Howard Walfield talks Supply Chain: AI Hype, Resilience, and Trust

Host Ulf Venne speaks with Howard Walfield from KION (including brands like Linde and Dematic) about his opportunistic move from construction into supply chain, including roles at Fidelity and Raytheon, leading to 15 years of experience and a focus on supply chain risk. Howard shares what his day looks like monitoring incidents across time zones using Everstream Analytics and managing planned risk work. At the Gartner conference, he presented KION’s approach to capturing risk and noted many companies still underinvest in people, time, and budget because they don’t see clear ROI. They discuss the heavy use of buzzwords, the importance of practical AI integration (including tools like Copilot) to reduce busy work, and skepticism about near-term “autonomous supply chains” due to data limitations. Outside work, Howard’s life centers on his three daughters and youth soccer, and they close with reflections on trust, change management, and being more human at work. 00:00 Podcast Intro 00:35 Meet Howard From KION 01:42 From Construction To Supply Chain 03:18 A Day In Risk Management 03:54 Gartner Buzz And AI 04:32 KION Risk Program Talk 05:46 Future Of AI In Supply Chain 07:05 Life Outside Work Soccer 09:20 Gartner Takeaways And Trust 12:25 Closing And Where To Listen