Resilient Supply Chain— stories and strategies that keep business moving

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How many fulfilment failures start as “just this once” exceptions?
In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Leo Rodriguez, VP at River Plate Inc., a Southern California 3PL working across e-commerce, retail, warehousing, distribution, freight logistics, kitting, and assembly. We look at fulfilment through the lens of supply chain resilience, risk, data, visibility, and the operational discipline brands need as channels multiply and complexity rises.
You’ll hear how small workarounds can quietly become broken workflows, why inbound setup often matters more than outbound execution, and why clean item data, packaging details, carton markings, EDI, ASNs, and warehouse management systems are not back-office admin. They are the plumbing that keeps customer experience, margin, and retail compliance from falling apart. Glamorous? No. Expensive when ignored? Very.
We also break down why more software does not automatically mean better logistics. Leo explains where AI and automation can remove repetitive decisions, where human judgement still matters, and why the physical operation and the system reality have to run in tandem. You might be surprised to learn that a box designed to fit beautifully in a container can become oversized, overweight, and costly once it hits a retail fulfilment channel. Tiny cardboard decision. Big margin consequence. Supply chain, naturally, finds comedy in the most financially painful places.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Leo Rodriguez and River Plate Inc. help brands build more disciplined, visible, and resilient fulfilment operations.
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Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:
Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch
And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Finally
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it. 

Thanks for listening.

Send me a message
How much do we really know about the minerals powering the energy transition?
In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Johan Oosthuizen, a responsible sourcing specialist based in South Africa, working across mining, operations, supply chain governance, and regulatory due diligence. His perspective matters because he works in the uncomfortable gap between boardroom expectations and site-level reality, which is exactly where supply chain resilience either holds firm or quietly comes apart.
You’ll hear how critical mineral supply chains are being stretched by the booming demand for batteries, EVs, and energy storage, while compliance, data, and visibility struggle to keep pace. We break down why self-reporting is structurally weak in high-risk mineral chains, and why third-party verification is becoming less of a nice-to-have and more of a strategic necessity.
Johan also explains why a mine is not simply “one company digging a hole”. It is an ecosystem of contractors, labour providers, suppliers, communities, regulators, and investors. You might be surprised to learn that a mine employing 1,000 to 2,000 people directly may need around 10,000 people in the first tier alone to support it. Tiny governance gaps can become very large operational risks. Funny how supply chains keep refusing to behave like neat little org charts.
We also explore how audit data can move beyond compliance and become a tool for supplier development, sustainability, risk reduction, and real supply chain resilience.
🎙️ Listen now to hear Johan Oosthuizen explain why the hidden risk in critical mineral supply chains may be three layers deep, twelve months behind, and far closer to extraction than many leaders realise.
Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:
Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch
And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Finally
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it. 

Thanks for listening.

Send me a message
What if supply chain resilience is already too slow for the world we’re now operating in?
In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of ASCM, the Association for Supply Chain Management. Abe has watched supply chain move from a quiet back-office function to a boardroom priority, and this conversation gets into why that shift matters now, as export controls, tariffs, climate volatility, cybersecurity, sustainability pressures, and supplier risk collide in real time.
You’ll hear how agility has become more than a contingency plan. Abe makes the case that resilient supply chains are no longer just about recovering after a shock. They are about seeing earlier, deciding faster, and building optionality before disruption turns expensive. We break down why supply chain visibility is now table stakes, but also why knowing who and what is in your supplier network creates a harder question: should those suppliers still be there?
We also explore the tension between CFOs pushing for lower inventory and cash flow discipline, and supply chain leaders pushing for flexibility, resilience, and long-term capability. Abe explains why AI in supply chain, automation, data, and real-time visibility matter, but also why technology without talent and critical thinking can become another risk vector. And you might be surprised by the cybersecurity angle: connecting the extended supply chain solves one visibility problem, while opening up new exposure through smaller suppliers.
🎙️ Listen now to hear Abe Eshkenazi of ASCM explain why agility, visibility, data, and sustainability are becoming central to supply chain resilience.
Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:
Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch
And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Finally
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it. 

Thanks for listening.

Send me a message
What if returns are hiding 4–5 points of EBITDA in plain sight?
In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Terry Boyle, CEO of Trove, to explore one of retail and logistics’ most neglected pressure points: reverse logistics. Terry’s argument is blunt and useful: if brands care about supply chain resilience, sustainability, risk, data, and visibility, they can’t keep treating returns as the untidy corner nobody wants to inspect.
You’ll hear how online returns are reshaping inventory economics, why imperfect product too often gets parked on pallets until value evaporates, and how better returns processing can unlock labour savings, faster return-to-stock, stronger resale pricing, and fraud reduction. Not glamorous. Very profitable.
We also break down why customer-reported returns data is often unreliable, how item-level visibility can feed back into design, sizing, packaging, supplier decisions, and quality control, and why sustainability may scale faster when it is sold as better inventory economics rather than moral virtue alone.
Interestingly Terry also shares the very real problem of “boxes of rocks” showing up in returns, because apparently even fraud has a logistics department now.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Terry Boyle and Trove are rethinking returns, resale, and the hidden economics of resilient, sustainable supply chains.
Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:
Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch
And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Finally
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it. 

Thanks for listening.

Send me a message
What if your biggest supply chain risk isn’t disruption, but the time it takes to decide what to do next?
In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Robbert de Looff, Industry Commercial Lead for Chemicals at OMP, to explore why supply chain resilience now depends on more than better forecasting. In a world of energy price spikes, shipping disruption, raw material constraints, sustainability pressures, and geopolitical shocks, visibility is useful, but only if it leads to better, faster decisions.
Robbert and I break down why traditional planning cycles can leave companies reacting weeks too late, and why decision-centric planning is becoming so important for supply chain leaders. You’ll hear how organisations can move from rigid S&OP rhythms to scenario-based planning, where teams know what data they need, who owns the decision, and when action is genuinely required.
You might be surprised to learn that “real-time planning” doesn’t mean constantly changing the plan. Sometimes the best real-time decision is not to act. We also explore where AI can help, from surfacing relevant risks to running what-if scenarios, and where humans still need to stay firmly in control: relationships, judgement, and trust.
Kismet: one of the sharpest examples is the Rhine running low. Not a cyberattack. Not a system failure. Just water levels quietly deciding whether chemical supply chains can keep moving. Resilience, it turns out, can still be humbled by a river.
🎙️ Listen now to hear how Robbert de Looff and OMP are rethinking data, visibility, risk, and decision-making for more resilient, sustainable supply chains.
Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:
Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch
And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber  - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making. 
Download my Speaker Pack: https://tinyurl.com/spkrpck

Finally
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a message using this link.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it. 

Thanks for listening.