Supply Chains to Admire 2026: Winners and Dynamic Benchmarking Opportunities

Supply chain benchmarking has been evolving rapidly, but the biggest shifts in driving true organizational value may still be unfolding. In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott W. Luton and Lora Cecere (Founder of Supply Chain Insights), are joined by Dave Winstone (Global Director, Supply Chain Excellence at Dow) and Wael Abdelmalek (CEO of Uthereal). Together, they explore what it truly means to define and measure supply chain excellence, moving from rigid historical spreadsheets to data-driven, dynamic benchmarking and human-AI partnership. The panel highlights how 32 top-performing companies outperformed the market by focusing on metrics that correlate directly to market cap rather than a simple popularity contest. Dave draws on nearly four decades of global leadership to make the case for focusing on portfolio rationalization and network design while bypassing traditional distractions like massive ERP implementations. Meanwhile, Wael shares how agentic AI platforms can condense 15 years of industry-leading research into minutes, creating a powerful learning engine that works alongside humans to scale organizational insights. The guests share the core operational pillars that separate top performers from the rest of the market: leadership alignment, clear strategic direction, customer focus, and balanced performance scorecards. By embracing data objectivity and the power of dynamic orbit charts, they demonstrate how leaders can have tough, uncomfortable conversations at the board level to navigate macroeconomic headwinds and unlock real, sustainable growth. Jump into the conversation: (00:00) Intro  (02:29) The journey behind Ask Lora  (03:39) Dave Winstone's background at Dow  (08:18) Divisional benchmarking and collaboration history  (09:16) The data-driven origins of Supply Chains to Admire  (11:59) Building relevant industry sectors and peer groups  (13:30) Improvement vs. performance in maturity  (14:26) Measuring what matters over popularity contests  (15:58) Comparing Supply Chains to Admire with the Gartner Top 25  (16:36) Looking at industry headwinds through orbit charts  (19:45) Stripping out subjectivity in industry lists  (20:36) Why small companies outperform large ones  (21:42) Traditional best practices vs. historic pitfalls  (23:27) Revealing the 2026 Supply Chains to Admire winners  (26:05) Core pillars: What the top performers have in common  (30:27) Ask Lora: Dynamic benchmarking through agentic AI  (33:32) Wael Abdelmalek's deep tech and cloud architecture background  (37:32) Leveraging proprietary algorithms and agentic behavior  (41:45) Demonstration: How to use Ask Lora  (47:36) Testing scalability and breaking the model  (51:05) Shifting the cross-functional dialogue at the board level  (54:22) Key lessons from the panel Additional Links & Resources: Connect with Lora Cecere: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loracecere/ Connect with Dave Winstone: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-winstone-79337a34/ Connect with Wael Abdelmalek: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wwael/ Learn more about Supply Chain Insights: http://www.supplychaininsights.com Learn more about Dow: https://www.dow.com/en-us.html Learn more about Uthereal: https://www.uthereal.ai/ Learn more about our hosts: https://supplychainnow.com/about Learn more about Supply Chain Now: https://supplychainnow.com Watch and listen to more Supply Chain Now episodes here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/supply-chain-now Work with us! Download Supply Chain Now’s NEW Media Kit: https://supplychainnow.com/media-kit/ WEBINAR- The Future of Supply Chains: Where Talent Meets Technology: https://bit.ly/4uUuxkc WEBINAR- Peak Reality Check: What Shippers, Analysts, and AI Models Are Predicting for 2026: https://bit.ly/4aTlsRv WEBINAR- From Volume to Resilience: How Automotive Supply Chains Are Adapting to a New Market Reality: https://bit.ly/4f6SUGA WEBINAR- The Automotive Industry’s Next Digital Breakthrough: https://bit.ly/4vhUwT4 WEBINAR- From Disruption to Stability: Building Resilient Logistics Solutions in a Rapidly Changing Global Market: https://bit.ly/3TguZMt This episode was hosted by Scott Luton and produced by Trisha Cordes, Joshua Miranda, and Amanda Luton. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/supply-chains-admire-2026-winners-dynamic-benchmarking-opportunities-1609 The content in this episode, including all audio, videos, visuals, and graphics, is the property of Supply Chain Now and is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized use, reproduction, distribution, modification, or re-uploading of this content in any form is strictly prohibited without explicit written permission from Supply Chain Now.For licensing inquiries or permissions, please contact us at [email protected]© 2026 Supply Chain Now. All rights reserved. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.