Supply Chain Revolution

Industry 4.0 is not a tool set you buy. It is a business transformation that requires the right strategy, storytelling, change management, and credible execution across both business and the plant floor. That is the thesis Jeff Winter has been refining for years, and it is why he has been ranked the number one global thought leader for Industry 4.0 by Onalytica, named the number one global influencer in manufacturing by Manufacturing Digital Magazine, and has amassed over 100 million views across more than 1,300 LinkedIn posts.

In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, Sheri Hinish sits down with Jeff, now VP of Commercial Strategy at Belden, for a conversation about what it actually takes to make Industry 4.0 real inside a manufacturing organization. Jeff traces his career from sales engineer to safety PLC turning point to the moment he stopped selling products and started selling visions, and how LinkedIn and storytelling transformed not just his career but his identity.

Together, they unpack why manufacturers struggle to turn proven technologies into a clear path forward (most start with nouns like AI and IoT when they should start with verbs like reduce, accelerate, and standardize), the five prerequisites that must be true inside an organization before technology creates value, and the emerging concept of the "two factories" model where a physical factory makes the product and an AI factory produces the intelligence that runs it. Jeff also shares his framework for understanding Industry 4.0 as both an era and a destination, why every plant thinks it is special (and why that kills scale), and what connected intelligence looks like when done right.

Chapter Markers:

0:00 Introduction: making Industry 4.0 real

1:03 Meet Jeff Winter: origin story and career arc

2:07 LinkedIn, storytelling, and 100 million views: building a movement

3:41 The safety PLC turning point: from selling components to selling the safe machine

8:40 Selling the product vs. selling the problem vs. selling the vision

10:21 Industry 4.0 defined: era vs. destination (and why both are right)

13:32 Why manufacturers struggle: starting with nouns instead of verbs

14:17 Cross-functional value, functional budgets, and the ownership gap

15:20 Industry 5.0 vs. 4.0: is 15 years enough for an industrial revolution?

19:27 What real digital transformation requires: five prerequisites

21:25 Every plant thinks it is special (and why that kills scale)

23:21 The next manufacturing operating model: from connected equipment to connected intelligence

24:51 Jensen Huang's two factories: the physical factory and the AI factory

25:14 Making intelligence operational: the real competitive advantage

26:19 Final words and how to find Jeff on LinkedIn

Key Topics:

Industry 4.0, digital transformation, IT/OT convergence, manufacturing strategy, smart manufacturing, physical AI, connected intelligence, NVIDIA two factories, Belden, change management, human centricity, cross-functional KPIs, manufacturing operating model, automation, IoT, digital twin, business case for transformation, plant floor to enterprise, operational technology, Jeff Winter

Connect and Learn More:

Jeff Winter: linkedin.com/in/jeffreyrwinter

Belden: belden.com

Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

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Simulation is the missing layer in supply chain talent development. That is the thesis of this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, where Sheri Hinish sits down with Rada Lazarova from Inchainge, the company behind The Fresh Connection and The Blue Connection, the world's leading supply chain business simulations used by over 40% of the world's top 100 manufacturers and nearly half a million learners across more than 100 countries. 

Rada, based in Utrecht in the Netherlands, brings a perspective shaped by her own journey from Bulgaria to Wisconsin to the Dutch experiential learning ecosystem. She explains why traditional supply chain education falls short: it teaches theory without context, creating professionals who understand frameworks but freeze when confronted with the cross-functional complexity of real supply chain decisions. Inchainge's simulations drop participants, whether university students or Fortune 500 executives, into virtual companies where they take on VP-level roles and discover, often painfully, that optimizing their own function can bankrupt the entire business. 

Together, they explore why silos are the root cause of supply chain underperformance, how the human behaviors of students and C-suite executives are remarkably similar when placed in simulation environments, why sustainability thinking only takes hold when every decision is linked to impact metrics, and how Inchainge's new AI tutor responds like a teacher (with more questions, not answers) rather than a chatbot. Rada closes with a challenge to every supply chain leader: stop saving the day, start solving the problem. 

Chapter Markers: 

0:00 Introduction: simulation as the missing layer in supply chain talent 

0:24 Meet Rada Lazarova: from Bulgaria to Wisconsin to Inchainge 

1:29 Why traditional supply chain education falls short 

2:21 Inside the simulation: VP-level roles, cross-functional decisions, and sandbox failure 

3:58 The power of going bankrupt with no consequences 

4:33 Context engineering in the age of AI and automation 

5:08 Silos as root cause: how one client restructured their KPI system after training 

5:57 40% of the world's top 100 manufacturers: students vs. executives in the simulation 

8:06 Recovery in a simulation vs. recovery in the real world 

8:26 New AI and circularity capabilities on the Inchainge platform 

9:12 The sustainability hands-up moment: before and after the simulation 

11:00 Circular metrics: return on material, circularity of inputs, alternative revenue models 

11:52 The AI tutor: why it asks questions instead of giving answers 

13:35 Rapid fire: the biggest misconception about supply chain talent today 

14:18 What every supply chain leader should unlearn 

15:29 Rotate, explore, get your hands dirty: career advice 

15:39 What excites Rada most about the next five years of supply chain education 

Key Topics:  

Supply chain talent development, simulation-based learning, experiential learning, Inchainge, The Fresh Connection, The Blue Connection, supply chain skills gap, cross-functional KPIs, silo breaking, supply chain education, AI in education, circularity simulation, supply chain sustainability training, core skills, context engineering, supply chain gamification, workforce development 

Connect and Learn More: 

Rada Lazarova: linkedin.com/in/radalazarova 

Inchainge: inchainge.com 

The Fresh Connection (supply chain simulation): inchainge.com/learning-solutions 

The Blue Connection (circular economy simulation): inchainge.com/learning-solutions 

Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen): supplychainqueen.com

In this episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, produced in partnership with the Innovation Forum, Sheri Hinish sits down with Christine Goulay, founder of Sustainabelle Advisory Services in Paris. Christine brings 20 years of experience at the intersection of sustainability and fashion, including operational roles at Pangaea and the Kering Group (the luxury conglomerate behind Gucci and Balenciaga), advisory work with UNEP and the Textile Exchange, and board positions with traceability and materials startups including Fairly Made.

Together, they unpack the honest state of sustainable apparel in 2026. Christine identifies three distinct tiers of brand behavior: the core leaders who are integrating sustainability as a risk reduction and customer engagement strategy, the compliance hedgers who are calculating whether to invest now or pay fines later, and the silent majority waiting to see which way the regulatory wind blows.

She explains why regulation was the decisive differentiator in scaling reuse in France, why the same dynamic is now playing out with the California Textile Recovery Act and Digital Product Passport requirements in the EU, and why simply checking the compliance box builds adequate supply chains, not extraordinary ones.

Christine introduces a powerful framework: the love language of sustainability. Borrowed from Gary Chapman's 1992 book, the concept is that sustainability leaders must speak the language of their audience, replacing terms like ESG with resilience when talking to procurement, framing impact as risk reduction for CFOs, and embedding sustainability KPIs alongside financial metrics so sourcing teams can make balanced decisions without career risk.

She shares how France's EPR eco-modulation bonus returns 70 cents per garment for certified materials versus a five-to-seven cent average EPR cost, and how forward-thinking brands are embedding CO2 emissions data directly into RFPs.

Connect with our guest: Christine Goulay, Founder, Sustainabelle Advisory Services LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinegoulay/

Our partner for this episode: Innovation Forum Website: https://innovationforum.co.uk/conferences/sustainable-apparel-and-textiles-conference-usa/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovation-forum-uk/posts/?feedView=all

Join us at the Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference USA New York City | June 3–4, 2026 | 230+ leaders | Chatham House Rules Register: https://innovationforum.co.uk/conferences/sustainable-apparel-and-textiles-conference-usa/

Connect with Sheri Hinish (Supply Chain Queen®): Website: https://www.supplychainqueen.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherihinish/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SupplyChainQueen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supplychainqueen/ Listen to Supply Chain Revolution on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/supply-chain-revolution/id1496639064 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2yfqyaA8FtAcwjUDi2nrhe

Key Topics: sustainable apparel 2026, textile regulation, EPR Extended Producer Responsibility, California Textile Recovery Act, Digital Product Passport DPP, circularity textiles, traceability, supply chain transparency, Kering Group, Sustainabelle, Innovation Forum, Sustainable Apparel and Textiles Conference USA, fashion supply chain, supplier de-risking, impact KPIs, love language of sustainability, Fairly Made, eco-modulation, total cost of ownership, procurement sustainability

In this special Earth Day episode of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast, Sheri Hinish sits down with Wesley Herche, Director of Energy and Sustainability Solutions at Prologis and co-founder of the Sustainability Decoded newsletter. Wesley brings one of the most unconventional career paths in the sustainability world, from civilian intelligence officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and deployment to Iraq, through BCG and Amazon, to his current role at the world's largest logistics real estate company.

Wesley's thesis is as provocative as it is precise: there is no difference between GDP and energy. Every supply chain decision that appears to be about cost, resilience, or emissions is fundamentally an energy decision. He argues that organizations must stop treating energy like a procurement line item and start treating it as the operating system on which their entire supply chain runs.

Together, they unpack why the discovery of fossil fuels created the sharpest inflection point in human development history, how Pakistan added 25 gigawatts of rooftop solar (most of it through DIY TikTok tutorials) to build energy resilience now larger than all other generation combined, and why the Strait of Hormuz crisis is revealing what has always been true: energy logistics are the invisible substrate of the global economy.

Wesley breaks down the three energy services every business actually consumes (heat, propulsion, and electricity), how to evaluate alternative generation architectures across onsite solar, battery storage, green tariffs, and offsite renewables, and why treating emissions like product specs transforms procurement from a cost function into a strategic weapon. They close with the announcement of Sustainability Decoded as a new Supply Chain Revolution community partner.

Follow Wes and Sustainability Decoded

Key Topics: Earth Day 2026, energy supply chains, energy as operating system, renewable energy strategy, Prologis, Sustainability Decoded, Strait of Hormuz, electrotech, Scope 1 2 3 emissions, supplier decarbonization, onsite solar, battery storage, energy resilience, Pakistan solar revolution, GDP and energy, supply chain sustainability, green tariffs, climate strategy

The Strait of Hormuz crisis has become the largest disruption to global energy supply since the 1970s oil embargo, with ship transits collapsing by over 95% and an estimated 230 loaded oil tankers stranded inside the Persian Gulf. Fertilizer exports through the strait have plummeted by more than 90%, threatening global food production heading into planting season. So what does the recovery playbook actually look like for supply chain and procurement leaders whose operations run through the Gulf?

In this episode, Sheri Hinish sits down with Sam Achampong, Regional Director for CIPS across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific, live from Dubai in the middle of the crisis. Sam brings over 18 years of experience operating in the Gulf region and offers an unvarnished, on-the-ground perspective that transcends the headlines.

Together, they unpack how business continuity plans are holding up (and where they are falling short), why organizations are renegotiating payment terms with strategic suppliers to fund local sourcing pivots, and how the cash-flow circularity strategy is helping companies stabilize operations in real time. Sam shares hard-earned lessons on supplier relationship management, the critical difference between transactional and strategic partnerships, and why the best procurement leaders never become famous.

They also explore the talent gap, the underinvestment in people skills relative to technical capabilities, and why context engineering is the true differentiator for AI-enabled supply chain decision-making. Sam closes with a powerful historical parallel: CIPS itself was founded in response to the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930s, proving that procurement professionals have been navigating geopolitical disruption for nearly a century.

Key Topics: Strait of Hormuz crisis, Middle East supply chain disruption, procurement recovery playbook, business continuity planning, supplier relationship management, strategic sourcing, energy supply chain, petrochemical trade disruption, fertilizer supply crisis, AI in supply chain risk, talent development, CIPS, geopolitical risk management