2 Babes Talk Supply Chain

Today’s episode is extra special as we chat with Ally Cedeno, not only does Holly Qualman join us as guest host but we are also celebrating the Women in Maritime everywhere!! Ally is one of the few women working in the maritime industry and has been working in the maritime industry for over 10 years.  Her main challenge has been working in an industry where women make up only 2%. The biggest issue? Understanding the importance of being herself, and not ‘acting like the guys’. She’s learnt how to show up as herself, with her own talents and without trying to please everyone. She’s also had the experience of working on a ship full of women (10 women out of 250 people is a lot!), and this encouraged her to push for more camaraderie and diversity in the workplace. Since then, Ally has founded Women Offshore, an organization for women in the maritime industry to come together and play a part in increasing diversity. She’s working hard on the education barrier, not only to empower women in the industry, but also to

In today’s episode we chat with Charles Brewer, all the way from Singapore! Charles is a supply chain expert, leader and since he’s worked in the industry for over 34 years we thought who better to answer this hot topic brought to us by the listeners. You will hear from our listeners about their challenges in working in a collaborative environment with supply chain teams and Charles will share with us his insights and amazing stories of how we need to change the narrative to bring together collaboration. So where does one start with all this? Charles gives us some helpful tips and it all starts with the leadership. Good leadership behavior trickles down and will mirror a collective approach within the team. Make sure all employees understand what every department does, and the importance of every individual’s efforts. He gives us another nifty tip: get every department to focus on the impact they have on the customer, and the role that supply chain has in the business. From his experience working with great p

Lets looks at our promotional products differently.... In this episode Sarah speaks with Tim Brown, executive director of QCA, the association responsible for holding this 24 billion dollar industry accountable. All those pens, tote bags and stickers you hand out at trade shows? That is the industry we are talking about, promotional products. They are a core part of brand awareness and business today but what do you know about those your purchase and hand out?… If your company accidentally chooses a promotional goods supplier that does not meet regulations, hurts someone or has connections with slave labour, the impact on your brand can be devastating! How can you make sure you source your promotional products come from an ethical supplier? Meet QCA, an accreditor that offers a program certifying promotional goods companies to make sure they meet regulations, are environmentally friendly and keep your brand safe. QCA offers you an opportunity to be proactive with your brand and only connect with companies tha

In today’s episode Sarah talks to Brandon Adams, an Emmy Award Winning TV producer and supply chain advisor who started his career shipping ice in the family business. After realizing he didn’t want to sell ice for the rest of his life, he became a TV show producer and motivational speaker plus he is also on the board of advisors for one of the newest supply chain disruptors, ShipChain. Brandon had to deal with some unique obstacles when managing his ice supply chain - but this is what gave him all the experience and expertise that got him on the board of ShipChain, a company that makes shipping logistics simple. They solve the problem of human error through tracking and tracing systems. He explains that the supply chain industry is more than ready for ShipChain and will make the industry much more efficient. As an entrepreneur, Brandon advises other entrepreneurs to always pay attention to the little things. Smaller problems can quickly become bigger ones. He also recommends finding people who will support y

In today’s episode we talk to Pauline Caballero, a startup founder who started out in the supply chain industry. Like many others, Pauline stumbled into the supply chain industry by accident and decided to stay. But she did find it challenging to move up the ranks as a woman, and combined with stress, a lot of travelling and a young family she decided to leave the industry and found her own yoga studio along with her business partner. Pauline turned to yoga and meditation to work on her mental health and help her cope with her day job. This led to her founding a yoga studio which offered classes for those with very busy schedules. Her supply chain skills came in useful when managing her startup; she knew how to create something scalable, the importance of starting from the bottom and which systems she had to put in place for business success. Her startup is now thriving and now has grown to 10 yoga studios across Ontario. The supply chain industry needs a shift away from tradition. Pauline is now back in supp

GET READY!! In this episode Audrey Ross, Co-host on The Trade Squad is our GUEST HOST! Our Resident Industry Expert, Graham Robins of BorderBuddy was happy to change things up a bit and have a conversation with Audrey full of fun, value and breaking through the noise. In this episode you will hear about why its important to negotiate a raise and how Graham is working on instilling a culture where people feel comfortable asking for a raise so they feel valued and appreciated. Then we also talk about how the best learnings come from other people’s mistakes, and why it’s how you handle the mistake, not the mistake itself that makes a difference. Most times, the customer just wants to be heard and recognized, and thats where we get in trouble by coming up with excuses that doesnt solve the problem.  We hear Graham’s take on crypto and Facebook’s new Libra coin, then he takes us on a journey around KPI's. After reading Bernie Smith’s book. he has come to realize that KPI's help people easily track their performanc

In this episode I talk to Michiel, the founder and CTO of Coco Pallet, a company that produces pallets from used coconuts in Asia and Latin America. Michiel came up with the concept when he realized there was a problem concerning the huge amount of waste of wood that goes into producing pallets. Coco Pallet's vision is to ship 400 million pallets per year, and their plan is to build 5 factories by 2022 to help with that goal.  Coco Pallet offers a lot of benefits to the different entities in the supply chain industry. The coconut pallets are single use and one way, and they follow compliance for export regulations. They are mostly used for dry products such as books. The coconuts are bought from farmiculture waste. Since the coconuts have no value for the farmers, the coconuts are extremely cheap to buy, which in turn makes coco pallets cheaper than the wooden alternative. Coco Pallet uses in house glue and their own tools to build the pallets, making them 100% biodegradable and therefore allowing farmers to

In this episode, I talk to Tom Williams, Group Vice President, Consumer Products at BNSF Railway and Dr. Noel Hacegaba, COO of the Port of Long Beach, both board members of the Intermodal Association of North America. They each have many years of experience working in the intermodal industry. Both Tom and Noel agree that the major challenge of the supply chain industry is the increasing sophistication that comes with working with different industry partners and shipping lines. As disruption meets innovation, customer expectations are also changing, their demands shifting from brick and mortar to more demanding e-commerce. Customers expect supply chain companies to make delivery processes fast, reliable and safe, which means increasing the efficiency of all coordinated shipments. IANA helps find solutions by bringing together industry leaders and placing education initiatives for everyone working with these logistics. This fall is the IANA Expo event, a must-attend event for anyone working in the supply chain

In this episode we talk to Demo, a Supply Chain Business Strategist at Logistics Services Panama. Demo lives in Panama, a country that has been a logistics hub for over 500 years and is a ‘one size fits all’ solution for global supply chains.  Panama is a unique logistics hub because of its logistics assets. It has the Panama canal, allowing ships from all over the world to gain access. Panama also has a world class port system with 4 ports being developed, essentially supporting both the Pacific and Atlantic ocean. Panama has the biggest free trade zone in the southern hemisphere and charges no tax on export or on sale. This means huge savings in time and cost for businesses doing trade in that area. As Demo says, the logistics are much more efficient; what would take several weeks in Miami, takes 4 days in Panama.  Doing business in Panama has some great advantages, as the country serves up to 30 countries and manages complex markets consisting of over 600 million people. Although Demo works mostly with big

WISC Series Sponsored by HULFT Welcome back Lets Talk listeners! Providing Disaster Relief Assistance Through Logistics In this episode we talk to Kathy, executive director of the American Logistics Aid Network, an organization that provides supply chain assistance to disaster relief organizations and other non-profits. Kathy has worked in the supply chain and IT industry for 20 years and joined ALAN in 2010 when she took an interest in supply chain and emergency management, and started working on efficient coordination of logistics activities during disasters. The logistics industry is instrumental to disaster relief - over 60% of spending goes into logistics. Making sure people have shelter, food and water is much more complicated than it seems. Logistics experts can provide their expertise and knowledge in order to do good, and this in turn can save a huge amount of money; Kathy uses an example where an NGO saved over a quarter of a million dollars just from 15 hours of work from a logistics expert. The mo

Welcome back Lets Talk listeners! Pain Points defined: A pain point is a specific problem that prospective customers of your business are experiencing. In other words, you can think of pain points as problems, plain and simple. Like any problem, customer pain points are as diverse and varied as your prospective customers themselves. Today, Hugo Fuentes Diaz, Partner at The OWL Solutions joins me on the show to talk about how to identify your supply chain pain points and the next steps on what to do next to simplify your supply chain performance. In this episode, Hugo and I will talk about how OWL solutions came about, how they help organizations to simplify their supply chain performance, why cross functional metrics are important to supply chain, most common pain points, how to empower your teams to focus and execute once the challenges have been identified and the results that you should expect. In this episode we discuss: Companies’ common pitfalls Finding cross functional metrics The main supply chain pa

Welcome back Lets Talk Listeners! When I worked for a 3PL selling logistics services (ocean freight, air freight, customs, warehousing, cross dock and some trucking) the biggest question I would get from potential clients was "What makes you different from the other service providers?" Only 5 years ago, freight forwarders were struggling to figure that out and what that would like moving forward. Today, I am speaking with John Cheringal, CEO of Axis Int'l and from what it looks like they have figured out what sets them apart from the rest of the pack which has not been an easy task. In this episode, John joins to me to talk about what challenges are service providers facing the industry, what sets them apart from their competition, why their strategy works, how they partner with their customers for success, a typical ROI their customers can expect from working with them. Plus John lets us in on what keeps him up at night as the owner of a logistics company and how their future includes reducing their carbon f

Welcome back Lets Talk Listeners! Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer science that emphasizes the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans. Some of the activities computers with artificial intelligence are designed for include: Speech recognition. Recently voted one of the 20 most innovative companies to watch in 2019, Algo is here to make sure you are ready for the AI revolution that is coming to a business near you. ARE YOU READY? In this episode, Amjad Hussain, CEO of Algo joins to me to talk about how they got started and why they are working with companies to help them get ready for the AI revolution. He will walk us through a real life example of how his clients are benefiting from working with Algo, what you should expect when introducing AI, how they set themselves apart from their competitors and finally Amjad gives us his half crazy intuitive prediction for the next 5 years of supply chain. Questions I Ask: Why don’t you tell us about Algo? Where did you star

Welcome back Lets Talk listeners! Everyone's journey is different and as we have seen from this series the path is never straight. Brenda says that being yourself, collaboration and stop labeling are all things to consider on your journey to success. In this episode, Brenda Santoro Head of Global Trade at Silicon Valley Bank joins me in my women in supply chain series to talk about what her career has meant to her and why she loves what she does. Brenda shares her story, the exciting things she is working on, real life examples of challenges she has faced and overcome plus so much more, including her advice to start ups in supply chain and what the #1 thing is that women should do in their career. Questions I Ask: Tell me about your journey. What did you want to be when you grew up? [0:47] What have you done? [2:07] What are the exciting things you encounter on a daily basis? [5:28] Do you work with mostly startups, mid-size or enterprise companies? [8:15] What challenges have you faced as a woman and how di

Welcome Back Listeners! Traditional forwarders will soon have little choice but to go digital and that is what Kontainers is hoping for. They are the dominant player in helping to make digitizing a reality for most forwarders and creating new and innovative ways for everyone to win. In this episode, Graham Parker CEO of Kontainers takes us on a journey of how he got started in the industry building a successful forwarding company that led to the creation of Kontainers. Graham will share how they are helping to digitize the industry and announce some exciting news about a new initiative they are launching to help small to mid sized forwarders. The future of forwarding is in digitization, collaboration, consolidation and marketplaces that will ONLY have room for the digital. You wont want to miss this episode as we take you into the future of the industry. Questions I Ask: Let’s get to know your story. Who are you? [0:36] How did your journey to success lead you to Kontainers? [0:40] What exactly do you do and

Welcome back Let's Talk listeners! If you aren't familiar with FreightWaves you should be, Recently listed on CNBC's 2018 upstart 100 list as the brightest, most intriguing young start ups promising to become one of the great companies of tomorrow, FreightWaves is a company to watch. In less than a year, FreightWaves grew to the second most trafficked news site in all of freight, globally. In this episode, Craig Fuller CEO of FreightWaves joins me to talk about the story behind the brand. Craig's journey started in the family business and as his passion for the industry grew so did his vision for the future. Join me as he tells us the story behind the brand, gives us a glimpse into his journey to success, Craig also predicts the future of supply chain and logistics as well as the reasons behind starting BITA (Blockchain Assoc). Questions I Ask: Who is Freightwaves? How did it get started? [0:26] As a supply chain professional, what does that mean for me exactly? [1:30] Can you run us through what you’re look

Hello Listeners! In this EXCLUSIVE Women in Supply Chain episode, I am live at JDA ICON 2019 and I sit down with CMO, Karen Leavitt of Locus Robotics. Her journey in technology since the 70s has recently lead her into supply chain industry and she is excited to help drive innovation in this space. Karen talks about how mentorship and collaboration helps to overcome challenges and creates allies that will help amplify messages and encourage others to find their voice. Karen ends with some advice for the next generation that includes a nugget about career success -  find different perspectives and really look to see how you can incorporate them into your career Enjoy!

Welcome back Let's Talk listeners! What is a Tariff? A tariff is a tax imposed by a government on goods and services imported from other countries that serves to increase the price and make imports less desirable, or at least less competitive, versus domestic goods and services. Tariffs are generally introduced as a means of restricting trade from particular countries or reducing the importation of specific types of goods and services. These days there are so many rules and regulations to moving products from country to country and with the US leading the most influential changes we have seen in a long time, many are scrambling to keep up. In this episode, Graham Robins CEO of Borderbuddy and my resident expert is back to talk about this game changing subject rocking industries and the business world right now (right Andy Polk - FDRA?). Graham talks to me about asking the question why, being intentional, some of the biggest mistakes you will make with your tariff database, what your responsibility is and what

Welcome back Lets Talk listeners! "Go with your gut!" is the mantra Michelle is truly living by, from following her gut to Boston to placing hundreds of hard working supply chain professionals on their career paths. Michelle also loves what she does and encourages everyone to live your passion because it is what drives you, it is what will bring opportunity and help you to live your best life. In this episode I will introduce you to Michelle Devevo, VP of Talent acquisition in Part 18 of my Women in Supply Chain Series. Michelle tells us the story of how she moved to Boston on a whim, how she was recruited for her current position, how she has helped hundreds of supply chain professionals find their way, why employer branding is so important and why Linkedin should be your best friend as an employer and as talent. You will be inspired by this story of passion, instinct and pure will. Questions I Ask: Where did you start? [0:34] What has your journey looked like? [0:34] What do you do now? [0:37] What are you

Welcome back Lets Talk listeners! Traditionally Supply Chain has been viewed as a cost centre because the majority of a business' cost are associated with sourcing, procurement, transportation, distribution and last mile. That view is changing and supply chain professionals are now viewing it as an investment centre but that doesn't mean we stop trying to keep the costs down. How do you do keep the costs in check? Some are diligent internally, some are so cash rich it gets over looked and most keep the company in check by hiring the experts like Spend Management Experts. In this episode, Melissa Runge, VP of analytical solutions takes us on a journey of collaboration, winning together in the spend column, why your company needs to partner with someone like SME and how Spend Management Experts keeps your customer experience in mind and that is what sets them apart from their competition. Questions I Ask: Who is Spend Management Experts and what do you do? [0:34] Why should someone work with a company like Spe