thoughtleaders
BY MARK B. SOLOMON, SENIOR EDITOR
In (and out of) the
deep water INTERVIEW WITH DAVE MOSLEY
One year after the
floods in Thailand
submerged the hard
drive supply chain,
Dave Mosley has
pulled Seagate
Technology out
of the mud and
back to a strong
competitive position.
RUNNING A SUPPLY CHAIN TO SUPPORT A GLOBAL INFORMATION TECHnology enterprise is a stressful job under the best of circumstances. It becomes a
potential mind-blower when disasters—natural or man-made—intervene.
For Dave Mosley, head of operations and supply chain for Cupertino, Calif.-based
disk drive giant Seagate Technology, 2011 was one of those mind-blowers.
First was the March 11 earthquake off the coast of Japan that triggered a devastating tsunami. Then the nightmare scenario: severe flooding in Thailand from July
through October that literally put much of the world’s hard disk drive (HDD) and
component production under water.
Mosley spent most of 2011 handling two jobs. The first was to pull Seagate out
of the proverbial deep muddy once the floodwaters receded. The second was to
harden its supply chain so the company could be as prepared as possible for future
disasters.
In his current capacity, Mosley oversees a global network that employs more than
30
