Orazio Buzza

As a recruitment agency owner, here’s what I’m seeing in the job market. If you’re a strong Supply Chain Manager struggling to land a role, you’re not imagining it. Chicago Fed data shows the labor market has been cooling since 2022. Post pandemic overhiring led to layoffs across industries, and many companies shifted attention to AI as a potential workforce replacement. Hiring momentum never returned to its 2022 peak. The talent market reacted with job hugging, where candidates hold tight to stable roles. That lowers mobility and pushes companies to raise screening standards or hire only for revenue focused roles like Business Development. Add in tariff-driven volatility, and supply chain hiring becomes even more cautious. In short, the difficulty you’re experiencing isn’t necessarily about your resume. The market itself is.... rough. There is good news. Gartner reports that companies planning to fully automate are walking those plans back as AI hype cools, which is a positive sign. The Fed is also working to stabilize the labor market, and more predictable trade conditions would remove additional friction. It’s going to get better. Hopefully soon. So follow me for more insights on Supply Chain hiring. And Rock on 🤘 Sources: - Credit to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for the graph. - Gartner report: https://lnkd.in/eJUYPgAH

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Navigating Midwest Supply Chain Turbulence Post-Winter Storm Fern As we kick off February 2026, the Midwest logistics sector is still reeling from Winter Storm Fern's icy grip, which blanketed the region with 8-13 inches of snow and triggered widespread disruptions. Trucking capacity has tightened sharply, with national tender rejection rates climbing to 11.5-12.19%, extending holiday-season pressures into a typically slow period. Key freight corridors like I-70 and I-40 faced closures, leading to delayed shipments and backlogs at major hubs. Power outages affecting over 1 million customers compounded issues, straining warehouse operations and rail networks. While recovery is underway, expect lingering delays through mid-February. The silver lining? Rapid response travel teams are proving to be a game-changer, deploying skilled crews to hotspots for quick triage, staffing boosts, and backlog clearance. In my experience, these agile units can slash downtime by 30-50% by addressing labor gaps and operational snags on-site. If you're in supply chain ops, let's connect on strategies to weather these storms better. #SupplyChainResilience #Logistics #WinterStormFern#LSPM

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Reading about the recent Zuum App bankruptcy was depressing to see and a reminder of how challenging this industry can be. At 3PL Systems, Inc, we’ve made a deliberate choice to remain privately owned and profitable without outside venture or private equity funding. That decision allows us to grow sustainably, reinvest in our customers, and control our own destiny. We believe in building for the long term, not chasing short term spikes. Every enhancement we release and every partnership we take on is backed by the principle of intentional growth. When choosing technology partners, it’s worth asking the right questions about financial stability, ownership, and runway. Understanding who you’re relying on ensures that your own business is protected for the long haul. Reliable tech comes from companies that have proven their commitment to stability and innovation over time, not from a marketing budget or a funding round. #3plsystems #supplychain

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At Pace, we’ve always been experts at moving goods from point A to point B. But as we scale, the "how" is becoming just as important as the "where." As we lean into Pace Fusion, our focus is shifting from simply managing a multi-regional network to architecting a high-velocity, tech-enabled ecosystem. From my dual perspective in Finance and Commercial strategy, I see this as the bridge between "what is" and "what can be." True growth isn't just about adding more trucks or more stops. It’s about the intelligence behind every mile. Pace Fusion isn't just a software update; it’s our commitment to turning data into density and logistics into a competitive advantage for our partners. We are no longer just a transportation company. We are a precision engine. A question for my fellow leaders: If you stripped away the legacy processes that "have always worked," would your current cost structure actually support the speed of the next five years? #Logistics #PaceFusion #Pace #Pacelogistics #SupplyChainInnovation #CFO #CCO #GrowthStrategy

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Chicago has always been the heart of U.S. freight. If the I-294 / I-290 / I-88 interchange is now the nation’s worst bottleneck, we should treat it as a priority, not a statistic. The trucking industry adapts, it always does. But long-term growth requires long-term infrastructure planning. Efficiency at scale starts with flow.

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News over the weekend that two freight tech startups, Zuum and AI Fleet are struggling, with questions about whether they will continue to go forward. These two freight tech cos will not be the last firms to struggle in this climate, where regardless of how good the founders or tech are, the gravity of the freight market cycle is going to win out.

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With everything going on with tariffs right now, ThroughPut.ai and Aankhen Inc. is excited to launch a breakthrough inventory-level tariff mitigation offering that leverages CFO-approved & internal operations data to: a) Focus on the right constraint(s)/demand profile across your global supply chain for immediate impact b) Run rapid SKU Rationalizations (determine what no longer makes sense to sell at the current price and expected lead times) c) Incorporate changing tariffs and volume splits for faster inventory rebalancing When Subhash Chowdary first pitched "fiChains" capabilities during the COVID pandemic at our office, I couldn't see the value. Now, it's the first strategic software I would use to prepare for the upcoming August 1st deadline. If you are interested in seeing a capability demonstration, please let us know. We will be in Palo Alto July 16th-26th (working out the partnership), before returning to NYC. Full Press Release here: https://lnkd.in/enNtjnSA #tariff #throughput #fichains #decisionintelligence #supplychain #workingcapital #throughputai #procurement #tariffmanagement

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If you’re in 3PL, enterprise fulfillment, or eCommerce distribution, I strongly recommend connecting with Christopher Moore LinkedIn rewards proximity to real operators… not just titles. Christopher has built and scaled fulfillment divisions from zero to multi-million-dollar revenue engines and driven $100M+ in career billed revenue across global operations. This is the kind of connection that elevates your network. Surround yourself with people who build, scale, and execute. Connect with him. https://lnkd.in/gkR-mNz6

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The Chicago Model, Modernized: When Operators Become Architects A few weeks ago I wrote about the original Chicago model and why what most brokers call a two-sided model today is actually land and hand with a different org chart. The question I kept hearing was the same: how do you take what worked and build it for the environment we're operating in now? This is my answer. The original model was built on one truth: give people ownership and they will find efficiency you never could have engineered top-down. The modern version is this: give operators the tools, charge them for what they use, and let them decide what and how to automate. Every operator runs their book like a small business. They have a P&L and access to a curated stack of company-approved AI tools. Some technology gets rolled out uniformly across the org — compliance, risk, fraud detection, financial controls. Those are non-negotiable and protect everyone. But outside that foundation, the operator decides. They are charged for the tools and people they deploy, at cost, directly against their book. This forces a real question: is this tool worth more than the cost I am absorbing? That creates discipline and genuine adoption, because the person using the tool has skin in the outcome. This is not a new instinct. The best operators have always looked to do more with fewer people. They built tighter carrier networks, farmed overlooked accounts, and found leverage wherever they could. That came from ownership, not mandate. AI does not replace that instinct. It amplifies it. Great operators are also the closest people in the building to the customer and the carrier. The best use of AI is to remove repetitive work so that proximity turns into revenue instead of administrative burden. The graduation path still exists. Operators who grow their book and demonstrate commercial instincts move into sales and bring their automation stack with them. The tools follow the talent. The knowledge compounds. On governance: operators who over-automate and burn service quality lose lane rights. Self-governance through shared standards, not compliance theater. On tool selection: operators advocate, the company curates based on performance data from across the org. Vendors never get to hide from a P&L. The original model worked because it turned structure into incentive. The modernized version does the same with technology. The tools are not layered on top of the org. They are embedded in the ownership model itself. When operators are architects of their own automation, you do not have an OPX problem. You have a compounding efficiency machine that scales with the people who built it. The question I will leave you with: how many of your operators could tell you today whether their automation spend is generating a return and where? If the answer is none of them, you do not have a technology problem. You have an ownership problem. That is exactly what the original model was designed to solve.

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Today we're announcing Conduit's $6M seed round led by Innovation Endeavors with participation from Y Combinator. Shipping & receiving is a black box at most warehouses. Detention charges pile up. Labor gets burned on coordination. Throughput hits a ceiling not because of capacity, but because the data to improve it might literally be on a clipboard. Conduit exists to fix that. One system of record for everything that happens at the dock and in the yard. Scheduling, check-in, yard management, documentation, and all the messy work in between. No more point solutions, just one easy to use operating system. Every operation is different but many of our customers are: - Saving 2 hours per CSR or clerk per day - Increasing throughput by 20% - Preventing theft with rigorous, repeatable processes - Increasing billing accuracy on hard to track dock tasks This round enables us to do more for our customers, faster. Simple as that. Each and every day the Conduit team is thrilled to be able to support one of the most critical parts of the economy. To our current and future customers, we’re just getting started! Thank you to Harpinder Singh and Tomás Álvarez Belón at Innovation Endeavors, and all of our investors who believed in us from the beginning. We're hiring. Link in comments. https://lnkd.in/gQHm6NPv

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Why Logistics, Pharmaceutical, Biotech & Medtech Organizations Are Expanding into the Midwest. This shift is not just about lower real estate costs. What is really driving Midwest expansion is a convergence of infrastructure and talent: • Centralized distribution hubs that reduce risk for regulated products • Growing data center capacity supporting traceability, serialization, and AI • Co-location of manufacturing, kitting, packaging, and fulfillment • Lower cost of living, making it easier to attract and retain experienced talent For organizations scaling from clinical to commercial, this matters. Commercial leaders, operations teams, and technical specialists can live well, stay longer, and build sustainably — without the cost pressure of coastal markets. The Midwest is not a cost play. It is becoming an execution advantage.

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KSi will be speaking at Parcel Forum '25 on how to 'Benchmark Smarter, Perform Better: Supply Chain Trends, AI Slotting & KPIs to Crush the Competition' on September 9th, 2025 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center, Chicago, IL. With rising eCommerce demand, inflationary pressure and ongoing labor challenges, supply chain leaders are navigating more complexity than ever. This session will explore the most pressing issues impacting operations—from hybrid automation strategies, including brownfield and greenfield solutions, and warehouse investment decisions including AI and key distribution KPIs. Using highlights from KSI’s 10th Annual Benchmarking Reference Report as a foundation, you'll learn how to use comparative performance data to make smarter, more strategic logistics decisions. The number of packages shipped in the U.S. is expected to grow to more than 100 million per day by 2026! And couple that with the dramatic changes in customer expectations, then you know you can’t toy around with your package fulfillment strategy. PARCEL Forum '25 has been light-years ahead of the curve when it comes to delivering an all-encompassing event focused on helping companies take their package fulfillment strategy to infinity and beyond via our best-in-class conference, exhibit floor and peer-to-peer networking opportunities.  

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Arvist, a supply chain tech startup, has raised $4M in a seed round led by Rackhouse Venture Capital to scale Arvist QC, its plug-and-play AI vision solution for warehouse quality control. 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦 👉 https://lnkd.in/dfYpjB-F J.P. Keating Marco Hendriks Nilay Parikh Jesse Onyekwelu Aaron Hatfield Eitan Hefetz Roy Augustine Jr Bazyl Horsey Alan Amling Alec Groff Andy Lozano #Startups #SupplyChain #Warehouses #Founders #FundingNews #QualityControl

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I like the statement by Byron Knight, president of Koch Disruptive Technologies about redefining processes. As I like to say, , "If you to run a better {anything} you need to make better decisions." A lot of people talk about making decisions, but don't understand what they are, or how to make them. My universal framework provides a path to making the best possible decisions on the computer for *any* application, but before you get to this step, you have to be able to identify what decisions you are making. Understanding the business process starts in English by asking the right questions, but there has to be a pathway to a mathematical model, which is how we translate problems for the computer. You do not need a computer to make *all* decisions, but I think it helps to have a clear pathway to computer implementation for the problems where automation is justified. For the other problems, it helps you think more clearly.

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If you’re a founder building a company in complex or industrial markets, the most aligned CVCs are often the legacy, industry-rooted ones (many of them based right here in the Midwest). These are groups that want to pilot, deploy, and actually change how the business operates. When a corporation leverages their venture program designing it for real integration and applied learning, everything moves faster...for everyone involved. Read the full article on StartMidwest: https://lnkd.in/g8qWkUNN

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GoodShip has secured $25M in Series B funding led by Greenfield Partners with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures, Chicago Ventures, and FUSE VC. Co-founder & CEO Ryan Soskin is steering the AI-powered freight orchestration platform after a 10x revenue surge in 2024, serving major enterprise shippers like Tropicana Brands Group, KeHE Distributors, Kellanova, and KBX Logistics. https://lnkd.in/eNiVGBc9 #FreightTech #AI #SupplyChain #Logistics #SeriesB #FundingNews #Transportation #Automation Itay Inbar David Tsai Nick Boston John Pisano

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Kuehne+Nagel just acquired the remainder of Apex Logistics International from Partners Group in a transaction valuing Apex at $4 billion. Consolidation continues in global logistics! https://lnkd.in/eHyttBPk

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