Transcript
Scott Luton (00:10)
Hey, everybody. Scott Luton, Supply Chain Now. Welcome to our first interview here at Gartner Supply Chain Symposium. And we’re kicking off with a dynamo. I’m sitting here with Christine Barnhart, Chief Industry and Ecosystem Officer with Nulogy. Christine, how you doing? Wonderful. And I love this coat, a technicolor coat. I love it. But speaking of things we love, we both have a mutual ⁓ love for all things football. We gotta check in really quick.
Christine Barnhart (00:25)
I’m doing great Scott, how are you?
Scott Luton (00:39)
Cincinnati Bengals, the 2025 season. What’s your fearless prediction? ⁓
Christine Barnhart (00:44)
Well, who day shout outs all the all the Bengals fans out there. ⁓ you know, I think it’s gonna be a good season for the big ones. do. Yeah, you know, bit of a rebuilding year on the defensive side, but, ⁓ offense, you know, they got it done in the off season. Got some people signed and Joe is healthy. ⁓ for now. And, I think it’s going to be fun.
Scott Luton (01:07)
I think you’re going to be right and I know that we’re going to see you at all the games. You’re a devout, devout fame. And one of the reasons is Christine’s also a prolific traveler. I’m jealous. I see you here and there and everywhere, whether it’s work or personal, you name it. So in all of your travels and let’s take the last year or so, what’s been one of your favorite trips?
Christine Barnhart (01:27)
⁓ we’re going back a whole year. ⁓ honestly, last fall I was at a conference in Barcelona, took my husband with me and then the extended since we were already in Europe and did a weekend Naples and, went to Rome. So last, last fall, Spain and Italy hands down, amazing trip.
Scott Luton (01:50)
my gosh, okay, we’re gonna talk after our in-
Christine Barnhart (01:52)
Okay, yeah,
I’ll give you all my recommendations for places to drink wine and…
Scott Luton (01:57)
Oh, love it. All right. Forgetting of the good stuff. But today, Christine, while we’re here today here at Gartner Supply Chain Symposium, one of the greatest supply chain events to be at each and every year, me you are going to talk about one of our favorite topics, supply chain planning. So two-part question for you. I want to start with that phrase, what’s old is new. Again, there’s a lot of that in industry, right? What timeless challenge or two do you find organizations still struggling with, especially those that want to optimize their planning?
What are some of those timeless barriers you see?
Christine Barnhart (02:29)
I mean, I think people continue to struggle with not having the right data at the right time. And it’s been a challenge my entire career, you know, almost 30 years, where it’s like, you know, where’s my stuff? When is it going to be here? Why isn’t it the right quantity? I mean, I don’t know that the questions have actually changed that much. It’s just the speed at which they’re hitting you that I think is actually different.
Scott Luton (02:56)
Yeah, that’s a great call out. We talk about it all the time. The velocity at which global business, global supply chain, at the ⁓ speed of which global consumers move. Yeah. Because they got everything in the palm of their hand. We should expect them to use it, right?
Christine Barnhart (03:13)
Exactly. Well, and we should expect that we can use it for our benefit from a business standpoint.
Scott Luton (03:18)
And that’s where immense opportunity, some of the stuff that has changed, thankfully, we’ll get into that here in just a second. Along those lines, when it comes to supply chain planning and what really is new, right? What’s one thing you’d point to out there that is really new for where we are here in May 2025?
Christine Barnhart (03:38)
I do think that the technology, and by that what I mean, our ability to utilize big data, machine learning, I hate to use the AI, I mean, honestly, our ability to have probabilistic models and do scenario and, you know, concurrent planning as opposed to sequential planning, it really is a game changer.
Scott Luton (04:03)
Outstanding and my best part my favorite part about the game-changing technology ecosystem you’re describing is where we’re able to put our team members our human team members that still make supply chains happen every hour ⁓ It puts them in position where they can more easily find success and we take some friction out of their day take some some of the pressure out of the day
Christine Barnhart (04:27)
mundane tactical stuff that you don’t enjoy doing anyway. So might as well let the machine do that.
Scott Luton (04:34)
Well said, Christine. Well said that. Okay. So I’ve been checking out some of your recent research, right? And y’all talk a lot about this black box dilemma. If you would tell us, tell us what that is and why is that so important to identify.
Christine Barnhart (04:50)
So I have heard ⁓ supply chain and in particular, like the supply base referred to as a black hole. And I don’t think that’s accurate because a black hole sucks things in and nothing ever comes out. I believe it’s a black box. And by that, what I mean is if I have the right technology to open the box, I can get a lot of insight around, you know, ⁓ from a data standpoint, what was happening in those moments, but also contextually, right?
Like a black box, when you think about like in terms of aircraft, ⁓ it captures the comments and the voices along with all of the metric data for the aircraft as well. That’s what we’re really talking about with supply chains and in particular with the supply ecosystem. It’s a black box. You have to have the right tools, the right technology, but there’s so much rich data there.
that can help you solve problems within the context of how you’re delivering things to market.
Scott Luton (05:54)
like it with the right inputs come the right outputs. And it’s great analogy. I’m a big space nerd. know that. I know that. So to hope like you got my.
Christine Barnhart (06:06)
You’re like an Air Force guy. mean, I know this about you.
Scott Luton (06:10)
But I love that black box dilemma and there’s so much to ⁓ that comparison, especially here in the modern day world of supply chain, kind going back to your earlier comments. So let’s talk about, on a related note, connected planning. Right. Connected planning. So tell us what that is and why that can be such a powerful ⁓ revelation here in 2025.
Christine Barnhart (06:33)
So, I mean, really, it’s about taking that black box and then opening it up and making it accessible ⁓ to the planning investments that you’ve already made. ⁓ know, people have spent a lot of money putting in advanced planning systems, and then they’re frustrated at the end of the day because it gets them like 80 % of the way there and then 20 % still sucks. And they can’t figure out why. And a big part of that is because…
You’re making decisions based on your data, within your factories, but without any line of sight into what’s happening into your suppliers’ factories. And so what’s happening with them? Do they have the raw material that they need to produce this? If you had that data sooner, you would know probably days or weeks in advance that, this PO is not going to be delivered on time. And that’s just one example, right?
⁓ If you had that line of sight into ⁓ their system where you could understand how much capacity they have, relative to how much capacity you have, when you’re doing optimization models, you can really optimize ⁓ what your plan is across your entire ecosystem. it really is, connected planning really is about bringing those suppliers closer. I call it virtual vertical integration.
You don’t want them to actually be your business, right? But you want them to act like they’re part of your business, part of your ecosystem.
Scott Luton (08:04)
Okay. That last response, we could have a whole podcast theory. So number one, I love the challenge as a t-shirtism. Don’t let the last 20 % suck. That’s a challenge everyone else are right. ⁓ Number two, what you describe with connected planning, what I heard, you know, more and more almost by the hour, we’re able to peer around corners in modern day supply chain and really predict the future in so many different ways.
And that’s what Connected Planning Law offers to get these whatever challenges, let’s get knowing ahead of time so we can actually still save the day. ⁓ And as your manner.
Christine Barnhart (08:46)
I would say my caution would be a lot of people think connected planning is about integration. And integration is part of it, but it’s not. It’s interoperability. It’s having the right business processes that feed into that. ⁓ If it was just about integration, we would have had connected planning with EDI 30 years ago. And that’s not true, right? ⁓ It really does take a much more robust, like high fidelity dynamic.
interchange of not just data, but the contextual information that goes with it.
Scott Luton (09:21)
You know, as you described that, tell me if I’m wrong here. Interoperability, that’s only going to continue to grow in more more importance as we attempt, Christine, to while we have these ecosystems that have to exchange all this information, we still, even the best of neighbors have fences, right? And you still have to have some types of digital fences amongst the ecosystem neighbors. Would you agree with that?
Christine Barnhart (09:49)
I think those fences become more transparent as we build trust.
Scott Luton (09:54)
I like that. I’m a trust we can move mountains. Absolutely. And, fun success for everybody amongst the ecosystem. So, ⁓ and last thing before we get onto your podcast, which has been a hoot to watch, and, and, make sure folks are gonna connect with you. But when you’re talking about connected playing too, for some reason, the cooking analogy came to my brain, right? So, like spaghetti, or if you’re sitting down one, seven in afternoon and you’re going to make the perfect spaghetti, which, which Amanda will complain, I make a mess of the kitchen.
Christine Barnhart (09:57)
It absolutely
Scott Luton (10:24)
One of the few things I cook. But you need to make sure the ground beef is thawed out. You got to make sure you’ve got everything on hand. Right. And when I think of that as a very simple analogy for connected planning where you know you have everything you need to make that perfect plate of spaghetti on time in full for your hungry kids and hopefully they’ll eat what you labor over. That’s knowing you’ve got anything you need to deliver success for your customers. Is that an accurate analogy?
Christine Barnhart (10:52)
I mean, I think it’s about having the vision to what is it that’s happening outside of your own facilities so that you can make decisions faster with better data. And so you’re talking about shaving days off of that timing, which 20 years ago, we would have been like, But now, everything moves so quickly. If I can shave hours off of when I know what’s happening,
I can make better decisions and I can make money or save money. And both of those, think, are equally important from a supply chain standpoint.
Scott Luton (11:30)
Christine, that’s a great call out. Based on the velocity, which is ever increasing, the value of a day is going up a minute. The value of an hour is going up a minute. That’s a great way to put it. All right, Christine, I love the podcast you’ve been doing. I’ve sat in on a couple of them. I love that they’re live so we can comment and be a part of the conversation as you’re having all the fun with your hosts. Supply chain unfiltered. So tell us about the series, your why for doing it, and where folks can tune in.
Christine Barnhart (11:56)
Well, you know me, so I think the name speaks for itself. I was a fairly unfiltered individual most of the time. kind of practical, pragmatic, speak my mind. ⁓ And the goal really was to just bring in like real people, thought leaders, practitioners, and have them share what works for them, what hasn’t worked for them. Like, you know, if we can just learn a little bit from each other, I think it puts us in a better place. ⁓
super passionate about supply chain. think it’s an area you and I agree. I supply chains can solve the problems in the world to the betterment of everyone. And so I feel like it’s just like my little part in helping with that. And I love it. It’s so fun. ⁓
Scott Luton (12:43)
It’s
fun to watch fun to tune in early because you you’ve seen Christine that we see behind the camera, so to speak. It’s the same one you get. That’s all the camera. Well, and kidding aside, we’ve got we got to have more unfiltered Frank conversations. We’re talking about all the time. You know, we got to set aside the corporate speak. We got to set aside the the we got to break stuff. No, right. To come out better on the other side.
Christine Barnhart (12:51)
That’s a wallflower.
rid of the three syllable adjectives that have no meaning whatsoever and get to the root of
Scott Luton (13:15)
That’s right. So supply chain unfiltered and folks can find that.
Christine Barnhart (13:19)
You can find it at noology.com. You can also find it through my LinkedIn. LinkedIn is probably the best way for people to get in touch with me. And I do an okay job of getting through those emails on a regular basis.
Scott Luton (13:33)
You do. And you’ll also, whether it’s on LinkedIn or elsewhere across social, you want to tune in as Christine documents her ventures around the globe, supply chain, otherwise, including at the Cincinnati Bengals games, right?
Christine Barnhart (13:45)
I’m anxiously awaiting the NFL schedule drop so I can figure out, I mean, we go to all the home games, but then we normally travel to at least one or two games a year as well. we have a hit list of stadiums that we want to visit, Green Bay being one. So we’re hopeful, I’m hopeful it’s a September game.
Scott Luton (14:07)
Well, Tony, she is as passionate about supply chain as she is about the bangles. So make sure you connect and follow Christine Barnhart, Chief Industry and Ecosystem Officer with Nulogy. Christine, to see you again.
Christine Barnhart (14:21)
Great
to see you too. Love it. Thank you so much.
Scott Luton (14:24)
You bet. Alright folks stay tuned as we continue to meet and talk with the movers and shakers across global supply chain here at Gartner Supply Chain Symposium 2025.
