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Darcy MacClaren is chief revenue officer of SAP Digital Supply Chain, where she oversees the company’s global supply chain business. She has spent 30 years growing, differentiating, and improving businesses through technology transformation, with a focus on supply chain. She has held various leadership roles at SAP over the last ten years, most recently serving as the senior vice president of digital supply chain and industry 4.0 for SAP North America.
MacClaren is responsible for driving Digital Supply Chain sales, including the go-to-market strategy, as well as overseeing core operations in pipeline development, demand management, and revenue growth.
Recently named in Fortune’s “Broadsheet” newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, MacClaren has also been featured in Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s 2022 Women in Supply Chain and as a 2022 Supply Chain Pro to Know. MacClaren’s expertise has been cited in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Radio, Protocol, and Supply Chain Quarterly, among other supply chain outlets. She is a frequent moderator, panelist, and keynote speaker at major supply chain events. She is the founder of the Empowering Women in Supply Chain Network, which is dedicated to improving diversity in the supply chain field and since its inception in 2020, has grown to over 800 members. She was also awarded the SAP Diversity and Inclusion Award for her work with this group.
Before joining SAP, MacClaren held several senior supply chain leadership positions at companies such as Blue Yonder, Infor, G-Log, (acquired by Oracle), and Hewlett Packard. MacClaren graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She has an MBA from SUNY at Buffalo.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 00:01
Evaluating logistics, AI, and this week's Prime Day. What is the current state of logistics? And women drive forward in transportation.
Pull up a chair and join us as the editors of DC Velocity discuss these stories, as well as news and supply chain trends, on this week's Logistics Matters podcast.
Hi, I'm Dave Maloney. I'm the group editorial director at DC Velocity. Welcome.
Logistics Matters is sponsored by Travero Logistics. Travero Logistics is an experienced, Midwest-based freight brokerage firm. They have a national network of trusted carriers ready to meet your freight transportation needs. Visit Travero.com and let their experts find you a solution. That's T-R-A-V-E-R-O dot com.
Ben Ames is on vacation this week, so we'll have Susan Lacefield pinch hitting for him. She'll be along with Victoria Kickham to provide their insights into the top stories of this week. But to begin today: We keep hearing of AI everywhere these days, and how it might revolutionize our supply chains, and on top of that, consumers this week experienced the annual Prime Day. How are both of these affecting supply chains? To find out, here's Victoria with today's guest.
Victoria.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 01:20
Thank you, Dave. Our guest today is Darcy MacClaren. Darcy is global chief revenue officer for digital supply chain at SAP. She's here to talk with us, as Dave said, about how to leverage AI — artificial intelligence — in supply chains, and also weigh in on Prime Day. Welcome, Darcy.
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 01:38
Thank you, Victoria. Appreciate you having me.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 01:40
Yeah, great to have you here. I'll start off by saying, you know, as an expert in supply chain, what do you make of this week's big event, Amazon's Prime Day, which wrapped up just a couple days ago? I'm wondering what key effects did this have on retail supply chains this week so far that we're able to see?
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 01:57
Well, it's interesting. We've now done a few Amazon Prime days, and so now we have some experience, and I was anxiously waiting to see what happened. I saw an article on Axios this morning that called Prime Day, and I quote: "The tide that lifts all boats." So, extremely successful. And what was interesting is, not only was it successful for Amazon Prime, but other e-commerce competitors also have deals running simultaneously, such as Walmart, Target, et cetera, and you see things like Black Friday. So, Amazon Prime days were successful, and it also drove other e-commerce, and I think the biggest thing is that this is a huge, huge test of technology, and this year, the technology held up. People had better planning, and from an execution standpoint, we actually were able to deliver it. So, the results are not in yet, Victoria, but I think we could say overall was very successful.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 02:53
Great. So, I was gonna ask, you know, are there, did the surge in orders, you know, cause any delivery snags that you can see? It sounds like things went pretty smoothly that we know so far, you know. I wondered what that might indicate for peak holiday shipping season ahead?
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 03:09
Well, I think the technology held up because people anticipated the surge and were prepared with alternatives in the planning and the learnings from [the] previous year and had allowed for those fluctuations, so they had the inventory in the right place for what they sensed it. They had the right delivery setup. There was a lot of collaboration. Even for a big company like Amazon, they need to rely on others. So, it did in fact — held up. I think you'll see inventories have gone down now, and they've more stabilized. And now we're getting ready, of course for the next big season, and I think we'll see more of what we said here. Companies are better ready to to respond.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 03:52
That sounds great, and I know that I did some ordering and everything arrived on time, so personal experience shows that you are correct about that. I wanted to then kind of switch gears a little bit. You're responsible for helping guide customers through their digital transformation journey. What does that mean exactly? I was hoping you could talk to us a little bit about what that job entails.
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 04:13
Yes. What we do is we try to help companies set their vision of what they need to build what we call a risk-resilient and sustainable supply chain, and it starts with putting the customer in the center of everything that you do and figuring out what that vision looks like, and then based on the individual customer's current situation, then the question is, where do they start? And generally they have to start by digitizing their organization and getting all the partners in the ecosystem connected, and then from that, then we determine what is the most broken or what is the most urgent. Is it the logistics area that we need to focus on first? Is that the demand planning area? So, the important thing is to have that long-term vision, get digitized, and then, very important place to start. And that's really what we do help companies with, and then also help them with the change management that's involved with that, and then how do they introduce intelligent technologies into this overall vision?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 05:19
Speaking of technologies, what technologies are making the biggest difference in supply chain today? We mentioned at the outset artificial intelligence. That's got to be a big part of the conversation.
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 05:30
Well, AI is what everybody is talking about, and it's clear that in today's complex global disruptive supply chain, you cannot do your job well, right, sustainable, cost-effective unless you embrace technologies like AI. So, supply chain is a particular area where they're becoming extremely important — artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things are all extremely critical in putting them as a part of your supply chain. I will say, that in conjunction with also networks and being connected, and AI, because then you get all this massive amount of information. How do I assemble this information? How do I make sense of it? And that's where AI comes into play in a pretty big way. So it's extremely important in supply chain.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 06:17
Do you think supply chain leaders have a good understanding of it, and how it may apply to their business? I'm wondering if that depends on the size and scope of the organization, you know, sort of, where are we in terms of the level of understanding?
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 06:30
I think everybody now has a general understanding of AI, a general understanding of the importance of it. What executives and supply chain professionals are now struggling with a little bit is, how do I apply that practically in my organization? How do I roll it out at scale? How do I make it a part of my process? And what they really want to know is, they want it built in, they want it relevant, and they want it responsible. So high-level, folks kind of understand it, but it's that building in, making relevant, making responsible is what the next wave is that we need to work on.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 07:10
You mentioned a few different areas in which you kind of help people apply technologies. What specific areas are customers looking at when it comes to applying AI-based programs? You know, are there any go-to strategies that apply sort of generally?
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 07:26
Well, they're looking for AI in all aspects of the business, right? And anywhere you can take a large amount of data, analyze it quickly, and provide the answer is where you see AI being used. So, it's absolutely essential in such like demand planning, where you have millions of different data points of consensus data, machine-learning information that you're trying to combine to make sense of, is where you'll see AI being used. But it's also being used in things like warehouse management, to introduce intelligent slotting and capabilities into AI to suggest, how do I optimize my warehouse organization so it's well-stocked and replenished based on product characteristics, demand, or forecasts. You will also see generative AI in like SAP's transportation management, where if you if you look at a very crowded yard and you don't know which trucks to unload first, well imagine if you could just automatically fill in the information and, with regenerative AI capabilities, quickly decide which trucks you should unload first with the packing and unpacking slips, and have that in front of you. So, every area, you'll see trying to embed AI — specifically in supply chain, but it applies to all aspects of your business, you know: HR, travel and expense — throughout your whole processes. The key concept to making it work is it does have to be embedded into the process to really give you the benefit that you're seeking as an organization.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 08:56
Why do you think it's important for business leaders to invest in supply chain technology in general, and AI in particular? We've talked about a few ways here, but I wonder if you can kind of encapsulate that for our audience?
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 09:06
It's extremely important to to invest in the technology, because the problem now is supply chain, you know, we've changed it. It's no longer about efficiency, cost. It's about building a supply chain that is risk-resilient and able to respond quickly to whatever disruption happens. And those disruptions, we know they've always been there, but now they're coming more frequently and they have bigger impact. So, when you look across your organization, the only way to do that is to embrace the technology, to have strong, integrated business planning, to have visibility for everything that's going on within your ecosystems: your supplier, your contract manufacturers, your customers, all your things. And the way — the only way to do that is through technology. Being connected, using AI is the way that you need to do it. You can no longer do it through brute force, which is what supply chain folks have typically been very good at, but it's not a nice-to-have now. Embracing technology, it's a must have. And the only question is, you need to start now and then figure out what your journey is.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 10:19
Excellent advice. Darcy, thanks very much for being our guest today. We appreciate you sharing your insight with our audience.
Darcy MacClaren, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Supply Chain, SAP 10:27
Thank you so much for having me.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 10:29
We have been talking with Darcy MacClaren of SAP. Back to you, Dave.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 10:34
Thank you, Darcy and Victoria. Now let's take a look at some of the other supply chain news from the week, and as I mentioned at the top of the podcast, Ben is on vacation this week, so joining us today from our sister publication CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly is executive editor Susan Lacefield. Welcome, Susan, great to have you with us today.
Susan Lacefield, Executive Editor, Supply Chain Quarterly 10:55
Thanks, Dave. It's great to be here.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 10:57
Susan, you and the Supply Chain Quarterly staff are busy putting together the annual issue that looks at the state of logistics. Can you tell us a little bit about the upcoming issue?
Susan Lacefield, Executive Editor, Supply Chain Quarterly 11:07
Yes. So, every year the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals puts out a State of Logistics report that's written by the consulting company Kearney, and the report analyzes key trends in the logistics market and details all the costs associated with moving freight through the U.S. supply chain. And if you're interested, you can find that report on CSCMP's website. This year's report looks at 2022 and the first few months of 2023, and what it shows is that the logistics market is really resetting and rebalancing itself after several years of disruption. So, in 2021, we saw that high demand and tight capacity which put carriers in the driver's seat, and you saw big increases in rates across the board. But in 2022, as demand leveled off and inventory rose, the market has swung back in favor of shippers. And yet, business logistics costs are still high Dave. In 2022, U.S. business logistics costs reach $2.3 trillion, which is an almost 20% increase over 2021, and the main reasons for this increase were the hot labor market and, of course, inflation. Looking ahead, the report expects supply chain demand to remain stagnant, or even diminish, over the remainder of 2023.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 12:31
And it has certainly been an interesting ride this year, and that report, of course, forms the basis for the upcoming issue of Supply Chain Quarterly that you're working on.
Susan Lacefield, Executive Editor, Supply Chain Quarterly 12:41
Yes, that's correct. So, our special issue, which is published next month, contains, kind of to kick the whole issue off, a summary of the report. But the other articles that follow are each written by industry experts, and they take a deeper-dive look into the key transportation modes and sectors of the logistics market. So, there are articles about trans — trucking, maritime, rail, and the air markets, as well as articles on parcel, third-party logistics, inventory, and warehousing. And to write these articles, we have pulled together a really great host of experts from organizations such as Kearney, again; FTR; Container xChange; Gartner; Extensiv; Colorado State University; John Boyd and Associates; and SJ Consulting. And, Dave, some of the common themes that we're seeing across these articles are the effects that nearshoring is having on transportation and warehousing; of course, the current freight recession; the growing complexity of logistic networks; and continuing labor concerns.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 13:48
Certainly will be an interesting look at what's been going on in the last year or so, and some great content coming up, so we look forward to seeing that issue when it releases next month.
Susan Lacefield, Executive Editor, Supply Chain Quarterly 13:58
Thanks, Dave.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 13:59
Thank you, Susan. And Victoria, you wrote this week about new research into the strides that women are making in the field of transportation. Can you share some details?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 14:08
Absolutely, Dave, yeah. So, women make up 12% of commercial drivers nationwide, and that's according to the 2023 Women In Trucking Index, which was released earlier this month. The index is an annual report by the nonprofit group Women In Trucking, and it measures the percentage of women represented in roles across the transportation industry. Those roles include corporate management, boards of directors, management and supervisory roles, as well as operations, technicians, human resources, safety, and of course, professional drivers. According to Women In Trucking, the number of women drivers has been growing over the past five years in line with overall industry demand to recruit more drivers to the field in general. And that's not all. They also said the number of women in related roles is increasing. In 2023, about 44% of dispatchers working in trucking and transportation are women as well. The grip did not provide year-over-year comparison data, but said the increases are based on trends that their researchers have observed over time.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 15:10
Those are interesting statistics, Victoria. Did the survey point to any particular reason for the growth, other than of course, the growing demand for drivers nationwide?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 15:19
Yes, they did. So, as you said, there's been a steady push to increase the number of women truck drivers, both to meet demand and also to diversify the workforce. Individual companies, as well as organizations like Women In Trucking, are taking a variety of paths to encourage more women to join the ranks, including, you know, things like promotional campaigns, offering networking and support groups, and just general outreach to the general public, but also to women already working in supply chain and transportation. But interestingly, the folks at Women In Trucking also said that women generally have some qualities that are really helpful in doing the job. A couple of things they pointed to were strong multitasking skills, and that women tend to be safe drivers. These are generalizations, of course, but they're things that the association has noted over time as particularly beneficial. So, that's helping to draw people to the profession. I wanted to mention also that there was another report released around the same time as this one that pointed to women's advancements in the industry as well. Market research from Gartner released its eighth annual Women in Supply Chain survey, which showed that women now make up 41% of the supply chain workforce. That's up from 39% in 2022. The advances were especially prominent in the C-suite, and at the executive level, where 26% of those roles are now filled by women. That's an all-time high, and up from 19% last year. So, interesting and good news. Progress all around, it seems.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:50
Yes, it is good to see. Thanks, Victoria.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 16:53
You're welcome.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:55
We encourage listeners to go to DCVelocity.com for more on these and other supply chain stories. And check out the podcast Notes section for some direct links on the topics that we discussed today.
And again, we'd like to thank Darcy MacClaren SAP for being our guest. We welcome your comments on this topic and our other stories. You can email us at podcast@dcvelocity.com.
We also encourage you to subscribe to Logistics Matters at your favorite podcast platform. Our new episodes are uploaded each Friday.
Speaking of subscribing, check out our sister podcast series Supply Chain in the Fast Lane. It's co- produced by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and Supply Chain Quarterly. The current series is on transportation tech, so check out Supply Chain in the Fast Lane wherever you get your podcasts.
And a reminder that Logistics Matters is sponsored by Travero Logistics. Travero Logistics is an experienced, Midwest-based freight-brokerage firm. They have a national network of trusted carriers ready to meet your freight transportation needs. Visit Travero.com and let their experts find you a solution. That's T-R-A-V-E-R-O dot com.
We'll be back again next week with another edition of Logistics Matters. Be sure to join us, and until then, have a great week.
Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:
- AFS Logistics
- Warehouse construction and automation spending to rise in 2024
- Locus Robotics breaks ground on new Massachusetts HQ
- Get episode transcripts
- Visit Supply Chain Quarterly
- Listen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Quarterly's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcast
- Listen to Supply Chain Quarterly's Top 10 Supply Chain Threats podcast
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