MIT Supply Chain Frontiers

Sustainability has become an imperative for many companies—but in the face of regulatory rollbacks and budget cuts, are those goals here to stay? In this episode, we explore how companies can meaningfully pursue sustainability, even amid shifting political and economic pressures. We discuss growing public support for sustainability, the role of data and modeling in shaping corporate sustainability strategies, and how companies can build resilient, responsible supply chains.  In this episode, we’re joined by members of the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab, hosted within the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics: Tori Arnold, Project Manager, Dr. Sreedevi Rajogopalan, Research Scientist, and Martin Staadecker, Research Assistant. The lab’s annual State of Supply Chain Sustainability Survey offers insights into the current state of sustainability across industries—we invite you to complete this year’s survey here (open until May 31st, 2025).

In recent years, online education has come to the forefront as an alternative to traditional education programs. Its increasing prominence reflects its adaptability, flexibility, affordability, and far-reaching scale. As the global workforce stands to undergo significant changes in the next 5-10 years due to digitalization, advancements in AI, and automation, employers are increasingly valuing skills over degrees. For workers, this requires a practice of continuous learning. In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Eva Ponce, Director of Online Education at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, and Dr. Inma Borrella, Academic Lead for the MITx MicroMasters Program in Supply Chain Management. Eva and Inma discuss the role of online education in upskilling the workforce and the impact of the MITx MicroMasters Program, the first of its kind. Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Mackenzie Berry Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider

In this episode we sit down with Dr. Matthias Winkenbach, Director of Research at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, Alejandro González, Software Business Unit Director at Mecalux, and Iñaki Fernández, Chief Technology Officer at Mecalux. Mecalux, a provider of warehouse management solutions, is a founding research partner of the new MIT Intelligent Logistics Systems Lab, which is at the forefront of advancing logistics through innovative technology. We discuss how AI and machine learning are not just buzzwords but can actually create additional value in warehouse robotics, such as in the case of autonomous robots and software solutions that help companies manage demand out of a distributed network.  Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Mackenzie Berry Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider

Vehicle routing is one of the most well-understood, extensively studied problems in both history and academia—it's been studied by academics since the early 1800s. Yet 200 years later, optimal efficiency remains just out of reach. And given the enormous increase in pressure for consumer expectations in recent years, that remaining "last mile" of vehicle routing  efficiency could, on a global scale, make a huge difference to a huge number of people. In this episode, we're joined by Matthias Winkenbach, Director of Research at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. Matthias is an expert in urban logistics, last-mile delivery, and vehicle routing, and he has just launched a new lab, the MIT Intelligent Logistics Systems Lab, that will use AI and machine-learning techniques to tackle today's vehicle routing challenges—and that could make a major impact on vehicle routing solutions where traditional methods and algorithms have come up just short. intelligent.mit.edu Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider

In this episode, we sit down with members of the MIT Low Income Firms Transformation (LIFT) Lab: Director Josué Velázquez Martínez, Postdoctoral Researcher Sreedevi Rajagopalan, and Doctoral Student Fabio Castro. We discuss the LIFT Lab's work empowering micro-retailers and nanostores in emerging markets to lift themselves out of poverty. These retailers, while making up an overwhelming majority of retail business in their regions, are at a significant disadvantage when dealing with large suppliers and competing with large retailers—some 30% of these firms fail within 5 years of opening. Using generative AI, the LIFT Lab is helping these retailers enhance their business decision-making and supply chain capabilities to help them survive and thrive. Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider

Warehouses are undergoing a fundamental transformation—in response to the explosion of growth in the e-commerce space and worldwide large-scale supply chain disruptions, warehouses have gone from places simply for goods to sit to highly interconnected, automated hubs of activity. Warehouses of the future leverage new technologies in automation and digitalization to enhance precision, flexibility, and efficiency to adapt quickly to changing market and supply chain trends and needs. In this episode, we're joined by Miguel Rodríguez García, a Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, and Erez Agmoni, Global Head of Innovation (Logistics & Services) at international shipping giant Maersk. Miguel and Erez take us through the changes and technologies that are transforming warehouses and the ways in which companies are seeking to make these transformations sustainable. The warehouse of the future signifies a forward-thinking model that aligns operational efficiency with a sustainable approach to warehousing, which is pivotal to the evolution of contemporary supply chains. For the full white paper, "The Warehouse of the Future," click here. Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider

On this episode, we're joined by Melanie Nuce-Hilton, SVP for Innovation and Partnerships at GS1 US, a nonprofit standards organization best known for administering the Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode—and celebrating its fiftieth anniversary right around the same time as MIT CTL. Melanie talks all about the history of supply chain standards over the last 50 years, including the UPC barcode, RFID, and others. And she also discusses the exciting innovations that are on the horizon to uncover new possibilities for industry stakeholders. Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider

MIT CTL Research Scientist David Correll joins us to share findings from the State of Supply Chain Sustainability 2023. Pressure on firms to make their supply chains more sustainable has increased over the past four years and isn't going anywhere, though the distinct areas of sustainability on which that pressure focuses are constantly changing. Indeed, sustainability is complex and contains multitudes. The report also takes a look at firms' progress on achieving their Scope 3 emissions goals. The full State of Supply Chain Sustainability report is available free at sscs.mit.edu. Host & Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider

In this episode, MIT CTL Director Yossi Sheffi, an expert with nearly five decades of experience in the supply chain and logistics areas, sits down with Susan Lacefield, Executive Editor of Supply Chain Quarterly. Yossi and Susan discuss the miracle of modern global supply chains—a magic conveyor belt that moves goods from mines and forests to supermarket shelves. They also discuss supply chain resilience in the face of major disruptions, the growing role that AI will play in supply chains, and how that affects practitioners, businesses, and consumers alike. Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: MIT Audio/Visual Services

"Hope is not a strategy." In this episode, we are joined by Kathy Fulton, Executive Director of the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN), who discusses her work connecting private-sector resources with disaster response needs: a "gray sky" response, after a disaster hits. For instance, if a supplier has excess food they need to offload, ALAN will connect them with a warehouse with the capacity to accept the delivery. ALAN forges partnerships between various players in the supply chain as well as between the public and private sectors, which, along with information sharing among all parties, are critical to fostering collaboration in order to respond effectively to a disaster and to strengthen future disaster preparedness. Hosts: Tim Russell & Lauren Finegan Executive Producer: Benjy Kantor Marketing Writer & Producer: Dan McCool Sound Editor: David Benjamin Sound Audio Engineer: Kurt Schneider