The Hidden Decisions Behind the Supply Chain

Published: October 26, 2026

Truck carrying forty-foot container leaving port terminal with ship and quay crane on the background. Seaport operation activities, container shipping, and logistics.

Every time we place an online order, an enormous number of decisions happen behind the scenes – where an item should be stored, how an order should be fulfilled, which route it should take and how it ultimately reaches our doorstep. Increasingly, operations research, optimization and artificial intelligence are helping make those decisions at a scale no human could manage alone.

In this episode of Resoundingly Human: The INFORMS Podcast, Russell Allgor, Chief Supply Chain Scientist at Auger and a plenary speaker at the 2026 INFORMS Annual Meeting, shares just how many decisions are happening behind the products and services we rely on every day – and how operations research and AI are changing not only how those decisions are made, but who, or what, makes them.

Interviewed this episode:

Russell Allgor

Auger

Russell Allgor is one of the world’s leading authorities on supply chain optimization. A member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and an INFORMS Fellow, he has spent more than three decades pioneering the application of operations research, optimization, simulation, process control, and artificial intelligence to solve some of the world’s most complex industrial challenges. Throughout his career, Russell has developed the mathematical models, algorithms, and decision systems that enable global enterprises to optimize manufacturing, logistics, inventory, transportation, and fulfillment at unprecedented scale.

During more than 24 years at Amazon, where he served as Chief Scientist, Russell architected and led the development of many of the core algorithms behind one of the largest and most sophisticated logistics networks ever built. His work included the design and optimization of Amazon’s fulfillment network, including middle- and last-mile network optimization, sort center and postal injection network design, Amazon Air network design and scheduling, last-mile vehicle routing, and the transformation of Amazon’s outbound fulfillment network to a regionalized architecture. He also developed algorithms for real-time order assignment, robotic picking optimization, and control algorithms for Amazon’s fulfillment and transportation resources. Collectively, these technologies optimized millions of operational decisions each day and delivered more than $2 billion in annual business value enabling lower costs, faster delivery, and improved customer service.

Today, as Chief Supply Chain Scientist at Auger, Russell is helping pioneer the next generation of enterprise AI through autonomous decision-making systems that continuously sense, reason, and optimize complex supply chains. His unique combination of scientific innovation, large-scale operational impact, and executive leadership positions him at the forefront of transforming how global enterprises make operational decisions.