The End of Planner Heroics: How AI and Decision Engineering Are Reshaping Supply Chain Planning

Webinar Description

For decades, supply chain planning systems have generated forecasts, plans, and exceptions, but they’ve never made decisions. That’s been the planner’s job. Experienced planners knew which forecasts to trust, how suppliers behaved under pressure, and which tradeoffs mattered most during disruptions. The system produced output, the planner made it actionable.

Today, that model is reaching its limits. Supply chains are more volatile and interconnected than ever. Planners are managing more products, more signals, more channels, and more disruptions — with the same tools. Now, AI technologies are creating a real opportunity to rethink how supply chain decisions get made and executed.

In this webinar, Knut Alicke and Jeff Metersky will discuss how AI, machine learning, and decision engineering can help planners work faster, focus on higher-value exceptions, and make more consistent decisions under pressure.
 

What you will learn and be able to apply today:

The discussion will explore how organizations are applying AI to:

• Improve demand and lead time prediction
• Prioritize the decisions that matter most
• Guide planners through complex tradeoffs
• Connect network design, inventory, and operational planning decisions
• Improve service, inventory, and working capital performance

The session will also examine why many AI initiatives fail to deliver meaningful business value — not because AI lacks potential, but because most planning environments still lack a clear decision framework and governance model.

The companies making the most progress are not simply adding AI to planning processes. They are engineering how decisions are made, explained, and executed across the supply chain.

Speakers:

Knut Alicke, Senior Advisor and Partner Emeritus, McKinsey (Independent)

Jeff Metersky, SVP of Strategy and Innovation, GAINS

Moderator:

Robert Bowman, Editor-in-Chief, SupplyChainBrain