What qualities make a great partnership? Respect, understanding, communication and teamwork typically come to mind. However, one thing's for sure - navigating the ups and downs of a great partnership require a lot of work, in life and in business. Jennifer Jacques, VP of Global Supply Chain Digital Transformation at Schneider Electric, shares some of the career lessons she's learned about how organizations can get the most out of partnerships between the business and IT to accelerate change...

You've probably read some version of this headline before: Top 10 Reasons Why Companies Fail at Digital Transformation. So what is it about digital transformation that's so difficult? It's about change - and that doesn't sit well with everyone. The scope of that change can range from minor day-to-day adjustments to major projects that take months or even years to complete. Either way, we know one thing for certain: People don't like change. Hilary Horn, managing director from Deloitte, shares...

With 2020 in hindsight, retailers and CPG companies are facing challenges like never before in 2021: How to pivot to DTC models, speed up shipping, evolve packaging for e-commerce and even create private labels through vertical integration to lower risk and simplify the supply chain. A daunting task no doubt, but if retailers are willing to lean in to new methods that embrace the madness, there's opportunity for innovation and enduring success in the face of this upheaval.

2020 proved to be a year unlike any other for retailers. The pressure to satisfy the needs of customers came from every angle. It's left many people, including consumers, wondering what the future holds. Oh yeah, and what's the deal with people going crazy over toilet paper? In this episode, Bryan Palma, a senior solutions manager for the retail industry at Kinaxis, explains how his experience as a buyer and category manager has shaped his outlook on how retailers can adapt to the evolving...

Our guest on this episode of the Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast is Ronan Stephens, the chief supply chain officer at Ipsen. The biopharmaceutical company recently experienced double digital growth, which created opportunities to develop a new wave of supply chain talent. Ronan talks about building the DNA of the supply chain organization - a process that needed people with the skills to deliver on three core areas for the business: Maintain healthy inventory, deliver new medicines as...

In this episode of the Big Ideas in Supply Chain podcast, Sandy Rodger, a PhD student at Cranfield University, joins us to discuss the potential of the biological cycle within the circular economy. We talk about how business leaders can emulate nature’s circular economy to control climate change, save millions of dollars annually, innovate on a global scale and create better relationships with customers and suppliers. Sandy explains how companies can leverage technology to help make their...

In this episode of Big Ideas in Supply Chain, VP at First Analytics Rob Stevens explains that even amidst supply chain disruption, the goal for business leaders should be progress—not perfection. While COVID-19 has been a wakeup call for many companies who weren’t prepared to deal with black swan events like the coronavirus disruption, there are simple steps they can begin to take in their “supply chain renaissance”—from technology that enables real-time simulations and scenario modeling to...

Our phones. The medicines we need. The cars we drive. The food we eat. The clothes we wear. The buildings we work in. Whether we’re aware of it or not, the global supply chain affects us all. In this podcast, we connect with supply chain experts and industry professionals to explore how all the stuff we need ends up in the right place at the right time.

It’s been said that in crisis there is opportunity, and the coronavirus supply disruption is no exception. In this episode of Big Ideas in Supply Chain, we’re joined by one of the industry’s most notable thought leaders, Bob Ferrari of The Ferrari Group, to explore what “war room” strategies can best help supply chain leaders and other senior business executives thrive through COVID-19 disruption—today, tomorrow and long into the future.

In this episode of Big Ideas in Supply Chain we chat with Patrick Van Hull, an industry thought leader at Kinaxis, to discuss how consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are dealing with inventory management during the COVID-19 crisis. What once were hypothetical questions to test supply chain agility like, “could you drop-ship one roll of toilet paper?” have become real-world scenarios. Patrick says planning for and profitably adapting to that new normal requires an agile, flexible supply...

It's no secret that the way we shop has drastically changed in the age of COVID-19. In this episode, we host Sr. Manager of Industry & Solutions Marketing Alison Crawford to get a better understanding of the impact of the pandemic’s disruption to the consumer products supply chain. From the long-term effects of toilet paper hoarding and sharp declines in retail revenue to major growth in home improvement, liquor sales and e-commerce, supply chain issues that were once the concern of...

We all know supply chain transformation is vital to keeping up with the latest technology, but a fear of skeletons in the closet – from bad data to gaps in collaboration – prevents many companies from undertaking transformation they truly need. In this episode of Big Ideas in Supply Chain, Kinaxis Chief Strategy Officer Anne Robinson is joined by John La Bouff, one of the most innovative and seasoned supply chain thinkers in the industry and fellow at Spinnaker Management Group. Anne and John...