In our July episode, co-hosts Ted Stank and Tom Goldsby are joined by professor John Bell, department head for supply chain management in the Haslam College of Business, to discuss economic competition between the United States and China, the sourcing of rare earth elements essential for producing electronics and other technologies, and the growth of the University of Tennessee’s top-ranked supply chain programs. 

Bell, who was recently named the John “Red” Dove Professor of Supply Chain Management, was a career maintenance and logistics officer in the United States Air Force. As a supply chain researcher, he is considered an authority in the areas of supply chain strategy, resource scarcity, hazardous material transportation, and logistics with publications in prominent journals, including the Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Journal, Advanced Engineering Informatics, and the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. 

This year, Bell has written a series of articles for GSCI exploring the understudied and misunderstood processes for sourcing natural resources used as raw materials by the industries that make the products we buy every day. 

Listen as Ted and Tom discuss slowing inflation, the delivery challenges posed by strikes and potential strikes in Canada and the U.S., nearshoring of manufacturing to Mexico, and more.

Note: Ted was recently honored with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Distinguished Service Award, earning him a place in the Supply Chain Hall of Fame alongside such innovators as Jeff Bezos, Henry Ford, and former UT professor Tom Mentzer. Stay tuned for our next episode in which Tom interviews Ted to get his take on receiving the award.

Related links:

• Inflation rose just 0.2% in June as consumers get a break from price increases
• U.S. service sector picks up as inflation slows, ISM survey shows
• Federal Reserve closing in on end of rate hike cycle
• Carriers divert ships from Canada’s strike-hit west coast ports
• GSCI Fellow Alan Amling’s five key questions and answers from UPS-Teamsters negotiations 
• New restrictions at the Panama Canal due threaten the future of the shipping route
• US nearshoring wave grows as Mexico exports jump close to record
• Tension between China, U.S., Russia and Ukraine threatens global economic growth

Text the Tennessee on Supply Chain Management team!