The Hackett Group® Introduces AI World Class Supply Chain Benchmarks
New research quantifies reductions in expedited orders (up to 59%), forecast error (up to 52%) and inventory carrying costs (up to 41%)
MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT), an enterprise AI transformation firm, today announced AI World Class Supply Chain benchmarks – new research that quantifies how AI is reshaping supply chain performance and reveals a growing gap between organizations redesigning supply chains around AI and those that ignore agentic automation.
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While many organizations focus on automating individual supply chain activities, AI World Class reveals a larger opportunity: redesigning the entire end-to-end process around AI. Improvements across planning, inventory
management, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation and returns compound. Better decisions upstream reduce work downstream, improving service, working capital and cost throughout the process. The gains land at both ends of the process. AI World Class modeling shows process costs across plan-to-deliver can decline by 12% to 17%, while staffing requirements decline by 15% to 24%. Source: AI World Class Supply Chain benchmark modeling based on peer median and AI World Class performance scenarios, The Hackett Group®, 2026
The research indicates that the next phase of enterprise AI adoption will be defined by operational outcomes. As tariff exposure, demand volatility and margin pressure continue to intensify, supply chain leaders are increasingly expected to improve service reliability, strengthen resilience, improve working capital management and absorb disruption without proportional increases in resources.
“Most organizations still approach AI as a collection of planning tools and isolated use cases,” said Erin Blair, principal at The Hackett Group®. “Leading companies are using AI to rethink how their supply chains and teams operate. The result is not simply greater efficiency, but measurable improvements in working capital, service reliability, operating leverage and resilience.”
The new AI World Class Supply Chain benchmarks span critical plan-to-deliver processes, including planning, inventory management, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, fulfillment and returns. They quantify where process-led AI transformation can create the greatest value and establish future-state performance standards for organizations pursuing AI-enabled transformation.
Plan-to-deliver provides one of the clearest examples of how AI creates compounding value. Better demand sensing, inventory optimization and execution decisions reinforce one another throughout the process, reducing complexity and improving service, cost, and working capital outcomes.
The results are significant. AI World Class modeling shows organizations can reduce forecast error by up to 52%, lower inventory carrying costs by up to 41% and reduce obsolete inventory by up to 36%. As inventory is positioned more accurately across the network, warehouse execution improves, shortening pick-to-ship cycle times by up to 38% and accelerating returns processing by up to 40%.
The impact becomes even more visible downstream. Expedited orders decline by up to 59%, while shipment-to-delivery cycle times improve by up to 25%. As disruption and recovery work are reduced throughout the network, on-time in-full performance rises into the high 90% range, strengthening both customer outcomes and operational resilience.
“Supply chain performance is no longer determined solely by automation or efficiency,” said Sid Shetty, senior manager at The Hackett Group®. “Organizations that redesign work around AI are changing how their supply chains operate. Better decisions earlier in the process reduce the work, cost and disruption the rest of the network has to absorb. That is where AI created a more sustainable competitive advantage.”
The findings also demonstrate the broader economic impact of AI-enabled supply chain transformation. AI World Class modeling shows plan-to-deliver process costs can decline by 12% to 17%, while staffing requirements can decrease by 15% to 24%, creating capacity for higher-value activities across the supply chain organization.
While plan-to-deliver provides a clear illustration of the opportunity, similar patterns emerge across the broader AI World Class benchmark portfolio. The benchmarks span 16 end-to-end enterprise processes and identify where process reinvention can unlock the greatest gains in cost, productivity, speed, quality and business performance. The most significant value is created when organizations redesign how work flows across an entire process enabled by AI rather than focusing on isolated automation opportunities.
The AI World Class benchmarks are grounded in more than 30 years of benchmark data, process intelligence and transformation experience drawn from leading global organizations, including 98% of the Dow Jones Global Titans, 97% of the Dow Jones Industrials and 90% of the Fortune 100. AI World Class extends The Hackett Group’s Digital World Class® methodology to model the next generation of performance achievable through AI-enabled execution.
The AI World Class Supply Chain benchmarks are available exclusively through The Hackett Group®. Download the AI World Class Supply Chain report to learn how process-led AI transformation is creating a growing supply chain performance gap and where organizations can capture the greatest value.
About The Hackett Group®
The Hackett Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCKT) is an ROI-led, AI enterprise transformation firm that helps clients enable AI World Class performance. Its experts and engineers leverage Hackett AI platforms, including XT™, AIXelerator™, Hackett AI XPLR™, ZBrain® and XDA™, to accelerate and enhance the delivery of the company’s solutions and services.
The Hackett AI platforms are powered by the company’s domain-specific Solution Language Model informed by Hackett Process and Performance Intelligence, including Digital World Class® and AI World Class benchmark metrics, industry-specific best-practice process flows and service delivery model frameworks. The Hackett Group’s proprietary insights are based on benchmarking results from leading global organizations, including 98% of Dow Jones Global Titans, 97% of the Dow Jones Industrials and 90% of the Fortune 100. Visit www.thehackettgroup.com.
Trademarks
The Hackett Group®, quadrant logo, ZBrain® and Digital World Class® are the registered marks of The Hackett Group®.
Cautionary Statement Regarding “Forward-Looking” Statements
This release contains “forward-looking” statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements including without limitation, words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” or other similar phrases or variations of such words or similar expressions indicating, present or future anticipated or expected occurrences or outcomes are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may impact such forward-looking statements include without limitation, the ability of The Hackett Group® to effectively market its digital transformation services, our ability to transition our capabilities to support generative artificial intelligence (AI)-related consulting services and solutions and other consulting services, our ability to effectively integrate acquisitions into our operations, our ability to manage joint ventures and successfully cooperate with our joint venture partners, competition from other consulting and technology companies that may have or develop in the future, similar offerings, the commercial viability of The Hackett Group® and its services as well as other risk detailed in The Hackett Group’s reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Hackett Group® does not undertake any duty to update this release or any forward-looking statements contained herein.
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| While many organizations focus on automating individual supply chain activities, AI World Class reveals a larger opportunity: redesigning the entire end-to-end process around AI. Improvements across planning, inventory management, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation and returns compound. Better decisions upstream reduce work downstream, improving service, working capital and cost throughout the process. The gains land at both ends of the process. AI World Class modeling shows process costs across plan-to-deliver can decline by 12% to 17%, while staffing requirements decline by 15% to 24%. Source: AI World Class Supply Chain benchmark modeling based on peer median and AI World Class performance scenarios, The Hackett Group®, 2026 |
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