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.

  • 28 minutes 16 seconds
    Fixing Paperwork Risk to Boost Supply Chain Resilience

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    What if the biggest threat to your supply chain isn’t a typhoon, strike, or cyberattack, but a mistyped HS code?

    This week I’m joined by Yeelen Knegtering, Co-Founder and CEO of Klippa, a company tackling one of the most underestimated risks in global trade: the explosion of paperwork, compliance demands, and manual processes that quietly delay planes, stall ships, burn carbon, and drain margin. With regulations tightening and documentation growing faster than teams can manage, this matters more than ever for anyone trying to build a resilient, low-risk, low-carbon supply chain.

    In this conversation, you’ll hear how tiny admin errors cascade into multi-million-euro failures, and why most organisations still don’t see the danger until it hits them. We break down why specialised AI (not generic LLMs) is starting to transform document-heavy workflows, cutting delays, cost, and emissions at the same time. You might be surprised to learn how many shipments are returned or destroyed simply because paperwork wasn’t processed in time - and how automating even part of that work unlocks resilience far beyond compliance.

    We also dig into workforce impact, reskilling, and the uncomfortable truth: paperwork volumes are rising, not falling, and companies who ignore this layer of risk are already paying for it.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Yeelen and Klippa are reshaping the future of supply chain resilience, sustainability, and operational truth.


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

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Kristal Maharaj
    • 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.

    8 December 2025, 10:00 am
  • 33 minutes 33 seconds
    Supply Chain Data Quality and Resilience Explained

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    What if the biggest risk in your supply chain isn’t geopolitical shocks or new regulations, but the data you trust every single day?

    This week, I’m joined by Andy Kohm, co-founder and CEO of SCIP, a supply chain intelligence platform built to clean, connect, and operationalise data across ERPs, PLMs, control towers, and the spreadsheets nobody admits to using. Andy has spent more than a decade wrestling with the messy reality of supply chain data, and his insights couldn’t be more relevant as volatility rises and digital transformation hits its limits.

    In this conversation, you’ll hear how bad data quietly drives bad decisions - from inflated lead times to unnecessary expedites to risk scores that collapse under scrutiny. We break down why most organisations can’t agree on something as simple as the “source of truth,” and how that single failure cascades into higher emissions, higher costs, and planners who simply stop believing the system.

    You might be surprised to learn how often companies pay 10x for components they could have sourced at the normal price - simply because the underlying data was wrong. And we dig into where AI can genuinely help today (contract intelligence, grunt-work automation) and where it’s still pure theatre without clean inputs.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Andy and SCIP are reshaping the future of resilient, sustainable, data-driven supply chains.


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

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Kristal Maharaj
    • 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.

    1 December 2025, 6:00 am
  • 38 minutes 8 seconds
    AI, Climate Risk, and Supply Chain Resilience

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    What happens to your supply chain when it gets too hot for workers to show up?

    In this episode I’m joined by Kevin Vranes, Chief Product Officer at Worldly, a platform working with tens of thousands of suppliers to generate real sustainability intelligence across global supply chains. We dig into why climate exposure, labour disruption, tightening disclosure rules, and escalating NGO scrutiny are converging into one of the biggest resilience challenges companies have ever faced, and why the old ways of managing risk simply won’t cut it anymore.

    You’ll hear how rising heat stress across manufacturing regions is creating a very real form of operational fragility, with knock-on effects that most leadership teams still underestimate. Kevin explains why the gap between brand-level assumptions and on-the-ground realities is widening, and why primary data from deep-tier suppliers is becoming essential infrastructure rather than a “nice to have”.

    We break down where AI is genuinely transforming sustainability analysis, including the shift from weeks of spreadsheet work to seconds of machine-driven insight, and where human relationships, incentives, and policy signals still determine whether change actually happens on the factory floor. And you might be surprised to learn why NGOs, not regulators, may become the true enforcers of global climate disclosure.

    If you care about supply chain resilience, Scope 3, data visibility, or the next wave of sustainability risk, this episode goes right to the heart of what’s coming, and what leaders need to prepare for.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how Worldly and Kevin Vranes are reshaping the future of resilient, sustainable supply chains.


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

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Kristal Maharaj
    • 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.

    24 November 2025, 6:00 am
  • 40 minutes 50 seconds
    Regenerative Agriculture for Food Supply Chain Resilience

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    What if 70–95% of your emissions sit on farms you’ve never even seen?
    And what happens to your supply chain when those farms face depleted soils, rising costs, and climate shocks all at once?

    In this episode, I’m joined by Rhyannon Galea and Kristjan Luha from eAgronom, a team helping thousands of farmers across Europe shift to regenerative practices and generate the credible primary data food companies now need for Scope 3 reporting. We dig into why agriculture remains the most opaque, and most consequential, part of modern supply chains, and why resilience increasingly begins in the soil rather than the warehouse.

    You’ll hear how complex value chains, missing data, and inconsistent incentives have kept Scope 3 action stuck on PowerPoint for years, and how that’s finally starting to change. We uncover why regenerative agriculture can strengthen yields and resilience, yet still takes five careful seasons to transition. And you might be surprised to learn how tractors, satellites, and field-level sensors are quietly rewriting how companies measure emissions, reward farmers, and prepare for CSRD and SBTi FLAG.

    If you’re wrestling with Scope 3, agricultural emissions, or supply chain resilience, this one will give you a clearer path through the noise.

    🎙️ Listen now to hear how eAgronom is reshaping the future of sustainable and resilient food systems.


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

    • Christian Sederberg
    • Kristal Maharaj
    • 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.

    17 November 2025, 6:00 am
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