Procurement Best Practices from Tesla and Beyond

Manufacturers today who want to decrease their carbon footprint and build sustainable products face dual challenges. Not only do they need to revamp their factories and set up a sustainable supply chain, but they need to keep costs low to sell on price as well as on values. It's margin before mission if you want to really win in the competitive marketplace. So says Plantd co-founder and host of the SuperCool podcast Josh Dorfman, who is the guest on this episode of Manufacturing Insights.

For many manufacturing companies, the twin goals of improving profit margins and increasing sustainability have been at odds. But could AI technology change all that? Berk Birand is the CEO of Fero Labs, which focuses on achieving profitable sustainability with the help of AI. 

Should-cost models are only powerful if they're credible, actionable, and collaborative. In this expert panel, learn how to turn cost data into real negotiation outcomes.

Manufacturing operations create massive amounts of data. To use that data to improve financial KPIs it takes a single verifiable version of truth that every person can access and understand.

Given the tariffs announced last week, it's unlikely that any supply chain moving forward in 2025 will look like it did in 2024. The question is: how will tariffs impact your supply chain? To help us make sense of this information, today's podcast features an expert who has his ear to the ground when it comes to supply chain challenges and what smart leaders are saying we should do in this changing climate. Ron Crabtree is the host of the MetaPod podcast where he talks with supply chain experts from around the world about the challenges of building a modern, resilient supply chain. He's also the CEO of MetaOps, helping organizations clear operational challenges like the one facing all of manufacturing today. Questions to Ask Your Procurement Team: Do we have the data to model the impact of tariffs? Do we have the technology to help us quickly make changes?

Everyone in sourcing, procurement, and manufacturing has questions about tariffs. Not only will they impact my bottom line, but how do I know which of my products are impacted? And how do I make the right decisions about my supply chain with the minimum amount of disruption and the best chance of resilience in the future? Today, two experts will discuss how they obtain these insights using aPriori. Originally recorded as a live webinar, this presentation walks through how to use aProri to see the impact of tariffs on your bottom line, make trade-offs between sourcing strategies, and analyze your entire product profile for hidden cost drivers, manufacturability challenges, and speed to market. At the end of the presentation, live audience members will raise their questions and get answers.

Procurement teams can't solve today's challenges of changing tariffs, rising materials prices, and shrinking time windows, if their best tool is email and excel. In this third conversation between LightSource CEO Spencer Penn and aPriori's director of product Marketing, Chris Jeznach, we hear what's missing from the current procurement model in most manufacturing companies today. And we'll learn how new software technology can help bridge that gap. Spencer Penn draws from his vast experience working at Tesla and then founding LightSource, where he aims to revolutionize direct procurement in manufacturing today. From this frontline perspective, he explains the gaps he's seen in procurement and what's possible for teams that adopt new technology to bring the procurement process into the modern AI era.

For manufacturers who want to reduce cost, improve performance, and bring innovative products to market, sourcing and engineering teams should be a match made in heaven. Sourcing can help engineering avoid costly redesigns by sharing what's possible to make in today's market, while engineering can help sourcing get a head start in finding the suppliers with the right capabilities to make products at cost and at scale. But it often doesn't happen that way. Today we're discussing what holds back procurement and engineering teams from reaching their full potential together. It's all about communication in the second of our series of conversations between Spencer Penn, the CEO of LightSource, and aPriori's Director of Product Marketing, Chris Jeznach.

Procurement teams can learn from early successes and failures at Tesla, especially when it comes to trade-off analysis and early collaboration between design, sourcing, and suppliers. In this podcast, LightSource CEO Spencer Penn talks about trade-offs at Tesla between cost, performance, and risk.

To solve the labor shortage, manufacturing companies must re-brand as great places to work for a diverse group of workers including women and GenZ. What does it really take to attract, train, and grow a workforce that includes workers from a diversity of backgrounds? And what can manufacturers do today to make sure we're ready for that labor market of tomorrow? Mariana Cogan is a former SVP at PTC and the current head of Marketing at Hexagon America. From her vantage point as a winner of Forrester's Program of the Year and Full Circle Insights Greatest Overhaul Award, Mariana Cogan is ready to tell us passionately about how we can engage a new, diverse generation of workers in manufacturing and technology.