A Year in Supply Chain Digital Covers

It's been a fantastic year for both the team at Supply Chain Digital and the incredible executives we've had the pleasure of interviewing. 

Our talented design team delivered a series of striking covers that captured the spirit of supply chain excellence, featuring influential executives, sustainability champions and technology trailblazers shaping the future of global logistics.

January: Shaping the Supply Chain Workforce

Change is afoot. In fact, it’s happening in front of our very eyes. 

Global supply chains have reached a critical crossroads, driven by rapid advancements in AI automation and beyond. But as companies race to integrate these technologies, a significant challenge has emerged: the growing gap between ambitious digital transformation goals and the skills required to achieve them. 

The disparity underscores a pivotal moment for the future of work, where success will hinge not just on technology, but on the ability to develop a workforce equipped with the right skills to navigate this new era.

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) is at the forefront of this transformation. 

Already recognised for its innovative approach to supply chain management, ELC is not only embracing technology but also developing the talent required to harness the power of such advancements. 

Here, we talk to the man responsible for looking after its vast and increasingly complex supply chain – Chief Supply Chain Officer Roberto Canevari.

To read the full issue, click here.

February: Blue Yonder's AI Power

Duncan Angove, CEO at Blue Yonder, outlines his leadership philosophy and how the company is helping clients to harness the power of AI. 

Amid turbulent times, how are you and Blue Yonder helping clients prepare for future supply chain crises?

We’re helping our clients harness AI to dramatically optimise their operations and drive the effectiveness of their people. But, stepping back, the other big part of what we're doing is giving them a supply chain system that's more joined up that allows them to be more agile and responsive to risks and opportunities driven by this age of uncertainty. 

Two things fundamentally determined how companies architected their supply chains over the last 30 years.

On the supply side it was leveraging China as the factory floor for the world, powered by globalisation, coupled with just-in-time supply chains. All the shocks of the pandemic, climate change and regional conflict have proved that it wasn’t a very resilient architecture.

On the demand side it was the emergence of digital technology, e-commerce, personalisation, the preference for ethical consumption and that dramatically changed the way supply chains have to operate. They were built to efficiently ship pallets to stores in the last mile – not individual parcels to a customer's home, not to mention the billions of pounds worth of merchandise coming back the other way. 

To read the full issue, click here.

March: Making Global Supply Chains Sustainable

An operator of more than 60 ports and terminals around the world, DP World plays a crucial role in powering global trade.

The world leader in end-to-end supply chain solutions recently surpassed 100 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container handling capacity across its portfolio and handled a record 88.3 million TEUs in 2024 – an 8.3% rise despite macroeconomic headwinds and a gloomy outlook for the future. 

Another factor DP World must consider when it comes to ensuring the smooth running of its operations is climate change, as risks such as rising sea levels, flooding and extreme heat increasingly pose challenges.

Recognising this harsh reality, the organisation has conducted a pioneering study assessing the impact of climate change on its global network of ports and terminals (P&Ts) through to the end of the century. 

In collaboration with climate analytics firm Jupiter Intelligence and consultants at Guidehouse, the research examined three climate scenarios and assessed the potential impact of six hazards across 50 ports and terminals around the world.

To read the full issue, click here.

April: Inside the Warehouse of the Future

Exotec is revolutionising warehouse automation with the Next Generation Skypod system, a major leap forward in streamlining supply chains and boosting efficiency.

With a redesigned robot, smarter workstations and advanced software, the upgraded system increases throughput by 50% while maximising storage density by 30%. These enhancements help businesses move goods faster, optimise space and cut down on the need for external sorting equipment.

Romain Moulin, Exotec’s CEO and Co-Founder, explains the significance of the upgrade: “When designing the Next Generation Skypod, our goal was to create a solution that would set the industry standard of operational excellence and elegance for the next decade and beyond.

“We’re already seeing our customers reimagine their entire supply chain around the transformative capabilities of this innovation, from combining case and each picking operations to leveraging outbound sequencing to improve transportation costs. Witnessing this level of impact has been incredibly rewarding.”

To read the full issue, click here.

May: Circularity Goes Digital

Avery Dennison is celebrating its 90th anniversary, having evolved from its origins as the creator of the first pressure-sensitive label to become a material science and digital identification company. 

Its products are ubiquitous in daily life, appearing on countless consumer goods from shampoo bottles to apparel.

“We’ve been around for quite some time,” says Michael Colarossi, Head of Enterprise Sustainability at Avery Dennison. “Our products are on a lot of end consumer products that we all touch and engage with every day.”

In recent years, Avery Dennison has increasingly focused on integrating digital technology and sustainability into its core offerings, reflecting both internal values and external market demands.

"Over time – and particularly over the last decade or so – we've seen these trends of digital and sustainability become more and more important for us as a company, but also for our customers," Michael notes. 

To read the full issue, click here.

June: Innovation Meets Sustainability

We often talk about innovation in the supply chain sector - but what does that actually mean without ensuring there’s a future to innovate for and towards? 

Sustainable development must now be at the core of every business, with Scope 3 often accounting for more than 70% of a company’s total GHG emissions. 

This is a mission at the heart of Blue Yonder, where the software company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer Saskia van Gendt leads sustainable supply chain innovation. 

With nearly two decades in the field, Saskia brings environmental science expertise and a clear vision for how supply chains must evolve to be more resilient, more transparent and less carbon-heavy.

Here, she discusses how AI-driven innovation can drive sustainability across the supply chain. 

To read the full issue, click here.

July: People, Planet, Performance

As supply chains increasingly form the backbone of global business operations, few leaders exemplify the strategic transformation of the discipline quite like Mourad Tamoud. 

As Chief Supply Chain Officer at Schneider Electric, Mourad oversees a vast network spanning 160 factories, 75 distribution centres and 80,000 employees worldwide. 

His journey from accidental supply chain professional to C-suite executive reflects the broader evolution of an industry that has moved from operational necessity to strategic differentiator.

Mourad’s path into supply chain management wasn't predetermined, but rather discovered through a natural affinity for complexity and efficiency. 

"My journey into the supply chain field wasn't something I planned from the start, but I quickly discovered a passion for it early in my career," he explains. 

"I've always been drawn to problem-solving and driving efficiency, and the supply chain presented this incredible opportunity to directly impact not only operational performance but also broader business outcomes."

This approach has shaped Mourad’s career and led to his current role at Schneider Electric where he heads up procurement, logistics and planning, as well as strategy and performance functions.

To read the full issue, click here.

August: Just East's Consumer-Driven Delivery Strategy

Consumer habits are evolving rapidly; whether it’s dinner, cold medicine or a last-minute present, people now expect packages to appear on their doorsteps from the moment they check out. Speed, precision and convenience are no longer unique selling points for logistics firms, but standard expectations embedded in modern commerce. 

At the heart of exceeding these new expectations is Jannie Appelt, Vice President of Global Logistics at Just Eat Takeaway.com. She and her team ensure the takeaway giant’s logistics network keeps pace with how people live, shop and eat in 2025. 

Under Jannie’s guidance, Just Eat’s logistics platform has undergone significant diversification. What was once a business known primarily for food delivery now offers services across grocery, healthcare and retail. With deliveries in 30 minutes, its goal is to offer wide-ranging, fast and convenient services that meet consumer demand.

“We’ve seen incredible growth,” Jannie says. “We’ve moved beyond takeaway to handle last mile delivery, or even the entire customer journey for our partners.”

To read the full issue, click here.

September: Unlocking First-Mile Impact

There’s a glaring blindspot in under pressure global supply chains: the first mile. This crucial but still opaque area – the point of origin for raw materials – is where around 60% of volatility and risk originates.

Yet many businesses still have limited visibility and a lack of data into this critical part of their value chain, even as it faces growing strain from evolving regulatory and compliance demands, resource availability and climate change. 

These challenges are particularly hard felt in the first mile of nature-based commodity supply chains, where extreme weather conditions, land degradation, strained water sources and operational inefficiencies have far-ranging consequences for businesses and their customers. 

Only recently have major international brands, from food and beverage giants like Starbucks and Mondelez International through to tyre manufacturers like Bridgestone and Michelin, been forced to shift their supply chain strategies after facing reduced yields, failing crops, constrained supply and rising costs in the first mile. 

Critically, first mile disruption doesn’t stop there. It cascades through businesses and their networks, impacting everything from production timelines and shipments through to financing and investment decisions, contractual obligations and the ability to validate ESG and responsible sourcing claims. 

The challenge, according to Treefera Co-Founders Caroline Grey and Jonathan Horn, is a lack of defensible, real-time data from the complex first mile, fragmented documentation and a historically heavy reliance on manual data capture.

To read the full issue, click here.

October: Logistics Innovation on the Rise

As Amazon built its logistics network over the past two decades, it was driven by necessity rather than ambition to enter the freight industry. The company's partners simply weren't scaling fast enough to meet Amazon end-customer needs, forcing the e-commerce giant to develop its own technology and acquire assets to bridge the gap.

Now, Amazon is sharing that hard-won expertise with businesses across Europe through Amazon Freight, a service that allows external shippers to tap into the same network that powers millions of Amazon deliveries.

For Chris Roe, Managing Director of Amazon Freight, this represents a natural evolution of capabilities built over years of solving complex logistics challenges.

"We've built this network over several years because our partners weren't scaling fast enough for Amazon end-customer needs," Chris explains. 

"As a result, we've built technology. We bought assets that we're now looking to share with customers."

To read the full issue, click here.

November: On Target, On Time

As consumer expectations for delivery speed continue to grow, Target is rewriting the playbook on retail fulfilment. 

The Minneapolis-headquartered giant, which operates almost 2,000 stores across the US, has embarked on a sophisticated supply chain transformation that promises to increase speed for customers while simultaneously reducing costs – a rare combination in today's competitive landscape.

At the helm of this evolution is Gretchen McCarthy, Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer, who oversees Target's global supply chain and logistics network.

Having spent almost two decades at the company and with leadership experience spanning various continents, Gretchen is orchestrating a nuanced strategy that treats each store and distribution facility as a unique asset – rather than a one-size-fits-all fulfilment node.

To read the full issue, click here.

December: Navigating Supply Chain Storms

Frank McKay has spent the best part of three decades at Jabil, the global manufacturing solutions provider serving approximately 450 of the world's leading brands. 

Now, as Chief Supply Chain Officer, he leads the company's procurement and supply chain organisation and services division across a truly global operation.

Frank’s journey into the profession began in the 1990s when, fresh out of college, he accepted his first role as a buyer. It came at a pivotal moment in the industry's evolution as technology was just beginning to reshape the procurement landscape.

"I got the procurement bug and decided this was an area that would continue to evolve," reflects Frank. “It was a time when technology was just starting to become part of the ecosystem of procurement and supply chain.”

That technological revolution has only accelerated in the ensuing decades, transforming how companies manage complex global supply networks. Today, Frank oversees supply chain operations for a company generating approximately US$30bn in annual revenue and operating around 100 facilities across 30 countries.

To read the full issue, click here.