Building relationships seen as means to restore supply chain

‘One of the best stories we like to tell is the relationship our truck drivers have with our customers’

Shaw's Lance Starks (left) chats with Everstream Analytics' David Shillingford. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

This fireside chat recap is from Day 3 of FreightWaves’ F3: Future of Freight Festival live event in Chattanooga, Tennessee. For more information on the event, click here.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Journey toward a self-healing supply chain.

DETAILS: David Shillingford, chief strategy officer at Everstream Analytics, interviews Lance Starks, vice president of global sourcing for Shaw Industries, about what actions to take to restore the supply chain to better health.

BIO: Starks was involved as a co-leader in the business and technology transformation of Shaw’s procure-to-pay process. Following that, he joined Shaw’s corporate sourcing and procurement department, gaining experience in leadership, negotiations and strategic sourcing. Starks also worked in the finance and energy industries before his latest accomplishments at Shaw.

KEY QUOTES FROM STARKS: 

“We love talking about the relationships we have with our suppliers and with our customers. We talk about supplier experience. We talk about customer experience.” 

“Probably one of the best stories we like to tell is the relationship our truck drivers have with our customers. And in a lot of situations, the truck drivers have the key to the warehouse of our customers, and they have that trusted relationship to open up in the morning to drop off product, turn the coffee pot on so it’s ready when the staff comes in.”

“We have a large private fleet for that last-mile delivery, and the relationship is what will drive this forward. And we were so excited about that story.”

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Joanna Marsh

Joanna is a Washington, DC-based writer covering the freight railroad industry. She has worked for Argus Media as a contributing reporter for Argus Rail Business and as a market reporter for Argus Coal Daily.