Guest Profile:

Drew Rodolfo, Material Planning, SpaceX

Previous experience: ArcelorMittal, Kraft-Heinz

Studied Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University

Things to keep in mind for people who want to work in supply chain:

Ensuring quality is of the utmost importance for people in material planning

You need to work closely with Engineering in order to understand what they need from you and what you need from them

For something as complicated as a rocket, you must ensure the items required for the end product must be delivered on time and in the right quantity. That responsibility falls on the material planner

Demand planning requires you to consider seasonality and other market factors in determining the demand. This requires a lot of partnership with marketing and sales

There never is a right answer in supply chain and the journey for continuous improvement is never ending

It can be frustrating working on a project, working closely with partners, and then the plans shift, scrapping the project

Insights:

If there is a company you really want to work for, keeping trying. It took Drew three different interviews before he got a job offer from SpaceX

Developing his executive-level communication helped Drew make a stronger case for his role at SpaceX

Building relationships with different teams and individuals may not seem important on a daily basis, but has massive benefits long-term in creating trust across departments

Get up and talk to your coworkers rather than calling them (if you can). You’ll get work done quicker

Rapid Fire-Round:

What Drew wanted to be when he was a kid: Rockstar

Best resource for career-related information: Find a mentor

What helps Drew when he has a bad day at work: Focusing on the long-term goal and taking the emotion out of whatever you are doing

Drew’s favorite product/brand his company makes: Falcon Heavy rocket

Best part of Drew’s work day today: The food!

Advice:

Keep your options open and do not stop chasing what you want to do

Keep drinking the Kool-Aid

Why should someone want to be in supply chain

It is not limited to one field and there are a lot of opportunities to do different things, working to drive huge impact to the company

Get in touch with Drew Rodolfo