Guest: Manish Kapoor of Growth Catalyst Group on how supply chains are handling back-to-school season; Where Girl Scouts and supply chains intersect: Encouraging robots to get along

Our guest on this week's episode is Manish Kapoor, founder and CEO of Growth Catalyst Group. Since we have passed the mid-summer mark of 2025, retailers are now focused on the next dates on the retail calendar – and that’s back to school season. This is traditionally the second busiest season of the retail year. But like everything in supply chains in 2025, this year has not been normal. Our guest helps us find out how retail supply chains are coping and what we can expect over the coming weeks.A new industry-sponsored program is designed to inspire next generation of supply chain leaders. Girl Scouts of the USA and contract logistics provider DHL Supply Chain have launched the "Solutions Superstar" program to advance critical thinking and problem-solving skills for K-12 girls and to introduce them to supply chain careers. A modern distribution center or fulfillment center is often full of automation at many different levels. It might have robots like AMRs and AGVs, dense storage like an AS/RS, and software platforms like an ERP or WMS system. But often, each of those units operates by itself, or it takes orders from just one source, like the WMS software. And that can make it hard for them all to work together as a team. But lately, we’ve been seeing progress in the industry toward fixing that situation.  Supply Chain Xchange  also offers a podcast series called Supply Chain in the Fast Lane.  It is co-produced with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. A new series has just started on Top Threats to our Supply Chains. It covers topics including Geopolitical Risks, Economic Instability, Cybersecurity Risks, Threats to energy and electric grids; Supplier Risks, and Transportation Disruptions  Go to your favorite podcast platform to subscribe and to listen to past and future episodes. The podcast is also available at www.thescxchange.com.Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:Growth Catalyst GroupIndustry sponsored program inspires the next generation of supply chain leadersSeegrid AMRs to meet interoperability standard by 2026Visit Supply Chain XchangeListen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Xchange's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcastSend feedback about this podcast to [email protected] is sponsored by: Zebra Robotics AutomationOther linksAbout DC VELOCITYSubscribe to DC VELOCITYSign up for our FREE newslettersAdvertise with DC VELOCITY