The Chain Podcast Ep 22 YouTube

Why It Matters

Adopting these supply‑chain‑centric trade strategies equips companies to reduce costs, enhance resilience, and maintain competitive advantage in an era of structural trade disruptions.

Key Takeaways

• Treat customs and logistics as supply‑chain owned, not external constraints.
• Use five levers—network, inventory, capacity, trade, collaboration—to build resilience.
• Align CFO and supply‑chain goals through transparent data sharing and safety‑stock placement.
• Deploy score‑based maturity assessments to prioritize trade‑cost reductions and agility.
• Leverage AI‑driven DEMIC frameworks for rapid problem diagnosis and solution mapping.

Summary

The Chain Podcast episode features Mike Bunie, VP of Global Supply Chain Operations at Hamilton Beach, arguing that customs and logistics should be owned by supply‑chain teams rather than treated as immutable external forces. He outlines five strategic levers—network design, inventory flexibility, capacity management, trade management, and collaboration—that enable firms to build resilience amid rapid policy shifts.

Bunie stresses that supply‑chain leaders can influence trade outcomes by managing their own networks, leveraging preferential agreements like AGOA, and integrating government‑relations into daily operations. He warns that today’s disruptions are structural, citing the 125% China tariff shock and recent Supreme Court rulings, which demand flexible inventory buffers and diversified sourcing.

A concrete example is Hamilton Beach’s recent score‑based maturity assessment, which highlighted cost‑inefficiencies in its trade network and guided prioritization of agility metrics. Bunie also demonstrated how AI‑generated DEMIC (Define‑Measure‑Analyze‑Improve‑Control) outlines accelerate diagnostics and decision‑making.

The discussion signals that firms must embed trade management within supply‑chain governance, align finance and operations through transparent data sharing, and adopt maturity tools and AI to stay ahead of increasingly permanent trade policy turbulence.

Original Description

In this episode of The Chain Podcast, we sit down with Mike Bunge, Vice President of Global Supply Chain Operations at Hamilton Beach Brands, to explore how SCOR®-based maturity assessments can help supply chain leaders take control of trade, customs, and global logistics.

Bunge shares how Hamilton Beach used a SCOR assessment to move beyond reactive decision-making and identify where trade costs, risks, and inefficiencies were truly coming from. Rather than treating tariffs and trade policy as uncontrollable external forces, the assessment created a shared, data-driven view across supply chain, finance, legal, and IT — allowing the organization to prioritize improvements and align on outcomes.

The conversation highlights how SCOR enables leaders to diagnose root causes, balance lean operations with resilience, and connect trade strategy to enterprise performance metrics like cost, agility, and asset efficiency. Mike also explains why cross-functional ownership and disciplined analysis are critical for turning assessment insights into measurable business impact.

For supply chain leaders navigating constant disruption, this episode offers practical insight into how SCOR maturity assessments provide clarity, focus, and a roadmap for action—especially in complex areas like global trade and logistics.

Timestamps:

00:00 Challenging Old Assumptions About Trade

00:22 Meet Mike Bunge of Hamilton Beach

01:10 Why Trade Feels Out of Our Control

03:04 Who Really Owns Trade in an Organization?

03:55 Five Levers Supply Chain Leaders Control

06:33 Managing Rapid Change and Trade Volatility

08:12 Strategies That Deliver the Biggest Impact

09:29 Is Trade Disruption Structural or Episodic?

11:28 The Limits of Just‑in‑Time Supply Chains

14:09 Why Diagnosis Comes Before Solutions

15:26 Using SCOR to Assess Supply Chain Maturity

17:30 What SCOR Revealed About Trade Costs

18:15 Turning Assessment Insights Into Action

20:34 Leadership and Cross‑Functional Ownership

22:15 The Business Impact of SCOR

23:36 Advice for Supply Chain Leaders

26:02 Beyond Metrics: Cultural and Team Benefits

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