Supply Chain Optimizers

What if geopolitics is no longer background noise in your supply chain, but the defining factor of your competitive advantage? In this episode of Supply Chain Optimizers, host Diego Solorzano speaks with Maria Villablanca, transformation advisor, and three-time founder, HBR Advisory Council Member, and CEO of Villablanca Consulting Ltd, about how trade policy, AI, and regional shifts are redefinin...

What makes shipping a single clinical sample across borders harder than moving thousands of packages globally? In this episode of Supply Chain Optimizers, host Diego Solorzano speaks with Ben Taylor, Director for Logistics at Precision for Medicine, to explore the messy, complicated, and often overlooked challenges of truly global supply chains. Their conversation reveals why Amazon's distribution...

What happens when a single chokepoint threatens to upend the entire global supply chain? Join host Diego Solorzano as he welcomes Jonathan Colehower, Managing Director of Global Supply Chain Practice at UST, to unpack the realities of navigating today’s volatile trade environment. From the strategic risks of the Strait of Hormuz to opportunities in Trans-Arctic shipping routes, Jonathan shares his...

What if your supply chain could operate with military grade precision using AI-driven insights? In this episode of Supply Chain Optimizers, host Diego Solorzano speaks with Ralph Asher, founder of Data Driven Supply Chain LLC and a former Marine Corps officer, about leveraging systems thinking, decision science, and advanced analytics to tackle complex supply chain challenges. They explore how to...

What if you could transform trade compliance from a business barrier into a strategic enabler? Trade compliance is no longer just a regulatory hurdle; it’s becoming a driver of business growth. Host Diego Solorzano speaks with Diego Montemayor, Executive Director of Trade Compliance and Supply Chain Operations at Olympus Corporation of the Americas. Together, they explore how compliance can shift...

How can businesses thrive when global trade policies are in constant flux? Host Diego Solorzano sits down with Kyle Peacock, Principal at Peacock Tariff Consulting, to unpack the complexities of tariffs, shifting regulations, and sourcing strategies. From leveraging AI and machine learning to understanding the rise of "micro-sourcing," Kyle reveals actionable strategies that help companies balance...

What does it take to build, scale, and transform global supply chains at the world's largest retailers? Host Diego Solorzano sits down with Arthur L Valdez, Jr., EVP Global Supply Chain and Customer Solutions at Starbucks. Together, they trace the evolution of global retail logistics, from Amazon’s groundbreaking fulfillment and sortation systems to Target’s transformative “stores as hubs” model....

What do ancient Greek oracles have to teach us about AI in supply chains? Host Diego Solorzano sits down with Jay Koganti, VP of Supply Chain Center of Excellence at The Estée Lauder Companies, to explore how foresight, AI, and structured planning can drive meaningful transformation. From implementing the three-horizon planning framework to using AI agents for ESG challenges like scope three emiss...

What if the key to unlocking the future of supply chains lies in smarter diagnosis, rather than just smarter technology? Host Diego Solorzano sits down with Chandan Trehan, Lead of Digital Transformation, Supply Chains and Sustainability at Bosch USA, to unpack how successful supply chain innovation starts with identifying real problems before jumping into solutions. From scaling tech pilots to or...

What if the future of global supply chains depends not on large-format retailers, but on 50 million tiny, family-run shops in emerging markets? Host Diego Solorzano sits down with Christopher Mejia, Director and founder of MIT’s Food and Retail Operations Lab, to explore how 50 million nanostores in emerging markets could be the key to transforming global supply chains. Learn how Mejia and his tea...

Host Diego Solorzano sits down with Gabriella Runnels, Principal Data Scientist at American Eagle Outfitters, to explore how AEO combines tried-and-true mathematical optimization with cutting-edge AI to solve complex supply chain challenges. Learn how the team built four interconnected apps to slash costs, improve service levels, and even offer these capabilities to smaller brands via Quiet Platfo...

This week, we talked with Michael Watson, an optimization legend with decades of experience. Michael got a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern before joining IBM. Afterwards, he founded his own company, Opex Analytics, which helped companies become more efficient through implementing ML. The company was acquired by LLamasoft and later by Coupa software. Ever sin...

This week, we spoke with Mike Venditti. Mike has been in the supply chain world for 30 years dealing with all parts of the business from transportation to warehousing. He is a strong believer that people make supply chains and the best thing you can do to improve delivery times, is to treat workers better. Now, he works at SEKO logistics where he is the VP of supply chain, second only to the compa...

In optimization, there is often a gap between the discoveries of academia and the real world applications for most systems. That’s what we talked about with Carlos Armando Zetina this week—a PhD who jumped from academia to Amazon SCOT to work on real life implications of optimization research.

Have you ever thought what would happen if you could only turn to the right when driving? Well, when UPS banned left turns—and implemented an advanced tech system to design routes—, it resulted in one of the biggest optimizations in the company's history. This week, we spoke with Jack Levis, the man behind this decision. We talked about his early days in UPS straight out of college, to his career...