East Tennessee State UniversityCollege of Business & Technology • Supply Chain Management

2026 Summit Business Challenge

The $10 Million Appalachian Highlands Supply Chain Challenge

You are the COO of a growing regional manufacturer. Five problems hit in one quarter: a supplier failure, a healthcare demand surge, an AI investment decision, a quality breakdown, and a risky AI recommendation. Can you protect the business?

5 decisions • 8–10 minutes

Your company: RidgeLine Systems

RidgeLine Systems is an advanced-manufacturing company headquartered in the Appalachian Highlands.

The company assembles connected monitoring units, control enclosures, and high-value replacement components for hospitals, industrial OEMs, and commercial facilities. Common components are stocked, while higher-value finished products are configured to customer demand. RidgeLine buys electronics globally, sources fabricated metal and plastics regionally, and operates a final-assembly plant and distribution center in Northeast Tennessee.

You are the Chief Operating Officer. Procurement, planning, manufacturing, logistics, customer service, and digital transformation all fall under your team. Over the next five decisions, you will have to keep customers supplied, protect margins, manage risk, and decide where to spend limited cash.

Annual revenue$48M

Quarter revenue at risk$10M

Suppliers74

Employees185

There is more than one reasonable way to handle each problem. Keep an eye on profit, customer service, resilience, innovation, and cash. What you spend or sacrifice early in the game will affect the choices available to you later.

About the Summit

Friday, Oct. 16, 2026

ETSU Brinkley Center • Johnson City

The 2026 Appalachian Highlands Supply Chain and Digital Technologies Summit brings together supply chain managers and executives, business leaders, entrepreneurs, government employees, educators, industry professionals, and students.

8:30 AM–1:30 PM • In person

Player / team name

Challenge complete

See how the challenge connects to the Summit

The issues you worked through—sourcing risk, customer allocation, AI, process improvement, and judgment under uncertainty—are all part of the 2026 Summit program.

🤖 AI in Supply Chain: Turning Emerging Technology into Business Value

Leader: Jason Thorne, SVP of Global Supply Chain, Nouryon.

A practical session on where AI can actually help supply chains. The workshop will cover how to choose useful applications, prepare people and processes for adoption, and measure whether the technology is creating real business value.

🧠 Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: An Interactive Supply Chain Workshop

Leader: Dr. Chris Libutti, Professor, ETSU.

A hands-on session on making better decisions when AI is part of the process. The workshop will focus on asking better questions, spotting missing context, challenging assumptions, and knowing when AI output should be trusted, tested, or challenged.

⚙️ Lean Six Sigma: Driving Process Improvement and Operational Excellence

Leader: Mark Sebby, Solutions Consultant, UT Center for Industrial Services.

A practical Lean Six Sigma session focused on finding waste, variation, bottlenecks, and root causes. The workshop will show how structured process improvement can improve quality, flow, cost, and day-to-day operating performance.

Summit speakers and workshop leaders

Meet the people taking part in the Summit

The 2026 Summit brings together leaders from healthcare, manufacturing, global supply chain, distribution, technology, academia, and process improvement.

Ken York

Chief Supply Chain Officer • Ballad Health

Ken York is a healthcare supply-chain executive at Ballad Health. His perspective connects supply chain with patient care, clinical operations, sourcing, standardization, cost management, and the coordination required to support a large regional health system.

Nathan Swisshelm

Vice President of Global Supply Chain • Elo Touch Systems

Nathan Swisshelm is a global supply-chain leader with experience in strategic procurement, production, logistics, supplier development, project management, and supply-chain systems. He brings an end-to-end perspective on sourcing, operations, technology, and international supply networks.

Ryan Berkley, CAFS

President & Owner • B&B Filters

Ryan Berkley is President and Owner of B&B Filters, a Johnson City–based filtration business serving commercial, medical, and industrial customers. His background combines entrepreneurship, distribution, supplier management, technology, and the practical challenges of growing a regional business.

Jason Thorne

Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain • Nouryon

Jason Thorne is an experienced global supply-chain and business executive whose leadership background includes integrated business planning, customer service, logistics, procurement, planning transformation, and cross-functional change. He also leads the Summit workshop on AI in supply chain.

Yamila Libutti

Co-Founder • Breaking Barriers Consulting

Yamila Libutti is a technology and transformation leader, entrepreneur, speaker, and co-founder of Breaking Barriers Consulting. Her background includes leadership, organizational transformation, customer experience, change management, and technology adoption.

Kenneth Perry

Director of Materials • Becker Global

Kenneth Perry is a materials and operations leader with experience in purchasing, production scheduling, logistics, inventory management, ERP systems, supplier relationships, constraint management, Kanban, production leveling, and manufacturing operations.

Jim Thornstrom

Regional Vice President • Fastenal

Jim Thornstrom is a regional leader with Fastenal. His perspective connects industrial distribution, inventory availability, customer service, supplier relationships, and the role of supply-chain execution in supporting manufacturing and business customers.

Dr. Chris Libutti

Professor, ETSU • Critical Thinking Workshop Leader

Dr. Chris Libutti brings experience in leadership, organizational behavior, project and program execution, entrepreneurship, human performance, and decision-making. He leads the Summit workshop on critical thinking in the age of AI.

Mark Sebby

Solutions Consultant • UT Center for Industrial Services

Mark Sebby is an experienced quality and Lean improvement professional whose background includes Six Sigma, value-stream mapping, Theory of Constraints, statistical analysis, Kaizen, quick changeover, standard work, downtime reduction, and quality-management systems. He leads the Summit Lean Six Sigma workshop.

Rohan Korde, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management • East Tennessee State University

Dr. Korde studies the movement of physical goods in global supply networks and the financing mechanisms among supply-chain intermediaries. He also studies coordination, competition, cooperation, and coopetition between organizations to improve supply-chain efficiency and flexibility.

How the scenarios were built

Supply-chain thinking behind the scenarios

RidgeLine and its numbers were created for the challenge. The decisions themselves draw on established practices in supply-chain resilience, AI adoption, process improvement, and human oversight.

Structural resilience: dual sourcing and prequalified alternatives

McKinsey’s supply-chain resilience work identifies dual sourcing, regionalization, visibility, and inventory positioning as common structural responses to disruption.

McKinsey source ↗

AI: prioritize feasible use cases with measurable business value

Gartner’s 2025 supply-chain guidance argues that “AI for the sake of AI” does not create value and that leaders should evaluate use cases on both feasibility and business value, including data readiness.

Gartner source ↗

Process improvement: diagnose before implementing the countermeasure

ASQ’s DMAIC framework explicitly moves from Define and Measure to Analyze root causes before Improve and Control, supporting the game’s preference for diagnosis over immediate capital expansion.

ASQ source ↗

Human + AI: operational context and oversight matter

NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework stresses human roles, oversight, context of use, known limitations, and the risk that mathematical models remove important context from complex decisions.

NIST source ↗

Take the next step

Join the 2026 Appalachian Highlands Supply Chain & Digital Technologies Summit

Hear from leaders in healthcare, global supply chain, manufacturing, materials management, distribution, procurement, operations, and technology. Then take part in three hands-on workshops built around AI, critical thinking, and Lean Six Sigma.

AI in Supply Chain: Turning Emerging Technology into Business Value
Jason Thorne • A practical look at useful AI applications, adoption challenges, and how to measure whether AI is actually improving supply-chain performance.

Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: An Interactive Supply Chain Workshop
Dr. Chris Libutti • Work through how to challenge assumptions, spot missing context, and combine AI output with sound human judgment.

Lean Six Sigma: Driving Process Improvement and Operational Excellence
Mark Sebby • Apply Lean Six Sigma to waste, variation, bottlenecks, root-cause problem solving, quality, and operating performance.

Summit speakers and workshop leaders:
Ken York • Nathan Swisshelm • Ryan Berkley • Jason Thorne • Yamilla Libutti • Kenneth Perry • Jim Thornstrom • Dr. Chris Libutti • Mark Sebby • Rohan Korde, Ph.D.

FREE TO ATTEND — REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Friday, October 16, 2026 • 8:30 AM–1:30 PM • ETSU Brinkley Center • Johnson City, Tennessee