During his session at IntraLogisteX Dallas, Srivatsan Vitchantangal Prativathi, distribution center director at Schneider Electric, will explore how smarter processes and systems can transform warehouse operations.
With more than 16 years of experience in manufacturing logistics, Prativathi currently manages a large distribution center with a team of close to 300 employees and is responsible for US$100m in costs and shipments generating close to US$2.3bn in revenue.
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During a session titled ‘Transforming warehouse performance through smarter processes and systems’, Prativathi will discuss:
- Identifying inefficiencies across warehouse operations
- Aligning end-to-end workflows, technologies and people strategies
- Driving measurable gains in service and productivity.
Taking place at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on 16-17 September, IntraLogisteX Dallas will bring together logistics and supply chain professionals to explore the latest innovations in warehousing, automation, robotics, materials handling and supply chain technology.
Ahead of the event, Logistics Manager caught up with Prativathi to discuss how technology and AI can improve warehouse performance, as well as some of the wider challenges facing supply chains.
What will you be discussing at IntraLogisteX Dallas?
I plan to discuss how technology and artificial intelligence (AI) can help achieve the seemingly conflicting KPIs of cost competitiveness and service excellence, and why these objectives are not mutually exclusive but rather interconnected and mutually reinforcing. I plan to share examples from my distribution center of a digitized control tower, AI training and productivity solutions to illustrate my thesis.
The question for supply chain leaders is no longer whether to prioritize cost competitiveness or service excellence. The real challenge is how to leverage technology and AI so that each improvement in service simultaneously reduces cost, and each gain in efficiency strengthens the customer experience. The organizations that master this connection will create a sustainable competitive advantage.
Why is this topic particularly important right now?
In today’s environment of inflationary pressures, labor shortages, rising customer expectations and economic uncertainty, organizations can no longer afford to trade one objective for the other. Leaders are expected to deliver both simultaneously. The old cost-versus-service discussion is obsolete, and AI/digitization are often treated as buzzwords rather than [tools for delivering] measurable results.
What is the biggest challenge you see logistics and supply chain professionals facing over the next 12 months?
The biggest challenge is balancing cost, service and resilience in an environment of continued uncertainty. We must become more agile while maintaining profitability and customer satisfaction.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity for procurement leaders to become more proactive in managing supplier risk?
We need to tune ourselves better to ignore the noise and listen to signals. Technology is the biggest opportunity to exploit in that area. For example, we had a very low forecast for a particular electrical product from sales. Something didn’t sit right, so we used AI to develop the sales projection for that customer using available housing market data. Within an hour, we could see the increased projection, which we took back to the end- customer, who agreed with the findings. This helped us be prepared for the increased sales, which eventually came.
What role do AI, data and supplier intelligence play in helping organisations anticipate supply chain risks?
AI has opened us tremendous possibilities that didn’t exist before. It can help us come up with should-cost analysis, develop our own models and analyze potential pitfalls in a way that was not possible before. The use of large datasets, image processing and meta data synthesis is powerful. It is no longer a question of whether we can answer something or whether we are asking the right questions; it is a matter of fast execution since the playing field is at the same level for everyone.
What are you most looking forward to at IntraLogisteX Dallas?
Learning from fellow participants and exploring what is new out there with the vendors. I am particularly interested in how folks are managing the trade-offs between product availability and inventory carrying costs.
IntraLogisteX takes place in Dallas, Texas, USA on 16-17 September 2026. View the full conference agenda and register via the official website: https://www.intralogistexusa.com/
