MIT Supply Chain Frontiers
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Thought leadership from MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.
Available episodes
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May 11, 2023
The New Competitive Edge: Analytics-Driven Supply Chain Design for Value Creation
Supply chain design has traditionally been conducted with only one dimension in mind: cost minimization. The conventions of supply chain design date largely from the 1990s. But major technological strides have been made in the years since, allowing for much more complex considerations to be taken into account. So most companies, by using this obsolete approach, are putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
Today's episode features Milena Janjevic, Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, and Mike Bucci, a Senior Director for Solutions Delivery at Coupa Software. Milena and Mike discuss how they're seeing the field evolve, touching on four big opportunities to take supply chain design from a cost-minimization exercise to an engine to drive value creation:
* Extending the scope of supply chain design
* Incorporating tactical decision making
* Accounting and planning for risk and resilience
* Adapting new technologies and business models
For more, learn about the Supply Chain Design Initiative at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.
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Nov 2, 2022
Shipper Ghost Lanes - Hidden Costs and Consequences
Truckload transportation services procurement is costly and time-intensive. These months-long procurement events typically result in thousands of contracts between shippers and carriers. The contracts cover each of the shipper’s product distribution lanes or origin-destination pairs.
Due to truckload supply and demand uncertainty, shippers often adopt a coverage strategy to secure contracted capacity on combinations of lanes to meet expected demand. However, this strategy leads to unnecessary costs and inefficiencies. We find that many lanes never end up being utilized. We refer to contracted lanes on which no business materializes as "ghost lanes."
On today’s episode, research scientist David Correll speaks with Tilburg University postdoctoral researcher Angela Acocella Ph.D. '22 on the hidden costs and possible reasons for ghost lanes.
Read more. https://ctl.mit.edu/pub/workingpaper/hidden-costs-not-so-friendly-ghost-lanes
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Aug 11, 2022
Empathetic Leadership in the Field–More Insights with the MIT CTL Military Fellows
This episode marks the second installment of research scientist David Correll speaking with the 2021–22 MIT CTL military fellows: US Army Col. Joe Parker, Lt. Col. Brian Young, and Louisiana National Guard Lt. Col. Stephen J. Luebbert.
Today’s conversation is all about empathetic leadership. Parker, Young, and Luebbert discuss how leading teams in high-stress environments like military combat requires empathy and humility. They revisit continual process improvement, applying the "red cell" strategy, and the after-action review process. Sharing their personal stories, they portray how effective leaders listen to those around them and enthusiastically welcome positive and negative feedback to make sound decisions, foster team cohesion, and achieve peak performance.
Since 2007, MIT CTL has hosted three US military officers each year for a course of academic study that parallels the MIT ten-month Supply Chain Management master’s program. Sponsored by the United States Army War College’s Senior Service College Fellows (SSCF) program, top officers are selected to attend.
CTL Military Fellows accompany the more than 80 other global business professionals in the program’s curriculum and develop strong analytical, change management, and leadership skills. Their work includes an in-depth research project.
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Apr 26, 2022
Supply Chains across Sectors - A Conversation with the MIT CTL Military Fellows
In today’s episode, research scientist David Correll speaks with the 2021–22 MIT CTL military fellows: US Army Col. Joe Parker, Lt. Col. Brian Young, and Louisiana National Guard Lt. Col. Stephen J. Luebbert. The fellows discussed their experiences in the military and the MIT SCM program.
For written and downloadable transcripts visit ctl.mit.edu
Their conversation explores the differences and similarities between private-sector and military supply chains in strategy, leadership, and on-the-ground implementation. We learn how in the private sector, cost and efficiency drive supply chain decision making, whereas in the military portability, safety, and redundancy may be seen as primary drivers. The episode ends with some ideas about how the government and private sector could collaborate more.
Since 2007, MIT has hosted three US military officers each year for a course of academic study that parallels the MIT ten-month Supply Chain Management master's program. Sponsored by the United States Army War College’s Senior Service College Fellows (SSCF) program, top officers are selected to attend.
CTL Military Fellows accompany the more than 80 other global business professionals in the program’s curriculum and develop strong analytical, change management, and leadership skills. Their work includes an in-depth research project.
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Feb 11, 2022
Moderna’s Road to the Vaccine and Beyond
Join MIT Global SCALE Connect for an in-depth conversation with Paul Granadillo, SVP Global Supply Chain at Moderna. MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi speaks with Paul about how the pandemic vaccine response reshaped manufacturing, business, and supply chains at Moderna.
Mr. Granadillo shares his professional experiences learned from joining the company during a time of growth. He describes some of the methods Moderna uses to meet its logistics and production requirements during the ramp-up to a global Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
Recorded at MIT SCALE Connect, the winter education convening of the MIT Global SCALE Network.
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Dec 8, 2021
Bottleneck Analysis to Understand Systems in Disruption
Bottleneck analysis aiming to increase asset productivity has commonly been applied inside the four walls of production and distribution facilities. The pandemic disrupted global supply chains with dramatic shifts in demand and constraints in supply with cascading effects. Shippers then dynamically shifted traditional origin-destination patterns causing stress on the networks of logistics service providers.
As a result, bottlenecks in the global movement of goods continue to emerge in new locations and for longer durations. Today we speak with Jarrod Goentzel, director of The Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab about how they study dramatic disruption of supply and demand during disasters and has created tools to rapidly identify bottlenecks and dynamically determine interventions to increase flow.
We discuss their conceptual approach and simulation models using the fuel supply chain in the U.S. with use cases around recent disruptions such as the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack and Hurricane Ida. For more information on the approaches visit: https://humanitarian.mit.edu/research/ and to learn more about joining the MIT CTL Supply Chain Exchange visit: https://ctl.mit.edu/outreach
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Sep 29, 2021
Voices from Beyond the Open Road - Utilization, Shippers, and Driver Quality of Life pt. 2
Earlier this year, MIT CTL's David Correll spoke with over-the-road truckers about their experiences in order to shed light on why it is that U.S. truckers appear to be both scarce and underutilized at the same time.
During the year, Dr. Correll oversaw three MIT SCM master's capstones that addressed truck driver utilization and retention in contrast to shipper and receiver policies and practices. These were completed as part of the MIT FreightLab's Driver Initiative.
In today's episode, we hear how a variety of factors influence driver utilization, and how they may impact the widespread driver shortage currently experienced in the U.S. David's guests offer solutions that shippers, warehouse managers, dispatchers, and their companies can implement to improve.
Download a transcript of this episode.
Read the capstones covered in this episode.
Diving Deep into the Determinants of Driver Dwell Authored by: Michelle Catherine Roy, Leora Reyhan Sauter
Goldilocks and the Three Dispatchers: Quantifying the Impact of Dispatcher Management on Truck Driver Performance Authored by: Danielle Procter, Paulo Sousa Jr.
Automation of Warehouse Decision Making Authored by: Roogers Marino, Zeyu Wu
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Aug 11, 2021
Amazon Last-Mile Routing Research Challenge Uncovers New Research Methods on a Global Scale
The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) and Amazon engaged with a global community of researchers across a range of disciplines, from computer science to business operations, to supply chain management, challenging them to build data-driven route optimization models leveraging massive historical route execution data and machine learning models.
While we congratulated the winning teams and all participants in the news, Dr. Matthias Winkenbach joins today's Frontiers to share some insights and outcomes that the production of a research challenge brought about.
He speaks about how convening researchers from across all levels of academia and supplying rich data and a compelling problem, may drive more new research in areas of inquiry that are sparsely published on.
Learn more about the Challenge: https://routingchallenge.mit.edu/
Learn more about the Megacity Logistics Lab: https://megacitylab.mit.edu/
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Jun 15, 2021
Key Performance and Key Learning Indicators in Digital Transformation
Today, on MIT Supply Chain Frontiers, editorial director, Ken Cottrill speaks with Maria Jesus Sáenz, director of MIT Digital Supply Chain Transformation Lab, about how companies use artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify key performance and key learning indicators during digital transformations.
Sáenz shares examples of how companies may use AI and ML to collaborate on data models and leverage publicly available data to craft more accurate forecasts or discover hidden efficiencies. Learn more about how AI and machine learning are used in digital transformations at digitlsc.mit.edu
View and download full transcript: https://ctl.mit.edu/podcasts/key-performance-and-key-learning-indicators-digital-transformation
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May 13, 2021
Global Supply Chain Risk and Innovation with Mark Bakker
In today’s episode, Research Scientists Alexis Bateman and Inma Borrella speak with Mark Bakker, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Operations at Hewlett Packard Enterprise about the tools and skills needed for sustained global supply chain management when facing disruptions.
Mark shares his insights about how HP Enterprise balanced demand and supply during uncertain conditions brought about by various disruptions. He shares tips about the skills and attitudes needed to succeed in today's business environments.
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Apr 8, 2021
Champions for Change - Women Leaders in Supply Chain Management
This year for international women's day, the MIT Women in Supply Chain Initiative (WISCI) hosted a leadership panel to celebrate women working in the supply chain field. Today's episode offers highlights from the conversation.
Julie Van de Kamp, Vice President of Customer Experience at U.S. Xpress, Inc, and Tricia Brannigan, VP Procurement - Head of Global Procurement at The Hershey Company share candidly with WISCI Lead, Katie Date, about their approaches to managing, mentorship, and work-life balance. The panel discusses strategies for creating more gender parity in their own organizations and in those of their suppliers.
Learn more about MIT CTL Women in Supply Chain Initiative here.
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Feb 23, 2021
Voices from the Open Road: Utilization, Shippers, and Driver Quality of Life
Supply chains in the U.S. rely heavily on over-the-road trucking to reliably and safely provide essential supplies to businesses and consumers. These networks are comprised of innumerable relationships between shippers who have goods to move and carriers who they contract to move them. It is often warehouse workers and truckers who are the "end users" of these complex relationships.
Today, MIT CTL research scientist and FreightLab co-director David Correll chats with three experienced voices in trucking to better understand what life is like on the ground—or on the road if you will. David speaks with Desiree Ann Wood A.K.A. Trucker Desiree, founder of REAL Women in Trucking, Mark Cavanagh, Goodyear Highway award winner driving with CTL Partner USXpress, and "Long Haul" Paul Marhoefer, 40-year industry veteran, musician, and host of Radiotopia's, Over the Road.
In today’s discussion, we hear about some of the delight and discontent on the open road and attempt to shed some light o…
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Jan 27, 2021
Supplier Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Challenges and Opportunities
Initial research indicates that there are both commercial and social benefits to DE&I programs within organizations. MIT CTL and MIT Sustainable Supply Chains make a case for companies to revisit their efforts (HBR article) and, if necessary, commit themselves to take supplier diversity efforts more seriously.
During a recent MIT CTL roundtable*, professionals from across industry met to discuss the challenges and opportunities currently facing the implementation of supplier diversity within organizations. From measurement and metrics to leadership collaboration, the discussion proposed some avenues for additional consideration.
In today's episode, Nalini Bates from Procter and Gamble and Kris Oswold of UPS are joined by MIT CTL's Alexis Bateman to point out some of the prevailing challenges and possible opportunities revealed during the conversation. While this research area is emergent at MIT CTL and a full report will be available soon, you can also sign up to receive more informa…
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Dec 15, 2020
Flexibility for the Future - How Disruption Fosters Innovation
Like never before, companies have learned during the pandemic to pivot quickly across multiple dimensions. They ramped up production, changed their processes, and adopted new technologies, at speed unimaginable before the crisis. In only six weeks, contract manufacturer Flex ramped up its ability to produce ventilators while New Balance designed and produced thousands of masks, in a matter of days. Such transformations can afford many successful companies with new competitive advantages.
In this conversation, you will learn how two companies use these lessons to set themselves up for the post-pandemic future in the B2B and B2C markets.
In his book, THE NEW (AB)NORMAL: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond Covid-19, MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi details their stories as well as many others. In this episode, Lynn Torrel, Chief Procurement and Supply Chain Officer at Flex, and Dave Wheeler, COO at New Balance, will join professor Sheffi for a conversation about the lessons le…
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Nov 18, 2020
Rapid Systems Assessments for Crisis Response with MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab
Every corner of the globe has suffered from supply chain disruptions during the coronavirus pandemic. Beginning in March with a focus on U.S. food supply chains, the MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab (HSCL) began providing evidence-based analysis to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to inform strategic planning around the supply chain risks. At around the same time, work was being done in Uganda as part of ongoing systems mapping and assessment of smallholder farmers. This episode explores the similarities and differences between the two projects and offers pathways for how you can engage in similar methodologies.
Read about and download all the methodologies and assessments here.
Read and download a full transcript of this episode here.
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Oct 21, 2020
Food Security and Supply Chain Management with Chris Mejía Argueta
Food security is top of mind given supply chain considerations caused by a global pandemic. MIT CTL congratulates the World Food Program staff for their recent Nobel Peace Prize awarded for their work in alleviating hunger. On the topic of food security, MIT CTL’s Ken Cottrill speaks with Chris Mejía Argueta, the director of the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab about food deserts and some of the innovative projects that leverage supply chains to combat food insecurity. Access to nutritious, affordable food remains a challenge to a growing segment of the world's people. From Somerville, MA in the USA to India, Mejía discusses research and interventions underway at the lab.
Learn more about the MIT Food and Retail Operations Lab
Read more about the Somerville project (SCM Capstone).
Nanostores, a force to reckon with to fight malnutrition (Article).
Go deeper with, Reaching 50 Million Nanostores: Retail Distribution in Emerging Megacities (Book)
Read and download the full tran…
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Aug 24, 2020
Supply Chain Decision Making and Design in Times of Disruption with LLamasoft CEO, Razat Gaurav
Innovation in supply chain decision making and design has flourished in recent years. The availability of high-quality data coupled with an urgent need to respond to disruption has fostered rapid change in how organizations coordinate, cooperate, and improve their operations. Join LLamasoft CEO, Razat Gaurav in conversation with MIT CTL's Matthias Winkenbach to get a glimpse of how the world's most successful companies are organizing to meet their decision and design challenges through data democratization, the use of micro-apps and by engaging in a federated solutions approach. Learn more at MIT CTL. Visit the MIT Computational and Visual Education (CAVE) Lab.
Read and download the full transcript of this episode.
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Jun 29, 2020
Truck and Drone Cooperative Delivery Vehicle Systems - Social Implications
In the past decade, the logistics industry has experienced substantial growth and its fair share of technological disruption. Particularly in urban settings, consumer demand for same-day or two-hour delivery has ballooned and companies have struggled to meet demand without incurring substantial “last-mile” delivery costs. Farri Gaba, a research associate with Megacity Logistics Lab at MIT CTL, speaks with us about truck-and-drone cooperative delivery vehicle systems. We have a look at some of the broader social and ethical implications caused by emerging drone technology and how the Lab is addressing them with a working paper and research initiative. Learn more about the work here.
Accessible transcripts of all podcasts available here. https://ctl.mit.edu/podcasts
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May 8, 2020
Transportation Innovation with Michelle Livingstone, Vice President - Transportation at The Home Depot
Chris Caplice discusses insights on transportation, people management, and creating the workforce of the future with Michelle Livingstone of The Home Depot. Drawing on over 25 years of experience, Ms. Livingstone comments on her role leading a highly talented team that oversees the movement of all domestic and international shipments into Home Depot‘s distribution centers and outbound to stores. This episode hosted by MIT Freight Lab
Download the audio transcript here.
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May 2, 2020
50 Years of Earth Day: MIT Perspectives in the Face of Radical Change
Recorded on the 50th Earth Day to explore what the path forward may look like to the 2050 Climate Goals and a more sustainable future in the face of radical change. We explored the ecological, political, technological, and industrial perspectives on the intersections of sustainability, climate change, and innovation, what this means now and for the future.
Hosted by MIT Sustainable Supply Chains @ MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics #MITEarthDay50
Read full transcript here.
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Apr 23, 2020
Sustainability in supply chains with Alexis Bateman, CTL Research Scientist and Director, MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative
Join MIT CTL's Ken Cottrill in a candid conversation on the State of Supply Chain Sustainability research area. Learn about a comprehensive new study underway, the first of its kind. Learn more at https://sustainable.mit.edu/
Download the full transcript here.
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Apr 23, 2020
Resilience and disruption response with Erez Agmoni, Regional Head of Supply Chain Warehousing and Distribution - America at Maersk
Join MIT CTL's Alexis Bateman in conversation with Erez Agmoni about disruptions, supply chain design, and resilience tips for the supply chain and logistics professional. Interview recorded as part of mit.ctl.sc3x - Supply Chain Dynamics. Learn more about these free online courses here.
Download the full transcript here.
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