The SupplyChainBrain Podcast More Than Labor: Today, Global Sourcing Is All About Total Cost
Mar 6, 2026
Ketul Patel, founder of OMEA Consulting and former executive at Michael Kors and Toys R Us, brings practical global sourcing expertise. He discusses why total landed cost now outranks unit price. Short takes cover the many hidden cost components, scorecards for sourcing choices, product-driven geography tradeoffs, tariff strategy, resilience through backups, and AI-enabled dynamic decision tools.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Total Landed Cost Replaces Unit Labor Focus
- Total landed cost now drives sourcing decisions rather than unit labor cost alone.
- Ketul Patel says recent crises and rising China labor pushed firms to embed landed cost as a decision framework, not just accounting.
Build Dynamic Landed Cost Models
- Include time variability, buffer inventory, expediting, quality defects, and inventory-carrying cost when calculating landed cost.
- Patel warns expediting and rework have grown into significant cost components amid freight volatility and diversification.
Scorecards Turn Risk Into Comparable Metrics
- A decision scorecard quantifies supplier and country risk across maturity levels to compare many suppliers.
- Patel recommends scoring suppliers on viability, capabilities, geographic spread, quality, visibility, and partner ecosystem role.
