The Zero100 Podcast

Hosted by Zero100

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123

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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About the show

Welcome to Zero100, the “unboring” supply chain podcast. Each week, Zero100's researchers, analysts, and data scientists deliver sharp takes on the news, delve into new research, and interview leaders at the forefront of supply chain’s digital revolution, giving you the insights you need to drive growth and resilience.

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October 13, 202622 min

The Orchestrated Factory: Rethinking Spend, Scale, and AI Maturity

For years, leaders have talked about how difficult it is to secure funding beyond standard operations, assuming that breaking through requires a massive balance sheet and a deep tech budget. But Zero100’s latest research reveals a surprising truth: the correlation between investment and digital maturity is virtually nonexistent. This week, Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Jenna Fink to explore findings from her upcoming report on the future of the orchestrated factory, discussing how to open up the “black box” of production, leverage the agility of smaller footprints, navigate integration hurdles in brownfield sites, and shift toward network-level decision-making.

October 7, 202625 min

AI Slop or Strategic Edge? The Great Human vs Machine Debate

With AI rapidly flooding the world with text, design, and code, will the market place a premium on human-made craftsmanship and strategic thought, or will efficiency and utility entirely eclipse the human element? This week, Zero100 Chief Content Officer Matt Davis moderates as Lauren Acoba (VP, Head of Research & Advisory) and Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) debate the future value of human work. Tune in as they unpack everything from “AI slop” and the hidden costs of unthoughtful content generation to agentic workflows, accountability, and why supply chain leaders must experiment while building rigorous human judgment.

September 29, 202620 min

The Limits of Visibility: Closing Supply Chain's Intervention Gap

We’ve spent the last decade building better control towers and gathering more data than ever. So why is the supply chain still slowing down when a disruption hits? VP, Research & Advisory Jenna Fink and Senior Director, Research & Advisory Justin Gillebo unpack why visibility isn’t the problem anymore, the tough realities of 3PL data ownership, why physical freight automation (like driverless trucks) might actually outpace our control rooms, and how leaders can finally bridge the gap between control room insights and real-world execution.

September 22, 202615 min

Designing the Self-Healing Supply Chain at AstraZeneca

This week, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with Arun Krishnan – SVP, Global Supply Chain & Strategy at AstraZeneca – to explore the Holy Grail of modern operations: the self-healing supply chain. Pulling back the curtain, Arun shares how AI and human judgment are combining to automate the routine, eliminate the guesswork, and protect patient safety at scale, all while bringing a genuine sense of joy back to the team by freeing them up for higher-level work.

September 8, 202615 min

Closing the Gap Between AI Conviction and Execution at Zero100 Live EU

With AI capabilities evolving quarter-on-quarter and executive leadership demanding immediate ROI, treating digital transformation as a static, once-a-year roadmap is a trap. Fresh off the floor at Zero100 Live EU – our flagship London gathering for operations and supply chain leaders – Matt Davis (Chief Content Officer), Lauren Acoba (VP, Head of Research & Advisory), and Caroline Chumakov (VP, Research & Advisory) sit down for a real-time debrief, unpicking why intelligence is no longer the bottleneck in supply chain, how agentic AI is shifting human roles toward high-stakes judgment, and why the real path forward lies in rewiring cross-functional workflows into end-to-end Power Threads.

September 1, 202621 min

Has the “Just Reroute It” Supply Chain Strategy Reached Its Limit?

For years, the default rule of global logistics was simple: when a shipping lane gets blocked, you reroute. But with the Strait of Hormuz functionally closed, the Red Sea facing persistent conflict, and drought constraining the Panama Canal, the “just reroute it” playbook is officially broken. This week, Geraint John (VP, Research & Advisory) sits down with Oliver Sawbridge (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) to unpack why temporary workarounds and inventory buffers are no longer enough, breaking down how compounding climate and geopolitical risks at key global chokepoints are forcing leading operations teams toward regionalized network design for true resilience.

August 25, 202624 min

Build, Buy, or Partner? Rethinking Enterprise Tech in the Age of AI

With AI evolving month-on-month and boardrooms demanding instant tech strategies, the old binary choice of “build versus buy” is starting to look like a trap. On this episode of The Zero100 Podcast, Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) sits down with Kelly Coutinho (VP, Research & Advisory) and Rahul George (Director, Data Products) to unpack why enterprise tech strategy has shifted into a new triad: build, buy, or partner. Tune in as they explore why building has become cheap while ownership hasn’t, how to evaluate when a “bolt-on” AI solution makes sense, and why your ultimate goal shouldn't be predicting 2029, but building the operational agility to adapt when it arrives.

August 18, 202624 min

Are We Measuring AI ROI All Wrong?

Enterprise leaders are facing a massive dilemma: AI bills are exploding, yet finance leaders are struggling to see where any of that money is coming back to the business. But are companies making a fundamental mistake by treating AI like just another IT project chasing quick savings? This week on the podcast, Cody Stack (VP, Data & Analytics) is joined by Geraint John (VP, Research & Advisory) and Justin Gillebo (Senior Director, Research & Advisory) to unpack why it’s time rethink the true value of AI. Drawing from real-world examples – from Walmart’s autonomous tail-spend agents to multi-hundred-million-dollar commodity cost intelligence – they challenge the trap of chasing isolated 90-day ROI and simple headcount cuts. Instead, they outline how mature operators are managing token costs, metrics like decision latency, and end-to-end workflow orchestration to move past quick-win science fairs and build true, lasting enterprise value.

August 11, 202623 min

How CVS Turned Supply Chain Into a Growth Engine – and Merchandising's Best Friend

For most of his 20+ year career, Josh White watched supply chain get treated like every other retailer treats it: a cost to be minimized. But as Chief Supply Chain and Logistics Officer at CVS, he's spent his tenure rewriting that narrative: repositioning supply chain as a growth enabler that his Chief Merchandising Officer now calls “his supply chain.” This week, Josh tells Zero100’s Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer Kevin O’Marah how he pulled off both transformations at once. The growth piece required automation that punches above its weight, AI-powered demand sensing, and flexible systems built for future capabilities. But winning over merchandising required something harder: a shift from “that plan will break our network” to “here's what it would take to make that possible.”

August 4, 202616 min

The Zero100 Mailbag: Chinese vs US LLMs, Plus Your Top AI Scaling Questions Answered

Should companies bet on US or Chinese AI models – and is that even the right question? How can teams push past “too small to matter” AI pilots and ambitious projects that never ship? And is “our data isn’t ready yet” still a valid reason to delay AI adoption? This week, Chief Content Officer Matt Davis sits down with VP, Research & Advisory Caroline and Senior Research Director Oliver Sawbridge to unpack these questions, alongside others from the Zero100 community, getting into everything from process debt to overhyped fears we think will change drastically over the next twelve months.