Narrator:
Welcome to the supply chain visibility stories, the podcast for supply chain managers, brought to you by ACSIS, the 100% supply chain visibility cloud solution provider. Supply Chain Visibility Stories is hosted by Bill Wohl, a technology industry veteran and enterprise software professional.

Bill Wohl:
Thanks everyone for joining us. Today marks the next in a series of discussions exploring the intersection of technology and business. Our discussions are designed to be brief and focused, and we're hoping this podcast format inspires our audience to think about how technology impacts their own organizations and to engage with us as our series continues. I'll have information about how to engage with the series and our guests at the end of today's discussion. My name is Bill Wohl and I'm honored to be the host of this series brought to you by ACSIS. I'm always fascinated by the business challenges faced by companies and how those challenges can be addressed by technology. We started our series exploring some of the macro trends facing companies today, including the impact of the pandemic and how that's been driving a renewed focus on global supply chains. Since then, we've been big digging a bit deeper. So, today we welcome two new guests from ACSIS Gil Rodriguez, vice president of National Accounts, and we also welcome Peter Musser. Peter is a supply chain veteran, most notably 22 years at DuPant, where he was right in the middle of how manufacturing and it come together. Gil and Peter, welcome to the program.

Gil Rodriguez:
Thank you, Bill. It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for the invitation.

Peter Musser:
Thank you, sir, very much.

Bill Wohl:
Great. Gil, let's start by setting the stage. We've been talking about filling the gaps in transparency in the supply chain and in particular how companies can think about that effort from concept to execution. Today, we want to dig into the integration of partners, the challenges and opportunities there. Why is that so important?

Gil Rodriguez:
Well, it's important in the sense that supply chains are continuing to evolve. So they're nothing new. I mean, they've been around since before the before the Silk Roads. So, you know, you had events about 100 years ago, let's say, and or even, you know, within that time period where a country would make something, sell it in country, and then expand it to selling it outside of their borders and then go in country with manufacturing and use existing distribution infrastructure that has a heavy reliance on a partner network on a on the ability to be able to collaborate with both in country manufacturing, in country distribution, even in country marketing. So there is a there has always been and will always continue to be a huge emphasis on a partner network in order to be able to help you track your product as they used to say from cradle to grave and to know where that asset is within the supply chain, not just logistically where it is from point A to point Z, but to be able to understand what the attributes of the product are in real time. And there is a huge push now more than ever of the concept of one window pane, one view to your supply chain. And quite frankly, you simply cannot do it without a partner network. And I'll get into a little bit later on how does a company start? What’s step one in that effort to secure that one view, if you will, of the supply chain.

Bill Wohl:
All right, Gil, that's a good way to start. So, it's always great on this podcast series when we can get the perspective of a customer. Peter, welcome to the program. I know that the number of years that you worked in the middle of all of this at Dupant. In preparing for this program, I recall that you said that really this is a challenge about managing the complexity of it to handle simple problems. What did you mean by that?

Peter Musser:
So I mean at the most basic of levels specifically centered around you know partner management or supplier networks is for us was the idea of complicated versus simplified solutions right so you know when you look at the scope of you know EDI interfaces which is typically historically primarily how we integrate into other companies other vendor systems right the challenges we had for a full true EDI system versus something that's more modable more I'm sorry more modular more transportable you know more generic for use across any supplier you know not just warehousing but manufacturing was really our challenge right that the ability to have robust but yet simple to implement simple to execute solutions

Bill Wohl:
That makes sense. If we think about that and just click into it a little bit, your challenge at Dupant was to get all the information you could out of partner systems. Give them enough transparency into the systems to be connected and get a two-way flow of data, but not expose them to competitors or other suppliers. So, it's that challenge of just enough information, but not too much, right?

Peter Musser:
Yep. I think it's not only that, but you know, one of the key things obviously cost was a major driver, right? So, you know, the ability our are our implementation of EDI solutions had a fairly significant cost right you know there's quite a bit of you know back and forth for designing process maps data interchanges you know flow of data you know back and forth system security all those things that come with a formal EDI solution right and so what we looked at for our partner network is a set of standardized tools that loosely followed you know both common business processes and also common SAP right we're an SAP shop so SAP processes to allow suppliers to, you know, look as if they were one of our plants or one of our manufacturing facilities. I mean, you know, use common terminology, common tools and honestly, you know, have a common training set, a standard set of training documentation that we can, you know, implement across a brand new vendor, vendor Q comes online and we can share with them the same training docents that, you know, through were given for our standard process.

Bill Wohl:
Not just partner by partner though, you really get into things like opening and closing window those for seasonality.

Peter Musser:
Right? Exactly. So, I mean, you know, there, I think one of the larger challenges is, you know, the fact that vendors come and go for, you know, in our supply chain, right? You know, so, you know, a lot of the crop-based businesses that we partook in, you know, they are really only running six months. So, you know, the ability to bring a vendor on quickly and succinctly into a system, get them using it as quickly as possible, and then realistically have them stop using it for another six months and possibly six months later bring on someone totally different. That value there is of utmost importance to us, right? Being able to enable that without additional capital investment or time investment.

Bill Wohl:
This is not just an IT challenge however, right? It's not simply just APIs that work given the wide variety of systems that your suppliers and partners would be using. This goes further because you really want those partners to be seamlessly integrated across the business process. So We're not talking about just an IT implementation. We're really talking about a seamless flow of business process in and out of Dupant through all of these different vendors. Correct?

Peter Musser:
Oh, 100%. I mean, if you look at the core of what an IT system is, right? An IT system when possible should never drive the solution, right? You know, businesses should have their processes, whether it be shipping, receiving, manufacturing, billing, you know, all of different standards. Those business processes should be the same and you know in a vendor relationship, we should not have to change our business processes or mold them to a point to be able to bring on a partner or supplier and hopefully you know they should not have to change their processes. So the idea that the IT system is standardized enough to both meet and satisfy our current business processes but also you know, configurable variable enough that there is some flexibility for customization, you know, some localization things like that. It's really critical to us and that's kind of where really where we ended up with the solution we were using. 

Bill Wohl:
As we think about this podcast series, we al we often talk about the perspective of how supply chain was so much in the forefront of what everybody was talking about around 2000 or so. And then other things became important in the business process world, whether that was CRM or business intelligence. Here we are 20 years later, and supply chain, for all sorts of reasons, the pandemic and so forth, has come right back to the front of it. As you reflect upon your career at DUP, on what are some of the lessons that you learned about this intersection of IT and business that you could share with our audience?
Peter Musser:
So I think you know you brought some good perspective right if you look at today's headlines right I mean you know shipping cargo containers I mean the supply chain is definitely stretched about as thin as it could be right now right so you know all various different companies across the globe are having challenges and I think one of the most important things that we learned through the process and enabled through some of our you know application designs was that not to pigeon hole a partner into just you know being a manufacturer right or someone that makes stuff from them. So the idea that you know I I don't have time to make widget a I'm going to send it to you I'd like you to make it and send it back to me and then I can warehouse it store it send it to the customer you know that's a basic you know subcontractor relationship where our thought process involved which really you know pertains to the climate today is look let's expand that relationship with these guys. Let's give them the capability to warehouse and let us see, you know, inventory and create demand on inventory they've got. Let's let them store it. Let's actually package it and ship it and label it to our requirements, print our invoice, our paperwork. Let's, you know, engage this relationship so there's less hops, right? That's the biggest challenge of supply chain today is getting it from A to B to C to D. So, if I can send it from A to D and have it go straight to the customer from D, I've really taken out a lot of the challenges in supply chain. And that's what our system enables, right is expanding what you would consider a typical you know vendor-supplier relationship

Bill Wohl:
We always talk about the complexities of it and I want to go back to a point that we discussed on earlier because I thought I thought that was particularly important  and it really relates to this concept that  the complexity of it should not get in the way of business in fact I I think to sort of quote you you said look we don't want the business process to be defined it. We want that the other way around. So I really want to have the audience hear that again. What why is it so important for the business process to be the driver?

Peter Musser:
I mean, I think if you look at the cost of change, right? I mean, ultimately, for most businesses, it comes down to a cost decision, right? The cost to implement a robust system versus the cost to re-engineer a business process is is almost night and day, right? So you know I mean when you look at you know where am I going to make an investment, right? A technology investment for us, something that enables you to both maintain a standard business process, but also offer customization options where necessary is vastly more valuable than me going buying a shiny off-the-shelf product that I then have to change my business process to meet that product says that I should do, you know, business process A, B, and C, and D. And I think, you know, that there's a myriad of of sub sub items within that, but I think that's the root of the crux is that, you know, We want a system to be able to meet our processes and as they change the system to be able to adapt, not the other way around.

Bill Wohl:
Always having the customer perspective is unique and helpful to this series, and Peter that insight is beneficial. It does, though, raise Gil as I come back to you. The challenge that all customers tend to face which is this can look pretty much an overwhelming array of tasks to get done given the enormity of some and complexity of some companies' supply chain. So we get to that final question to you which is how do customers think about getting started?

Gil Rodriguez:
Well, I think the first thing they have to do is to have a goal in mind and the theme that you've talked about and the examples that Peter have given is really the basis. It's the foundation for the goal, and the goal at the end of the day is supply chain visibility. And I know that that's a $14 phrase but it is the ability to know where your assets are product semi-finish product at any given point at any point in the supply chain. And I've heard things like, IT shouldn't drive that, the business process should drive that. That is incredibly accurate.  The other concept that we've heard today is a robust application and a robust approach to this. But I'm also going to add the words flexible and scalable. Because Bill, you had mentioned 20 years ago that in order to achieve full supply chain visibility, you were bringing some heavy tools to bear. The technologies changed. It's become more nimble. It's become more agile. And it certainly has become much more cost-effective. So you have to start with the goal. And the goal is of course visibility, the ability to do track and trace, the ability to do a recall, and then you have to formulate the plan. And really the plan starts with defining your business network.
Who are your suppliers? What are you trying to achieve within the four walls of your enterprise? Where are your plants located? Are they close to customers? Are they close to native infrastructure, your tollers, your warehouses, your distribution centers, even the end consumer? Do I want the end consumer to validate that they've made a purchase and be able to do quality control? The second thing you have to do is you have to define the business processes within those networks. I want to track procurement, shipping, receiving, manufacturing. And lastly, define the assets that you want to track and to what degree do you want of data fidelity or granularity do you want to track them? You have to have a goal and a plan. I've outlined those three plans the three elements to the plan and it's a good starting point.

Bill Wohl:
I think that's good advice, and of course, having the right talent and advice in your array of partners is really important. I'd like to thank both of you for providing the advice on today's podcast. That's where we'll wrap it up. Thanks to Peter Musser for that important customer perspective. We really appreciate that. And to Gil of ACSIS and to ACSIS for making this podcast series possible. We welcome your comments and questions about the discussions on these podcasts. You can engage with us at the official Access Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Please be a part of the discussion. I know Gil and Peter would welcome that. I'm your host, Bill Wohl. And for everyone at ACSIS, thanks for joining today. We look forward to our next podcast. Talk soon. 

Narrator:
Thank you for listening to supply chain visibility stories brought to you by ACSIS, the 100% supply chain visibility cloud solution provider. Visit us on the web at acsisinc.com. That's acsisinc.com or join the dialogue on social media. Look for ACSIS Inc. on LinkedIn and Twitter. Join us next time for supply chain visibility stories. Brought to you by ACSIS.