AI-Powered Supply Chain Sustainability: Transforming Procurement with Robobai Artwork

Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

Resilient Supply Chain is for supply chain, operations, procurement and technology leaders who need practical ways to manage disruption, reduce risk and keep business moving.

Each Monday, former SAP Global VP and technology futurist Tom Raftery speaks with the executives, operators, founders and innovators redesigning how goods, information and decisions move through global supply chains.

These are candid conversations about what works in practice—not polished PR narratives or vague predictions. Guests explain how they are responding to supplier failures, geopolitical shocks, volatile costs, capacity constraints, changing regulations and rising pressure to improve both performance and sustainability.

The podcast examines:
Faster planning and decision-making under uncertainty
Supplier risk, sourcing strategy and business continuity
AI, automation, visibility and operational intelligence
Warehousing, logistics and fulfilment performance
Scope 3 emissions, circularity and responsible sourcing
The systems, incentives and organisational changes needed to turn data into action

The central question is simple: what helps a supply chain withstand disruption, adapt quickly and continue serving the business?

New episodes are published every Monday at 7am CET. Resilient Supply Chain+ subscribers also receive bonus analysis, highlights and briefings on emerging industry trends.

Follow Resilient Supply Chain for practical lessons from the people solving real operational problems—and building supply chains that perform when conditions do not go to plan.

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Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

AI-Powered Supply Chain Sustainability: Transforming Procurement with Robobai

October 14, 2024 • Tom Raftery / Julian Harris • Season 2 • Episode 38

0:00 | 45:00

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In this episode, I sit down with Julian Harris, the founder and CEO of Robobai, a supply chain analytics platform. Julian’s got extensive experience building tech companies across Europe and now in Asia, and in our chat, he shares how AI-driven data analytics can transform supply chain management for large organisations. Robobai’s focus is simple but effective: Know More, Buy Better.

We discuss the key challenges many companies face—lack of visibility into their spend, complexity from multiple ERP systems, and growing regulatory pressure around sustainability. Julian explains how Robobai aggregates and analyses data from diverse sources to give organisations a clear picture of their suppliers, uncovering opportunities for savings, identifying risks, and helping clients make more sustainable choices.

Some of the episode’s highlights include:

How Robobai helps big brands like Coca-Cola and MasterCard manage billions in spend across thousands of suppliers.
The role of AI in classifying data, identifying modern slavery risks, and reducing emissions.
A proactive approach to supplier diversity and sustainability, from supporting Indigenous suppliers to tracking carbon footprints.
Why top-down legislation is becoming the primary driver of sustainability in supply chains, and what’s coming next in terms of compliance.

If you're keen to understand how AI can streamline supply chain operations while improving sustainability, this episode is packed with actionable insights.

Listen in for practical strategies that are shaping the future of global supply chains.

If disruption hit tomorrow, would you know where your supply chain was most exposed? In 15 minutes my free scorecard helps you assess 27 resilience statements, calculate your score, and turn the result into three priorities and a 30 day action plan. You can download the scorecard free at tomraftery.com/scorecard.

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