WAM

Our guest on today’s show established a company with a mission to deeply understand the pain of using Excel to forecast inventory, scale your supply chain, and bring change. In this episode we are joined by Rachel Liaw, co-founder and CEO at Fuse Inventory. Rachel was born and raised in Hawaii, and she is a Stanford University alumna with a B.A. in East Asian Studies and minor in Computer Science. After her studies, Rachel worked her way up to becoming a supply chain manager where she realized that brands were still using spreadsheets to forecast and plan merchandise even as they scaled to 50 million, 100 million, and even beyond. During that time, the only other options for systems were outdated, legacy software or custom-built systems, and so inevitably, Fuse Inventory was born! Today, Fuse helps clients pull data from every step of their supply chains, then uses proprietary algorithms to forecast demand in order for businesses to plan their inventory efficiently and accurately. It then translate the demand forecast into smart purchasing recommendations that help clients optimize their cash flows and scale their businesses. Outside of Fuse, Rachel has also launched her own baby brand, called Parsol Co., through which she experienced the pain points of inventory first-hand. Join us today as we talk about the need for change when it comes to inventory programs, integrating with e-commerce platforms, what it takes to build and finance a female-run company, and so much more on this episode of WAM Podcast!

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From marketing to real estate, procurement officers need to be jacks-of-all-trades, saddled with the huge responsibility of dealing with the many third-parties needed to run an organization. Today, host Rosemary Coates interviews the COO of 9thWonder, Mary Ann Brennan, about why procurement is so vital to modern companies. We open by touching on Mary Ann’s career highlights before talking about her procurement roles working for adidas and Mattel. After exploring the differences between direct and indirect procurement, we dive into how successful procurement leads to horizontal integration into other departments. We then chat about supply chain innovations over the past two decades and how procurement fits in with businesses at the different stages of their maturation. Mary Ann shares her insights into what it takes to excel at procurement, along with the importance of building partnerships. Reflecting on her current job as COO of 9th Wonder Agency, Mary Ann discusses why talent is crucial to your company and how your culture is a key tool in managing talent. Near the end of the episode, we talk about her teaching, why you need to change alongside your customers, and why procurement officers benefit by learning from different industries. Tune in to find out more about procurement practices from Mary Ann, a global leader in the procurement field.

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Today on the WAM podcast, we welcome to the show, Courtney Wright. Courtney is the CEO of Gemini Builds It! and Showcase Acrylics. Prior to Gemini, Courtney founded CDW Merchants, the leading provider of 3D virtual retail displays and e-commerce gift packaging for the nation’s top retailers, including Kate Spade, Sperry’s, and Club Monaco. In 2016, she sold CDW to a global billion-dollar company, however, with little downtime as she acquired Gemini Builds It! in the same year, all while saving 60 jobs in the community. She is one woman who is making manufacturing cool in Chicago. In today’s episode, we delve into how Courtney and her team made an incredibly timely pivot providing a key product for the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic. She talks more about how she is driven to solve problems, continually finding new opportunities, and shares great advice about failing fast and prioritizing growth. Stay tuned for an insightful conversation with Courtney Wright.

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Unlike linear models we see across most industries, the circular economy model is one that is focused on sustainability and reusing products and resources. We’re seeing this model gain traction and businesses who adopt it are finding it to be a profitable decision long term.

In this episode, Linda Rigano has a fascinating discussion with Natasha Franck, founder and CEO of Eon, a powerful new platform that is using IoT to change how businesses connect products and create a digital footprint.

Eon helps its customers to identify, track, and manage fashion items to encourage transparency and accountability in the supply chain. Natasha explains how Eon provides each product with a digital birth certificate and passport, containing all important data. When this data is known, it makes it easier to be recycled, repurposed, and re-entered into the cycle.

Natasha also shares her personal and professional journey and how founding Eon ties into her passion for social justice, pay equity, transparency and sustainability.

Hear Natasha’s story – her early influencers and what motivated her to tackle a long-term industry problem. She firmly believes fashion can be the poster child for other industries facing similar challenges.

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Consumer demand for transparency is getting stronger every day and manufacturers are being held accountable in ways they never had to.

WAM podcast co-host Linda Rigano speaks with Judy Moon, a fearless champion for greater transparency in the fashion industry. Judy heads up sales for EVRYTHNG, a market-leading Internet of Things SaaS platform for consumer products, trusted by global brands to transform their businesses with product digitization and data-intelligence.

EVRYTHNG is unique in its market -- leveraging AI and machine learning to give customers the ability to see and learn from each product’s journey. This gives better visibility and control of their customer’s supply chain, and brand protection from counterfeiting and gray market/divergent activities. It also empowers the manufacturer to control its products and inventory and be prepared to deal with potential crisis like product recalls.

Listeners can hear Judy’s empowering personal and professional journey. She is no stranger to hard work. Judy’s family emigrated to the US from South Korea when she was 7 years old. Her parents instilled key values including education, responsibility and the importance of doing the right thing and keeping your “side of the street clean”. Judy started out in marketing for Time, Inc. where she launched their first education program. She then reinvented herself and became a successful film producer noted for her films My Architect and Conversations with Gregory Peck.

Mid-career while starting her own family, Judy began hearing more about the huge waste in the fashion industry – particularly how 35% of materials in the supply chain end up as waste. She again reinvented herself and started working for some technology companies. In 2018 she found her home at EVRYTHNG which addresses the key issues Judy cares about – transparency, traceability and digitization of a product’s journey. Today she is focused on retail, but sees EVRYTHNG expanding to other markets including apparel, beauty and seafood.

Hear more about Judy’s story here.

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A lot of people, to this day, are only now learning about what supply chain is because of toilet paper. The pandemic has opened up opportunities for supply chain educators, as people are becoming aware of professions in supply chain. However, there is still a lack of education in various spaces such as in grade schools! Today on the Women and Manufacturing podcast we welcome Cindy Mebruer, Director of the Center for Supply Chain Excellence at Saint Louis University. Cindy is well-known throughout the US for running an outstanding supply chain center that supplies both the university and the community of greater Saint Louis. In this episode, we will be discussing an important topic — education for people who are learning about or entering into the profession of supply chain and greater global manufacturing. So stay tuned to find out more!

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If you have worked in an engineer to order manufacturing environment long enough, you have most likely had some type of negative experience with enterprise software. And while ERP software has been out there for many years, it has never really focused on a project orientated environment. Our guest today on the Women and Manufacturing Podcast is Theresa Santiago, an Account Executive with COUNTERPART. COUNTERPART, powered by Smooth Logics, is a full-business operating software solution for engineer to order manufacturers. It is one total business solution, and it is not modular — it is a smart and dynamic software solution for both purchasing and inventory manufacturing. Theresa joined COUNTERPART with over 20 years of experience in the ERP software space. She works to improves business’ overall results by supporting, implementing, and selling to shop manufacturers with award-winning results. An ERP software system is important and a good system can add value to a manufacturing company. Listen in as we talk about all things ERP systems and why they are beneficial for manufacturing companies.

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Business owners often neglect planning because they are busy working in the business rather than thinking about the next step. This is why it’s important to bring in a third-party to help with planning and looking to the future. Today's guest is Rachel Lower, President of Cornerstone Advisors, an advisory consultancy that helps companies develop their human capital, accelerate their businesses, and implement strategies to protect and eventually transfer wealth in a way that mitigates tax consequences. In this episode, Rachel explains Cornerstone’s mission and their passion for helping businesses endure. She also sheds light on some of the tools Cornerstone uses to help their clients plan and protect wealth such as trusts and life insurance. Wealth transference and protection should go hand in hand with business growth, but Rachel acknowledges that this is not always the case when owners are in the weeds running their companies. We also hear about how Cornerstone builds long-term relationships with their clients, the importance of a proactive, flexible planning approach, and how current events have affected the consultancy’s business. To hear more, tune in today!

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As with anything in life, we make plans. But plans change and paths shift. You have to teach yourself to be resilient, to be open, and to be flexible in life so that when challenges arise and new opportunities present themselves, you can take advantage of them.

Linda Rigano’s guest on this episode of the WAM Podcast has a remarkable story. Judy Greenhill is the CEO and COO of Greenhill AntiBallistics Corporation (GABC), a nanotechnology “startup” that makes a special force disruption platform that reduces the force of impact by nearly 50% in the thickness of one dime.

Judy relishes being a “pioneer” and has a career of “firsts”. During her 19-year career at IBM, Judy was the first Asian woman in marketing and sales in IBM’s “Wall Street” branch, working her way up from programmer. Judy was selected to be one of the “Dirty Dozen” sent to Beijing to set up IBM’s operations in-country. While there, Judy led multi-million-dollar projects, including the establishment of IBM China’s first and largest computer complex. She was tapped to join a group of three where she crafted IBM’s emerging markets strategy, which she conceived and implemented globally, contributing 22% of IBM’s annual total revenue of $107B.

Judy was also asked to conceive and implement a diversity strategy for its Asian constituency, which she did worldwide throughout the company

After leaving IBM, she worked at The Dwight School where she taught the first Mandarin Language and Chinese Culture International Baccalaureate Curriculum for K-12 grades.

Hear Judy’s amazing journey on this episode of the Women And Manufacturing podcast.

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Family-owned takes on a whole new meaning, something much larger to our guest today on the WAM podcast. In this episode we heartily welcome Rita Tabatchnick. Rita is the President of Tabatchnick Fine Foods, a nationally recognized soup company with over 30 varieties of hearty soups and broths. The company, amazingly, is now in its 115th year of operation. Under Rita’s leadership, Tabatchnick Fine Foods serves multiple markets including school lunch programs, national USAID programs, and retail frozen and fresh soups. In today’s episode we talk about all things family and women-owned business, where they’re operating in the markets, the reason behind their product lines, how they’re navigating new FDA regulations, how they work to give back to their community, and more! So stay tuned for yet another inspiring episode with a firehouse woman in the manufacturing industry. 

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