The Great Supply Chain Podcast

Who Is Responsible for Customer Experience: The Retailer or The 3PL?

In this episode, we chat with retail expert and vice president of Industry and Advanced Technology at Tecsys, Guy Courtin, to explore what convergence means for the world of 3PL, distributors, retailers, and customer satisfaction as we know it. 

As the world becomes increasingly digitally enabled, the traditional role of supply chain is transforming and having dramatic impact on the retail fulfillment ecosystem. Today, both brand owners and 3PLs share the weight of the consumer experience, from sourcing to fulfillment; this is amplified as expectations rise within a quickly evolving omnichannel economy. The way brands, retailers and their 3PL partners respond to these changes will determine the future of the relationship they have with their customers.

Our guest, Guy Courtin, discusses this evolving ecosystem, its significance in the world of retail and beyond, and how supply chain is a mechanism for better customer service. 

Are Agility and Sustainability Still Just Buzzwords? We Ask Two “Supply Chain Pros to Know”

In this episode, we chat with Meredith Levknecht, Application Services manager, and Cory Turner CMRP, senior director Healthcare Strategy, at Tecsys, about how the theme of sustainability and agility has shifted from rhetoric to reality across the country.

 

In a recent comment to FORTUNE, Peter Brereton, president and CEO at Tecsys, stated, "The fact that we've now got hundreds of trucks delivering individual packages to doorsteps all over the world is an environmental catastrophe." He went on to explain that the linear supply chains of yore were actually far more environmentally friendly than contemporary ones, and it’s time for a reckoning.

Our guests, Meredith Levknecht and Cory Turner, were both awarded the coveted Pros to Know Award for 2021 which honors outstanding executives whose accomplishments leverage supply chains for competitive advantage. Together, we look at the urgency to be more agile and the supply chain sustainability roadmap across both general industry and the healthcare field.

Clicks, Bricks, and a Few Tricks: What Are Retail Supply Chain Experts Predicting for 2022?

In this episode, we chat with Rick Watson, founder of RMW Commerce Consulting, and Guy Courtin, vice president and industry principal for Retail at Tecsys, to understand today’s retail supply chain landscape and the trends that are on the horizon. 

 

Our guest, Rick Watson, discusses some of the more perplexing retail collaborations that are taking shape, the evolving role of the store and last mile fulfillment and how sustainability is shifting from a marketing play to an operational and financial imperative.  

 

Emerging from the most tumultuous period in retail supply chain since the coining of the term ‘supply chain,’ the industry is undergoing a massive reckoning that calls on retailers to meet the exceedingly high demands of a modern consumer that drifts between online and offline commerce; they are being challenged to break down operational barriers and create seamless buying experiences while remaining socially conscientious and profitable. 

 

How is RFID Tech Being Leveraged in the Clinical Supply Chain Setting?

In this episode, we jump into a conversation between Cory Turner, senior director of Healthcare Strategy at Tecsys, and Keith Hoffman from Terso, an RFID inventory management solution provider. They discuss automating error-prone processes, mitigating loss in the cold chain, recovery of labor and how to find comfort when that dreaded JCAHO audit comes around. Cory and Keith examine some of the most common RFID technologies leveraged in the clinical setting, and explore the business drivers behind them. 

Most healthcare organizations are managing supplies using outdated information technology systems that cannot communicate with one another, and rely on manual keying across procurement, inventory, transcription, and replenishment systems. With RFID technology as an established best practice, there continues to be both a cost and a benefit; so what is the net impact of RFID technology-based solutions? 

  

How Are 3PLs Preparing for the Future of Fulfillment?

In this episode, we explore how Ron McIntyre and Fuel Transport are setting a new benchmark for success in the 3PL space by prioritizing people and leveraging technology. Ron shares how the future of his industry will need smart people, system-driven processes working in tandem to drive positive vendor-side and customer-side outcomes.

Our guest, Ron McIntyre, examines the role of technology as an uncurrent for success, both today and into the future; we also discuss the importance of putting people first in the pursuit of supply chain excellence, and how this mindset carries both organizational and customer experience benefits. Ron McIntyre is the vice president of Technology & Innovation at Fuel Transport, a transportation logistics company that provides creative solutions for a wide variety of industries across North America.

With organizations facing more supply chain complexity than any time in history, 3PLs are well-positioned to provide turnkey supply chain elasticity capable of scaling up, down and sideways to respond rapidly to changes in demand. 

 

Why is the Healthcare Supply Chain Actually Pretty Cool?

In this episode, we speak to Carrie Gorman about the power of supply chain collaboration and how integrating clinical, financial and supply chain knowledge together enables a health system to improve the efficiency, consistency and quality of patient care. 

 

Today, there are some hospitals where doctors are being asked to standardize; clinicians are engaged in inventory workflow design; purchasing is involved in data-driven and strategic decisions. CFOs are taking notice. But not all healthcare supply chains are working this way. 

 

Our guest, Carrie Gorman, joins us on this episode of The Great Supply Chain Podcast to discuss how a health system’s supply chain should not only work operationally, but is keyed into factors like data, finance, outcomes and continuum of care.  

 

As a healthcare account executive at Tecsys, Carrie focuses on how to wrestle with a healthy blend of legacy and modern systems, and how to eke out true inventory visibility.   

Can We Prove Clinical Collaboration Improves Supply Chain Operations?

In this episode, we speak to Betty Jo Rocchio about how Mercy was able to achieve transformational results in its perioperative services department through cross-departmental collaborations. 

 

The clinically integrated supply chain is a complex collaboration between clinicians, logisticians and leadership that focuses on quality of care, reduction of waste and product availability. By engaging stakeholders across a health system, supply chain leadership is better positioned to address challenges in inventory visibility, supply usage and documentation and workflow inefficiencies. 

 

Our guest, Betty Jo Rocchio, discusses how Mercy employed a holistic strategy to improve productivity and simplify system efficiency, and the central role that supply chain optimization played in that journey. 

 

Betty Jo Rocchio is the senior vice president and system chief nursing officer at Mercy in St. Louis. 

How Do People, Process and Technology Combine for Success in the Warehouse?

In this episode, we explore how Thom Campbell and Capacity LLC are developing culture and technology in the warehouse that is helping them grow as an organization. 

 

 The logistics industry is faced with extraordinary internal challenges from labor shortages and churn, to intensifying SLAs and technology adoption. At the intersection of all these challenges are the actual people who do the groundwork. The inherent generational divides, language barriers and vibrant diversity within these teams can be bridged by the ‘lingua franca’ of warehousing.  

 

Our guest, Thom Campbell, discusses how to use technology to strengthen culture, the value of an engaged team and the importance of rolling up your sleeves.  

Thom Campbell is the chief strategy officer of Capacity LLC, a 3PL leader in order fulfillment, e-commerce and electronic data interchange (EDI). 

What Customer Expectations Are Driving Brands to Think Differently About Supply Chain?

In this episode, we explore how evolving customer expectations are driving brands and retailers to think differently about supply chain. 

Retail supply chain convergence will have a profound impact on logistics operations both up and down the supply chain. As retailers become brands (think Costco's Kirkland brand accounting for 30% of annual revenues, or Amazon's nearly 130 private labels) and brands become retailers (think Nike bypassing traditional retail channels and expanding its DTC business), supply chain organizations are being forced into new paradigms that are built on customer expectations and brand value. So what does this mean for our supply chains?

Guy Courtin joins us for a discussion around the blurring of the lines between retail and DTC brands, the challenges facing supply chain as we move towards further product personalization, and the stitching together of physical and digital worlds. 

Our guest, Guy Courtin, is a speaker, a writer, an analyst, he is a veteran retail supply chain expert with decades of experience in the technology and supply chain space. Currently serving as vice president and industry principal for Retail at Tecsys, he has held leadership roles at 6 River Systems (a Shopify company), Infor Retail and i2 Technologies (now Blue Yonder). He has also served as industry analyst at Constellation Research, SCM World (Now Gartner) and Forrester Research. 

Pragmatic AI in the Supply Chain: What's Real and What's Just Hype?

According to Gartner, boards of directors place analytics and AI as the No. 1 and No. 2 priority for game-changing technologies to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis.   

And if you’re anything like us, you are bombarded by articles and advertisements about AI... but it leaves actual supply chain folks asking what’s real, what’s noise, what do we need to be planning for? 

Our guest, Vasco Kollokian, has spent the last decade or so working in enterprise software product management. He is responsible for building and executing Artificial Intelligence and Data Science solution strategies, and spends his days setting AI product vision and direction to solve real-world SCM business problems. In this episode, we explore some of those business problems and how AI can be applied today to tackle them.