Flexibility for the Future - How Disruption Fosters Innovation

Like never before, companies have learned during the pandemic to pivot quickly across multiple dimensions. They ramped up production, changed their processes, and adopted new technologies, at speed unimaginable before the crisis. In only six weeks, contract manufacturer Flex ramped up its ability to produce ventilators while New Balance designed and produced thousands of masks, in a matter of days. Such transformations can afford many successful companies with new competitive advantages. In this conversation, you will learn how two companies use these lessons to set themselves up for the post-pandemic future in the B2B and B2C markets. In his book, THE NEW (AB)NORMAL: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond Covid-19, MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi details their stories as well as many others. In this episode, Lynn Torrel, Chief Procurement and Supply Chain Officer at Flex, and Dave Wheeler, COO at New Balance, will join professor Sheffi for a conversation about the lessons learned during the pandemic, leadership lessons, and their views about what supply chains will look like in the future. Accessible transcripts of all podcasts available here. https://ctl.mit.edu/podcasts