The Supply Chainer

When retailers operate across marketplaces, dropship networks, and direct-to-consumer channels simultaneously, inventory accuracy becomes a distributed coordination problem. Stock levels fragment across enterprise resource planning systems,...

Episode 128 of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast examines the hidden governance risks behind critical mineral supply chains. Host Tom Raftery is joined by Johan Oosthuizen, Associate Director and Responsible Sourcing Lead for Africa at SLR Consulting, for a discussion on responsible sourcing, audit data, verification, and the practical limits of self-reporting. The conversation focuses on why mineral supply chains cannot be assessed through policy statements alone, particula

Operational pressure is mounting for agrifood and manufacturing leaders. Disruptions in key chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz drive sharp increases in costs for fertilizer, feed, fuel, freight, and food. Legacy systems struggle with rapid modeling of interconnected decisions across procurement, inventory, and logistics. Operators face fragmented data, sequential optimization failures, and mounting execution gaps that expose thin margins. According to the FAO, 20-45% of ke

For freight brokers, the operational risk is no longer limited to finding capacity at the right price. Increasingly, the challenge is proving that the carrier moving the load was properly vetted before the freight ever left the dock. That pressure has intensified following recent legal and regulatory developments in the U.S. trucking market. The Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II ruling, combined with heightened scrutiny of commercial driver licensing and carrier compliance, h

Warehouse and transportation operators generate more data than ever. Yet many still struggle to turn visibility into consistent execution at enterprise scale. The core dilemma is the persistent gap between knowing what is happening and acting effectively in real time on labor shifts, exceptions, inventory issues, and operational disruptions. Visibility Falls Short Amy Dean of SC Codeworks replied in writing to The Supply Chainer. SC Codeworks delivers warehouse management sys

For fleets, uptime is everything. And so is ease of doing business. A truck can get serviced on time, the parts can be in stock and the repair can be completed correctly, but the experience still breaks down if the invoice doesn’t match negotiated pricing, payment terms vary by location or the fleet’s A/P team spends hours reconciling paperwork across multiple service points. Those issues may seem administrative, but they shape how fleets evaluate suppliers. Across the commer

Shippers are running into concrete execution problems. Primary carriers are turning down more contracted loads than models anticipated, pushing volume onto spot markets where rates moved up sharply in the first half of the year. This creates immediate cost overruns and forces transportation teams to scramble for capacity on short notice. Missed drayage appointments at distribution centers trigger detention and demurrage that eat into margins quickly when windows are tight. Ex

Procurement teams at manufacturers and large operators face mounting pressure from slow requisition cycles, sourcing delays and compliance complexity that inflate costs and tie up capital. These execution gaps have grown more acute as organizations scale spend management across fragmented systems and supplier networks. Operational Bottlenecks in Spend Management Visibility into transactions exists but often fails to translate into faster decisions at the point of execution. D

Southeast Asian container terminals operate under constant pressure to coordinate vessel berthing, automated crane sequences, yard handoffs, and manual ground operations across multiple shifts without communication delays. A single missed h...

Leadership changes continued across retail, manufacturing, logistics and supply chain technology during June. While executive appointments are common, several of this month's moves stand out because they put supply chain, fleet and operations leaders in positions with broader influence over business performance. As companies look for ways to improve execution, control costs and increase resilience, operational leadership is moving higher up the agenda. Target Names Jeff Engla

AI chip demand diverts memory production. Procurement teams in manufacturing, retail and tech face lead times that swing wildly. A delayed component shipment misses a receiving window. Detention charges mount at the dock. Warehouse labor sits idle. Cash flow forecasts collapse because finance lacks real-time signals on supplier commitments. Operations directors juggle daily firefighting while trying to protect margins and customer orders. This volatility turns routine plannin

This week’s episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast examined how supply chain resilience is shifting from recovery planning to faster, earlier decision-making. Hosted by Tom Raftery, the episode featured Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of ASCM, the Association for Supply Chain Management. The discussion focused on agility, supplier visibility, AI, sustainability, cyber risk and the governance pressures now reshaping supply chain leadership. For senior supply chain leaders, the conve