Dr. David L. Anderson, Managing General Partner for Supply Chain Ventures

Saket Saurabh of Nexla

Listen to this informative podcast where Meagan Cunningham of FutureChain interviews Saket Saurabh, an entrepreneur with a passion for data and infrastructure who co-founded Nexla — a provider of reliable, consistent, and trusted data products. Learn how today’s best-in-class data technologies have revolutionized supply chain management from an entrepreneur and data scientist’s perspective.

Timestamp:

01:23 How Saket’s Passion for Data Integration Started
03.07 Saket’s Experience Working with the World Bank
04:57 Challenges of Data Integration (Poshmark Success Story)
07:51 How Integration Makes Analytics Better for Companies — “Three Things”
10.03 What Is Data Streaming?
12:33 What Is the Interface for Engineering if Hard Coding Is Not Required?
15:38 What Levels of Errors Are You Seeing from Your Data Monitoring?
18:26 What Impacts Data Integrity — and How?
20:45 On the Insights Nexla Delivers to Poshmark
23:25 Describing the Ideas from the Flow of Data Pipelines — Analyses to Insights to Decisions
24:29 The Future of Spreadsheets — Will They Stay?
26:40 What Does Data Integration Make Possible in Terms of AI?
29:11 Who Benefits Most from Nexla’s Solution — Engineers, Data Scientists, or Executives?

Nexla Podcast: Interview with Saket Saurabh of Nexla

Listen to this informative podcast where Meagan Cunningham of FutureChain interviews Saket Saurabh, an entrepreneur with a passion for data and infrastructure who co-founded Nexla — a provider of reliable, consistent, and trusted data products. Learn how today’s best-in-class data technologies have revolutionized supply chain management from an entrepreneur and data scientist’s perspective.

Timestamp:

00:00 Introduction01:23 How Saket’s Passion for Data Integration Started
03.07 Saket’s Experience Working with the World Bank
04:57 Challenges of Data Integration (Poshmark Success Story)
07:51 How Integration Makes Analytics Better for Companies — “Three Things”
10.03 What Is Data Streaming?
12:33 What Is the Interface for Engineering if Hard Coding Is Not Required?
15:38 What Levels of Errors Are You Seeing from Your Data Monitoring?
18:26 What Impacts Data Integrity — and How?
20:45 On the Insights Nexla Delivers to Poshmark
23:25 Describing the Ideas from the Flow of Data Pipelines — Analyses to Insights to Decisions
24:29 The Future of Spreadsheets — Will They Stay?
26:40 What Does Data Integration Make Possible in Terms of AI?
29:11 Who Benefits Most from Nexla’s Solution — Engineers, Data Scientists, or Executives?
30:40 Outro

Dr. Anura Rathnayake/Adetex.ID/RFiD Threads

A Textiles engineering professional specialising in advanced e-textiles and Smart textiles.

Episode Notes:

00:08 – Introduction
02:18 – Hobby or Personal Passion
04:04 – RFiD Thread Overview
05:14 – Challenges in Retail 2021
07:50 – Challenges in Garment Recycling 2021
09:21 – Barcodes & RFID Challenges
10:18 – What is RFiD Threads
12:50 – RFiD Threads Adding Value to Manufacturing
14:26 – RFiD Threads Adding Value to Retail
18:29 – RFiD Threads Adding Value to Brands
19:13 – RFiD Threads Adding Value to Customers
20:06 – Adding Value to the Circular Economy
22:01 – Global Recognition for RFiD Threads
23:00 – What Adetex ID Can Offer
23:22 – Current Manufacturing Plans
23:47 – Ramp up Plans Post Investment
24:06 – RFiD Threads USP
24:43 – Additional About RFiD Threads
25:33 – Textile’s Supply Chain
28:09 – What Makes Technology Smart
33:33 – How The Technology Achieve That Goal
35:12 – Closing Thoughts

John Bozzella, President and CEO, Alliance for Automotive Innovation on Auto Supply Chains

Listen to the visionary for the only automotive trade association that represents OEMs, suppliers and mobility companies. Get the inside track on the evolution of internal combustion (ICE) supply chains to electric vehicle (EV) and autonomous vehicle (AV) supply chains.

Episode notes:

• 3:31 the automotive supply/value chain. Operating at the intersection of innovation, production and policy.
• 4:55 semiconductor supply shortage impact on automotive supply chains resulting in loss of 1-2M units of production (after auto production had ceased completely in 2020).
• 8:28 reinforcing US domestic semiconductor/automotive supply chains to address disruptions.
• 9:53 evolution of industry to electrification and autonomy.
• 10:20 shift from drilling for oil, to mining for minerals.
• 11:21 impact on exhaust systems, fuel systems and emissions.
• 13:38 impact on labor.
• 15:12 policy critical to this transition.
• 16:14 regulatory blueprint to drive adoption of EVs & AVs.
• 18:12 fleets as a ‘vehicle’ to scale new markets.
• 19:22 adoption will come from a combination of regulation and economic factors. 20:02 Automatic Driver Assist Systems (ADAS). 22:02 building an EV charging infrastructure. 24:21 new supply chains for EVs/AVs and the batteries that power them.
• 27:10 domestic supply chains for lithium-ion/solid state batteries (Panasonic, LG Chem).
• 31:35 total cost of ownership threshold, “cost-parity” and “convenience-parity”.
• 33:24 timeline for scale. 35:25 global leadership for US in AVs.
• 37:12 sensors and ADAS technology for vehicle safety.
• 39:12 environmental impact/sustainability of sourcing.
• 40:45 competition between US and China for OEM production of EVs.
• 42:26 global competitive landscape for AVs, US needs to seize its technology advantage. 44:00 innovators in EV and AV space achieved through partnerships (convergence of mobility and technology).
• 47:10 GM’s and Honda’s investment in Cruise, Ford’s investment in Argo, Toyota partnering with Uber.
• 48:07 AI as a key technology input for AVs through awareness and perception algorithms (enables accessibility as well).
• 49:33 FCC needs to address importance of connectivity (V2V critical).
• 51:19 achievability of Paris Climate Accord GHG/emissions goals depends not just on the automotive industry but the entire ecosystem (grid resiliency, reimagined supply chains, industrial retooling, workforce evolution, consumer awareness, access/affordability).
• 53:12 Biden administration, Gina McCarthy communicating the needs for reduced emissions and transition to electrification.
• 53:40 Autos 2050 conference on the intersection of innovation and policy to address environmental, economic and safety goals.

Edmund Zagorin, Founder of Bid Ops

How Bid Ops has automated supplier negotiations and brought artificial intelligence to supply chain management. Strategic sourcing trends for 2021 and so much more!

Episode notes:

John Cooper/Industrial Exchange on increased SKUs increasing management costs 7:12. ‘Spend fragmentation’ 8:17. Volatility and disruption 8:43. Massive congestion at ports 9:07. Instability associated with economic inequality 9:46. Strategy for identifying mission critical processes 10:09. Increasing optionality and process speed 10:52. How AI can automate supplier negotiations 11:33. Smart defaults 13:38. Cunningham’s law 14:06. Default pricing 15:23. Winners curse 16:23. AI and ML make automating intelligent price recommendations at scale possible 16:50. 2-5x cost saving 18:23. Adaptive target pricing 18:31. How behavioral economics informs the development of AI 20:49. Daniel Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow” 21:14. Fair Markets and Ariba 22:29 Leading with ‘best outcome’ 23:39. Inefficiencies in supplier negotiations 26:09. Adverse and auspicious selection 26:41. Sourcing enablement 28:39. Sourcing collaboration 31:31. Criteria for selecting strategic sourcing solutions 35:26. ROI from Bid Ops solutions 41:15. UCB Biopharma 45:40. BASF chemical manufacturing 48:15. Holman ARI Automotive 50:29. Bell Food and Beverage 52:18. Consumer Packaged Goods 53:14. The importance of a digital strategy 54:34. Embracing the cloud 55:34. Prepare for volatility 58:45. Optionality + Agility = Resiliency 1:04:22. Agility 1:08:07. Building deeper supplier relationships 1:09:56. The rise of sustainability as a business imperative 1:13:08. EV sustainable procurement  (Lordstown and Nikola) 1:16:39. The most talented workers are drawn to companies with a mission for social good 1:17:28. CSR measurement companies EcoVadis and IntegrityNext 1:18:25. Role of data management in AI 1:20:42. Coupa and Netsuite ERP solutions 1:27:53. Procure to play companies SourceDay and Procurify 1:28:07.