64 | The Evolution of the Supply Chain | Technology, Talent, and Intelligence

Today's episode is a Simply Tech LIVE interview recorded October 29th, of 2020 - pulled out of the vault to serve to you at this very relevant time - produced by my co-host, Ali Mazaheri, and featuring special guests Ross Valentine, and guest co-host Greg Vigil.

Ross Valentine is the Director of Product Services at Arrow Electronics (the world's largest electronics distributor), and has spent the last 20 years studying the global supply chain from a perspective across different industry verticals and organizations.

Greg Vigil, Industry Solutions Director for the US, will be co-hosting the Manufacturing mini-series, bringing more than 10 years of manufacturing industry experience to highlight trends in market, and to bring the most modern perspectives of how the world's largest manufacturers are approaching emerging business challenges.

This is going to be a really fun listen for those looking to better understand how the supply chain has been evolving over the past 20 years, the different roles that technology and talent play in the supply chain ecosystem, and the trends and business models that are declining or EMERGING as the world moves faster, better, and becomes just a little smaller each day.

 

Key Takeaways:

[08:53] Ross’ 20 years experience working on supply chain and its evolution over the years

[10:00] Supply chain security and how it has evolved from deep impacts across global events ranging from 911, to the Great Recession, to a global pandemic.

[14:16] The shift of the supply chain as a business strategy – moving from a cost of doing business, to a competitive advantage

[16:41] Observations of the consumer and business in the supply chain ecosystem, and relationships as the core competency

[19:01] NASA and the reverse logistics of getting man BACK from the moon – how this compares to real world supply chain challenges

[26:52] Data sharing and how technologies like Blockchain, RPA, robotics, digital twins, and AI advisors, will shape the future of the supply chain

[28:17] New business models and everything as a service

[30:31] Zooming out and looking at supply chain as a supply web

 

Memorable Quotes:

[15:37] “It is critical that we move from historic supply chains which are prone to disruption and breakages. That can’t go on as we move to the next 20 years here. We need to build resilience. We need to look at new things. We need to look at flexibility,  sustainability. It plays such an important role not just to the planet but also in how you live and operate in the future as well. It is absolutely essential that supply chains continue to evolve. We should look at the order of the supply web.”

[18:44] (Sending a man to the moon relating the supply chain) “The bigger part of the problem was not getting man to the moon, it was how do we get the man back to planet Earth. So there is this entire reverse process that no one thought of. We celebrated getting there and the team getting there, but there was an incredible effort with NASA and all the different agencies to make sure that there was a reverse logistics process and they got back safely. Think about the supply chain in exactly the same