Harry Chase is a senior supply chain leader at GE Appliances (GEA), a Haier company, focused on innovative solutions for material flow automation and production control with an emphasis on sustainability. He works with leading technology companies to implement solutions that automate processes and increase visibility in GEA’s manufacturing plants and throughout its supply chain. 

Prior to joining GEA, Harry was the vice president of a Japanese logistics company, growing its U.S. business to over $25 million in 3 years. He has also worked at Whirlpool to drive lean material flow initiatives across the organization and supported the launch of two major automobile plants in Brazil and the U.S. utilizing lean manufacturing principles. Harry is a proud graduate of the University of Tennessee.

At Einride Mesh, Harry will talk about GEA’s experience with autonomous freight operations and the potential it has for real-use situations. While much is discussed about autonomous operations as a futuristic and complex application, day-to-day freight demands are much simpler. 

What do you see as one of the most important trends for 2023? 

For the past several years, GEA and other companies have been focused on implementing one-off solutions to solve individual challenges and build consistency and synchronization into our material flow processes. Our focus for 2023 and beyond is to begin integrating different automated functions to create a more holistic approach to automation. At GEA, we are conducting several pilots focused on interoperability between fixed-to-mobile and mobile-to-mobile loads.

What does "Make intelligent moves" mean to you? 

It means incorporating technology seamlessly into an operation to support sustainability objectives and solve business challenges. We are also focused on utilizing the resulting data to guide decision making. For our business, we can realize numerous benefits. Synchronizing the flow of material provides better inventory control and equipment utilization, including of our transportation assets, to lower our costs and carbon footprint.

What is the most important when ensuring a sustainable supply chain?

Maximize the resources that you have while lowering costs and thinking about what is best for the circular economy. It is essential to look at the entire supply chain and not one aspect of it. The improvements you make in cost, sustainability, and synchronization should be verified by using the visibility that a digital supply chain provides.