Podcast Summary: Piet Buyck on Rethinking Supply Chain AI

The Digital Executive – Coruzant Technologies
Episode 1157 | November 28, 2025
Guest: Piet Buyck, SVP Innovation Strategies at Legility (an Appian Company), Author of "AI Compass for SC Leaders"
Host: Brian Thomas

Overview

In this episode, host Brian Thomas talks with Piet Buyck, a veteran technology executive specializing in AI for supply chain (SC) planning. They dive into Buyck’s metaphor of the “AI compass,” why AI should amplify (not replace) humans, and how organizations must rethink culture, governance, and legacy habits to truly benefit from AI-augmented decision-making in supply chains.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The “AI Compass” Metaphor for Supply Chain Planning

[01:49 – 04:01]

• Why a compass, not a map?
  Buyck explains he framed AI adoption as a compass because supply chain planning involves constant, uncertain navigation—there are no fixed paths, only directions to consider.
  • Quote:

    “A compass helps you to navigate by giving direction, not describing every step the way a map does. And that’s a good metaphor for supply chain planning...”
    — Piet Buyck [01:49]

• Change is not linear:
  Unlike a map, which lays out every step, a compass acknowledges the changing tensions—sales vs. production, stability vs. growth, etc.—and the need for organizations to find their own direction based on unique DNA and environments.
• Shifting paradigms with AI:
  Traditional planning is siloed and static; Buyck argues AI allows organizations, for the first time, to transcend these silos, offering decision-making continuity across people, process, and technology.
  • Memorable Analogy:

    “It’s almost like moving from horses to cars…that transition didn’t work until roads, gas stations, driver license and the whole traffic rules existed.”
    — Piet Buyck [03:30]

2. Human + AI Collaboration (Avoiding Over-automation & Blind Trust)

[04:47 – 07:25]

• Machines must not replace humans:
  Buyck stresses, “machines should not replace humans and humans and machines should collaborate,” highlighting both their flaws—humans are slow, biased, political; machines are impractical, need data, can be unethical or hallucinate.
  • Notable Quote:

    “It almost sounds like a kindergarten slogan: play nicely together even with the kids from the other neighborhood. But it’s true…”
    — Piet Buyck [04:47]

• Operationalizing Human + AI:
  Introduces a framework balancing accuracy, transparency, and fairness:
  • If a task is well understood, automate it.
  • If it’s complex, automate but supervise it.
  • Where fairness or judgment matters, keep humans in the loop.
  • Quote:

    “If you don’t understand something, then you don’t want to give it to AI to solve…it’s going to be too opaque so…supervise. If it’s easy and you understand it, automate it. If it’s very complex, let’s automate it but supervise it.”
    — Piet Buyck [05:47]

• Cultural shift needed:
  Moving decision-making away from siloed KPIs to a more “horizontal approach” that embraces total value creation and cross-functional responsibility.

3. Breaking Legacy Habits in Manual, Siloed Planning

[08:09 – 10:12]

• Entrenched practices persist:
  Planning remains “painfully manual and analog”—companies communicate in numbers without understanding (or explaining) their “why,” leading to poor reaction to change and missed collaboration across functions.
  • Quote:

    “Every time we need to explain in our meetings what’s behind the numbers, and not understanding the why takes away the possibility to react timely…”
    — Piet Buyck [08:17]

• Key barriers:
  • Departmental silos (sales, marketing, finance, etc.)
  • Hard boundaries between planning levels (strategic, tactical, operational)
  • Process valued more than outcomes
  • Power dynamics—for example, finance controlling decisions others could make with the help of AI
• Path forward:
  • Bring a shared language to “translate what’s behind the numbers.”
  • Focus on outcomes, not just processes.
  • Empower decision-takers by decomposing numbers into their drivers, enabling agility as assumptions change.

4. Culture & Mindset Shifts Required for AI-Augmented Planning

[11:01 – 13:28]

• Change is as much about culture as it is about technology:
  Organizational willingness to “restart your business” as if learning a new language is vital.
  • Quote:

    “It’s a bit like restarting your business in a world where nobody speaks English anymore suddenly and everybody has to learn that new language…”
    — Piet Buyck [11:07]

• Upskilling needed:
  Leaders and managers should develop a “feel for data science”—not necessarily becoming experts but understanding what’s possible with data and AI.
• Redefining objectives:
  With more data and decision power, organizations should revisit what results are possible and valuable.
• Change management best practices:
  • Don’t go too big (delayed results) or too small (missed potential).
  • Assign clear ownership of end-to-end processes.
  • Address fears: job security, loss of control, changing KPIs.
  • Foster curiosity and confidence to unlearn old habits and work alongside AI.
  • Memorable estimate:

    “When you get it right, the business case is really enormous. It’s almost like 50 times a traditional business case for a billion dollar company.”
    — Piet Buyck [12:37]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the metaphor of the compass:

  “A compass helps you to navigate by giving direction, not describing every step the way a map does. And that’s a good metaphor for supply chain planning…”
  — Piet Buyck [01:49]

• On imperfections of humans and machines:

  “Humans are not perfect. We are slow, a bit political, tribal, and can only work with limited sets of data. But machines…can be unethical, hallucinate, need huge amounts of data, and are definitely not popular as bosses.”
  — Piet Buyck [04:54]

• On scaling business value:

  “If you increase your accuracy…you’re talking about 2 million. If you’re talking about creating your organization in the best possible way, you’re talking about like 100 million as a potential.”
  — Piet Buyck [12:55]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:49] – The “AI compass” metaphor and its practical implications
• [04:47] – Balancing human judgment and machine automation
• [08:09] – The persistence of legacy, manual planning habits
• [11:01] – Culture, mindset, and training for AI-augmented planning
• [12:37] – The scale of business benefits from embracing these changes

Takeaways

• AI should enhance—not replace—human decision making.
• A compass, not a map: Every organization’s AI journey in supply chain must be directional, adaptive, and conscious of unique contexts.
• Successful adoption depends on forming new cross-functional habits, unlearning old silos, and constructing collaborative human-AI processes.
• Cultural readiness, process ownership, and an openness to learning are as important as the technology itself.