From Logistics to AI: Jim Tompkins on 50 Years of Supply Chain Evolution | VSERVE Ebusiness Podcast

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In this episode of the VSERVE Ebusiness Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Jim Tompkins (  / jimtompkins1  , a global authority in end-to-end supply chain strategy, serial entrepreneur, and author with 50 years of experience shaping how supply chains operate today.

Jim breaks supply chain history into four major eras (1975–2025), explaining how the world moved from “logistics” to cost reduction and globalization, then to lean just-in-time systems, and finally into today’s era of resilience, orchestration, control towers, and AI-driven decision making.

He also shares the most personal story of his career, how COVID disrupted everything, forced reinvention, and became the catalyst behind launching Tompkins Ventures.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
💡 The 4 supply chain “buckets” from 1975 to today
💡 Why just-in-case inventory creates hidden costs
💡 What eCommerce changed in warehousing and fulfillment
💡 How COVID exposed brittle supply chains
💡 Jim’s 5 guiding principles: customer, team, integrity, trust, innovation
💡 Why tech fails without the right foundation (visibility → actionability → orchestration)
💡 Global footprint strategy: nearshore, reshore, friend-shore + 40/40/20 sourcing
💡 The OKR mindset future leaders should use to stay relevant in chaos

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⏱ Timestamps:
00:00 Intro & welcome
00:20 Why Jim Tompkins is a “titan” in supply chain
01:38 Supply chain then vs now (starting in 1975)
01:53 Era 1 (1975–1990): Before “supply chain” was even a term
03:33 Era 2 (1991–2001): Cost reduction + globalization + total delivered cost
05:08 Inventory buffers & the hidden cost of “just in case”
05:32 Era 3 (2002–2019): eCommerce changes everything + just-in-time becomes the norm
06:24 Era 4 (2020–today): COVID breaks predictability → resilience + agility + optionality
07:24 Toilet paper & tomato juice example (demand shift explained)
07:59 Control towers → orchestration → command centers → AI
09:15 Jim’s 5 guiding principles (customer, team, integrity, trust, innovation)
10:47 Integrity: “Do what you say, say what you do”
11:06 Trustworthiness: expectation fulfillment
12:12 Innovation as the real growth driver
13:43 A chaos moment that forced total reinvention (COVID)
14:36 “Lockdown” story + realizing what it meant for supply chain
15:43 Appliances example: no components, factories shut down
17:20 Projects canceled + losing $32M in one day
18:23 Disagreement with PE partner + losing the company
19:33 Starting Tompkins Ventures + rebuilding from chaos
21:03 Supply chain gets a seat at the table
22:25 Global footprint shift: nearshore, reshore, friend-shore
24:42 40/40/20 sourcing to avoid single points of failure
26:33 Why tech transformations fail without the right layers
27:01 Visibility → actionability → orchestration (making “music,” not noise)
28:17 “Trick of the trade” for future leaders: OKRs → key results → KPIs
30:17 Final wisdom: love what you do, have fun, contribute
31:14 Closing & thanks