Sustainability plays an essential role in shaping the future of supply chains – take your first steps to going green here.
In this episode, hosts Scott Luton and Kim Reuter engage with seasoned experts Paul Delbar and Bart Verbruggen from OMP to illuminate the complexities and opportunities of sustainable supply chain planning.
Throughout their discussion, they emphasize the proactive steps required for meaningful sustainability initiatives, the challenges of integrating sustainability into traditional models, and the importance of educating and empowering teams to drive change. Whether you’re responsible for supply chain operations, interested in sustainability, or looking for ways to meet increasing consumer and investor demands for greener practices, this episode offers valuable insights and actionable advice to help you navigate your sustainability journey.
Narrator [00:00:04]:
Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the voice of global supply chain. Supply Chain Now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.
Scott W. Luton [00:00:32]:
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and the one and only Kim Reuter here with you on Supply Chain Now. Kim, how you doing today?
Kim Reuter [00:00:41]:
Lovely. Excited to be here. One of my favorite topics.
Scott W. Luton [00:00:44]:
Definitely one of our favorite topics. We had a great panel. We got great artwork right behind you there. I love it, Kim. But the show today, Kim, the show today. We got an important show here today. Everyone, folks, as we all know, are demanding more progress and action and outcomes when it comes to sustainability. Consumers, investors, employees, you name it.
Scott W. Luton [00:01:07]:
Now, today we’re going to be sharing timely expertise and perspective. Been there and done it. Perspective on how chief supply chain officers and their teams can better reach their sustainability goals and then some. And if our global supply chains can make more progress when it comes to sustainability, we can really, together, working together, really move the needle. Kim, should be a great show, huh?
Kim Reuter [00:01:30]:
Absolutely.
Scott W. Luton [00:01:32]:
All right. So if you enjoy today’s conversation, be sure to share it with a friend or your network. They’ll be glad you did. All right. So, Kim, you buckled up? Ready to go?
Kim Reuter [00:01:41]:
I am, as always.
Scott W. Luton [00:01:43]:
As always. Let’s get to work. And welcome in our distinguished guests here today, Bart Verbruggen, green planning lead with OMP and his colleague Paul del Bar, senior marketing manager, also with OMP. Hey. Hey, Paul, how you doing?
Paul Delbar [00:01:59]:
I’m very good, thank you. Scott and Kim, thanks for having us on the show today.
Scott W. Luton [00:02:02]:
Great to have you here. And Bart, how you doing?
Bart Verbruggen [00:02:06]:
I’m fine, thanks, coach. Hi, Kim.
Scott W. Luton [00:02:08]:
So, Kim, you and I, we’re keeping for Paul and Bart, we’re keeping an eye on the Belgium match, the football match, right. So we’ll give updates throughout. We got a lot to get to here today. Paul, Bart and Kim, great to have you all here. So I want to do this. Let’s start with a little fun warm up question, because today is an important day in history. So on this day, June 26, back in 1974, at Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, you all remember this stuff. For your next trivia match, a universal product code, aka the barcode, was used at a cash register for the first time.
Scott W. Luton [00:02:44]:
The first item ever to be scanned, you may ask, it was a ten pack of juicy fruit gum. If you remember that back in the day, that barcode and the whole process that followed forever revolutionized the customer experience for sure. So with that in mind, Paul, Bart, and Kim, I want to ask you, and, and Paul, Imma start with you. What’s one of your favorite retailers that really focuses on the customer experience? Like our friends at Marsh Supermarket up in Ohio way back when.
Paul Delbar [00:03:13]:
I’m going to not quote a name, but it’s a supermarket chain in Belgium that has always been at the forefront of that. Way before the barcode, they used to have punch cards per product on the shelves. And you need to collect the products and the punch card that were read in the punch card reader. Yes, I’m that old at the checkout register, so they were way ahead of the competition there. But I like it because it’s a pragmatic, down to earth shop, not much frills, but I, the right level of automation and good things for the customer.
Scott W. Luton [00:03:45]:
You’Ll have to let me know because I’m a big, I love practical, pragmatic experiences as a consumer as well. So that’s a good starting point there. Paul. Bart, what would you add?
Bart Verbruggen [00:03:57]:
I would add a small shop in my local hometown where even though technology might seem important, it’s more about, I think, personal relations. I might think some people related that I get a shopping list from my wife and a lot of things you cannot find. And you ask them, and they look, even on their notes, and they say, let me look in the back. And because we’re out of stock, we might be out of stock. Let me look in the back. And they just go look in the back without looking in the system. They come back and they come back with what you need. That is what I would say going the extra mile without all the technology that is involved.
Scott W. Luton [00:04:29]:
They know their customer and that they invest in that relationship that you mentioned. Bart. Love that. All right, Kim, what’s your take?
Kim Reuter [00:04:38]:
Well, I would have to go with Nordstrom. As you guys know, I spent a little bit of time there, and from a customer service experience, the salespeople, in just the whole way that Nordstrom thinks about the customer is really above and beyond, and they’re very famous. A book was written. They wrote one of the older Nordstrom’s. I can’t remember which one I think it was. Bruce wrote a book called leave it better than you found it, and that it really encompasses. What Nordstrom thinks about is try to make everything better with everything that you do.
Scott W. Luton [00:05:06]:
Leave it better than when you found love. That’s a universal golden rule. We should all, we should all embrace. I think good stuff there. Kim, Bart, and Paul, thanks for playing along. So we got a lot of good stuff to get into here. A really important discussion. I think a lot of companies are out there are struggling, and their supply chains are struggling with how to make bigger and better gains when it comes to the sustainability imperative, as I like to refer to it.
Scott W. Luton [00:05:31]:
So let’s start with this. Paul, Bart, and Kim, let’s start with some context. We can’t get enough context in this ever fastly moving world. So, Paul, if you would briefly tell us about what OMP does and a little bit your background.
Paul Delbar [00:05:45]:
Okay, so OMP is a global provider of supply chain planning systems. So we provide to the larger corporations the people that you, whose products you see in the shelves, the products you drive, the products that make the cars you drive, that fuel the cars you drive. We provide planning solutions all the way from detailed scheduling short term, to the strategic planning in the long term, all the way from supply to demand. We try to make our customers more effective, more efficient in that, and very happy to do that. My job here is I’m a marketing manager. I have to tell the story of what we do and also the story of our customer successes. But in this case, in terms of sustainability, share what our customers have taught us about their challenges and the way we’ve been able to help them become more sustainable.
Scott W. Luton [00:06:31]:
I love your focus on storytelling, and I love what you mentioned on the last part of your response about listening to our customers stories. That’s how we can do more together. I love that. Paul, Bart, if you would tell us about your background.
Bart Verbruggen [00:06:46]:
My background, I worked since more than 20 years with OMP. I’m mainly focusing in paper, packaging, forestry and related industries, where you already see for a long time sustainability, FSC, those kind of things, playing a role in these industries. I do more strategic advisory, commercial roles in some high level projects. And since late last year, this year I took on also the green planning elite, which is our solution on how can we help companies embed sustainability into their supply chain planning. We’ll come to that. Maybe one note my personal motivation. That is an old native American saying which says, we don’t inherit earth from our ancestors, but we borrow it from our children. That really speaks powerful to me, and that’s a bit my personal motivation behind this.
Scott W. Luton [00:07:32]:
Bart, well said. Very well said. We do in here borrow it from our children. Indeed. Kim, we’ve got, I think we’ve got an incredible one two punch here and some deep thinking. I think we’re going to have a great conversation. Kim, huh?
Kim Reuter [00:07:46]:
Yes. Sustainability and green planning is. Every company needs to be thinking about this right now. If they are nothing, the level of efficiency and cost savings that can be achieved by really perfecting the sustainability and green planning is measurable, and it’s something that everybody needs to be looking at.
Scott W. Luton [00:08:04]:
Excellent point, Kim, because it’s not one or the other. When you do it really well, you can make a lot of people happy across the ecosystem. It’s a great point there. All right, so, Bart, you mentioned green planning earlier, right? Let’s, again, to level set, let’s define that terminal and what it means. Bart, tell us more.
Bart Verbruggen [00:08:22]:
So, to put it simply, if you look at supply chain planning, you have the traditional triangle where you make decisions, which is cash cost service, and you do kind of trade offs between the three or try to optimize some of the tree. And this could be building inventories. It could be putting some things extra in stock, having longer lead times for certain products you don’t want to make every day and don’t want to store. And actually, what green planning is that? This already complex puzzle has become more complex because you could see a fourth dimension or a different framework, sustainability, coming into play and influencing, at least reporting, but also later on, decision making in supply chain planning. And so what green planning is, it’s embedding your current supply chain planning with planning on sustainability metrics. So it’s embedding it, your digital twin, with the impact on sustainability metrics. That’s what we see, which is really important in the first stage. You want to report on it to say, hey, guys, we have a plan.
Bart Verbruggen [00:09:22]:
We do want to improve on certain metrics. And then later on, you could say, okay, the next step, we start on really doing these trade offs or optimizing for CO2, whatever, carbon emissions, those kinds of things.
Scott W. Luton [00:09:34]:
Love it. Kim, I’m hearing Bart unpack that for us. We’re going to dive more into it here momentarily. I envision how we can bake sustainability into more and more all of our decisions we make when it comes to our supply chain management approach each and every day. What did you hear there, Kim?
Kim Reuter [00:09:52]:
I heard data. I heard reporting and making sure that you were reporting on the right things and that you were measuring your success in sustainability and green planning, because if you don’t know you’re succeeding, you’re probably not getting any greener.
Scott W. Luton [00:10:07]:
That is right. And if you’re not measuring, you got nothing to manage. Good stuff there, Kim. All right, so Bart and Paul and Kim, we’re going to dive a little deeper here. Explore this topic. Explore this opportunity. More importantly, as more companies are looking hard for how can we get more outcomes and make all these stakeholders happier? Because we’re demanding. This is the sustainability imperative.
Scott W. Luton [00:10:31]:
So how can we equip our supply chain teams around the world to be more successful? Let’s start with this. So, Paul, how ready are companies to really embrace green planning and what’s either driving them or holding them back? Paul, your thoughts?
Paul Delbar [00:10:46]:
What we hear from our customers is that over the last 12-18 months, the focus has shifted from trying to sweet talk around the lofty goals by being carbon neutral by 2035, 2040, something diving into what comes out of the reporting initiatives and analyzing where in the supply chain you have most of the contribution to your ESG objectives. Today, I think we’ve turned a page on making a decision on whether to go green or not. Most companies that we talk to say it is no longer an issue we debate. It’s more about how we can make it work. Now we find the balance between the different strategies. We can build new factories, change raw materials, make different products, change our distribution policy. All of that happens sort of above the heads of a supply chain planning team. They just have to implement the impact of that.
Paul Delbar [00:11:39]:
What green planning is looking for is ways to, from the planning realm, make a difference in a couple of ways. And that’s what people are asking for. They’re ready to get going with something concrete. They’re kind of getting tired of the, I’m not going to say greenwashing per se, but about the absence of actionable insights and strategies that they can put to bear. So they’re getting a little anxious. And are they ready? Yes, they’re definitely ready. And it kind of differs by industry. But as BARC pointed out, some of our customers have been doing this for 15-20 years, sort of as a shadow effect or a side effect of optimization.
Paul Delbar [00:12:20]:
If you reduce waste and you optimize capacity usage, you’re going to use less energy per item. But now they’re looking at ways of saying, how do we balance it all? How do we make it unsustainable and profitable? What’s driving them? The traditional things. It’s depending on the industry, the people closest to consumers. It’s consumer demand. People ask for greener products, not always ready to buy them in bulk, but there are certain demand that goes beyond just the branding or the greenwashing on the packaging. In some cases, it is really a necessity that if you are a packaging provider or metals company, you need to provide greener products with certificates with sort of responsibility for recycling. Those are things legislation and regulation, of course, the limitation, the financial impact of not following certain guidelines of too much emissions, for instance, or local legislations on waste and pollution of the water stream using scarce materials. But also the social aspect.
Paul Delbar [00:13:23]:
Let’s not forget that sustainability is also about not putting in the extra night shift or weekend shift, week after week after week. So you burn out your people just because you want to have 0.1% additional sales.
Scott W. Luton [00:13:36]:
Right.
Paul Delbar [00:13:36]:
What’s holding them back? It’s really a guidebook, a practical guideline to do it. Exactly. So what we’re trying to do is get people together to learn from each other. And we’ve tried to sort of bring that into the green planning framework to say these are the best practices and it is not a done deal per se, but it’s what we hear are practical steps to do that. So, yes, they’re ready. It’s really, they need a guide. They need somebody, a Sherpa to guide them on that sustainability journey.
Scott W. Luton [00:14:04]:
Paul, you beat me to it. Sherpa. I love that. That’s come up in a lot of different shows. Hey, Kim, a couple of things I heard there from Paul. We got to avoid that supply chain sweet talk. I love that. And I love also he said, more and more companies and their leaders.
Scott W. Luton [00:14:18]:
It’s not about if we do it, but how can we do it? Like Paul just mentioned, sustainability and profitability. They don’t have to be arch rivals. They can be great neighbors. Right. And one last point for get your take, Kim, is folks, hate to break it to you. If you don’t like the regulatory gains we’ve made in recent years, you’re going to hate what lies ahead because there’s going to be more regulation driving more action. Kim, your thoughts?
Kim Reuter [00:14:42]:
I agree with everything you said. And also the companies that are resisting, they don’t know how to take the small bites of the elephant. And I think that’s what OMP can bring to a company and help them understand what do we have to do first? What do we have to do second? How do we make it efficient? How do we make it affordable? How do we make it repeatable? And how do we make all of this a sustainable whole solution versus just getting some recycled corrugate and trying to call that your green packaging solution, but everything you import comes in Styrofoam. So I think having a whole solution, and it really is, companies really struggle with, how do I even start?
Scott W. Luton [00:15:21]:
It’s so true. It’s not even the first step, it’s like the first motion in some cases. Right. So Bart, I want to switch over to you so that readiness, or lack thereof, perhaps Paul was speaking to there, how does that readiness compare across industries? And Bart, how can industries learn from each other here?
Bart Verbruggen [00:15:44]:
If you look at the awareness across industries, we are in like five to six main focus industries. There is a difference, of course. As I said, some industries are already facing sustainability requirements, legislation for multiple years. Think about the FSC in the paper and packaging industry. So some industries were already hit with legislation and you see that coming more and more, especially here in the EU where we are based, of course, legislation is getting very rapidly, much stricter. So we have to build in all kind of constraints in your supply chain planning to take into account these kind of legislations. So there, I think some industries already further than other ones, being future proof, being ready for the changes in legislation. If you think about really improving your sustainability metrics, then again, you see some industries where by design, like paper and paper based packaging, you’re already in kind of a circular business model.
Bart Verbruggen [00:16:41]:
The circular industry, the same with metal. You can reuse it and you can recycle it or reuse and or recycle. And we see now other industries learning from that. Recycling plastics, for example. Plastics has a bad name, but if you can recycle it, and some of our customers want customers really into that, and I can talk a bit more on that later, that’s also learning from each other and improving your sustainability. Of course, things like, if I reduce waste because that’s important in my industry, because it’s driving my profitability and it’s also improving your sustainability. So a lot of industries we have seen already planning improvements to improve profitability, which, as Paul said, was aligned with sustainability even long before we talked about sustainability.
Scott W. Luton [00:17:26]:
Yes.
Bart Verbruggen [00:17:27]:
Now it’s more on how can we make it further, how can we make it feasible? Because we can make visible what is the impact on profitability, but how do we make visible what is the impact on sustainability? That’s one. And the next ten is at some point there might be trade offs to be made between a more sustainable choice, which might be a bit more costly, and then what we see also, and that’s often interesting within the one p customer base, we have a lot of supplier, customer end to end full supply chain relationships. Think about consumer goods or food and beverages with buy from packaging. Think about metal producers who then sell to steel producers who make the wires, who then go into tires, who then sell to the automotive industry, and there you see that it’s been already for a long time that people want to share their planning information to get rid of the bullwhip effect and make sure that inventories are great, are well managed for your service level, but on top now you have to exchange scope three emission information between the companies. And I think there’s a lot of potential value to learn from each other, to connect and to improve sustainability by making conscious choices on both sides.
Scott W. Luton [00:18:41]:
Yes.
Bart Verbruggen [00:18:42]:
A good example there is the paper industry, where for a long time they already do this kind of trades or swap deals. I have a paper mill on the east coast. You have a box print there. Who needs paper? But I have a box print on the west coast, and you have a paper mill there. So I need your paper. So we just agree to do a swap trade instead of shipping our own paper across the country.
Scott W. Luton [00:19:02]:
You know, you share so much there, and I would just pick one thing out. Kim. And if we can have less tactical conversations and bringing the whole ecosystem together and have really true, full, holistic, strategic conversations to unlock some of those opportunities and that potential value bart spoke to. But Kim, we got to do it with lots of trust in the room. Otherwise, no one’s going to be sharing data. No one. I mean, you know, it’s all in the approach. I think one of the big important things there.
Scott W. Luton [00:19:30]:
Kim, your thoughts?
Kim Reuter [00:19:32]:
So we kind of started the conversation with the industries and who’s been leading, what industries do we think they’re leading and what we think that can do better. We touched a little bit on Europe, and we look at a lot of the CE regulations that have happened in Europe in the last five to ten years, really regulating electronics, the disposing of electronics, the recycling of electronic parts. We recently passed legislation saying that everything has to be repairable. The right to repair, that’s huge for sustainability and green. Previously, you had to throw it away. And so those are opportunities that we can learn across the board, across all industries. And the one industry I think that can really do a lot of improvement is fashion. Fast fashion has become a huge drain on our disposable systems.
Kim Reuter [00:20:17]:
We’re filling up landfills, and it’s an industry that really hasn’t taken onto this whole sustainability and green thing yet. So I think there’s a lot of opportunity for us to learn from what’s been happening around, specifically around electronics and how we’re reusing things and how can we apply that to other industries, specifically around fashion.
Scott W. Luton [00:20:35]:
Well said, Kim. Well said. So much to do, so little time to do. It. I want to take that. I want to kind of direct the conversation and really focus explicitly on supply chain planning. But what I want, where I want to start, Bart and Paul, is with these common objections. I bet when y’all approach supply chain planners, they got so much going on, they’re like, oh, we’re going to include sustainability now in our supply chain planning processes.
Scott W. Luton [00:21:03]:
Oh, my gosh. So what are some of those objections that you are getting, Paul, and how do you respond to them? Because that’s really important part of this transformation and this progress. Your thoughts there, Paul?
Paul Delbar [00:21:15]:
Yeah, before I get into that, I want to pick up on one important word of trust that you mentioned, Kim. I think the sustainability debate and the fact that the reporting includes scope three, like upstream and downstream impact, kind of took the whole supplier relationship out of the, I’m going to say, clause. Sorry for your procurement folks on the call, but typically it was very siloed. You know, supply chain needed something. Procurement set suppliers are ours. We need to negotiate better rates, long term volumes. Now we’re getting more factual information about what each contribution of each material is into the final footprint. So that changed the ballgame a bit.
Paul Delbar [00:21:55]:
Make it more sort of objectivates the discussion, makes it much more visible. Which actually brings me to one of the objections that we, and this is not something we’ve invented. This is literally quoting what our customers say. Our CSO customers say when I go to my executive board and I say, I think we need to do this, or they come to me and say, let’s not do this, because what is first and foremost it is, it’s going to cost us money. It’s going to cost too much. The answer to that, the comeback, is, well, that’s not necessarily true. It is going to take the same kind of investment as, say, and I’m going to steal Bart’s example that he typically gives here, quality. When decades ago, quality entered the state of mind of supply chain and production, it was like, I mean, all these sampling, all these tests is going to cost time and we need more people.
Paul Delbar [00:22:47]:
It’s going to take a lot of waste. It’s going to cost us money today. You cannot operate a company that does not do quality assurance. One customer at the conference that I mentioned earlier is that he said, we are currently not measuring anything. We know that customers are willing to pay about 1015 percent more for a green equivalent product, and it costs us about 30% to 40% more. This is a year ago to make, he says, but if we do not sink that cost, we will be irrelevant in five years.
Scott W. Luton [00:23:17]:
Wow.
Paul Delbar [00:23:17]:
So it’s a survival, it’s a market share. It’s a relevance discussion, not how you do this. Everybody’s going to go through the same cost differential. It’s the one that embraces it that is going to be coming out ahead of the market. I will leave it with this one objection, because it’s the one that is first and foremost. The advice is try to debunk that. What is cost? What is opportunity cost? What is investment cost? What are alternatives? How can you estimate the impact of a plan or a decision or a future decision to make sure you balance it against the real future, which is one where you are not sustainable in five years and what that does to your business.
Scott W. Luton [00:23:57]:
Well said, Bart.
Bart Verbruggen [00:23:59]:
I want to jump in, because again, coming back, there are a lot of examples that we’ve seen where profitability and sustainability are aligned, and you win on both sides. If you do better transport planning, you reduce the number of trucks, kilometers, miles that you drive. You also reduce the CO2, you get sustainability improvements for free, as a matter of speaking. So try to first look at those budgets, and then the objection of saying it’s going to cost us is not relevant. If you look further, then, like Paul also said, and that’s a statement from Gartner, no company wants to be in a news headline for supply chain sustainability failures. At some point, don’t want to be in a newspaper. So what Gartner is also seeing, and we’re also seeing is forward looking companies already including like an internal carbon cost or carbon tax, whatever you call it, is a financial metric in their planning. Maybe not yet for decision taking, but at least for visibility, because a carbon cost, a carbon tax will come maybe in one year, maybe in five years, and then you’re already ready.
Bart Verbruggen [00:24:58]:
So it’s taking small steps to make sure you’re prepared and not sitting or waiting until all of a sudden this carbon cost is hitting you.
Scott W. Luton [00:25:04]:
Kim, I’m coming to you here, and there’s two quick thoughts. I just want to level set with everybody. It’s not good to be irrelevant. I think we can. We can all establish that. And number two, the best supply chains don’t appear in the headlines. I think I stole that a little bit from Bart and a little bit from my friend Greg White. Kim, mortal, would you hear there in terms of the deer planners, which we got to love on and enable and empower, make their life easier, what did you hear in terms of the objections and how we can approach them?
Kim Reuter [00:25:31]:
There Kim, the objection, the first objection is always going to be cost. Because the truth of the matter, if we just look at just packaging, not even getting into sourcing and manufacturing practices and transportation practices, when you just look at the cost of packaging, you are looking at a 30% to 40% increase in your cost of packaging if you want to go fully green. Right? So corn starches, recycled papers, all of those things are very expensive. The consumer knows that. Now, the consumers are very educated on this. And to your point, some are willing to pay an extra 15, maybe even 20% to get a green product from a company that they know is supporting green practices. But you have to get past that cost objection, because to everyone’s point, there is an opportunity cost as well. It’s just not the hard cost to the supply chain, but there’s also the consumer trust, consumer preferences.
Kim Reuter [00:26:26]:
We don’t want to be in the newspaper. There’s all kinds of other costs associated with this. So bringing all of those to the table and laying those up against just the cost of changing your supply chain are always going to weigh out. The other thing that came up, which is a really good point, is start with the low hanging fruit. Clean up the waste in your supply chain will automatically make you greener and make you sustainable. So just those exercises alone can be meaningful.
Scott W. Luton [00:26:52]:
Well said, Ken Paul, you’re going to have some.
Paul Delbar [00:26:55]:
Yeah, if I can add just one more example, because we talk a lot about the consumer impact and the consumer perception. Let’s not forget a whole section of the industry is behind the scenes of the consumer facing companies. If you are a steel maker today, you have to deliver greenhouse steel, steel that is connected with certificates. Automotive buyers or companies will not buy steel unless it is green. So to them it’s no longer. They’re already in the world where they need to be relevant to be able to sell because they don’t have a green product, and not just one with a sticker on it, but one that they can certifiably show uses greener technology. They do not sell. So the consumer is one element of but upstream in the supply chain, the raw material providers and the heavy manufacturers are way ahead of you.
Paul Delbar [00:27:43]:
Just to quote one number, we talk about steel as a big energy consumer and a big CO2 emission sort of participant in the greenhouse gas emissions. Recent survey shows that most of the steel plants or steel companies are going through decarbonization projects, fundamentally changing their technology. The bulk of those slated to be operational in 25 and 26. That means they’ve been planning for this for four, five, six years, because it takes that long to find the investment and to get the permit to build it. So these industries have been preparing for a long time, which is why I think we’ve seen a lot of examples over the last decade of companies already very much involved in sustainability, even before it was. Let’s call it fashionable.
Scott W. Luton [00:28:28]:
Yes. So I want to shift gears here because I want to get into Bart kind of how to do it, which came up earlier. And what’s that actual approach to start implementing green planning. So, Bart, let’s talk actual approach, how we can get started today implementing this massive opportunity. That’s green planning. Your thoughts?
Bart Verbruggen [00:28:48]:
Yeah, it should be a structured approach. You first have to know what you’re doing. So that is really aligning your supply chain planning approach with your sustainability strategy that you have. You could make a business case, a value case, but you need to ensure that these are the goals of targets, whether it’s science based or whatever that you want to reach. Where could supply chain planning help and make sure that this is aligned. Once that is clear, they also need to look at, and often forgotten, whether it’s normal supply chain planning and sustainability. People and processes. How will the processes look like? Who can make decisions? How do we make sure the decisions we take on a higher level are really executed upon? I think that is an important one.
Bart Verbruggen [00:29:30]:
Also, empowering your planners to make decisions and to also include sustainability as an extra dimension in the already complex puzzle they have to solve. So that’s kind of a starting point. Then the next is, and it sounds simple. And in practice, it could also be simple. You are embedding your current supply chain model, let’s say your digital twin, embedding it with sustainability metrics and with sustainability drivers, I would call it. So, as an example, if you take carbon emissions, CO2, if I buy from this supplier, this product, this is the amount of CO2 equivalent. If I produce this on this machine myself, this is the amount of CO2 equivalent. If I ship from here to there, this is the amount of CO2 equivalent.
Bart Verbruggen [00:30:14]:
So you need to get this data and you extend your model with this data. And once you have that, you can at least already run analytics on your current plan. How does my plan compare in different scenarios? How do they compare with each other on also CO2 emission? And then as a next step, what we see companies doing, or what I would see as a logical approach, is then you start applying some weight measures. Could be cost, could be some other weight measures to really do the trade offs and to balance the sustainability metrics with the cash cost surveys and other kind of inventory cost, inventory levels, those kind of metrics that you have. So it’s kind of a stepwise approach.
Scott W. Luton [00:30:54]:
Bart, I love it. And to pull a couple things out there, Kim, get you to comment on what you heard there as well, not only embedding those sustainability metrics and the data into the supply chain planning processes, but also empowering our planners to make decisions. I love that we’re talking about planners or many other folks that make up and make things happen across our supply chains. How can we put the information at their fingertips and then do what we want, you know, to do what everyone wants to do. They won’t be looking over their shoulders. They won’t be making decisions and empower them to do make successful, timely, and faster and confident decisions. But what did you hear there in Bart’s structured approach?
Kim Reuter [00:31:31]:
Kim, the number one thing is you need to know where you are today. Where are you starting from? What is your carbon footprint now? How much, you know, how much emissions are you working with? Like, how bad is it? And you have to know that because I can’t tell you how many companies I talked to who achieved something, and not necessarily in this space, but they’re like, oh, we reduced our cost by $10,000 a day. Isn’t that fantastic? Well, it is, but what is the cost that you reduce? Well, it’s 500,000. Well, okay. Well, 10,000 isn’t such a big deal now, right? So I think the most important thing is figure out where you are today so that you can measure that you are actually succeeding. Otherwise, you’re just making up numbers as.
Scott W. Luton [00:32:13]:
You go, and no one wins there for sure. Bart, quick follow up there, because as you laid out that structured approach, the more proactive we can be, the easier it is for our teams and make those critical trade offs and advance and get more results as we move forward. Bart, your thoughts there?
Bart Verbruggen [00:32:31]:
In my perspective, supply chain planning, it’s all about proactively making decisions and being proactive, anticipating running scenarios that you could think of. And often a lot of industries, you see, it’s just they want to be reactive. The firefighting and so on, I solved today problems I don’t look forward. That’s my personal view, proactively being already able to see, to visualize, to report on this is the impact of my current plan or these multiple scenarios on sustainability metrics, on our important sustainability metrics, because not each industry, each company needs to take all of the potential sustainability metrics into account. You might only look at carbon emission and greenhouse gas, other greenhouse gases or water consumption or air pollution, but just to proactively see. Okay, guys, this is where we’re going. You run a couple of scenarios. Is this a plan we want to go for? We know that we have these targets, we know that next year we want to reduce by 5%, but actually with the current plan we go up by 2% because there’s more volume.
Bart Verbruggen [00:33:30]:
What are we going to do? At least ask the critical questions higher up and somebody has to make decisions. But then well informed of well thought of decisions.
Scott W. Luton [00:33:39]:
Yes. Well, speaking of higher up, let’s talk about earlier we were talking about obstacles or objections we’d get. Let’s talk about chief supply chain officers and some of the challenges they’re going to face as they look to implement this great opportunity and approach. You’re talking about what challenges will they face and how can cs overcome those challenges.
Bart Verbruggen [00:34:02]:
Bartley yeah, so the main challenges we see, and we also asked the same question to our participants of our sustainability council a couple of weeks ago, what came out is everybody will come with data. Where do we get the data from? Do we have the data at the right level of detail or right level of aggregation? Personally, my view on that is there’s so many companies out there who gather CO2 data and emission data and whatever. You could take industry average data. But knowing that especially, even the EU, all of these companies will have to report anyway on the sustainability metrics, you already need to have the data somewhere. So I think it’s better to not look outside, take data in and then afterwards, when you want to compare plan with actuals, you’re comparing how you call it in English, apples with lemons, apples to apples, right. Well, you want to compare apples to apples and that’s not what you’re doing.
Scott W. Luton [00:34:51]:
Then we want to avoid apples to celery.
Bart Verbruggen [00:34:59]:
So, but then people are saying, yeah, but we don’t have it at the right level of detail and think there. That’s where companies like OMP can help with data analytics. If you have kind of a CO2 emission by machine or by factory, you can then look at analytics, how much time, production time and so on. And energy is this product family consuming on this machine when we run it? And in that way get to the the right level of detail where you make your supply chain planning decisions. So then you have the data that available and that goes for production, for supply. Of course you have to ask your suppliers and normally they, with the current legislation, they will have to be able to provide this to you. And there’s a lot of opportunity for improvement and for calibration and on transport, I think that speaks for itself. You can just take an industry average.
Bart Verbruggen [00:35:45]:
If you know the type of truck and fuel it drives and the distance, then normally you can take an average and you don’t make a big mistake.
Scott W. Luton [00:35:53]:
Okay, Paul, you’re going to add something there.
Paul Delbar [00:35:55]:
Yeah. If I may add my storytelling interest. Your best friend as a CSO is your chief sustainability officer. Somebody whose job is to make the impossible happen has absolutely no leverage in any operational department. So they will jump at the occasion to work with you to give you all the input and also to be able to report that at least they have something that they manage to impact in the company that is real and tangible and visible. Second idea is that start with what you do know. Yeah, I only know my energy bill for the entire plant.
Bart Verbruggen [00:36:25]:
Okay, good.
Paul Delbar [00:36:25]:
That’s a good beginning. Can you knock off 10%? Can you discuss strategies to do that? I don’t know what it is, but I know I can be 10% better and I can see the cost. Also, planning is about looking into the future. Suppose you have a new technology coming in, in production, greener machine or. And you have another supplier of greener raw material that you can use, but they’re like six months apart. You’re doing a one and a half, 18 months, one half year, 18 months snop plan. You need to have these delayed plans. I’m going to use the other greener supplier until my greener technology is available.
Paul Delbar [00:36:59]:
But I need to do that now. I need to look 18 months ahead, knowing what is going to happen. So the challenge for CSCO is to understand what options are on the table, because a lot of these options, as I said, or strategies, are defined by executives. We’re going to change the product packaging. We’re going to only ship full trucks. We’re going to change our DC structure. Yes. Here’s the news.
Paul Delbar [00:37:21]:
Now deal with it. But nobody really calculates through what the actual impact is. You may be just shifting costs. Just like when you introduce new products, you may be shifting demand from one product to the next, cannibalizing your own children. CS with green planning have the ability to advise their executives and the sustainability strategy on exactly will this work? How much will this work? Even if you use high level aggregated numbers. And that’s the true power of green planning, decision making. Not just to make sure green planning is followed by green execution, but the green decision making at the strategy level is also somewhat reality based.
Bart Verbruggen [00:37:56]:
Yes.
Scott W. Luton [00:37:58]:
Kim, really quick jump in here before we go to the importance of collaboration and reporting in general, but also for green planning. I’m coming to you next, Paul. But Kim, what you hear there, one of the things I heard certainly is the sense of urgency as he pointed the 18 month timeframe we talked earlier about. The steel companies have been planning for five and six years. We got to start today if we want it next year almost. Kim, your thoughts?
Kim Reuter [00:38:23]:
Yeah, so we started the question with what’s the biggest challenge that chief supply chain officers are facing when it comes to green planning and sustainability? And I think it’s the thing that we keep touching on here is that it is such a big effort and it touches so much. And most of the time, supply chain is on the receiving end of it. Like they’ve already gone green. And by the way, you need to catch up. And so it’s a big pill to swallow for supply chain. And a lot of times CSO’s feel like they have to rebuild from the ground up. We have to find all new vendors, we have to find all new transportation partners. They have to start completely over.
Kim Reuter [00:39:01]:
And it becomes an overwhelming exercise, all while the executive team has already signed off on it. And so it’s going down your throat, whether you like it or not, is sort of the situation. But you know, what we keep hearing in these conversations is start small, start with what’s available, start with the existing waste in your existing supply chain, and start with data, good data. That is where you need to start.
Scott W. Luton [00:39:26]:
Excellent point. Start with what you know, which is one of the things that Paul mentioned. So let’s, let’s shift gears here. We’re going to have a fast and furious finish. Paul, Bart and Kim. Paul, tell us about the importance of collaboration across NN supply chain, which is obvious. I want you to speak to that a bit, if you would, and especially when it comes to reporting and green planning. Your thoughts there, Paul?
Paul Delbar [00:39:47]:
It’s very simple. You can’t do it without your collaboration, your suppliers and your customers. Don’t forget, we’re in each other’s scope. Three, reporting. You need to take action anywhere on that supply chain, whether it’s your raw material suppliers, your transportation inside your network. And to be honest, one factory supplier is the other one’s customer. Right. So that it brings about this kind of end to end view, because the reporting is end to end.
Paul Delbar [00:40:16]:
You need to engage with your suppliers in an open debate, which kind of surpasses the. I have a six month contract for a certain volume at a certain rate, and I’m going to squeeze you to get another 3% cost reduction out that will no longer work. Companies who still work in that framework, pretty much like logistics departments, run with forwarders, put them on a two to 3% decrease for the next six months if they want to stay in a contract or in a tender. We need to break that paradigm. That is not the way we’re going to make this happen. It is an end to end collaborative as a whole, operators, one model that we need to practice. And to be honest, as I said previously, the reporting data that you need to get brings it on an objective level. It brings it forward.
Paul Delbar [00:41:00]:
And you can have a discussion. We have in our council packaging providers talking to their consumer goods customers, actually leading their consumer goods customers into coming up with better ways of leveraging the packaging investments they’ve done. We have chemicals companies doing the same thing for other companies. So everything is connected is a true global supply chain. And the global playing field of the green element makes that very apparent. So yes, the trust, but it starts by having an open conversation. Let’s partner on this. Let’s go green together.
Paul Delbar [00:41:34]:
Basically.
Scott W. Luton [00:41:35]:
Yes. Paul, it doesn’t start with that very old fashioned annual cost down. I don’t miss some of those conversations in my previous journey. All right, so I’m going to keep moving. Kim, I’ll come back to you after we pose this next question to Bart here because I want to get to examples and stories, especially to those chief supply chain officers and their teams that have really embraced and executed green planning and have driven remarkable outcomes. Let’s use those shining examples. Bart, what comes to mind?
Bart Verbruggen [00:42:03]:
Yeah, I’ll cover a couple. The first one is more on how supply chain planning can help decisions made to change your supply chain, to make it greener, to make the best of those kind of investment or changes in the way to operate. This is a large food and beverage consumer goods company, very well known, a big name, where they actually changed their whole supply chain model to say, instead of from a factory producing, I’m going to give the names of the, well, the products now, the types of product, diapers and shampoo and washing powder. Each day truck leaves with full truckload of one individual product or a couple of skus in different packaging sizes to some of the local distribution centers or enter the supermarkets. And that of course means that I have to keep stock for one week. It could have shorter shelf life. And I also have more transport because I have to drive to all of these points every day. And what they did is they made a shift there in their supply chain model to say let’s run a full truck of different products every day so we can reduce stock levels, but we also reduce our transport miles that we drive.
Bart Verbruggen [00:43:11]:
And it’s not so much that green planning was a trigger to make this trade over this decision. It’s more a supply chain planning executive decision to change the business model or the execution model. But then you need supply chain planning to really make sure that you make the best of that and you grasp all of the potential out of it. So that’s a nice example to say you do some changes on a high level. And supply chain planning, including green planning, needs to make sure you get the best out of it. Both from your typical supply chain planning, KPI’s cash cost, service and inventory levels, but also from a sustainability point of view, less products you have to throw away because they’re over their shelf life and less transport, so less CO2 emissions. Another one is a metals company where both in tactical and operational planning, making decisions on where to produce also better, how you call it, raw materials as scrapped. The blend ratio of the raw materials you put in the.
Bart Verbruggen [00:44:08]:
But also your production campaigns to have better efficiency on your machines. They managed through a combination of technical operational planning decisions to reduce their CO2 emission with 18% without any negative effect on the rest of the bottom line. So, meaning no effect on cash cost or service. And that’s huge. But that’s by being willing and able and daring to make decisions on a tactical level, but also to embed this and include this CO2 metric. And just seeing the low hanging fruit, like Kim was saying, just seeing the low hanging fruit already and taking that if you don’t see it, the low fruit, you’re not going to get it.
Scott W. Luton [00:44:47]:
That’s true. Well said Bart.
Bart Verbruggen [00:44:49]:
And then a third example, maybe to finish off, it’s a very big company in chemicals. It’s actually even more starting in a circular business model doing huge investments in machines to recycle plastic. But this recycled plastic, you get certification for that. And based on that, you also need to find the market. The market is a bit lower margin than your aversion plastic still, but you need to sell a certain amount and you need to use a certain amount of recycled plastic to keep your certification. And there we help them to keep this balance between supply and demand to make sure that you keep your certification with all the impact on the. He didn’t talk about that. Financial markets are also looking at your sustainability metrics.
Bart Verbruggen [00:45:33]:
You get lower credit rates, you have investors who want to spend more money in companies who are very well scoring on sustainability. So that’s one part. And the second is we help them to look at should we invest in more of this capacity strategically of recycled plastic. And that’s where they made a decision. And then you can simulate what would be the impact. Where do we need to look for different markets? Where should we cut off? Maybe some version plastic market try to replace it with recycled plastic.
Scott W. Luton [00:46:01]:
So, Bart, man, we gotta have another show to dive more into all those examples. All right, so, Kim, I try to keep up. Bart, I love those stories. Eliminating miles less waste, less emissions, better oee. And as he’s starting to mention there at end, one things that we didn’t just call out is probably increase sales because study after study show that folks across generations will spend more or more and more, spending more on brands that are making real, driving real sustainability gains, and you’re driving that stickiness, that brand appreciation and brand love. That’s not the word I’m looking for. But, Kim, I think you know what I’m talking about. What you hear in those examples, Bart.
Kim Reuter [00:46:39]:
Just shared, I heard a lot. I think the biggest one that I heard was really about collaborating, corporate collaboration and collaborating across all of the silos in a company to make this successful. And sadly, I have a good example of where this wasn’t done. You know, we do everything to source a green product, bring it in green. Big CO2 initiative around this particular product for a retailer. Super excited. Everybody’s jazz. We’re measuring it, and then all of a sudden, the merchant team decides that to really make the consumer happy, we’re going to overnight airfreight for free every package.
Kim Reuter [00:47:19]:
So, well, all that carbon neutral and all that work we did to make this a green product just completely went out the window. And then the consumer also kind of sniffed it out because the customer was like, well, I thought this was a green product and you’re going to overnight air it. To me, you know, all of the CO2 savings is basically gone when you did that. So you got to collaborate and you got to make sure everybody understands the initiative and what we’re doing to reach it.
Scott W. Luton [00:47:44]:
Well said. And that communication, the emphasis, what’s old is new. Again, we got to be able to communicate the why and communicate the how, and again, empower our teams to go out and manage this change, which, because we’re changing how business is done for all the right reasons. All right, so we got so little time, so many other questions. But again, folks, Bart and Paul will welcome your conversations. Let’s make sure folks know how to connect with y’all. Paul and Bart. Paul, let’s start with you.
Scott W. Luton [00:48:13]:
How can folks connect with you and all of your wonderful stories and your passion for what you do?
Paul Delbar [00:48:18]:
The easiest way to connect to me is at LinkedIn. You can find me at Paul Delbar, which is very straightforward. We do have an email address, greenplaningp.com. if you have more specific technical questions, we’re gonna also share the link to an ebook we created that gives a little bit more detail and more stories if you like them, to read to the kids at night. I just want to end with one. To quote the famous frog who says, it’s not easy being green. It actually is easy being green. You need to get started now.
Paul Delbar [00:48:51]:
And if you have any need for pointers, we’re more than happy to help you there.
Scott W. Luton [00:48:56]:
Oh, I love that. Paul, we’re quoting Kermit the frog here today. And hey, we all need these Sherpas, right? Clearly, OMP is doing it. They’re helping organizations do it with outcomes, helping helping their teams navigate through the change in how business is done, which consumers, investors, employees are demanding and meeting that imperative. So love that, Paul. Bart, how can folks connect with you, my friend?
Bart Verbruggen [00:49:22]:
Yeah, I got just a question running in my head to frock. Is it born green or does it get green?
Scott W. Luton [00:49:31]:
That’s a great question. I have no, I’m a big muppet enthusiast. I don’t know to answer that question.
Bart Verbruggen [00:49:35]:
Me neither. So yeah, folks can reach out through LinkedIn or indeed the green planning or just my namep.com. and I’m always looking forward to have chats on how we can make this more applicable in the industry and what companies are doing and exchange some experience, some thoughts, because we are also looking at how do companies apply this? How can supply chain planning even further improve the sustainability metrics and help companies in reaching their targets? So, always interested to have a chat.
Scott W. Luton [00:50:03]:
Love that. Check, check that you’re one click away from connecting with these leaders that are helping organizations drive good change. Needed change out there. So we covered a lot of ground. And as Paul mentioned, we need four more hours, especially all the stories and outcomes our guests and their teams are really driving.
Scott W. Luton [00:50:28]:
But what was one clear cut, key takeaway that our audience has got to leave here with?
Kim Reuter [00:50:33]:
The one is just do it. You can do it. You can start with the waste that exists in your supply chain today that will automatically make you greener and more sustainable. Just start. You don’t need to wait until you have all the answers.
Scott W. Luton [00:50:47]:
That’s right, Kim. I love that. Get the work today. Massive opportunities and there’s so much demand. It’s only going to get bigger and expectation even more than the man. So a lot of good stuff there. We dropped the link to that guide, y’all. Check it out.
Scott W. Luton [00:51:03]:
You’re one click away from doing that. The CSO guide to green planning. You’ll learn more about what Paul and Bart have been talking about here today. Hey, Paul, just a quick heads up. It’s halftime. Ukraine and Belgium, they’re tied at zero. So I know that you are probably looking at down your end as well, but they are tied at zero. Hey folks, connect with Paul Delbar and Bart Verbruggen, both with OMP.
Scott W. Luton [00:51:27]:
Thanks so much for both of you all being here, folks. Connect with them. Check out that resource. Most importantly, I’d say, hey, do what Kim said, get started. Let’s take action. Let’s start driving them those meaningful dialogue with trust that will lead to lead to real action and answering the sustainability imperative. But Kim, always a pleasure. Knockout shows with you.
Scott W. Luton [00:51:48]:
Thanks for being here.
Kim Reuter [00:51:49]:
Love being here. Thank you.
Scott W. Luton [00:51:51]:
Thanks to Paul and Bart with OMP. Thanks to all the folks that tuned in and we’ll wrap with this, folks. As Ken mentioned, take action. Take one thing, one thing that Paul and Bart dropped here on us here today. The brilliance they brought and put it into action. Deeds, not words. Don’t fall. What would Paul say? The supply chain sweet talk. Don’t fall for that. We have enough lip service. Leadership we got take action. Our teams are demanding. And all of that said on behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton challenging you to do good. Give forward, be the change that’s needed and we’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody.
Narrator [00:52:28]:
Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain Now community. Check out all of our programming at supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain Now anywhere you listen to podcasts, us and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain Now.
Paul Delbar spent most of his career in software development, product management and marketing and enjoys using technology to bring solutions to customers. Paul is the Senior Marketing Manager for OMP. No stranger to supply chain planning and cross-enterprise collaboration, he is always interested in hearing your story and sharing it with the supply chain community. Connect with Paul on LinkedIn.
Bart Verbruggen, With 22 years of experience at OMP, Bart is currently focusing on business development and customer implementations in the packaging industry. He also leads OMP’s Green Planning initiative, a cross-industry program to incorporate sustainability KPIs into supply chain planning processes. Connect with Bart on LinkedIn.
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Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.
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From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.
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Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.
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Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.
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The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.
He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.
A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).
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Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.
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Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics. He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.
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Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.
Host
Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.
She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.
Host
Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.
An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.
A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.
A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning. He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.
Host
Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.
Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.
Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).
Host
Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.
Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.
Marketing Coordinator
Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!
Host
An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.
Host
Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.
Host
Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey University, class 2019. Upon graduation she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (GCLOG) and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Former Data Analyst within the airport industry in Latin America at Pacific Airport Group, performing benchmarking reports and predictive analysis of future market behavior.
Currently working as Sr. Staffing Analyst within the S&OP team in Mexico at the biggest ecommerce company in Latin America: Mercado Libre. Responsible for workforce forecasting and planning through the analysis of demand, productivity, capacity, cost & time constraints. Sofia self identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, sharing her passion for the field in her daily life. She has been recognized as upcoming thought leader in the field and invited to participate in several podcasts (Freight Path Podcast, Supply Chain Revolution Podcast, Let’s Talk Supply Chain, Industrificados) to discuss topics such as digital transformation, automation and future skillsets for supply chain professionals.
She is a frequent featured guest at Supply Chain Now and appointed co-host for their new series Supply Chain Now en Español. Global Ambassador for ISCEAs Sustainable Supply Chain Professional Certification (CSSCP) and keynote speaker at World Supply Chain Forum 2021 by ISCEA Indonesia.
Host
Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist.
Host
Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.
Vice President, Production
Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.
Founder, CEO, & Host
As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.
From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.
Principal & Host
When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.
Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.
Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring
Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.
Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.
Director of Sales
Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!
Host of Digital Transformers
Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog. He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community. Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix and IBM. Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane University, O’Reilly Media, LinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight. Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems Engineering, Carrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.
Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español
Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.
He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.
Host of Dial P for Procurement
Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.
Host, Veteran Voices
Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.
Host
Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.
Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.
Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
Business Development Manager
Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.
Administrative Assistant
Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.
Social Media Manager
My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.
Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.
Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.
Marketing Coordinator
Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.
Director, Customer Experience
Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.
Chief of Staff & Host
Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.
Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Marketing Specialist
Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more. In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.
Director of Communications and Executive Producer
Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys. She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.
Controller
Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.
Creative Director, Producer, Host
Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.