Inside Origin Cargo Management: A Smarter Path to Supply Chain Resilience 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, technology and sustainability analyst, keynote speaker and former SAP Global VP 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.

All Episodes

Resilient Supply Chain — How Leaders Keep Business Moving

Inside Origin Cargo Management: A Smarter Path to Supply Chain Resilience

May 26, 2025 • Tom Raftery • Season 2 • Episode 69

0:00 | 42:25

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In this episode of the Sustainable Supply Chain podcast, I sat down with Jim McCullen, CTO of Century Supply Chain Solutions, to unpack how technology—particularly AI—is quietly but effectively reshaping the logistics space.

Jim’s been with Century for over 30 years, which is practically unheard of in tech. We discussed what’s kept him there so long, and how he’s used that time to help major importers bring order to supply chain chaos—from managing tariff shifts and port disruptions to reducing carbon emissions through smarter origin management.

We explored why North American firms lean more heavily on origin cargo management than their counterparts elsewhere, and how AI is now finally delivering real value—whether it’s helping route freight more efficiently or enabling natural language queries through supply chain chatbots. Importantly, Jim also touched on the need for trust in AI systems and how they’re rolling it out in ways that support rather than replace people.

Other topics we covered: how data integration is still holding supply chains back, the balance between resilience and sustainability, and why training like a mountain bike racer actually makes sense if you’re trying to stay focused in a complex global operation.

If you’re looking for practical ways to modernise supply chain operations, reduce emissions, and respond more intelligently to disruption, this one’s worth your time.

Listen now and let me know what you think.

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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I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous Subscribers:

Alicia Farag
Kieran Ognev
Gary Lynch

And remember you too can become a Resilient Supply Chain+ subscriber - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent episodes like this one and give you access to bonus episodes of topical, timely supply chain resilience analysis.

🎤 Looking for a keynote speaker on supply chain resilience, AI, and sustainability?
I help leaders understand the forces reshaping global supply chains, from geopolitical disruption and climate risk to AI and real-time decision-making.

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