Supply‑chain trends for 2026

Supply chains are heading into 2026 with a new playbook: more AI, more automation, and more contingency planning. (mhi.org) MHI, the material handling industry group, published its Top Supply Chain Trends for 2026 on November 17, 2025, after research by its Board of Governors and Roundtable. The list put workforce shortages first, followed by artificial intelligence, automation, geopolitics and tariffs, inflation, and cybersecurity. (mhi.org) A second MHI report, released with Deloitte on April 15, 2026, said 71% of supply chain leaders now see AI as disruptive, including 24% who called it transformational. The survey covered more than 500 manufacturing and supply chain leaders, and 56% said they expect to raise spending on supply chain innovation. (mhi.org) That spending is shifting toward systems that stitch together data from suppliers, warehouses, carriers and planners into one operating picture. MHI’s 2025 annual report called that model an “orchestrated” digital supply chain, and 55% of leaders said they were increasing technology and innovation investment while 60% planned to spend more than $1 million. (mhi.org) The push is not just about speed inside warehouses. MHI’s 2026 trends list said trade wars, tariffs and shifting alliances are raising costs and delays, pushing companies toward multisourcing, reshoring and formal contingency plans. (mhi.org) Regulation is also forcing procurement teams to map suppliers more deeply. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says importers should trace inputs, evaluate risk, communicate with suppliers and keep documentation to show goods were not made with forced labor. (cbp.gov) In Europe, the compliance calendar is adding another layer. The European Commission says the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive entered into force on July 25, 2024, and requires companies in scope to address human-rights and environmental harms across their value chains. (commission.europa.eu) Another deadline is coming for commodities tied to deforestation. The European Commission’s deforestation regulation guidance says companies are preparing for enforcement, and legal updates published in 2026 say the main application date now falls on December 30, 2026, after a late-2025 delay. (green-forum.ec.europa.eu; mayerbrown.com) The result is a supply-chain agenda that looks less like cost cutting alone and more like risk management with software attached. By MHI’s count, expected five-year adoption rates now reach 88% for AI, 86% for advanced analytics, 85% for cloud computing, and 77% for internet-connected sensors. (mhi.org) For 2026, the practical question is no longer whether companies will digitize procurement and logistics. It is whether they can do it fast enough to keep up with tariffs, labor rules, and supplier risk that now change as fast as demand. (mhi.org; mhi.org)