Richard Wilding is the Chair of Supply Chain Strategy at the Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Cranfield School of Management U.K. And Past Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport UK. Richard works with European and International companies on logistics and supply chain projects in all sectors including pharmaceutical, retail, automotive, high technology, food drink, professional services.
His significant contribution to Logistics & Supply Chain Management has been recognized in being appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2013 In 2019 he was the winner of a “National Teaching Fellowship”, the most prestigious individual award in Higher Education.
Listen to the full discussion here:
Connect with the Guests:
Richard Wilding: Linkedin | Twitter
Some of the highlights from the podcast:
- How Richard started his career in academia
- How cybersecurity is keeping executives up at night
- Nike’s vision of installing 1200 additive manufacturing machines
- How the internet helps with the modern model of education
- Skills needed in future for Chief Supply Chain Officers
Show notes:
- [01:39] Tell us a little about yourself. How did you start in Supply Chain?
- [03:14] I accidentally fell into academia, in Warwick Manufacturing Group, I joined when there was 70 staff and left with 500 staff under the late Professor Kumar Bhattacharya.
- [05:06] What’s great about Cranfield is everything we do is about turning knowledge into action.
- [07:02] What do you see as the main challenges that companies are facing when it comes to the supply chain in today’s world?
- [09:09] Cybersecurity is not just the IT Department’s job, it is everybody’s job. It is very much the responsibility of supply chain professionals.
- [13:01] Can you give us some examples of organizations that you’ve seen that have done cybersecurity really well?
- [15:23] You have to make everybody think through what the implications are for the way that they share data, how they manage and protect the system and so on and so forth.
- [19:30] Secure the business, the supply chain because you could easily lose your competitive position if you don’t deal with cybersecurity issues.
- [20:00] What would be some of the first things that you would do and look at to be sure that your supply chain has minimal risk or even zero risks?
- [22:03] “Passwords are like underwear. Don’t let people see it. Change it often and you should not share it with strangers.”
- [25:22] What do you see are skills needed for the future supply chain leaders and professionals to keep them relevant in this very fast-changing world?
- [26:16] The winner is the EQ or emotional intelligence in supply chain which is how we manage relationships.
- [29:55] Nike’s current model consists of 1Million workers in 566 factories, 75 distribution centers and 30, 000 retailers in 190 countries. They have this vision off this future model of installing 1200 additive manufacturing machines.
- [32:56] We’ve got to be quite careful in thinking through our decisions. How will these decisions impact society and does it have an impact on the skills of the people that we need.
- [34:52] The traditional model of education is having 30 or so students in a classroom but with the internet, we are now able to communicate with thousands.
- [35:21] When we tried to track Apple iTunes U, it has over 60,000 subscribers.
- [36:36] What’s really important as well, particularly for supply chain leaders and executives, is you do need to get people together to share ideas.
- [39:36] What I do hope is that we give a bit of a social conscience because, at the end of the day, it’s also about managing those relationships on thinking about society in the long run.
- [40:40] What would be your advice to somebody that would want to become a Chief Supply Chain Officer?
- [40:54] As early in your career, try and get as much of an overview of the organization as possible.
- [45:14] If you change your language, you change your thoughts. If you change your thoughts, you change the culture.
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About the Host:
The host, Radu Palamariu is the co-author of “From Source to Sold – Stories of Leadership in Supply Chain”. He has been named one of the top 3 Global Supply Chain Influencers on LinkedIn and was featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, WEF, Bangkok Post, and MIT Supply Chain Talent magazine. Radu invites executives to share stories and perspectives around technology, logistics, e-commerce, supply chain, and manufacturing, and their views on how the future will look.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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Episode #17: Dr. Yossi Sheffi Director of MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics
Episode #38: Professor Annie Koh of Singapore Management University
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