From the Desk of Wade McDaniel
Welcome to the May 2017 issue of Supply Chain Navigator.
This week I will be attending the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference in my hometown, Phoenix. One of the things I appreciate most about this event is the opportunity it affords me to meet and learn from supply chain peers representing a broad array of global industries. Every year, with this diverse field of knowledge, I find myself gaining new insights that help me approach my job with a fresh perspective that often inspires creative, new solutions.
Following Gartner’s lead, in this issue, we reach outside the tech sector to bring readers a number of unique best practice supply chain programs. For example, in The New Economics of Supply Chain Sustainability, we look at a pioneering new supply chain finance program being implemented by BNP Paribas with athletic sportswear manufacturer, PUMA. The program ties lending terms not only to the buyer’s credit, but also to supplier adherence to the buyer’s CSR guidelines.
Building on the topic of disruption, in From Platitude to Paradigm, we describe how companies like Nestle, Cisco and Adobe are harnessing the innovative capacity of their employees to generate differentiated new products and processes. Then, in Taking the Pulse of Your Supply Chain, a team of researchers from Australia and New Zealand discuss the emerging role of sentiment analysis in demand-driven supply chains.
Our supply chain spotlight feature package delves into the reversal of the offshoring movement. In the main feature article, Making in America, we examine the factors that are compelling manufacturers to transfer operations away from “low-cost” regions in Asia, the challenges they are facing and the unexpected ally that may save the day for multinationals struggling to remain competitive. In a related case study, Nike Takes the Leap, we share some insider insights into Nike’s completely “out of the box” approach to in-country/for-country production in the Americas. The spotlight package wraps up with a contributed commentary from NC State Professor, Rob Handfield, and Flex CPSCO, Tom Linton, which touches on the hotly-contested globalism vs. protectionism debate and offers an interesting analogy between the global supply chain and the reestablishment of the gray wolf population in Yellowstone Park.
And, finally, we have an exclusive One-on-One interview with Johannes Giloth, Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Chief Procurement Officer at Nokia, a company that read the temperature of the market several years ago and decided it was time to disrupt themselves. Johannes gives us some compelling insight into Nokia’s massive transformation and the role supply chain and operations played in their remarkable journey.
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Until Next Time,
Wade McDaniel
Many thanks to the Supply Chain Navigator Editorial Advisory Board for their support and guidance:
 Joe DiIorio Senior Director, Supply Chain Transformation, Seagate Technology |
 Prashant Marathay Operations Program Manager, X, a Google company |
 Lori Osterback-Boettner Chief of Staff, Sr. Director, Supply Chain Operations, Cisco Systems, Inc. |
 Bob Merriman Co-founder, Force Impact Technologies |
Questions or comments about our publication can be directed to Supply Chain Navigator Editorial Director Diane Trommer at Diane.Trommer@Avnet.com Connect with Diane via LinkedIn.