War, hurricanes, droughts, energy shortages, food shortages, the list goes on. Many are the major challenges facing today’s supply chains. Can understanding the psychology of both supply chains and the modern consumer help organizations ride the wave of economic uncertainty? Join Scott and Greg as they explore the three foundational pillars for building resilience into today’s supply chains with Stephanie Richelieu Stagger, Chief Customer Officer at 3G.

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 are across the world. Scott Luton and Greg White here with you on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s livestream. Greg, how are we doing?

Greg White (00:41):

I am doing well. I have discovered a way to alleviate supply chain backlogs in the port, and that is for a hurricane to approach, so 37 ships all go out to sea at once. Crazy. Right?

Scott Luton (00:55):

It is. And I saw you shared that earlier today, I think, on your supply chain commentary where you were wishing prayers and best wishes to everyone in the southeast, including the first responders and all the army of helpers that’ll be really busy over the next weeks or months, right?

Greg White (01:11):

Yeah. Yeah. No doubt. I mean, of course, Florida’s taken the brunt of it. It’s going to go offshore past Daytona, and then come back and hit right around the mouth of the Savannah River, which is that’s the opening to the Port of Savannah. And that’s about 17 miles from where I am sitting right this moment. So, we’ll see where that happens. Fortunately, I think it’s going to degrade to a tropical storm. It’s looking like it. But, yeah, thoughts and prayers with everybody who’s experiencing it now, yet to experience it. And, of course, as you said, everyone who will help. Or I think about these sailors, they will not escape high seas, but at least the brunt of the storm. And they get back in line.

Scott Luton (01:54):

All of that is the important stuff, for sure. And we’re going to be sharing a couple tips and resources for folks that want to help some of those efforts here in just a moment. But really over the next hour, Greg, we’re going to be talking about thriving in the face of frequent shocks to operations and profitability. Right?

Greg White (02:11):

Pretty timely.

Scott Luton (02:12):

Ain’t it though. Because of the disruption and the crises, they keep coming for global supply chains. We’re going to be hearing from a been there, done that business leader as to the ingredients necessary to grow a sustainable business with requisite resiliency. Try to say that a couple times fast.

Greg White (02:30):

You know, isn’t it great? First of all, I love the word requisite, and isn’t it great that we’re talking about resiliency so much more? I was just thinking about that, just a couple years ago – well, almost three now – cost optimization or minimization was the theme of the day or forecasting. And, now, we’re talking a lot about building resiliency in the face of both of those risks. So, I think that’s fantastic. And others, of course.

Scott Luton (02:56):

Right. I’m with you. The upheaval continues. It’s going to keep on coming. I think today’s conversation —

Greg White (03:02):

It always has, right? It’s just that we needed the shock of the pandemic to realize it. And for we, the cons er, to go, “Hey, we see you, supply chain people.”

Scott Luton (03:14):

Well, today’s conversation is going to be a really practical one, informative, and a bit entertaining, I think. So, stay tuned for a great conversation. We’re going to be bringing our guest on in just a couple of minutes. But in the meantime, Greg, before we get there, let’s say hello to a few folks. Look at here, Memory. It’s been a while. I love that new headshot, Greg.

Greg White (03:33):

Yeah, that is pretty. Is that a green jacket?

Scott Luton (03:36):

I think it looks like a million bucks. And I think she has gained an extra certification or two since her last time with us. She’s got the CPIM, which I remember us celebrating. But the CSSCP, Memory, congratulations. Looking forward to your wonderful perspective you’ll be dropping on today’s livestream. Katherine, “Happy Wednesday everybody.” Big thanks to Katherine, and Amanda, and Chantel, and Clay all helping us out with production behind the scenes. Jonathan Philippi – Philippi, probably —

Greg White (04:08):

Philippi.

Scott Luton (04:09):

Philippi. Thank you.

Greg White (04:09):

I don’t know, that’s the way I would say it.

Scott Luton (04:12):

So, Jonathan, we got your first name right, great to have you back with us. He hails from Louisiana. So, great to see here via LinkedIn. Matthew DeSoto from Southern Oregon. Ever been up that way, Greg?

Greg White (04:23):

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I worked for an auto parts chain that had a ton of stores in the Northwest.

Scott Luton (04:30):

Okay. Well, Matthew, welcome.

Greg White (04:31):

Ducks.

Scott Luton (04:32):

Go, Ducks.

Greg White (04:33):

That was the name the chain.

Scott Luton (04:36):

Okay. I thought you were giving a plugin for the Oregon Ducks, maybe, I don’t know. But regardless, Matthew, hey, welcome. Looking forward to your perspective here. Thomas is tuned in via LinkedIn. He says, “Hey, everybody. Looking to connect with professionals and experts in the field, specifically looking at demand forecasting and risk management in supply chains. He’s in a good spot.

Greg White (04:57):

We’re going to a little bit about that now and a little bit about that in a couple future episodes, so stay with us, Thomas.

Scott Luton (05:03):

That’s right. Great to have you, Thomas. Look forward to your perspective. Rohit is with us here today via LinkedIn. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. Gene Pledger – hey, Gene. Hope this finds you well there in Northern Alabama. He says, “Fort Myers and Sanibel are getting blasted,” and we were touching on that earlier. There’s going to be a lot of work that we’re all going to have to chip in and throw resources at and help folks out. So, Gene, thanks so much. Great to have you here. Sofia – Sofia is back – “Good morning, Supply Chain Now community,” she says. Great to see you here, Sofia. And Jonathan did confirm, Greg, you said it right, Philippi. Is that what you said?

Greg White (05:40):

Yeah. You know, I believe I knew somebody with that last name in high school or college.

Scott Luton (05:46):

It all runs together, right?

Greg White (05:47):

In front of historical knowledge, let’s call it.

Scott Luton (05:52):

Well, Jonathan, thank you so much. Great to have you. Look forward to your perspective. Hey, Rain Carpenter is here. Rain, great to see you. We are as excited about this as well. Looking forward to your perspective. Memory brings up something here, Greg. We’ve heard a lot about this from our friend Jenny Froome and plenty of others. Memory says she’s living in the reality of energy crisis, load shedding for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in South Africa. We’ve heard a lot about that. So, hey, Memory, you persevered through and so great to have you back here for the first time in a while. Okay. So, Greg, we got a great topic. Are we ready to bring on our wonderful guest speaker? I know we couldn’t hit everybody. Y’all keep the comments coming, we’d look forward to sharing your observations at several points throughout the conversation.

Greg White (06:36):

And you’re going to get plenty to comment on and ask about in this conversation.

Scott Luton (06:40):

Very true, Greg. Very true. So, I’ve got one question for you, though, are you buckled up and ready to go, Greg?

Greg White (06:47):

I am buckled up and batten down. Yes.

Scott Luton (06:50):

All right. Well, good deal. With no further ado, I want to welcome in Stephanie Richelieu Stagger, Chief Customer Officer with 3G. Stephanie, good afternoon. How are you doing?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (07:03):

I’m doing well. How are you all?

Scott Luton (07:05):

Now, Greg, did you catch that? As I identified what time of day it was, Steph appeared to do what I always do, looking in that right hand corner of the computer screen and check the time. Did you just do that, Steph?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (07:17):

I did. I did the look and I teed you up to make sure you knew it was afternoon here.

Scott Luton (07:24):

That is right. Thank you so much. Well, hey, all kidding aside, great to have you. I’m really looking forward to the conversation. We’ve enjoyed the pre-show conversations. And, hey, a good supply chain conversation is always timely. But, Greg, as you alluded to, right now, it’s maybe extra timely, right?

Greg White (07:42):

Yeah, no doubt. I mean, we’re going to learn a lot about resilience over the course of the next few weeks.

Scott Luton (07:47):

That’s right. So, let’s talk about that for starters. We’re going to get into a real practical conversation here in a minute. But it is also timely, National Good Neighbor Day. And, you know, we were chatting about this yesterday, Greg, with Jeff, and we want to pose the same question to Steph to here today. So, Steph, you know, we’re big fans of the do good movement out there, really practical ways of doing good. So, when you think of nonprofits or great initiatives, philanthropies, you name it, what’s one of your favorites out there?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (08:18):

Top one for me is Feeding America, feedingamerica.org. They are, you know, food and security. It’s not as well publicized. Sometimes in the U.S. it has been during the pandemic. But Feeding America, it supports over 200 food banks, feeds over 46 million people. It’s a huge problem in the U.S. People aren’t aware of it. And it will become more problematic as you get these epicenters of activity as well, food and security is going to continue to grow. So, this is something that’s near and dear, something that we support as a company as well, by the way, and something individually that we’ve maintained. It’s really good.

Scott Luton (08:54):

Love that. And the team has shared the link here, if y’all want to check out feedingamerica.org. I really appreciate you sharing that, Steph. Greg, I know one of those that we’re all fans of, we’re talking pre-show, is the American – let’s see here, ALAN —

Greg White (09:09):

Logistics Aid Network.

Scott Luton (09:10):

Thank you very much. Sometimes I get my acronyms wrong. But the American Logistics Aid Network, y’all check that out at alanaid.org. In a nutshell – and, Greg, I’d love for you to check me here – one of the great things that they do – Kathy Fulton’s been with us here before – Steph and Greg, is they help companies leverage their supply chain wherewithal to get the resources and the recovery efforts where they need to be through a variety of natural disasters, including the work being done with Hurricane Ian. So, Greg, one of our favorites, right?

Greg White (09:41):

Yeah. I mean, really, incredibly timely, right? Along with actual neighbors just doing good for one another, which we know we’re going to see. I mean, even just here with the locals, they’re helping people prepare, decide whether to go or stay, like I said, buckling up and battening down, and hoarding water.

Scott Luton (10:01):

So true. One last note here – thank you, Greg and Steph, for both sharing – my dad went down with the South Carolina National Guard when Hugo ravaged the Charleston and really lots of the South Carolina coast. And he spoke exactly what you’re talking about, Greg. I still remember him telling this one story, he is working a tractor and clearing massive trees and stuff. And the folks down there were just bringing whatever food they had trying to reward the folks helping them. He was talking about shrimp cocktails. They had it on hand and they were just trying to, you know, give to those that were given to them. I mean, we needed more of that in society.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (10:37):

Absolutely.

Greg White (10:37):

Agreed. You know, it seems to happen in real times in need. I think that’s the important thing, right? It’s easy to forget about those in need as you go through the day. That’s why we love the give forward philosophy, but it’s hard to do that all the time. But you can count on a huge group of people, an amazingly large group of people whenever there’s a crisis.

Scott Luton (10:57):

That’s right. Okay. Well, I appreciate both of y’all on the frontend here of level setting in many ways. We want to kind of pivot where we are level setting next and kind of focus more on supply chain industry, because global supply chain continues on regardless of what is in the news headlines or what’s going on. And I want to start there with you, Steph. When you’re surveying global supply chain right now, what are some of the things that business leaders are telling you about? What are some things you’re seeing? What are some of your observations there?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (11:27):

Yeah. I mean, look, it’s not going to be news to most people because you’re experiencing it. We’re all experiencing it on a daily basis, right? We turn on the news, we have war, we have hurricanes, we’ve got weather events, we have drought that are causing main waterways to be shutdown to traffic or to have lighter loads. Those have a ripple effect. Everything that you can imagine from shortages that are coming in with the supplies when we had the baby food crisis, right? All of this is still in play. It’s still ongoing. We see it in every way.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (12:03):

And you see it in smaller components as well, something that’s happening at a very local level is still a disruption to that local, smaller business. And those are the things that we’re seeing. And what we’re hearing from the companies that we operate with is, “Look, we want to figure it out, but at the end of the day, a lot of the things are an economic question.” And part of the conversation we’ll have today is where does psychology and economics kind of balance out sometimes.

Scott Luton (12:27):

Oh, I love that. Greg, your thoughts?

Greg White (12:29):

Yeah. Well, I mean, economics is as much art as science, frankly more. And a lot of that is understanding the psychology of motivation of the consumer, which really drives the economy. And then, how that will impact things like demand and supply and availability and timing. So, it’s an important aspect of it. It’s something, honestly, we need to take a bigger look at and that will help make supply chains more resilient.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (12:56):

And look at all the forecasting models, a lot of things you kind of have to throw out the window in some respects. The job has gotten really, really difficult for folks because you get this spike. Obviously during the pandemic, we know face masks, other things like that. And then, tomorrow, we don’t need as many. How do I manage that? I’ve got this massive spike and then poof. Absence of need. Now what? How do we deal?

Greg White (13:21):

Sort of like the great toilet paper shortage of 2020. People didn’t need more toilet paper. They just felt like they would need it for a longer period of time, so they bought greater time supply and then the demand dipped.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (13:33):

That’s right.

Scott Luton (13:33):

Steph was talking about the intersection of psychology and economics, I think it was, that’s a great example of that. I think one other thing, when we’re really looking in these times, as, Steph, you alluded, you name it, war, weather events, all sorts of tragic sets of circumstances, whether it disappears from the headlines or not. And, Greg, you alluded just on the frontend a great thing, a silver lining here is that industry has learned so much and it’s already applying it and we’re changing how business has been done so many different ways for some longstanding reasons and for some new reasons. So, I appreciate you sharing, both of y’all, some of the observations out there that you’re seeing.

Scott Luton (14:16):

Before we move on, Steph, anything else you want to add? I know you got your finger on the pulse. Anything else? Did we miss anything as we’re level setting observations before we move into one of my favorite recent checklists?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (14:26):

No. I think it’s good because we’ll cover and we will give some examples along the way in the conversation.

Scott Luton (14:32):

I agree with that. And by the way, great to see you here, Gaurav. Great to have you back via LinkedIn. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. Dr. Rhonda is talking about another nonprofit initiative, Rowan University, so y’all check that out. And then, finally, Sofia, “And yet again, supply chain is related to everything. Stay tuned for new jobs and psychologists in this field.” That’s an excellent point, Sofia.

Scott Luton (14:56):

Okay. So, let’s give folks a sneak peek. So, what we’re doing, the main thrust of our conversation, Greg and Steph, here today is we want to talk about how organizations can grow a sustainable, resilient business in this current challenging landscape. And so, Steph, let’s give folks a sneak peek of kind of the three items that make up that checklist, what you’re going to be speaking to here. And that is, expect disruption, educate and collaborate, and empower agility, right?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (15:25):

That’s right.

Scott Luton (15:26):

Okay. So, with that said, let’s dive into this first bucket of expect disruption. Tell us more about that.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (15:32):

Exactly what we just talked about today, expect disruption. You’re going to have something that’s going to happen. It may be something that has global worldwide press. It might be something that’s happening at a local level that has massive impact. If any of you remember, I think the name of the company is the Renesas, the Japanese semiconductor company, had a fire. It’s one-third of the semiconductor, the chip manufacturing of all vehicles. One-third of all vehicles were sourced from that location. So, you have a localized fire that has a massive ripple effect on one-third of the cars. That’s extraordinary, right? These types of things are going to happen and they’re not all things that are within our control.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (16:15):

So, one of the objectives when we’re looking at talking about expecting disruption is, I need to understand and accept that disruption is going to happen. But I also need to understand that I can do something about it. But it is an economic and a psychological question of, What is my risk tolerance? Where are the main points within my supply chain, within my business that are the most vulnerable? What do I feel I have to protect? And if I’m a small business with not a lot of dollars behind me, how do I make those decisions? Those are things that take pre-work and constant work. This isn’t a one off event. So, that’s really what in the category of expecting disruption at a high level as we – yeah. Go ahead. I’m sorry.

Scott Luton (17:00):

Well, I was going to get Greg to weigh in when he’s here. But I want to give you a chance, Steph, to finish your point. What else?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (17:06):

I think it’s understanding that there’s things that are internal and external. We focus the frontend of this conversation today, really, on kind of the external things, things that are happening to us from outside that we’re having to react to as best we can. And that’s going to fall into proactive planning to react more efficiently. But there’s also things that are internal to the organization. And part of it is that psychology of accepting risk, of understanding it, knowing where I’m going to be. And it’s also understanding the processes and controls within the organization. Do I have processes? Do I have communication gaps? Do I have plan gaps in how I run my business that will amplify a challenge or help de-amplify the result of that challenge? Those are things that fall under this category and are important that you have in the full scope of what you’re looking at.

Scott Luton (18:01):

All right. Greg, we’re getting a fast start right outta the gate with this expect disruption. Your thoughts on what Steph just shared?

Greg White (18:08):

It’s the foundational tenant of supply chain, right? I mean, the very first thing I was taught – I know this is not exactly the most uplifting message – was assume everyone will fail you. And build a provision for that. The consumers will do something or your customers will do something that disrupts your demand plan or a carrier will fail to deliver. Or we’ve talked about even some really funny things, we sold auto parts, our trucks would disappear to Mexico, and we’d find the stuff being sold in the desert. Or drivers might go on a substance binge. So, anything could happen. And we’ve seen that both internally and externally.

Greg White (18:50):

When we talked about drivers so much, I think about how many times a driver shows up with an appointment and still the distribution center isn’t ready. Or it takes too long to get the goods put away so you can’t ship them when orders come in. There’s all kinds of internal and external things that can happen. I think the key to expecting disruption is to expect the outcome of the disruption. Not trying to decide whether the linebacker or the cornerback is going to blitz, but what do you do when a blitz occurs. When it comes from the left, it doesn’t matter if it’s a linebacker or cornerback. I’m sorry, football season stuff.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (19:28):

Die hard Pats fan. Sorry.

Scott Luton (19:30):

Man. You got a big trophy case then, Steph.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (19:33):

Yeah. It’s going to be a little bit light for a bit, but we’ll get back.

Scott Luton (19:37):

Yeah. Definitely.

Greg White (19:37):

I’m hoping that it’s going to be for a good bit and that those go off to the Chiefs trophy case. Anyway, I think you have to understand that sometimes – and as we talk more and more about resilience and expecting disruption – we’re so focused on what the disruption is, that’s important, but it’s not as important as what is the effect. The effect is, you need to get out of the pocket, roll out, and hit the receiver on the run. So, I think that’s the important thing and just a slight distinction that we need to think about as we talk about some of this agility and resilience that we’re going to talk about later.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (20:12):

Yeah. Agreed.

Scott Luton (20:13):

Excellent point, Steph and Greg. I want to add one little quick about this expect disruption. We got three items on our checklist today, expect disruption is the first one. I think one of the things is attacking that blind spot. You know, I use this as an example not to pick on anybody because I bet they knew, but as a consumer, because we’re all consumer, I had no idea that Ukraine was the number one producer of, I think, it’s sunflower oil, which is a key ingredient in baby formula.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (20:41):

That’s right.

Scott Luton (20:42):

Now, I bet those procurement pros and supply chain pros knew that. It wasn’t on my radar. And I think when it comes to expecting disruption, the more that business leaders and supply chain pros can really chip away, there’s always going to be some sliver or blind spot, right? But the more they can minimize that, they’ll be in better position to hit the curve balls that, as we all talked about, are inevitably going to continue to come at them. Steph, does that resonate with you?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (21:12):

Absolutely. And truthfully, Scott, it’s a perfect tee up to that second pillar – I couldn’t have done it better – which is really the educate and collaborate, because it’s exactly that. We’re not going to get them all. But one of the ways to give ourselves the greatest amount of wherewithal is to be very open and very transparent in understanding where disruption might come from. But to your point, Greg, what could we do about it? Well, the first thing we need to do is actually know who the heck we do business with. Who are they? Where are they getting their supplies? Where are they located? Do they have back backup plans? Do I have some options from an internal perspective? Am I aligned? Does my production design group understand that if they’re getting super creative and having a great time and every part is unique, I have a really hard time downstream of creating something that is going to be resilient because I’m very dependent on one offs or things of that nature?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (22:08):

So, education and collaboration is that next piece. Identify the best I can where those blind spots might be, what are going to be the most important things, and then work and talk and meet and collaborate and be transparent with all of your partners downstream, upstream, and internally. Hypercritical.

Scott Luton (22:30):

All right, Greg. I know she’s talking our land. See, I told you Steph is just kindred spirits. She fits right in with these conversations we’re having anyway. Greg, what are some of your thoughts there?

Greg White (22:40):

I think education is critical and it really starts with supply chain education. So, the expect disruption is the inverse of the foundational education of supply chain professionals today. We constantly use this term when we’re talking about forecasting or we’re talking about scenario planning, and we do this, we use this term – which I hate – and that is, all other things being equal. We need to strike that from any discussion in supply chain because all other things are never equal. All other things being equal is what makes the beer game work. And the beer game is foundationally how many people are taught supply chain. It is fundamentally flawed. The beer game doesn’t work and it doesn’t teach you about the way the supply chain works today.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (23:25):

But it’s fun to play over a beer.

Greg White (23:29):

It is a lot of fun to play. It really is. And I really thought I was learning something when I was, you know, doing it, and we may or may not have played it once or twice with a beer. But I think key is getting that education right and identifying things that we need to change in how we educate people. And doing that education also in the workforce, of course, as Steph was talking about. But educate not just your people, but educate all of your trading partners and gain education from those trading partners. Because for too long, the supply chain has been about pointing fingers at everyone else, mostly because we don’t understand the dynamics that even we place on our trading partners that causes them disruption. So, we need to educate ourselves on that.

Greg White (24:16):

I’ve seen many organizations, we talked with Henry Schein, they’re very good about keeping open and transparent communication and collaboration with their trading partners. And there’s no finger pointing. It’s, “We didn’t mean to do that to you.” So, yeah, I think that’s obviously a critical aspect of it. And I got to tell you, Steph, as long as you’re out there, I feel like people are going to be getting educated.

Scott Luton (24:42):

Agreed.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (24:43):

I think there’s no plan that anybody can put together that sitting by themselves in an office is going to get done correctly. It’s not going to work. If we’re not communicating, if we think we have some secret sauce that we’re not willing to share with somebody, then good luck, because it’s not going to work.

Scott Luton (25:01):

Good luck with that. Going back, Greg, you mentioned Henry Schein, I think 18 to 20 acquisitions per year, as I recall from that interview we had.

Greg White (25:11):

[Inaudible] while I was working with them in over about three years.

Scott Luton (25:16):

So, think about the true resiliency from an operational supply chain leadership standpoint to be able to wire all that together for the good of the enterprise. I want to share a couple quick comments here. First off, Sofia, “Amen. Steph,” she says. She also says, “Assumptions are dangerous especially when generalizing.” Excellent point. Excellent point.

Greg White (25:39):

I love it. Yes.

Scott Luton (25:39):

Memory says, “It’s important to analyze the role of value chain partners and continually review strategies to align with dynamics within the environment and internally.” You got the alignment, bad things happen, for sure.

Greg White (25:53):

You know, the butterfly effect is the perfect description for supply chain. It could be something very small, it could be a 10 cent part. We’ve been having this discussion about Ford and their supply chain woes, and I think it was Scott Justin or Dustin, anyway, another Scott, Scott, who asked the poignant question how many parts does it take to build an F-150. All of them. Including the blue oval, right?

Scott Luton (26:26):

Yes, the blue oval. And one little thing just for you, Greg, is Matthew DeSoto says, “Go Chiefs.” So, it looks like y’all got some fellow Chiefs fans. And by the way, Steph, given that you’re a big Pats fan, can y’all share some of that super sauce with our Atlanta Falcons team? I tell you what, it has been such –

Greg White (26:45):

They did.

Scott Luton (26:46):

Up close in personal.

Greg White (26:47):

Yeah. But the Falcons didn’t ingest it.

Scott Luton (26:50):

We’ll never go back to that game. In fact, I can’t even speak it. It’s too painful.

Greg White (26:52):

Too soon. Yeah.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (26:55):

You show and show and show, but if you’re not willing to receive, tsk.

Scott Luton (26:59):

That’s right, Steph. That’s right. Okay. So, we’re working our way through this three item checklist for the sake of this conversation of how to really grow resiliency so that you can expand successfully in light of this ever challenging such environment we’re all in. So, the first one was expect disruption. The second item was educate and collaborate. And thirdly is what, Steph?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (27:25):

Empower agility. And it’s a more buzzy statement or whatever words that really mean. Well, it builds off the other two. Empowering agility can be an incredibly expensive proposition if you think you have to be able to react, pivot, take advantage of every potential scenario that’s ever existed or been known to man. So, it’s not the legal perspective of do I have a way to manage every potential risk no matter how far fetched it might be. It’s, okay, what’s the real risk that I have or the real opportunity? Because agility isn’t just about resilience. They’re not just about being reactive. They’re also about being able to be proactive to new opportunities to move forward. So, it’s taking a look and saying, do I have a narrowed view that is both economically feasible for me to support. Is it something from a program perspective – because it is a program to continue to build on this – that I can continue to garner support. It’s easy to garner support for supply chain related challenges in a period of crisis.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (28:37):

And then, this is the psychology, human nature kicks in, time passes, life’s feeling pretty good. You supply chain folks, we’re back in cost mode. We’re in this. We’re in that. Whereas right now, the message might be no matter what, get it done, figure it out, let’s figure it out, then tomorrow it goes in. So, you don’t want that whiplash. You need something that’s going to be able to sustain. So, when we’re talking about empowering agility, it’s not just the concrete actions of what playbooks do I need to have on hand, how do I bring more digitization in, more automation and tooling into my structure, how do I ensure that I have shared knowledge. But it’s also that entire network play internally and externally. How do I maintain this? Am I going to run into cost obstacles? Is this a full time job? Do I have the wherewithal? How do I make it scale? That’s really what’s going to be required for us to truly, as individual organizations, empower ourselves. Do I empower you, Scott, to go out and do the stuff? If I don’t empower the individuals that are on the front line, it’s a fail point.

Scott Luton (29:48):

So, empowering agility in really a greater sense is what I’m picking up from Steph. Greg, your thoughts there on that third one?

Greg White (29:55):

I mean, long ignored agility, right? I mean, we focus so much, to Steph’s point, on cost and so much on forecasting, trying to predict the future that we, in many cases, ignored responsiveness, and preemptiveness, and opportunism. I mean, that’s the truth. You know, there are companies who make 100 percent of their profit by hedging inventory. And the wine and spirits industry and in the food service industry, they have to forward buy inventory ahead of what they know is a coming price increase in order to make any profit. So, there are companies who accomplish both, think about that. They increase their inventory to make a profit.

Greg White (30:38):

So, I think the other thing that you have to recognize about agility is that it’s not a zero sum game. If you are increasing your inventory and you do it the right way – and I think digitization technology is one of the best ways to help us assess that – then you can make more money by doing that than if you don’t. The other is, I think we have to acknowledge recovery as an agility. Visions of Tom Brady just keeps coming into my head now that you say that you’ve mentioned you’re a Patriots fan. But, you know, think about those times you nearly got knocked down and still managed to recover and hit Randy Moss deep behind the corner.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (31:18):

Discouraged you, didn’t it?

Greg White (31:20):

It startled all of us, Steph. It really has startled the entire NFL, yes. But those are admirable things, of course, right? But I think these are the kind of things that we have to think about because what we’ve tried to do is be so perfect in front of blind spots, or ahead of blind spots, or ahead of disruptions and things like that. And I think that’s why you go right back to expect disruption. If you expect disruption, you not only build resilience, but agility that enables that resilience whether your first response is correct or even wrong, or whether the disruption is so dramatic that all you can do is recover for now. Just get back on your feet.

Greg White (32:05):

You know, we talked early even before Steph came on, Scott, that I’m glad we’re talking about this because for so long we have ignored it and it got us what it got us in the pandemic. Things like – I’m not going to say lien – the misuse of lien, and the misinterpretation of lien principles got us to where there was no backstop. So, we have to recognize that that part of optimizing a supply chain is expecting and accounting for and provisioning for those disruptions.

Scott Luton (32:38):

Excellent point. And speaking directly to lien, a lot of things have been put under lien banner that had nothing to do with that methodology.

Greg White (32:45):

Yeah. You know that better any of us, right?

Scott Luton (32:46):

True. But it’s a lot of good stuff, Greg. Steph, I want to give you a chance to respond to some of the things that Greg just shared there, and then I’m going to hit some of comments we’ve gotten here. Anything else to add there, Steph, as we talk about this empower agility?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (32:58):

[Inaudible], because I think you struck a thought for me in talking about the education system and around supply chain. One of the ways that we’ll be able to propagate better practices – and we’ve talked a little bit about the information within supply chain being valuable, et cetera – I don’t know anymore, I’m a little bit disconnected from the education side, but do we teach supply chain professionals through the education on how to interact within their organization and their colleagues of making sure that they know how to bring forth the importance of the issues, the supply chain, how not to be the person who cries wolf, but the person who we need to listen to, more of the EF Hutton versus [inaudible].

Greg White (33:44):

Right. Yeah.

Scott Luton (33:45):

What a great question. And, Greg, you go ahead.

Greg White (33:49):

I think that that is sorely lacking. I can’t say that it’s completely absent, Steph, but I think it is sorely lacking because supply chain has long been treated as something so technical and scientific, and also brute force. We think of, you know, what you guys do in the transportation area as brute force and there is so much science that needs to be applied. But I think those kind of skills depend on how the supply chain practices is constructed.

Greg White (34:19):

For instance, my alma mater, Wichita State, it is a combined effort between the business school and the engineering school, so it’s both very technical and you can take an imbalance track. You can take more of a technical track or more of a business track, and I think we need to consider that more. We need to consider that at other universities. Because even at the greats, Michigan State, MIT, and Stanford, it is largely a scientific exercise. But you’re right, we need to make sure we inculcate all of those business gifts that everyone else in the organization has because companies are driven by their supply chain. To harken back to Henry Schein, I saw their supply chain organization by virtue of creating the culture you just described, project that out into other parts of the enterprise that had a little bit of a chicken little kind of [inaudible].

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (35:13):

Yeah. I’ll give you the two seconds for my own and for the shoutout to the supply chain professionals, you have more data that impacts the business within the supply chain organization than any other group within your company. You hold a lot of power and wealth within that data that can help the other groups and enforce collaboration at a different level than it’s ever been.

Greg White (35:39):

You know, you reminded me of a company – talk about a sleeper – Mills Fleet Farm, based in Appleton, Wisconsin. They had rooms where the merchandisers would negotiate with the suppliers and they literally locked them in a room and they can manipulate the temperature also – not a bad tactic. But what they learned was that – what they called – logistics supply chain people could deliver a lot of value in those conversations so that a merchant didn’t say, “Yeah. We’ll buy container loads,” when the data, as you talk about, Steph, that the supply chain team had said – that’s a terrible thing to say – let’s buy half containers or buy by the pallet because that’s way too much inventory for the volume that they’re going to produce or whatever. So, you’re right, and I’ve seen that be really, really effective as long ago as more than two decades, Scott. So, yeah, that is an absolute truth.

Scott Luton (36:37):

So, let me get back to the question, Stephanie, we’ve got a series here at Supply Chain Now we call the Now Generation, where we’re interviewing some of the leading supply chain schools, including Arkansas, which Gartner’s placed on the top the list. My alma mater, South Carolina, is number three on their list of best supply chain universities. And it is amazing, to your point, how they’re training the now generation of supply chain practitioners. Some of the things that these students are doing before they even graduate. But I’m adding communication and kind of some of those other attributes to our next interview with the leaders of the South Carolina Supply Chain University Program, and we’ll find out directly from those incredible, brilliant folks.

Greg White (37:21):

I love that idea.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (37:23):

Yeah. The voice of supply chain in the organization, where does it come in. Yeah. That’s great.

Scott Luton (37:28):

All right. So, let me do this, I’ll share a couple quick comments and then we’re going to find out a lot more about 3G and also going to dive into some resources that you and the team brought here today. I want to hit Dr. Rhonda is talking about trauma with Greg, you know, going back to the NFL conversations. Hey, yes, definitely. But she also says, “We can get comfy and not be mindful of how we are operating and lack assisting or evaluating our processes and behaviors. It can be costly in so many different ways.”

Greg White (37:55):

Can I address that just real quick? Another great leader that I met in my travels used to ask the question, “When something went wrong, why did it go wrong?” That’s really common.

Scott Luton (38:08):

Not who or what, but why.

Greg White (38:10):

What he also asked was, “When something went right, why did it go right?” And you had to have, to your point, Steph, an equally defensible position as to why it went right. And that consciousness of what makes things go right rather than just riding the wave, like we do in the stock market so often or these silly people who buy crypto, knowing what makes something work and what made it work in that scenario is really, really critical to being able to repeat it. And I think that is something, Scott, as you’re talking to The Now Generation, impart that wisdom to them, be able to answer the question what went right.

Scott Luton (38:48):

I appreciate that, Greg and Steph. And, hey, they’re imparting a lot of wisdom on us. It’s amazing what these folks are doing. But, Steph, I appreciate that question. It’s a great question that we should all be thinking about as practitioners as we’re sitting in seats with positions that are molding where the industry is going, right? And, of course, talent drives that.

Scott Luton (39:07):

Speaking of Wichita, Mohib is back with us. Enjoyed a great air show at McConnell Air Force Base, where I used to serve. So, Mohib, we’ve missed you. Hope this finds you well. And, finally, Thomas. So, Thomas, to your first question, which he says, “How are supply chain independent companies planning resiliency in their organizations?” I really think that Steph and Greg have addressed that a lot with this through item checklist in a bigger sense. But maybe we’ll touch on tools here in a minute. Thomas is asking about tools for forecasting and stuff.

Greg White (39:35):

Is there anything in that question that just jumps out at you immediately?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (39:39):

I think some of the things depend on supply chain. There’s a lot of movement. It’s a much bigger topic. We’re not going to be able to cover today. But the discussions, no matter where your central point is, whether it’s the U.S. or Germany, it doesn’t matter. It’s where your house is. Nearshoring, reshoring activities, those are areas that are being explored greatly. The tools around forecasting, obviously, it’s data digitization, et cetera. But there’s some bigger macro type of decisions that companies are needing to look at and make that are going to, I think, again, put the supply chain folks in the middle of the conversation.

Scott Luton (40:14):

Wonderful. Where [inaudible] should be.

Greg White (40:16):

I don’t why I knew she had a thought there. You could just see it.

Scott Luton (40:22):

We need to book a second hour.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (40:23):

[Inaudible].

Scott Luton (40:26):

And, yes, Seham, the University of Arkansas, we sat down with them probably about three or four months ago. They’re doing some really cool things there. Great to see you here today as well. All right. So, we’re trying to get to many comments, Steph and Greg. Steph, let’s dive into what 3G is doing. In a nutshell, what are some of the cool things that y’all do over at 3G?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (40:47):

Yeah. I mean, it’s really a foundational tool. So, we do transportation management systems and shipping execution systems, so both the planning side and optimizing as well as the executing side out of warehouse over 3 or 3PL whatever the case may be. The big thing when we talk about resilience and threading it in, we’re part of that digitization, part of putting information at your fingertips, so taking lots of pulse points that are happening of providing more choice, of providing flexibility. From a systems perspective, I used to say something, you never want your systems to be the ones that leave you behind. So, it’s something that we take very closely here within 3G, which is building solutions that can pivot, that can have some additions coming in or changes so we can take advantage of it. That’s really what we’re focused on, more choice, automation, automate what should be automated, put the information in the hands of humans to make the right types of decisions that are there and bring that balance forward.

Scott Luton (41:48):

Love that. So much practicality there. Greg, we talk about this quite a bit, it’s not just technology for the sake of technology because it’s shiny and new and all this stuff, but it’s really purpose driven technology starting with the outcomes you’re seeking and working backwards is kind of some what I heard there. Greg, your thoughts.

Greg White (42:07):

Yeah, I agree. I think the only way to implement technology and to use it is to identify the problem that you’re having or the outcome that you’re seeking, both in many cases. And then, apply a technology that solves that problem. And I think a lot of companies, they try to solve too many problems at once. Pick the biggest pain, solve that, get the win. Because a lot of companies are still trying to get their constituency, their team, comfortable with technology taking on some tasks. So, find an area where you have a lot of pain, help people recognize the technology can solve that. Then, eventually, this is the question you want to hear is, “Oh, so you tackled that force. Could you also do this?” When you’ve gotten to that point, you have truly won over your constituency.

Scott Luton (42:58):

Excellent point. And, Steph, when you hear something like that, that’s like music to your ears, right?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (43:03):

Yeah, absolutely. And there’s a role for everyone to play. From an HR perspective, we’re all dealing with kind of the troughs that slow down, obviously, now. But it was difficult hiring environments and what’s attractive. Well, technology is attractive to the now generation, the folks that are coming in. But a lot of the knowledge of things that have occurred resides in people that have been around for 20 or 30 years. Being able to blend those assets, for lack of a better way, to be more attractive to the now, to have the information that comes in to feed the mechanisms or the systems that you have is really important.

Scott Luton (43:40):

Oh, Greg, she is talking our language with those last few thoughts. I got to give you a quick response to that, Greg.

Greg White (43:48):

That generation that we’re talking about is the baby boomers. So, instead of, “Okay, boomer,” maybe we ought to say, “Okay, tell me something, boomer.” Because that generation is leaving the workforce at a record pace. The largest generation in the history of earth is leaving with knowledge that was largely intellectual, not always or even often documented. And we need to capture that, and we can capture that in a way, by the way, that the now generation can really absorb it. We can impart knowledge into technology with AI, for instance, and then utilize that to make the decisions or guide the decisions that provide the desired outcome that the now generation wants. They don’t want to do the grinding or the manual or the dark, dirty, dangerous, or dull parts of that kind of work. Because they’re used to technology giving them the answer, and it certainly can and should, we need to capture that knowledge and impart it to the technology to be able to do that.

Scott Luton (44:46):

So, that seems to be a big part of the mission of the 3G team, so good there. Let’s recap a bit because I want to give folks the opportunity to learn a lot more about Steph and 3G. But I want to go back to just kind of recapping what we heard here, the three buckets, three ways to really grow a more sustainable, resilient organization in supply chain in light of what we’re all experiencing. Expect disruption, educate and collaborate, and empower agility, which my favorite is probably that third one. And I loved your comments there, Steph.

Greg White (45:19):

There’s a lot of people like screenshoting right now, so I’m just going to give them a moment to capture that.

Scott Luton (45:26):

Hopefully everyone got that. But I only move along because we have other opportunities for folks to connect with Steph and 3G. And I want to start with the upcoming webinar, Steph. We’re going to kind of reverse these resources. I want to start with the upcoming webinar on October 18th entitled A New Paradigm of Resilience Protect Against the Next Supply Chain Crisis. We’re hosting 3G here at Supply Chain Now. Why should folks, Steph, check out that webinar?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (45:53):

Well, first and foremost, Ron Lee, who’s my colleague and our chief product officer, is a good guy and a funny guy. So, if nothing else, you come out and support Ron. It’s a continuation, right? This is a hot topic. From the webinar perspective, it’s a different format. It’s going to have some different information in it that is going to be maybe a little bit more concrete takeaways in some of these buckets, just by the nature, again, of the format. And we have a lot to share. You know, we have 800 customers that we deal with on a daily basis and understanding what they’re feeling and seeing and hearing, and those are things that we want to share.

Scott Luton (46:28):

I love that. And that’s October 18th. I think our team just dropped the link in the chat. It’s free to attend, but you got to register, so make sure you register. All right. And so, Greg, you and I are tackling that together on the 18th. One other thing I want to point people out, another resource we want to drop, Steph and Greg, is the feature page y’all have at 3G , where you feature a variety of different stories from customers, which are the best kind, Bemis, Green Circle Growers, and others. Let’s drop that into the chat as well. You know, Steph, from what I saw, those are examples of what you and Greg have been speaking to where here’s a challenge, here’s the problem, here’s what I want to do, how can we get there. And it looks like you and your team stepped up to the plate and hit home runs there maybe.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (47:15):

I mean, you know, I like to say it’s a little bit cocky maybe, but when you failed in other solutions, people come to 3G. There’s a history of folks that are here that are 20, 30 year veterans in supply chain activities that have a lot to instill, and we’re learning. Our constituents, our buyers tend to be second, third time buyers of other solutions before they come in. And so, there’s learning that comes from that. But in those stories, it’s something – I can’t remember if it was Greg or you said it – that Scott was —

Scott Luton (47:46):

Probably Greg today, Steph.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (47:48):

… [inaudible] the ocean. You’re not boiling the ocean with these solutions. You’re identifying your key problems. And, again, it’s human nature. It’s a psychology thing. We all think it’s a blast whiteboard our grand visions of the world and how everything is going to operate perfectly. And that’s just not going to get you anywhere. We have to be able to identify a little bit more concretely. And that’s what some of those case studies point out. There’s both from pure shipping execution as well as more upstream on the TMS side with the optimization planning, what people focused on, the types of results they got I think can be helpful.

Scott Luton (48:22):

You know, on the frontend, Greg and Steph – and, Greg, I want to get you to respond as well to this maybe – you know, the word practical is one of my favorite words because it really speaks to what Steph’s talking about there, at least to me. You know, what’s tangible. There’s lots of grandeur out in the industry and we need that, that helps to change industry. But some of that, a portion of that – I’ll leave y’all to set maybe what percentages are – a lot of that can be hot air and doesn’t get us anywhere. And, Steph, what I hear you say is, what are we trying to do in a very tangible and practical manner and let’s do that. Greg, speak to that for a second. Your final thought before we thank Steph for her time.

Greg White (49:01):

Yeah. I think that the things like case studies are so powerful because you, as a practitioner, can empathize or even identify with a problem that another company had and say, “Oh, I need that.” That’s why things, whatever you call it, whatever everybody calls their gathering, we call it a project seminar, but I think those kind of gatherings where you get to hear from the people doing the doing, the practitioners, and how a technology and a team helped change their business and the problem that it attacked, I think that’s incredibly powerful.

Scott Luton (49:39):

Agreed. Agreed. Greg, well said there. Okay, Steph, let’s make sure – and I had it on this last slide. I’m going to pop it right back up here – how can folks connect beyond the webinar and beyond the feature page with customer storage – which is some of our favorites – how can they connect with you and 3G, Steph?

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (49:56):

Yeah, absolutely. So, my email is on there. LinkedIn is on there for me personally. Also, connect 3GTMS at 3gtms.com. We can put that in into the chat. I’ll pop it in when we bounce off. Those are ways to connect with us. We’re always happy to engage. We’re always looking to learn from your own experiences as well.

Scott Luton (50:14):

Love that, Steph. We really appreciate the angle of attack of your message here today. I think, again, kindred spirits. And it represents, Greg, a lot of what we have been talking and listening to business leaders talk about. So, with no further ado, Stephanie Richelieu Stagger, Chief Customer Officer with 3G, thank you so much for your time here today, Steph.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (50:36):

Thank you. Much appreciated. Just a shoutout, thoughts and prayer for everybody down in Florida, obviously, and shoutout to everybody on this call participating. Appreciate it.

Scott Luton (50:43):

Thanks so much, Steph.

Stephanie Richelieu Stagger (50:45):

Thank you.

Scott Luton (50:48):

I mean, goodness gracious, we had a couple comments I’ll try to share here in a second before we wrap. But I love the angle and kind of her approach of tackling today’s conversation, Greg.

Greg White (50:59):

Very matter of fact, right? I mean, Einstein said if you can’t explain what you do in 30 seconds, you don’t know it well enough. And Stephanie can really break things down into their simplest components and it’s clearly because she’s got the experience in doing it. So, it is fascinating to have somebody be so concise and compelling, which has sort of become the theme of the week, it seems like. We’ve got a lot of people who know their stuff really, really well and can kind of cut through everything just to get to the meat of the issue and the meat of the solution.

Scott Luton (51:35):

So true. Most of the time you get one or the other, but you don’t get both. But, today, we got both. It was like a BOGO deal, concise and compelling. Okay, a couple quick comments and then we’re going to wrap here today. I wish we could celebrate all of the submissions we got. Mohib says, “Doses of agility are not only necessary to make our supply chain DNA resilient, but booster shots may be needed every now and then.” Well said, Mohib.

Greg White (52:02):

Booster shot for of agility, I love it.

Scott Luton (52:03):

Right. Greg says, “You need to continue to ask what went right and what went wrong to improve and continuous improvement.” Excellent point, Greg. And look, Greg is leaning out and I’m just kind of picking on you, Greg, “Great pocast.” We got a new vehicle name here. We got no time for Ds. Now, Greg, all good fun. Great to have you back and hope the new venture is doing really well. Let’s see here. Rhonda says, “Yes, Steph. Blending of old world knowings and tech savvy now youth.” And when I say now youth, it just means not next generation. It’s the now generation that already doing stuff now. “The tech savvy now youth, boom, a magical space for today’s needs and assessments that can make a difference.” Well said Rhonda. Very poetic there. Let’s see here. Oh, goodness. Greg says, “Let’s just remember how resilient the Green Bay Packers are.” All right, so Chiefs and Pats and the Packers look like they’re going to maybe make a run for it this year. Who knows, Greg?

Greg White (53:04):

Yeah. One of the two quarterbacks that played in that Packers and Bucks game, at least one of them will not be in the league next year. I imagine it’s going to be Brady because his wife is pretty hot at him for even coming back to begin with. But it is time again for Aaron Rogers who has so many special gifts. I mean, Brady is unquestionably the goat, but he has so many special gifts. And to watch that game was just like the Battle of the Titans, wasn’t it?

Scott Luton (53:34):

Yes. Agreed. Agreed.

Greg White (53:37):

The winners of the very first Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers. They beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

Scott Luton (53:42):

That is right. Bart Star I think was part of that game.

Greg White (53:45):

Yes, he was. Very good.

Scott Luton (53:46):

We’ll save that for another time. One final one, Rain, we appreciate your work and facilitation. Again, you can reach out to contact 3GTMS at 3gtms.com for a lot more information if you want to connect with Steph or Rain or the team over there doing great things at 3G. Okay, Greg, wonderful conversation. Certainly one of my recent faves. I got a sense of that in our pre-show discussions. I really appreciated kind of how Steph couched her perspective over the last hour. Always a pleasure to do these shows with you, Greg.

Greg White (54:21):

Likewise. Yeah, this was a great one.

Scott Luton (54:24):

It was a good one. Really appreciate everyone that showed up in the comments. I know we couldn’t hit all of them, but y’all keep that good stuff coming. Big thanks to our production team for knocking this out here today. But you know, like Steph mentioned before she left, the important stuff, the most important stuff is folks that are in the path of Hurricane Ian, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Our resources will be with you. So, y’all take advantage of vetted nonprofits. Greg, as you know, during all these times of disaster, you’ve got bad actors that stand up, fundraising campaigns, and those resources don’t get to where they need to go. Just vet to our listening —

Greg White (55:01):

Just go with the old standards, you’ll be fine.

Scott Luton (55:03):

Yes. That’s right. And be sure to check out alanaid.org. They’re doing great work and they will be really involved in the recovery and clean up efforts. So, on behalf of our team here at Supply Chain Now, hey, remember, deeds not words, take action. Be that good neighbor here today. But most importantly, do good, give forward, and be the change that’s needed. And we’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (55:32):

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.