BY TOBY GOOLEY, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A
thoughtleaders
IF, IN THE FUTURE, A DRONE IS TAKING INVENTOry in your warehouse, autonomous robots are delivering
groceries to your customers’ kitchens, or you’re delivering
products to consumers before they even realize they need
them, you might be taking advantage of innovations conceived and developed by Chandrashekar (Shekar) Natarajan
and the teams of forward-thinking supply chain and engineering professionals he has led over the past 15 years.
From redesigning material handling systems and adapting
autonomous vehicles for logistics applications to improv-
ing urban logistics and rethinking supply chain planning
methodology (to name just a few examples), Natarajan can
cite many achievements in his multifaceted career—and
he’s not even 40 years old yet.
A protégé of the late Richard Muther, a pioneering
industrial engineer known as “The Father of Systematic
Planning,” Natarajan has been a supply chain executive at
some of the best-known companies on the planet, including Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Alliance Rubber Co., PepsiCo,
and Anheuser Busch. In addition, he has served in executive leadership roles at The Walt Disney Co., Walmart Inc.,
and Target Corp. His name is on hundreds of patents, and
26 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2018 www.dcvelocity.com
INTERVIEW WITH SHEKAR NATARAJAN
Shekar Natarajan not only foresees the future of supply chain management, he is
helping to shape it by finding new and revolutionary ways to apply technology to
solve business challenges.
The pragmatic futurist
