Supply chain leaders love to ask for “the model,” but the hardest part is figuring out what the real problem is in the first place. We sit down with Georgia Tech professor Benoit Montreuil, Executive Director of the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, to unpack how his team works with major partners like Amazon, Home Depot, and UPS to tackle frontier logistics challenges with real data, real constraints, and real accountability. 

We walk through what deep industry-academic collaboration looks like when it’s built for long-term impact: fewer partners, stronger trust, and projects that evolve from listening and data analytics into simulation, optimization, and digital twins. Benoit explains how his lab avoids the classic trap of treating every issue like a single-method problem, why scientific rigor and publishing still matter, and how to train PhD students to operate in teams, under NDA, while delivering outcomes that decision-makers can actually use. 

We also get practical about AI in supply chain. Rather than chasing hype, we talk about generative AI as a tool for faster prototyping and experimentation, plus how to manage scope creep with an agile research program and steering committees that can pivot when mission-critical needs appear. Finally, Benoit breaks down the Physical Internet vision: hyperconnected logistics networks where warehouses and transportation capacity are shared like infrastructure, unlocking big gains in cost, resilience, service speed, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. 

If you care about supply chain strategy, logistics innovation, sustainability, and what the next era of e-commerce fulfillment could look like, this one will stretch your thinking. Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review, then tell us: what’s the toughest supply chain question you’re facing right now?