639: Expert Supply Chain Advice from “Legend” Rick McDonald

Kevin chats with Rick McDonald, CEO and Founder of Rick McDonald Supply Chain Advisory, who spent over three decades at Clorox, including four years as Chief Supply Chain Officer. Drawing from his deep experience leading transformation across manufacturing, procurement, and logistics, Rick shares supply chain advice on how the industry evolved from grease pencils and overhead projectors to digital roadmaps, AI-driven planning, and consumer-obsessed supply chains. 

The conversation touches on leadership, change management, and what the future of warehousing will look like as technology and people continue to adapt.

From Grease Pencils to Global Supply Chains

Rick’s career began at Frito-Lay, where he worked in five plants before joining Clorox—a $1.7 billion company at the time. By the time he retired, Clorox had become a $7.1 billion global CPG leader. That growth brought complexity, diversity, and speed. “The one thing that seemed to keep going was the speed of the consumer, and how fast supply chains had to run to keep up with that consumer.” 

He recalls a turning point when Amazon shifted from books to “everything else,” fundamentally changing supply chain expectations. “They’re basically a huge technology company that happens to sell and distribute some products.” Rick emphasized that while technology changed, two fundamentals haven’t: supply chains must stay consumer-obsessed and focused on solving meaningful problems, not chasing shiny objects.

Roadmaps, Reality, and the Art of Change Management

When it comes to digital transformation, Rick believes the best supply chain leaders start with a roadmap grounded in risk assessment—financial, reputational, and customer-based. At Clorox, this meant prioritizing problems, not products, and aligning IT and operations early. “Don’t start with your pitch. Start with understanding whether that manufacturer or that distributor has a problem that your gear might solve.” But one of Rick’s biggest lessons came from a failed planning software rollout. 

Despite the technology working as designed, planners didn’t trust it. “Day two with this fantastic capability, we still had our planners running around with spreadsheets.” The culprit? Poor change management. Clorox partnered with Mercer to develop a new playbook that addressed fear and built confidence across teams. “If you don’t tell the story, somebody else will—and generally, they’re going to make up a much more negative version than is actually true.” For Rick, the key to digital success is people-first adoption: understanding fears, communicating purpose, and enrolling employees in the change before it happens.

The Next Era of Warehousing and Demand Planning

Looking ahead, Rick sees enormous potential in automation, adaptive planning, and smarter warehouse orchestration. “Warehouses work best when the work efficiently comes from the back office to the floor—and then it gets done efficiently at the floor level.” He predicts a shift toward smaller, high-ceiling fulfillment centers built closer to major population hubs, supported by advanced tools to optimize both space and inventory. “Most of us are still stuck with 45–60% forecast accuracy. That requires big buildings, a lot of manufacturing capacity, and lots of inventory.”

Rick advises companies to improve demand signals rather than build more space. He highlighted one solution from the company KetteQ, which runs thousands of calculations in seconds to deliver optimized plans. “They’re demonstrating 10-, 15-, even 20-point gains in forecast accuracy—that’s a lot. Just envision what that means for your confidence and how much safety stock you would not need to have.” The ripple effects? Better balance sheets, smoother orchestration, and fewer disruptions across the entire supply chain.

Key Supply Chain Advice from Rick McDonald

• Consumer speed sets the pace – Supply chains must adapt to faster expectations driven by digital shopping.
• Technology alone isn’t transformation – Without change management, even the best tools fail.
• Roadmaps drive clarity – Focus digital initiatives on solving material problems, not chasing trends.
• Adaptive planning unlocks efficiency – Real-time recalculation can lift forecast accuracy by 10–20 points.
• Smaller, smarter facilities – High-ceiling, localized warehouses are the future of fulfillment.

Listen to the episode below and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Guest Information

Be sure to connect and follow Rick McDonald on LinkedIn for all things supply chain and catch him at one of his upcoming speaking events. 

For more supply chain advice and insights, check out the podcasts below. 

Supply Chain Point: Launching a 3PL with Rodney Galeano

608: Growth Catalyst Group on Supply Chain Resilience

Supply Chain Point: Solving Logistics Challenges with Nish George