
Getting agents to actually work together (20:37)
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Reimagining Supply Chain Careers in the AI Era
3 februari 2026 · 21 min
After 25 years at L’Oréal, Vanessa Clemendot made the leap from beauty to biopharma – and into a workforce being redefined by AI. Now SVP, Global Supply Chain at Sanofi, Vanessa sits down with Caroline Chumakov, Principal, Research at Zero100, to unpack the shift from siloed execution to cross-functional orchestration, the rise of judgment over computation as agents handle the heavy lifting, and why data literacy is now table stakes. Lees meer
Vanessa Clemendot’s career across 25 years, 10+ roles, and 3 continents (00:55)
The first 90 days at Sanofi (03:58)
Working with AI: where computation ends and judgment begins (06:12)
Who owns the tech stack? It’s not one team (09:34)
One dataset + real time decisions = planning in orchestration (11:23)
M&A and divestitures across newly split supply chains (13:55)
Day one advice: trusting your gut (19:08)
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Download from Davos: Optimism, Confusion, and the Real COO Agenda
30 januari 2026 · 21 min
While Davos headlines focused on Trump and tariffs, Zero100’s CEO Olly Sloboda and Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah came back with a different perspective. Fresh from four days of meetings with CEOs, COOs and heads of supply chain, they debrief on what they heard on the ground: why leaders are surprisingly optimistic in a time of turbulence, how the AI conversation has evolved from pilots to full workflow redesigns, and why cybersecurity emerged as a top threat to business continuity – even above geopolitical uncertainty. Lees meer
Welcome to Davos: The vibe on the ground (01:02)
What supply chain leaders were actually focused on (02:56)
Why leaders are surprisingly optimistic despite uncertainty (04:58)
From AI pilots to redesigning workflows for an agentic world (08:54)
Cybersecurity: The uncomfortable truth COOs see (12:22)
What now? Practical moves for operators (15:57)
Final thoughts: Why human connection still matters (18:41)
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How Inflation Woke Up the Supply Chain-Aware Consumer
27 januari 2026 · 26 min
Think consumers just don’t get supply chain? Think again. Nearly half belong to personas that see its impact – and that awareness is changing how price increases land, how trust holds, and what “value” really means. On this episode, VP, Data & Analytics Cody Stack sits down with Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah and Director, Data Science Julia Dahlgren to break down what Zero100 learned from our survey of 14,000 shoppers across seven countries. For leaders still anchored to shelf price alone, this conversation offers a clearer view of what shapes consumer decisions as prices rise – and practical moves to use now. Lees meer
The big question: Can supply chains under pressure keep customer trust? (01:15)
Inside Zero100’s 14,000-consumer survey – and where the data surprised us (02:23)
Breaking the myth of “the customer”: five emerging personas (04:21)
What shoppers are trading off and what’s keeping them loyal (11:54)
Keeping customers in a higher-price world: High-impact moves for supply chain leaders (18:36)
Where supply chain awareness goes next (22:27)
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Why Every Enterprise Needs Continuous Planning Now
20 januari 2026 · 25 min
Is your annual planning cycle obsolete before it's approved? This week, Zero100 VP, Research & Advisory Services Lauren Acoba, VP, Research, Kelly Coutinho, and Principal, Research, Justin Gillebo break down Continuous Planning, a new operating model that shortens the distance between signal and response. They explore what Continuous Planning is (and what it isn’t), where AI genuinely helps, and why coordination matters as decision cycles compress. A practical guide to spotting bottlenecks, evolving planning roles beyond spreadsheets, and knowing where to start. Lees meer
So… what is Continuous Planning? (01:53)
The Covid inflection point – and why legacy planning struggles under faster cycles (03:22)
Continuous Planning as a system, not a tool (04:57)
AI: The magic ingredient for modern planning (06:12)
Why planning speed needs orchestration (07:13)
The evolution of the planner: From spreadsheet mechanic to orchestrator (13:10)
How Novartis is making Continuous Planning work in the wild (17:40)
A practical path to Continuous Planning (18:50)
What changes next (and what won’t) (21:45)
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Year in Review: How New Balance Navigated Disruption and Transformation in 2025
16 december 2025 · 22 min
Tariffs dominated headlines. AI moved from pilot to production. Automation got real. But what did 2025 actually look like for operators on the ground? New Balance COO Dave Wheeler joins Lauren Acoba, VP, Research Advisory Services at Zero100, to reflect on a year of “unpredictable disruption” – and reveal why the companies that thrived weren't chasing efficiency at all costs. From 806,000 square feet of robotic warehousing to the irreplaceable value of human craftsmanship, this is the 2025 year in review you need to hear. Lees meer
2025 in two words: “Unpredictable disruption” (00:54)
Made in USA for 75 years – validation or new challenges? (1:41)
Private ownership's long-term advantage in a quarterly-obsessed world (3:19)
AI moves from pilots to real wins in supplier complexity and sourcing (05:49)
Staying the course on sustainability as the pendulum swings (07:51)
Robots, AVs, and 100K units per day: Inside New Balance’s new Salt Lake City DC (10:35)
What New Balance will never automate: the craftsmanship that defines the brand (13:06)
The skills gap reality check (14:38)
The 2026 defining move? Breaking out of operations’ four walls (20:00)
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The ROI of IoT: How Visibility Tech Is Finally Delivering on Its Promise
9 december 2025 · 21 min
For over a decade, IoT failed to live up to the hype. Now? It's quietly become one of the most transformational forces in operations — not because the buzz came back, but because sensors got cheap, 5G arrived, and edge computing actually works. Join Zero100's VP, Research Advisory Services Lauren Acoba and Principals, Research Caroline Chumakov and Jenna Fink as they unpack why visibility tech is suddenly delivering ROI, where companies are still collecting data they'll never use, and how the best operators are moving from "find this thing" to preventing problems before they happen. Lees meer
Why IoT endured when other hyped tech faded (1:01)
RFID vs BLE: When 4 cents beats $30 (03:36)
How edge computing finally unlocked IoT's promise (07:11)
IoT wins from Caterpillar, Maersk and Walmart (9:41)
Why connectivity is now a strategic differentiator (13:49)
"Instrumentation without intention": The expensive data trap (15:08)
Measuring ROI — beyond visibility (17:55)
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Zero100 Predictions 2026: AI Agents, Nuclear Energy, and Vanishing Jobs
2 december 2025 · 22 min
What did Zero100 get right about 2025 — and what's coming in 2026? Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research Advisory Services Lauren Acoba and Principal Research Caroline Chumakov to grade last year's boldest predictions before mapping the forces that will reshape supply chains over the next 12 months. From AI agents moving into planning and sourcing, to clean energy as competitive advantage, to India's manufacturing rise and humanoid robots entering the workforce— this is your annual roadmap of trends worth watching and moves to make now. Lees meer
Grading 2025: How Zero100's predictions held up (01:43)
Can AI move faster without cleaner data? Spoiler: probably not (05:25)
Nuclear's next mission: Powering the data center boom (06:29)
How AI agents are reshaping planning, sourcing, and orchestration roles (10:31)
Could India be manufacturing’s next superstar? (16:34)
Humanoids find their footing in real-life operations (18:36)
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From Delivery to Dine-In: How DoorDash Is Reinventing Small Business Commerce
25 november 2025 · 28 min
DoorDash isn't just delivering dinner – it's transforming how small businesses run. This week, VP, Strategy & Operations Parisa Sadrzadeh joins Zero100 Chief Content Officer Matt Davis to take us inside the systems powering the restaurant experience today. From the new Going Out feature blending digital and in-person moments to partner-first design principles that work across thousands of kitchens, Parisa reveals what supply chain leaders can learn from frontline food ops. Lees meer
Inside the DoorDash playbook: delivery, dine-in, and everything between (01:22)
Building for the moments that matter: why restaurant tech must respect craft over complexity (04:13)
How Gen Z is pushing commerce and omnichannel into new territory (07:09)
Why great tech starts with understanding your partner's operating "heartbeat" (10:05)
How working the floor leads to better tech solutions (11:55)
On Shake Shack, growth, and meeting customers where they want to be (17:32)
Earning trust without authority: aligning incentives and building for partners (23:36)
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The Zero100 Mailbag: Your Biggest AI Questions, Answered
18 november 2025 · 23 min
The best questions come from the messy middle of transformation. Join Zero100’s Principals, Research Caroline Chumakov and Jenna Fink, and Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah as they answer the questions keeping supply chain leaders up at night in our first mailbag episode: How do you balance quick AI wins with paradigm-shifting transformation? What actually measures Copilot's impact? And to what degree can organizational resistance slow change? Real questions, actionable answers. Lees meer
Introducing the Zero100 Mailbag (00:05)
Balancing incremental vs transformational AI strategy (1:06)
Manufacturing transformation: task automation or systems redesign? (5:00)
Measuring Copilot productivity and AI ROI (10:02)
How to manage organizational resistance and the quintile problem (13:42)
What data improvements are needed before AI implementation? (18:10)
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Zero100 Live 2025: The AI Agent Reality Check
11 november 2025 · 22 min
The hype is high for agentic AI – but what's the reality on the ground? Fresh off Zero100’s Live 2025 events in London and San Diego, the Zero100 team reveals what's actually working in supply chain transformation. Spoiler alert: it’s not about deploying AI and declaring victory. It's about the unsexy fundamentals – data ownership, fusion teams, and the Translators who bridge tech and ops. Featuring: VP, Data & Analytics Cody Stack, VP, Research Advisory Services Lauren Acoba, and Account Executive Jen Smith. Lees meer
Live in a nutshell: Bold vision meets pragmatic action (00:53)
Taking Live international: Impressions from London and San Diego (2:10)
Content that resonated: Translators, fusion teams, and scaling AI pilots (5:00)
What is “data readiness” really? (7:11)
Sustainability meets efficiency: The cost-carbon connection (9:02)
Real-world AI use cases, from document parsing to personal leadership development (11:07)
Key takeaways: Unconstrained thinking, hard work, and why humans aren't going anywhere (20:09)
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The Executive Edge: Storytelling Secrets to Win Board Buy-In
4 november 2025 · 26 min
In a world drowning in data and AI hype, the leaders who win aren't the ones with the best algorithms – they're the ones who can tell the best stories. Join Zero100’s Chief Research Officer Kevin O'Marah and Principal Research Caroline Chumakov as they explore storytelling as a critical leadership strategy for digital supply chain transformation and provide practical tips for winning over skeptical boardrooms. Lees meer
The neuroscience of storytelling (02:53)
Why storytelling matters more than ever in the age of AI (04:18)
The essential ingredients: Conflict, emotion, and a hero at the center (05:50)
What we can learn from Indra Nooyi, Sara Blakely, Paul Polman, and Jim Rowan (08:44)
The Golden Nugget: How to win over boardrooms with data and narrative (14:10)
Understanding storytelling as a change management strategy (19:10)
Amazon's PR/FAQ framework: A practical tool for driving multi-year transformations (22:25)
Making it stick: How to practice storytelling and build it into your leadership development (24:29)
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APAC's Digital Revolution: Leaders, Innovations, and Strategies to Try Now
28 oktober 2025 · 21 min
Once known for low-cost production, the Asia-Pacific region now sets the global pace in digital integration, real-time orchestration, and AI-powered operations. From China’s consumer-driven factories to Singapore’s strategic investment in talent, APAC has created supply chains where data, decisions, and execution move as one. On this week’s episode of the podcast, the Zero100 team unpacks what’s driving this momentum – and why leaders everywhere can’t afford to ignore it. Featuring: Principal Research, Suzanne Lindsay, Senior Research Analyst, Jalen Thibou, and VP, Research, Kelly Coutinho. Lees meer
What’s driving APAC’s digital edge in supply chain? (00:50)
Inside the factories syncing data and decisions at speed (03:19)
How real-time orchestration is pushing the region ahead (04:23)
Cross-industry collaboration wins in policy, tech, and talent (07:22)
The infrastructure powering APAC’s smart production model (10:20)
When AI meets skilled labor on the factory floor (15:31)
The big lessons global supply chain leaders can’t afford to miss (18:59)
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Fusion Teams and How to Build Them
21 oktober 2025 · 23 min
In the age of AI, the most powerful investment you can make has nothing to do with technology – and everything to do with your org chart. Enter fusion teams: cross-functional powerhouses that combine tech and ops expertise to deliver digital products at scale. In this episode, the Zero100 team looks at the personas that drive success and unpacks how to build, empower, and measure the success of these teams across the supply chain. Featuring: VP, Data & Analytics Cody Stack, Principal Analyst Caroline Chumakov, and VP, Research Lauren Acoba. Lees meer
What are fusion teams, exactly? (00:58)
Meet the key players: Citizens, Translators, and Wizards (01:32)
How to spot and grow Translators in your organization (05:50)
Fusion team archetypes in action (08:48)
From pilot to practice: making fusion teams stick (12:19)
How to spot success, and why “failure” is a key ingredient (14:37)
What’s next for fusion teams in the age of AI? (19:42)
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Preparing Your Team for a Digital-First World with Bonnie Fetch
14 oktober 2025 · 24 min
The recent digital tech boom has reshaped how supply chains operate – and the skills that powered the last era aren’t the ones that will define the next. This week, Bonnie Fetch, EVP and President, Operations at Cummins, sits down with Caroline Chumakov, Principal Analyst at Zero100, to explore how leaders can develop and empower the supply chain talent of tomorrow and build fusion teams that drive the best tech solutions. Lees meer
The role of humans in an automated world (03:05)
Spotting and developing tech-ops “Translators” (05:36)
Why fusion teams are crucial for innovation (10:11)
The human skills that matter most in a tech-driven era (12:47)
Learning and development in the age of AI (15:31)
Data cleanliness, the limits of AI, and knowing where to scale (18:36)
Building a fulfilling supply chain career for the future (21:02)