Q&A with Irv Grossman: A Lifetime in Supply Chain and Why He's Excited About ketteQ's Future

Every Executive Advisory Board member brings something special to ketteQ: expertise, perspective, candor, and a deep commitment to advancing the supply chain planning industry. For me, this Q&A is also a personal matter.

I first met Irv Grossman in 2010. At the time, he was President of Chainovations, and I was EVP of Worldwide Marketing at Bomgar. We were exploring some fractional marketing and branding support, and our conversations quickly revealed what many people eventually discover about Irv. He listens deeply, thinks clearly, and sees around corners. Even back then, I walked away very impressed.

Today, all these years later, it is a privilege to serve alongside Irv on the ketteQ Executive Advisory Board. In addition to his distinguished career at Kraft Foods, American Honda, Accenture, Cingular, and AT&T Mobility, Chainovations, Chainalytics, and NTT Data, Irv is now helping shape the next generation of supply chain leaders through his newest role at Auburn University, where he is building industry engagement and community for one of the country's emerging supply chain programs.

His experience and perspective add tremendous value to every discussion we have about the Future of adaptive supply chain planning.

Here is our conversation.

Q: Irv, you have spent your entire career in supply chain. How did it all begin?

Irv: I designed my first route when I was six.

My dad owned a small furniture store in Butler, Pennsylvania. He handed me a clipboard with delivery slips and asked me to organize them. What he really meant was:

• sequence the stops

• figure out the route

• reverse-load the truck

At the time, I was unfamiliar with the terminology, but I was routing furniture deliveries.

Later at Penn State, I was fortunate to study under Dr. John Coyle, a widely respected figure in the field. That experience launched me into early roles at Kraft Foods and American Honda, followed by seven years in strategy consulting at Accenture.

From there, I moved into major supply chain transformation roles at Cingular and AT&T Mobility. I later founded Chainovations, which eventually became part of Chainalytics. It has been an incredible journey, and returning to academia at Auburn is my way of giving back to the field that shaped my life.

Q: You have retired more than once, but never for long. What keeps drawing you back?

Irv: Retirement and I are not a great match.

When you spend years in fast-paced roles with big teams and big decisions, turning that off overnight leaves a void. A friend once joked that someone should write a book titled 'I Used to Be Important.' He was not wrong. No one prepares you for the emotional transition.

For me, staying engaged through Auburn and now with the ketteQ Executive Advisory Board provides an outstanding balance. I can contribute, collaborate, and remain intellectually engaged without the intensity of a full-time executive role.

Q: What are the biggest challenges you see in supply chain today?

Irv: The supply chain is frothy. That is the best word I can think of.

For three decades, companies leaned out and lengthened their supply chains in the name of efficiency. Offshore production, extended lead times, and just-in-time approaches became the norm. All of it rested on an assumption of stability.

Then COVID arrived and exposed every crack in that model.

Since then, we have faced additional pressures, including tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, reshoring and nearshoring, labor disruptions, and logistics events such as the Suez Canal blockage.

All of this creates lumpiness, and lumpiness always becomes inventory. Companies that optimized around minimal inventory and extended supply chains are struggling to recalibrate in a world that refuses to behave predictably.

Q: From your perspective, what is broken in planning for most companies?

Irv: Fragmentation.

Data lives everywhere: in different systems, spreadsheets, departments, and regions. Metrics do not align. Sales are incentivized one way, while the supply chain is incentivized another way. In some organizations, regions even compete with each other, which hides the real demand signals.

And when the data foundation is fragmented, the planning output is fragmented. You can have a talented team and a solid process, but if everyone is working from different versions of the truth, the plan is never as accurate or responsive as it needs to be.

Additionally, many planning systems were developed years ago for a much more stable world. They are not designed to continuously ingest new signals, reconcile differences, or adjust plans in near real time.

This is an area where ketteQ provides a meaningful advantage. The architecture is designed to connect to data wherever it currently lives, unify it, and make it usable without forcing companies into a massive data migration effort. When you remove the friction around data access and data quality, everything else becomes faster, more precise, and more actionable.

When the world is changing faster than your planning engine can keep up with, the data layer is usually the first thing to break. Companies that address the problem directly, rather than working around it, are the ones that make the most significant leap forward.

Q: You are close to innovation through your work in academia. What excites you most about new technology in supply chain?

Irv: Two things stand out.

1. The workforce challenge

We have an aging workforce and fewer people entering the field. Automation and agentic AI will be critical to making the people we do have significantly more effective.

2. The elevation of the planner's role

I often say that learning supply chain used to feel like learning gardening: grab a hoe and start pulling weeds. Today, with modern and adaptive agentic AI-powered planning tools, it feels more like operating a tractor. Technology is automating repetitive work, allowing planners to think and act more strategically.

This shift is necessary, and the use of advanced technology, such as agentic AI, will also make supply chain planning more attractive to younger generations.

Q: You and Mike Landry go back a long way. What made you want to join the ketteQ Executive Advisory Board?

Irv: It was a genuine honor.

I have known Mike for well over a decade. We first crossed paths through mutual colleagues when I was running Chainovations, and even back then, it was clear that he brought a unique mix of insight, creativity, and steadiness to every conversation. That has not changed. If anything, it has only intensified.

The caliber of the ketteQ and the backgrounds of the people around the EAB table are impressive. Every member brings deep experience and a unique perspective, and to be included in that group is genuinely humbling.

I joined for three main reasons:

1. I want to stay close to the forefront of innovation. Being part of the EAB keeps me connected to the leading edge of planning technology.

2. I value the diversity of perspectives. The EAB includes technical experts and seasoned operators, and I learn something every time we meet.

3. I believe in ketteQ's strategy. The idea that companies can layer ketteQ on top of their existing systems, without a massive rip-and-replace, is precisely the kind of approach the market needs right now.

Q: You have said ketteQ is well-positioned to disrupt the market. Why?

Irv: Because it is built for the world we live in today, not the world for which planning systems were initially designed.

Many companies still run planning engines on a weekly or monthly basis. By the time the solve is complete, the world has already changed.

ketteQ provides:

• adaptive, multi-pass solves

• agentic AI that continuously tunes and learns

• rapid scenario generation

• a single environment for both tactical and strategic planning

This shifts planning from an occasional batch process to a real-time capability that keeps pace with risk and disruption.

The idea of ketteQ acting as the "cherry on top" of legacy planning systems also resonates with me. Most companies will not rip out their existing systems, but they will add something on top if it unlocks meaningful value fast. We are already seeing that play out with companies like PPF and many others that are choosing to keep their legacy platforms in place and layer ketteQ on top to get the accuracy, adaptability, and speed they are not getting anywhere else.

Q: How do you see humans and AI working together in supply chain going forward?

Irv: The idea of a fully autonomous supply chain is unrealistic.

Humans are not going away. Their roles will simply change.

AI will handle the mechanical aspects of the process, including data gathering, reconciliation, optimization, and recommendations. Humans will operate more in the middle:

• applying judgment

• interpreting context

• assessing risk

• aligning decisions with strategy

AI does not replace practitioners. It elevates and accelerates them.

Q: What advice would you give leaders who are stuck in old planning habits?

Irv: Run an A/B test inside your own company.

Give a part of the business a new toolset and operating model. Let the rest of the organization continue with the legacy approach. Observe the difference.

What you will often see is that traditional systems give you a single answer, while modern adaptive AI-powered tools can explore thousands of possible paths and highlight the best ones. That contrast becomes obvious very quickly.

This is more than a pilot. It is a true comparison. The results will speak for themselves

Q: Last question. If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Irv: Be more confident.

Trust your instincts. Do not overthink every possible path. Move forward with conviction. Experience eventually teaches you that your gut, when informed by data and pattern recognition, is usually right.

Closing Thoughts

Talking with Irv reminds you why voices like his matter. He has lived through every major shift in supply chain over the past four decades, from lean operations and globalization to digitization, volatility, and now the rise of agentic AI. His perspective is grounded, practical, and refreshingly human.

As he steps into his newest role helping shape the next generation of supply chain leaders at Auburn, and as he contributes his insight to ketteQ's Executive Advisory Board, one thing is clear: Irv understands where the industry has been and where it needs to go next.

We are grateful to have him on the journey.