John W. Phillips

Stay in the loop with Supply Chain Now! We’ve got all the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams from this week right here. On Monday, we released 2 new episodes! On Supply Chain Now, hosts Scott Luton and Ben Harris welcomed two bold and innovative CEOs to the podcast: Cloe Guidry-Reed with Hire Ground and Pierre Laguerre with Fleeting. On This Week in Business History, guest host Kelly Barner remembers key innovations, inventions, and firsts that took place between April 12th and the 16th, including Metallica’s legal stand against Napster, the relative advantages and costs of the Pony Express and postage stamps, and two ‘Titanic’ operations – the RMS Titanic and McDonald’s Inc. On Tuesday, we released 2 new episodes. On this episode of Logistics with Purpose, powered in partnership with Vector Global Logistics, our hosts Scott Luton, Enrique Alvarez, and Kevin Brown sat down with Good360 CEO Matt Connelly to learn more about delivering goods – and good – in the era of disruption, globalization, and digitization. On TECHquila Sunrise, host Greg White sat down with Peter Stangeland, Chief Commercial Officer of DB Schenker, to talk about the exciting progress his teams have made in clearing the path to…

The story of the manufacturing industry has been one of progress. Few manufacturers continue to produce the same products as they did in their infancy years. In order to remain competitive, manufacturers must continue to evolve their products to meet the demands of the marketplace. But meeting consumer demand is only half the battle — the other half is staying up to speed with industry advancements. New technology brings a host of changes that manufacturers must recognize. For example, increasing dependence on automation leads to the need for more skilled workers who understand these advanced systems. If workers cannot adapt successfully, organizations could find themselves struggling to keep up with the rest of the industry. To remain competitive in this dynamic environment, organizations should have several tools at their disposal that go beyond the physical equipment and technology innovations used in their facilities. These tools are ideas manufacturers can keep in their toolbox and use to produce next-level productivity. For example, one tool can be an investment in regular maintenance, which can ensure that machinery stays in service for as long as possible. This results in higher productivity and fewer costly downtime periods. For more ideas manufacturing companies should keep…