Back in the ‘old normal’ of two years ago, all a company needed to be strategic about their shipping was a BI solution and a few targeted metrics to focus on. That would carry them through the year. Now, however, everything is constantly in flux – from metrics to performance targets to the network itself.

Nate Endicott is the Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Alliances at RateLinx. They take a consultative approach to helping companies ship, track, and pay better through an emphasis on quality, integrated data. They understand that finding the right combination of carriers is absolutely essential – now more than ever.

In this episode, Nate discusses the major supply chain trends as he sees them with Scott Luton and special guest host Cathy Morrow Roberson, Founder and President of Logistics Trends & Insights:

– Why analytics and diverse partnerships are essential for companies trying to succeed in today’s unpredictable business conditions

– The fact that deploying a huge transportation management system (TMS) probably won’t get you fired, but it won’t address all of your shipping problems either

– Why this is not the time for supply chain practitioners to avoid making decisions – especially if they have access to quality data

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 (00:31):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you are. Scott Luton and special guest, Cathy Morrow Roberson, with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s livestream. Cathy, how are you doing?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (00:43):

Good and great. How you doing?

Scott Luton (00:45):

Doing wonderful. It is so neat to have you back, one of our favorite repeat guests and collaborators. It has been too long, Cathy.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (00:52):

It’s been way too long. What kept you so long?

Scott Luton (00:57):

We’ve accumulated a big inventory of some really neat and intriguing topics to talk all about. Right?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (01:05):

Ya’ll have been super busy. I’ve enjoyed watching all of y’all’s podcast and such. So, thank you.

Scott Luton (01:13):

Well, thank you, Cathy. And, we got plenty to talk about beyond supply chain. The Braves are moving into Game 4 today. We have college football. You know, as if supply chain, global supply chain’s not exciting enough these days, huh?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (01:27):

Tell me about it. But the supply chains with the football, with the baseball and all of that as well.

Scott Luton (01:34):

That is right. All right. So, today, Cathy, you and I are going to be hosting conversation. Really excited to have Nate Endicott join us with RateLinx. We’re going to be talking about how business leaders can optimize their customer experience, CX, all the rage these days, even in these ever increasingly challenging times, and making things more predictable, right? Predictability is a beautiful thing ain’t it, Cathy?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (02:00):

It’s a beautiful thing, especially in today’s environment.

Scott Luton (02:04):

It sure is.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (02:05):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (02:05):

And, folks, you know, boring is maybe predictability on steroids, but that’s really a beautiful thing. I wish we had sometimes more boring supply chains, but a bit of a little shout out there to Chris Barnes. Okay. So, Cathy, we’re also, towards the latter half of today’s conversation, when we’re talking about some research that you’re leading in the reverse logistics space too, right?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (02:29):

That’s right. That’s right. The reverse logistics association has been super busy for a while and we are conducting a very important survey that we hope lots of people, you know, will be willing to contribute to help us.

Scott Luton (02:46):

Yes. Tony Sciarrotta, if he was here, he would say, finally, the reverse logistics industry is getting out of the dark side into where it should be, a seat at the table, you know.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (02:59):

No longer on the dark side, as he likes to describe it.

Scott Luton (03:03):

Our reverse logistics practitioners are jedis now. It’s not Darth Sciarrotta. He is Tony Skywalker perhaps, Cathy.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (03:15):

That’s a good description [inaudible].

Scott Luton (03:17):

So, speaking of, Felecia is with us with RLA, so great to see you, Felecia Przybyla. I hope this finds you well. She’s also a big fan of Cathy. We got Michael J. Darden, Sr. Mike, hopefully this finds you well via LinkedIn. Great to have you here today. So, stay tuned for what’s going to be a wonderful conversation.

Scott Luton (03:39):

So, Cathy, what is, let’s see here, if you had to pick one thing that we’re going to chat about today that perhaps you’re most excited about, just one thing, what do you think that would be?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (03:52):

Oh, my goodness. Thank you for putting me on the spot here. Actually, I have to say, I mean, customer service, the whole customer experience has got to be one of the most important things. It’s always been important. But I think in today’s world, you know, where you have such delays occurring, you got to stay in touch with that customer.

Scott Luton (04:15):

That’s right. I like that. And, keep, not just one finger on the pulse but maybe all four and sometimes a thumb.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (04:21):

Exactly, exactly.

Scott Luton (04:22):

You know, I think that’s where some of the really cool lessons learned from me have been these in these recent years because, you know, supply chain plays a critical role in that customer experience in so many different ways. And, it’s really cool also to see organizational leaders dive in deeper into the discipline that is customer experience. So, we’re going to be talking about how, three ways, when Nate joins us here momentarily, three ways to deliver a predictable customer experience in these ever changing uncertain times. I want to give a little quick shout out. Cory Comer is with us as well. The Dude, Cathy, I think is one of his nicknames. We were talking about – what’s that movie we’re talking about pre-show, The Big Lebowski, right?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (05:10):

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Luton (05:13):

So, Cory, hope this finds you well. And, of course, Libby is with us as well. Libby, great to see you, tuned in via LinkedIn. Thanks so much.

Scott Luton (05:20):

Okay. So, with no further ado, Cathy, are we ready to get things going?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (05:25):

Yes, definitely. I am looking forward to hearing more from Nate.

Scott Luton (05:30):

Do you remember – really quick, ’cause I know we both spent time in South Carolina. There was a kid show, I want to say Joe Pinner in Columbia, does that ring a bell?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (05:42):

Oh, my God, vaguely. Vaguely.

Scott Luton (05:44):

So, when we brought the guests in that he’d had all the kids do this, you know. Let’s get the cartoon reel turning. Yes. So, with that said, I want to bring in Mr. Nate Endicott, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing with RateLinx. Nate, good afternoon. How are you doing?

Nate Endicott (06:03):

[Inaudible] to be here, Scott.

Scott Luton (06:06):

Well, great to have you back. Mr. Knows-It, Cathy. Joe Pinner was Mr. Knows-It, just to finish that thought.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (06:13):

I remember Mr. Knows-It.

Scott Luton (06:14):

And, he had the kids on platforms, Nate, and, like, I think every Saturday morning for a couple hours and then when he’d introduced the cartoons to get all the kids to engage, it was.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (06:24):

Scott, you’re [inaudible].

Scott Luton (06:29):

Wait, we may be old, but we’re all old friends here. And, I’m really excited to have Nate back and Cathy back as we talk about not just customer experience but supply chain and transportation and getting stuff moved and doing it in an efficient, successful way. So, we’re going get to that in a second. But, Cathy and Nate, we’re going to have a little bit of fun, arguable fun, before we get to the heavy lifting. So, did y’all know Nate and Cathy that today is National Savings Day? Do you have any idea when we were talking pre-show?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (07:00):

Tell that to my son.

Scott Luton (07:03):

So, we can all relate with kids, right, and how sometimes, I know I did as a kid, we ignored good advice when it comes to saving. In fact, pre-show I’m like, am I getting my legs broken later, Nate and Cathy? But on the front, before we went live, I said, okay, folks, we’re going to talk about really fun topic, National Savings Day. And, Amanda, my dear wife says, “Oh, not so much fun.” It was not a topic that was fun to her, but that’s okay. That is okay. And, by the way, good morning and good afternoon, Catherine McCleary. Great to see you. Hope this finds you well.

Scott Luton (07:36):

All right. So, let’s talk about, I’m going to ask you all two questions as it relates to National Savings Day. The first one will be more fun and I want you all to tell us and then, Nate, I’m going to start with you. Tell us a piece of advice related to saving money that may be your parents or some relatives or friends, you name it, would try to, you know, bang into your head as a kid.

Nate Endicott (07:58):

Yeah. I mean, growing up in a, I mean, church we’d have little stupid piggy banks that I hated. You’d get something and you’d have to give a tithe and then you’d get to save. But my grandpa probably was the biggest influence just from a business standpoint and a money financial standpoint. When I was a little kid, he’s always preached to me over and over and over again, a 25 bucks, try to put 25 bucks a month away, 25 bucks and a 25 bucks. And then, I was a little later than I wanted to start saving that 25 bucks a month. But I probably could think of a lot more, but those are two quick things that I could think just to saving [inaudible].

Scott Luton (08:38):

I love that. Most of us are probably late to the game when it comes to savings. And, I love that little piggyback you mentioned and church for me, I want to say it was a Lottie Moon Offering and they created little plastic rice bowls and everyone put coins in it and everyone bring those, right, those plastic rice bowls at the church. So, thank you, Nate, for triggering that neat memory. Cathy, same question to you, what did you learn from parents, friends, family, you name it, when it comes to savings?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (09:06):

Oh, my goodness. I think I’m with Nate. My grandparents were really big influencers and my dad. Mom, she saw a dollar bill, she went and spent it. So, she was not that good of an influence on me when it comes to that. But I was always taught to put aside 20%, you know, just flat out, set aside 20%. And, I did, you know, at an early age because I was the one that was a little more conscious of saving. I think I was always called the old soul growing up.

Scott Luton (09:41):

You’re ahead of the curve.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (09:43):

My brother was another one, saw the dollar bill, spent it. So, I always had a shoe box before I had a savings account at a bank and I always dropped dollar bills here and there from babysitting, selling Avon, all the way up to the first real job.

Scott Luton (10:00):

Really? Man. Okay. So, you’re a bit unique when it comes – I was like your mom and your brother. Man, I couldn’t, and that pass would burn a hole in my pockets as a kid. By the way, Azaleah says gold is a piece of advice. Gold, like those commercials. Investing gold, right? And, great to see you as Azaleah. Chuck Johnston’s with us. Hey, Chuck, I hope this finds you well. “Reverse logistics blowing up. Great to see you.” I agree. And, Chuck, we enjoy your time with us not too long ago.

Scott Luton (10:26):

All right. So, we’ve had kind of the fun side of that question, fun to some of us. Nate, I want to talk about, before we get into the center plate item here, what’s a way that you’ve seen organizations save here in recent months whether that relates to time or money or other resources? What’s been a creative thing you’ve seen maybe?

Nate Endicott (10:48):

Yeah. I mean, I think time’s a big thing. I think even though it’s been on their side, it’s also been against them. I mean, think about work from home and everybody has gained efficiency, but at the same time, they’re in their PJ’s and they hadn’t showered all day because they’d been working since they got up till they go to bed. And, you know, in some ways you hear at least from our shippers and then potential customer talk to, they can’t get enough time back. So, it’s like everyone’s take, you got 24 hours in a day. And, we always preach and teach, you know, what are you going to do with it? There’s no excuse to get something done. There’s two times to do something now and right now yet, you know, across the globe, all the supply chains are being in tasked and I think especially now that, you know, supply chain has a seat at the table, everyone’s look to on this side of the table to deliver. So, yeah, time is one way I think they’ve saved, but also it’s not hurt them but how do you take advantage of it?

Scott Luton (11:44):

Right, right. And, talking about seat at the table as Greg likes to mention, you know, it’s great. Supply chain has earned a seat at the table in recent years, but the bad news is you got to do something about it now. You’ve got to deliver now, right?

Nate Endicott (11:55):

Accountability.

Scott Luton (11:56):

That’s right. Accountability. That’s right, Nate. All right. So, Cathy, same question to you. What’s something creative you’ve seen companies out there doing to save here own a National Savings Day?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (12:07):

Well, I mean, I agree with Nate. Nate took my answer to be honest with you. So, the whole work from home for a lot of folks, I mean, that has been a cost savings in terms of real estate, real estate savings from a business perspective. But yet at the same time, we’re all sitting here thinking we need to be working or on call 24/7. And, it’s created that type of friction unfortunately most of the time. I’ve been working from home for about 10 years now but still, and, you know, there’s been some great time saving apps out there if you remember to use them. Some of us don’t remember to use them as far as dollar-wise cost savings from a supply chain. Bless the shippers’ hearts. You know, it’s taken all and then some for them to just get their items shipped in time.

Scott Luton (13:04):

Well said. And, you know, we were on an interview this morning with one of the world’s leading do-it-yourself retailers. And, we were talking about, you know, global supply chain burnout, you know, whether drivers, fulfillment workers, retail workers. You know, we’ve all seen recent stories about some of the unique challenges that our ocean transportation workers have to endure. So, we’ve got a love on our workforce for sure and I appreciate both of y’all touching on that. And, really quick, you know, Cathy, you talked about the working from home. It’s really neat to see employers leaning into that and finding a way to allow that because that gives a lot of folks, you know, that commute time back than they can either get more work done or spend and maybe grab breakfast with their kids or something, you know, a couple of times a week.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (13:51):

I know. What a concept. Yeah.

Scott Luton (13:55):

What a concept. That’s right. All right. So, I want to do this. We love our lists around here, Nate and Cathy, and we’ve kind of built the main part of today’s conversation around a top three list, three ways to deliver a predictable customer experience in truly these uncertain times. So, Nate, we’re going to walk through these. We’re going to step through these and hear some of your thought leadership. And then, Cathy, I’m going get your take on these, and folks, folks in sky boxes in the comments, we’d love to hear your take, whether your response to what Nate is sharing or Cathy’s take, or if you’ve got a top three list, we’d love to hear that too. So, Nate, where are we starting with our top three ways to deliver that predictable customer experience?

Nate Endicott (14:35):

Yeah, I know good stuff. I would say number one is visibility, Scott. And, I think, especially in today’s, you know, whether it’s global retailer or manufacturer, distributor, everybody is focused on not just, you know, where’s my freight, when’s it going to show up, managing dwell time in stock. I mean, there’s a slew of a big, long laundry list of what customers are faced with managing now. But really just visibility as a whole from measuring you can’t – you know, there’s a way you can’t monitor what you don’t measure. You can’t measure what you don’t monitor. I think it’s put a big focus and emphasis around data and analytics of, you know, moving beyond BI, getting the predictive, and then how do you get to prescriptive, where you can have easy to understand actions to take as a retailer, a transportation manager or a supply chain person, or even finance to, you know, not waste time, speaking of time, on something that might save you a quarter of a percent when you could go out and save 15 to 20%, if you had data and technology to go out and execute on.

Nate Endicott (15:46):

But visibility is definitely something that has gotten a big buzz around in the last three to five years. But as we’ve talked with you and Greg in the past and had a fun topic on, the ability to where it’s at is not enough. I mean, that’s just a piece of it, but visibility is definitely number one.

Scott Luton (16:07):

You beat me to the punch. I was about to share a, you’ve got a great quote that we’ve got a lot of feedback [inaudible] and I’ll share that in a minute. But it’s not enough. And, Cathy, I want to bring you back in the conversation. You know, you touched on data and metrics and there’s a lot more to that visibility equation. But I remember when I was in manufacturing and, you know, we’re constantly solving problems, it goes with the territory. The first thing, first step, let’s get all the facts on the table, right. Let’s figure out where things are, you know, all the facts and as simple as that sounds, that’s part of our challenge these days. But, Cathy, when it comes to visibility and somewhat Nate shared there, what some of your thoughts?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (16:45):

Oh, I think Nate is spot on. I really like the being able to understand the actions that’s needed. I mean, particularly now with all the delays and not even knowing who our suppliers are past those tier one suppliers and, you know, with the ships sitting off the [inaudible] on the west coast, as well as the east coast because there are some waiting to enter in Savannah. Yeah, being able to be more proactive versus reactive I think is really important. And, having that real time visibility is so, so important all the way to our front doorstep.

Scott Luton (17:27):

I love that. I love that. And then, of course, as we touched on the front end, on the reverse side and return side, having that visibility coming back the other way, I mean, it’s in demand. It is absolutely in demand. So, to finish this first one, Nate, what you shared a second ago. So, I’ve tracked you down on social media. I love the stuff you dropped there, Nate, and I’m quoting you here. “Let’s face it. Visibility is not enough. Today, companies need to proactively manage changing conditions, network performance, and spend.” So, when it comes to – let’s talk about his last two things as we wrap up the visibility part, network performance and spend, give me your takes on that, Nate.

Nate Endicott (18:10):

Yeah. I mean, I think if you look at, I mean, every customer, potential customer, shipper we talked to on a daily basis and even our customers, you know, today’s day and age is different than, you know the new abnormal is different than what it was two years ago, where you could have some analytics, you might also have some BI and you could actually just get your team in a room and focus on maybe three strategies for the year. And, you know, you maybe go out and you have some cost savings goals, but you don’t have to be too aggressive and you’re measuring your customer experience and you’re measuring, you know, lead times or transit. And, now all of a sudden, it’s daily, you know. Things changed. So, it’s like your metrics are changing. How can you be the first to know, and then deliver, not just in, you know, outside to your customer experience as a customer but also your internal customers that need to know from you.

Nate Endicott (19:06):

But, typically the two initiatives that we find right now that everybody’s after is cost and performance. And so, that’s where it’s on that performance side that network performance and spend side. You know, you no longer can just have a miscellaneous bucket of your accessorials and then waste time to go get them and then find that again you have a detention, you know, finances like, “Hey, why is detention up?” And, you find out that it’s, you know, two-eight of your spend. And, it’s like, why are you focused on that?

Nate Endicott (19:34):

So, you see analytics, spend analytics, breaking everything down. I mean, really everyone’s really wanting total [inaudible] costs, so how do you get to that. And then, on the network side is, again, you can’t just measure track, you know, on the tracking side. For network performance, you know, visibility, it’s the whole thing. Like, how is your network performing? And then, getting scorecarding and supplier scorecarding, carrier scorecarding. Visibility is king. Data is king. He who has it wins and how do you stop having emotional, you know, outbreaks and just [inaudible].

Scott Luton (20:09):

There’s no crying in supply chain, Nate, I think it’s what you’re saying there. There’s no crying. All right. So, I want to say hello to a few folks. Cathy, I’m going to get your final thought here, and we’re going to keep on trucking. I want to say hello, Larry Klein. Great to see you here. Congrats on your new position within supply chain. So, great to see you. Sheeraj is here with us. So, hello Sheeraj, via LinkedIn. And, Patrick, great to have you here as well, also via LinkedIn.

Scott Luton (20:30):

Okay, Cathy, I know there’s only one other person I’ve heard recently say accessorial. I think I said that right. And, that would be Cathy Morrow Roberson. I know you take a deep dive there, but I heard a little story to the day. A fellow entrepreneur that’s in, we’ll call it a printing business, as a major carrier would deliver things to this business and he’d give them a box to take on their way out. He did not know that he was getting dinged for three bucks per box on that. And, it was below surface level. He didn’t know. And, man, when he found out, oh, he was hot. But, Cathy, one final when it comes to, since it came up, those shipping charges, right. A quick, quick commentary there before we move on to number two on Nate’s list.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (21:20):

Big ouch for shippers no matter what mode of transportation or types of transportation shippers are utilizing. I mean, there are so many accessorials or surcharges, if you want to call them that. It’s a way for a lot of the carriers to try to mitigate their costs. And, they’re having to pass on these higher rates and such to their customers. And then, those customers are having to pass them home to their customers who ultimately we end up having, you know, as the consumer having to pay for these. But, yeah, I mean, that continued to go up no matter what. And so, the best way is to mitigate, get to be really chummy with your carrier partners. I mean, partner with them is really what you need to be doing, you know, [inaudible] –

Scott Luton (22:13):

And, it goes back to visibility. You got to know about them, so you can do something about it. Right?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (22:18):

Exactly. Know your options.

Scott Luton (22:20):

Yes, that’s right. Really quick, TSquared going back to our savings. He says, “From the age of 12, it started with, if you have a dollar save a dime and the percentage increase with age.” Nice. Very nice, TSquared.

Scott Luton (22:32):

All right. So, Nate, all right, so the first one in this three list, three ways to deliver a predictable customer experience. Clearly, we’ve spiked the football, maybe a couple of times on visibility. What was number two?

Nate Endicott (22:44):

Two, I think it has to be diversification. You have to be, and that can mean many things as well. But I think, you have to be able to one leverage analytics but also have better partnerships. And, you have to be able to diversify, you know, whether that’s with suppliers, whether that’s with carriers, you know, whether that’s, you know, just internal, you know customers.

Scott Luton (23:09):

You can’t be single sourced anything these days, am I right?

Nate Endicott (23:11):

No. No. Yeah. And, people still get big eyes about, “Hey, I’m single sourced and we have great, great rates.” It’s like, yeah, I bet you do. But I think, you know, just being able to diversify, you know, and the flip side of that is not having so many systems. You know, how do you have a system that can, where you can streamline? You don’t want to have, you know, a ton of systems inside, but as far as the diversification really with carriers and suppliers and be able to have better partnerships, and again, if you have the right data, it makes it easier to diversify and then become, I don’t know, supplier friendly, carrier friendly, and really create a triangular partnership and a trusted partnership around just data and truth. Because a lot of times it’s like, hey, if volumes go down, you know, we always call it with us. You know, you’re able to put a carrier on a diet. So, we call it a freight diet.

Nate Endicott (24:02):

But the carrier actually, in some ways, is Holland better freight that fits them? And, they actually might haul less and make more. They might, you know, haul less and be more profitable. So, again, just data, being able to diversify your carrier mix, using the right carrier fit, and then the supplier side too. Like, you know, a lot of time, nowadays, it’s like, hey, that data’s sitting in front of you so how do you leverage that data [inaudible] diversify.

Scott Luton (24:32):

It’s almost a luxury if it’s sitting in front of you. That’s a great point there, Nate. Cathy, I’m going to share a couple of comments in a minute, but what comes to mind as we hear this diversification in a variety of forms?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (24:43):

I agree. I mean, it’s totally. It is needed across the board. Nate’s right. And, you’re seeing, maybe seeing a trend here, data, being able to analyze that data. Again, it’s all about being proactive and mitigating, you know, to mitigate those risks and such, but carrier diversification. That was something that we were pounding into everybody’s heads last year, you know, from a last mile perspective. It used to be you either would depend on just UPS or just FedEx until the big strike in the ’90s occurred. The lesson learned from there was, “Oh, you need both of them.”

Cathy Morrow Roberson (25:23):

Last year’s big lesson learned was you’d need more than just the UPS and FedEx and the post office. You need more. And then, we also saw a lot of creative solutions coming from retailers and such as that as well, but it goes up string. You know, there are – diversifying suppliers is a big, it’s a hot topic with a lot of retailers now. Nike, for example. So much of their manufacturing is in Vietnam. Well, we all know what’s happened in Vietnam. So, they’re mitigating those. They’re loosening up and expanding their suppliers as well. It’s really important topic.

Scott Luton (26:05):

Excellent point. Creating lots of opportunities and some, you know, work arounds. Come on, face it. We love systems thinking across supply chain, but problem solving requires work arounds at times on a variety of scales.

Scott Luton (26:20):

So, folks, Cory is in the sky box. Cory is a dear friend, The Dude, as we called it, with the RateLinx team. Hey, what are some of y’all’s other challenges in transportation? We’d love for y’all to chime in there. Azaleah, by the way, Nate and Cathy. Recent experiences, she says buying furniture desk, which was, if I understand this right math equations are not my forte, $78 desk, but the shipping or maybe with shipping was 356 bucks. How about that? And, Cory is asking her, “Hey, was the delivery data also next year?” Maybe so. I bet it was a long time to get that desk. And, Larry adds, “Always have a backup.” Diversification, you know redundancy, always having a backup.

Scott Luton (27:06):

Okay. Let’s talk about, so we had visibility number one. We got diversification and a variety of definitions and ways in applications, number two. Nate, what is number three on our top three lists here?

Nate Endicott (27:21):

I say, three is agility and being able to, you know, how do you go do it. How can you have, you know, the insights and the system and/or team? You know, how do you stay lean in today’s day and age? But really how do you become agile and how do you go deliver an agile supply chain? But agility is definitely number three. And, from a system side, you know, I think the flip of this whole thing is what caused a lot of people to streamline is everybody had, you know, if you think about just from a data side, all the data points that you’re going to have, you know ERP, TMS, WMS, LMS, trade management systems, then you have – you know, some people, you know, people in some ways still kind of the old school mindset where you have to have a freight audit provider and then you have a tracking party provider and then you have a data provider and then you have data quality inside. It’s like, how do you streamline all that and become more agile, you know?

Nate Endicott (28:21):

And then, you think about diversification. Like, can you diversify carrier mix? Can you – you know, I was talking to a customer this morning before our call and our time together. And, you know, they have a TMS, a UPS system, a FedEx system. Their IT spends 16 to 32 weeks trying to put in regional carriers. They want to become data-driven. They want to digitize decisions inside, but they’re like, hey, we could become data-driven but be careful what you wish for because we can’t deliver that. And so, that’s where the beauty obviously with RateLinx customers, being able to, you know, have a TMS that can go do that. But having a system that you don’t have to go ask IT, having a system that you can add a, you know, same day or final mile carrier. And, you know, if that TMS system is not connected and it has to be fast, like how do you do it in a day? How do you do it in two days so you can go do that? But you need to be in control as a shipper, data and systems, and there’s nothing that the data should tell you that is an opportunity that you shouldn’t be able to do. And, I think that’s the agile side of being, you know, leveraging agility in your supply chain.

Scott Luton (29:32):

I love that. Cathy, what comes to mind?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (29:35):

Yeah. I’m thinking about last year when COVID resulted in shutting down a lot of retail stores and many of them had to, like, flip on a dime literally and go, you know, they invested quickly into technology so that they could start doing fulfillment and through their stores, as well as through their warehouses, to have the warehouse speak to the store, you know, linked in that middle mile with the last mile, which is so incredibly important. You know, just – you know, the whole – it just really transformed, helped jumpstart that transformation that the retail industry has really needed for so long. And, we see more of the focus being taken away from just that physical store to more of that multichannel perspective. You know, there is a lot more interest in that whole e-commerce part of it and putting them all together to provide the options and they’re using that data that we keep bringing up in our conversation. So, yeah, agility so, so important.

Scott Luton (30:45):

I love it, Cathy. Well put. All right. So, Azaleah’s asking the question and there’s a couple of questions we’re going to try to get in here in today’s hour, but as I think this might help move into, let’s just level set with what RateLinx does. Azaleah says, “Any thoughts on customization of data systems for carriers. What are some best fits tools, best fits tools in the building systems to fit each partner?” So, talking about customization, you know, talking about what works for specific operations that may not work for others, talking about improving the visibility and the ability to make decisions, especially when it comes to transportation, give some thoughts there, Nate, and then let’s make sure we level set on what exactly RateLinx does in a nutshell.

Nate Endicott (31:28):

Yeah. I mean, I think it depends on if you’re a carrier or if you’re a shipper. I think there’s definitely systems out there for, you know, both. Some guys who’ve had a niche where they’re, hey, it’s more carrier focused or it’s more, you know, shipper focused. I think today’s day and age is how you build, you know, whether you’re a carrier, I mean, jeez, you know, you throw people. And, you know, yeah, being a carrier in today’s is just I think just as hard as being a shipper, you know, or maybe harder in some ways. But I think, you know, system-wise, there’s definitely systems out there that, you know, whether it’s analytics and data and visibility, or, you know, inside the four walls that it just, what’s your strategy on what do you, you know, what’s your in-goal, what’s your initiative and, you know, go seek it out.

Scott Luton (32:21):

What does success look like?

Nate Endicott (32:22):

Yeah, I mean [inaudible].

Scott Luton (32:23):

Let’s start with that.

Nate Endicott (32:24):

It’s like, hey, you know, be careful just put in a system. You know, there’s what three things. And, you know, it’s really around diagnosing what is your main problem, developing the right solution, whether that’s internally with your internal stakeholders and the company that you’re potentially going to partner with, and then deploy a solution that you’re going to actually solve the problem with. Like, I think today’s day and age, we talked to more shippers that deployed, you know, big TMS because they had a brand name and they couldn’t get fired for choosing it. And they’re coming back around after spending millions of dollars and still, you know, you haven’t finished or it’s not solving the right problem ’cause they wanted visibility and it’s like, that’s not what a TMS is for. You know, that TMS is [inaudible] planning and execution. So, yeah, you know, diagnose, develop, and then go deploy the right solution. That’s going to give you the right results of what you want.

Scott Luton (33:25):

Yeah. All right. So, Cathy, I want to get you to weigh in here on this notion of customization and sourcing solutions. And then, we’re going to circle back to Nate and make sure we get a good understanding of what RateLinx does. So, Cathy, any thoughts on Azaleah’s question?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (33:40):

I think customization is very much needed and wanted. I mean, every business, shipper, carrier or whomever, has a very unique strategy and these technologies need to address those strategies. I always sit there and tell people that, you know, one business is supply chain is like their social security number. There’s not another one quite like it.

Scott Luton (34:04):

I like that.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (34:05):

And, to be able to customize is very important because, I mean, changes happen so fast. Look at what’s happened over the past couple of years, you know, and thankfully a lot of these systems are cloud-based, which makes it a little easier to customize [inaudible] bit a particular shipper or carrier or whomever’s strategies or requirements and such. So, that’s a very good thing and they’re real time too, which is even better.

Scott Luton (34:38):

I love that. Democratization across supply chain has been a really neat thing. Okay. A couple of quick comments here. Azaleah is talking about the trailer shortages out there. It’s one of the challenges. Chassis. Someone told me on chassis alone, it’s like an eight-year waiting list, eight years.

Nate Endicott (34:57):

Unless you’d [inaudible] someone.

Scott Luton (35:01):

Holy cow.

Nate Endicott (35:02):

[Inaudible] maybe.

Scott Luton (35:03):

It’s unbelievable. Larry says I couldn’t even get a pressure washer delivered from Lowes. How ’bout that? Let’s see here. Rhonda, great to see here. She says, “Time got away from me after some PTO.” Hey, PTO is a good thing. So, Rhonda, hopefully you’re getting lots of PTO out there in beautiful Arizona. And then, I got a couple of questions. I’m going try to circle back on and then we’ll try to get those. But for the time being, Nate, in a nutshell, and it’s tough to do justice in a couple of minutes, but tell us what does RateLinx do.

Nate Endicott (35:31):

Yeah. I mean, we help shippers ship track and pay less for free. You know, do it better, and really in today’s, you know, what shippers are up against. You know, again, how do you leverage data and how do you get beyond BI and reporting and beyond predictive. You know, there’s data out there. When you connect it all together from a control tower standpoint, you can absolutely have insights that are telling you, hey, what are your strategies? You know, how much would it save us if we went to this regional carrier? What if we, you know, looked at pool point? And, what if we, I mean, again, there’s multiple strategies, whether it’s an LTL or truckload or Oceanair, or you got to be able to have the data telling you, so you spend less time looking and going and delivering for the organization.

Nate Endicott (36:20):

So, RateLinx really focuses on helping, you know, shippers leverage data. Most of the time, they use their same TMS, you know. They don’t have to use ours. We can augment. You know, we want them to, you know, really operationalize the data, and if they can use their TMS, they use it. If they need to use pieces of ours to go do it, they do it. We typically, if you’re on the data side, there’s no charge for the TMS. We just go deploy it. I think today’s pricing model is very interesting. For most TMS companies, they’re having to hopefully change their pricing model to help customers. You know, our customers aren’t handcuffed to go execute a strategy. They don’t pay professional service fees. So, if they want to make a change out of carrier, do something, the data tells them to do, they just do it.

Nate Endicott (37:12):

So, really around, you know, ship, track and pay a better, we have TMS. We, also on the track and trace side, one of the top real-time visibility providers, are connecting that data together. And, then we also come alongside on that invoice side to connect the cost side. So, we are one of the top freight and audit pay providers. So, you know, having three to four pieces of your solution, it’s pretty powerful so that they don’t have to go out and I guess hodgepodge a bunch of stuff together and then focus on data quality themselves.

Scott Luton (37:50):

Supply chain Stone Soup. We’ll try to avoid that if we can. Right? But, you know, I love the flexibility I heard there and the agility and also the willingness to play nice in the sandbox. Cathy, you’re nodding your head. What’d you hear there that appeals to you?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (38:08):

I mean, I think the whole collaboration perspective. Working together is critical. And, again, data. Yeah. The ability to analyze that data.

Scott Luton (38:20):

We’re going to touch on that in a second. That’s one of your mantras here and I love that about you, Cathy. There’s a lot of good stuff. We’re going to touch on that in a moment. All right. So, Nate, one last thing about RateLinx. You mentioned the best business a couple of times, but it’s been vetted. Y’all have been adding to your trophy case here lately. Tell us about some of that recognition.

Nate Endicott (38:43):

Yeah, no, I mean, everyone has awards and goes after stuff. I think for us that’s kept us busy and it probably will for a long time as, just Gartner, I mean being in magic water and I can’t tell you a number of deals, you know, that we didn’t get, even though they’ve called back after you don’t get it. Again, you can’t get fired for picking someone in magic quadrant. So, we are in a TMS magic quadrant. We are in the magic quadrant for real-time visibility. We also are one of the top certified providers with FedEx and UPS globally. So, you know, we’re in the Gartner small parcel, multishipping carrier solution, and then also on the freight audit and pay side. So, we’re in four, I think we’re one of the only in that are in four of the market guides and magic quadrants within Gartner.

Scott Luton (39:31):

Yes. And, Nate, let me – I’ll throw this out there because this is my understanding and, folks, I might get this wrong, y’all just reach out to me. But I think RateLinx is the only one in all four and I may have that right. We’ll see. But let me know. But, nonetheless, it has been, you know I love third party validation, right? And, gosh, if you’re going to get third-party validation in Gartners, one of the best in the business to your point. Sheldon says, “Sounds like you guys have decoupled the value eroding activity of searching for transport solutions, resources from the value chain, creating value for customers. Good stuff.” I agree with you, Sheldon. That is some good stuff.

Scott Luton (40:08):

All right. So, I want to switch gears here. We’re kind of we’ve turned into come down the homestretch. Y’all with this us, Cathy, and, Nate, don’t worry, no more hand gestures or anything. I had [inaudible] Mr. Knows-It flashback on the front end here.

Scott Luton (40:22):

But, you know, data, data and visibility, and good resources, incredible resources. These are some big themes of today’s conversations. And, Cathy, that’s one when we’ll switch gears. And, before we touch on the research you’re leading for our friends at RLA, you’ve got something that I just subscribed to that at first glance you talk about some great information, data analysis tip of your fingers, the Substack. What do you call it? What do you call that?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (40:53):

It’s a website, substack.com, which allows folks just to write and it’s free to sign up. I started doing it off and on back in the Spring. It’s a little different than doing a blog post on the website, to be fair here. My website is old and it’s tired looking and I’ve just been too busy to work on it. So, I started writing off of Substack and it’s kind of taken a life on its own. And, I like to focus on rethinking the supply chain because I think we need to seriously rethink supply chains, so I just kind of focus on whatever is of interest to me at the moment. And, for the past few months, it’s been about parcels. Parcel. The whole parcel market is fascinating to me. A lot of changes need to be made in the last mile and we’re seeing them. And so, just kind of highlighting some of that, highlighting some of the pain points of retailers and what they’re doing. You know, how are they addressing the changes in the market and such. That’s fascinating to me. So doing that –

Scott Luton (42:00):

I love that. We’re going to make sure we have a link to that, Cathy –

Cathy Morrow Roberson (42:03):

Oh, thank you.

Scott Luton (42:04):

In today’s note. I was talking – you know, I couldn’t think of earlier, and, sorry folks, it’s the season for head cold and sinus infections. I don’t know about y’all but the changing and temperatures. But I mentioned creep earlier. I meant stalk. So, I stalked Nate on social and Cathy is also a great person to stalk on social. Lots of great content, lots of great content. And, I’m glad you could share that and, hey, for nothing but transparent around here, Cathy, so I appreciate that. All right. So, let’s touch on this research on the reverse logistics side.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (42:35):

Yes. So, we’re working – let me back up.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (42:42):

Yeah, I did a 6 o’clock in the morning interview with ABC Australia this morning. So, I’m a little bit [inaudible] of it, so, yeah. Anyway, so, yes, the reverse logistics association, the only association focused on the reverse logistics market is fantastic and it’s free to join, you know, from an individual perspective. Please go to rla.org to join. We have a lot of webinars on a monthly basis, free to sign up, all kinds of topics on the reverse logistics component.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (43:22):

Yeah. Like, you’ve said, Scott, folks, it’s like the dark side. That’s what Tony calls it. Tony Sciarrotta heads it up. And, we are working on a returns index, trying to figure out to establish how big is this whole returns thing for lack of a better description. And, we need everybody’s help. We have a survey that’s gone out late last week. It’s open. It’s going to be open for a couple of more weeks. Please take it. Please share it with folks. We’re measuring the volume of returns. We’re measuring the cost of returns and we’re going to be doing this on a quarterly basis. We’ll compile the findings into a nice, lovely white paper that we will love to share with everyone and such.

Scott Luton (44:15):

Love it.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (44:15):

So, please. So, yeah, thank you.

Scott Luton (44:19):

Well, I love how you and your efforts there with RLA and our friends, Tony and Felecia, bringing structure to an industry that’s emerging. It’s more important perhaps than ever before in that structure so we can look at it differently and benchmark differently. You name it. So, all your good stuff there, rla.org.

Scott Luton (44:37):

Speaking of great resources, Nate, we’ve got a webinar coming up. It’s going to be scheduled very soon. It’s going to parallel a lot of what you’ve shared here, but it’s going to feature a large shipper with a very diverse product in supplier portfolio, really tackling, enhancing, optimizing, increasing that customer experience, the CX factor, amid these – let’s face it everything’s changing. It seems like by the hour sometimes. The challenge only gets tougher and tougher, but we’re going to learn a lot more. It’s almost like a case study, Nate. I’m really looking forward to that coming up in November. Anything you want to share additionally about the webinar?

Nate Endicott (45:16):

No. I mean, you high-leveled it. And, I mean, it’s with School Specialty. They are keeping our schools and business, which it’s a blessing. And, again, I think it’s one of those things. Everyone always thinks the name brands. Sometimes the name brands don’t actually have as much freight as the other guys. And, you know, think about globally keeping schools in, you know, going. School Specialty is that company, so excited to have you guys meet Andy Houtz. He was in our home office headquarters last week and we [inaudible] some time together. But not just kind of how they’ve gone on their journey of really, you know, how do they leverage visibility. How do they, you know, go out and diversify? How do they become more agile? But, yeah, their whole focus right now is just as most supply chains are, is how do you, you know, put all your focus on enhancing the customer experience and what does that mean from a data side, a technology side, tech stack control tower side to be able to stay lean and mean and go out and improve cost and performance.

Scott Luton (46:16):

I love it. And so, the link for that will be forthcoming. We’ll include that. If you’re listening to the replay of today’s livestream, we’ll have that in the show notes, and looking forward to hosting that with you. And, let’s see, Andy or Andrew from Memphis, the proud of Memphis, Tennessee, Cathy and Nate. And, let’s see, Andy, is it Houtz? Andy Houtz, I believe. Nate, is that right?

Nate Endicott (46:37):

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Luton (46:38):

Okay. All right. And, that answer is never yes. When I say, is that right, it’s never yes. So, I’m setting records here, Nate and Cathy.

Scott Luton (46:47):

All right. I want to share this quick comment from Azaleah. So, again, Cory and others are talking about some of the transportation challenges out there. Let’s see. Azaleah says she has seen an interesting dynamic between new and veteran drivers just talking with them. The vets appreciate the shorter drives and the easy tech to assign loads. New drivers don’t accept these loads without some big bucks. How ’bout that? Interesting, interesting comments, and love having these conversations, learning from each other. That’s the name of the game in these challenging times, right? Learning from each other.

Scott Luton (47:21):

Okay. So, what I want to make sure we do, Cathy and Nate, ’cause I want to make sure folks know how to connect with both of you. But before we do that, I’ll put you on the spot, if I can. I’ll put you on the spot without putting you on the spot. You know, we’ve talked about a wide range of things, a lot of things that’s going on in the industry today, a lot of best practices that business leaders can learn from. I want each of y’all to pick one, pick one thing that has been shared today, whether it’s came from our panel or came from the comments, you name it. What’s one thing that folks don’t need to lose sight of, especially when it comes to global supply chain or you name it, that don’t need to lose sight of from today’s conversation? And, Nate, if I can, I want to start with you.

Nate Endicott (48:09):

Don’t rest and vest, and do something.

Scott Luton (48:14):

I love it. Don’t –

Nate Endicott (48:16):

Or you will be replaced and someone else will get credit for doing it.

Scott Luton (48:20):

Okay. So, you said don’t rest in best, if I heard you right.

Nate Endicott (48:24):

Don’t rest and vest. I mean, so many supply chain practitioners, it’s like, hey, they’re so scared to make decisions. And, now more than ever, you know, someone else in the organization has more data than them. So, it’s like, you know, don’t sit back. The time is now, leverage data, use your technologies, diversify, have better partnerships, you know quitting donuts and sitting in your living room. Let’s get after it, you know.

Scott Luton (48:50):

Oh, I love it. Nate, man. I love it. You never know when you’re going to kind of add a question to a conversation, but that was worth the price of admission. Don’t sit around eating donuts, folks. Your time to act is now. So, Cathy, Nate was leadoff hitter with that one. What else would you – yeah, what’s your one thing there?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (49:10):

Okay. That’s a hard one to follow. But I think one of the comments that was made early on. Have a backup. Have a backup, always, you know, just in case. So, you know, there’ll be questions just in time. I think the whole just-in-case is the new mantra moving forward. But, yeah, backup is–

Scott Luton (49:34):

I’m with you –

Cathy Morrow Roberson (49:34):

Important.

Scott Luton (49:34):

I love that. JIC. What’s the backup solution? Because, you know, problems are going to – it’s like returns are going to happen.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (49:43):

Something’s going happen.

Scott Luton (49:43):

Right. Problems are going to happen.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (49:45):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (49:46):

Azaleah’s big fan of Nate – she’s probably a new member of the Nate Endicott fan club. So, appreciate that Azaleah. She says best thing she’s heard all year.

Scott Luton (49:55):

Okay. Let’s make sure, folks, we can get y’all connected with our listeners so they can learn more and, of course, as I mentioned, they can follow y’all and connect with you on social and then some. So, Nate, let’s start with you. What’s the easiest way to connect with you and the RateLinx team?

Nate Endicott (50:12):

Yeah. LinkedIn, go connect with us. Obviously, they can go to, you know, ratelinx.com and connect. We have a lot of podcasts and stuff that we’re doing there and pushing stuff out, but best way is probably, you know, there. And, I could – my phone number is on LinkedIn. So, if you want to talk, call me.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (50:31):

It won’t be for long after this.

Scott Luton (50:35):

Well, I love that, Nate. Fearless comes to my mind, fearless. But you keep it real, each of your appearances with us, podcasts, livestreams and then some. Looking forward to our webinar next month in November. So, folks, stay tuned for that. We’ll have a link very, very soon.

Scott Luton (50:51):

All right. So, that was Nate Endicott. Cathy, how can folks connect with you and all the cool things you’re up to?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (50:58):

Oh, goodness. I feel like I live on social half the time. I’m on LinkedIn individually, as well as through from my business. I have a LinkedIn company page, Logistics Trends & Insights. I’m also on Twitter. I’m on Twitter a little too much probably, cmroberson06 is my Twitter handle. And, I do like to chat on Twitter. [Inaudible]

Scott Luton (51:26):

We love – hey, if you love global supply chain, folks, if you’re really a big supply chain nerd like at least I am, I won’t point any other fingers, you got to follow Nate and RateLinx and Cathy on Twitter and LinkedIn in particular, those two great places. I promise to you will not – that will be a blessing in your search for good information. I promise you.

Scott Luton (51:47):

Okay. There was one other thing I was going to – oh, I was going to say a big shout out to Cory Comer behind the scenes. He’s in the chat here today. I appreciate his facilitation. Nate, I always want to add, and, Cathy, may be this is another South Carolina reference. I always want to add another art to his last name, Nate, Cromers because of Cromer’s Pnuts. Right?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (52:08):

Yes. Yeah.

Scott Luton (52:09):

The South Carolina – certainly a Columbia legend. So, Cory, no offense, kind of grew up with that R in the name, but Cory Comer.

Nate Endicott (52:20):

I think you should change his name to Dude Cromers.

Scott Luton (52:22):

Dude Cromers. Well, hey, Nate, I’m looking forward to it. Next time we’re going to have you on, we’re got to refresh folks’ memory. We loved your baseball journey and some of your earlier aspects journey. You got to give me a call, and we’re going to fit one more question in. So, the Braves and the Brewers play here in about four hours in Game 4 of the NLDS, what’s your prediction, Nate, fearless prediction?

Nate Endicott (52:50):

Who’s throwing for the Brewers?

Scott Luton (52:53):

You know, I hadn’t seen that yet. I know Charlie Morton’s throwing for the Braves. I’m not sure.

Nate Endicott (52:59):

It’s Game 4.

Scott Luton (53:00):

Game 4.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (53:01):

Does it matter who’s pitching for the [inaudible]?

Nate Endicott (53:03):

Kind of. You can have backups in diversifying, Cathy.

Scott Luton (53:09):

Yes, that’s right. Backup.

Nate Endicott (53:11):

What’s the counting series right now?

Scott Luton (53:14):

So, it’s two games to one. The Braves have an opportunity to close out the series. They have two opportunities at home. Right.

Nate Endicott (53:22):

In its home?

Scott Luton (53:23):

Right.

Nate Endicott (53:24):

I don’t think they want to wait another day. I think that tonight it’s over. The Braves will send Brewers home and sliding down their own slide at home court advantage.

Scott Luton (53:34):

I love that. And, I’m getting a late breaking update. Clay, also known as Diesel here, ’cause his engine’s always running, says Milwaukee’s going to start lefty Eric Lauer. So, I’m not sure. I’ve never, I’m not sure I’ve seen Eric Lauer pitch game, but you heard it here first. Nate’s calling a Braves win in Game 4 of the NLDS. Nate Endicott, always a pleasure. I appreciate your time here today. I appreciate our partnership and love to see what RateLinx has got cooking. We’ll see you soon, really soon, Nate.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (54:05):

Thanks, Cathy. Thanks ,Scott.

Scott Luton (54:07):

Yeah. We’ll talk soon.

Nate Endicott (54:08):

All right, bye.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (54:09):

Thank you.

Scott Luton (54:10):

All right. And, you know, Cathy, Nate, [inaudible] Dude Cromers. Dude Cromers.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (54:17):

Dude Cromers. [Inaudible] he’s saying that he’s been in the peanut gallery.

Scott Luton (54:25):

Oh, and, he’s up, by the way Cory is also a big Giants fan. Giants got a great team. So, we’ll see if they can put the Dodgers away, but –

Cathy Morrow Roberson (54:32):

That’s okay. We still like Cory.

Scott Luton (54:34):

That’s right. Cory and Nate and the whole team. But, hey, Nate, keeps it real, Cathy. That’s one of my favorite parts. He’s been with us probably three or four shows and you’d get a frank and forthright with Nate, huh?

Cathy Morrow Roberson (54:49):

You do, you do, and that’s what makes a great partnership. You know, you want to partner with folks like Nate, you know, because I don’t think he’s going to blow any smoke in your face or anything.

Scott Luton (55:04):

No, he’s not. He’s going to keep it frank and forthright. You’re right, Cathy. Hey, it’s great to reconnect with you. I appreciate as busy as you are. We had to go through Nate’s agent and your agent to get you booked here today, but, you know, I think y’all’s expertise and your journey, there’s so much common ground there. So, I appreciate you jumping on and sharing some of your expertise. And, we’ll have to do it again soon, Cathy.

Cathy Morrow Roberson (55:29):

Yeah. Yeah. I’d love to, and I really appreciate you asking me. Thank you so much. This has been fun.

Scott Luton (55:35):

I had a blast. We’ll have you back. Okay. Folks, hopefully y’all have enjoyed this conversation as much as we have. I’m still stuck on Dude Cromers. It just kind of conjures up an image. Nate, that was a gold, my friend, gold. But, hey, folks, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this conversation as much as I have. Remember the top three lists here today. Visibility, diversification, and agility. And, I love the concrete examples that Nate and Cathy and folks in the sky box has kind of put behind those words we hear a lot today.

Scott Luton (56:07):

If you like the conversation, be sure to check out supplychainnow.com. Be sure to follow Cathy Roberson and connect with her on social, especially on Twitter. If you’re a big Twitter fan like I am, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. So, on behalf of our entire team here, Scott Luton signing off for now. Do good folks, give forward, be the change that’s needed. On that note, we’ll see you back here next time on Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody.

Intro/Outro (56:31):

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.