Advertise on podcast: Supply Chain - Unfiltered

Freight tech is full of big promises, so we start with a blunt question: are startups solving a real need, or selling fear of missing out? From there, we sit down with Patrick Beane, CEO of DataHAUL, and Megan Balch, Managing Director at Idea Village, to get a grounded look at what supply chain innovation looks like when it’s built for operators, not headlines. Patrick breaks down how DataHAUL digitizes freight operations by aggregating disconnected operational data, reconciling it to financials, and turning it into time series data you can actually act on. We talk through why that matters for trucking and logistics teams who need to understand profit at a granular level, including what happened during a specific work block and what the revenue, cost, and gross profit were during that time. It’s a practical conversation about analytics, decision-making, and how tools can move from reporting to real operational leverage. Megan shares what she’s seeing across “critical industries” like trucking, maritime, rail, energy transition, and oil and gas, especially as supply chains keep shifting post-pandemic. We also unpack Idea Village’s Village X accelerator: why the application is intentionally challenging, how coachability shows up in founder behavior, what traction really means, and which KPIs help startups survive the grind. Listen, then share this with a founder or operator who needs a clearer view of traction and unit economics, and subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what part of the logistics stack you think is most overdue for innovation.

AI is moving fast, but customer loyalty still gets built the slow way: one real interaction at a time. We sit down with Jason Milen, principal and keynote speaker at Milen Growth Partners, to talk about the fundamentals of customer retention that don’t break when technology, markets, and expectations shift. We dig into what “relationships” actually looks like in day-to-day business, from the smallest signals that shape customer experience (a smile, a greeting, full attention) to the modern equivalents in remote work. Jason makes the case for cameras-on conversations when it matters, why multitasking quietly erodes trust, and how email can create misunderstandings that a quick call or Zoom can prevent. If you work in supply chain, procurement, or operations, you’ll recognize how often the real problem is not process, it’s communication. Then we get practical about AI automation. Jason shares how an AI phone system can reduce wait times and improve speed of service, but only if customers have an immediate escape hatch to a human and the rollout is communicated clearly. We also break down his like → love → loyalty model, why employee experience shows up in customer outcomes, and how to repair client trust quickly by owning mistakes and asking one simple question: “What can we do to make this right?” If you want a human-first approach to growth that still respects modern constraints, listen now, then subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review. What’s one loyalty-building habit you think more companies should bring back?

Picture walking into a warehouse, factory, mine site, or solar field in 2035 and realizing the biggest shift is not a single shiny robot, it is the feeling that operations are finally steady. Staffing gaps stop derailing throughput. Dangerous tasks get handled without putting people in harm’s way. And “automation” stops being a pilot and becomes part of how work gets done. We sit down with Leo Ma, founder and CEO of RoboForce, to make that future concrete. Leo shares how his 15-year journey in AI robotics led to building physical AI-powered robot labor, and why the mission is grounded in a simple idea: there are essential jobs that society needs, and many of them should not have to be done by humans when they are dirty, dull, or dangerous. We talk about where robotics can deliver the fastest value across logistics, manufacturing, clean energy, mining, and data centers, and why he believes most businesses will benefit from robot labor by 2035. We also dig into the practical questions leaders are asking right now: how availability reduces the pain of recruiting and training, how efficiency improves with learning over time, and why economies of scale can drive the cost of ownership down as capability rises. Leo responds to calls for caution with a clear stance: be careful, but do progress by design through incremental steps. Plus, we touch on RoboForce’s recent recognition during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote and what that momentum could mean for adoption. If you’re mapping a supply chain automation strategy, this is a forward-looking but practical listen. Subscribe, share this with an ops leader, and leave a review with your biggest question about robot labor in 2035.

A single river corridor in Louisiana helps move a staggering share of America’s exports, and when it hiccups, the ripple hits farmers, factories, retailers, and consumers. We sit down with Harrison Crabtree, Executive Director of the World Trade Center New Orleans, to unpack what keeps the South Louisiana port system resilient when trade rules shift and nature refuses to cooperate. We get specific about the forces pressing on port operations and supply chain planning: tariffs and trade barriers, the push toward onshoring and nearshoring, and why “know your supply chain” really means knowing where suppliers are located and what alternate lanes you can activate. Harrison explains how Louisiana’s export-heavy profile and diversified trade lanes can soften geopolitical shocks, then connects the dots to GDP impact and the surge of industrial investment that relies on reliable maritime logistics. Then we move from headlines to hard constraints. Hurricane preparedness and rapid reopening plans are table stakes on the Gulf Coast, but low Mississippi River levels and saltwater intrusion can be just as disruptive, affecting navigation, creating shoaling and unpredictable currents, and even threatening drinking water. We also dig into cybersecurity and cargo theft, why digitization increases the attack surface, and how resilience depends on both prevention and fast recovery. Finally, we tackle the workforce challenge, the role of AI and automation, and policy ideas like the TWICE Act. Subscribe for more real-world supply chain conversations and share this with a colleague who touches logistics or trade.

The next supply chain disruption will not wait for your dashboard to refresh, and it definitely will not wait for a two-year implementation plan. We sit down with Antonio Gonzalez, CEO and co-founder of Vallor, to talk about a problem procurement teams feel every day but rarely name out loud: the answers to “what are our options?” are often already negotiated into our contracts, yet the data is not visible when it matters most. We unpack why vendor management modernization keeps stalling even though everyone agrees it is needed. Antonio shares his controversial take on how SaaS tools pushed teams to reshape their work around software, not the other way around, and why adoption quietly slides back to email, Word, and Excel. From his frontline experience at Anheuser-Busch and strategic sourcing at Microsoft during the peak COVID-era chaos, he explains how high-quality data enables real procurement strategy and upstream supply chain resilience. Then we get practical on AI-powered contract management and contract lifecycle management that actually gets used. Antonio breaks down how AI agents can review supplier terms, extract metadata, rate risk, generate negotiation reports, and deliver results right where teams live in Teams and inboxes. We also dig into real outcomes like major reductions in contract review cycle time and a rapid response playbook during a food safety outbreak by instantly finding impacted suppliers and the right clauses. If you want to move from contract to cargo with more speed, less guesswork, and better risk mitigation, hit play. Subscribe, share this with a procurement leader, and leave a review with the biggest contract visibility gap you want to solve.

Your procurement team can’t automate what it can’t trust. When supplier names duplicate, dashboards sit unopened, and every “simple” request turns into an Excel fire drill, AI doesn’t fix the problem, it exposes it. We sit down with Laura Beth ("LB") Hirt-Sharpe, Data Offerings Leader for IBM Procurement and an IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award recipient, to get specific about what a strong procurement data organization looks like in the real world. We dig into why many teams hit the end of their “AI runway” after a few proofs of concept, how the rapidly changing procurement technology landscape can scatter priorities, and why rebuilding focus is now part of the job for modern procurement leaders. Along the way, we talk about the trust gap created when data access is controlled by a few gatekeepers, and how to map your data flow so requests stop bouncing around the org. We also get into the surprising upside of data analytics maturity: keeping great people. When teams have democratized spend analytics, usable supplier master data, and faster self-service reporting, they make better sourcing decisions and they stay. LB shares practical ways to gauge progress, including the CEO data test and the idea that timeliness is a measure of trust. If you’re looking for a grounded approach to procurement data governance, data cleansing, and AI in procurement that actually sticks, this conversation is for you. Subscribe for more, share this with a teammate who lives in spreadsheets, and leave a review with the one data problem you want fixed first.

The supply chain doesn’t break in the obvious places, it breaks in the gray areas: the assumptions inside contracts, the handoffs between shipper and 3PL, and the gaps between a plan and the real world. We sit down with Sandy Hodes, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement and Corporate Development Officer at Ryder System, to unpack how third-party logistics providers navigate supply chain volatility while still delivering service, controlling cost, and protecting relationships. We get specific about supply chain regionalization in North America, why nearshoring and onshoring decisions are inherently multi-year, and how tariff uncertainty can pause even well-funded moves. Sandy also shares why Ryder shifted away from a global 3PL model years ago and leaned into a “port-to-door” approach built around regional customer needs, stronger synergies, and clearer execution. If you manage procurement, logistics sourcing, or supply chain strategy, you’ll hear practical guidance on what should be black-and-white in an agreement versus what needs to stay flexible for change. From there, we dive into modern contract work and operations: AI for first-pass contract review, pulling KPIs and obligations from messy contract databases, and the real risks of AI hallucinations without human oversight. We also explore warehouse automation and robotics, including goods-to-person systems and ASRS, with a clear message that automation only works when ROI, volume, and standardization support it. Finally, we talk electric trucks and EV fleet adoption, why charging infrastructure and range still block scale, and what 2035 could look like with more automation, shifting labor markets, and bigger demands for strategic supplier relationships. If this sparked ideas for your next logistics RFP, contract renewal, or automation roadmap, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more supply chain leaders can find the show.

Sustainability can feel like a moving target when elections, tariff headlines, and shifting regulations keep rewriting the rules. We sit down with Kris Spriano, former Vice President of Programs and Development at the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) and current Product Materials Manager at Arista Networks, to get honest about what’s really happening inside procurement teams and why many companies are getting quieter about sustainable sourcing even while the work continues behind the scenes. We dig into how trade and economic volatility affects supplier availability, and why “just move sourcing” is rarely a clean fix in a complex global supply chain. Kris breaks down what smart regionalization looks like, how lean thinking and network design can lower greenhouse gas emissions, and why a tariff-driven shuffle can actually make climate impact worse if you ignore the fundamentals. From electric fleets and the emerging push to electrify heavy equipment in construction (a major emissions driver) to the overlooked climate footprint of food supply chains, we talk through where sustainable procurement can create real, measurable change. We also get practical about what leadership looks like, including how governments embed sustainability into RFPs and specifications, plus the three reasons that keep sustainable purchasing alive: customer and stakeholder demands, brand reputation risk, and operational cost savings. Finally, we look ahead at AI procurement tools and how they can speed up RFP work and sustainability requirements, as long as teams validate what the tech produces. If this helps you rethink your procurement strategy, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more supply chain leaders can find the show.

Change is easy to describe and brutally hard to deliver, especially in supply chain and procurement where every shift touches customers, suppliers, systems, and frontline teams. We sit down with Manish Kapoor, founder and CEO of Growth Catalyst Group, to get honest about what separates a thought leader from a true change agent and why execution is the part that tests your leadership the most. We dig into the mechanics of change management that actually work: defining a clear North Star, making the benefits real for the people doing the work, building a roadmap that anticipates friction, and celebrating small wins so momentum does not die halfway through. We also talk about risk management in supply chain transformation, including how to weigh risk versus value, when to pause, and why pilots are often the safest way to prove your assumptions before scaling across sites. Manish shares stories from building an early centralized command and control model for last mile operations, along with a hard-earned lesson from a Lean Six Sigma rollout that failed because the change was pushed instead of owned. From there, we zoom out to the current reality facing e-commerce teams dealing with tariffs and uncertainty, including a practical operational framework focused on labor, logistics, locations, and inventory. We close with personal resilience tools for those moments when you are doing “all the right things” but still feel overwhelmed. Subscribe for more candid supply chain leadership conversations, share this with a colleague who is leading change, and leave a review with the one idea you are going to try next.

Stability is the word we all want to hear in supply chain, but Lucas Cunha thinks we should stop waiting for it. The pace of AI, the churn in global trade, and the squeeze of nonstop deadlines are pushing logistics, procurement, and operations teams into a new reality where adaptability is the real baseline for survival. We dig into what that means on the ground when you are trying to keep materials moving, keep suppliers aligned, and keep leadership confident that risk is actually under control.  Lucas shares how Otrafy approaches supplier management and regulatory compliance with AI workflows that can pull data out of messy documents and compare it against complex requirements across jurisdictions. We talk real examples like pesticide thresholds that vary country by country, plus the rising pressure around claims such as organic, pesticide-free, and PFAS-free. Then we layer in the things that are making planning harder right now: shifting tariffs, ingredient swaps like food coloring replacements, and the operational “sanity” it takes to keep running while rules and costs change under your feet.  We also zoom in on FSMA 204 and the 2026 traceability deadline, including the expectation to trace critical tracking events fast, potentially in under 24 hours. From there, the conversation turns toward the bigger disruption ahead: AI-driven decision-making, the possibility of machine-to-machine procurement, and the risks of chasing speed without guardrails. If you care about AI in supply chain, food traceability, regulatory compliance, and practical ways to stay competitive, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a teammate, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Data is quietly becoming the most negotiable asset in business and the easiest one to misuse. We sit down with Charlotte de Brabandt, Ph.D., an expert in procurement, digital transformation, and AI-driven sustainability, to make sense of what it means to treat data like an economic engine rather than a pile of reports. We walk through Charlotte’s AI data economy model and the four forces it balances: 4G generative AI, 4E ethical AI, 4M monetization, and 4C democratization. From there, we get concrete about data monetization in two practical lanes. Direct monetization is selling or licensing data (often anonymized). Indirect monetization is using data to improve performance: tighter internal processes, smarter sourcing decisions, better customer experiences, and new products that are built on real behavior signals. AI is the accelerant and the risk. We dig into how AI raises data value through automation, predictive insights, and personalization, while also creating new problems like bias and unclear accountability. We also cover trends procurement and supply chain teams should watch right now, including data mesh and decentralization, AI-powered decision making, and sustainability in AI. Finally, we take on data privacy and consumer trust, the influence of GDPR and CCPA, and why transparency with vendors and stakeholders is becoming the new normal. If you want a clearer, more realistic playbook for competing in an AI-driven data economy, listen now, then subscribe, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review.

76% of leaders say data-driven decision making is the goal, but most people still don’t trust the data they’re looking at. That contradiction is not just frustrating, it’s expensive. We talk with Susan Walsh, founder of The Classification Guru, about what actually breaks procurement data and supplier master data over time, and why “just add AI” won’t fix a messy foundation. We get practical about data quality in supply chain management: why cleaning and standardizing data gets treated like a side task, how the long tail of spend hides the biggest problems, and why tariffs and supply chain relocation make accurate, up-to-date data even more urgent for scenario modeling, forecasting, and real-time visibility. Susan also shares how to think about buying technology the smart way: start with your end goal, avoid paying for add-ons you don’t need, and choose tools that fit your specific use case instead of copying competitors. Then we dig into AI, gen AI, and agentic AI. Since every model learns from training data, bad inputs can create confident-looking misinformation and spread it across your systems. We also cover data governance basics that matter globally, like consistent units of measure, date formats, naming standards, and the people-side change management that keeps data clean after the project ends. If this conversation helps, subscribe, share it with someone wrestling with spend analytics or master data management, and leave a review so more supply chain teams can find it.

Disruption isn’t a phase you “get through” anymore. It’s the environment, and it’s forcing supply chains and organizations to evolve beyond classic agility into something bigger: hyper agility. We sit down with Dr. Charlotte de Brabandt to unpack what hyper agility really means and why she sees it as a true superpower for teams that need to sense change early, respond fast, and still stay grounded in purpose.  We get specific about what makes hyper-agile organizations work: flexible structures that reconfigure around skills, communication that stays transparent across time zones, inclusive decision-making loops that move quickly without turning into bureaucracy, and rapid learning that favors short bursts of upskilling over slow programs. The thread running through it all is people. Charlotte explains why diversity isn’t optional in volatile conditions and how psychological safety turns diverse perspectives into better outcomes instead of silent disagreement.  We also explore how hyper agility reshapes talent management and workforce planning, from static roles to dynamic capability maps and from “perfect resumes” to learning agility, curiosity, and resilience. Then we connect hyper agility to innovation, technology, and measurement: empowering frontline microinnovation, using cloud tools, AI, and automation to enable collaboration, and updating KPIs to track outcomes like learning velocity, adaptability, inclusion metrics, and innovation flow. If you’re leading procurement, operations, or a cross-functional supply chain team, this conversation offers a practical way to move faster without creating chaos.  Subscribe for more, share this with a leader who needs it, and leave a review if the ideas help you rethink how your team can bend without breaking.

Scaling globally is exhilarating right up until the “how fast can we hire” question meets reality. A new client award or a winning bid can force a rapid ramp in a country where you have no entity, no local payroll, and no clear view of employment law. That’s when opportunity turns into internal panic, and the clock starts ticking on delivery dates, revenue, and credibility. We sit down with Rebecca Croucher, Chief Growth Officer at Atlas, to map the real path from plan to headcount. We talk through what it takes to open a new country the traditional way, including legal entity setup timelines that can stretch from weeks to 12 to 18 months, plus the added layers of local contracts, statutory benefits, insurance requirements, pensions, and employer liability. Then we contrast that with the employer of record model and why companies use EOR services to hire quickly and stay compliant while they validate a market.  We also dig into the details that most global expansion plans miss: visa delays that can stall a build by six to nine months, cultural expectations that shape retention and day to day work, and the hard truth that there’s no single compliance tool that replaces local expertise. We close with practical planning guidance for near term market expansion, including role type, industry regulations, and how data protection typically works when teams operate inside your infrastructure.  If you found this helpful, subscribe, share the episode with a teammate planning global hiring, and leave us a review.

Trillions in new factories are coming, supply chains are shifting closer to home, and yet the biggest constraint is not equipment or real estate, it’s people. We sit down with Isaac Hagan, Senior VP of Emerging Verticals at ManpowerGroup, to unpack what “emerging talent markets” really mean right now and why they often look like familiar industries under extreme transformation: manufacturing, semiconductors, energy, automotive, and materials. We dig into industrial sovereignty, reshoring, and the new demand for predictability across both physical supply chains and talent supply chains. Isaac shares why the talent gap is becoming the defining risk for growth, what it means when millions of manufacturing roles could go unfilled, and why workforce planning has to start far earlier than most teams expect. We also talk about what actually scales: apprenticeships, skills-based hiring, reskilling in new geographies, and stronger partnerships between industry and government to build the volume of capability these investments require. Then we zoom in on AI and the future of work. Data analytics and AI fluency are rising fast, but the most in-demand skill remains collaboration and other human strengths like EQ and empathy. We also address the strain showing up in longer workdays and stressed middle managers, and why culture and development become the “trust currency” that helps organizations survive rapid change. If you work in supply chain management, procurement, manufacturing, or operations, this conversation is a practical map of where jobs are going, which skills travel, and how to stay relevant as the pace of change accelerates.  Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review with the skill you think will matter most over the next five years.