How to Boost Top Line and Address Bottom Line By Streamlining Supply Chain Operations with Prashant Shah

Episode Description

For this episode of the eCom Logistics Podcast, we welcome Prashant Shah, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Swag Up at Prologis Ventures. Today, he shares his from being part of the Marine Corps to now leading businesses in the supply chain side.

Prashant talks about what he learned in the military that has transitioned through the supply chain and logistics side of his career today. He also shares insights on driving growth while also making sure to reduce costs at the same time.

ABOUT PRASHANT

Prashant Shah, who joined SwagUp in 2021 runs Supply Chain as the Chief Supply Chain Officer, based in Piscataway, New Jersey. Prashant joins SwagUp with 17 years of senior level management experience in Supply Chain. He was born and raised in India, and came to the USA in 2001. He started his studies in engineering but quickly found his way into the United States Marine Corps office a day after 9/11 to serve his country against terrorism. He served 8 years in the Marines and was medically discharged due to injuries in the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After his medical discharge from the Marines in 2009, he returned to New Jersey and started working in Target as an unloader in the overnight shift while trying to finish his Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice. In 2010, after graduating, he became a Sales-floor Executive at Target which led to his promotion to Sr. Logistic Executive in Jersey City, New Jersey Target location. Following from Target, he soon landed a role at the largest Macy’s Distribution Center and moved up the rank of Director of the Distribution Center in a unionized environment and successfully led 200+ members to the best-engaged building in the country. This was when Prashant tasted the success of being a leader in the distribution and logistics role and found his real passion in the supply chain world.

From this moment, the sky was the limit and he worked in Bed Bath and Beyond, Drive Medical and Lasership as Head of Supply Chain. In his current role in SwagUp, his vision while it aligns with CEO and Founder of SwagUp, Michael Martocci, is to become a $1Billon company within 5 years.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 01:21 Prashant’s journey with the Marines
• 04:50 How does the warehouse get set up from the technology side
• 09:56 Spending time in Casper and addressing the impactful issues in the bottom line
• 19:29 Helping fuel growth while also reducing costs
• 23:06 SwagUp and disrupting and industry through digitization
• 28:11 Technology to be excited about in supply chain today today

QUOTES

The human nature of camaraderie will show regardless of industry  – Prashant: “Military is also just like any other organization made of individuals form different cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities, and so for. That really preps them for the camaraderie piece because you’re literally having your life put in somebody’s hands and you have each other’s back.”

Going from zero to ninety-nine is tremendous, especially with personnel – Prashant: “If we want to get to 99-100%, then I will need additional individuals. But who is going to volunteer to go to Afghanistan and stay with me for 6 months? So getting to the preparation, we need to be 100% so that way we don’t need additional personnel so they can be used somewhere else. The mindset is we don’t have anybody, that’s all you have. Whatever you see, that’s it.”

Find out more about Prashant in the links below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prashant-shah-mba/
• Website: https://www.swagup.com/