Phillip S. Coles

Phillip Coles has an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University College of Agricultural Science, an M.B.A. in supply chain management from Lehigh University and an M.S. in applied economics and management from Cornell University.

In addition to his formal education, he studied lean and continuous improvement at The Kaizen Institute, the Manufacturer's Resource Center and the Toyota Supplier Support Center.

Before joining Lehigh, Professor Coles taught business courses at Pennsylvania State University, Syracuse University, Alvernia University, and Cornell University Summer College. He has over 30 years of industry experience, including serving as vice president of strategic management, project manager and Kaizen facilitator in charge of the continuous improvement program at a multi-million dollar produce company. In this role, he visited several leading manufacturing companies such as Dell Computer and Toyota Motor Company to learn about their supply chains.

He also runs a consulting firm where he has assisted companies to increase efficiencies through improved plant layouts and balancing of assembly lines, aiding green-fields startups and company expansions.

Professor Coles has been quoted in several leading business and finance media outlets including The Associated Press, US News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal and WFMZ-TV. He has published in national outlets and trade journals such as The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Washington Examiner and Supply Chain Management Review, and as a columnist for Discourse Magazine. He regularly publishes in refereed journals in the agricultural sciences, business and economics.

Education

• The Pennsylvania State University, B.S.
• Lehigh University, M.B.A., Supply Chain Management
• Cornell University, M.S., Applied Economics and Management

Research Interests

• Supply Chain Management in Food Systems 
• Operations 
• Continuous Improvement 
• Employee Incentive Systems 
• Finding Beneficial Uses for Waste Materials

• Ramos, E., Rabiee, M., Tarei, P. K., Chavez, M., & Coles, P. S. (2024). A diverse, unbiased group decision-making framework for assessing drivers of the circular economy and resilience in an agri-food supply chain. Production Planning & Control, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2024.2370988
• Ulrich Vidal, Milene Obregon, Edgar Ramos, Rajkumar Verma, Phillip S Coles (2024) “Sustainable and risk-resilient circular supply chain: A Peruvian paint manufacturing supply chain model” Sustainable Futures
• Coles, P.S., McGiffen, M.E., Xu, H, Frutos, M."Compost filling methods affect green mold disease incidence in commercial mushrooms" (2023), Plant Disease
• Arauco, I., Ramos, E., Mesia, R., Coles, P.S. (2022) “A Framework to Design a Lean Supply Chain: A Case Study in a Peruvian Concrete Company,” Journal of Value Chain Management.
• Edgar Ramos, B. Reyes, Rajiv Sánchez, Phillip S Coles (2021) "Supplier relationship management process assessment in food supply chains: an empirical study in coffee supply chains from Peru," International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking.
• Flores, R, Lazaro, E, Ramos, E., Coles, P (2021) 'Demand Management Process Assessment in Agri-food Supply Chain: An empirical study in Coffee Supply Chains from Peru', International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking.
• Ramos, E., Coles, P.S., Chavez, M. and Hazen, B. (2021), "Measuring agri-food supply chain performance: insights from the Peruvian kiwicha industry", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-10-2020-0544
• Coles, P. (2021). Don’t Blame Lean Production Methods for Shortages - Inventory is not necessarily good or bad. It depends. Supply Chain Management Review.
• Coles, P, Mazin, M, Nogin, G., (2021). The Association Between Mushroom Sciarid Flies, Cultural Techniques and Green Mold Disease Incidence on Commercial Mushroom Farms. Journal of Economic Entomology, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toaa322
• Phillip S. Coles, Galina Nogin, Michael Fidanza & Greg Roth (2020) Evaluation of Fresh Mushroom Compost in a Field Corn Production System, Compost Science & Utilization, DOI: 10.1080/1065657X.2020.1749184
• Fan, X., Gómez, M., & Coles, P. (2019). Willingness to Pay, Quality Perception, and Local Foods: The Case of Broccoli. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 48(3), 414-432. doi:10.1017/age.2019.21
• Coles, P.S., Dong, J., Gomez, M., Björkman, T., 2019. Produce Buyer Quality Requirements to Form an Eastern Broccoli Industry. Journal of Food Distribution Research 50 (1):63-83
• Coles, P.S., (2015) Reveal Experts within Your Organization Using a Simple Tool, Disseminating expertise already inside your organization greatly improves performance. Philanthropy Journal.
• Roth, G., Fidanza, M., Coles, P. S., 2014. Evaluation of Stover Removal and Fresh Mushroom Compost on Corn Yield and Soil Quality. Mushroom News 61(11):6-11
• Royse, D. J., K. Boomer, Y. Du, M. Handcock, P.S. Coles, and C.P. Romaine.  1999. Spatial Distribution of Green Mold Foci in Thirty Commercial Mushroom Crops. Plant Disease 83:71-76
• Weber, L., P. Coles, M. Hautau, and C. Oshins.  1997.  Comparison of Spent Mushroom Substrate and Inorganic Fertilizer as a Nutrient Source for Corn. Mushroom News, Science & Technology 45(5):6-10
• Coles, P. S. 1994. Using leaves as an ingredient in mushroom compost. Biocycle 35(9):79-82

• Coles, P.S., et.al. 2002. Mushroom Integrated Pest Management Handbook. College of Agricultural Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. 91 p. Spanish version, 2007

Conferences

• Coles, P.S., M., Mazin, G. Nogin, (2021) “The Association Between Mushroom Sciarid Flies, Cultural Techniques and Green Mold Disease Incidence on Commercial Mushroom Farms.” Entomological Society of America Eastern Branch Annual Conference.
• P. Coles, G. Nogin, M.A. Fidanza, G. Roth 2020 Evaluation of Stover Removal & Fresh Mushroom Compost on Corn Yield and Soil Quality HORTSCIENCE 54 (9), S275-S275
• P. Coles, M. Gomez, T. Björkman, N. Amerling. 2020, Are Produce Buyers Willing to Embrace Newly Developed Varieties of East Coast, Locally/Regionally Grown Broccoli to the Point That They Will Overlook Typical Quality Requirements? An Experiment Study. NAREA Annual Meeting.
• Coles, P.S., Dong, J., Gomez, M., Björkman, T., 2019. Produce Buyer Quality Requirements to Form an Eastern Broccoli Industry. FDRS Conference, Seattle, WA
• Coles, P.S., Dong, J., Gomez, M., Björkman, T., 2019. Produce Buyer Quality Requirements to Form an Eastern Broccoli Industry. ASHS 2019 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV
• Coles, P.S., G. Nogin, M. Fidanza and G. Roth., 2019. Evaluation of Fresh Mushroom Compost in a Field Corn Production System. ASHS 2019 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV
• Fan, X., M. Gomez, P. Coles. 2015, Are Consumers Willing to Pay Price Premiums for Newly Developed East Coast Broccoli Varieties? An Experimental Study. NAREA & CAES Joint Annual Meeting, Newport, RI

Articles/Letters to the Editor

• "Podcast: Phillip Coles on the Effects of Disruptions in the Supply Chain on the Holidays," Lehigh Business, 2021
• "Local professor explains how ship stuck in Suez Canal causing problems for global supply chains all over the world" WFMZ, 2021
• "Some grocery stores limiting how much meat you can buy due to supply shortages" WFMZ, 2020
• "Kitchen Table Talks: How COVID-19 is Affecting Agriculture Supply Chains" Lehigh Business, 2020
• "Eastern Broccoli Project on track to meet $100M goal" Cornell Chronicle, 2019
• "Is there a market for locally-grown broccoli on the East Coast?" Farm & Dairy, 2019
• "Economic prosperity is more closely tied to economic freedom than to political freedom" Wall Street Journal, 2018