Pros to Know: GAINSystems’ Jeff Metersky Talks About Reducing Unnecessary Interventions

As VP of solution strategy at GAINSystems, Jeff Metersky leverages his 40 years of experience in industry, software and consulting to enhance the strategy, positioning and vision of GAINS' solutions. In his role, he also serves as the general manager of the supply chain design business, where he builds, leads and mentors a team of consultants and analysts who provide best-in-class services and support to GAINS clients. Metersky helps customers adapt quicker to changing market conditions with both their technology investment and development of risk strategies to help build a resilient supply chain.

Over the past year, Metersky has spearheaded a groundbreaking initiative to integrate variability and uncertainty into GAINS' supply chain decision-making processes. He led the development of a strategy that incorporates discrete event simulation and stochastic optimization into GAINS' solutions. These methodologies allow clients to model and account for the inherent variability in supply chain operations, providing a more accurate and dynamic view of potential outcomes. This initiative combines network optimization, inventory optimization, and transportation optimization into a cohesive planning environment.

In the coming year, Metersky aims to expand the adoption of advanced supply chain technologies and methodologies among GAINS' clients, shifting his focus to scaling these capabilities across a broader range of industries and use cases. A key goal is to move beyond the design phase of the supply chain and incorporate these advanced techniques into day-to-day planning and operational processes. Metersky plans to raise awareness of the benefits of stochastic optimization, discrete event simulation, and composable solutions through thought leadership, industry engagements, and direct client interactions. He also aims to continue to advocate for the creation of resilient, adaptable supply chains that can withstand external disruptions, such as geopolitical shifts, regulatory changes, and economic fluctuations.

We talked exclusively with Metersky about stochastic optimization, executing supply chain strategies and what it takes to reduce unnecessary disruptions.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Let’s first talk about you. Tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey to get to this current stage in your career?

Jeff Metersky: My passion lies in applying advanced analytics to enhance company’s competitive edge through supply chain excellence. Over my 40-year career, I have helped organizations embrace supply chain design and planning principles while leveraging technology to drive meaningful improvements. I started my career in materials management and logistics, gaining firsthand industry experience for nearly seven years. Since then, I’ve been part of the leadership team at five supply chain software firms specializing in design and planning solutions.

I’ve had the opportunity to lead and build practices at two management consultancies, providing me with a unique, 360-degree perspective on supply chain challenges. Throughout my career, I’ve successfully launched new software solutions, refined strategic positioning, expanded solution visions, and built consulting teams from the ground up. Notably, I co-founded a management consultancy that grew to over 100 employees before my exit. Additionally, I’ve played a key leadership role at three companies that achieved significant liquidity events.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: One of the things outlined in your submission is how you spearheaded a groundbreaking initiative to integrate variability and uncertainty into GAINS' supply chain decision-making processes. Walk me through what this looks like.

Metersky: Traditional supply chain planning operates on the assumption that key factors—demand, lead times, transportation costs—are predictable. But reality tells a different story. Supply chains today exist in an environment of constant disruption, where static models fail to capture the complexity of real-world operations. Recognizing this, I led an initiative at GAINS to fundamentally shift how our solutions account for variability and uncertainty, ensuring our customers can make smarter, more resilient decisions.

Rather than relying on a single “optimal” answer based on fixed inputs, we have embedded stochastic optimization and discrete event simulation into our approach. These advanced methodologies allow companies to model a range of possible outcomes, helping them stress-test their strategies and proactively mitigate risks before they occur. Instead of reacting to disruptions after the fact, companies using GAINS can anticipate challenges—whether it’s fluctuating supplier lead times, shifting demand patterns, or unforeseen logistics bottlenecks—and build adaptability directly into their supply chain designs.

Beyond just providing insights, this initiative transforms how companies execute their supply chain strategies. By combining network, inventory, and transportation optimization in a composable framework, we’ve empowered organizations to make decisions dynamically, adapting their operations in real time as conditions change. The result? Companies can reduce unnecessary interventions, cut costs, and improve service levels—all while building long-term resilience.

In short, our initiative shifts supply chain planning from being deterministic and rigid to probabilistic and adaptive, giving businesses the confidence to navigate uncertainty with precision.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Also outlined in your nomination form is how one of your key goals for 2025 is to move beyond the design phase of the supply chain and incorporate advanced techniques into day-to-day planning and operational processes. What does this mean? And why is doing this important?

Metersky: After developing supply chain designs, infrastructures, capacities, and policy guidelines – while accounting for variability – companies must evolve from monitoring supply chain performance against a single estimate to managing outcomes with an expected range that account for variability. Think of it as applying statistical process control to the supply chain system.

For example, instead of scrambling to react when a shipment is delayed by a day, organizations should recognize that a certain percentage of shipments will arrive late and factor that into inventory policies. By adopting this mindset and monitoring approach, companies will reduce the need to take unnecessary actions, like expediting freight, or transferring inventory, and thereby reduce the operational expense and associated effort.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: You also plan to raise awareness of the benefits of stochastic optimization, discrete event simulation, and composable solutions. Explain to me what these benefits are, and why these solutions are important for the future of supply chains.

Metersky: Pandemics, trade wars, container shortages — if the last few years have proven anything, it is how unexpected and consequential a supply chain disruption can be; and they have been increasing in frequency. Stochastic optimization and discrete event simulation are both techniques used to incorporate variability and uncertainty considerations into the decision-making process. Stochastic optimization enables supply chain designs and policies to be developed with the direct consideration of variability and uncertainty in the inputs. Instead of running numerous individual sensitivities and trying to synthesize and discern a course of action, stochastic optimization allows for a single run on a given scenario. It provides for designs that directly incorporate the amount of variability and uncertainty a company desires to plan to support. It truly considers a firm’s risk tolerance in developing designs and policies with built in considerations of resiliency.

Complementary to stochastic optimization is the use of discrete event simulation which enables the understanding of the detailed daily performance of the supply chain to execute order fulfillment, production, replenishment, and transportation planning process with or without considerations of variability. It is used to understand customer order fill levels, actual modes of transportation and the daily ability to receive, ship, store and produce respecting capacities at the SKU level. It builds confidence that designs and polices are operationally feasible and thereby increase adoption. It is used to understand how resilient a supply chain is to disruption and assess its time to recover and revenue at risk.

With uncertainty now the norm, supply chain systems designed with “all-in-one/one-stop-shop” models are slow to update, expensive to modify and cumbersome to scale. To keep pace with constantly shifting market conditions and priorities, companies must utilize foundational data for nimble supply chain system that does not need a long implementation cycle or extensive onboarding time. Eliminating the need to rip out rigid, monolithic structures, composable platforms integrate with existing systems to provide a flexible, dynamic, decision-making framework that optimizes operations for speed and continuity.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what would you tell him?

Metersky: Find your passion, do things that make you happy and are rewarding. Work on your emotional intelligence, to be more empathetic, to see things through other people’s eyes. To live a well-balanced life and not overly focus on your career and business. That heroism is not scalable. Focus on building teams and surround yourself with top talent. To strive for excellence and continuous improvement. To give yourself a break sometimes, celebrate the wins, instead of rushing to the next thing and always thinking “I could have done that better”. To allow yourself to fail and then learn.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive: The Leaders in Excellence category honors company leaders who’ve made outstanding contributions to the supply chain space. What advice do you have for other leaders in the industry as well as young professionals entering the supply chain space?

Metersky:

·       Never stop learning and be open to change – this industry is evolving rapidly

·        Stay curious, learn to ask why, and challenge assumptions.

·        Never become complacent. Supply chains are dynamic, as is life, and success requires flexibility.  

·        Strive for excellence. Do not go it alone, this is a team sport!

CLICK HERE to view the full list of winners.