The SupplyChainBrain Podcast

If you're a supply-chain executive, there's a good chance that the next tsunami, hurricane, flood or other disaster will take your organization by surprise. Again. For all their talk of the importance of good risk management, companies just can't seem to tackle the issue effectively. In a survey by the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC), 83 percent of respondents said they were caught off guard by an unexpected supply-chain disruption in the prior 24 months. What's going on here? Two APQC experts– Andrea Stroud, research program manager for supply chain management, and Mary Driscoll, senior research fellow for finance and risk – join us to offer a perspective on the global risk-management landscape. They outline the scope of the problem, then propose a number of concrete solutions.

What's really going on in Chinese factories? Founded in 2000, China Labor Watch is an independent organization dedicated to monitoring labor conditions in Chinese factories producing a wide range of consumer products. Over the years, the group has uncovered multiple instances of labor abuse, insufficient wages, safety and health violations, and poor living environments. It relies on undercover informants to disclose the practices of factory management. Program coordinator Kevin Slaten talks about how China Labor Watch operates, what its investigations have revealed, and whether conditions are really getting better, at a time when factory wages are on the rise.

How is your demand forecast like a tabloid psychic? Their record for accuracy is just about the same. Rob Byrne, chief executive officer of Terra Technology, says big consumer-products companies typically have an average weekly forecast error of more than 50 percent. He joins us in this episode of the podcast to explain why. Byrne lays out all of the challenges that affect the retail forecast: corporate silos, individual bias, old technology and the massive number of SKUs that have to be tracked, to name a few. He also introduces the concept of demand sensing – a technique he says can help to improve the forecast, although no company will ever get it 100-percent right. Get used to it.

Does commercial shipping have to be a matter of life or death? Pirates continue to plague the international shipping lanes, and while vessel seizures off the coast of Somalia are down, they're multiplying in other parts of the world. Martin Murphy, senior research fellow at the Center for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University, is one of the world's leading experts on maritime piracy. In this episode, he discusses where the most serious threats are today, and critiques the various strategies that are being deployed to protect ships against hijacking. He also addresses the controversy over whether ships should carry armed guards to stop pirates from boarding, and whether shipowners should pay huge ransoms to free their crews from captivity.

All hail the omni-channel. But how can logistics providers possibly keep pace with an explosion in the number of delivery points within a city that must be served? Bob Farrell, president and chief executive officer of Kewill, has an innovative proposal. He'd like to see the construction of shared logistics centers, occupied by multiple service providers, feeding shipments into retail stores and private homes located deep within urban centers. It's one way to combat the gridlock that can only get worse as cities continue to grow, and consumers demand same-day delivery to the doorstep. Listen to Farrell's idea about how we can combat a problem that gets ''worse and worse, day by day.''

It's supposed to be a trade dispute between the U.S. and China over solar cells. But that's not the real story. What's more interesting is the way in which the Commerce Department determines whether imports are being ''dumped'' in U.S. markets. The formula might be based on prices in countries that have little or nothing to do with the matter at hand. It all comes down to whether or not the exporting nation in question is considered a ''market economy.'' And that decision is often more political than economic in nature, according to attorney William Perry, a partner in the trial department of Dorsey Whitney. He talks about the trade tensions that are simmering below the surface of relations between the U.S. and China, and offers his view on how the system should be improved.

What's eating the American transportation infrastructure? Corrosion. Even the strongest structures eventually fall victim to natural law, but the process is accelerated by human neglect. When will the next bridge collapse? Absent regular care and maintenance, ''it's not a question of whether – it's a question of when,'' says Richard Grant, a principal with Russell Corrosion Consultants. He pinpoints the crisis that's affecting every metal-based structure in the nation's transportation network, and talks about what we must do address it. It's time to ''shift our mindset from reactive to proactive,'' he says.

Is the reshoring trend for real? Sean Adkins, managing director and operations practice leader with West Monroe Partners LLC, a business and technology-consulting firm, talks about the factors that are making China a less attractive place to source manufacturing for consumer markets in the western hemisphere. Wages in China are on the rise, he says, and importers must shoulder additional costs such as the need for buffer stock and longer supply lines. But will the U.S. be the main beneficiary of this trend? What about Mexico, and other low-cost sources of production closer to home?

The art of storytelling isn't just for movies and works of fiction. Celebrated screenwriting guru Robert McKee, whose students over the years have included more than 50 Academy Award winners, explains how the elements of story can help businesses to enact change within the organization, attract investors, market and advertise products, and cope with crises that threaten to destroy a company's public image.

Why are companies doing such a poor job of retaining and attracting top talent in supply-chain management? Jake Barr, chief executive officer of Blue World Consulting LLC, and a former supply-chain executive with Procter Gamble, has some tips for how companies can hang on to their current employees, find new ones and ensure that candidates have the right skills to manage modern-day supply chains.