Director’s Blog
Closed Loop Recycling Systems are Key to Sustainable Concessions for the Portland Blazers
One of the big changes occurring in the food service packaging industry is the use of biobased food containers at sports events. Stadiums are “closed loop” systems, meaning that all of the waste materials can be collected and sent to […]
Lead Logistics Provider Capabilities Will Require Customized Innovation
With the onset of cloud computing, automation, and machine learning, organizations are integrating their global supply chains, they are finding themselves with more transactional data than they could have ever imagined. The question of how to convert this data to […]
The expanding scope of procurement analytics: Some initial thoughts
Procurement analytics, which supports decision making in procurement management, typically handles problems and decisions that are related to cost reduction, supplier management, cost modeling, procurement-led innovation, market strategies, supply chain risk, and stakeholder value improvement (Handfield, Jeong, and Choi 2019). […]
Improving Your Manufacturing Operations Using Warehouse Automation
Today’s guest blog is written by Ian Todd, Director of Automated Parking Systems for Westfalia Technologies, Inc. Ian is an expert on warehouse automation, and shares his insights on how you need to get started in thinking about technology and […]
A Brief History of the Founding of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC)
The following is a transcript of the speech I gave to individuals who attended our SCRC 20th Anniversary Event this past April 2019. It covers a bit about what motivates our team and how this organization evolved to what it […]
Warehouses are the next HOT investment triggered by the digital transformation of the supply chain
A recent article in Bloomberg suggests that warehouses are now becoming one of the hottest investments in the market, based on recent moves by the Blackstone Group LP, who are betting $18.7 billion on the shift towards e-commerce. This is a perfect […]
The Strange Relationship Between Oil Prices, Tariffs and Biobased Innovation
Oil prices have been rather volatile as of late, and are hovering around $58/bbl, down from an average of $65/bbl in 2018. Oil prices impact a lot of things, one of which is the drive to innovate new biobased products […]
First NCSU Procurement Leadership Program a Great Success!
We held our first ever Procurement Leadership workshop this week, hosting a group of executives from Altria, American Red Cross, Cheniere Energy, Smith & Nephew, RSCS (YUM! Brands) and the US Air Force. The mix of executives from both the […]
Are US-Chinese Tariffs Part of the New Normal?
Today’s blog post is a guest post by my former student, Krunal Sonpal. The topic is a timely one: the on-going US-Chinese tariffs and what it means for supply chain executives. This is an issue that should cause every supply […]
Closing the Gap Between Buyers and Sellers: “Everything is Changed, Nothing is Different”
We hosted an extremely successful set of speakers at our SCRC meeting this past week. One of my core beliefs, that I’ve espoused over the 30 years that I’ve been working in this field, is that working together for mutually […]