Insight

Voice of the CSCO highlights

KPMG convenes senior supply chain executives to share experiences, exchange insights, and discuss leading practices.

Rob Barrett

Rob Barrett

Principal, Advisory/Supply Chain Leader, KPMG US

+1 480-459-3535

Brian Higgins

Brian Higgins

Principal, Advisory/Customer and Operations, KPMG US

+1 312-665-8363

Voice of the CSCO | The value of visibility 

December 2022

The focus of the last CSCO discussion of 2022 was the value of visibility into the supply chain, particularly when it comes to predicting and rebalancing inventory needs given unpredictable demand. The conversation extended to focus on adopting new technology tools to help with supply chain visibility, analytical capabilities, and inventory planning with a particular focus on automation to circumvent staffing shortages.

Featured KPMG speakers: Rob Barrett, U.S. Supply Chain Advisory leader and Brian Higgins, U.S. Customer and Operations leader.

Voice of the CSCO | Domino effect: Keeping supply chains balanced as tensions rise 

September 2022

CSCOs are not immune to evolving economic conditions, requiring them to keep abreast of the impact of inflation, geopolitical disruption, and labor challenges on their operations. This month they were particularly focused on consolidating enterprise resource planning and greater end-to-end transparency in the supply chain.

Featured KPMG speakers: Rob Barrett, U.S. Supply Chain Advisory leader; Brian Higgins, U.S. Customer and Operations leader; and Meagan Martin, KPMG Economics.

Voice of the CSCO | Supply chain visibility: The quest for more timely insights 

August 2022

The focus of this month’s CSCO exchange was data. CSCOs expressed the need for access to current data to hep inform decisions in the face of shifting external factors in the economy and across the geopolitical arena. Many expressed the desire to establish “control towers”—data-rich technology environments comprising data and insights from their vendors.

Featured KPMG speakers: Rob Barrett, U.S. Supply Chain Advisory Leader; Brian Higgins, U.S. Customer and Operations Leader; and Neeraj Verma, Principal, U.S. Supply Chain Execution Leader.

Voice of the CSCO | Making short-term fixes, targeting long-term insights

May 2022

CSCOs are frustrated by continuing supply chain disruptions, which are waylaying their plans to implement supply chain improvements. Many are responding to disruption by focusing on optimizing their networks, transportation fleets, sales and marketing execution, and other areas that will help improve service and reduce costs.

Featured KPMG speakers: Rob Barrett, U.S. Supply Chain Advisory Leader; Brian Higgins, U.S. Supply Chain Operations Leader; and Jim Lee, U.S. Supply Chain AI Leader.

Voice of the CSCO | A premium on resilience

March 2022

CSCOs were focused on numerous emerging threats this month, including increasing cyber threats targeting the supply chain, widespread labor shortages, and dependency on sometimes unreliable suppliers. The hottest topic was how to manage cyber-threats with a focus on vulnerabilities among their third-party vendors.

Featured KPMG speakers: Rob Barrett, U.S. Supply Chain Advisory leader; Brian Higgins, U.S. Supply Chain Operations leader; and Jonathan Dambrot, U.S. Leader for Third-party Security.

Voice of the CSCO | Surmounting supply chain snags

December 2021

A year and a half into the pandemic, CSCOs face similar challenges across industries and geographies. The discussion centered around common stressors such as disruption in deliveries from overseas suppliers, transportation bottlenecks, hoarding of scarce supplies, and persistent labor shortages. Many are responding by doubling down on pre-pandemic supply chain activities, such as digital transformation; greater attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues; and improving the employee experience.

Featured KPMG speakers: Rob Barrett, U.S. Supply Chain Advisory leader, and Brian Higgins, U.S. Supply Chain Operations leader.

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