Supply Chain Now
Episode 691

Episode Summary

“The more complicated the supply chain, the longer it will take to reach an equilibrium. That’s interesting because companies who had a cost advantage have seen that turn into a disadvantage on the flexibility side. Those who had higher costs are now more flexible.”
– Jordon White, Product Manager at Crisp

The Supply Chain Buzz is Supply Chain Now’s regular Monday livestream, held at 12n ET each week. This show focuses on some of the leading stories from global supply chain and global business, always with special guests – the most important of which is the live audience!

In this episode of The Buzz, Supply Chain Now Co-hosts Scott Luton and Greg White are joined by Jordon White with Crisp and Jerry Stephens with Outlier. They are focused on the use of data and augmented analytics to maximize efficiency and reduce waste in the CPG, food, and retail supply chains. Since data leads to visibility and visibility makes agility possible, companies with access to actionable data and analytics are better positioned than the rest to weather the supply chain disruptions being faced by all industries.

Jordon, Jerry, Scott, and Greg, take this fast-paced hour to review and discuss:
• A round-up of the latest news stories in supply chain, including the highest priority issues for retail supply chain leaders, and the impact that supply disruptions and supply shortages are having on school districts as they prepare to go back in session
• What the different product shortages are teaching us about the resiliency of different supply chains – and how companies are rethinking their sourcing strategy as a result
• The challenge represented by demand planning, especially when it is considered as part of risk mitigation efforts

Episode Transcript

Intro/Outro (00:00:03):

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 (00:00:30):

Hey, good afternoon, Scott Luton, Greg White with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how

Greg White (00:00:37):

Are we doing? I’m doing great. I love the sunshine spirit of your shirt to go with an undershirt today. Not really wearing a white t-shirt isn’t it. I just thought I would give it a try. And it’s not an undershirt when you put that in the comments, please. Well, you know,

Scott Luton (00:01:04):

It’s great to start, uh, the Supply Chain Buzz with a couple of laughs. Uh, we’ve got a great show teed

Greg White (00:01:10):

Up here today. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:01:12):

Welcome everybody. Uh, we have got, uh, not only are we going to be talking about some of the leading, uh, Newsmakers and topics across global business and across a global supply chain, but we’ve got a special theme today. Food and retail supply chain. Check-in Greg, and a couple of great guests. We’ve got Jerry Stephens with outlier and Jordan White with crisp joining us here about 1220 or so you jacked up ready to go.

Greg White (00:01:40):

How about Chris for the name of a food service or food food industry company, right. That’s right. Um, let’s see here

Scott Luton (00:01:52):

By the way, Tim says and good morning, Tim white t-shirts

Greg White (00:01:55):

Are cool. He’s an MBA and a CEO, so you’re good to go. Yeah, he can. He can proclaim like white t-shirt Friday or something like that in his own company. Well,

Scott Luton (00:02:10):

Um, he’s also really big in the healthcare healthcare supply chain, if I’m not mistaken. So Tim, great to have you back. We’re going to be probably talking a lot more about healthcare supply chain in the weeks and months to come. I’m gonna re we’re gonna go in and say hello to a few folks. And then we’re gonna knock out a couple of quick programming notes before we hit some of the stories of the hour. Um, I don’t have, I don’t see who this is, but good afternoon from North Carolina. Great to have you here. We’ve got someone from India via LinkedIn as well, uh,

Greg White (00:02:36):

From us today, aren’t they? Yeah. You know,

Scott Luton (00:02:38):

I think LinkedIn continues to go through some changes and by the way, folks, if you’ve got a security setting that doesn’t, um, if you don’t want your profile to be picked up by your third party platforms, such as our livestream platform, that’s typically where we run into a little challenge there. But the good news is we’re seeing a lot of other folks and their names and their bright smiling faces like Catherine White house via LinkedIn. Great to see you here, Catherine, let us know where you’re tuned in from Sushil is back with us via LinkedIn. Great to see you Peter bowler all night and all day is back with us from Canada. Peter. Hope you had a great time last night for your stepdaughter’s birthday dinner,

Greg White (00:03:16):

Greg. So Peter and I were talking this morning about the medical device supply chain. So I don’t know if you saw the articles Scott, but the FDA is pandering for money, panhandling for money, um, to whatever, be better in supply chain handling. So I may or may not have had a word or two to say about

Scott Luton (00:03:41):

Today. I saw a little of that. Uh, and folks, if y’all want that daily dose of Frank, um, stuff you got to know about global supply chain global business, make sure you’re connected with Greg white. Uh, he drops it on LinkedIn just about every morning around eight o’clock so good stuff there. Helene is tuned in via LinkedIn via France. Great to have you here, Elaine. Thanks so much for joining us and hopefully I pronounced that first name, right? If I didn’t let me know, uh, Tom Raftery, uh, is back with us. Hope this finds you well, Tom, great to see you here today and hello and good morning. Good afternoon to everybody else that we couldn’t hit. Uh, let’s see my

Greg White (00:04:19):

Mood. Sorry, go ahead.

Scott Luton (00:04:24):

Who does tuned in via LinkedIn from UAE? Great to see you here. Mahmoud and our friend, dear friend, Gary Smith tuned in via LinkedIn from New York city. Great. See Gary, welcome everybody and really big, thanks to Jada Amanda, Allie and clay behind the scenes making it happen here today. Okay. So Greg, we’re going to be moving fast on this front segment before we bring on our guests. You ready

Greg White (00:04:48):

To go? Let’s go. All right.

Scott Luton (00:04:50):

So let’s do this. Let’s talk. Uh, if you all join us for these streams, then you know about these events, but just want to call your attention to it. Uh, our big webinar tomorrow, digital transformation, how it accelerates and strengthens your supply chain one o’clock Eastern time tomorrow, a little bit of a delayed start, but it’s free to join us. Come join Kevin and I, as we navigate this conversation with our friends from TCU and Esker and the link to register is in the show notes. Um, Hey folks, if you’re looking for a job, looking, looking to find a job, looking to how to work with recruiters, you looking to, um, improve your leadership skills and then some check out this free webinar, July 29th, we’ve got one heck of a panel. Greg assembled, Mary Maria, crystal, Peter, Rodney, and mark. And for about three hours, they’re gonna be offering a mini masterclass on how to strengthen all of that, uh, for any of the candidates, uh, or folks looking to move up the ladder, so to speak, um, across industry Greg, that’s a, that’s a home panel

Greg White (00:05:49):

There. I should probably sit in on that and as much as I’m virtually unemployable. So, um, in any, in any case, any of you have to be in better, better shape than I am, but yeah, definitely tune in. I mean, we’ve got people whose job it is to help people through their careers like Rodney P people who have been through their entire career and basically starting over Peter, um, and all of these current leaders that are making it happen every day. So I think we’ve got a great panel there.

Scott Luton (00:06:17):

Don’t miss this, join us this Thursday at 4:00 PM Eastern time. Just make sure you registered link register is in the comments. And then finally, Hey, we’re really pleased to serve as the exclusive provider of the digital version of the supply chain insights global summit coming up in September Larysa Siri, she’s the, she’s the mayor of this conference, the ring master. So to speak September 7th to the ninth, um, it is a hybrid event, uh, but to attend there, uh, it’s, it’s very exclusive to attend. If you go to supply chain insights, global summit.com, you can learn more about tending in person or you can sign up for the remote feed. And Greg and I are going to be navigating that for the, uh, three days and, and featuring some of our hosts and, and some of the folks that are attending virtually. So learn more and join us in September

Greg White (00:07:06):

Three, whole days of me and Scott live. What more could you want the truth is this, I mean, this is a really good and really powerful session as always anything, uh, with Laura is, but I think we’re starting to see Scott, more people kind of moving towards virtual as these variants and whatnot kind of right.

Scott Luton (00:07:33):

But man, get educated. Okay. And, um, you know, COVID aside, uh, it’s great to be connected and network and, and, and get informed. We’re going to be featuring some of the movers and shakers across global supply chain, including some of the folks that are in the stories that we’re about to cover here today. So y’all join us and I’m looking forward to a wonderful September event. Hello, Daria. Great to see you here today. Tuned in via LinkedIn. He’s going to be, uh, I believe in Atlanta soon, tending Georgia tech when [inaudible] is back, um, the Jerry Seinfeld of supply chain. And they’re fine. This finds you well and great to see her today. I believe, uh, Amy Fisher is with us. Um, I can not find her comment, Amy. Uh, good morning. Hope this finds you well have enjoyed our conversations going back a few weeks. Okay.

Scott Luton (00:08:23):

So Greg, are you ready to dive in? We’ve got three stories. Um, about 12 minutes, my friend let’s do it, Tom and me. All right. So, uh, want to share a couple of quick headlines before we bring in, uh, Jerry and Jordan, uh, and want to lead off with this great read here in supply chain, DOB Greg, one of our favorite sources here been uncle’s B, which is a new name for me, it’s supply chain DOB. Um, but nevertheless, this is a great article offers highlights from NRF, retail converge. So Greg, get this you’ve, we’ve heard the term agility once or a million times, but that was one of the major themes that rose to the top of the surface for this gathering of retail supply chain leaders. Now, Tony is Wazo. I believe I may have mispronounced his name Z U a Z O Suazo.

Scott Luton (00:09:16):

Um, he’s EVP global supply chain at dollar general. And he shared the, his company. He’s one of, one of, uh, numerous, uh, retail supply chain leaders at this conference. Now dollar general is, are on like every corner, right? It’s amazing. But his company has been able to keep up because they’ve gone the route of a single integrated distribution platform. Greg, this enables any store to be served by any distribution center to network and get stuff the next day, holy cow, dollar general, at least according to Statista had over 17,000 stores in 46 states as of February 20, 21. Goodness gracious. So Greg, one of the things, and we’ll get your takeaway here, Tony. [inaudible], he’s gonna kill me if I get this wrong, but anyway, he’s gonna be one of the keynotes at the store.

Greg White (00:10:06):

What’s that? Do you want me to tell you today? September until September

Scott Luton (00:10:13):

He’s one of the keynotes yeah. At the supply chain insights global forum. So he’s going to be sharing a lot of what they’ve been experienced in that dollar general, uh, and you know, what they’ve been doing to advance through these, these, uh, ever challenging sets of circumstances. Uh, all right. So Greg, you’re taking,

Greg White (00:10:35):

Well, there are notably a high performer in terms of supply chain, even during the height of the crisis, they’ve done a great job, 17,000 stores, you know, regardless of how big the store is or how many skews you have in it is no small challenge. And they are all over the place. Um, my wife loves dollar stores, man, if there is a holiday coming up and you get a card from us, chances are very good. It came from a dollar store balloons. Everything’s a dollar. So, um, no, but so, I mean, we’ve actually had some opportunity to, to, um, take a look at how well these stores are doing. And as I said, dollar general has stood for years as, as a model for retailers and having an efficient supply chain. So, you know, good on them. And we’re definitely listening to the right person who has had both experience and success in the, in this difficult, excellent

Scott Luton (00:11:39):

Point. And by the way, I should correct myself. That was retail dive. And then we quote a lot and source a lot from supply chain die, but this is one of our sister, uh, properties, retail Dobbs. You y’all check that out. Good job. Uh, Ben, uncle’s be their retail dive. Okay. Moving right along. Hey, we’re close to the head and back to school here in Georgia, Greg, uh, I think our kids start next Tuesday.

Greg White (00:12:01):

Wow. But

Scott Luton (00:12:03):

The wall street journal is reporting that school systems across the country are having to cut down on menu offerings and other aspects of their programs. Do you guessed it supply chain or supply issues ranging from food items to even these plastic lunch trays, some labor shortages, and of course, transportation challenges in this hot freight market, as we chatted about on Friday with the U S bank team. And SanMar um, quick commentary there, Greg, I know your, your kids are a little older.

Greg White (00:12:35):

Um, you know, it, it never ceases to amaze me and this, this is totally personal commentary. Why we go back to school earlier in the south where it’s hot and later, which makes sense. And later in the north, when they go after labor day, I can see like one that would save a lot of energy and give the supply chain, maybe just a few more weeks to recover. But as if school food is not bad enough, now you can’t even get the best of it. Well, guess what, in your kids to school with a brown bag folks. So

Scott Luton (00:13:12):

We talked chicken a lot, uh, last week on a couple of streams, including of course, uh, with the U S bank folks about freight. And there’s reportedly a shortage of chicken nuggets, uh, for institutions here

Greg White (00:13:25):

In Greece. It’s a cascading effect from the, from the wings that we’ve been talking about. In fact, last Friday, I was, you know, my next door neighbor owns a sports bar in Kennesaw and old town Tavern. If that’s, if you’re interested outstanding wings, but I haven’t eaten wings there for six weeks because they are 20 bucks, 10 wings. I must be really extra delicious, their weather, the really big ones. They have like a name for actually probably Jordan or Jerry. Know what the name is of them, but they’re like size anyways. Uh, now, now it is, it has created a cascading effect on chicken breasts and chicken tenders and chicken nuggets about

Scott Luton (00:14:09):

That. Well, uh, tune in next week for the right. So I want to share a couple of quick comments and we’ll knock up the third store before we bring on our, our wonderful guests here today. Uh, Rama deep is back with us via LinkedIn from Mississauga,

Greg White (00:14:27):

Ontario. Okay, Ontario.

Scott Luton (00:14:29):

Yeah. Thank you, Greg. Appreciate that deep. Great to have you look forward to your perspective here today, Tom Raftery, low commentary, $1 poor balloon sounds kinda expensive, Gregory.

Greg White (00:14:40):

Okay. I mean, um, I’m, I’m willing to go to Spain if the balloons are lower costs, Tom, right. But these are Mylar balloons kind of like pictures, happy birthday and that kind of stuff. So, or

Scott Luton (00:14:54):

Pod, uh, you know, those, those were school trays as best I could tell, uh, that might feel like prison sentence,

Greg White (00:15:01):

But if you happen to know the difference, please do share. That’s

Scott Luton (00:15:04):

Right, John. Bufalino great to have you here. Good to have you back go back right. For labor day so long that’s um, gosh, a month after ours go to back, uh, brown bags with PB and J all day. Love that. Yeah. Um, okay. So I wanna keep driving here. We’re gonna pull up this next story here, Greg. Although think, you know, w when we start talking school, cafeteria is that’s like a universal. Everyone can relate to that. Right. Um, so we could probably have feature a whole episode around that, but nevertheless, we’ve got, gotta keep driving. Here’s some good news, Greg. So according to this door via, uh, NPR leaders in the food industry may finally be addressing cyber issues. So that attack on JBS, you know, the, the meat packing Titan appears to be turning more heads and prompting the food industry to get, uh, to take more proactive action on cyber threats. Many analysts have long pointed to various gaps when it comes to cybersecurity and, uh, the complete failure to act and to, uh, update and address these risks, these risks, but maybe the Tod starting to turn Greg, what say you?

Greg White (00:16:13):

Well, it’s, it’s about time, uh, because the manufacturers are the ones who make all the money in the food industry. And, um, I can understand why distributors and retailers are possibly somewhat lax, but you know, these big processors and manufacturers, there’s no excuse. So thankfully that is happening, you know, hopefully as they do many things, they, they will either mandate or, or, um, support those, the opportunity to participate in, in, uh, what do you want to call it? Cyber safe environment, right? For, uh, people downstream like distributors and retailers and, and assure some, some, uh, cyber safety security through the, through the supply chain there, it’s tough. I mean, I’ve worked with, with food service and food wholesale distributors for a long, long time, and their margins are thinner than a razor suck. In some cases, the only way that food distributors for instance, make a profit is by forward buying hedging inventory ahead of a price increase, or when there’s a discount, otherwise they literally make negative net margins. Wow.

Scott Luton (00:17:29):

And, and w the other, uh, this is a great article, uh, but one of the big, big changes shifting of the dynamics is, is now, uh, you know, you got four companies, at least when it comes to, uh, beef processing that may come, you know, some 85, 90% of the market. So one of those goes down versus, you know, how disseminated and how widespread the processing, you know, they say 60 years ago, it was in one of these major players go down, it’s going to cross a big ripple effect across industry. So, um, but a great story, and it is good news. And Greg, hopefully they’re able to, um, maintain those tight margins while, you know, protecting their operations. We shall see, um, I want to say a low room room design is back with us from Zimbabwe via LinkedIn. A great to see you back. We’ve enjoyed your participation in a couple of these, uh, sessions here. John [inaudible] agrees with you. No excuses, a hundred percent. Greg loved that, uh, near FOD goes back to his prison trades that really got his attention to some more now,

Greg White (00:18:34):

Because that’s what I was implying. When he went

Scott Luton (00:18:37):

To prison, they looked a little less colorful. He was saying that the picture we had a good stuff there to fun. Okay. So let’s, uh, let’s do this. I want to bring in our two featured guests here today, and we’re going to be talking about food and retail supply chain, some observations here. Uh, Greg, I want to, uh, welcome formerly Jordan White product manager with crisp and Jerry Stephens, VP of global sales with outlier. Hey, good afternoon, gentlemen, Jerry, how are you doing? Doing really

Jerry Stephens (00:19:08):

Well, thank you. Nice to see you. It’s kind of wonderful.

Scott Luton (00:19:11):

You as well. Great to have you with us and Jordan. Good morning. Good

Jordan White (00:19:14):

Morning. Definitely.

Scott Luton (00:19:16):

Well, we enjoyed our pre-show conversation with you, both talking all things, uh, Cincinnati and Utah, uh, Ohio and Utah should probably say, uh, but before we get into a really neat story that I think we all were checking out over the weekend, let’s get to know y’all each a little bit better. So Jerry starting with you, tell us a little about yourself and what you do. Yeah.

Jerry Stephens (00:19:37):

First of all, thanks for, um, you know, providing the time. And I’m really excited to have this conversation today. So just a little bit about me. I’ve been with a company called outlier.ai for the last couple of years. Uh, as you mentioned, I lead our sales organization working across many different verticals, including, you know, what we’re going to talk about today with regard to retail and food, et cetera. Um, and then what outlier does essentially, you know, I think outlier is a leader in augmented analytics. Um, essentially what we suggest to our potential clients and clients is that, you know, insights exist in your data and they exist in your data every day. And it’s just a matter of one of the organizations doing a tap into the data, to the insights. So without learning does, is automate that automate the mining process and delivers what we call stories, uh, to individual users. So that’s what, that’s what I do. And, uh, personally, you know, I, I, I don’t follow the reds Scott cause we talked about previously, um, more of an ETL and soccer guy, but, um, but really enjoying the Olympics today, but, uh, you know, a father of five and, uh, and look forward to this conversation. Wonderful man, I followed the Montgomery Montgomery and has been good. It’s been good, good to me over the, over my lifetime, but I’ll just leave it. That is a

Scott Luton (00:21:00):

Legendary restaurant in a couple of different cities in Ohio, and they also, uh, make a great barbecue sauce, which you might can find in your grocery store. So great to have you here, Jerry, um, and gosh, father of five, you’ve got your own significant supply chain, uh, you’re working in your own lead in your own house.

Jerry Stephens (00:21:17):

So yeah. Lunch example.

Scott Luton (00:21:22):

So Jordan, good afternoon. How are you doing? I’m doing great. You bet. So same question for you before we get started and start talking shop. Tell us about yourself.

Jordan White (00:21:33):

Yeah, yeah. So, um, I come from the food industry, both food retail, um, and CPG Walmart and general mills. Um, but currently, like you said, I’m at a company called crisp, which is a software company that makes data software for food companies. And essentially what Chris does is unsilo data. And so our mission is to reduce food waste and improve brands, food brands, profitability, retailers, profitability, when data is in silos, bad decisions are made. And so it creates, you know, lack of profit and, and also food waste. And so we have connectors that basically say, if you want to get data out, as you NFI talked about food distributors, if you want to get data out of UFI and you want to take it into your cloud or power BI or whatever, it’s kind of like a, all a cart mix and match. You want to take it from here to there, we help you do that kind of platform. And that Chris I’m a, I’m a product manager. And so it’s, uh, it’s my job to make sure that people love the product. Um, I spend a lot of time talking to people in the food industry and finding out, um, what pain points I have. And then I implement that along with my team and all the software engineers into the product.

Scott Luton (00:22:53):

Love that. So, yeah. So, uh, gosh, Greg, with

Greg White (00:22:57):

These listening, Jordan, thank you.

Scott Luton (00:23:01):

We could really, with, with Jerry and Jordan, I think we could solve some of the hardest hitting data issues, uh, around the world here and there. FOD says, man, I don’t know Jerry, but that smile has a valuation of 9 trillion looking forward to listen, Jerry both. Y’all got big fans already and good morning, Catherine and Rhonda. Great to have y’all here today. All right. So Greg, before we dive into this article based on, uh, Jerry and Jordan’s background, I think we’re going to be a Juul on a bit on data and how analytics is powering global supply chain these days,

Greg White (00:23:32):

Right? Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you know, and it it’s been available for so long. I mean, I’ve outed myself as having worked in the food industry for a long time. I think back initiatives back in the nineties where organizations were trying to share that data, but they were really doing it, I guess, in a less democratized fashion. Right. They wanted to own the data and then charge everyone for it. And instead what we realized over time is that there, um, you know, is that the data, it belongs to the people who generate it and they should decide, should it be able to decide how to, how to share it. And then of course, um, and then, you know, determine what conduits they want to use, like in order to get the value throughout supply chain. Yes.

Scott Luton (00:24:26):

Data for the people. I love that. Okay. So moving right along. Uh, so the theme today, as we talked about four before y’all joined us food and retail supply chain check-in so what’s interesting as, as, uh, it’s interesting how, um, how small the world is because all four of us were, I think we’re checking out this neat article by Michael Canel, uh, that came out this past week in our hometown, Greg, our hometown Atlanta journal constitution. I think this is the, the buzz, um, their first time ever being featured here on

Greg White (00:24:58):

The spot, wow. I could be wrong and really scored. We need to reach out to them and let them know,

Scott Luton (00:25:03):

Right. Consumers say is titled consumers, wait or pay more as businesses wrestle, supply chain woes. So, um, what’s really neat about this article. You have to check it out. Uh, maybe we can drop the link in the comments. It really touches on a wide variety of supply chains from oysters, which Greg we enjoyed last week, fuel pumps, Joyce, and a lot more. And, and, and really, um, you know, kind of levels of that.

Greg White (00:25:30):

Yeah. And chicken and chicken

Scott Luton (00:25:32):

That’s right. But, um, Jerry, I’d love to, uh, first question for you. What were some of your key takeaways from this article, especially as you kind of look at industry through, through the prison?

Jerry Stephens (00:25:43):

Yeah, no, it was a good article. I think the initial read, my, my initial reaction was to the simple common theme of, you know, demand versus supply, uh, with, with the interplay of something like price. Uh, as we all know, uh, that, that is the interplay. And that is the important event that occurs that the, the, the interesting note here is when you have such a macro event, which we don’t have all the time, obviously, but it’s this tie between the macro, the market and then the individual data sets that is interesting because that’s where you can test and really understand. Um, and to your point, it goes into different categories, you know, all the different areas, that’s where you start to understand the differences between the levels of resiliency of the supply chains and those areas. And our paper towel resiliency is quite different than industrial manufacturing or auto parts, right.

Jerry Stephens (00:26:35):

Uh, the other, the other nuance. And I, I don’t think this is probably captured enough, uh, when we think about demand and supply and there, like this is just testing the consumer behavior and acceptance. Um, and what I mean by that is there’s this evaluation, as we all know, that typically happens between price and convenience, um, customers pay for convenience, or will they not, uh, and that’s going to differ based on region, based on category. Um, so the question really for organizations is this, you know, what are they learning about consumer behavior? Um, you know, we, we talked a lot about supply chains and I know it’s why we’re here today, but the interconnectivity between consumer behavior and supply chain is real. And I don’t think, uh, organizations do a really good job quite frankly, of connecting the two. And then finally, it’s, it’s planning for what is next.

Jerry Stephens (00:27:30):

And it’s interesting that you’ve put up, you know, that, that piece on the, uh, the food for the school’s impact of school, because I read an article recently, uh, about holiday shopping, um, and the fact that already, you know, organizations are trying to get out in front because lead time, um, for, you know, impact areas or impact events are, is expanded significantly. So organizations are already worried about holiday. It shouldn’t be right because, you know, getting the right amount in for the stores and supporting the holidays, going to be critical to success as we move into to next year. So those are the top two or three points that I really, you know, bridge out out of the fact that timing is everything. One car just died recently. I have another transmission issue going out and another that it’s taken me two months to get into the shop. So I’m, I’m kind of living and breathing this issue as well. Wow, wow. Yeah. I had a tough with chicken wings.

Scott Luton (00:28:30):

So before, so I appreciate you sharing Jerry ended up personal at the end because we’re all consumers at the end of the day and have to experience these same supply chain challenges as you know, as practitioners. So, um, but I appreciate it. And before I go to Jordan, Greg, your quick take on some what Jared has shared.

Greg White (00:28:49):

Well, I mean, Jerry nailed it. First of all, you know, that I believe the supply chain begins and ends with the consumer. And we have spent so many years in supply chain trying to predict the items like this item and what it’s going to do and its seasonality and its activity and its trend and notice that it doesn’t do anything until I do something with it. So we are not predicting items. We are predicting the consumer and that’s going to be exceedingly difficult to do. As you were talking about holiday Jerry, I was thinking, how are we going to predict what consumers are going to want? You know, we don’t, we still don’t know what stage of lockdown or openness that we’re going to be at. Right? We don’t know what stage of revenge travel people are going to be in. Are they going to be traveling for the holidays?

Greg White (00:29:36):

Are they going to be buying big gifts? Are they going to be more conservative? We don’t know a lot, know a lot of those things. But the other thing that pointed out to me that aside from just blind demand that this exposed, it exposed a poor supply chain practice. I, I am less likely to say the supply chain is broken. I’m more likely to say supply chain practices broken. For instance, as you alluded to that, the automakers, the reason they can’t get chips is because they stopped ordering them. And then they tried to get the chip manufacturers to produce chips without issuing a PO. So that bad practice has finally come home to roost companies who have had unresponsive, uh, supply chains is we were just, we were just talking about in the previous article, right? Yes. The one with great supply chains already, dollar general. They did great. The ones with poor supply chains, like many of the apparel providers they’ve done very, very poorly,

Scott Luton (00:30:42):

So own that. I want to switch over to Jordan White and Jordan were talking about this article, consumers wait, or pay more as businesses wrestle like Hulk Hogan with supply chain woes and the AJC. So tell us

Greg White (00:30:56):

Jordan that it’s all about food, but the first thing they talk about is mechanics key takeaways there, Jordan. Yeah. Well, um, you know, right before the show, I was mentioning to you both actually, um, that my dad runs an autobody shop and he mentioned, you know, I am waiting, I don’t know what he said, maybe weeks for a Honda bumper. And he was asking me why. And I got the chance to explain to my dad the bullet effect, uh, which is a fun conversation to have on the summit after their dad. Um, so yeah, but, um, I think w one of my biggest takeaways is that this will be a case study from bullwhip effect for many years to come. Um, that’s on the S um, a few other, um, sub lessons I think to take away from this. I’ve heard the phrase that, um, you don’t win as a company.

Jordan White (00:31:55):

You win as a supply chain or companies don’t compete, supply chains compete. I think that’s really obvious here, because you could have fewer manufacturing plants. You could have every piece except that one piece and from the supplier and you can’t ship, right? So that’s how you compete as a supply chain and not company. And I think that’s really relevant to this article, uh, and obvious in the stories, I guess. And then the other one is that it mentions that the more complicated the supply chain, the longer it will take to reach an equilibrium. Right. And that’s very interesting because, um, you know, companies who had a cost advantage before it’s turned into a disadvantage on flexibility side, everything’s flipped where those who have higher costs, they’re more flexible now. Um, so it’s pretty interesting to see those stories unfold in this article, in that sense. And then I think my last and final takeaway is that how long will it take to find this equilibrium? I think that’s the question. All of us would like to figure it out. No, but, um, that’s a, that’s a tough one.

Scott Luton (00:33:07):

Jordan. In fact, over the weekend, I watched a short little report, uh, about a town in Kentucky where the local racetrack was being used to store four trucks that are still have the missing, uh, computer chip in them. And we’re talking hundreds and that, and that, that racetrack is just one locations that they’re storing it. And, uh, and the residents were weighing in. It was a really neat little, little story, but yeah, when do we reach that equally equal equilibrium is a great question. Rhetorical question to ask Jordan two other quick comments, and Greg, I’m gonna come back to you is, uh, found in this article. And of course, we’re referencing this article in AJC by Michael canal. Um, it references how some of the innovation that’s taking place, because you’re just, they’re just making do they, they referenced a, uh, I think a home builder or maybe an architectural firm.

Scott Luton (00:33:58):

And since there’s a lack of joists, they’re revisiting how they can change the design of buildings. They referenced a restaurant tour. Uh, there’s a, um, some ingredients for, uh, oysters, Rockefeller that they’ve been making it for years and years and years of customers are used to tasting a certain way. Well, they can’t get these ingredients. So they’ve had to now tinker with the recipe and the chef was saying, some folks love the, the innovation and other folks stopped ordering them. So, um, it really, it’s, it’s an interesting catch article, but Greg, what, what, uh, some of the stuff that Jordan shared there,

Greg White (00:34:33):

What’s those things, those adaptations that we’ve, we’ve all done. I’m sure at some point, you know, one of the things they said in the article is some, this was regarding the Joyce. Some customers don’t want to wait. They want they’ll take a different product. Other customers will just stop buying chicken wings. But the other thing that they talked about was that manufacturers are still hedging because the underlying cause of this is no longer, it’s no longer the stop and start of the supply chain. It’s the fact that our government, at least in the states continues to pay people, to stay home in droves and they don’t know what’s going to happen. And therefore these invest, these manufacturers are not investing in additional inventory because they don’t know when people are going to get back to work. And all of this government subsidy is going to check, make yet another shift occur in the consumer base in terms of how they spend what they spend it on when they get back to work.

Greg White (00:35:35):

And we can count on them, staying work to, to, um, you know, to stabilize and create this equilibrium right before the pandemic, there were at least 2 million supply chain jobs over, right? As of October, November of last year, there was plenty of opportunities to become employed coming back into the workplace. And yet we continue to pay people extra money from the federal government to stay home right now, rather than work, when are wonderful jobs at higher rates. This was one misnomer that this article stated that people can’t find good paying jobs, virtually every single job out there pays more money than it did this time last year. So that’s just a fallacy, but there are plenty of jobs out there and we need to let or make we’ll get back to work that will accelerate. And it’s a necessity before we’re even going to approach equal agreement the marketplace. So

Scott Luton (00:36:35):

With that said, getting and getting past this article. So I appreciate everybody’s take on this and great job, Michael canal AJC here. Um, but Jerry, you know, kind of going broader, right, as we all know, somewhat, all three of y’all have spoken to the pandemic has, uh, really done a great job in, in a weird way. But one of the silver linings is shine that light on some of the gaps that, um, that exists, uh, and has really exposed those gaps in a, in a very impactful way. Um, if you could speak to some of the gaps you’re seeing from your purview and what are some of the things business leaders are doing to address these gaps.

Greg White (00:37:11):

Yeah, yeah, no, it’s, um, yeah, I mean, there’s, obviously we could talk a lot all day about, you know, just on this particular question, but I think by the boil down into three areas, it’s, it probably starts with, um, when, um, when we work with organizations, you know, the, the first really topic conversation, as you know, are, are, are the organizations asking the right questions? And what I mean by that is you have, you know, instances where just an example, like sourcing diversification, um, you had mentioned that chip manufacturing, well, the PR the problem with part of the problem with the chip manufacturing arena, if you will, and by the way, it’s Kentucky Speedway, Scott is where all those cars are. Um, it’s not too far away from, from where I live, but the reality is it’s a racing track, not a horse racing track. Sorry. That’s understandable. I can’t imagine them closing a horse racing track this time.

Scott Luton (00:38:06):

Yeah. Kentucky takes you right to the Derby. I didn’t think about that. Um, so J Kentucky track. Thank you.

Jerry Stephens (00:38:12):

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, the sourcing diversification is well, cause then like in the chip manufacturer, there’s a very limited set of suppliers, um, within your chip manufacturing. So, you know, organizations are asking that question, right, is our, is our sourcing strategy, right? Is it set up such that we can enable the organization when something like this happens, right. Obviously we’re in this macro environment event. Um, but again, resiliency and building those capabilities, I think it would be really important. And the second question is, and I already hinted at it is really are organizations building the right capabilities. Um, and you know, obviously, you know, I live in Jordan lives. Uh, we both live in the analytics world and then the data world. And I will tell you, and I see this every day, um, that organizations are struggling, whether it’s data silos, whether it’s connectivity of insights, whether it’s Scott, I think you mentioned this, uh, around collaboration.

Jerry Stephens (00:39:08):

Um, all of those things are opportunities and capabilities that organizations really need to focus on, um, to do more around the supply chain. And they sound like organizational like opportunity while they are organizational opportunities, but, uh, for sure they need to be embedded in the supply chain arena as well. And really the final piece is this area around, are they focused on the right things and supply chain? It’s very easy for us to say, well, you need to focus in end, right? Everyone’s heard about this and the end mentality. And the reality is, you know, w we, we don’t have the capacity or the, the investment opportunity to, to really invest, uh, end to end. So really the focus needs to be on de-risking, um, where those risks occur and that costs money. Um, you know, up to this point, as we think about retail, and let’s go back to that, I guess for a second, the focus has been on the final mile.

Jerry Stephens (00:40:01):

Um, and that’s because consumer demand has changed, right? The options are increasing, but the problem with that is we all know, uh, not prob problem, but potential opportunity is profitability. The final mile is very, very expensive as you think about supply chain. So reason what suggests, Hey, let’s definitely focus on this, but here’s the reality. Um, the, the, the higher variation that happens upstream in terms of the supply chain has incredibly higher levels of downstream implications. So I think organizations are starting to think about things like sourcing that I just mentioned. We really need to start focusing way upstream, um, whether it’s around demand planning or things like this, uh, much more than we have in the past, because downstream that’s where we’re really getting impacted significantly.

Scott Luton (00:40:50):

Excellent point. I appreciate that. I’m gonna pull a couple of comments in and Jordan, I’m coming to you Gregory. The Shakespeare of supply chain from the Caribbean says thoughts on consumer behavior and supply chains. What requires a shift in paradigm from linear supply chain to circular supply chain circularity, taking factors such as sustainability, accountability, CSR from a social economic and environmental perspective. Good stuff there from Gregory. And I want to near FOD says, uh, is this Topham going to further delay these chip manufacturers from producing these chips? Probably I think it gets much worse before it gets better. And I think there’s a lot of consensus there, Jordan, you’re saying so, so we’re, I wanna pose the same question. You, independence has exposed plenty of things across global supply chain global business, but what are some of those gaps that, uh, come to the front of your mind and how are leaders addressing them?

Jordan White (00:41:46):

Yeah, I think, um, I was actually at general mills, uh, when everything started to happen, panic buying, et cetera. And, um, I think one of the things that has exposed from all of us is, is that, um, you know, you need data to be agile and data’s actually pretty hard still to access and, and get, uh, for everybody. Um, and so I think it’s important to have data accessibility, but that’s frankly not even good enough still because you need people or you need AI or combination of the two to interpret that data. I think the demand for people who understand data and know how to work with it will go up to demand your products such as outlier will go up, et cetera. And so I think, uh, I think that will continue and that definitely was brought to light through all of this. Um, but on top of that too, um, you know, companies plan for risk, but what if risk is a moving target? Um, and you have a plan in place when the risk snapshot that you built your plan around, but if risk is a moving target in this world that we live in, um, things are so dynamic right now, especially, but as the years go on with different, uh, affects, you know, digital and, and climate and otherwise risk is a moving target. I, I believe in. And so how often are companies updating these plans and, and et cetera? Yep.

Scott Luton (00:43:26):

Agreed. Uh, all right. So Greg coming to you, uh, after Jerry and Jordan have shared some of their, their POV here, what sticks out for you?

Greg White (00:43:35):

I think that’s to the point that Jordan May no risk, the greatest risk is domain. Jerry alluded to that before we can’t predict the creators of demand, right? I mean, I have to confess general mills may have actually, I may have impacted their earnings because I may or may not have ordered Cheerios, but by the way, they, they last quite a while. So thankful for that. Um, but I think that’s the thing is we still, and we keep coming back to this, how do we predict the consumer? Again, people are spending other people’s money, right? All those people getting all those extra unemployment benefits are spending my money. So why do they care? What they spend it on? And they’re spending it on RVs, they’re spending it on boats, they’re spending it on mountain and beach homes and, and that’s changing the pattern of things. And that’s, uh, you know, that is a bullwhip impact in and of itself.

Greg White (00:44:39):

And, and you know, one of the things we have to figure out is, and this is the risk is Jordan was talking about the risk is we predict that consumers will do something and they do something to be dramatically different. And I think that risk is very, very significant right now. It really is. We, we were just kind of taking a shot in the dark. No one in the history of earth has ever faced a seismic societal disruption like this. It happened to the entire planet. Well, okay. Maybe Noah and the Ark, two people left after that. So it was a lot easier to handle. But aside from that, right, this is the greatest, most impactful societal and supply chain disrupting ever to occur in the history of her. So where do you go for analytics in that? And then as you know, as both Jordan and Jerry have talked about, we have plentiful data.

Greg White (00:45:40):

We don’t have plentiful means for assembling and reinterpreting and sharing and using and acting on that data. That’s, that’s really sort of the world that we’re left in it’s wine it’s solutions like crisp and outlier are so impactful to be able to give us what we should be getting from data is more than just a report. It’s a recommendation. And I think that, you know, that’s one of the things we need to think about. Remember just a few years ago when Jordan and Jerry and all of us experience this data, big data was the issue. Well, we got what we wanted. We got big data and it’s a big, in most cases to be able to, we’ve got to be able to distill that down into something working.

Scott Luton (00:46:30):

Um, so I want to circle back and let’s talk more about some of the raining time we’ve got, um, a couple of comments from our community, and then we’ll talk more, a little more about that risk management and some of what Jordan shared there. But first I got a text from my oldest. Uh, Greg Cheerio’s are terrible. Captain crunch barriers is where it’s at. So that’s from my oldest, uh, Brantley Greg, just so you know, uh, Cheerios,

Greg White (00:46:54):

Honey, nut Cheerios,

Scott Luton (00:46:55):

Even worse. Uh, so to, so Tim says healthcare has been detached from upstream impacts on products. We relied too heavily on outside service providers to manage that side of the supply chain for us, a big mistake, Chris Barnes, Hey, Chris is host of supply chain is boring here at supply chain now. Great to see Chris, he says regarding the food supply chain, a great quote from one of the most boring episodes on supply chain is boring. Rebecca Costa American, socio sociobiologist and futurist said, quote, NRG is five missed meals away in court. How about that? Um, but so risk risk risk is risk management, risk strategy. Uh, you know, companies have been doubling tripling down on that for years now. And the pandemic is only going to accelerate that all three of y’all spoke to, you know, risk and some of your responses. Um, Jerry, I want to get you to speak to something you and Jordan, both, you know, if your organization and its leadership is using data, um, much more proactively smartly, um, you know, for in a, in a, in a forward looking manner, uh, imagine when it comes to effectively managing risk, you’ve got a leg up in that regard.

Scott Luton (00:48:09):

Would you agree?

Jerry Stephens (00:48:10):

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, if, you know, we is, we work with organizations it’s, especially as we think about supply chain, it’s almost the number one topic that comes up. And so it is a focus area, um, that we see across many different verticals to be candid with you. As we work, for example, you’re working in an industrial environment and, um, you know, the article highlighted the rest there, which is more or less lead time, versus when you’re working in a kind of high velocity grocery environment, it’s more about, you know, can we, can we, can we hit the two day turnaround that Walmart expects, all right. And otherwise we’re going to be fine. Um, you know, because that’s the SLA, right? That’s, that’s what we need to deliver against. So you have the different risks for different verticals. But what we use found is those organizations that have been able to tie, uh, and analytical capability or community around demand, planning, fulfillment, transportation, warehousing, and manufacturing and production.

Jerry Stephens (00:49:09):

Um, those are functionally aligned and those are functionally integrated, right? So, you know, demand planning has their demand planning and then it’s handed off. The reality is the organizations that, that enable the capability for that analytics community to tie all of those together, where you have risk identify upstream and downstream, um, those that, that level of analytics, that those insights will enable that organization to create, you know, not only a sustainable advantage, but also an efficiency that, you know, hopefully will enable them to have competitive advantage as well within their community. And it’s, it’s hard to do. This is a very, very difficult thing to do because there’s Jordan mentioned the data. Sometimes it’s siloed, it’s tough to get to. Um, but those organizations are focused on, it will end up winning, um, in the near term, in the long-term.

Scott Luton (00:49:59):

Yep. Agreed Jerry, uh, Jordan, same question you, I like this notion of moving risks because, um, all of it isn’t always moving the, I would argue there are some, there are some components of, of risk that, you know, there’s a saying that was 20 years ago and two years ago, but, but to your point, there is evolving risk and, and the blind spot, you know, you, don’t never, you never fully, uh, eliminate that. Uh, but Jordan speak to speak to the use of data and how data policy maybe can help you impact and shape and win the battle against risks, uh, for risk management.

Jordan White (00:50:34):

Yeah, actually I’m a smart Dana policy. Um, there was a comment earlier about changing the way we look at supply chains and, um, and after I agree somewhat with that, that, uh, data, a good data policy is more organic. I think I look at it more like, does my data flow like blood in the body? Um, is it a circulatory system that nourishes every part of the organization, is it freely accessible? And like, if you think about your body, when you get hurt, the blood flows to that part of your body to nourish that part. And that’s how I think data needs to flow. It needs to be there. And just going to every corner of the organization.

Scott Luton (00:51:15):

I love that visual, uh, Greg Jordan, just

Greg White (00:51:21):

So seriously. That’s genius. We always talking about the heartbeat, but we aren’t really talking about the blood and the body, which does sustain and heal. So yeah, that’s, that’s great analysis. Excellent point

Scott Luton (00:51:33):

A couple of comments here on a lighter note, I taste start talking cereal and you started getting engaged frosted flakes. Greg says Cheerios for those over 50 help with other issues brand is a good, good one. Tom says, can you get Cheerios in the dollar store?

Greg White (00:51:54):

Um, how many do you get for a dollar that’s

Scott Luton (00:51:58):

Five? Ms. Mills is one step away from, is it a toggle Charles? Great to have you here today. And you’re

Greg White (00:52:08):

To tell us what that is. Yeah,

Scott Luton (00:52:10):

No kidding. No kidding. Uh, I do want to come back up to, since we got a little, uh, another, just one final question for you both, and then we’re gonna make sure folks know how to connect with you. So Tim talks about defining risk. What does it look like on the horizon of supply chain management? I think data analytics and predictive analytics, which both of y’all have been speaking to a jury and Jordan, but what say you, AI should be a partner in managing risk. So if you can give us your reader’s digest answer when it comes to this, Jerry, I’ll start with you.

Jerry Stephens (00:52:42):

That’s a good, I mean, it’s a fantastic question and it’s, it’s a difficult answer. Um, you know, w what I, yeah, the area that we work within now is, as we think about the implications of AI or the opportunity for AI, it’s, it’s this emerging technology that can enable organizations to be smarter faster. Um, and what I mean by that is if we go back in the old days, if you will, uh, most forecast or were drummed up on it, like a 60 or 90 day kind of window, the reality is that that kind of flies out, right. That’s kind of what AI and ML enable organizations to do is just be the much more tapped into not only singular data sets, but also multiple learning those relationships and be much more informed, um, or informing the organization much more, uh, to make better decisions, uh, and, and do that faster.

Jerry Stephens (00:53:34):

You know, that w when you’re leveraging AI for something like, you know, demand or expected values is what we call them. Uh, it just becomes much more dynamic and much more learned because you are tapping into the multiple data sets that are tangential and not just singular in nature. And I think that’s the power of it, right? And Jordan mentioned that, which is, you know, connecting those multiple areas, um, having the technology, identify those relationships, and then informing the organism. There’s always going to be people making the decisions, to be honest with that, that’s kind of our mantra as people just need to be enabled more than they are today. Um, and the technology needs to take that burden and the heavy lift, and that’s what we, we aim to do, but that’s, the implication is just faster, more informed decisions, leveraging AI, moving forward.

Scott Luton (00:54:20):

I love that. Um, all right. So Jordan, you’re getting a, a bunch of responses on your blood, uh, analogy. Good tie in Jordan. Nerf says, let the bleeding begin. Oh gosh. And, uh, a few others, but Hey, Jordan,

Greg White (00:54:35):

You didn’t have to know Jordan to know that that’s, that’s me.

Scott Luton (00:54:43):

Uh, so same question you, you know, uh, which is posed from Tim on there. What are you looking forward on the horizon? Um, what say you, their data analytics, predictive analytics, AI, you name it just further expand on that, if you would, Jordan,

Jordan White (00:54:57):

Uh, yeah, I mean, I remember, um, you know, being trained on forecasting and doing forecasting and every, they say every forecast is wrong. It’s just all about how wrong. Um, and you know, I think the same goes for risk. A forecast is really just all about risk anyway. So I think it’s all about deciding what amount of risk are you comfortable with? And frankly, a lot of companies decided they were comfortable with a certain amount of risk, and then they face that risk going into the pandemic. And so, um, I certainly think that AI and all of these tools can help no doubt. Um, but it always requires tuning. Right? If you have AI machine learning, you have to decide partially how accurate is accurate enough. Um, and, and how much risk am I willing to take

Scott Luton (00:55:56):

Successful application and then successful, uh, adjustments and tweaks and, and you name it. Uh, it’s never set it and forget it. Like our dear friend, Ron Popeil. Is it Greg?

Greg White (00:56:08):

That’s right when you said Popeil Alliance, we thought pocket fishermen, but yes, you’re thinking, set it and forget it. No, there’s a couple of things here and I’m going to respectfully differ with Jerry in that I don’t think human beings will always make the decisions. They certainly won’t. And certainly don’t make all the decisions, what I think where I think, but they will make a good, good portion of what the intent of AI is to do is to learn those things that human beings can learn. But can’t remember to execute on, right? AI never gets emotional. It never forgets the steps. It never forgets all of the facts. It never forgets to factory condition B, whereas we humans do. I think one of the things that’s coming that isn’t mentioned in this comment is prescriptive analytics. It already exists. I’m an ancient company that has been doing prescriptive analytics for decades now, and it’s been incredibly helpful at the same time when we weren’t, or our intelligence was not able to make the decision for the user.

Greg White (00:57:21):

We then left, you know, the decision to the user, because this is what human beings are really good at. It’s evidenced by veterans, inadequate data, instantaneous decisions that mean life or death or business life or death. Those will always be made by human beings because AI takes a tremendous amount of data. So just to fine tune your point, Jerry, a little bit there. And then the other is this presence of silos and, um, you know, and how data is impacted and how it’s used within companies. That definitely needs to change the enable a lot of what we hope data and then, and the intellectual, uh, uh, intellectual technology around it can do for us in the future. So, yeah, the only thing that I would add is, uh, I do agree with you, uh, holistically, uh, DLA nuance that I was suggesting as there there’s generally is always an art visions that need to be made.

Greg White (00:58:32):

Uh, I was referencing this, I think art will continue to access. Other science should play a heavier hand. You know, what that enables human beings to do what they’re best at and are most satisfied doing anyway, right? We don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. We don’t have to want to rack our brains for something that’s happened to half dozen times. If we impart our knowledge into artificial intelligence. It can do without us needing to be there. We have effectively made the decision. We’ve just part of that knowledge. So the next generation AI, instead of our kids

Scott Luton (00:59:09):

On a related note, uh, in terms of technology that basketball playing robot and the Olympics has been turning some heads, uh, maybe the USA team needs. It could get past the likes of France who, uh, as much as I hate to kind of bring it to a point we really enjoyed, uh, y’all’s perspective today on the news of the day, as well as POV around data and risk and, and you name it. Um, let’s make sure folks can connect with y’all post show here today. Uh, and folks look like we’re going to run a minute or two over, but that’s okay. Too much stuff to talk about and too little time. So, uh, Jerry, Jerry Stevens on we’ll start with you VP of global sales with outlier. How can folks connect

Jerry Stephens (00:59:51):

With you? Yeah, they th they can use that to look me up online for LinkedIn or Jerry and outliers on any on, uh, either way. I love, you know, supply chain loves to talk about this stuff and would be happy to, uh, to chat with anybody. Wonderful.

Scott Luton (01:00:06):

And folks, a one-click is how we like to do it here. You’ll find that contact information in the show notes. Same question for you. Uh, Jordan White. How can folks connect with you?

Jordan White (01:00:18):

Yeah. Um, so for crest, it’s go crisp.com. And for me, I’m like Jerry, I love to talk shop about supply chain. So LinkedIn, they’re happy, happy to connect,

Scott Luton (01:00:33):

Love it. Uh, go crisp.com the URL and Jerry’s is outlier.ai. So wonderful to have Jordan White product manager with crisp and Jerry Stevens, VP global sales with outlier with us here today. Gentlemen, hope you all have a wonderful wonderfully productive week, and we look forward to hopefully having you back here with us on supply chain.

Greg White (01:00:54):

I enjoyed it. Thanks for joining us guys. Talk soon.

Scott Luton (01:01:04):

Hey, uh, sometimes the swoosh is just overloaded on these Mondays,

Greg White (01:01:09):

Right? I think we were trying to be polite and let Jordan finishes finishes is an exit, right? So well done.

Scott Luton (01:01:17):

Gosh, um, too much to cover and an hour’s time. And as, as Tom mentioned where it did the hour ago, it just, yeah, but you’re gonna, you were going to make a point,

Greg White (01:01:29):

Greg. Well, and what a topic. I mean, look, I think we underestimate data. We talk a lot about technology. We talk a lot about automation. We talk about all of these things. Every one of those things is enabled by the data that is underlying that and both of these skies, they, um, express that. And it’s interesting that they both kind of attack it from slightly different angles, right. But one making the data more available, right. As it, as blood in the body genius, what a genius analogy. Right. And the other in taking that data and just, I don’t know if everybody caught it when you were looking at the screenshots for outlier, but taking that data and saying, this is what you ought to learn, or this is what you ought to know, or this is what we’re highlighting for you from this data that is hugely powerful to be able to have data, give a, you ought to notice this because we found it in the data that is incredibly valuable. Agreed. So it is the advancement of technology that gives us the ability to do that, to learn more and more, to have things highlighted more and more for us. So

Scott Luton (01:02:37):

Great conversation. It is powerful. Uh, and it’s the future. It’s the now current state and a future state. Uh, it’s fascinating to put our finger on the pulse and dive in with experts like Jordan and Jerry and Greg, and enjoyed your POV today. Uh, and that’s going to have to, uh, be a wrap for us here on the supply chain, but, um, folks really enjoyed everybody’s comments. No, we couldn’t get to get to all of them. I really appreciate the insights and the expertise as well as a sense of humor that folks always bring to our live streams. Really appreciate everybody tuning in big. Thanks of course, to our friends, Jordan, with crisp Jerry with outlier, make sure y’all connect with both of those gentlemen. Uh, Greg, uh, let’s go out and have a wonderful week, but Hey folks, most importantly, most importantly, Hey, do good. Give forward. Be the change that’s needed. And with that said, we’ll see you next time here.

Intro/Outro (01:03:28):

It’s a bunch of thanks for being a part of our supply chain. Now community check out all of our programming@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.

Would you rather watch the show in action?

The Supply Chain Buzz for July 26th: Food and Retail Supply Chain Check-In

Featured Guests

Jordon White is a Product Manager at Crisp, where he is a key player in building the data platform. He is constantly thinking about what features and functionality could and should be built next to empower customers to use data effectively. Prior to Crisp, Jordon held supply chain management positions at leading retailers and suppliers including General Mills and Walmart. Connect with Jordon on LinkedIn.

Jerry Stephens has excelled in global organizations as well as startups. His initial background in world-class CPG organizations, working with retailers across the globe, as well as his passion for data, analytics and cross-functional strategy, enabled a seamless transition to technology beginning as the senior vice president and general manager at Market6 (acquired) and later as vice president of cognitive solutions at IBM. Jerry received his B.S. in finance from Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Connect with Jerry on LinkedIn.

Hosts

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

Greg White

Principal & Host

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Adrian Purtill

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.

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Kim Winter

Host, Supply Chain Now

The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.

He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.

A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).

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Kevin Brown

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics.  He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

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Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.

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Nick Roemer

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.

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Allison Giddens

Host

Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.

She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.

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Billy Taylor

Host

Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.

An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.

A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.

A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning.  He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.

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Tandreia Bellamy

Host

Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.

Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.

Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.

Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).

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Marty Parker

Host

Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.

Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.

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Laura Lopez

Marketing Coordinator

Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!

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Jake Barr

Host

An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.

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Marcia Williams

Host

Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.

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Luisa Garcia

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.

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Astrid Aubert

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.

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Sofia Rivas

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia self-identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, her mission is to advocate for the field and inspire young generations from diverse backgrounds and cultures to join the industry so that thought diversity is increased and change accelerated. Recognized as Linkedin Top Voice and Linkedin Community Top Voice in Supply Chain Management, as well as Emerging Leader in Supply Chain by CSCMP 2024, Top Women in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive 2023, and Coup de Coeur Global Women Leaders in Supply Chain by B2G Consulting in 2021

Public speaker at multiple international events from keynotes and panels, to webinars and guest lectures for bachelor's and master's degrees, discussing topics such as sustainability, women in the industry, technology and innovation. Writer at different online magazines on logistics, supply chain and technology. Podcast host and guest on different recognized programs in the industry. Sofia has more than 5 years of experience from academic research and field studies to warehouse operations, demand planning and network design. She has worked in manufacturing, airport operations, e-commerce retail, and technology hardware across Latin America, North America and Europe

Currently working as Supply Chain Network Design and Optimization Manager at HP within their Global Supply Chain and Logistics team

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Karin Bursa

Host

Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist. 

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Vin Vashishta

Host

Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.

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Trisha Cordes

Administrative Assistant

Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.

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Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.

From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.

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Greg White

Principal & Host

When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.

Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.

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Chris Barnes

Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring

Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.

Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.

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Tyler Ward

Director of Sales

Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.

With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.

When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!

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Kevin L. Jackson

Host of Digital Transformers

Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog.  He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community.  Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include CiscoMicrosoft, Citrix and IBM.  Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.

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Enrique Alvarez

Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español

Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.

He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.

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Kelly Barner

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.

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Mary Kate Soliva

Host, Veteran Voices

Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.

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Constantine Limberakis

Host

Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Amanda Luton

Vice President, Production

Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.

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Clay Phillips

Business Development Manager

Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.

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Chantel King

Social Media Manager

My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.

Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.

Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.

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Lori Sofian

Marketing Coordinator

Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.

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Katherine Hintz

Director, Customer Experience

Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

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Mary Kate Love

Chief of Staff & Host

Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.

Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Joshua Miranda

Marketing Specialist

Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more.  In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.

Donna Krache

Director of Communications and Executive Producer

Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys.  She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.

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Vicki White

Controller

Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.

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Katherine Hintz

Creative Director, Producer, Host

Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

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Kim Reuter

Host

From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.

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Kristi Porter

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.

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Sofia Rivas Herrera

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.

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Demo Perez

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.

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