Digital Supply Chain

Tom Raftery

The Digital Supply Chain podcast is a show hosted by Tom Raftery, discussing thought leadership, trends, best practices, and the latest innovations in delivering a resilient, sustainable supply chain. The show publishes a new episode every Monday and Friday, and features interviews with luminaries in the world of supply chain and Industry 4.0. All aspects of supply chains, and how to optimise them are discussed - everything from the design, planning, manufacturing, production, delivery, all the way through to product operation and service.

  • 33 minutes 16 seconds
    Your ESG Rating Is Lying to You

    Send me a message

    Is ESG really about sustainability, or is it quietly becoming a hard economic filter for who gets to trade, raise capital, and survive?

    In this episode, I’m joined by Dr Nisha Kohli, Founder and CEO of CorpStage, to unpack why ESG has shifted from glossy reporting to something far more consequential for supply chain resilience, risk, and competitiveness. Nisha has spent over two decades working across corporate governance, sustainability, and finance, and she’s seen first-hand where most organisations are still getting this badly wrong.

    We talk about why ESG reporting remains broken for so many companies, and why ratings and rankings often mislead investors rather than inform them. You’ll hear how credible, auditable data is becoming a prerequisite for access to markets, tenders, and green finance, especially as tariffs, carbon taxes, and mechanisms like CBAM start reshaping global trade.

    We also break down why ESG isn’t just a cost centre. Nisha shares real examples where relatively simple greening measures delivered 50–60% IRR with short payback periods, reduced operational risk, and opened doors to new markets. You might be surprised by how often the biggest barrier isn’t technology or regulation, but confusion, fragmented data, and treating ESG as a PDF rather than infrastructure.

    We explore the growing role of data, AI, and system integration in making sustainability usable at scale, why carbon pricing is about to become a core input into supply chain decision-making, and the mindset shift leaders need to make as sustainability moves from “business as usual” to business critical.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Dr Nisha Kohli and CorpStage are reframing ESG as a lever for resilient, competitive, and future-ready supply chains.


    Podcast supporters
    I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Alicia Farag
    • Kieran Ognev

    And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to the full back catalog of over 460 episodes.

    Podcast Sponsorship Opportunities:
    If you/your organisation is interested in sponsoring this podcast - I have several options available. Let's talk!

    Finally
    If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a text message using this link.

    If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it.

    Thanks for listening.

    19 January 2026, 6:00 am
  • 37 minutes 12 seconds
    From Compliance to Prediction: How Safety Data Shapes Resilience

    Send me a message

    AI won’t fix broken decisions. Capital markets are driving sustainability. And climate risk is already a safety issue.
    So why are EHS and sustainability still treated as separate systems?

    In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Catryna Jackson, Global Environmental Health and Safety and Sustainability Advisor at Evotix, and Monique Parker, Chief Sustainability Officer at Elevra Lithium. Between them, they bring decades of frontline experience across EHS, sustainability, data, and operations. This matters now because climate disruption, regulatory pressure, and supply chain shocks are collapsing the gap between “operational risk” and “sustainability risk” whether companies are ready or not.

    In our conversation, you’ll hear how sustainability momentum in the US has been driven less by regulation and more by investors and insurers. We break down why climate impacts like heat stress, flooding, and wildfires are no longer future scenarios but immediate safety and continuity risks. And you might be surprised to learn why throwing AI at messy ESG data only makes bad decisions faster.

    We also get practical. We talk about why EHS teams sit on a goldmine of data, how integrating safety and sustainability changes risk visibility at board level, and where most organisations go wrong when they try to “just start reporting”. From CSRD data overload to supply chain engagement failures, this episode cuts through the noise and focuses on decision architecture, not hype.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Evotix and Elevra Lithium are reframing sustainability, risk, and data to build truly resilient supply chains.


    Podcast supporters
    I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Alicia Farag
    • Kieran Ognev

    And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to the full back catalog of over 460 episodes.

    Podcast Sponsorship Opportunities:
    If you/your organisation is interested in sponsoring this podcast - I have several options available. Let's talk!

    Finally
    If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a text message using this link.

    If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it.

    Thanks for listening.

    12 January 2026, 6:00 am
  • 48 minutes 18 seconds
    Electrifying Industrial Heat for Resilient Supply Chains

    Send me a message

    Industrial heat powers half of manufacturing - and almost no one is talking about it.

    What if one of the biggest supply chain emissions problems has been hiding in the boiler room all along?

    In this episode, I’m joined by Addison Stark, CEO and co-founder of AtmosZero, to tackle one of the most overlooked risks in industrial sustainability: steam. A 160-year-old technology that still delivers roughly half of all industrial heat, quietly underpinning food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, brewing, and more.

    We explore why industrial heat is routinely labelled “hard to abate” and why that label may be more habit than reality. You’ll hear how electrified, drop-in steam boilers can replace combustion without forcing factories to redesign their operations, and why productised solutions matter more than bespoke decarbonisation projects if we want scale.

    We break down why heat pumps can outperform resistive electric boilers by a factor of two, how ignoring waste heat can actually accelerate deployment, and why engineers and plant managers, not press releases, ultimately decide what technologies make it into supply chains. You might be surprised to learn how Europe’s energy volatility and policy certainty are reshaping the economics of industrial heat, and why steam decarbonisation could follow a very different curve from solar or EVs.

    This is a conversation about resilience, risk, and the unglamorous infrastructure that keeps global supply chains moving. Hidden systems. Real impact. No hype.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Addison Stark and AtmosZero are re-engineering industrial heat for resilient, sustainable supply chains.


    Podcast supporters
    I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Alicia Farag
    • Kieran Ognev

    And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to the full back catalog of over 460 episodes.

    Podcast Sponsorship Opportunities:
    If you/your organisation is interested in sponsoring this podcast - I have several options available. Let's talk!

    Finally
    If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a text message using this link.

    If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it.

    Thanks for listening.

    5 January 2026, 6:00 am
  • 54 minutes 14 seconds
    How Capital Allocation Shapes Supply Chain Resilience

    Send me a message

    Can your pension quietly sabotage your climate and supply chain goals without you ever knowing?

    What if one of the biggest risks to resilience isn’t logistics or energy, but where your money sleeps at night?

    In this episode, I’m joined by Scott Ryan, founder and CEO of Investature, to unpack a part of the sustainability conversation that’s usually ignored. Finance. Specifically, the financial supply chain hidden inside pensions, retirement plans, and long-term investments. And why it matters now, when climate risk, stranded assets, and resilience are colliding.

    We dig into why pensions, with their 20–30 year horizons, are paradoxically funding the very risks they’re meant to protect against. You’ll hear how financial supply chains can dwarf Scope 1, 2, and even Scope 3 emissions, and why most sustainability strategies still fail to account for them. We break down why reallocating even 1% of global capital could materially close the climate finance gap, without sacrificing returns or fiduciary responsibility.

    You might be surprised to learn why bonds, not equities, may be the most powerful lever for climate action, how “double bottom line” investing actually works in practice, and why education and incentives matter more than regulation alone. Scott also explains why ESG has become a distraction, and how clearer, data-driven financial choices can drive real behaviour change across organisations and supply chains.

    If you care about supply chain resilience, sustainability, risk, and visibility, this conversation connects dots most people never see. Quietly. Uncomfortably. Usefully.


    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Scott Ryan and Investature are reframing money as one of the most powerful tools for resilient, sustainable supply chains.


    Podcast supporters
    I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Alicia Farag
    • Kieran Ognev

    And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to the full back catalog of over 460 episodes.

    Podcast Sponsorship Opportunities:
    If you/your organisation is interested in sponsoring this podcast - I have several options available. Let's talk!

    Finally
    If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a text message using this link.

    If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it.

    Thanks for listening.

    29 December 2025, 6:00 am
  • 41 minutes 28 seconds
    Blockchain, Incentives, and Resilient Supply Chain Sustainability

    Send me a message

    What if sustainability didn’t rely on good intentions, ESG reports, or awareness campaigns… but on incentives that actually change behaviour?

    In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Sunny Lu, Founder and CEO of VeChain, to unpack how blockchain can move sustainability from theory into action across global supply chains and everyday decisions.

    Sunny has been building in blockchain since 2015, long before the hype cycles, starting with enterprise traceability work at Louis Vuitton and going on to create VeChain as a platform focused on real-world adoption. At a time when supply chains are under pressure to deliver resilience, transparency, and credible sustainability outcomes, this conversation gets very practical, very quickly.

    You’ll hear how VeChain uses verified data, tokens, and gamification to incentivise positive actions, from EV charging and reusable cups to food traceability and waste reduction. We break down why demand, not technology, is often the real bottleneck holding sustainable supply chains back, and how aligning individuals, enterprises, and incentives can unlock scale. You might be surprised to learn how blockchain has already helped cut food traceability times from hours to seconds, or how millions of small, verified actions can add up to meaningful carbon, water, and plastic reductions.

    This isn’t a conversation about crypto speculation. It’s about trust, data, visibility, and designing systems that make the right choice the easy, economically rational one.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Sunny Lu and VeChain are rethinking supply chain resilience, sustainability, and risk through data-driven incentives and real-world adoption.


    Podcast supporters
    I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Alicia Farag
    • Kieran Ognev

    And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to the full back catalog of over 460 episodes.

    Podcast Sponsorship Opportunities:
    If you/your organisation is interested in sponsoring this podcast - I have several options available. Let's talk!

    Finally
    If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on LinkedIn, or send me a text message using this link.

    If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it.

    Thanks for listening.

    22 December 2025, 6:00 am
  • More Episodes? Get the App