From the Front Lines to the Future: Cheryl Capps on What's Broken and What's Next in Supply Chain Planning

In this edition of our Executive Advisory Board (EAB) Spotlight Series, I sat down with Cheryl Capps during ketteQuest 2025 in Atlanta. Cheryl is one of my favorite people to talk with about supply chain. Her experience is deep, her thinking is sharp, and every conversation with her leaves me with new insights.

A former Chief Supply Chain Officer at Corning Incorporated, Cheryl's career has spanned 35 years at companies like General Electric, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Corning. From R&D to manufacturing, general management, and global supply chain leadership, she brings a rare 360-degree perspective on how supply chains operate—and how they need to evolve. Today, she continues to share her expertise as a valued ketteQ Executive Advisory Board member.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Cheryl Capps during ketteQuest 2025 in Atlanta. Cheryl is the former Chief Supply Chain Officer at Corning Incorporated, with a career that has spanned 35 years across General Electric, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Corning. From R&D to manufacturing and general management to global supply chain leadership, Cheryl brings a rare depth of insight into the evolution and revolution of supply chain planning.

Q: What supply chain challenge(s) most shaped your perspective?  

A: When I joined Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical industry did not prioritize supply chain efficiency. We saw the opportunity to improve service, manage cash better, reduce costs, and accelerate FDA-approved drug launches. This was before modern analytics or AI-powered planning products like ketteQ. We worked with early tools like Ariba and ERPs that lacked today's capabilities, so we had to experiment and build networks of tools from the ground up.

At Corning, I had the chance to build the supply chain from zero. No legacy meant we could design the entire function: people, process, and tech tailored for a global business. When tariffs, COVID-19, and inflation hit, our investments proved invaluable.

Q: In your view, what's broken in today's supply chains?  

A: The mindset. Many leaders believe incremental improvements are sufficient. That kind of thinking is outdated. Modern AI-enabled tools like ketteQ can drive ROI in weeks without perfect data, but people assume bold change is too expensive or complex. That's rooted in legacy ERP thinking. Some still talk about finishing deployments of 25-year-old systems instead of embracing newer, more innovative tools. That inertia is what's truly broken.

Q: What are the biggest challenges facing supply chain leaders today?  

A:  Disruption. Even before the pandemic, the number of disruptions was increasing rapidly. That trend hasn't reversed. In fact, this year is expected to surpass even pandemic-era disruption levels. You're behind if your supply chain isn't built to detect, predict, and respond to disruptions quickly and in parallel.

Q: Which capabilities are you most excited about in supply chain planning?  

A:  AI-enabled planning. What excites me most about ketteQ is the ability to plan across the entire supply chain—demand, supply, factory scheduling, and supplier collaboration—while running infinite scenarios in parallel. This is transformational. Planning has replaced ERP as the center of the ecosystem. ERP feeds the planning engine, not the other way around.

Q: What surprised you most about working with ketteQ?  

A: I expected innovation but didn't realize how fundamentally different ketteQ was. When I saw how PolymatiQ could run infinite parallel scenarios and home in on the optimal solution, it clicked for me. In addition, Salesforce integration and the top-tier talent ketteQ has brought in, and it's very impressive how everything builds on itself to deliver true value.

Q: Will we ever see fully autonomous supply chains?  

A: Yes, but gradually. Think about how we introduced fly-by-wire in aviation or adaptive features in today's vehicles. Those changes didn't happen overnight. They came in stages, and eventually, people accepted them. Supply chains will follow the same path, starting with assistive agents, moving to semi-autonomous systems, and eventually becoming mostly autonomous without people realizing the shift happened.

Q: Can agentic AI help address the talent shortage in supply chain planning?  

A: Absolutely. Robotic process automation was an early example, with one person managing multiple bots. Agentic AI goes further. It can handle more complex tasks, freeing people to do strategic work. However, that also means that organizations must invest in retraining. Not everyone will have the right skills on day one, but the productivity upside is significant.

Q: How does ketteQ differ from legacy planning systems?  

A: Legacy systems take years to implement and cost millions. ketteQ can go live in months and deliver ROI in weeks. If I saw a table comparing deployment time, ROI speed, and scenario flexibility, ketteQ would win hands-down. That kind of visual would grab any supply chain executive's attention.

Q: What advice would you give your younger self?  

A: Use ketteQ! I wish ketteQ existed a decade ago. I was always partnering with startups and pushing boundaries. Some projects failed, but when they succeeded, they really made an impact. If ketteQ had been around then, I would've jumped in without hesitation.

Want to go deeper?

Watch the entire interview with Cheryl.

Check out other blogs and videos in Executive Advisory Board Spotlight Series, where we explore the insights and predictions shaping the future of supply chain planning.