Circular Supply Chain: 17 Common Questions

This final episode cuts through the complexity with five essential questions every supply chain team needs to answer now. We map the journey from identifying your most-traveled product and your largest waste stream, to pinpointing your single biggest vulnerability and confronting your carbon footprint.

This episode breaks down the seven-phase transition framework used by professionals worldwide. We move from mapping your hidden "fugitive value" and intensifying asset use, to predicting waste streams and deliberately slowing down your inventory's life cycle.

This episode moves beyond theory to tackle five real-world crises with circular solutions. Discover how to handle budget cuts by turning waste into revenue, bypass port closures with regional sourcing, and hit aggressive emissions targets by shortening your supply chain.

This episode cuts through the hype of the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions to spotlight five practical technologies that actually matter. We explore the "digital bill of materials" that gives every product a unique life story, the modular connections that make partnerships snap together like LEGO, and the automated marketplace that could turn your waste into someone else's raw material over...

This episode dives into the three critical touchpoints—physical, financial, and informational—that separate a simple network from a true circular ecosystem. Discover why money flows reveal more truths than your inventory data, how blockchain might finally solve the "new supplier" problem, and why your most creative (and chaotic) information workarounds are about to meet their match.

This episode argues that to build a truly circular supply chain, we need to rebuild the very systems they run on. Discover why "agile" and "cost" aren't enough, how a 20-year-old "turnkey" concept is making a comeback, and what it will take to measure circularity as a strategy, not just a goal.

This episode makes the case that it's not only possible but already happening inside forward-thinking companies. We break down the three-step playbook for achieving zero waste, from the radical efficiency of a pen with its own labeled spot, to a whiskey maker feeding cows with its leftovers, and a multi-billion dollar CPG giant that stopped throwing away its cardboard boxes. Discover why the ultim...

This episode dives into the surprising new revenue streams hidden in your supply chain's waste. Discover how "industrial symbiosis" is turning bean water into vegan mayo, why Ford is buying ketchup scraps from Heinz, and the three simple models for finding a buyer for your byproducts.

How do we turn a dirty diaper into a business opportunity? This episode challenges the four fundamental assumptions that keep our global supply chains long, fragile, and wasteful. Discover why "centralized" doesn't always mean "optimized," how the very idea of "away" is a fantasy, and why the future of supply chain resilience might depend on partnering with an unexpected ally: your own garbage.

Is circularity just the next "Lean"? This episode uncovers the critical similarities and surprising differences. Discover why circularity shifts the core goal from inventory turns to asset utilization , how it turns waste streams into new revenue, and why it might be time to add a new type of "waste" to your vocabulary.

Moving to a circular model means shifting from a one-time sale to an ongoing relationship with products. This episode explores four key operational changes: the point of sale becomes just the beginning, repair overtakes building new, the crucial metric shifts from inventory turns to asset utilization, and wait times shrink dramatically. Discover how smaller, tighter loops create faster, more effic...

Sourcing circular materials isn't a distant dream—it's happening now. This episode uncovers six practical sources, from harvesting waste in your own operations and trading with neighboring supply chains, to tapping into commodity markets and even mining landfills. Discover how to find the materials that will build your resilient, circular supply chain.

This episode breaks down the five lifecycle stages—from simple reuse to complex recycling—that determine how materials circulate through our supply chains. Discover why keeping materials in the smallest, most valuable loop is the key to building truly circular operations and how to think about the inputs that power them.

This episode dissects the five powerful advantages of circular supply chains, exploring how it's about more than just sustainability and has the potential to be a superior operational model.

This episode explores the four fundamental shifts from linear to circular supply chains: from inventory turns to asset utilization, virgin materials to reused inputs, waste streams to value streams, and siloed operations to interconnected ecosystems. This is a complete operational redesign for lasting value.

The circular economy goes beyond recycling. This episode breaks it into six key parts—Materials, Business Models, Operations, Markets, Strategies, and Circular Supply Chains—and shows how they connect to create a value-driven system.

Our first episode breaks down why the linear economy is a dead end and why a circular model is the necessary evolution for resilient, profitable, and sustainable supply chains.

Deborah welcomes you to the podcast adaptation of her book Circular Supply Chain: 17 Common Questions.