Guest: Suketu Gandhi of Kearney on supply chain takeaways from last week in Davos, Combating missed LTL pickups, Trends in the trucking space

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Jan 30, 2026

Suketu Gandhi, partner and global chair in Kearney’s Strategic Operations practice, shares takeaways from Davos and his work on supply chain strategy and AI-driven operations. He discusses practical Davos themes like manufacturing location, operational sovereignty, and scaling AI. Conversation also covers AI applications that reduce missed LTL pickups and major trucking trends such as freight uncertainty and rising industry fraud.

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INSIGHT

Davos Was Practical, Not Just Political

Leaders at Davos focused on practical operational changes, not just politics.
AI, manufacturing location, and operational sovereignty dominated strategic discussions.

INSIGHT

Operational Sovereignty Shapes Supply Chains

Companies are wrestling with where to place manufacturing and how to manage data and AI across borders.
Operational sovereignty questions are reshaping global supply-chain decisions.

INSIGHT

Scaling AI Is The Big Challenge

AI conversations at Davos focused on scaling beyond pilots to enterprise impact.
AI enables rapid product design, continuous risk sensing, and faster reaction to disruptions.

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Our guest on this week's episode is Suketu Gandhi, a partner and global chair in the Strategic Operations practice at management and consulting firm Kearney. The annual World Economic Forum was held last week in Davos, Switzerland. This year it was more politicized than normal, especially with more than 60 heads of state making appearances and lots of international intrigue. But while the politicians stole the spotlight, the primary purpose of the meeting each year is to bring business leaders together to talk about how to improve business operations. This week’s podcast guest was one of the attendees and speakers at the conference and shares his impressions and takeaways from the week in Davos.

Artificial intelligence is being applied to all sorts of supply chain operations. This week we learned about some practical applications for the tech in the less-than-truckload space, as CH Robinson has some nifty new tools to avoid missed LRL freight pickups.

The annual SMC3 JumpStart meeting was held this week in Atlanta. The conference deals with the major issues and challenges facing the trucking industry. Key themes across the three days were the state of the freight economy (which remains marked by uncertainty), rise of artificial intelligence (which is being applied pretty broadly in LTL), and accelerating levels of fraud across the industry (which pose risks from both a safety and economic perspective).

Supply Chain Xchange also offers a podcast series called Supply Chain in the Fast Lane. It is co-produced with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. A new series is now available on Top Threats to our Supply Chains. It covers topics including Geopolitical Risks, Economic Instability, Cybersecurity Risks, Threats to energy and electric grids; Supplier Risks, and Transportation Disruptions Go to your favorite podcast platform to subscribe and to listen to past and future episodes. The podcast is also available at www.thescxchange.com.

Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:

Kearney
CH Robinson uses AI agents to avoid missed LTL freight pickups.
LTL industry meets in Atlanta
Visit Supply Chain Xchange
Listen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Xchange's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcast
Send feedback about this podcast to podcast@agilebme.com

This podcast episode is sponsored by: Werner

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