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October 15, 2021
This Week In Supply Chain Now: October 11th – 15th
Stay up to date on all the latest conversations, interviews, and episodes we released this week here at Supply Chain Now! We kicked this week off with a special episode of Supply Chain Now featuring Mike Griswold. Scott, Kelly, and Mike discuss the key takeaways from the Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2021. For Monday’s This Week In Business History, Kelly gives insight on two notable figures who have made some amazing strides in theoretical economic science research. On Tuesday, we released an episode of Supply Chain Now with host Scott Luton. Scott had the opportunity to chat with Theodora Lau the Founder of Unconventional Ventures and Bradley Leimer the Co-Founder of Unconventional Ventures. They discuss some of the amazing points in their book titled “Beyond Good: How Technology Is Leading a Purpose-Driven Business Revolution.” We also released an episode of Logistics With Purpose this week. Host Enrique and Monica talk with Dave Schweidenback the Founder and CEO of Pedals for Progress. Dave shares the story behind the logistics of shipping 4,800 bikes across 45 different countries. For Thursday’s Supply Chain Now episode Scott interviews communications expert Monique Russell from Clear Communications, LLC. This conversation is all about effective communication and…
logistics
June 26, 2025
What a Buyer Wants, What a Buyer Needs
Special Guest Blog Post written by Bernadine Henderson Ms. Henderson, senior director of procurement at Protolabs, lifts the lid on buying in manufacturing and why relationships are central to it. Simply put, the job of a buyer is really about buying the right thing at the right time for the right price. It sounds simple, but it really is very complicated because everything that’s going on in the world impacts the timing, the availability, and the price of the product. This means that buying has recently got a lot more complicated. World events have very real consequences on global supply chains. Just one example is the way in which buyers have responded to tariffs in the U.S. by re-routing sourcing locations. It takes a certain amount of agility to be a buyer in 2025, and this quick responsiveness is helped along by one key ingredient, and that is strong relationships with suppliers. Relationships Built on Trust A widely held misconception is that buyers are only interested in getting to the lowest price possible. In fact, the most important thing to a buyer is for suppliers to bring solutions that deliver overall value. In my experience, a really strong supplier…