The SupplyChainBrain Podcast

The Reshoring Initiative would like to slap the ''Made in U.S.A.'' label on a lot more products. Can it succeed? The organization's mission is to convince companies to bring manufacturing jobs back from China to the U.S. Recent economic trends in China, including a growing labor shortage and rising factory wages, are helping to make that dream a reality. At the same time, China's recent devaluation of the yuan appears to be drive by a desire to make its manufacturing exports more competitive. So are the jobs really coming home? On this episode, we speak with Reshoring Initiative founder and president Harry Moser. He discusses the group's efforts and talks about some recent successes. And he addresses the real challenges that stand in the way of a wholesale shift of manufacturing to the U.S. The big question: does the U.S. have the people and the skills to handle a big influx of work from China? For that matter, what will those returning jobs look like? Will automation undermine the benefits of reshoring for American workers?Support the show

A message to procurement managers: Your job is about to be transformed ''almost beyond recognition.'' Those are the words of Kai Nowosel, managing director of the Sourcing Procurement Practice of Accenture Strategy. On this episode, he talks about the big changes that are coming to procurement, spurred by developments such as digital platforms, sophisticated analytics and the Industrial Internet of Things. All of this promises to boost procurement's position in the organization, beyond its traditional role as a cost-cutter. Expect procurement managers to gain new respect in the executive suite, Nowosel says. Hear what a select group of high-level executives, academics and technology providers thinks the future holds for procurement. And discover how a combination of technology and business-process change will create ''the marketplace on steroids'' – all in just five to seven years.Support the show

U.S. West Coast ports are being ''held hostage'' by longshore labor. So says one noted economist. Diana Furchtgott-Roth is a former chief economist with the U.S. Department of Labor. Today, she serves as director of Economics21, in addition to acting as senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. She believes it's time for a change in the way that longshore labor is regulated. The National Labor Relations Act, which currently governs activities by U.S. dockworkers, doesn't prevent them from bringing port operations to a halt at will. But their actions – as in the case of the recent slowdown at West Coast ports – can have serious consequences for the U.S. economy. Furchtgott-Roth says ports should fall under the same law that governs rail and airline labor, and prohibits strikes under the theory that those sectors are vital to interstate commerce and the nation's economy well-being. Disputes under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act are settled through mediation and, if necessary, a board of arbitrators selected by the President of the U.S. Ports, she says, are no less crucial to commerce than railroads and airlines, especially at a time when international trade is so vital to the nation's interest. But is a change in the law politically feasible?Support the show

This is a ''watershed year'' for cybercrime, according to a new survey on the topic. Yet many companies are falling short in their efforts to battle it. The state of corporate cybercrime protection is mixed at best. Government agencies and boards of directors are taking an increased role in the adoption of good preventive practices, according to a new survey by PwC, CSO, the U.S. Secret Service, and the CERT Division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. On the other hand, many companies still aren't fully aware of the threat presented by hackers, terrorists and foreign governments. Shockingly, one in five of the surveyed executives said they aren't worried about the risk that cybercrime poses to their supply chains. Even some of the more forward-thinking organizations haven't progressed very far on the maturity curve. On this episode, we discuss the implications of the survey with PwC partner Quentin Orr. He outlines the various kinds of cyber threats, addresses the critical issue of third-party risks, and reports on the level and types of corporate investment in people, process and systems. Finally, he answers the key question: Given the sophistication and persistence of cyber-criminals today, is there any hope?Support the show

Are robots taking over the warehouse? The science of robotics has long been critical to manufacturing. It has had less of a presence in the logistics sector, where automation has often taken the form of state-of-the-art conveyors, sorters and systems limited to directing the picking process. One reason for the disparity is safety. Another is cost. But all that might be about to change. New robots are being developed that can perform some of the numbingly repetitive tasks that have been the responsibility of humans. One of the newest companies on the scene is Fetch Robotics, which has developed two models of robots that can pick from inventory and efficiently move items to the shipping area. On this episode, we speak with Fetch chief executive officer Melonee Wise, who traces the development of robotics in logistics environments. She also discusses the changing public perception of robots, which in their early days were seen as a threat to the jobs (and even the lives) of people. Only in the last decade or so, she says, has that view begun to change. Increasingly, robots are being developed that can work side by side with humans. But just how smart are these machines? And are they fated to edge out people entirely?Support the show

Change in the organization is inevitable. So how do you get your employees to stop blocking it? Shifting consumer markets, a constant stream of new products, technological innovation, personnel changes, economic upheaval, mergers and acquisitions: they all contribute to the ceaseless march of transformation within every business. Yet managers find themselves battling the natural human tendency to avoid it. Such reluctance is entirely understandable, given the increasingly shaky nature of job security today. But companies must find a way to confront people's fears and enable change. On this episode, we speak with Renée Robertson, founder and chief executive officer of Trilogy Development, a consulting firm specializing in talent development. She outlines her strategy for effecting change in business, including a reliance on internal coaches. She explains where those individuals can be found, where they sit in the organizational chart, and what their job entails. Maybe change isn't so scary after all.Support the show

Multi-tiered manufacturing supply chains can end up in some unexpected places – including prisons. The use of unauthorized subcontractors, even prison labor, is a disturbingly common practice in China and elsewhere in Asia. The problem surfaced a few years back, when an Oregon woman discovered a hastily scribbled note in the Halloween decoration kit that she had purchased at a local Kmart. The writer purported to be a laborer in a Chinese prison. And while the source of the note was never traced, it highlighted a pervasive problem of which many retailers and original equipment manufacturers are unaware. Greg Hallahan, senior director with FTI Consulting, is an expert on the problem of unauthorized subcontractors in Asia markets. He joins us on this episode to detail the severity of the trend, caused by lax supplier vetting on the part of buyers. He also shines a light on the practice of rigged bidding among suppliers who are nominal competitors. (You'll never guess what the number-one product made in Chinese prisons is.)Support the show

What's going on behind the veil of secrecy that masks China's economy? Recently we've seen a steep plunge in share prices on China's stock markets, signaling the bursting of a bubble that was long in forming. Meanwhile, questions persist about the condition of China's banks, which have long been rumored to be saddled with large amounts of non-performing loans. Does all of this threaten China's economic future? Can the nation sustain its massive investments in infrastructure, both at home and abroad? And how is the yuan, which China recently devalued, performing against the dollar these days? On this episode, we hear from one of the leading experts on China, David Dollar, senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. He helps us to understand what's behind China's recent economic woes, how serious they are, and what impact they might have on the nation's quest to become the world's largest economy.Support the show

Another short-term extension of funding for transportation infrastructure improvements? This story is getting old. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has come up with a six-year transportation bill, the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act of 2015. That's not to be confused with the DRIVE (Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy) Act, which came out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Ideally, these measures would be successfully combined into a comprehensive, multi-year bill that nails down funding for transportation projects once and for all. But don't get your hopes up. Meanwhile, Congress has passed yet another extension of the Highway Trust Fund, but only until the end of the year. Have we made any progress at all, since enactment of the last big transportation bill in 2012 (which, by the way, didn't include a long-term funding solution)? On this episode, Joshua Schank, president and chief executive officer of the Eno Center for Transportation, returns to the podcast with an update on a perennially contentious issue. It's time to come up with a new way of paying for transportation projects, he says. But what will that look like? Nobody can seem to agree.Support the show

Is there slavery in your global supply chain? Are you sure about that? Governments want to know. The first major attempt to curb modern-day slavery through legislation was the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010, which took effect in early 2012. It served as a template for the United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act of 2015. Both require companies to disclose the presence of slavery or human trafficking anywhere in their supply chains, or face stiff penalties for failing to do so. Our guest on this episode is attorney Maureen Gorsen, partner in the Environment, Land Use Natural Resources Group of Alston Bird LLP. She discusses how companies can comply with the two laws, and gain visibility into activities of which they might previously have been unaware. As with any human rights violations, it can be tough to uncover such occurrences within complex, global supply chains. Nevertheless, companies will have to step up their game. These initial laws represent only the beginning of what's sure to be a more comprehensive effort on the part of governments to put a stop to slavery once and for all.Support the show