Supply Circles Podcast by Ai Group

Freight corridors are a critical component of effective supply chains. And understanding the living, working and purchasing habits of the community are also critical in managing the demand side, and for order fulfillment of many companies. The changes to the demands and the requirements on transport corridors are constantly changing, yet redesigning and building roads, highways, city and suburbs t...

Each year the United Nations convene a conference of the world’s nations with the purpose of managing and negotiating a universal agreement to limit the increasing in average global warning. Attended by world leaders, bureaucrats, businesspeople, scientists, and policy makers the meeting is known as ‘The Conference of Parties’ (to the agreement) or COP. This year’s conference is in Egypt between N...

James chats with small business owner Tracey Lovelace and asks her how small business can thrive in Big Industries. Tracey is a director of Defence Seals and Spares, a long-term supplier to the Australian Defence Industry. The company has successfully delivered several long-term contracts and procurement opportunities to both the Department of Defence and to Prime Contractors and is a fascinating...

Today’s guest is Jonathan Kemp, the founder and CEO of Shipz and the Asia-Pacific host of the ‘Let’s Talk Supply Chain’ podcast. Jonathan has over 20 years’ experience as a technologist, an entrepreneur, a systems thinker and a supply chain practitioner. He is a supply chain professional with big ideas and lots of great thoughts…. just don’t call him a thought leader. In this wandering and enjoyab...

Join James and Hema as they engage in a delightful and inspiring conversation on leadership in the digital age. Hema is the Remote Operations and Digital Services Manager for Aust/ NZ the Tier 1 global engineering contractor and valued Ai Group member, ‘Worleys’. She is a lifelong learner, a skilled communicator and an inspirational leader.   James frames the discussion as follows: “We talk a lot...

How do industry networks and business clusters add value and incentive to businesses wanting to enter a new supply chain? Do industry clusters provide value to a regulated and structured supply chain and help to strengthen it? What do businesses gain by engaging with industry clusters? In this episode James ask these questions of Tim Owen, the Chair of Hunter Defence in Newcastle NSW. They discuss...

Why should an Australian business start decarbonising its operations and its supply chains? How soon? What’s the first steps to decarbonising? What’s the difference between decarbonising and achieving Net Zero? Is there a difference between decarbonising one’s own business and the supply chain? James asks these questions of Business Facilitator Dr Kate Brookes and finds out about her current proje...

Thriving in today’s fragile global trade system with Dr Jeff Wilson, Ai Group’s Director, Research and Economics James speaks with Dr Jeffrey Wilson, Director of Research and Economics at Australian Industry Group, to find out what’s happening in the world of global trade and what it means for Australian businesses. Covering a host of issues, James and Jeff discuss: How economists view global trad...

Andy Brightmore leads Australia’s largest and most complex procurement and supply chain operation. He says: “Every day is different, every challenge unique”. In this podcast, James and Andy discuss the challenges of modern-day procurement: from a starting point of purchasing departments being tasked with ensuring a business kept running and with finding value via effective buying, Procurement Depa...

In this episode James investigates the emerging supply chain challenge of building and managing ‘reliable, repeatable system and processes’ within ‘a world full of confusion and change and inconsistency’. His guest is Kerryn Fewster, Founder and CEO of Change 2020 who explains we now live in a world of  ambiguity.. much more than just ongoing change, its a world of unknowns, including an unknown e...

What exactly is the circular economy, and where is it at in Australia today? Is circular economy the answer to our current supply chain issues in Australia? And what’s the future of circular economy as we transition to a Net Zero carbon emissions future? James and Rachael take a deep dive into these and other questions and come up with surprising and refreshing insights. Rachael challenges some of...

In this first episode of Ai Group’s new podcast series, host James Scotland chats at length with world leading supply chain academic, Professor Stephen A MeInyk from Michigan State University, to find out what went wrong during Covid, what we can learn from the that era, and what comes next. In a wide-ranging discussion, James and Stephen discuss the changing, unclear, disruptive nature of modern...