Chicago recently played host to the Journal of Commerce Inland Distribution Conference 2025, bringing together professionals to discuss the latest trends impacting the broader supply chain and distribution industry. The consensus among attendees was clear: planning for the future requires agility, investment, and a willingness to embrace continuous volatility.
The Critical Investment of Conferences
For many organizations, attending major industry events like this is a crucial investment, not just in personnel, but in the overall health of the business. Crystal Anderson, Director Logistics & Distribution - Food & Industrial Ingredients at Ingredion, emphasized the multifaceted value of participation.
"Conferences are an investment in your people and in your organization," Crystal noted, explaining that attendance ensures teams stay informed on the latest economic advice and trends. Beyond the sessions, the event provides a vital opportunity to connect with "suppliers, old and potentially new," ensuring organizations maintain a diverse and robust network.
Planning for Disruption: Risk and Contingency
As the industry wraps up 2025 and shifts focus toward 2026 planning, the complexity of forecasting has reached new heights. The disruption of norms makes precise, long-term budgeting particularly challenging for shippers.
Crystal detailed that organizations must tap into industry resources, leverage supplier partnerships, and rely on internal insights to understand what is on the horizon. A crucial element of this planning is incorporating risk mitigation strategies. While it may not be feasible to plan expenses "to the dime," a close partnership with finance teams is essential to "build in contingencies where you need to, especially where there's higher areas of risk."
Samantha observed that any successful planning process must understand what the variables can be and how impactful they are. Crystal agreed, stating, "Any good planning process will understand what the variables can be and how impactful they can be to that planning process." The goal for logistics professionals is to ensure key stakeholders clearly understand the risks inherent in the supply chain world.
Policy vs. Pandemic: Defining Uncertainty
Industry conversations highlighted that the past six years have been far from normal for the freight market. Comparing the challenges of the past few years, Crystal distinguished between the periods of uncertainty.
During the pandemic, the industry grappled with "uncertainty in people," whereas currently, the focus has shifted to "uncertainty in policy," including tariff changes and the future of agreements like USMCA, which affects global shippers like Ingredion.
However, the experience of navigating the Black Swan events of the past has had an unexpected benefit. Crystal suggests that the industry is more resilient now: "The overarching message, though, is that there is a lot of uncertainty, and so I think the benefit of going through that black swan event is that we've all dealt with an extreme level of uncertainty in this industry and that helps us better plan..."
Leveraging Technology and Improving Visibility
For sectors like bulk logistics, which Ingredion is heavily involved in, stability has been key, with most gains in efficiency evolving over years rather than through sudden shifts. However, in related areas like rail transportation, significant improvements have been observed.
Many organizations, including Ingredion, are benefitting from increased fluidity within the rail network, allowing them to diversify into areas like bulk carload shipping. The increased efficiency is coupled with better visibility.
When asked about the future of technology, especially AI, Crystal explained that the focus is on maximizing the data already available. In terms of advanced tools, they are particularly interested in Agentic AI, which helps assign specific tasks to eliminate the "failure factor" associated with human teams facing high workload or disruption. Crucially, any technological adoption is viewed through the lens of being an additive tool, not a replacement.
“We have to make sure that our teams are feeling really confident in their capabilities and leveraging these opportunities as add-ons to their current roles, not replacements for their current roles,” Crystal affirmed.
The Future Focus: Adapt or Fall Behind
As the industry looks ahead to the next six months, the prevailing theme is flexibility. Samantha noted that the constant geopolitical events, infrastructure announcements, and rapid technological advancements (like AI) suggest that there will be no "set in stone" feel for the foreseeable future.
Crystal summed up the core message for all shippers moving forward: "Disruption is the new norm. Like we got to figure out how to embrace it, how to be agile, how to be responsive because it's not going away."
The consensus is that supply chain and logistics professionals must be the ones to adapt and adjust quickly. As Crystal concluded, "We have to continue adapting or we won't; we'll fall behind."
Ultimately, the connectivity and camaraderie offered by the conference allow professionals to step back from the daily transactional landscape and broaden their perspective—a necessary exercise to navigate the dynamic market ahead.