I am proud to co-host the Auto Supply Chain Prophets podcast with Quistem Founder and President Cathy Fisher. With each podcast episode, we talk with automotive industry experts about a range of insightful topics, all focused squarely on the global automotive supply chain and its challenges. Here’s a wrap-up of the latest episodes.
Episode #1: Can the Prophets Really See the Future?
In our introductory episode of the podcast, we shared our views about supply chain management issues and how getting supply chain right can generate revenue, but only when the foundational processes of material movement, sourcing, physical logistics and materials management are fully funded and optimized.
Click here to listen to the full episode.
Episode #2: The Farm Girl Takes on the Supply Chain
Jan Griffiths, former farm girl turned automotive Vice President of Global Supply Chain Management at a leading automotive tier one supplier, describes how her career got started in our second episode. As a purchasing temp at Borg Warner, she tells us:
“I walked onto that shop floor. And I felt alive, I smelled the oil and the coolant. The whole idea of manufacturing – I got it, it was in my blood. And I just loved it. And that’s how it all began.”
Throughout her career, Jan worked for several different tier-one suppliers. She joined the C-suite at a major tier-one supplier and saw how supply chain costs drive decisions.
She suggests that when we talk about the supply chain, we need to think about it as a living, breathing ecosystem with all participants interconnected and dependent on each other. And we need to recognize that the supply chain is where the money is.
Click here to listen to the full episode.
Episode #3: A Clearer Look into Today’s Murky Supply Chain
Bill Hurles, former Executive Director, Global Supply Chain Operations at General Motors, joined us for our third episode. His depth of experience at GM started on the engineering side before moving into manufacturing operations, at a time when GM was newly focusing on lean manufacturing and just-in-time inventory processes modeled by the Toyota Production System. From manufacturing, he moved into supply chain.
Based on this vast experience, he suggests that the more control a manufacturer has over each element of the supply chain, the more it reduces the complexity of its manufacturing process. We can trace back the current challenges in the supply chain to a lack of visibility, incomplete data integration and the need to automate manual tasks. He encourages employees at every stage of procurement and auto supply chain logistics to review QAD’s “Delivering on the Promise of Delivery: Preventing Future Auto Supply Chain Disruptions” and its 24 essential supply chain processes.
Click here to listen to the full episode.
Episode #4: Don’t Forget the Grease!
For our fourth episode, we welcomed Julie Dedene, Supply Chain Manager at Eastern Oil Company. Starting her career in human resources but realizing it wasn’t for her, Julie joined Eastern Oil Company as a buyer and the rest, as they say, is history.
Dealing with COVID lockdowns, labor shortages, and demand spikes in 2020 to fires at oil and chemical facilities in several states in 2021 and a winter storm that broke the power grid in Houston, Julie and her team have seen disruptions of every kind. From these experiences, Julie recommends that manufacturers identify multiple suppliers, each able to deliver more than one material and above all, maintain continuous communication with suppliers and customers. A strong IT system, automated tasks and data visibility benefit the supply chain even when disruptions occur.
Click here to listen to the full episode.
Episode #5: Supply Chain Leadership: Risk, Resiliency and Trust
We had such an insightful third episode with Bill Hurles, we invited him back to talk about purchasing, qualities needed for tier-one supply chain leaders, and simple changes that could streamline the automotive supply chain.
Bill shared the traits a strong supply chain leader needs, including a broad view of the supply chain environment and the technology that makes it more efficient. Good relationships, transparency and open communication between the OEMs and their suppliers are all crucial components of a vibrant supply chain. He sees a direct correlation between supply chain and profitability. Bill emphasized:
“Quality organizations and the engineering community are the two most important partners supply chain leaders have in helping CEOs and C-suite executives realize that the automotive supply chain is a profit center.”
Click here to listen to the full episode.
The Bottomline
Each of these automotive supply chain leaders agrees that the supply chain requires good communication, data visibility, upstream and downstream collaboration and the digital transformation brought about by technology.
To download and catch up on all the latest podcast episodes, please visit the Auto Supply Chain Prophets website.
