Leaders in Supply Chain and Logistics Podcast
Leaders in Supply Chain and Logistics Podcast is one of our projects focused on bringing some of the best thought leaders in the industry, pick their brains and share it with as many interested listeners as possible.
We want to connect you with global experts, thought leaders, and executives in all things value chain. We talk about Supply Chain's leading-edge technologies, leadership stories, and personal success habits.
Leaders in Supply Chain and Logistics Podcast
#01: Didier Chenneveau Executive Director Supply Chain Ernst & Young
Didier Chenneveau is the Executive Director Supply Chain Ernst & Young. He is one of the leading supply chain executives in the region with more than 25 years experience across the board.
Discover more details here:
Some of the highlights of the episode:
- IoT – Internet of Things and Blockchain in Supply Chain
- The supply chain challenges faced by the most important MNCs in Asia
- Supply Chain Talent in Asia
- How to develop top supply chain leaders
- The importance of drinking red wine
Follow us on:
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2Wba8v7
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2WeulzX
Linkedin: http://bit.ly/2w9YSQX
Facebook: http://bit.ly/2HtryLd
Hello everybody and welcome to the leaders in supply chain podcast. I am your host Rado Palomar, you global logistics and supply chain practice head for Morgan Phillips. My job is to connect you with global experts, thought leaders and executives in all things supply chain. I will do my best to pick their brains on supply chain and logistics, leading edge technologies, leadership stories, and personal success habits. This is episode one and it is my pleasure to have as guest DDH never. He's one of the leading supply chain executives in the region across Asia Pacific. Stay tuned as we cover the latest technologies in supply chain I Internet of things, blockchain, how to develop top supply chain leaders and the importance of drinking red wine. Without further ado, here is episode one.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody and welcome to the first edition of global leaders in supply chain podcast. I am delighted to have here with me today. Didier[inaudible], who is the executive director of[inaudible] based in Singapore leading the practice for Asia Pacific and providing advisory services focused on supply chains across the region. Um, DDA is a longterm professional in, in supply chain and logistics. He has served as the CEO of Siva Logistics in Asia Pacific. Prior to that he was also a member of the board and chief executive chief supply chain officer of LG as well as prior to that he had a very longstanding career with HP DDA. Welcome. And it's a pleasure to have you with us. Thanks. Um, so we had a couple of questions from our, from our audience and from our, uh, community. I'll start mostly on the industry side first. And the first question goes like this. How does doing business in Singapore and in Asia differ from the rest of the globe? What makes it unique?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's a very contrasted region, so you kind of have to separate the more advanced market of Singapore, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, uh, from the, uh, emerging economies. Um, it's hard to describe. I think you have to really live in the region for a number of years to really appreciate all the cultural difference, language difference and the business difference. Um, it's a growing region. So lots of, you know, business opportunities, especially in the, in the world of supply chain. Um, I would say in the emerging countries, uh, we have to focus on expansion. A lot of multinational, especially western multinationals, you know, for example, been in Indonesia for 20, 25 years, but basically they've been in Jakarta and then they realize it's about 240 million people living outside of Jakarta, which they're not really serving. And it's quite far and it's complicated logistics and it's complicated supply chain. So, so you have to understand all these dynamics in the same thing applies for India, for Vietnam, for Thailand. So for logistic
Speaker 4:professional and supply chain professional, it's still a, a very, very interesting region. And you know, encourage your listeners that are maybe outside of Asia to come and have a professional experience here because it's quite unique. Yeah, very good point. Thank you for sharing. And if you were to look at Ernst and young and new clients, what's, what's one of the key things that they're struggling right now when it comes to their supply chains in the region? So one of it is what I just mentioned is expansion. Uh, the second part I would say is, uh, how to, you know, master all these new technology that are coming and that are really transforming a supply chain. So some companies have grown, you know, very fast in the last 10 years, but, but their processes, their systems are not very solid. Uh, very often we see what I call the land of 20,000 spreadsheets. So you run a multi billion dollar corporation on 200 excel spreadsheets flying around, uh, which are not really a synchronized, which, you know, result in, um, you know, service level not being really good inventory being too high. So, so a lot of companies have to, you know, come to a more a system, process integration, networking in silo and really capturing the value of, of you know, software basically. So, so I see a lot of clients asking us, how can we do better planning? How can we do integrated business planning end to end that, you know, goes from, from the point of sale data or all the way to, you know, me placing orders on suppliers. And making sure that we have that one version of the truth that everybody's working on. Not Different plans, not different, you know, objective, not different metrics, but one single end to end supply chain plan. So, you know, those are some of the challenge. Some people are, uh, doing now Omni channel strategy, meaning that they are, you know, traditional retail, but they're going online. Uh, you know, last mile, uh, is, is a big challenge in, in most of Asia. Um, many developing countries. Uh, you know, you have a, uh, uh, working class that, you know, may, maybe below poverty but still somehow has a cell phone and it's the ordering online and you know, how to deliver to these places that do not necessarily have an address, uh, is challenged. So there are, you know, very innovative solution in that space as well. And Are we helping find to do that? And you know, at the other end, uh, you know, very, very sophisticated new technology. I think we'll talk maybe a little bit later about, you know, blockchain technology, which is a really a new ways of doing things. Uh, you know, revolutionary in many respect and, you know, companies are trying to understand how they can graphs this and improve their operation. Uh, you know, Internet of thing. Iot is another area. Of course everybody's talking about know self driving vehicles, self driving cars or trucks. How will this impact the logistic industry? I think we still quite a few years away from that. Uh, but self driving vehicle automated guided vehicle in the warehouse is something, you know, more more current that, uh, that clients are trying to, to understand and master. So very, very interesting and exciting landscape of things that have changed as a, a way that I've not seen in my last, you know, 25 years. Uh, we, we saw a big boom in the late nineties, you know, when everybody was trying to grasp the Internet. Uh, and then I would say, you know, 2005 to 15, you know, little bit things a little bit slower, but now the last two years, explosion of all new technologies and new ways of doing things that, that are quite exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And uh, and then great, great. The great sharing. And it is true that probably what we are witnessing and experiencing now, it's, it's an exponential transformation almost. Uh, it's technologies of course as always driving it. Um, but probably a supply chains as we know it will not be the same in five years. Um, and in your opinion, since we are talking about technology, so in your opinion, which technology trending supply chain will likely make the most impact by year 2020?
Speaker 3:So I think, you know, people implementing, uh, existing software tools, uh, I think there's a new upgrade cycle. So, you know, the major player, SAP, Oracle, Jda, uh, I've come up with a new release of their software. They're using new, uh, in the case of SAP in memory technology, which is quite powerful. Uh, and so people are starting to grasp, uh, the value of all of this. Um, we still have lots of companies in the region that have not really invested in a warehouse management system, WMS or transportation management system, tms. And I think those are very important to, you know, to capture value in terms of new technology. I think there's two, two things, um, for some clients, uh, Iot and, and all the capture of data about a hour an engine is performing. Our factory line is performing and doing all the predictive analytics around this, trying to predict failure, trying to predict when parts are going to be needed for replacement is a very growing field and very interesting where a lot of value can be captured. So, you know, I would say a really look carefully about all the sensors you can put on your charts, on your manufacturing line, on your engines. If you're an airline on you're a, if you're a boater shipping company, tried to capture that data, try to analyze it and I, you know, try to improve your operation. The second one I mentioned, which I think is really transformative is blockchain technology. So it's going to be a huge impact on, you know, financial service. Uh, and a lot of people are looking at this, I'm looking at it more from a supply chain point of view and how we can use this as a transfer of value and transfer of title, you know, prove ownership. Uh, lots of companies are working on the sea. Why we're doing mini proof of concept with, with several clients looking how we can improve all this kind of back off his paperwork, everything that was related to, you know, transfer value and proven furnish ship. So yeah, very, very big, a very big demand in that space right now with, you know, people trying to figure out, I mean, so it's a new technology so people are trying to figure out what you said and use cases we can have. Um, but this is really emerging as something just as big as, uh, you know, if back in[inaudible] 95, I would have said, oh, this, this new thing called www and it's the internet, you know, people were just like, okay, all right. Uh, we, we probably a little bit at that stage right now with blockchain, but a lot of companies are, you know, identifying use cases and building proof of concept and, you know, we're helping doing that. Yeah. And think it's very interesting because we did get to questions from our audience and one was specifically about blockchain and the other one was on Iot. So it's exactly what you mentioned with the most transformative technologies. So if you had to, if we're good to go just one level, one level deeper. So blockchain, I think everybody talks about blockchain now if about on the Linkedin, on the Internet there's an article about blockchain. Um, but have you seen, I mean, have you seen, and there's a lot of, as I said, proof of concepts, uh, but have you seen also some, any, I mean we have obviously the bit coin as well as another implication of blockchain, but um, in supply chains, have you seen anything that is almost already implemented or close to being implemented? Because it also, to me, right as maybe I'm not an expert, but it looks like it's something that we'll have, it will take time. It will take time. And it takes a lot of synchronized effort from a lot of different parties. Do not, no, not really. So we have a clients right now that are looking, I mean that they're not looking to implementing the technology, uh, to, uh, verify, uh, you know, access to the data who can change the data. Uh, we have a project where it's actually somewhat of a treasury project, so who can, uh, authorized bank information to be updated in the database? And this is actually written to the blockchain. So, you know, of course it's this notion of consensus once it's gon be on the blockchain. It's not, not changeable, not hackable. So there, you know, proof of concept at this time, but they are proven to work. And then once it's proven to work, companies will expand. So it is, there's not, it's not slide where it's actually, you know, people are coding things and are actually putting transaction, uh, uh, using blockchain technology.
Speaker 4:And, um, you know, we, we have a number of programs accordingly right now, including with some very large multinationals that are looking at how to onboard their suppliers, how to receive contact information, how to, uh, you know, place orders out to agree on the price of the transaction and track and trace of all of this written to the blockchain. And, uh, we use[inaudible] Theorem, which kind of the platform of choice right now because it enables smart contracts. So this whole notion also, uh, in the logistic industry when, you know, something happens, uh, on the blockchain and this is a smart contract attached to it, the payment can be executed based on arrival of those products. Think Merced in an IBM at that, a lot of coverage on that, right? I think this is, yeah, this is a very, very interesting work they're doing. And I think the logistic industry is going to wake up to all of this. And you know, traditionally it's been a very paper intensive industry. You know, there's lots of documents in traveling around the world because of international trade. Uh, you know, with any bird ship. Uh, I think all this is going to be transformed. You will take, we'd be taken away. Yeah. Most of it will be taken away. Some of it will be converted to smart contract, which was, you know, to execute based on milestone being reached. I think in the case of Merced they're looking also at a, you know, automatic self insurance when the car, when the container is being put on the ship and start leaving, you know, automatic payment at arrivals of all this is enabled by smart contract.
Speaker 2:Good, good enough. Very good examples. Um, and how about the Internet of things? So the question or question we got from parish council and computers was has the Internet of things actually started changing the way supply chain operates or is it still a buzzword?
Speaker 4:It has changed. Um, we've looked at a recent project with a major airline in the region and you know, the amount of data that is captured about the health of the engine as you know, prior to the flight on flight and post flight is actually quite staggering. And it's being monitored, you know, real time by the engine maker. But the airlines also are studying to, um, you know, to capture all that, analyze this and it helps them in their, you know, parts strategy. So if you able to analyze all this data, able to do the predictive analytics, you can predict, you know, failure, you can predict replacement before failure and you can start optimizing your inventory or parts around the world based on, you know, flight condition based on all kinds of, uh, of data points that are being captured. So it's, there again, it's not a, you know, just ideas or slideware it's actual application where more and more data is being captured, um, and, and use to improve, uh, operation. Um, I think Singapore is doing a lot of things in that respect. You know, doing a more sensors everywhere in the city. Uh, you know, air quality, traffic, you know, electricity consumption, you name it. And you know, smart cities are going to be using all that Iot, uh, and, and already are, it's not, you know, 30 years from now, it's not 20 years from now, it's, it's today.
Speaker 5:Yeah. And hopefully do mega, uh, to make our life better and easier. And since you're from originally from friends, uh, I heard a story. I don't think it's a storage. It's a, it's a, it's a application of Internet of things, but it's a, maybe not the place where you would think to find it. It's in the wine industry. So basically there are farmers of grapes or basically they have sensors and based on the sunlight and the temperature, they activate the sprinkles to put water or not depending on, so it's, it's incredible. It's incredible. Absolutely. Absolutely. Super. And um, another very good question from Agnes. She was asking before investing hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars in digital in new tech. If we were to look at the fundamentals of a supply chain, what would that still be in today's
Speaker 4:dominate? You still? Yeah, I mean, it's a good point. You don't want to spring before you can run and before you can walk. So I just always tell my clients, you know, crawl, walk, you know, brand and then sprint. So there's some basic things that you need to have in your supply chain. First of all, you need to have people, uh, that have the skill and the understanding how these things work. So it's just not technology for the sake of technology. Uh, second you need to have some, uh, you know, operating model in place. You know, who does what, where and when and you have to be very clear on this. Uh, then you need to have some basic system. There's no point trying to do sophisticated data analytics if you cannot place an order or if you know your procurement a is not in place or your production planning is not optimized. So there are some, you know, maturity level that you have to go through. So, so here we have a couple of, you know, um, tools to tell clients, you know, you are level one, level two, level three, level four, level five. And if you level one, this is how you go to level two. This is what you need to do. This is the sequence, you know, and this for each and every step. So of course digital comes probably between level three, four, five, not level one to a. So if you level one, uh, you know, follow the roadmap to go to maturity level too before you jump and spend millions of dollars. I don't see many clients wanting to jump from one to five and you say, you know, even if it's big transformation, this usually a sequence to it. So I would, you know, benchmark myself, see what maturity level I'm at and then it's, you know, quite a straight forward. You see those are the steps you need to take to go from, from level two to level.
Speaker 2:Very good point actually. Yeah. It's also a good question because there is a lot of hype about all the, the, the words that they ended that that translate be we've talked about, but there is also the reality, don't break your neck. Don't try to do too many things at the same time.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And taking the position, you know, back back to developing markets. Uh, you know, if you take the example of warehouse, uh, I've seen warehouse where, you know, having a reliable supply of electricity is a challenge. So you fixed that before you put sensors everywhere. Because if you don't have electricity on a regular basis, we're going to be hard. It's going to be problematic. So, so doing the basics and then, you know, upgrading through to the maturity curve is an consultant there to help you do this. I mean that's, that's what we do for a living. So
Speaker 2:yeah, and even you, you can help people save money because they don't have to make mistakes which can be prevented. Um, and since you did mention that the first, uh, the first fundamental is about people and that's our business as well. At Morgan Phillips. It's a, it's finding the right people. There are some questions that I wanted to ask you in terms of talent and supply chain talent. And, uh, the first one is, um, what's your thoughts in general about talent and splash into the development in Asia? And is there enough supply chain talent in the region?
Speaker 4:So the obvious answer is no, there's not enough talent. And we always struggle to find them. Of course, it varies market by market, but there's not enough in China; there's not enough in Indonesia. Singapore, you know, because of its educational system, attractiveness, etc as, as good Supply Chain professional. But, but as you move, you know, outside to the, the rest of Asia, it becomes a challenge. I don't know if it's because it's not attractive as, as a field of study or field of development for professionals or because the demand is just so high due to the growth of the past, uh, past 10, 15 years. But we need to make an effort. We need to train more people in the world of supply chain planning, logistic. There's this demand out there but those professionals need to be more and more, you know, sophisticated, educated. I mean, the pace of change is so fast that, you know, something that would have been learned five years ago as being the gold standard is no longer relevant. So I think w hat's key is, y ou k now, lifelong learning and continuous training. Even I, with 25 years of experience behind me, I'm still spending endless hours upgrading myself, leading myself, reading, following online courses because, u h, you know, we talked about blockchain a year ago, I did not know what it was and you c an n ot just go in front of c lient and just, you know, put out the f irst w ord. You have to understand the basic concept of what you're doing i n the technology. So not enough talent. The talent we have, we need to constantly, you know, d o g ate, I upgrade. I don't really like the word i t. It sounds like, y ou k now, you're moving a chip and putting a new one, c reating the software. But it's, yeah, it's continuous learning and continuous training and staying on top of things.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. And actually that kind of leads us to the next question, which is from, uh, from Ricardo. Does our, thank you Ricardo. He asked what skills, I think it can be hard and soft should logistics and supply chain professionals be focused on in order to remain relevant in the future and for the long run.
Speaker 4:So on the hard skill, I would say, you know, understanding analytics is very important. Of course, being a computer proficient and understanding the, you know, big computer technology, I few an SAP expert or oracle expert or JDE experts, these are huge value in the marketplace. If you can implement a transportation management system, a WMS system and integrated business planning system, you'll have great value. Uh, so those are very in demand skills, uh, on the sub side. Um, and we'd say we've been in the supply chain, we've been a little bit like engineers, you know, technically very competent but not always very good at explaining what we do. And, and so I would encourage everybody to, you know, work on their communication skills and presentation skill. Um, you have to convince people to make those change. And so the, the charisma that you have and the power of persuasion that you have is very critical. So work on your heart skill, but make sure your sub subscale people skills, communication skills are a good,
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, and the question, since we have to address millennials at some point, of course then when it comes to talent question from Yassir, he's asking, is the industry ready for millennials and watch changes, big structured companies need to make to embrace millennials? Gets a bit of a loaded question, but I think the point is, yeah, it's about,
Speaker 3:yeah, I mean, of course, of course. The company's already for familiar lineals. Um, you know, we have them working with us today. They're very computer savvy, the uh, cell phone savvy mobile technology. They understand. So, so it's a great asset to have on board. Um, a lot of these new companies, you know, when it comes to ecommerce or you know, service industry, uh, I've embraced, um, millennials and put them into the workforce. Um, so more traditional companies here in the region going to have to change and be more flexible. But I think the, you know, the global, the, uh, I've taken the challenge and, uh, you know, integrated them quite nicely. Of course, here at the Y, we, uh, hired thousands and thousands every year and they have successful carriers. Um, when it comes to supply chain, I think, you know, this, this mastery of technology, this familiarity with, you know, electronic payment and buying online, uh, doing everything mobile from anywhere, anytime is a great asset because supply chain need to be able to do this. Uh, you know, it's a 24, seven, uh, economy, uh, it can happen anywhere. And, um, and they understand that. So, so great assets to have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And, uh, I mean, back, back to back to you, the DNA, I mean, you've had a longstanding Korea, uh, by, by most people's standards, very successful Korea. So if you were to, um, to think back and reflect on that, what is the best piece of advice that you've received and what's the best pieces of advice that you've received that you could share with somebody that's maybe young and just starting?
Speaker 3:Uh, I remember maybe 20 years ago, one of my, uh, executive I was working for, uh, just told me this single sentence. You say, always take the high road, meaning you
Speaker 4:know, when something is in conflict or when something is not working, don't let yourself, you know, drain into that or, you know, fight fighting. It just, uh, you know, take a step back, look at the broader picture and take the high road. And, you know, that's what I've tried to do. Uh, you know, the, the career's not been linear there, there's been a few setback and rebalance. Um, but you learn from that. You know, I think it's, uh, it's how you grow. It's how you develop personally. Um, I've had the chance of working in three continents for extended period of time. So I've worked, you know, 10 years in Europe, 1215 years in the u s and now almost 10 years in, in Asia. And I think that provides you with a great perspective. You know, think if people want to have international careers, they're very fulfilling, but they need to be willing to, you know, travel the globe and a, of different experience in different areas. But that's what I've personally enjoyed the most is having worked on three different continued continents. Three or four different, very different cultures, you know, us, California, then I moved to Korea. Totally different. Absolutely. So, so those are the chances you have in life. And, uh, you know, encourage people to try the world is still full of opportunity for, for professionals. Yes. Everybody talks about, uh, the scarcity of work in the future. The fact that artificial intelligence is all going to do our jobs, but I still see that as, you know, still a far way prospect in terms of replacing some of the human creativity. I think logistic professional supply chain professionals, I've still going to be needed for the next 20, 25 years after that. I don't know.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And Yeah, yeah. Everybody talks about the I am, but let's, let's, let's again, and it's a,
Speaker 4:yeah, and I, and I may be wrong, you know, maybe, uh, an AI machine, we'll, uh, do my job much better than I could ever do it, uh, you know, within a couple years and that we'd be fine. But, um, they still are a lot of challenge. There is, you know, back to technology, some that are overhyped and that, uh, I may not come to fruition right away. Um, you know, right now I'm, I've been reading very interesting stuff about self driving car. Everybody say that, you know, we all want to have one within five to 10 years. Uh, the problem is that, uh, there's still a lot of unresolved issue. Um, and uh, but this is probably the subject of another conversation but quite, quite, quite interesting and quite challenging. So
Speaker 2:yeah. Then just to add my 2 cents into that, because I think it is relevant once we didn't have it on the agenda, but there's also the deep social implications. There's deep policy implications. There's a, so it's, it's not, it's not the, no matter how enthusiastic some people that are about it, it's not something you can implement it in a snap and he will take years or decades. Um, great. So coming back to, um, to another personal piece of coming back to the advice, but let's say that, uh, there's a 23 year old graduating university today wanting to pursue a career in supply chain. What would be one thing that you would tell him?
Speaker 4:Get as much experience as you can from various industry. Don't, don't stay in one single industry. Um, you know, I haven't followed my own advice. I stayed, you know, 17 years with the same employer at HP, but, uh, in, in different types of job. But I would say, um, you know,
Speaker 3:to get as much, uh, international experience and different industry sectors, uh, some of the concepts are actually the same and some of the logic of, you know, proper supply chain management, uh, apply across industry, but there's some industry specific and, and you know, uh, techniques and, and Buzzword or language that you need to, uh, to know for from each and every year industry. Uh, if you can try to do, you know, both, uh, consulting and, uh, when we say real world job, um, and those are, you know, great career builders, uh, they provide, you know, expertise and, and, uh, eventually some gray hair that, uh, that people rely upon because then you can provide advice, uh, based on the experience you've had over the years. So it's still a, to me, it's still a fascinating field. Um, you know, maybe it's not as sexy as some, uh, other areas available to a 23 year old now. But, uh, I think they still great opportunity, great opportunity that the world is changing very fast and it's changing in the world of logistics, supply chain, manufacturing, uh, things that are possible now that would have not been possible, you know, a few years and this is going to be a full upgrade cycle in all these companies upgrading, you know, computer system, upgrading, you know, software, hardware, automating, uh, the manufacturing line or automating transportation. Warehousing has got lots of new technology coming. Uh, you know, fully lights out. A warehouse is a possibility, a lights out, planning is a possibility. And so, you know, people have to create all this and it provides great opportunity for, for a new graduate.
Speaker 5:Yeah, definitely exciting times ahead. And, uh, and uh, yeah, lots to do. Um, another question is, can you share an internet or online supply chain resource, like a website or online course or something that would be relevant to our business and where they can go and learn.
Speaker 3:I actually use a iPad, an iPhone, and I use the news, the application use and it allows you to select topics. And uh, so I've put, you know, a five g I've put Iot, I've put a SAP
Speaker 4:and, and it gathers all the information from the web around that specific topic. And so I find that quite useful rather than going to a, you know, logistic or supply chain specific website. I, uh, I selected topics of interest and I've got about 20, and this application will aggregate all the news relevant, relevant to that. So I find that quite useful. Um, I've stayed away a little bit to be honest from all these conference, uh, that are popping up everywhere and that I think very often are just redundant or don't provide a lot of values. So, um, and then, you know, it's just general knowledge about business. That's important because you start with the business problem and then you can see what's the implication for supply chain and how to solve it. So I read the economist and you know, and business week admittedly, because it just opens up your mind to something that's not just, you know, how'd you optimize transportation or had you optimize planning but, but his product,
Speaker 5:yeah. Back to the bigger picture. Back to the, yeah, I wrote and end and I'm very good at sharing. I didn't know about the news application. I'm going to Donald. Yeah.
Speaker 4:You have to be registered as a US user. Some countries it doesn't work, but if you set your region to us,
Speaker 5:there's ways we are in Singapore. There's ways. Um, one other question. What is it, what is a personal habit of yours that you think
Speaker 4:contributes to your success wall? Um,
Speaker 5:glass of French red wine every day to keep a proper life balance. Um, I love to travel and uh, you know, I get a steam off by, uh, you know, jumping on a bus or a plane and going to visit this incredible region that's Southeast Asia. Uh, I think, uh, a vote
Speaker 4:among all the people I know here in Singapore, I'm probably the one who's done the most personal miles and going to visit Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia per, so this is a great region. This is why I love to live in Singapore because we are so close to so many different incredible cultures. That's how I, I take some, some rest. Super, super.
Speaker 5:And the final question, um, is there a specific memorable story in your career around something, a supply chain challenge that you could share with us?
Speaker 4:Hm, I do remember, uh, those were back in my HP days and uh, you know, in the u s you can, uh, buy something, so a computer or printer and you have about four weeks or five weeks or a month to return it. And I do remember one time, uh, we received a memo from the third party repair supplier that we were using to repair a pcs. And it was, thank you for sending us back the PC, but they were bricks in the box. And so unfortunately we had credited the customer and it turns out the box, the, the PC had been returned, not in the box but bricks place inside the box and had been moved from Sacramento all the way back to Nashville where we had our repair center, we had credited by the customer. Then we had spent a few hundred dollars, you know, shipping the product around and then we're about to spend a few more hundred dollars. We tearing it when we found that it was brakes as think. I still had the memo from a framed in my house of the memo from the third party provider. But joke aside, you know, um, reverse logistic is an area we did not talk about. Uh, the, uh, the rise of ecommerce creates lots of reverse logistic challenge. And so folks that are interested in that area, it's a fascinating area of, uh, you know, how'd you return things, what do you repair, what do you not repair? And you know, all the environmental application that it has as well, you know, recycling. So this whole area of supply chain sustainability we didn't talk much about today, but it's a fascinating area where people are going to have to spend a lot of time because we have to leave a better planet. We have to make the planet great again.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Did you think you so much? Thank you very much for your time, for your, for your insights. It's been a relationship. It was my pleasure.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much. Thank you everybody for listening to our podcast. If you like what you heard, be sure to follow us on[inaudible] u.com/podcast for all the show notes and links and extra tips covered in the interview. Also, make sure to subscribe to our emailing list to get the news in the nick of time. I am most active on Linkedin, so do feel free to follow me to stay tuned for our latest podcasts and articles and make sure not to miss our next episode. As we are talking with the CEO of one of the most prominent ecommerce logistics companies in the world.
Speaker 5:Stay tuned.
