Smarter Sourcing

Indirect spend sprawls from waste hauling to HVAC, Ryan Koos, SVP & Chief Supply Chain Officer at Banner Health, says you can’t hire 250 category managers to cover it. He sees savings there landing faster than in med-surg, because most of it is operational money with no patient on the table. Ryan shows Eric how operators and biomed anchor that governance, why Banner is scoring close to 10,000 SKUs by criticality for a second consolidated service center, and why clean data must come before any AI investment.Topics discussed:- Governing indirect spend with operators and biomed at the table- Building a SKU-level criticality score for continuity planning- Expanding self-distribution through a second consolidated service center- Turning an in-house GPO network into a revenue stream- Earning supply chain a seat on five-year strategic planning- Positioning supply chain as a steward of data for clinicians- Cleaning EMR and ERP data before investing in AI- Scoring key partners on their own supply chain transparencyGet in touch with Ryan Koos: LinkedInGet in touch with your host, Eric: LinkedInListen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Marketing procurement earns its seat when it speaks the stakeholder's language. Melissa Saw, Consumer Health Marketing & Sales Procurement North America Lead at Bayer, came to procurement from a career in sales and marketing, and that background shapes how she partners with internal teams and agencies.Speaking with John at ProcureCon East, Melissa shares why trust with stakeholders has to be earned over time, why she asks agencies where AI fits in the value chain, and how Bayer’s Dynamic Shared Ownership model reshaped her team around 90-day priorities. Topics discussed:- Speaking the stakeholder's language as a former marketer- Earning a seat at the table through early, small results- Asking agencies where AI fits in the value chain- Treating the marketing budget as the stakeholder's budget- Running procurement on 90-day priorities and retrospectives- Dispatching RFP work across global peers under DSO- Hiring for attitude over procurement pedigree- Balancing in-house talent with offshore and outsourced modelsGet in touch with Melissa Saw:  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, John Pavia: LinkedIn Listen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Does every purchased service need to go out to bid? At Parkland Hospital, Pamela Bryant, SVP, Supply Chain Management and an incoming Bellwether League Hall of Fame inductee, uses evaluation committees on certain services to ask whether what's in place today is good enough with some tweaks.She also inherited a thousand-bed hospital designed to run just in time, with shadow supply chains creating overstock. Pamela tells Eric why every project order runs through a parent distribution center, why AI hasn't cut her staff yet, and what 800 clinics at Hanger taught her about skipping the big bang.Topics discussed:- Asking whether a purchased service needs a bid or tweaks- Finding the shadow supply chains that create overstock- Why a thousand-bed hospital can't run just in time- Running every project order through one distribution center- Winning OR inventory on the third attempt- Saying yes to new scope, then setting the timeline- Why AI hasn't cut Parkland's supply chain staff yet- Staggering an 800-clinic rollout instead of one big bangGet in touch with Pamela Bryant :  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, John Pavia: LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, Eric: LinkedInListen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Douglas Krieger, Sr. Director Global Strategic Sourcing at Herbalife, sees procurement's seat at the table differently than most. Getting it is the easy part. Keeping it requires showing up with value that goes beyond running the next RFP, and his team is investing in sales training over sourcing courses to make sure that happens.Douglas walks John through running a global center of excellence, how he pushes decision-making down to build strategic thinkers, and why law school logic reshaped his approach to every negotiation.Topics discussed:- AI-powered statement of work review against policy and precedents- Shifting sourcing from reactive execution to proactive vendor monitoring- Center of excellence vs. regional category management structures- Choosing sales training over sourcing training for team development- Applying legal reasoning frameworks to sourcing negotiations- Reinvesting time saved by AI into strategic relationship building- Back-office system transformation from on-premise to cloudGet in touch with Douglas Krieger:  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, John Pavia: LinkedIn Listen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Mark Welch has led Novant Health's supply chain for 21 years, helping scale the system to $12 billion in revenue. Working without a dedicated medical director in supply chain, he built a model where sourcing managers facilitate clinical conversations directly with physicians across orthopedics and heart and vascular.Mark tells Eric how his distribution center runs its own price index, why he trains his team to think like a $20 billion operation, and how an AI chatbot called Aubrey generates variation analysis in minutes.Topics discussed:- Sustaining supply chain leadership over two decades of growth- Building physician engagement without a dedicated medical director- Turning the CSC into an opportunity center- Three team members went on to become CSCOs elsewhere- Embedding sourcing managers directly within pharmacy and IT- Creating a QSOC with distribution-level price index accountability- Launching no PO, no purchase for indirect spend data capture- Using an AI chatbot to run sourcing variation scenariosGet in touch with Mark Welch:  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, Eric: LinkedInListen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Kristen Coar, Vice President of Global Procurement at Ferrara, stopped measuring savings on the direct side. Her procurement organization targets on-time delivery, supply chain flexibility, and market-beating pricing, aligned to what her CEO and CFO actually prioritize.Kristen tells John why most procurement organizations rush to digitize before their foundational data is ready, how a Navy career shaped her servant-leadership approach, and why she applies a "snake oil" filter to AI procurement vendors promising the world.Topics discussed:- Why Ferrara measures procurement value differently for direct vs. indirect- Aligning sourcing strategy to what senior stakeholders actually prioritize- Running centralized global strategy with local procurement teams- Stakeholder buy-in through pairing trust-building with top-down policy- Why digitizing before fixing master data governance wastes resources- Using energy hedging as a baseline risk management practice- Filtering AI procurement tools through a "snake oil" detector- How GLP-1 drugs are reducing demand across the sugar industryGet in touch with Kristen Coar:  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, John Pavia: LinkedIn Listen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Noah Dunlap, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Emory Healthcare, walked into a federated, fragmented supply chain and built a three-tier transformation framework: foundation, optimization, innovation. Eighteen months in, the results are backed by a strategic plan he presented during the hiring process itself.Noah breaks down his approach to data infrastructure across multiple ERPs and GPOs, why he calls GPOs "a tool in the box, not the box," and how a new capital equipment program is unlocking long-term supplier partnerships across billions in asset value.Topics discussed:- Building a foundation-optimization-innovation framework for supply chain transformation- Unifying a federated supply chain operating model across a health system- Creating agnostic data infrastructure across multiple ERPs and GPOs- Treating GPOs as a tool in the toolbox, not the entire strategy- Launching a capital medical equipment intelligence and governance program- Applying Bloom's taxonomy and teaching principles to supply chain leadership- Investing in workforce development to bridge team capabilities for the future- Establishing clinical alignment with an engaged physician communityGet in touch with Noah Dunlap:  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, Eric: LinkedInListen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Cleveland Clinic performs 300,000 surgeries a year and processes 80,000 instrument sets. Stephen Downey manages the supply chain behind all of it through three words: centralize, standardize, automate. That means enterprise-wide procedure cards, one knee tray, and off-site sterile processing modeled on facilities in Denmark and at Walmart.Stephen also breaks down how a monthly CEO review of indirect spend changed supply chain's standing, why healthcare capital utilization lags behind hotels, and what cross-industry benchmarking looks like when you're sourcing window washing.Topics discussed:- Centralizing, standardizing, then automating supply chain- Enterprise-wide procedure card standardization across all sites- Monthly CEO review of indirect spend as governance lever- Embedded sourcing experts within clinical and IT teams- Cross-industry benchmarking beyond healthcare for services spend- Capital utilization efficiency lessons from hotels and robotics- Building automated central service centers modeled on Walmart- AHRMM leadership and national supply chain case competitions Listen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

Eric O'Daffer speaks with Burton Fuller, Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Burton's team is connecting case schedule data from the EHR to their demand planning forecast, what Eric called the "holy grail" of demand planning. With a new cloud-based WMS, a replaced point of use system, and a new ERP all coming online within 18 months, Johns Hopkins is laying the foundation for intelligent automation across its operation.Burton shares how his team is rethinking what clinical integration means on the operations side, shifting from sourcing-only engagement to reliability-focused conversations with nursing and quality partners. He also breaks down how multi-tier supplier mapping helped Johns Hopkins navigate pandemic disruptions and continues to inform inventory adjustments and contract awards today.Topics discussed:Connecting EHR case schedule data to demand planning forecastsImplementing cloud-based WMS with automated demand planning modulesShifting clinical integration from sourcing events to supply reliabilityUsing multi-tier supplier mapping to get ahead of disruptionsBuilding case cart services in a clean room at the consolidated service centerTackling indirect spend through finance alignment and capital planning linkageMeasuring supply chain performance through real-time data monitoringPartnering with suppliers to reduce consignment costs and solve shared problems Get in touch with Burton Fuller:  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, Eric: LinkedInListen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube

When over 250,000 patients are mortally injured by medical error annually, supply chain has a direct stake that most organizations underestimate. Charlie Miceli, Former VP Network Chief Supply Chain Officer at University of Vermont Health Network, spent over 15 years in a role that reached well beyond procurement. Charlie and Eric O'Daffer cover AI as healthcare supply chain's new ERP inflection point, why CFO reporting creates real strategic advantage, and how the 40% of non-clinical spend that went largely ungoverned is now fair game.Topics discussed:Why supply chain should report to the CFOBuilding supplier trust that holds during a crisisManaging AI as healthcare supply chain's new ERP momentUsing non-healthcare procurement frameworks inside healthcare supply chainProduction rate awareness and continuity of supply fundamentalsCybersecurity as supply chain's patient safety responsibilityPursuing non-clinical spend that has gone largely ungovernedBuilding flexible teams before technology makes pigeonholing costly Get in touch with Charlie Miceli:  LinkedIn Get in touch with your host, Eric: LinkedInListen to more episodes: Listen on Smarter SourcingListen on AppleListen on SpotifyWatch on YouTube