{"690868":{"#nid":"690868","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Logistics in Transition: What to Know, What to Watch, and How to Keep Moving","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBy \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/expert\/chris-gaffney\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EChris Gaffney\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, Managing Director of the Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and a former Vice President of Global Strategic Supply Chain at The Coca-Cola Company.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIn this article:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022ed13dbb9bf72908398cb97fe89266003f\u0022\u003EWhy the relentlessness of change in logistics is a legitimate concern \u2014 not a complaint\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e3b86c34b3fa5a085d70d3ad6966c9e9c\u0022\u003EStructural shifts reshaping the competitive floor\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022ec066ede3e1622b112d34df2b330f7a9d\u0022\u003EPredictions most leaders are still underweighting\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022eb96017cf9b196ac23bb69766030517cb\u0022\u003EWhat staying current actually requires of individuals and teams\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe Weight of Constant Curveballs\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA few months ago, I caught up with a former colleague at an industry event. He is a senior leader at a large global company with a well-regarded supply chain organization. His team had been through a lot since we last talked. Port closures. Tariff escalations. Freight volatility. Inventory repositioning. The kinds of disruptions that used to arrive once in a cycle had become an avalanche, and this was before Hormuz!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis people had responded well. They had adapted. But now he was thinking about something harder to solve: \u0026nbsp;what it would take to keep them in the game longer term. The experience his team had gained came at a cost and he worried some would look for roles that were not on the \u201cfiring line\u201d. He also wondered whether he could still attract the best and brightest in the next generation of talent who would be looking at this field and asking whether the complexity was worth it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat conversation has stayed with me. Supply chain and logistics has always been a field of cycles \u2014 demanding, but navigable. What has changed is that the field has moved from cyclical difficulty to something more structural: a persistent state of volatility where the curveballs do not stop coming.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat conversation was in the back of my mind as I developed a recent talk on logistics trends from 2026 to 2030 for GT SCL Industry Partner Manhattan\u2019s annual Momentum conference. The brief was to look ahead and be a bit provocative. What follows builds on that talk, but with a broader point in view: if the curveballs keep coming, leaders need a clearer sense of which shifts matter most and what they should do about them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe New Operating Environment\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELogistics has entered a structurally more volatile era, not a groundbreaking insight given the last four years. Several things changed at roughly the same time, and they have not changed back:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESeveral shifts hit the industry at once, and none of them have meaningfully reversed. Geopolitics is now a supply chain design variable, not something to catch up on in a podcast. Strategic decoupling between China and the United States, instability in the Middle East, and the long shadow of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have pushed energy, sourcing, and network design into the same conversation. What once sat in the news feed now needs to be in the nominal scenario during business planning.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAt the same time, customer expectations have permanently shifted. Amazon reset the standard for visibility, precision, and speed, and that standard now applies even more as Amazon is emerging as an open source 3PL. Labor and energy costs have also changed the economics of physical logistics in ways that will not self-correct. Demographic pressure, wage inflation, and energy volatility have altered the baseline cost structure calling into question existing network locations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeanwhile, AI and automation have moved out of the experimental category and into the realm of near-term value creation. The tools are real, and organizations that understand where to apply them are making materially better decisions than those that do not. That matters because networks now have to optimize for two things at once: cost and recovery. Efficiency still matters, but a network that performs well in steady state and fails under disruption no longer meets the standard.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere is also a macro pattern worth calling out: the industry is in a longer-duration rebalancing cycle than many executives expected. We examined the Hormuz disruption and its downstream effects in a recent SCL Spotlight piece. The short version is that energy pass-through effects, freight volatility, and extended planning uncertainty will impact costs and capacity well into 2027. Executives planning around a near-term return to normal are making a strategic error.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe next decade will reward adaptable logistics networks more than simply optimized ones.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe Benchmark Has Changed \u2014 For Everyone\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmazon\u0027s logistics operation is not just something to amaze us as packages arrive at our doorstep consistently with compressed lead times. It is a capability demonstration that has redefined what customers consider normal \u2014 same-day expectations, ETA precision, real-time visibility, low-friction returns. The important implication is not that every organization needs to replicate Amazon\u0027s infrastructure. It is that Amazon-shaped expectations are now the standard against which every supply chain is measured, whether or not Amazon is a direct competitor. Amazon\u2019s recent announcement that it is making its capabilities available to all only raises the bar.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOrganizations that understand this have shifted their strategic question from \u0022how do we improve our operations\u0022 to \u0022where will we compete, where will we leverage others\u0027 capabilities, and where will we differentiate on something Amazon cannot replicate.\u0022 The benchmark is no longer functional excellence alone. It is well oiled end-to-end execution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe Real Automation Story: Error-Proofing Over Spectacle\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere is a version of the automation conversation that focuses on \u0026nbsp;\u201cwow\u201d demos \u2014 autonomous vehicles, lights-out warehouses, robotics showcases. That version makes for compelling conference content. It is also not where most of the real value is being created today.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe highest-value wins tend to be quieter: fewer errors, fewer touches, fewer injuries, fewer claims. Computer vision that catches a loading error before a truck leaves the dock. Sensor verification that eliminates a reconciliation step. An alert from a Machine Learning model that prevents a cascading service failure. These are error-proofing stories, and they are compelling because the ROI is measurable in terms operations leaders understand.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe reason automation is scaling in these areas is not novelty \u2014 it is because the math finally works, driven by labor scarcity, safety pressure, and the compounding cost of variability. My own view informed by industry contacts and academic researchers is that computer vision may become one of the most quietly transformative technologies of this decade, not because it is the most advanced, but because it applies to so many high-variability, human-intensive touchpoints across logistics operations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat said, a high percentage of large-scale automation efforts still fail. \u0026nbsp;Many of the reasons are well known and tackling this issue is critical for those who do not yet have a model for success.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe next margin pool may come more from consistency and reliability than from flashy robotics demonstrations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis theme generated significant discussion at the Manhattan Associates\u0027 Momentum conference this spring \u2014 enough that we are dedicating our July SCL webinar to it directly. If your organization is navigating automation decisions, the session is worth your time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EAutonomy: Watch the Middle Mile Before the Long Haul\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAutonomous vehicle technology has generated significant hype and its share of missed timelines. A more realistic view is emerging. Autonomy scales first where variability is lowest, economics are clearest, and environments are most constrained \u2014 yard operations, middle-mile freight on repetitive lanes, internal shuttles, port drayage, and warehouse orchestration. This amounts to millions of miles and load counts that are increasing daily.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe organizations watching this most carefully are not asking when full autonomy will arrive. They are asking which specific lanes and operations have the cost structure where autonomy pays out today. One dynamic worth watching: the scaling of urban robotaxi operations is building safety data, insurance frameworks, and regulatory precedent that may indirectly accelerate confidence in middle-mile freight and warehouse applications.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe shift that matters is not from no autonomy to full autonomy. It is from technology demonstrations to lane economics \u2014 and that is the transition that creates real operating decisions for logistics leaders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EAI Is Real \u2014 But Workflow Discipline Matters More Than Tool Selection\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe common reality in most logistics organizations today includes AI copilots, workflow assistance tools, exception management support, improved ETA prediction, and document automation. These are useful. They are also early.\u003Cbr\u003EWhat is still uncommon: autonomous execution, fully integrated AI decisioning across functions, self-optimizing networks, and end-to-end agentic orchestration. Those capabilities exist in pilots and in forward-leaning early adopters. They are not yet standard operating practice in most organizations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe framing that I keep coming back to is this: start with a broken logistics workflow, then apply the lightest AI capable of clearing a hard ROI threshold. I got a text from a mentee today that showed a picture of a Microsoft Co-pilot Studio agent he built that automates a daily inventory check on a critical SKU. Organizations that start by selecting the most impressive tool and then look for a process to apply it to are making the investment in the wrong order.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere is another structural shift worth highlighting. The industry has moved out of data scarcity and is living in decision overload. The challenge is not access to information \u2014 it is building the discipline to convert that information into insight and informed decisions at the right time to impact action.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ELogistics first, AI second. Start with the broken workflow. Then apply the lightest tool that clears a hard ROI threshold.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe Rising Value of Human Judgment\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBack to the conversation I opened with. The concern was not that my friend\u2019s team lacked technical skills \u2014 it was sustaining engagement and attracting talent to a field that had become genuinely exhausting. That challenge is real, and it is connected to something missed in the automation conversation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs AI automates more routine work \u2014 reporting, documentation, tracking, reconciliation \u2014 the work that remains becomes more demanding in different ways. The value shifts toward judgment: escalation management, cross-functional orchestration, interpreting second-order consequences, maintaining trust when the data is ambiguous. The organizations that will attract and retain the strongest professionals are not necessarily those with the most advanced tools. They are the ones that create conditions where smart people make consequential decisions and continue to grow.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs AI capabilities become more democratized across the industry, the differentiating capabilities will increasingly be leadership, communication, collaboration, and the kind of critical thinking that no tool can fully replicate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPredictions Leaders Should Keep an Eye On\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese are the shifts I believe deserve more attention than they are getting in most leadership conversations:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Col\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022eb3990583ba42d892b8c0da99a5b8b02c\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Next Major Logistics Disruption May Come From Energy, Not Freight\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EGrid strain, electrification demand, AI compute infrastructure buildout, and charging capacity constraints are converging in ways that could reshape logistics economics faster than expected. Power availability is not yet a front-burner strategic issue for most logistics leaders. It should be.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022ef437499f47298f3ed4f1703bea6703d9\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAmazon, Walmart, and Chinese Platforms May Become Competing Logistics Operating Systems\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECompetition is shifting from retailer vs. retailer to ecosystem vs. ecosystem. The organizations that do not think clearly about which ecosystems they are part of, and on what terms, may find themselves structurally disadvantaged.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022eb276d917f66951b5152b3a81b772f51b\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECyber Attacks on Physical Supply Chains Will Become a Defining Executive Risk\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAs logistics networks become more connected, more automated, and more AI-dependent, your exposure grows. The distinction between cyber risk and operational risk is collapsing. This belongs on the executive agenda as a strategic issue, not just an IT issue.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e50bc6a738d71eec2c18b650738e464af\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETrusted Operational Data May Become the Most Valuable Logistics Asset\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EOrganizations with clean, well-governed operational data will be able to move fast on AI adoption. Organizations with fragmented, inconsistent data will face a structural disadvantage that no AI investment can overcome. Data discipline is a strategic investment, not a cleanup project.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e6313c2ad5ac7b88704dd03357ed8a40e\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInsurance Companies May Quietly Become Gatekeepers of Automation Adoption\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EScaling autonomy and connected logistics infrastructure depends as much on insurability, liability frameworks, and safety validation as on technical capability. Insurance market dynamics will shape the adoption curve for autonomous operations in ways that are not yet widely discussed in logistics circles.\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022ef08414480855d8814fc8a6671baff198\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe Industry May Shift From \u0022Lowest Cost\u0022 to \u0022Fastest Recovery\u0022 as the Defining Competitive Dimensio\u003C\/strong\u003En\u003Cbr\u003EPure cost optimization as a primary network design principle may increasingly underperform against resilience and recovery speed as the basis of competition. The organizations that have already internalized this are building different networks than those still optimizing for cost alone.\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ol\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EWhat Staying Current Actually Requires\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI want to close by coming back to my colleague\u0027s concern \u2014 and to the question he was really asking: how do we help our people process all of this and remain effective?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHere is my honest answer. The field is not going to slow down. \u003Cstrong\u003EWhat staying current requires is not reading every article or attending every conference. It requires developing a point of view on the shifts that matter most for your specific context, and then actively deciding how you will act and adjust\u003C\/strong\u003E. Passive awareness is not enough. The question is not whether you know what is changing. It is what you have decided to do about it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor organizations, that means investing in conditions that allow talented people to keep learning. For individuals, it means resisting the temptation to treat busyness as a substitute for development. The professionals who remain most valuable will be those who continue to understand what is changing and develop the judgment to translate that understanding into better decisions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cblockquote\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou cannot sit still. The question is not whether you know what is changing. It is what you have decided to do about it.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EThe Opportunity on the Other Side\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI want to end where I began \u2014 with empathy for everyone in this field who is carrying a lot right now. Fatigue is real. The complexity is real. The ongoing intensity is real.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd so is the opportunity.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELogistics is no longer just moving product. It is becoming a resilience system, a customer experience system, a technology system, an energy system, and a real-time decision system simultaneously. The professionals who learn to navigate that complexity \u2014 who develop both technical fluency and human judgment \u2014 will be among the most valuable people in any organization.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe future arrives not as one dramatic breakthrough, but as a sequence of operational readthroughs: decisions made well, workflows redesigned thoughtfully, capabilities built deliberately. That is hard work. It is also genuinely exciting work. And I believe the best of it is still ahead.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ERelated Upcoming SCL Webinar 7\/2\/2026\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/webinar\/register\/2117803348049\/WN_528KNX2LRFWvO3bZXYaYtg\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy Do So Many Automation Projects Fail?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAutomation in logistics is accelerating \u2014 but so is the gap between what is promised and what is delivered. Systems get sized on optimistic assumptions. Hidden dependencies become single points of failure. Technology that shines in the demo struggles under real operating conditions.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ELeaders from Georgia Tech\u0027s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute join industry practitioners to dig into the root causes of automation underperformance \u2014 and the design, evaluation, and implementation practices that build more resilient, effective operations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/webinar\/register\/2117803348049\/WN_528KNX2LRFWvO3bZXYaYtg\u0022\u003ERegister Online to attend via Zoom\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECan\u0027t attend live? Register anyway, and we\u0027ll send you the recording afterward\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELogistics isn\u0027t just changing \u2014 it\u2019s being redefined by constant disruption, rising expectations, and new technology. This SCL Spotlight breaks down the biggest shifts shaping the next decade and what leaders must do to stay ahead. Discover the insights that can help you adapt, build resilience, and keep your organization moving.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Discover the insights that can help you adapt, build resilience, and keep your organization moving."}],"uid":"27233","created_gmt":"2026-06-22 21:33:45","changed_gmt":"2026-06-23 12:25:43","author":"Andy Haleblian","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-06-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680492":{"id":"680492","type":"image","title":"Logistics in Transition","body":null,"created":"1782163725","gmt_created":"2026-06-22 21:28:45","changed":"1782163725","gmt_changed":"2026-06-22 21:28:45","alt":"Promotional graphic titled \u2018SCL Spotlight: Logistics in Transition: What to Know, What to Watch, and How to Keep Moving,\u2019 featuring a global supply chain scene with a cargo ship at port, a truck on a highway, a warehouse robot, and an airplane overhead, overlaid with digital icons for visibility, resilience, and adaptability.","file":{"fid":"264762","name":"spotlight-newsletter_LogInTransition_202606.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/22\/spotlight-newsletter_LogInTransition_202606.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/06\/22\/spotlight-newsletter_LogInTransition_202606.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":167439,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/06\/22\/spotlight-newsletter_LogInTransition_202606.jpg?itok=i2cx834H"}},"674087":{"id":"674087","type":"image","title":"Chris Gaffney","body":"\u003Cp\u003EChris Gaffney\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1717067903","gmt_created":"2024-05-30 11:18:23","changed":"1771883375","gmt_changed":"2026-02-23 21:49:35","alt":"Chris Gaffney, Managing Director, Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute","file":{"fid":"257557","name":"chris-gaffney_scl.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/30\/chris-gaffney_scl.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/30\/chris-gaffney_scl.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":129544,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/30\/chris-gaffney_scl.jpg?itok=_M0fOBTF"}}},"media_ids":["680492","674087"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/gatech.zoom.us\/webinar\/register\/2117803348049\/WN_528KNX2LRFWvO3bZXYaYtg","title":"Related SCL webinar 7\/2\/2026 \u0022Why Do So Many Automation Projects Fail?\u0022"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/news-events\/newsletters","title":"View past SCL newsletters and join our mailing list"},{"url":"https:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1250","name":"Center for Health and Humanitarian Systems (CHHS)"},{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"},{"id":"1243","name":"The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute (SCL)"}],"categories":[{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2556","name":"artificial intelligence"},{"id":"194489","name":"scl-spot"},{"id":"167074","name":"Supply Chain"},{"id":"187190","name":"-go-gtmi"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39461","name":"Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["info@scl.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}