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best supply chain podcasts
August 5, 2024
Supply Chain Podcasts as a Learning Tool: Building Industry Engagement
The late Steve Jobs demonstrated how to create a podcast using Apple’s audio editing software during a developers conference in 2006. Today, Apple hosts nearly 2.7 million podcasts devoted to everything from AI to zoology. There’s obviously a lot of noise in every industry, including supply chain, and not all supply chain podcasts are the same. Your time is valuable. You should get your supply chain industry insights from proven leaders, not self-proclaimed freight and logistics experts pontificating from their basements. The Power of Supply Chain Podcasts: Standing Out in a Crowded Industry Broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite was known as the most trusted man in America. You’ve got to wonder what he would have thought about the proliferation of social media influencers disseminating “news” on TikTok videos filmed with cellphones and flattering glow lights. Like other smart people with limited time, Cronkite probably would have skipped the fluff and gone for the substance — truly informative programming presented by industry thought leaders. The American people trusted that what newsman Cronkite said was accurate. Listeners of supply chain podcasts deserve the same — accurate, straightforward information delivered by a person who really knows what he or she is talking about. Why…
strategy
November 18, 2025
From War Rooms to Winning Strategies: How High-Tech Brands Tame Supply Chain Chaos
Special Guest Blog Post written by Jeff Echel and Steve Lykken with e2open Supply chain planners in high-tech don’t just manage shipments; they’re crisis managers, data detectives, and sometimes, referees in a high-stakes game of inventory tug-of-war. Why do these planners find themselves huddled in “war rooms,” surrounded by spreadsheets and urgent emails? It starts with relentless pressure: customers expect rapid, reliable service, but the reality is a maze of long lead times, outsourced manufacturing, and unpredictable global logistics. Securing critical components can take months, and a single misstep, like overstocking or missing a shipment, can ripple through the business, impacting revenue and margins. The chaos: War rooms and spreadsheet battles Add to that, the complexity of forecasting demand. Planners reconcile noisy, inconsistent data from retailers and distributors, often with little visibility, into . Forecasts are built, torn down, and rebuilt, sometimes manually, as teams try to align bottom-up channel data with top-down financial targets. Meanwhile, supply plans are constantly threatened by shortages, excess inventory, and last-minute changes. When demand surges or supply is disrupted, channels compete for limited stock, sometimes “stealing” from each other, and sometimes winning simply by being the loudest voice in the room. All of…