Supply Change

Here are a few highlights from the episode. If higher education is a supply chain, what is the end consumer product delivered? In this altruistic field of higher ed, we often don't like to talk about students in marketing terms because students aren’t simply products or consumers. But on the other hand, there's no doubt that this consumer mentality has seeped into higher education especially given the huge exorbitant cost of tuition. I can't blame students and families for thinking of higher ed this way. So certainly to answer your original question, there's a lot of ways to think about supply chains in higher ed. How vital is transparency in admissions to ensure we have an equitable supply chain of higher education?If you're looking to engage in the college admissions process, you first need to know it's even there, and that it's something that could help you and help your future. The thing is, college admissions may seem transparent to some families and students and opaque to others. But a lot of people who

How unstable is global trade right now? Is it the most tumultuous it's ever been? We’ve experienced a very long cycle of growth since the global financial crisis. In fact, if you look at the statistics, it's one of the longest periods of continuous expansion in history. Now, all of that isn’t going to last forever and it’s starting to unwind. we saw a peak in growth and now we're starting to see a synchronized decline in activity. So it's easy to assume that a lot of the Asian countries will feel the squeeze a little bit more than they did in the past. And whenever things are going down, all of the negative aspects of the economy, of fragilities, all of the political vulnerabilities tend to show as well. This expression of volatility and vulnerability is a bit more pronounced in Asia than in other parts of the world, because the region has become a lot more exposed to global trading supply chains.Did this all start with Trump, or is there something larger afoot? Is this a pattern that you’ve seen over time?Tr

We started out by discussing Barry’s illustrious career and what design thinking really means. So why Silicon Valley? Why did design thinking evolve in Silicon Valley, and how did it start? In 1979 there were only nine design firms in the Bay Area. And today we have the largest concentration of designers in the world. All the major consultancies are based here. And world-famous corporate design groups, most famously Apple. What I discovered is that there was some design activity before Apple in the 70s. And I researched further and found some more activity in the 60s. And I kept digging until I got back to August 4, 1951, which is the date in which Hewlett Packard hired the first professionally trained designer to work in what is now Silicon Valley. So Apple really came at exactly the midpoint and was a fulcrum that pivoted everything. How did Apple’s view of design as much more than just sleek products influence others in Silicon Valley?Steve Jobs said "design is not the way it looks, design is the way it wo

Around the U.S., in more and more states, entrepreneuring farmers, scientists, and retailers are building supply chains to cash in on an untapped and lucrative market. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build an entirely new industry. There are just a few problems. It’s cash only, there’s no infrastructure, and it’s federally illegal. We’re talking, of course, of the legal marijuana trade. Ron Volpe, Chief Supply Chain Evangelist and Global Vice President Apps Business Development at Tradeshift, met with Steve Albarran, co-founder and CEO of Confident Cannabis at the National Cannabis Industry Association trade show in San Jose to talk about the complicated case of the cannabis supply chain. Here’s what he had to say. Ron Volpe: What challenges are unique to the cannabis industry? Steve Albarran: A lot of the rules are being written in real-time. The foundation for how this industry operates is new. Everything from processes and the default ways of doing business is new. And there's very little infrastr

The competitive imperative of change In a fast-changing world, how are jobs changing? Who will be impacted by new technology? And how fast will it all change? In this episode, Ron and Roy explore the impact technologies like artificial intelligence, automation, and platforms will have on the people within supply chains today. The rate of change is getting faster and faster. When Roy was at Raytheon in the 80s they implemented electronic data interchange, all of a sudden that technology eliminated lots of transactional activity, which freed up work for many employees. But unfortunately, there wasn’t any additional work to allow those people to find new positions. Roy says, “it opened up my eyes that whenever you put in a new technology that is going to disrupt the process flow and eliminate transactional work, you also have to have in place a training program to be able to give people the opportunity to expand their activities and skill-sets for the new workload going forward.” What he learned is the concept o

The history lesson Let's do a quick supply chain technology history lesson. The first digital solution was electronic data interchange in the 1980s. Though very rigid and limited, it allowed a mainframe computer to be able to go through a translator and send forms and data streams off to suppliers. It was like a request for proposal, but for very simplistic one-line requirements for things like part numbers. You could also send out purchase orders in that format, and suppliers could send back invoices and advanced shipping notices. But it was rigid and difficult to add additional information, and certainly had no option for discrepancies. Then companies moved to something called material resources planning (MRP) to gain more accurate inventory management so they could tie inventory to the production line. That gave them a more accurate production line inventory level ordering process on the direct material. In the mid-90s procure-to-pay came along. These were the e-procurement tools and invoicing tools that a

Supply Change episode 5: an interview with Justin Dillon, founder and CEO of FRDM Welcome to another edition of supply change. We’re excited to host our first guest, Justin Dillon, the founder and CEO of FRDM. FRDM is a business platform used by Fortune 500 companies to measure and mitigate the risk of forced labor in supply chains. On how FRDM got started Years ago, before I even got into activism, I was in the entertainment industry and the music industry, and making a living by writing and performing songs on record labels. I grew up believing that you're supposed to leave the world in a better place than you found it and you're supposed to use whatever you've been given to make the world a better place. I learned about human trafficking and modern-day slavery through newspaper articles and books. And I decided I needed to make a contribution to ending it. I wanted to bring what I was good at—which at the time was music, and eventually film—to the table. I just started walking into this space saying, “how

Apps: the secret sauce to digitization Apps are the secret sauce for supply chain innovation. The ability to digitize transactions and activities is critical to the future of supply chain procurement. As the Harvard Business Review said: “over the next five to 10 years, supply chains will change dramatically...Those who move quickly to digitize their supply chain will gain efficiencies, develop new business models and revenue streams, and create competitive advantages.” The particular power of apps B2B apps can have an incredible impact on the status quo. One app that we’re particularly fond of right now is called FRDM, an app that identifies slave and child labor in your supply chain. That’s the definition of a good business app: it solves existing problems. We have to make sure we're designing and working with app partners that are solving real problems in the market. Apps can also serve niche areas that drive activity at the center of the supply chain, element by element. So when procurement has criteria

Episode 3: Design Thinking — engineering a better supply chain Episode three is all about design thinking. Roy Anderson interviews Ron Volpe to go deep into what design thinking is and how it applies to the supply chain. So, what is “Design Thinking?” And how does it fit in with the supply chain? To understand the role of design thinking in the supply chain, you first have to recognize that in business, “the road is littered with products and services that nobody needs.” And often the reason those products failed is because the creators were designing the products based on what they thought the market wanted, rather than what the people actually wanted to buy. Design thinking is about designing products, services and processes, always with the end-user in mind. When you apply design thinking to the supply chain, you have to think of every stage of the process, from “farm to table.” And your ultimate objective has to be designing it for the end user. Is the process of design thinking a quick exercise or a long

The burning question: why is it called “procurement” anyway? It used to be called “buying,” then it was called “purchasing,” then “procurement.” For awhile it turned into “supply chain management,” but it’s also been called “strategic sourcing.” Confused yet? There’s no need to be, because whatever you call it, it’s always been about buying what your company needs. And while we’ve been quick to change titles, we’ve unfortunately been slow to adapt to new innovations. Does everyone actually hate procurement? No. What it comes down to is departmental silos and lack of communication. One department might see the results of procurement and be disappointed with them, without understanding the underlying restraints and methodology that go into procurement’s purchases. In other words, everyone’s a procurement professional, but not everyone is in the profession. Think about it like this: when you buy a car, or a refrigerator, or even your groceries, you’re doing the work of a procurement professional. But buying for

Welcome to Supply Change, the inaugural Tradeshift podcast on the future of the supply chain. The supply chain world is fast evolving with new technologies, approaches, and cultures, and the way your business strategizes supply chain operations is more important to your success than ever. That's why we’re starting a discussion to explore what really matters in today’s supply chain environment. Looking back to look forward Companies and entire industries have tried for years to address persistent problems along the supply chain. Traditionally, buyers and suppliers have a difficult time connecting with each other. Much of the dysfunction comes from company to company miscommunication, and from a procurement perspective, the industry has had a hard time catching up with innovation. So how do we fix this? Two new approaches are emerging: The role of Design Thinking in the supply chain Ron Volpe’s work centers around applying design thinking to supply chain innovation. A Harvard Business Review article featuring I