According to www.scmr.com, food and beverage supply chain leaders—including Mars Snacking, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Target and Berry Direct—will share AI, automation and fulfillment insights at the 2026 NextGen Supply Chain Conference, held Oct. 21–23 at the W Nashville in downtown Nashville.
Mars Snacking’s AI-powered decision acceleration
Kristen Daihes, senior vice president of analytics, digital and data at Mars Snacking, will accept the NextGen Supply Chain End User Award for Intelligent Transformation on Thursday morning. She will detail how the company embedded artificial intelligence into core supply chain workflows using its V2C (Volume to Customer) platform—a system integrating sales, customer care and supply chain teams via predictive analytics, machine learning and SAP.
The platform reduced a supply chain decision-making process that previously required more than 50 labor hours to seconds. According to the report, V2C has enhanced sales enablement, customer service, working capital performance and cross-functional alignment—and is now being scaled globally.
This shift reflects a broader enterprise AI priority: not just generating forecasts or dashboards, but connecting information and decisions across functions so teams can act faster.
Modernizing beverage distribution with automation
Karli Sage, vice president of supply chain management technology and engineering at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, and Paul Havens, director of project management at Dematic, will co-lead a Small Group Session titled “Modernizing Beverage Distribution: How Southern Glazer’s and Dematic Built a Scalable Fulfillment Network.” The session will examine how automation investments translate into operational capabilities that support growth, improve execution and accommodate changing customer requirements.
The presentation will be offered during both morning and afternoon blocks, enabling attendees to integrate it into personalized schedules. This case study adds a sector-specific dimension to one of the conference’s central themes: scalable fulfillment infrastructure.
Like other Small Group Sessions, it emphasizes practical implementation—not theoretical frameworks—across complex beverage logistics networks.
Fulfillment in the new retail economy
Thursday afternoon’s executive panel, “Retail Reinvented: Automation, Omnichannel Execution & the New Fulfillment Economy,” features Eric Watts, vice president of food supply chain operations at Target; Jay Di Sieno, senior supply chain manager at Berry Direct; Jeff Kellan, division president, omnichannel retail in AmAPAC at GXO Logistics; and moderator Norman Katz, president and CEO of Katzscan.
Di Sieno brings expertise from Berry Direct’s role supporting Edible Arrangements, where product handling, customer experience and last-mile execution converge. Watts contributes perspective from managing food supply chain operations at scale for a major retailer.
The discussion will focus on tradeoffs involved in balancing service, speed, cost, compliance and profitability amid rising consumer expectations, omnichannel demand, labor challenges and regulatory complexity.
Broader recognition of measurable innovation
Mars Snacking is one of seven winners honored through the 2026 NextGen Supply Chain Awards, sponsored by Zion Solutions Group. The program emphasizes real-world results: winners share projects, implementation lessons and quantifiable outcomes.
For example, CVS Health receives the End User Autonomous Operations Award for deploying a robotic fulfillment ecosystem that increased daily processing capacity from 150,000 to more than 400,000 units, achieved greater than 99.9% pick accuracy and reduced picking costs by 40%.
Ryder and BJC HealthCare receive the Partnership in Execution Award for a healthcare logistics collaboration that improved fulfillment, inventory visibility and service while reducing order-processing costs. Tractor Supply receives the Visionary Award, with Chief…
Source: scmr.com
Compiled from international media by the SCI.AI editorial team.
