Meet Naveen Chandra Kukkala

Distribution Leader & Author

Naveen is Director of Distribution at EssilorLuxottica North America, where he leads warehouse operations optimization. He writes about how automation, AI and people work together in warehouses, and is the author of the forthcoming book Smart Warehousing.

Google Scholar ↗ ORCID record ↗ LinkedIn ↗

Using ARIF or LOKM in your operation? Tell Naveen where. Practitioners in distribution and manufacturing use the frameworks to decide what to automate and how to organize labor around it.

naveen@automatewarehouse.ai

Naveen has led operations and engineering at

Naveen the Practitioner

Director of Distribution

Naveen has spent fourteen-plus years in operations across aerospace, logistics, retail, medical devices and eyewear — at Hindustan Aeronautics, DHL Supply Chain, Nordstrom and Medtronic before joining EssilorLuxottica in 2024. He speaks at industry conferences including CSCMP EDGE, WERC and IISE, and has been interviewed by Supply Chain Digital and Robotics Tomorrow.

Naveen's experience ↗ Speaking and press → Invite Naveen to speak →

Naveen the Scholar

IEEE Senior Member

Naveen has published two frameworks in IEEE conference proceedings — ARIF for automation readiness and LOKM for labor orchestration — along with journal articles on AI in operations. He serves on the Editorial Review Board of the International Journal of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, and in 2026 received the Outstanding Industry Practitioner Award from the IISE Logistics and Supply Chain Division.

Featured writing → Google Scholar profile ↗ ORCID record (0009-0004-4099-8562) ↗

Awards and Recognition

Recognition from professional societies and industry bodies.

2026

Outstanding Industry Practitioner Award

IISE Logistics and Supply Chain Division

Presented at the LSC Town Hall, IISE Annual Conference & Expo, May 2026.

2026

Silver Award, IISE Innovation Cup

Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers

Second place for the EssilorLuxottica team's “Slotting Optimization Framework with Cross-Site Scaling.”

2025

Under-40 Supply Chain Super Achiever

Celerity Supply Chain Tribe Awards, Mumbai

Profiled in Supply Chain Tribe, Annual Winners Edition, September 2025.

Education

M.S., Industrial and Systems EngineeringUniversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities

M.S., Project ManagementUniversity of the Cumberlands

B.Tech., Mechanical EngineeringJawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada

Credentials

Project Management ProfessionalProject Management Institute

Lean Six Sigma Black BeltManagement and Strategy Institute

IEEE Senior MemberElevated October 2025

Chartered Member (CMILT)Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, North America · 2025

Speaking and Service

Conferences, universities and professional bodies Naveen has spoken at or serves with.

Spoken at

IISE Annual ConferenceSpecial IAB session, May 2026

CSCMP EDGEWashington, DC, October 2025

INFORMS Annual MeetingAtlanta, October 2025

WERC Annual ConferenceNew Orleans, June 2025

Home Delivery WorldNashville, panelist and judge, 2025–26

SCTECH 2025Singapore, September 2025

ASQ Quality Management DivisionWebinar, May 2026

ASCM Atlanta ChapterKeynote, January 2025

CSCMP Atlanta RoundtableSeptember 2025

University of SussexGuest lecture, January 2026

Clayton State UniversityGuest lecture, January 2026

Serves with

ISCEAAmericas Advisory Board

CSCMP Atlanta RoundtableTreasurer

WERCContent Committee, advisory member

IGI Global · IJISSCMEditorial Review Board

IEEESenior Member

University of North GeorgiaMike Cottrell College of Business Board, 2026

Featured Writing

Naveen writes for both practitioners and researchers. One recent piece from each.

FOR PRACTITIONERS

Warehouse Automation Selection: A Practitioner's Perspective

In this article for Inside Supply Management, Naveen sets out how to choose between automation technologies when the vendor case and the operating reality disagree. Read more ↗

FOR RESEARCHERS

ARIF: A Strategic Framework for Assessing Automation Readiness and Process Integration

In this 2025 IEEE NKCon paper, Naveen and his co-author set out six steps for testing a process before automating it, validated on a robotic picking case in an eyewear fulfillment center. Find it on Google Scholar ↗

The Book and the Frameworks

Smart Warehousing, forthcoming from Palgrave Macmillan in 2026, and the two frameworks at its core. Start here if you are deciding what to automate, and how to organize people around it.

SMART
WAREHOUSINGNaveen Chandra Kukkala
Palgrave Macmillan

Smart Warehousing: Integrating AI, Automation, and Human-Centric Design for Next-Generation Supply Chains

Forthcoming, 2026.

ARIFProcess mapping · Task–technology fit · Failure modes · Pilot testing · Alignment · ROI

ARIF: Six Steps to Automation Readiness

ARIF Lite self-assessment coming soon.

LOKMVisibility · Prediction · Optimization · Execution · Governance

LOKM: A Control Tower for Warehouse Labor

LOKM Explorer planned.

Four-panel strips about the people, systems and forklifts that keep the flow moving — each ending with the lesson from the floor.

Four-panel SC² comic about system-directed picking: a dashboard reports 99% optimization while workers walk extra aisles and quietly correct what the system gets wrong. — “The problem was never the algorithm. It was assuming the floor would behave like one.”

Four-panel SC² comic about peak season: a sign promises 100% automation efficiency, the robots stall and need recharging, and associates keep the work moving by hand. — “Peak season doesn't test your automation. It tests your recovery plan.”