We call them the rainmakers, though they could hardly be less like those temperamental sales superstars normally associated with the notion of "bringing on the rain." In fact, the 12 professionals we profile on the following pages come from all sides of the business—they're academics and practitioners, consultants and vendors. Though they've made it to the top of the profession, none has been content to stop there. Each has done something along the way to move the entire discipline forward—whether it's pushing an advanced technology initiative, conducting industry research or educating others out in the field.
The Rainmakers we profile each June are hand picked by the DC VELOCITY Editorial Advisory board, the magazine's editorial staff, and starting this year, the previous year's Rainmakers. Once the selections have been made, we develop a short biographical sketch of each and ask them about their greatest accomplishments to date and what they see as the greatest obstacles to the profession's growth in the future.
Alan Estevez
When it comes to RFID mandates, Wal-Mart gets the headlines. But the U.S. Defense Department, which issued an RFID edict of its own to suppliers last fall, isn't far behind. The DOD is already testing RFID tags to track field rations and chemical-biological suits from factory to foxhole. That's thanks in large part to Alan Estevez. As the assistant deputy under secretary of defense (supply chain integration), Estevez is responsible for developing global supply chain management and distribution policies and processes to support war fighters in the 21st century. These days, that means driving rapid RFID deployment. A career civil servant, Estevez has played critical roles in multiple recent DOD logistics initiatives.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: What I have enjoyed most in my career is the opportunity to identify deficiencies and implement improvements in the DOD supply chain—including the use of RFID. The ability to make this positive impact has been gratifying.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: The greatest obstacle to logistics today is the lack of data about what we have and where it is in the logistics chain. In the DOD, [progress on] this issue is hampered by our homegrown management information systems, though significant plans are in progress for the transition from these legacy systems.
Kate Vitasek
Kate Vitasek is managing partner of Supply Chain Visions, a consulting firm specializing in supply chain strategy and education. She is a published author, frequent speaker at industry events, and guest lecturer for several universities. She currently serves on the CLM Executive Committee, teaches seminars for the Warehousing Education and Research Council, and serves as a committee member for the Supply Chain Council.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: I truly enjoy the time I give back to the profession—especially in terms of the educational work I do in the classroom and executive education. It's rewarding to be a "bridge" between academics and practitioners: sharing practical case studies with students, and stretching practitioners to learn and apply all the great ideas that are out there that can help them drive performance improvements in their company.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Two things. First, the lack of trust between supply chain partners prohibits companies from truly developing win-win supply chain solutions. The second is in closing the gap between academics and practitioners. There are so many great ideas that are published every year by academics—yet only a fraction of companies ever wind up implementing these ideas. Just think of how much more efficient the world would be if companies implemented just 10 percent of the known supply chain best practices!
Pat Byrne
Pat Byrne is Accenture's managing partner for the Supply Chain Management and Strategy & Business Architecture service lines and serves on the company's Executive Committee. Byrne has co-authored three books on supply chain management and written two books on marketing and business planning.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: The greatest reward is working with clients to deliver significant results in both good and bad economic times. I've had the privilege to partner with many world-class organizations well known for supply chain excellence. Most notable is a client for whom we used advanced supply chain management principles and technology to create a competitive advantage. Today, the company is viewed as a global leader in customer service/customer experience.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Integrating effectively into the customer's supply chain so that logistics isn't just about physically moving product, but is also about providing services that improve the overall customer experience. This requires a deep understanding of the customer's business, anticipation of useful services and technology solutions, and strategic investment in enabling technologies, processes and alliances.
Simon Langford
As the man behind "The Mandate," Simon Langford is to Wal-Mart what his fellow Rainmaker Alan Estevez is to DOD. That is, he's driving the retail giant's quest for rapid-fire RFID deployment internally and with suppliers. To make that happen, Langford spends time working with suppliers to hash out implementation issues and with standards groups and technology providers to develop global standards and solutions. In September 2001, Langford moved to Bentonville, Ark., from the United Kingdom, where he was responsible for the retail systems team that managed the Wal- Mart systems integration at ASDA, a European grocer that's now part of the Wal-Mart family.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: The design and implementation into the ASDA supply chain of a new replenishment system for produce that squeezed 24 hours out of the lead times and delivered an outstanding reduction in wastage and increase in sales. This system ensured we had the freshest product on the shelf when the customer needed it. This has since been rolled into Wal-Mart here in the United States.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Individuals' passion to challenge the norm and not become complacent. We all must continually drive and search out new ways to do things that will drive out cost in the supply chain and enable us to get product to shelf quicker to enable us to serve our customers better.
Karl Manrodt
Dr. Karl Manrodt, a product of the highly regarded University of Tennessee logistics program, currently serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Management, Marketing and Logistics at Georgia Southern University. Known for a series of groundbreaking studies, Manrodt has published articles in such leading industry journals as the Transportation Journal, the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Materials Management and the Journal of Business Logistics.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: I don't think that I've had as many great accomplishments as I've had opportunities. I have had an opportunity to work with great people, first at the University of Tennessee, and now at Georgia Southern University. I've had an opportunity to teach wonderful students and to be active in CLM, WERC and other educational organizations. If I've had any notable accomplishments, it's because of the people and organizations I've had a chance to work with.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: It boils down to one word—visibility. Greater visibility requires that everyone be involved. It's not enough to just think about tactical excellence; you have to understand how today's tools can help you manage your business in a competitive market.
Eric Peters
As Manhattan Associates' executive vice president for strategy and business development, Eric Peters leads the company's Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Order Management initiatives. With nearly 20 years of marketing and strategy experience in the supply chain execution field, Peters was founder and CEO of an Accenture affiliate company that broke new ground in the field of Internet security and Web services. Previously, he held a variety of positions at Accenture.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: Having had the opportunity to work with so many great companies during my career and to help them see improvements in their supply chain operations. It's a great feeling to be part of a team that helps take a company's supply chain operations to another level.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Moving forward, supply chain obstacles will be a result of the increased complexity that is being introduced into the supply chain. Globalization, time compression and an abundance of data will all put tremendous strains on the supply chain, making it hard to identify any one obstacle. In fact, obstacles will emerge that we have not even identified today as a result of the complexity that we are introducing into the supply chain.
Patricia Daugherty
Dr. Patricia Daugherty is division director and Siegfried Chair in Marketing and Supply Chain Management at the University of Oklahoma. She is president of the Oklahoma Council of Logistics Management Roundtable and is the current editor of the Journal of Business Logistics. Before entering academia, she worked in the buying organization of a national retail grocery chain.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: There are three I would list: developing and introducing a supply chain management major at University of Oklahoma; being editor of the Journal of Business Logistics; and mentoring and training doctoral students.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Developing truly collaborative supply chain relationships. There's still a lot more talk than action.
Bob Belshaw
Bob Belshaw has been a problem solver and a "fixer" his entire career. His track record includes redesigns of worldwide supply chains for Motorola, BP Amoco, Johnson & Johnson and BASF. Today, he's the chief operating officer of Insight, a supply chain and technology consultancy, with business development, sales, marketing, operations, product and strategy responsibilities. He was formerly with Arnold Industries, where he designed, selected and implemented the first less-than-truckload carrier use of mobile data and a wireless communication system.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: Supporting many leading organizations in the creation of internal strategic supply chain design groups. By redefining supply chain strategy to include not only network design, but also inventory optimization, strategic transportation procurement and capacity planning, organizations can better understand the competitive advantages of creating internal groups to drive change.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: The largest logistics challenge facing companies is the increasing attraction of outsourcing supply chain design. Internal understanding of the intricacies of a company's supply chain provides the ability to rapidly respond to today's dynamic business environment. Outsourcing this capability tends to reduce an organization's acceptance of the technology, dilute the quality of analysis, and decrease the complete integration of quantitative tools into decision making.
Pat Moffett
With 40 years in the field of international trade and logistics, Pat Moffett is vice president of global logistics & customs compliance at Audiovox Corp. Winner of numerous awards, including being named one of the "Top 20 Logistics Executives in the U.S." by the Logistics Forum in 2002, Moffett is a Vietnam veteran and has just published Fortunate Soldier, a book about his tour of duty in Southeast Asia.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: The creation of the Long Island Import-Export Association (LIIEA), which I founded in 1982 and still head up as chairman. When I arrived on Long Island from a position in Manhattan, I realized that there was no arena where companies could share information. I refinanced my house to get the needed funds to cover the startup costs. I selected a series of guest speakers who were experts in each field. Our first meeting took place in the back of a bar and had 25 people in attendance. Today the LIIEA has a membership of 125 corporations and rarely draws fewer than 80 people to its monthly meetings.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Speaking from an international standpoint, I believe the biggest obstacle for the future can be summed up in one word—security! We hope to be part of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) by the end of the year. We're running behind on this program due to difficulty in getting cooperation from our foreign manufacturers. In addition to C-TPAT we must keep up to speed on the concepts of RFID and smart containers in order to completely secure the supply chain.
As Grainger's vice president of supply chain development, Rick Adams is responsible for overseeing the successful replacement of the remaining legacy systems for the company's U.S. supply chain. He was also responsible for the reconfiguration of the logistics network, including the construction of nine automated distribution centers. Since he joined Grainger as an industrial engineer in 1988, Adams has held many posts within the company.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: Developing the vision, mission and strategy that led the successful transformation of Grainger's U.S. logistics network of nine automated distribution centers and a capital outlay in excess of $200 million, while continuing to operate and support $4 billion in annual U.S. sales.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Change, if not considered and managed effectively, is the greatest obstacle. Providing change leadership at all levels is the biggest challenge. Helping people to understand the big picture and how they fit in is critical for success. There are three things that need to change in order to optimize supply chains; tool sets, skill sets and, the toughest of all, mindsets.
Wayne Bourne
Wayne Bourne is vice president of transportation at Best Buy, where he's responsible for inbound domestic and international supply chain operations. Bourne was recently chosen by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a member of a "Blue Ribbon" team that will conduct a 14-month study examining the effect growth in international trade may have on U.S. port capacity and related transportation infrastructure. He has also recently accepted an appointment to the Transportation Security Best Practices Committee of the National Defense Transportation Agency, whose ultimate mission is to foster a strong, efficient and secure global transportation system.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: The development of a world-class transportation team here at Best Buy. When I began my career here, we had 40 stores and sales of $500 million. My staff consisted of one manager, one scheduler and a freight payment associate. In 13 years we have grown to 750 stores in North America and have sales of $25 billion, during which time my staff has grown considerably and has kept pace not only with the volume and product growth but also with technology developments and the physical infrastructure.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: Indifference to productivity inhibitors. Whether it's the new HOS (hours of service) rule or out-of-control fuel costs, we need to continue to explore new ways to take unnecessary costs out of the supply chain, while maintaining consistent service. This will require a much closer collaboration between shippers and service providers. It simply cannot be "the other guy's problem" any longer.
John Pulling
John Pulling serves as vice president and chief operating officer at Provia Software. He combines knowledge of the company's product suites with an understanding of how clients can realize maximum value from these products in a variety of environments. A frequent conference speaker, Pulling is widely admired for his knack of describing detailed and complex technology applications in terms even the least technically inclined logistics professionals can understand. Prior to joining Provia in 1991, Pulling served as director of advance product development for Logisticon, one of the first companies to package a warehouse management system (WMS).
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest personal/professional accomplishment to date in the logistics field?
A: Being part of the team that created a WMS and built it out to a full suite of supply chain execution solutions, and implemented systems for 120 customers representing over 500 running sites.
Q: What do you consider to be the greatest obstacles, moving forward, to greater supply chain optimization in the logistics field?
A: The need for adoption of optimization at the execution level. To date it has been at the planning level, but it needs to occur at every supply chain node at the execution level. The execution systems need to include optimization in order to provide true information synchronization throughout the supply chain. Another important challenge will be extracting hard benefits from the promise of RFID technology.
