How do you establish a solid digital foundation across systems?
BRANDON: The starting point is getting systems to agree with each other rather than replacing them. Manufacturers have invested heavily in the software that manages production, tracks inventory and monitors quality, but ensuring those systems feed consistent, trusted information into a shared view is where the real work lies.
What we work toward with clients is what I’ d call operational truth: a single picture that shows what was planned, what is actually happening, and whether the work met the required standard. Those three things sound simple, but they’ re often disconnected. The planning system shows intent. The factory floor shows reality. Quality data shows the outcome. Connecting all of them is the foundational work.
Once the data foundation is solid, AI becomes genuinely useful. But before, AI is essentially producing confidentsounding answers based on contradictory information. The companies that get the most out of AI in their supply chains are the ones that did the data work first.
112 June 2026