The Supply Chain Dialogues - Podcast
S02E10 - People - The Perfect Storm: Skills, Competency, and Learning Management in the Age of AI & De-carbonization
Did you or your company change the skill and competency framework based on what we all have seen on the AI front?
If not, just wait until your customers bring products out in half of the normal cycle time of the industry or at 30% less cost.
ChatGPT is just the tip of a gigantic mushroom cloud of new applications, innovation, and job profiles that emerged in just the last 12 months.
And how about the engineering skill set you have defined in your R&D and manufacturing departments?
Have they been adapted based on the need for new solutions in material science, manufacturing techniques or transportation models due to the de-carbonization of your operations and that of your supply base?
How do you figure out which skill levels might already exist in your organization, that you so far have not clocked, in since the changes were coming from left field? And which skills you have to hire in - now?
Kais Louizi, co-founder and Managing Partner from edligo has some interesting insights for us in “The Supply Chain Dialogues”.
Enjoy.
S02E09 - Planet - Net zero by 2030? Moon shot or piece of moon cake?
Is net zero by 2030 a moon shot or a piece of moon cake?
Last week, I had the privilege of being invited to be part of the Procurement Asia Summit in Shanghai. About 300 top international firms, many with a strong Asian footprint spend three days comparing notes around sourcing.
I gave a keynote speech and was a juror on their prestigious China Procurement Success Award.
This is the updated version of that speech in our usual dialogue format.
Enjoy.
S02E08 - Profit - Giving visions an eye exam or the DIY of visioning
Peter Drucker, the famous management guru, once said: Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Now, this episode is about devising a vision, that ensures that the following strategy sits at the table, and not on the menu.
In other words: We give vision an eye exam.
Enjoy.
S02E07 - Profit - Play a kind of TETRIS® with your business or: digitally defragment your value chain to push customer satisfaction, revenue, margins, and speed to new heights
What would happen if we could ’defragment’ our business similar to our computers? Playing a form of Tetris® with our business processes, so that they fit perfectly? Finding gaps, re-arranging processes, and getting our firm to run - as it was designed to run?
Enjoy!
Picture by Paulina Milde Jachowska, unsplash
S02E06 - Supply Chain - Unveiling untold truth in commercial interactions or: What your parents never told you…
In this episode of The Supply Chain Dialogues podcast, Daniel & Noah talk about a number of untold truths in commercial dealings from a procurement perspective. You have to decide yourself, what is applicable and what not.
Enjoy!
S02E05 - GHG - Game Theory or...what robbing a bank and getting to net zero have in common
There is a field in economics, that is a good bet to excel in if you like to earn a Nobel prize. Up to now, 15 scientists receive it in this field. We're talking about game theory. Game theory solutions can be applied to all walks of life including negotiations between states, companies, or how to solve nearly unsolvable dilemmas for mankind. Now, besides scientists, there are companies that play in this field. TWS Partners is the leading economics consulting firm with a strong focus in game theory since 2001.
Dr. Sebastian Moritz and Daniel talk about how to apply game theory when robbing a bank, or achieving net zero emissions for a company.
Enjoy
S02E04 - Tips - Surviving and thriving the first 90 days.
Do you remember what it was like when you started a new job? The mix of anticipation and anxiety, navigating unfamiliar territory, and wishing you had a guidebook to help you through those early days? I certainly do, especially when I began my career in operations and progressed to higher positions within the corporate ladder. Someone who could provide a blueprint for success would have been so precious and could have prevented me from getting a few bloody noses.
In this episode, we will address this not-so-unique situation and give a few tips to survive and thrive in the first 90 days.
S02E03 GHG - The last business card you ever need
We are lucky to get CEO & co-founder of contactify, Lars Sager, into our studio to talk about transforming a category with a most innovative concept to net zero, maybe even negative zero.
To ease into the overall topic of getting all categories to net zero before 2050, we start with something that most of us use(d), although 80-90% of the category ends in the trash bin one week after being used...business cards.
Ten billion business cards are printed in the USA alone...
Lars will talk us through how easy it is to be innovative (I'd say even cool), improve branding and marketing, achieve stickiness in CRM, and do it carbon-neutral...while even saving money.
Enjoy & why not make it a habit to source categories with a net zero footprint...by taking the first step with...the last business card you'll ever need.
Supply Chain - Diversity & Inclusion … or simply being human
Due to popular demand, we do a re-run of the show on Diversity & Inclusion or Simply being human. The last episode was about procurement and many listeners felt, we were focussing too much on the GHG side of ESG…so here it is.
Procurement: To be …or not to be. That is the question…
Do we need a procurement function? Are we not better off, doing the sourcing ourselves? These folks in procurement - what are they doing after breakfast anyway? This episode is to shed some light of what procurement can and can not do. Enjoy.
Season 2: Introduction
This is a quick introduction to Season 2 of The Supply Chain Dialogues. We made some updates to the show, and hope the changes will be in line with the feedback we got from our listeners.
Ep. 17: Functional Outsourcing or: Your back-end is other companies’ front-end
Consider this: What if your highly skilled workforce could devote their energy solely to their unique capabilities, driving customer satisfaction and enhancing your bottom line? Imagine a scenario where innovative processes, products, and service solutions take centre stage, while routine, tactical tasks are seamlessly handled by specialized entities.
Is now, with the rise of machine learning and RPA, finally the opportune moment for companies to shed back-end activities?
Enjoy!
Ep. 16: Cats and typewriters or: Resilience through contractual building blocks
What have a cat, a typewriter, and Lego blocks in common? They are all part of a story about how to get out of the contractual B2B jungle many companies grow today.
Enjoy!
Ep. 15: Unleashing 21st Century KPI Mastery or: stop looking into your rearview mirror.
Many businesses are still operating as if they are driving a car by solely glancing at the rearview mirror. Sounds absurd, right? Well, that's how most businesses operate. They rely on just on hindsight focused financial metrics with one months to a quarter delay.
How about a 21st century KPI Leadership System, where you'll have a clear view through the windshield with a dynamic heads-up display.
Enjoy!
Ep. 14: Start a Quality Revolution 2.0 - or: A good product is no longer good enough!
"Quality is like having an ice cream on a summer’s day: you must lick it constantly. Otherwise, you have a mess on your hands". Quality, most people assume, is a given. But is it? Do not most of us ‘have a mess on our hands’? Do you still remember the feeling when you bought a product at home that was DOA or broken shortly after use? Or the last time you ordered something, and it did not arrive in time? How about being charged wrongly, or the return policy was confusing? These instances are examples of poor quality and negatively impact the customer experience.
It is time to start a quality revolution.
Enjoy!
Ep. 13: Who does What ? Where? And Why? Who tells whom what to do? - Aligning the "Division of Labour" with your organisation’s purpose, strategy and financial goals
Welcome to the third and final instalment of our mini-series on organisation design. We believe that aligning your organisation's design with the culture and markets it operates in can significantly reduce the need for costly redesigns and organisational reshuffling.Today, we will delve deeply into the overarching theme of "division of labour," a concept many companies consider strangely as a given. By clearly defining roles and responsibilities, we believe an organisation can mitigate friction between functions, positions, and hierarchical levels, allocating resources to work collaboratively for the firm's customers and products.
Enjoy!
Ep. 12: Stopping constant organizational re-design by fixing the functional design
What is the correct procurement setup? Central, de-central, or hybrid? If you had asked this question before 2010, many of my peers and I would have provided a very different answer then vs now. Life moved on, and today’s world requires more sophisticated, agile functional designs.
This is the second instalment of the mini-series about organisation design. We believe that if you design your organisation in line with the culture and the surrounding markets, the costly need for re-designing and organisational reshuffling can be minimised.
Enjoy!
Ep. 11: Stopping constant organizational re-design by fixing the corporate headquarters set-up
How long ago was your last re-organization? Did you move to matrix, global, glocal, central, de-central, or regional? And how about the re-organization before? Was it complementary to what you are doing now, or the other way around? When sitting in business divisions or regions, how do you assess the work done by the folks in headquarters? And if you are sitting in headquarters, are the regions and divisions doing a good job, in your opinion?
In part 1 of our mini-series on organizational design, we hone in on the Corporate Headquarters, and how to do it right - once.
Enjoy!
Ep. 10: Significantly optimising cash flow by changing the focus - Part Three - Customer Payments (DSO)
Why let your hard-earned cash be trapped in customer payments? Our mini-series continues with part 3, where we tackle the elusive DSO. Find out how to get paid faster without sacrificing customer relationships.
Ep. 09: Significantly optimising cash flow by changing the focus - Part Two - Supplier Payments (DPO)
In part 2 of our podcast mini-series on cash-flow optimization, we hone in on payments to suppliers, covered in Days Payable Outstanding (DPO). External materials & services purchased are the most significant cost block in most product-based companies. Hence, the cash flow improvement leverage is significant. Different from cash trapped in inventory, DPO management needs two to tango. Why is it that many companies can’t dance with their suppliers?