Global supply chains are still grappling with the aftermath of COVID-19 and ongoing disruptions caused by international conflicts and economic instability. So, in an era where destabilization has become the new normal, what can organizations do to improve agility and resiliency?

In this episode of Supply Chain Now, hosts Scott Luton and Mary Kate Love are joined by supply chain transformation experts Christine Barnhart, Chief Marketing and Industry Officer at Nulogy and Jake Barr, CEO of BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting to discuss the next steps for industry professionals.

Offering actionable advice, the pair explain why supply chain leaders must actively embrace change management, adopting modern methodologies and technologies to enhance operational effectiveness. From the importance of bolstering visibility to understand and take a proactive role in managing supply chain networks, to the integration and interoperability of key technologies and value-add solutions, several essential learnings are shared.

For a comprehensive rundown on several priority improvement areas, be sure to catch the full episode.

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the voice of global supply chain. Supply Chain Now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on Supply Chain Now.

Scott Luton (00:32):

Hey. Hey. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and Mary Kate Love with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s live stream. Mary Kate, how you doing?

Mary Kate Love (00:43):

I’m doing great. This is a really special one because I’ve got my former boss joining us.

Scott Luton (00:48):

Oh, we are going to build an edge of our seat, minding our P’s and Q’s, but hey —

Mary Kate Love (00:53):

Exactly.

Scott Luton (00:54):

— I’m only kidding. We’re going to always keep it real here today, and we’ve got an incredible panel as Mary Kate is sharing. Folks, buckle up. Now, Mary Kate, you know we’ve got the smartest audience in global business. And we all know the disruption in global supply chain, well, it ain’t going to stop.

Mary Kate Love (01:11):

Yes.

Scott Luton (01:11):

It is an inherent component of the nature of the business. So, what do we do? We plan, adapt, execute, and overcome and plan and strategize some more and do it all again, right? Because it’s constantly changing.

Scott Luton (01:22):

So, Mary Kate, to that end, today, we’re talking with a couple of proven business leaders that always keep it real, and we’re going to be diving into actionable strategies for building truly agile and resilient operations and networks that can find success despite the pressures of today’s global marketplace. Mary Kate should be a great show, huh?

Mary Kate Love (01:41):

Yes, well said. And I love anything that, you know, when we discuss about making our network stronger, right? I truly think that is such a great focus for us, and I can’t wait to dive in more.

Scott Luton (01:52):

Me neither. And you raised a great word, networks, relationships, ecosystems. We’re going to be talking a lot about that here today. So, two last reminders before we get started. First off, folks, just like T-Squared is already doing, hey, share your comments throughout this live discussion. We’d love to know your thoughts. And secondly, hey, if you enjoy today’s show, and I bet you will, these are both repeat guests and their dynamos. Hey, be sure to share it with a friend or your network. They’ll be glad you did.

Scott Luton (02:16):

So, as T-Squared says, Good Wednesday, bring on the nourishment and the good drinks. Hey, the nourishment a.k.a supply chain expertise is coming, T-Squared. So, let’s walk you in our distinguished guests here today. Christine Barnhart, chief Marketing and industry officer at Nulogy. And Jake Barr, CEO of Blue World Supply Chain Consulting, and a.k.a. the John Wayne of Global Supply Chain.

Scott Luton (02:40):

Hey. Hey, Christine. How you doing?

Christine Barnhart (02:42):

I’m good. And how are you?

Scott Luton (02:44):

Christine, great to have you here. So nice to see you.

Christine Barnhart (02:47):

Thank you. You know, I can’t compete with John Wayne, so there you go.

Scott Luton (02:51):

I don’t know. I bet you give John Wayne a run for his money.

Scott Luton (02:55):

Jake, great to see you. How are you doing?

Jake Barr (02:57):

I’m wonderful. Glad to be here.

Scott Luton (02:59):

Wonderful, wonderful. Well, great to have you all both back. We’ve enjoyed countless conversations with you both. Mary Kate and I both admire what you all do out in industry, helping to change how business is done. And Mary Kate, you on the front end, in particular, you shared a little personal connection here, right?

Mary Kate Love (03:14):

Yes. We’ve got my former boss here, Christine. I said, you know, oh, this one’s going to be extra special to my heart because of that, right?

Christine Barnhart (03:21):

I’d like to think that I’m good at identifying, like, really great talent, Scott. So, you’re welcome.

Mary Kate Love (03:27):

Oh, I love that. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

Scott Luton (03:29):

Well, hey. Thank you, Christine. And I’m big fans of all three of you all here today. So — especially Mary Kate Love. So, to that end, Jake, Christine, and Mary Kate, before we get into really a wide-ranging discussion, I think a powerful discussion, a timely discussion. Let’s have a little fun warmup question. So, folks, today, it is World Theater Day, it’s International Whiskey Day, and its National Spanish Paella Day. Man, what a combination.

Scott Luton (03:52):

So, all three of you all are traveling enthusiasts. I know because I stalk all three of you all on social. So, where in the world, pick one place, just one place, where you can enjoy great entertainment, good drinks, and delicious food. And I’m going to start with Christine.

Christine Barnhart (04:08):

This is so hard because I love to travel and I like to go new places. But there is one place in the world that I go back to on a periodic basis, and that is Caye Caulker in Belize. I love it. It’s amazing. It’s very chill. Like 3,000-4,000 permanent, you know, residents. And it is by far my favorite place in the world.

Scott Luton (04:29):

Man. All right. Sold. I’m buying my next ticket to Belize. Well said, Christine.

Christine Barnhart (04:34):

You can come with us. You can come with us.

Scott Luton (04:35):

I will Let’s do it. Now, Jake, that’s going to be tough to top what a leadoff hitter that was.

Jake Barr (04:39):

Oh, no.

Scott Luton (04:40):

Your thoughts.

Jake Barr (04:41):

Set a high bar. We’ll go one more. Look, it’s National Paella Day. So, you have to go to Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain, without question. Now, I’m sorry, but I can’t be put boundaries around me. So, I’m going to give you a second and then I’ll say the Amalfi Coast sights, food.

Scott Luton (04:59):

Man.

Jake Barr (05:00):

Hard to beat.

Scott Luton (05:01):

Incredible picture both of you are painting. So, Mary Kate, it comes to you. Where in the world would you enjoy entertainment, drinks, and delicious food?

Mary Kate Love (05:09):

Well, now I’m wanting to go everywhere else, right? But I’m going to keep us in the United States and I’m going to pick a classic New York City. I’m actually going in two weeks.

Scott Luton (05:18):

Wow.

Mary Kate Love (05:18):

So, in mind for me and also truly one of my favorite cities in the world.

Scott Luton (05:23):

Oh, I’m with you and I bet we’ve got four fans here. And I would just add — I would New Orleans. We just had one of our co-hosts Tandra Bellamy [phonetic], come back from New Orleans and I was so jealous. And if you ever find — there’s plenty of places to find great entertainment, drinks and food in New Orleans, but watch out for Sneaky Pete’s, because as Amanda, behind the scenes, can attest, it’ll get you. It’ll get you.

Jake Barr (05:45):

Reach up and grab you.

Scott Luton (05:47):

That’s right. What a wonderful collection of cities, and really it showcases the global nature and the global community that is global supply chain. And before we dive in, Jake, Christine —

Jake Barr (05:58):

A bit disappointed though. You didn’t even bring up the — it’s four things going on right now. It’s March Madness. OK.

Scott Luton (06:03):

Oh.

Jake Barr (06:05):

It’s very appropriate to our topic because it’s total chaos.

Scott Luton (06:08):

It is.

Mary Kate Love (06:10):

Yes.

Scott Luton (06:11):

So true. And, you know, my brackets are already busted.

Mary Kate Love (06:13):

Yes.

Scott Luton (06:14):

So, we’ll have to have a bracket check maybe at the end of the show. But kidding aside, of course — hey Sylvia [phonetic], I appreciate what all you do down in Charleston. But she brings a great point. Thoughts and prayers are with Baltimore and the maritime industry. I think sadly, there are six families that have lost ones due to what we all saw transpire there in Baltimore. So, great call out Sylvia. And absolutely, it’s a stark reminder of what goes with global supply chain and all the wonderful people that help make industry happen.

Scott Luton (06:42):

So, on a much lighter note, much lighter note, Jake, Christine, great to have you all back with us. Appreciate what all you all do out there. Let’s give in the nature of the conversation we’re going to have here today. I think context, on the front end, is really, really important.

Scott Luton (06:54):

So, Christine, remind us if you would, what Nulogy does and a little bit more about your background.

Christine Barnhart (06:59):

Sure. I would say we’re a supply chain innovator. A technology company that really focuses in the extended or the external supply chain. So, think, you know, not just your raw material ingredient, component suppliers, but also your third-party co-packers and contract manufacturers. So, those people that really should be part of your business.

Christine Barnhart (07:21):

And we really want to build solutions and do build solutions that bring those contract manufacturers, co-packers closer to the brands and the large manufacturers that they service. So, multi-enterprised collaboration, synchronization.

Christine Barnhart (07:35):

Me personally, my background is actually all as a practitioner. Whirlpool, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Berry Plastics, you name, and I ran the gamut from an engineering operations and supply chain standpoint.

Scott Luton (07:49):

Wow. Hey, we’ve spoken about some of those roles. Berry Plastics brings back a previous chapter of my life. We’re going to have to sit down and exchange stories later on, Christine, over a nice cold beer maybe.

Christine Barnhart (07:59):

Yes, try not to get hives.

Scott Luton (08:04):

All right. So, that’s a great level setting there. Jake, same question for you. Tell us a little more about Blue World supply chain consulting and your incredible background as well.

Jake Barr (08:14):

Yes, Scott. So, we do work across six industry verticals. It’s everything from life science, Pharmedic, consumer goods, Staples, industrials, automotive, even things like fast fashion and fragrance. But the work is really tied to supply chain transformation. So, 80% of our clients are Fortune 100 companies that are going through one stage of the maturity evolution. It could be a network redesign, it could be whole wholescale organizational restructure or how to really reposition.

Jake Barr (08:47):

So, some of the leaders are really leading and some of the other folks are trying to catch up, obviously. About 20% of the businesses called mid-market folks. It’s somewhere — companies that are somewhere between a half billion and, like, roughly $5 billion in size. And so, they are, in many cases, post-pandemic kind of really learning and working their way through, taking some of the initial baby steps.

Scott Luton (09:10):

Man.

Jake Barr (09:11):

So, my personal background — and Christine actually was one of our suppliers, right? So, it was a law legacy at working as a supply chain leader at Procter & Gamble, building the infrastructure across the four regions of the world. So, my love of travel, my hate of booking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles on airlines kind of blended together.

Scott Luton (09:33):

Oh. And I heard about some of those travels up in Nashville over dinner one time. And I tell you between the two of you all, you all have got tons of stories. And Mary Kate, the stories and travel aside, the expertise — the breadth of expertise we’ve got between Jake and Christine is pretty intriguing, huh?

Mary Kate Love (09:49):

Yes, I was just thinking, while we represent a lot of different industries on this. So, I can’t wait to hear some of the insights we have today.

Scott Luton (09:57):

Me too. Me too. All right. From transformation and synchronization to orchestration to real leadership to managing change, some of those were the themes of what Christine and Jake have done in their background and they’re doing today, quite frankly, right?

Scott Luton (10:11):

So, let’s move into some of the topics we want to pick you all’s brain about here today, Christine and Jake. I want to start with what we’re talking about the front end. The disruption continues, right, on a global scale from geopolitical conflicts and tons of economic uncertainty, to, you know, sadly some tragedies that we’re seeing — we’re just talking about a second ago.

Scott Luton (10:30):

All of that and then some have not only impacted industry, but certainly fast-moving consumer goods, right? One of our acronyms, FMCG. Those supply chains on a pinpoint targeted level, but also on the macro level.

Scott Luton (10:42):

So, I want to start there, Christine. With your observations, what do those impacts look like here today?

Christine Barnhart (10:47):

Well — I mean, I think it’s interesting, you know, pre-COVID people didn’t even know what supply chain was and there was kind of a global ecosystem. I think now people — at least my friends and family, they understand. They know that —

Scott Luton (10:59):

Right.

Christine Barnhart (10:59):

— they couldn’t get toilet paper. They don’t understand why. And so, I think at a macro level, some things that have happened, you know, just to really destabilize, if you will, kind of, global supply chains. And I don’t think it’s going to return. I think this is the new normal. There’s a lot of, you know, economists and supply chain experts and researchers that say, like — you know, buckle in folks because this is what we should expect, which is that supply chains were fragile. We had disruptions previously, but we didn’t see them all at the same time. And now we’ve moved just, you know, kind of far enough that we are now on the other side of the cliff and it’s just a really wild ride.

Scott Luton (11:41):

Yes, undoubtedly, Christine. I completely agree with many of the points you made there. Jake, what would you add on the impact we’re seeing?

Jake Barr (11:47):

You know, Scott, there’s a multiplier effect, and I think that a good number of companies are still trying to digest part of the, what do I really have to do about it? They’ve taken some knee-jerk reactions of doing some, I’ll call some basic transactional kinds of things, execution kinds of things.

Jake Barr (12:06):

But this is one, as Christine was correctly pointing out, in my opinion, this is getting amplified. It’s not getting smaller. In fact, it is like a snowball that’s going downhill. The level of volatility across multiple nodes and multiple portions of the end-to-end network are getting worse. They’re not getting better.

Jake Barr (12:29):

And so, you really have to pull your head out of the sand and realize I can’t do the definition of insanity of attempting to do what I did before and expecting it to actually be better, right? So, it means that maybe I need to step back, take a breath, and I’ve got to do some process change related work.

Jake Barr (12:51):

I need to say, you know, the way I kind of crewed the organization and set them up and organized to do the work doesn’t really work anymore. Maybe the way I’m using the tech to help me identify early — ere the issues and the interventions. I need to use it differently. I can’t use it the way I was using it before.

Scott Luton (13:11):

Right.

Jake Barr (13:12):

And I’m going to tell you unfortunately, there’s a gap in leadership. So, we’re also dealing with folks, and I’m sure Christine’s got examples that I run into it every day. I’ve got a set of leaders who need to get on with a degree of change and how they look at their core internal assets and their people and their extended partners. And they’re almost like in semi-paralysis of say, well, I know I need to change, but oh, maybe we can grudge through it another quarter, two quarters, right?

Jake Barr (13:45):

And so, the unfortunate nature of that is they’re allowing some of the problems to compound on top of other factors you’ve got. If people think we’ve got labor stability across the profession right now, you’ve lost your mind. It’s —

Scott Luton (14:03):

Right.

Jake Barr (14:04):

— it’s even worse.

Scott Luton (14:05):

Right.

Jake Barr (14:06):

I sit down with firms every week where we’re talking about, well, you know, I tried to plug the holes in the chairs that I had of the people doing, you know, the supplier collaboration and the planning work. And I’ve got holes in the shop floor. And go, guys, you’re trying to refill seats that you had in the old design. Let’s talk about the change we have to make. So, we simplify. We don’t need that number of people. We can change the skillset. We can upskill. We can — but it’s a combination.

Scott Luton (14:35):

I’m with you. And Mary Kate, I’m coming to you next because Christine and Jake both are pointing out the seismic change that has taken place. We’re not going back, to Christine’s point, band-aids aren’t good enough, to one of Jake’s many points being made here today. And all of that rolls up into a very powerful and simple message that folks need. One of them that folks got to take from this conversation is we got to change how business is done.

Mary Kate Love (14:59):

Yes.

Scott Luton (14:59):

Mary Kate, what’d you hear there from Christine and Jake on the impact, on the macro, on the craft itself?

Mary Kate Love (15:04):

Yes, listen, I think as they both said, right, it’s undisputed that disruptions are happening at a greater pace now and are going to continue to happen. And so, it really forces leaders to say, do we have visibility in our supply chain? No. How do we get it? Do we feel confident in our network of suppliers? No. OK, how do we get there?

Mary Kate Love (15:24):

So, it is really, like Jake said, kind of delineates between who are the leaders, right? And who are answering these questions and trying to find these purpose build solutions to solve these problems versus who’s lagging behind and doing it the old way hoping we won’t see so many disruptions, right, when we know we will.

Scott Luton (15:40):

Yes, well said. Lots of folks are clinging and hoping and we’re all laughing because we probably have some images of folks we know come to our minds that are doing that here today. And then look, we’re not picking on anybody. Change is tough. We all know that, but it’s not an excuse or at least a support excuse.

Scott Luton (15:56):

All right. Shifting gears. So now that Christine and Jake and Mary Kate have all, kind of, established some of the pains and some of the calls for action. Gosh, hopefully you are already acting out there. Many of our audience, the smartest ones out there, we know they are, many aren’t. These times of uncertainty, they force businesses to be more agile and find ways to be more resilient or anti-fragile as someone said here a minute ago.

Scott Luton (16:19):

So, Jake, I’m going to stick with you for a second. What steps for those folks that are acting. Teir heads not in the sand, what steps are you seeing market leaders take to ensure that adaptability and sustainability?

Jake Barr (16:30):

Well, you know, Mary Kate highlighted one. Look, when you’re thinking your expanded ecosystem today, one of the first to do steps is, hey, take an inventory of the supplier base I have and determine, are those the folks that we’re going to be able to fly with as we keep moving, right?

Scott Luton (16:49):

Yes.

Jake Barr (16:49):

Now, sadly, unfortunately, when I’m attempting to do that, a number of them fall down into this old pit of, well, I really don’t have good metrics in place. And a good measurement to understand how have they really been performing. And performing in other than a, well, I bought X number of widgets from them in the previous year at the agreed price.

Scott Luton (17:14):

Right.

Jake Barr (17:14):

What’s their tendencies in the last 90, 120 days of, are they pulling out and shorting the supply chain, right? Are they causing additional variability because we count on them to get us a Kanban schedule and, oh by the way, they’re not on time. So, now we’re disrupting production lines and commitments to trade channel partners.

Jake Barr (17:35):

And so, the first step I’ll say is, look, we’ve got a number of players out there that really have old world techniques for how they think about supply, right?

Scott Luton (17:44):

Yes.

Jake Barr (17:45):

So, that is a huge problem. We have to separate the fact that there is a strategic sourcing step that I take to actually identify and contractually commit a set of players. There’s another step that I have to take which assesses the operational and executional capabilities of anyone I decide to buy from, right, and to use in my network. Those are different.

Jake Barr (18:11):

One person can give me the lowest price of something, but always be late. OK. One person can give me a couple of cents off of that, might still be within range, but actually hit like a drum beat, right, because of how capable they are.

Jake Barr (18:24):

So, you have to be able to quantify, measure, and then set down, how do these players? What role are they going to play? How critical are they to the supply? Do I have a relationship where I can see, for example, well, hey, let’s talk basics. I don’t know. I may want to know what they’re actually making in their schedule today.

Scott Luton (18:44):

Right.

Jake Barr (18:45):

Novel idea, right? To understand whether I can count on them for a commitment. Oh, you know what? I’ve got disruptions in these trade channel partners. Last time I checked, no one’s still getting a perfect demand forecast, right? And so, I — I’ve got volatility and how much I think I’m going to need to go back.

Jake Barr (19:03):

You know, the bullwhip principle applies here. If I don’t dampen and cut down the informational way back to my principle source of supply to say, hey, you’ve got a hundred widgets sitting on the floor that we could actually process. How the hell am I going to know that if I don’t have a relationship with those key critical suppliers?

Jake Barr (19:21):

Now let’s step back from all that, OK?

Scott Luton (19:23):

OK.

Jake Barr (19:24):

That’s great, but as Christine knows, an average company that I deal with and that she deals with has hundreds of thousands of items, right, that they’re sourcing. All things are not created equal. I would submit to you, you could actually strategically separate those out and which ones and which suppliers you really have to have. That true high tech, high fidelity, info flow set up on because you don’t have to boil the ocean. And that’s where I get back to the leadership situation.

Jake Barr (19:54):

We’ve got so many folks that are stuck in this step of not being able to say, I need to take the next step with the process. I need to take the next step with the organization. I need to change the way I’m dealing with the suppliers. But they look at it this universe of a hundred thousand partners and they go, holy crap, it’s just overwhelming. Well, maybe we’ll wait another quarter. Going out on business sale. Big sign. OK.

Christine Barnhart (20:19):

I was going to say, and I think, Jake, you know, he taught these a hundred thousand suppliers and whatnot, but I think what I kind of see is so many companies are still operating in the same methodology that they were 20, 30 years ago. They’re like, oh, well I made ERP investments. I made planning investments.

Christine Barnhart (20:38):

You know what? That’s great. That helps you within your four walls and raw materials and ingredients and components that are coming into your four walls. You have a lot of control over how you’re putting those together, how you’re managing your operation. Oh, but guess what’s happened over the last 30 years, we have farmed out more and more of our work in process, of our finished goods.

Christine Barnhart (21:01):

So, the latest research shows that about 30% of what a company produces is actually produced by a third party. So, 30% of what you sell is going out to a third party. And most companies are communicating with those third parties via e-mails, via spreadsheets, or if they’re lucky, maybe they have a portal and that supplier logs in once or twice a week.

Christine Barnhart (21:24):

So, it’s like, guys, come on. Why would you not think you’re going to have problems with this when what we need to be doing is bringing that external supply chain, those external third parties closer. They need to be virtually — vertically integrated so that they function like they’re part of your supply chain. Because holding them out, all it does is increase the variability. And the problem with that is they are as close to your customers as you are. If you have a raw material you don’t get, chances are you have some buffer built in and it’s not necessarily going to impact you in trade like that shelf [phonetic].

Christine Barnhart (22:02):

You have a co-man or a co-packer that can’t produce for whatever reason. It can have almost an instantaneous impact on your ability to deliver to the Walmarts and the Krogers and, you know, all of these retail outlets and if people can’t find your product, they’re not going to buy it.

Jake Barr (22:19):

Hallelujah. Preach lady.

Scott Luton (22:21):

Before I go to Mary Kate here and a few of the comments, so just so I’m clear. So, spreadsheets, don’t cut it anymore, Jake, Christine, Mary Kate?

Mary Kate Love (22:29):

Spreadsheets are the single largest planning tool in the world.

Jake Barr (22:33):

Yes.

Christine Barnhart (22:33):

Yes.

Scott Luton (22:34):

The devil, maybe.

Mary Kate Love (22:35):

Talk about hives.

Scott Luton (22:37):

Yes.

Mary Kate Love (22:35):

Oh my God.

Scott Luton (22:38):

They’re T-Squared. We’re going there soon. T-Squared who has better visibility, anyone. Stay tuned. We got a lot more to talk about there. Not just visibility, but outcomes and better decision-making, better connectivity across the ecosystem which Christine and Jake are kind of speaking to.

Scott Luton (22:51):

Mary Kate, before we move forward. We heard a lot there from Christine and Jake, both of bad steps that continue to persist. The old world, old fashion approach to business, and some of the ways that leaders are acting today, which we’re going to talk more about in a second. What did you hear there?

Mary Kate Love (23:07):

I think we’re all saying it, right? Visibility. Visibility. And you have to have it. We want to partner with more suppliers and the best suppliers, but, you know, I’m thinking about a project that I worked on a long time ago with the Department of Defense and having them look at their suppliers. And as Christine is saying, who are we relying on? How is that going to affect us?

Mary Kate Love (23:26):

We need to have step one, that visibility, to understand our network and take an active instead of a reactive role, right, in managing that entire network. It is so, so important and it’s becoming more and more important quite frankly.

Scott Luton (23:40):

Excellent point, Mary Kate. And National Defense.

Jake Barr (23:43):

But don’t drink the Kool-Aid.

Scott Luton (23:45):

Uh-oh. OK.

Jake Barr (23:47):

Uh-oh, John Wayne’s stepping in.

Jake Barr (23:47):

John Wayne’s supply chain’s weighing in here. I’m sorry. Visibility. It can mean anything.

Scott Luton (23:53):

Right.

Jake Barr (23:54):

What you have to be able to do is to get it down concretely to this specific set of information is what I will use to drive my process change inside my operation. So, as Christine was saying, wait, it’s again, the production schedule from the Kanban. It is the release schedule for distribution. It is the inbound material flow information so I can make sure we’ve got enough for the variation in demand.

Jake Barr (24:24):

So, it isn’t just where is it? OK? Which some people define as visibility. It is the actionable information that you’re going to use to drive a process.

Scott Luton (24:36):

Yes.

Mary Kate Love (24:36):

Totally agree, yes.

Scott Luton (24:37):

We got to quantify.

Christine Barnhart (24:38):

Interoperability.

Scott Luton (24:39):

Interoperability, Christine.

Christine Barnhart (24:41):

Interoperability.

Scott Luton (24:42):

Yes.

Mary Kate Love (24:43):

That’s a great call out.

Scott Luton (24:44):

Say it louder for the folks in the back. That’s a great point, Christine. Really.

Christine Barnhart (24:49):

I think Jake and Mary Kate, they’re spot on, right? I do think visibility is where you start. And you start with, you know, robust, high-fidelity exchange of data and information. Unfortunately, a lot of people, like — they’re like, oh, I just need to integrate them. I’m just — you know, I’m going to do EDI or — I’m like, please don’t, right?

Christine Barnhart (25:06):

So, it’s got to go. It’s — you’ve got to think beyond that. It’s got to be — I’ve got to be able to not even just generate insights, but be able to execute change based on those insights. And so, you know, you can execute some level of change within your existing systems, right, within an SAP or an Oracle or an OMP or Connaxis or whatever it is.

Christine Barnhart (25:29):

But I think, you know, leaders in this space have recognized that there are purpose-built solutions that become systems of engagement. They allow the visibility, they provide tools for robust high fidelity, real-time integration, and they deliver insights and allow engagement by people that are actually planning and buying, you know, these materials that you need for your business.

Christine Barnhart (25:53):

And I think that that’s the aha, like, the little light bulb for some of these leaders, which is, you know, it doesn’t work for me to have just a single, you know, solution that’s doing everything because then I’m a mile wide and I’m an inch deep and it just doesn’t give me what I need. And people are doing things in Excel. And so, I think real leaders in the space are focusing on these purpose-built solutions like Nulogy. And there are others in this multi-enterprise collaborative, you know, kind of technology.

Scott Luton (26:22):

Yes. All right. So, Christine, Jake, Mary Kate — Mary Kate, I want to check in with you real quick. Because we — coming 600 miles an hour of supply chain brilliance with Christine and Jake. Mary Kate, your quick comment on what we’re hearing before we get into more of the how.

Mary Kate Love (26:35):

Yes, I’m nodding along so much with these two. I mean, especially when Christine said your ERP system is not meant to do everything and anything for you, right? Well, I mean maybe, but we know that we need to integrate with other purpose-built solutions, right? And that is a huge part of being able to solve some of these problems we’re talking about today.

Scott Luton (26:57):

Well said. And one of the point, one of you all mentioned — that might’ve been Jake, you know, a lot of folks can stand and marvel at a problem and be paralyzed because the problem is so immense. And folks, we get it. We’ve all probably been there for a moment, but you got to break it down and start to take not just action, but the right action. And that’s something the goodness we’re going to get here from Christine and Jake.

Scott Luton (27:18):

So, Christine, when it comes to, you know, how we’re seeing your clients, supply chain practitioners, leaders out there invest in improving and gaining that visibility to interoperability and the outcomes and solutions, you know, by connecting the data across the network, how are you seeing that happen?

Christine Barnhart (27:35):

Yes, I mean I think what we’re seeing is leaders in the space are looking at solutions like Nulogy. And we do a ton of work in this space where we have these robust connectivity tools. So, you know, low code, no code capabilities, kind of, built in, if you will, to the solution. And so, they’re able to then prioritize who they want to connect to.

Christine Barnhart (27:57):

And I recommend that, right? Like, you don’t want to boil the ocean, to your point. You know, pick your most strategic suppliers and let’s integrate to them and let’s start to do business with them in a platform where all of the activity is captured. Are negotiation about how much capacity you’re going to give me or what P.O.s I’m going to fulfill and on what dates. All of that captured in a system.

Christine Barnhart (28:20):

I mean, this is what spoke to me about multi-enterprise, right? This is why I’ve left Berry and why I left industry is after years of doing planning and purchasing, and I would do these beautiful plans, right, and then, like, literally the next day somebody from procurement would call and be like, oh, well this supplier can’t deliver this, or this didn’t make the shelf or this expired. And you would blow everything up.

Christine Barnhart (28:42):

And you’re like, it’s not that the data, the information existed. It just didn’t exist in a place where I had access to it, or we would agree at the beginning of the month that we’re going to take this P.O., we’re going to divide it. And we’re going to ship half and then we’re going to ship the other half. And then we would go into the S&OP the following month and every executive there had amnesia. Why did we do this? And you’re like, so I’m going through, like, e-mail notes. And — you know.

Christine Barnhart (29:08):

So, I think it’s finding a purpose-built solution that allows you to connect easily that has the, like, best in class business processes that allows you then to capture the interaction, the collaboration and the outcomes so that everybody can see this. And then we establish trust. It’s not buried in somebody’s e-mail, it’s not buried in Excel, the duct tape of the business world. It’s freely available for all of us. We’re democratizing then our ability to engage and to execute for everybody’s benefit, right? It’s for both the suppliers and their customers.

Scott Luton (29:46):

Yes. All right. So, Jake, you lick your chops. Give me one second because I think this is really important. What Christine is speaking to is it works in the real world, right? I think Alan Jackson sang that song decades ago, here in the real world — whatever it is. Whatever the technology, the process is —

Jake Barr (30:02):

Don’t sing. Scott.

Scott Luton (30:03):

Oh, I’m — I’m not paid to sing, I can promise you. But —

Mary Kate Love (30:06):

We don’t have those music rights, I don’t think.

Scott Luton (30:07):

No, that’s right. Christine, I love how you describe how it works, how it worked, it still works today. There are folks that can raise their hand. And what you’re saying, they relate to that. So, whatever change we’re making has got to work in the operations in the turns.

Scott Luton (30:24):

All right. So, Jake, go back to the how.

Jake Barr (30:26):

I need a job hard, OK. It’s — you know, Christine was so on point with how you have to step back and start, OK. Let’s not forget that most of the organizations, and many of them at least aren’t good at change management, right? Aren’t good at process change. Aren’t good at understanding how to collapse the work that maybe multiple people have been doing. And they were doing it that way because of these gaps, right?

Jake Barr (31:00):

So, my good friend who’s on here today as well, Alan [phonetic] understands this uniquely because of his background. Because he’s been through the same wars I have. Fundamentally, this is about taking and recrafting the way you’re going to do this work, connecting the ecosystem. Let’s not forget that the starting point for virtually every company is separate handoff points when a co-man, a co-pack [phonetic], material suppliers involved versus those who are inside dealing with, perhaps, the production shop floor or the deployment into the market or to the trade channel partner.

Jake Barr (31:38):

So, completely divorced work streams and now we have a way, oh my God, they can interoperate. OK. Not only interoperate, oh my God, I have the freedom. I can reshape what work is done, when it’s done, who does it, where it’s done. Oh my God. It just gets (INAUDIBLE).

Jake Barr (31:59):

So, all of those come into reality. They’re real. You can do this. You fundamentally start with something simple called — I’m going to carve off these few, and begin to learn my way into changing the work, how we integrate it, how we operate daily, how the decisions we’re going to make off of it, and how I leverage it.

Scott Luton (32:20):

Right. Hey, I love it. All of that said, there is a true better way. And I love, Jake, you and Christine, challenging folks how we’re thinking in the status quo. Mary Kate, before I move forward with the next question for Christine, Jake, your thoughts of how they’re really challenging how business is done, that old world style. I hate to keep going back to that, but Mary Kate, your thoughts.

Mary Kate Love (32:42):

I mean, both Jake and Christine reminding us though that this way is better for everyone involved, right? Both your internal operations, your internal teams being able to collaborate quite frankly with one another better. But then as Christine stated, it’s better for your suppliers too, right? You know, this will allow people to make better decisions on how to work together both inside your organization and outside your organization.

Scott Luton (33:05):

Right.

Jake Barr (33:06):

I got to take a sidebar for just a second, Scott.

Scott Luton (33:09):

OK.

Jake Barr (33:09):

Bear with me, OK? Because it brings all this completely delight. And it was an epiphany for me early on because I had, back in my old days at P&G, we were literally trying to integrate and work a flow with one of our critical suppliers. Now, this supplier provided materials, I mean mission critical materials to literally 20 different production sites, OK?

Jake Barr (33:33):

I want you to think about the handoff that Christine is talking about with one supplier who’s feeding mission critical materials to 20 different facilities, right? Each one of them having a different method for how to bring the information in. Each one of them having a different way for how they want the information displayed to them. Each one of them communicating back, oh, I’m sorry, we forgot for a moment. The volatility that’s happening, oh, I’m going to change my schedule? I’m going to change the frequency of how much I want and when I want it?

Jake Barr (34:05):

I literally had one of this supplier send me an elapsed time video of one of their folks on their side who was using a whiteboard to keep track of the pluses and the minuses from all the communications across these e-mails and faxes and phone calls. And they literally started it when the woman came to work in the morning and when she left in the evening. And that video stopped when she netted out the day where it was damn near equal, OK, with all the pluses and the minuses and the balances and the pulls up. And they were — it was bizarre, OK? But it gave me religion to say, we can’t do this.

Jake Barr (34:47):

So, anyone who’s out here who believes that dealing with their suppliers and trying to manage the chaos that we’re going through right now, which is amplifying, right? Not getting smaller. And believing you can do it the old way and insanely also believing that that’s not costing you money, you’re out of your freaking mind.

Mary Kate Love (35:07):

Right.

Christine Barnhart (35:07):

Well, Jake, it reiterates — so, we know from our platform that P.O.s on average change three to five times. So, think about for each supplier and the number of P.O.s that you send them, those P.O.s, each one is changing three to five times.

Christine Barnhart (35:24):

So, if you’re trying to do that in e-mails and Excel spreadsheets, how in the heck are you keeping track of it and how is it not causing volatility for your suppliers? Because it is. And at the end of the day, you’re going to pay for that. You’re going to pay for it in quality. You’re going to pay for it in excess inventory and write-offs. You’re going to pay for it in cost of goods, or you’re going to pay for it in shortages, right? But you are a hundred percent paying for that.

Christine Barnhart (35:51):

And then if you’re not really lucky, you may no longer be the customer of choice. Because if your competitor puts in a solution that allows these suppliers to have better visibility, better data, just better performance, well, why wouldn’t I put my eggs in that basket because I, a hundred percent, would?

Jake Barr (36:10):

That supplier and that set of suppliers has the same challenges across their client base that you have and also, same labor challenges, right? Oh my God. I’ve got to have somebody in that seat who’s got enough skill, who can deal with the interface with the manufacturers that I’m supplying.

Jake Barr (36:32):

So, guys, the thing is atrociously large and it’s simple to solve if you just narrow it down, select the strategic ones and begin to model how to change, stepping your way into those changes, we could go to the advent of how A.I. is going to further impact that.

Scott Luton (36:54):

Right?

Jake Barr (36:55):

But that would take us another hour.

Scott Luton (36:57):

Oh, easily an hour, man.

Christine Barnhart (36:59):

Not this call.

Scott Luton (37:01):

Yes, an hour would be an A.I. facilitated and orchestrated conversation. I think it might take the four of us a couple weeks because there’s so much opportunity. And Jake, really, not to take anything away. Kidding aside, Jake and Christine, I love you all’s passion and you’ve been there and done it. You’re doing it now.

Scott Luton (37:16):

I also want to point out practitioners and leaders out there, a lot of them want to succeed. A lot of them want to change how business is done, but to someone’s point, change management is still a timeless struggle.

Scott Luton (37:26):

So, Mary Kate, we’ve lost all control here. I tell you what, between Christine and Jake, all kinds of great comments coming in. There’s a couple of questions I want to get to before we make sure folks can connect with you all. We’ve got some great resources, some goody bags to leave folks with. Mary Kate, your comment here on this religion, I think Jake coined that this true religion of doing business different in a much more powerful way. Mary Kate, your quick thoughts.

Mary Kate Love (37:51):

Well, Jake just said something that reminded me that, you know. no problem is too big to solve when Jake said, you just have to narrow it down, right? Define it and start to model the changes. I think that’s really practical advice that people can take away from this conversation today.

Scott Luton (38:07):

Yes, yes, agreed. Great point. And by the way, Alan says, I’m not that old, Jake. I think what —

Jake Barr (38:12):

He is and so am I.

Scott Luton (38:15):

Oh, and Gloria Mar [phonetic] has a great point here. Plans cannot be in isolation. Excellent point. Gloria Mar, great to have you with us, all of you all here today.

Scott Luton (38:23):

1. For the sake of time, I got to move us forward. And Christine, I’m going to pose this question to you and then I’m going to get both you and Jake to talk about what’s holding us back and advice to leaders and practitioners out there. So, Christine, supply chains, and we’ve talked a lot about within the four walls. We’ve talked some about the ecosystem, you know, supply chains that are true trailblazers are far along in their digital maturity, and they’re not only thinking on the enterprise level, but the multi enterprise level.

Scott Luton (38:49):

So, Christine, in a couple minutes we’ve got here, how important — I mean, I know the answer to this, incredibly extraordinarily, super important, to use a lexicon at 2024. But speak to the importance of how nowadays brands got to be investing in digitally enabling their relationships, especially with external supply chain providers too?

Christine Barnhart (39:08):

Yes, I mean, companies don’t win supply chains due. And your supply chain is not just your operation, but it’s everybody that is supplying items for your operation. I think when companies finally, kind of, come to that epiphany, their suppliers don’t become an afterthought, right? And they start to make investments to ensure that their suppliers are connected with them in a robust, real-time, high-fidelity way. They are the ones that then are really starting to kind of leapfrog, if you will.

Christine Barnhart (39:37):

Leapfrog in terms of their ability to reduce inventory without increasing risk. Their ability to cut their lead times. Their ability to improve their quality, to reduce their overall cost of goods. I mean, the value drivers are just, kind of, across the board.

Christine Barnhart (39:55):

And so, I think for us, what we’re seeing is those companies, they’ve made investments in their ERP. They’ve made investments in their advanced planning systems. And now they’re really recognizing, OK, that’s great, but the data that I’m utilizing to make decisions isn’t good enough and it’s because I’m missing that supplier piece. I’m missing the fact that 80% of the data that I need is not within the four walls of my company and that I’ve got to do a better job of capturing the data and then utilizing it to make decisions and to manage processes and to interoperate.

Christine Barnhart (40:33):

And that, you know, gets back to the title of this, right? We talked about orchestration, synchronization. If you’re not having that discussion within your business, you’re behind and you need to start to think about it.

Scott Luton (40:43):

Yes, Christine, we’ve got to have the right conversations out in supply chain, out in global business for that matter. We got to have the courage to have them as well. Excellent point, Christine.

Scott Luton (40:52):

All right. I really wish we had a couple more hours with all three of you all here today and we had a lot of comments here.

Jake Barr (40:57):

I got a key one. I got a key one, Scott.

Scott Luton (40:59):

Go ahead.

Jake Barr (40:59):

I’m sorry, but —

Scott Luton (41:00):

You’re John Wayne. You get the —

Jake Barr (41:03):

Fundamentally you have to think about it as supply chain leaders and supply chain professionals. If you’re not learning, you’re dead. OK? Especially today. You have to have a zest for learning. So, I would flip this one upside down on the topic we’re talking here at the moment because unfortunately many times we don’t ask the right questions as leaders.

Scott Luton (41:24):

Right.

Jake Barr (41:25):

So, I’ll give you an example. To Christine’s point earlier about, wait, you know, if I can pull out the strategic suppliers, I’ll give you one simple to ask as a leader. If you take your top four or five strategic suppliers and you ring them and you ask them a simple question, are we your best supplier to work with around operations and interoperability? I think you might be scared by the answer in many cases.

Jake Barr (41:51):

If you’re willing to ask that question, you can immediately leapfrog because then they’re going to tell you which other partners they have who actually have worked with them to improve that process, right? So, you get a free opportunity, get out of jail card. Wait, one of my strategic suppliers is telling me, hey, you’re not as good as some of our others. And here are the things they’re doing to integrate so that we can actually help them better. Oh, you know what? I think I may want to go and figure that one out.

Scott Luton (42:26):

Love it.

Christine Barnhart (42:27):

It may surprise people on this call, but we have contract manufacturers and co-packers that are on Nulogy utilizing supplier collab with some of their big customers that are now coming to us saying, we want you to go and sell supplier collab to this brand or that brand because it makes it so much easier for us to work with those companies. So, these multi-enterprise collaboration networks, they do benefit both the supplier and the customer if they’re doing it right.

Scott Luton (42:57):

Yes.

Jake Barr (42:58):

Amen.

Scott Luton (42:59):

And Mary Kate, I got to bring you in for a second. We got one big question we’re going to be posing to Jake and Christine, just a second. But Mary Kate, one of the words that Christine especially has been using throughout is high-fidelity. And I love that word, right? As an AV nerd especially, it applies so much to supply chain management as well. And I think REM had an album, New Adventures and High Five, if I’m not mistaken. I could be dating myself. But Mary Kate —

Christine Barnhart (43:20):

You might be dating yourself.

Scott Luton (43:22):

Yes. Alan Jackson, REM, and the same master —

Jake Barr (43:26):

I remember it. Sorry.

Scott Luton (43:27):

1. All right. Jake, thank you. You got my back. But Mary Kate, before I move into this final question, which I can’t wait to get, I’m going to get the popcorn here, Christine and Jake’s response. Speak to that. I love when your suppliers can collaborate more effectively and we can take friction out and we can enable people to have more successful days easier and be confident in the decisions that they’re making and put the data, truly, the right data at their fingertips. Those are some of the things that I’m hearing from this beautiful picture Christine and Jake are painting. Your quick thoughts, Mary Kate, before I move into the next question.

Mary Kate Love (44:02):

Super quick, I have to call out, what did you say? Companies don’t win, supply chains do? I just — I need it on a T-shirt? I need the — this. I love that because it’s the truth.

Christine Barnhart (44:13):

You can steal it. I’m sure I stole it from somebody.

Mary Kate Love (44:17):

Yes, it’s the truth. So —

Jake Barr (44:18):

I can show you where I preached that at Gartner 15 years ago.

Scott Luton (44:22):

1. Hey, what’s old is new again and cool again. And Mary Kate, that’s a great call out. It’s going to be a T-shirtism. Companies don’t win, supply chains do. I love that.

Scott Luton (44:32):

1. Folks, I’ll tell you what, it’s been a rock and roll session. We blink and we’re approaching the end. But I got to get this last question in. We may go over it by a minute or two, but that’s OK. So, what’s holding us back, Christine and Jake? And let’s see here. Jake, I’m going to start with you. What’s holding us back and what’s some advice, some frank advice that you want to issue to all the leaders and practitioners listening?

Jake Barr (44:53):

You know, unfortunately, human nature is we don’t like change, right? That’s just the human prerogative. So, you want to be able to come in every day and have a set routine and go about it. So, instituting a change in a time of great uncertainty is even scarier when you’re running an operation. Because you’re saying, wait a minute, I have this conundrum here. You know, do I lean into it? Do I not lean into it?

Jake Barr (45:20):

You know, I love when I’m in talking transformation to look directly at either the VP of supply chain, our chief supply chain officer, and remind them, look, our jobs are to manage today’s transactions, but we’re actually paid to blow it up and to prepare the company to be able to be successful over the next five, 10 years. So, you have to do those concurrently.

Jake Barr (45:43):

So, my simple answer to your question right now is you’ve got to be able to have leadership, start small, lean in, experiment, learn from how to implement the change because they go, wait a minute, it’s scary. You know what? Life is scary and if you think it’s going to get any easier based on the business dynamics we have, you are kidding yourself.

Scott Luton (46:06):

Jake, I love that. And folks, I’m sure Christine and Jake would love follow-up conversations and have plenty of more stories and time to tell the stories than the hour we’re out of here. But Christine, same question to you. What’s holding us back and what’s the advice you want to give to folks out there?

Christine Barnhart (46:24):

I think we are holding ourselves back. And my advice would be, if you think you’re going to solve these complex problems and build resilience or agility by making investments just within your four walls, you’re setting yourself up for failure. You have to be looking beyond your operations. Your ecosystem is what needs to be reviewed. And you really have to, I think, start to look at that.

Christine Barnhart (46:48):

And it can’t be just this one little group within your company that’s responsible for contract manufacturing or external manufacturing. It really is too big of a piece of the puzzle. It’s got to get to the big boy, big girl table of supply chain, which, you know, I think for a lot of people, we just — we continue to try to do things kind of the old way. And what we’re really doing to, you know, borrow a Six Sigma black belt term is we’re suboptimizing. Yes —

Scott Luton (47:15):

Yes.

Christine Barnhart (47:15):

— you’re optimizing something, but it isn’t having an impact on your business.

Jake Barr (47:19):

Nothing.

Scott Luton (47:20):

Oh, man. There’s so much more here. I hate to bring this conversation to a close. Hey, seriously, you all, I love how you keep it real and you’ve been there and done it. And our global industry and all the folks coming in, the folks that have been there, the folks in the boardrooms, they all need to have these right conversations. And to one of you all’s — I think, Jake, your point, we’ve got to be asking the right questions amongst many other things.

Scott Luton (47:44):

Mary Kate, before we share some resources and before we make sure folks know how to connect with our friends here, your patented key takeaway from quite the conversation here today. It’s probably not — this is the least fair question of the day that I’m posing to Mary Kate. All right. Take it away.

Mary Kate Love (47:58):

No, I love it. I feel like I kind of, like, said it a little bit earlier by stealing Christine’s line, but I will add on it that, you know, you are only strong as your weakest link and you need to focus on understanding. Not just as Jake pointed out. Not just visibility with your network. But understanding how to make decisions with the data you’re collecting when you’re managing your supplier network, right? So, that is a huge piece of the puzzle, as Christine says, and it’s something everybody needs to focus on.

Scott Luton (48:26):

Yes. Well said. One way to put a fine point on a great conversation that we knew would be when we get Jake and Christine together, and of course all the folks out there, I couldn’t get everybody’s comments. But to Mary Kate, we worked fast and furiously and did our best. Who knows? We need A.I. facilitators in the conversations ahead.

Scott Luton (48:45):

All right. I want to make sure folks know how to connect with both of you all. I know you all do plenty of keynoting and speaking out in associations. And I love what you all are doing, kind of, with — outside of you all’s four walls for industry which I admire.

Scott Luton (48:57):

Let’s see, Christine Barnhardt with Nulogy. How can folks connect with you?

Christine Barnhart (49:00):

Well, LinkedIn is a great way to connect with me. Send me a message. But I think Jake and I are both going to be at Gartner coming up in Orlando. Look for us, reach out to us, e-mail us, we’d be happy to meet you, you know, and have a conversation.

Scott Luton (49:13):

Awesome. It’s just that easy. Hey, really quick, Tim Ingram said, love the discussions. A lot to digest. Logistics professionals drink from a fire hose every single stinking day. You’re right, Tim. Great to have you here.

Scott Luton (49:27):

All right. Jake, so beyond Gartner, I can’t wait to connect with you all down there. How can folks connect with the John Wayne of Global Supply chain?

Jake Barr (49:33):

I echo what Christine said, you know, supply chain leaders in action session CSCMP, the Gartner event. I’ll be on stage there for that. So, it — you can always find us. I mean, we’re not hard to find.

Christine Barnhart (49:47):

I forgot to mention, Supply Chain Unfiltered.

Scott Luton (49:49):

Yes.

Christine Barnhart (49:50):

Follow my podcast.

Jake Barr (49:52):

Yes.

Mary Kate Love (49:52):

Yes.

Scott Luton (49:52):

Well, and that’s a great one. Great work you’re doing over there, Sarah (ph). And let’s talk supply chain. I love to see the new content there. So, Christine will make sure to make that plug as well. And by the way, Jake’s got a nickname. But when you come back next, Christine, we got to come up with a new nickname.

Christine Barnhart (50:07):

My teen laughs because when I log into something with my phone, it comes up as Big Red Cell Phone because I’m a natural redhead. It’s a big part of my identity. So, my friends call me Big Red. So, there you go.

Scott Luton (50:18):

1. Love it.

Mary Kate Love (50:19):

I am so happy. I love that so much.

Scott Luton (50:23):

All right. So really quick, Mary Kate, we got to stick some resources in there. We’ve got some follow-up homework for everybody, but great resources here. I got a couple of visuals really quick. We’ve got a couple eBooks we want to share, starting with the first one, NEAT [phonetic] ebook on supply chain synchronization. I love this title, from me to we love that. We’re dropping a link to that in the chat, so you one click away.

Scott Luton (50:45):

And then also this ebook, The Ultimate Guide for Surviving Economic Uncertainty and Supply Chain Disruption. And you know what, I would argue, I bet there’s tips in there for not only surviving but thriving, right —

Christine Barnhart (50:58):

I wouldn’t worry.

Scott Luton (50:59):

— based for this conversation here today. OK. big thanks to everybody here. Mary Kate, I’m going to give you the last word before I wrap. What a heck of a conversation with Christine and Jake. They’re like a world championship wrestling tag team. One-two punch, huh?

Mary Kate Love (51:13):

This was super fun. Super realistic too, which I love, right? I feel like everyone’s going to leave with an understanding of steps they can take right away. And hopefully everyone had as much fun as I had talking to these two.

Scott Luton (51:26):

I know I did. I’m going to have to go back and break up these conversations in digestible pieces. We covered a lot of ground here today. All right. So, big thanks to of course Mary Kate Love and all the folks out there for joining the comments. I got to go back to comments and questions. Thanks so much for being here. Big thanks to our guest, Christine Barnhardt, Chief Marketing and Industry Officer at Nulogy. Thank you, Christine.

Christine Barnhart (51:46):

Thank you.

Scott Luton (51:47):

And Jake Barr, CEO of Blue World Supply Chain Consulting, and the John Wayne of Global Supply Chain. John Wayne and Big Red. Hey, make sure you check out Christine’s great podcast over there. Check out those resources we dropped. Mary Kate, always a pleasure.

Scott Luton (52:02):

And folks, the wrap up is always genuine, right? Very significant. It parallels our conversation here today because you got to take one thing, at least take one thing that Christine and Jake and Mary Kate dropped here today. Put it in action. Your teams are dying for it, right? They won’t help in this environment.

Jake Barr (52:18):

They do.

Scott Luton (52:18):

Deeds not words. Enough lip service leadership. And on that note, on behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton challenging you, do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed, and we’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (52:31):

Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain Now community. Check out all of our programming at supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain Now anywhere you listen to podcasts. And follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain Now.