Closing the Supply Chain Gap: A Q&A with Dan Luttner, Managing Partner at NEOS by Argon & Co.

At ketteQuest 2026, I sat down with Dan Luttner, Managing Partner at NEOS by Argon & Co., the supply chain transformation and systems integration division of global management consulting firm Argon & Co. With deep experience across seven ketteQ customer engagements, Dan brings both strategic perspective and practitioner depth to the conversation. We talked about what is broken in traditional supply chain planning, why probabilistic solvers are changing the game, and what it really takes to move from reactive to adaptive supply chain planning.

Q: Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your role at NEOS?

A: I am one of the managing partners of NEOS by Argon & Co., the SI division of global management consulting firm Argon & Co. We specialize in supply chain transformation and technology enablement across industries and geographies.

Q: What originally drew you to ketteQ, and how has that relationship evolved?

A: We have been working with ketteQ since the early days of the PolymatiQ™ solver, which is unique. Initially, we were drawn to the technology as a step change from deterministic systems, specifically its ability to bring probabilistic outcomes into planning models. Over time, our approach has broadened. We now focus significantly on layering AI capabilities on top of existing planning systems, which allows customers to advance their capabilities without the burden of a full rip and replace.

Q: What are the biggest challenges companies face in supply chain planning today?

A: What often surprises people is that the limitation is rarely the technology. It is the organizations and teams running it. We see customers using leading-edge capabilities that are hampered by slow decision-making and poor adoption, which limits the ROI the technology was meant to deliver. Beyond that, planning is at the center of all the disruption and volatility in today's market. The old model of driving to one consensus number on a static monthly calendar simply does not work anymore. Companies that are winning are the ones reducing the time between signal and decision, and empowering teams to act in real time.

Q: What is fundamentally broken in how most planning organizations operate?

A: There is a persistent gap between Sales and Operations Planning and Sales and Operations Execution. A monthly S&OP process produces the best consensus plan you can build at that moment. But all of the firefighting happens in the space between that plan and today's reality. That is where ketteQ really shines: orchestrating responses to signals as they arrive, in real time, rather than waiting for the next planning cycle.

Q: What differentiates ketteQ from legacy planning solutions?

A: Across seven customer engagements, what stands out is ketteQ's partnership approach to transformation. It is not just about deploying a tool and connecting it to your ERP. It is about laying out a roadmap, understanding where a customer is today, meeting them there, and defining the sequential steps that generate value at every stage. There is enormous excitement around AI right now, but most organizations are not ready to jump from step one to step ten. ketteQ has both consulting depth and in-house transformation expertise makes a real difference.

Q: How do you see AI and digital labor shaping the future of supply chain planning?

A: We started years ago with planning as a service, providing expert consultants to augment our customers' teams. That same principle is now playing out with agentic AI inside supply chain planning workflows. Our approach is to help customers identify what can be automated first, then layer in insights that allow planners to do more with less. Digital labor is not about replacing planners. It is about helping planners do better work, faster.

Q: What excites you about bringing PolymatiQ™ into real-world planning environments?

A: Planning has gone through two major shifts. First came optimization, driving to one correct number. Then volatility made scenario planning essential. But planners still had to manually build and test those scenarios. What PolymatiQ™ changes is the ability to run hundreds or thousands of scenarios simultaneously, around the clock, even while the planner sleeps. When they sit down the next morning, the system has already stress-tested every path and surfaced the best probabilistic outcome. That is a fundamental shift in how planning work gets done.

Q: What advice would you give to leaders still relying on legacy systems or spreadsheets?

A: Legacy tools do work, and that is usually their defense. But if you are not at least experimenting with today’s AI native solutions like ketteQ, you will be left behind. My advice is simple: start testing. Run a proof of concept. And make sure your partner has depth not just in supply chain and business process, but in systems integration. As you bring together multiple networks and data sources, a partner who can work across systems and make sense of that complexity is critical.

Q: What makes ketteQ special?

A: ketteQ is built on a modern AI native architecture and tech stack with no legacy debt. You are not retrofitting new planning capabilities onto an old foundation. It is a fresh slate, backed by teams with decades of experience across industries, platforms, and technologies. That combination of cutting-edge architecture and deep domain expertise is rare, and it is worth getting excited about.

Dan's perspective is a strong reminder that closing the supply chain gap takes more than great technology. It takes the right partner, the right roadmap, and a willingness to evolve. At ketteQ, we are proud to work alongside NEOS by Argon & Co. to help organizations move from reactive firefighting to truly adaptive planning.

To learn more about ketteQ's partner ecosystem and adaptive planning solutions, visit ketteq.com.

さらに詳しく

Watch Dan's full Q&A video from our Supply Chain Rewired Series.