Global trade is growing at just 1.6% in 2026, and supply chain leaders are absorbing simultaneous geopolitical pressures — the Gulf conflict, elevated oil prices, tariff volatility, and shifting trade policy. Supply chain resilience is now the core operating design challenge for organizations running global logistics at scale.
Frost & Sullivan’s recent Growth Webinar, “Navigating Supply Chain Disruptions Amidst Geopolitical Chaos: How Leading Organizations Are Orchestrating Resilient, Agile Supply Networks for Sustained Growth,” brought together practitioners from DHL, Project44, Logistics Reply US, and Infios to surface where technology is delivering real return on investment (ROI) and what separates organizations building compounding competitive advantage from those still reacting to the last disruption.
Key Takeaways
The session brought together the following Growth Experts:
Ajit Chander Swaminathan
Associate Partner and Mobility Practice Leader, Frost & Sullivan
Gopal R
Growth Expert and Practice Area Leader, Supply Chain & Logistics, Frost & Sullivan
Stefan Fuehner
Vice President, Strategy & Commercial Development, DHL
Eric Fullerton
Vice President, Product Marketing, Project44
Todd Kolber
Managing Director and Partner, Logistics Reply US
Steve Blough
Chief Supply Chain Strategist, Infios
When Disruption Becomes the Default Operating Condition
The Strait of Hormuz is the single most acute choke point in 2026. Beyond oil, fertilizers, chemicals, and helium, critical to chip manufacturing, are under pressure simultaneously. Spot freight rates are at record highs, with many shippers exhausting annual logistics budgets within the first quarter.
“Through the Middle East, some 20% of global traffic goes through that region — keeping supply chains running, keeping manufacturing running, being able to fulfill demand is absolutely key.”
– Stefan Fuehner, VP, Strategy & Commercial Development, DHL
Are your network design and procurement decisions engineered for a disruption-resilient growth, or still anchored to stability as the operating default?
Where AI Is Delivering Bottom-line Impact
During the Baltimore Bridge incident, an automotive customer using AI-powered disruption visibility saved $16 million in avoided expediting costs, by knowing which shipments required no intervention at all. At Puma, agentic AI across warehouse standard operating procedures (SOPs) reduced onboarding costs by 20% and cut inbound customer service calls by 20%.
“Teams have always been pressured to deliver lower cost, at a higher service level, with a smaller team and a smaller budget. The promise of AI is the missing variable in making that equation potentially possible.”
– Eric Fullerton, Vice President, Product Marketing at project44
Three conditions determine whether AI investments generate return on investment (ROI) or stay in pilot mode:
- Data quality first. Foundational data governance is non-negotiable before deploying any AI layer.
- Specificity over ambition. Start with the most consistently painful workflow, not the most technically complex use case.
- Guardrails alongside autonomy. Define the boundaries of autonomous AI decision-making before deployment, not after.
Expert’s Corner
“What is critical is how much you can actually maximize the mindshare of your customers at the peak. That is what is going to help companies ramp up growth in the next five years.”
– Gopal R,
Practice Leader – Supply Chain & Logistics, Frost & Sullivan
Is your organization building the AI expertise and data governance frameworks that will determine competitive positioning through the next growth cycle?
CLICK HERE to watch the full webinar
Automation as Capacity Infrastructure
Global industrial robot installations are approaching 500,000 units annually, with Asia-Pacific accounting for 74% of deployments. Robotics and automation rank as the second most disruptive supply chain technology in 2026.
Two implementation challenges are consistently underestimated:
- Orchestration across a multi-technology floor. Facilities running automated guided vehicles (AGVs), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and automated storage (AS)/retrieval systems (RS) alongside human labor find that node-level efficiency delivers little without coordinated workflow design.
- Contingency planning for failure states. Near-lights-out operations create significant exposure when equipment fails. Contingency protocols are as critical as the automation investment itself.
How are you benchmarking your automation strategy against best practices of the leading supply chain and logistics organizations?
“The new element is really looking at how we take everything under that roof that lives in its silo and bring it all together.”
– Todd Kolber,
Managing Director and Partner, Logistics Reply US
Decision Intelligence, Not Dashboard Accumulation
The differentiator between a high-value control tower and an overpopulated dashboard comes down to one thing: does the platform take action, or merely report? Next-generation control towers integrate order management system (OMS), warehouse management system (WMS), and transportation management system (TMS) into a single orchestration layer by mapping suppliers, inventory in motion, carrier performance, and warehouse throughput in one view.
“It’s not just identifying the issues — it’s taking that next step and automating the response. The big change is that software now looks at the situation and takes action on what it sees.”
– Steve Blough, Chief Supply Chain Strategist, Infios
Network Redesign in a Tariff-volatile Environment
United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) compliance, nearshoring, and China-plus-one diversification are compressing multi-year network design cycles into continuous optimization. The volatility and the tariffs have shortened the useful life of a network strategy which has forced organizations to constantly be rebuilding and reiterating.
Organizations moving ahead are evaluating carriers and suppliers against live market-rate data and performance metrics, not legacy relationships. Meanwhile, executives are hesitating to commit because input variables are changing faster than implementation cycles allow.
Top Growth Opportunities
- AI-driven Disruption Visibility: Real-time AI visibility is converting supply chain intelligence into measurable cost avoidance, with early adopters recording significant returns across major disruption events.
- Orchestrated Warehouse Automation: A unified orchestration layer across AGVs, AMRs, and AS/RS is separating facilities that perform efficiently in all conditions from those where node-level gains fail to translate into system-wide throughput.
- Continuous Network Intelligence: Shifting from periodic network reviews to live carrier and supplier evaluation is becoming a structural competitive differentiator as tariff environments outpace annual planning cycles.
- Agentic AI for Proprietary Workflows: Organizations building AI capabilities around their own operational data are creating compounding internal intellectual property that vendor-only solutions cannot replicate.
Which of these opportunities aligns with your long-term growth roadmap, and how are you measuring the compounding return on each investment?
To access the free on-demand recording of this Growth Webinar, CLICK HERE
Connect with Frost & Sullivan’s Supply Chain & Logistics Growth Experts for customized opportunities and best practices. Write to us at [email protected]
Ready to Lead the Transformation?
- Book a Growth Strategy Session: Align your growth roadmap with Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary Growth Pipeline™ Dialog.
- Engage with Growth Experts: Co-design AI-enabled, data-driven operating models that scale industry-specific and commercial impact.
- Share Your Transformation Story: Position your organization as a transformation leader through Frost & Sullivan’s Transformational Growth Leadership platform.
- Join the Growth Council: Collaborate with industry leaders shaping the future of your ecosystem.
- Nominate for the Best Practices Recognition: Be recognized for excellence in growth strategy, execution, and customer impact.
- Demonstrate Industry Positioning on the Frost Radar™: Benchmark your growth performance and innovation strength against industry competitors.
- Activate Brand & Demand Growth: Accelerate awareness, engagement, and revenue growth through integrated brand and demand generation strategies.
