60 Seconds with Thomas Boykin, Deloitte Consulting

Thomas Boykin
Deloitte Consulting

Title

Supply chain specialist leader

Location

Roswell, Georgia

Experience

More than 30 years in supply chain management

Modern: This year’s MHI Annual Industry Report was titled “Innovation Driven Resilience.” Tell us how the title came about?

Boykin: Flexibility and resilience have always been important, but many companies treated them as “nice to haves.” As the recent pandemic made clear, resilience is no longer nice to have. It’s a priority. For instance, companies that made investments in digital technologies such as automation prior to Covid-19 were able to recover and thrive. Those who were still operating very manual distribution operations struggled with demand spikes because they couldn’t add people, especially in space-constrained environments where social distancing was not possible.

Modern: Did respondents seem to understand that in this year’s survey?

Boykin: Yes. Nearly two-thirds of the supply chain leaders we surveyed expect disruptions in the future. However, only 30% believe their organizations are equipped and 34% feel they’re prepared to lead their organizations in the next disruption. That said, nearly half of the respondents were investing more as a result of the pandemic; 45% plan to invest at least $1 million in the next two years, and 12% of that group plans to invest more than $10 million. That’s encouraging.

Modern: What technologies are leading the way?

Boykin: Cloud computing and storage has consistently been the leading technology, with 57% of respondents doing that now; 40% of respondents said they are using inventory and network optimization tools. That was an up and comer. Sensors and AutoID were more than 40% adoption. Robotics, predictive analytics and the Industrial Internet of Things were all in the 20% adoption range. And, artificial intelligence was at 16%, with blockchain at 12%. More importantly, 90% of respondents expect to be using all 11 of the technologies we follow within 5 years.

Modern: What is the Supply Chain Digital Consciousness Framework, and how does it fit in here?

Boykin: To us, becoming digital is a mindset. The Supply Chain Digital Consciousness Framework is designed to help companies understand what it means to become digital, and where they fit on the evolutionary curve across a number of areas, including company leadership, the workforce, the degree to which a company is interacting digitally with its customers, how digital is reflected in the workplace, and finally, the adoption of digital and a culture that encourages it.

Modern: Can you talk about the evolutionary stages?

Boykin: There are four. Dormant, which means that nothing is being done. In Developing, there are low levels of automation, but nothing is connected. In the Heightened stage, they’re using more automation, and they’re connecting things. And, finally, in the Elevated stage there is full-scale commitment and a philosophy of being digital in the workplace, in leadership and in customer engagement.

Modern: Did it surprise you that nearly 75% of the respondents were in the developing category?

Boykin: Our data suggests that 71% peg themselves as developing and 12% are dormant. Very few have elevated to the heightened stage. That’s not surprising based on our experience with clients.

Modern: How does a company in the developing category move forward?

Boykin: There’s an evolution to digital consciousness. One of the things we developed with MHI is a toolkit that allows a company to assess where it’s at, and then use the toolkit to set priorities and create an action plan to climb from one level to the next. The second step is to establish an innovation culture that allows people to fail without fear that their careers will end. Finally, appoint a C-suite champion so you can attract and retain the top talent from the digital-native population.