Supply Chain Leaders: Stop Managing Exceptions. Start Preventing Them

Jordan Kass of C.H. Robinson explains why supply chain leaders should move beyond managing exceptions and use AI to prevent them through continuous learning.

Sep 22, 2026

What should supply chain and logistics leaders stop doing — and what should they start doing instead? That’s the question at the heart of a special Talking Logistics series featuring insights from sponsors of our Logistics Leaders for T1D Cure team. We asked each contributor to identify one practice organizations need to leave behind, what they should do instead, and how technology and service providers can help accelerate the transition. The following commentary is from our Mile Marker Sponsor, C.H. Robinson.

For years, supply chain resilience meant planning better, seeing around corners, and reacting faster when disruption hits. Increased visibility, faster alerts, and more sophisticated control towers all helped organizations identify problems sooner.

That was progress, and it mattered. But to remain competitive over the next few years, supply chain and logistics organizations need to stop treating faster exception management as the definition of resilience.

Seeing a problem sooner is not the same as preventing it. Dashboards expose risk. Alerts create urgency. Control towers bring information together. All are useful capabilities, but not a new operating model.

The work ahead is to move from managing exceptions after they occur to building supply chains that learn from past experiences and execution and work proactively to prevent the same failures from happening again.

The First Half of 2026: What’s Changed, What’s Worked, and What’s Next

The first half of 2026 has been anything but predictable. Tariffs, geopolitical tensions, AI advancements, changing transportation market conditions, and other developments have created new challenges — and new opportunities — for supply chain organizations. As we reach the midpoint of the year, we’d like to understand what has had the greatest impact on your organization, what has surprised you, where you’ve made the most progress, and what priorities will shape the months ahead.

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