Chief Supply Chain Officer, Mativ Holdings
Search every verified Andrew Downard interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Andrew Downard, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Mativ Holdings, has discussed the prevalence of manual processes in supply chain management, stating that many supply chains still rely on spreadsheets and emails, which he said can break down during disruptions. He emphasized the importance of data quality and technology, noting that companies often lack basic data such as tariff codes in their master data, which complicates rapid analysis amid fluctuating tariffs. Downard described resilience and anti-fragility as new terms for supply chain professionals in response to disruptions like global political events and supplier issues. Downard also commented on the evolving role of supply chain professionals, stating that supply chain now regularly has a seat at the table due to ongoing disruptions. He highlighted the potential of natural language interaction with supply chain planning systems, suggesting that allowing non-experts, such as salespeople, to query data in real time could be transformative. He noted that open architecture and data visibility are increasingly important in deployments.
“I'm not sure the outside world understands how many supply chains still run on spreadsheets at best and typed out emails at worst. Even very big sophisticated companies still have these parts of their supply chains that run that way. Those kinds of systems are okay when everything is running smoothly, but when it's not...”
“The open nature of the architecture and the availability and the visibility of the data is something that's increasingly important. I know it is for me and places where we're doing deployments and I think it is for others as well.”
“There's a lot of talk these days about resilience or anti-fragility. These are new terms for supply chain professionals and they are really in reaction to the kinds of disruptions we've been seeing, whether it's global political events, tariffs, supplier fires, or vendors exiting certain verticals with little alternati...”
“Our customers are not particularly interested in hearing why we have disruptions. We can control our part of the supply chain but we can't control the parts that are upstream of us. The only defense in that situation, which seems to be getting worse, is to become as robust to the variation as possible.”
In this episode, we sit down with Andrew Downard—veteran supply chain executive, former Gartner analyst, and member of the ...
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