The recently concluded SCOPE West conference in Las Vegas yielded some remarkable information, and delivered on its promise of fresh insight.
The consensus among most presenters was that supply chain leaders were "attacking complexity," while embracing a new level of "simplicity."
SCOPE (Supply Chain Operations Private Expositions) organizers said this year’s event would provide us with strategic presentations and panels from industry thought leaders and "real world" customer led case studies. Indeed it did.
Mark Vollrath, worldwide director of Colgate-Palmolive, noted, for example, that his company does 80 percent of its business overseas…contrary to popular perception. That means that new procurement and manufacturing practices have to be leveraged if the company wishes to continue to cut supply chain costs as it expands into new markets.
‘How do we do this?" he asks. "By employing segmented collaboration within our human resources. If we have a logistics specialist in India that can lend his expertise in China, we send him there."
And while that may sound "simple," how many other multinationals are pursuing this course?
SC
MR
Latest Supply Chain News
- From orbit to operations: Winning the race for the earliest disruption signal
- Stop moving boxes, start moving dollars: The new math of global supply chain velocity
- Finding your rhythm: SME supply chain footwork when the rules keep changing
- Your supply chain automation should trade like a hedge fund
- Supply chain’s new normal isn’t stability, it’s change
- More News
Latest Podcast
Explore
Topics
Latest Supply Chain News
- PepsiCo moves its startup sustainability program from pilots to operational scale across Asia Pacific
- Eli Lilly’s Mar Gimeno to keynote at NextGen Supply Chain Conference 2026
- Agentic coding and the future of supply chain leadership
- From orbit to operations: Winning the race for the earliest disruption signal
- Stop moving boxes, start moving dollars: The new math of global supply chain velocity
- Finding your rhythm: SME supply chain footwork when the rules keep changing
- More latest news
Latest Resources
About the Author
Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor
Patrick is a widely-published writer and editor specializing in international trade, global logistics, and supply chain management. He is based in San Francisco, where he provides a Pacific Rim perspective on industry trends and forecasts. He may be reached at his downtown office: [email protected].
Follow SCMR on social media.
@SupplyChainManagementReview on Facebook
@SCMR on Twitter
SCMR on Linkedin
Subscribe
Supply Chain Management Review delivers the best industry content.
Editors’ Picks
