Early in 2023, the Reverse Logistics Association held its 19th Annual Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was their biggest event yet, with over 350 member companies and over 800 people registered for the event, which featured a pitch competition, awards ceremony, top notch content, and – of course – plenty of networking time. Tony Sciarrotta has been the Executive Director of the Reverse Logistics Association since 2016 and is a return guest and co-host in the Supply Chain Now Reverse Logistics Series. Tony has also held a variety of sales and marketing positions in the consumer electronics industry, including President of Reverse IT Sales & Consulting and 25 years at Philips Consumer Lifestyle. In this classic Supply Chain Now episode, Tony joins host Scott Luton to share his main takeaways from the event and to shine the spotlight on top trends in reverse logistics: • How new software is automating the business decisions about whether each return should be liquidated, resold into the secondary market, or sold via a special business channel • Why he is challenging business leaders to prioritize reverse logistics by appointing someone at the VP or even the C-level to own their management…

Cybersecurity is a global issue impacting almost every industry. Staggeringly, it’s estimated that cybercrime cost the world $8 trillion in 2023 – a figure exceeding the annual GDP of every country barring the USA and China. In this episode of Supply Chain Now, sponsored by Microsoft, hosts Scott Luton and Kevin L. Jackson sit down with Allison Giddens, Co-President of Win-Tech, Inc., an aerospace manufacturer, to discuss the critical intersection between cybersecurity and manufacturing. Conversations begin with a focus on risk prioritization, with Giddens explaining the manufacturers need to start with the computers in their front office before worrying about the threats facing their connected equipment. “We’re telling manufacturers, hey, you need to know how to run a marathon and they don’t even know how to walk a 5K,” she states. Discussions then turn to the importance of multi-factor authentication, the need to balance investments in both people and technology, the criticality of understanding cyber even when outsourcing, the pros and cons of cloud migration, and much more.