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, made possible in partnership with the team at Azul Arc, Supply Chain Now hosts Scott Luton and Greg White find the strength to rise above the temptation to discuss sandwiches for the entire hour (inspired by this week’s episode of This Week in Business History – 5 Things You Didn’t Know About the Sandwich Industry).

Greg and Scott start the week by discussing a number of breaking news stories that supply chain professionals won’t want to miss:

• The key takeaways from the Q3 U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index, including serious driver and equipment shortages as well as fuel price increases
• Why Saks 5th Avenue is partnering with GXO Logistics to create a direct-to-consumer fulfillment hub ahead of the dramatic increase in demand expected in luxury goods this holiday season
• What it means for the rest of the world’s economies and private businesses that China’s economy has now contracted for the second consecutive month

Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:31):

Hey, good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Wherever you are in the world. Scott Luton, Greg White with you right here on supply chain and welcome to today’s live stream Gregory. How are we doing?

Greg White (00:42):

Very good. It is the 1st of November. Can you believe that? It feels like the year, this year is sailing by an October in particular went quickly. Feels like,

Scott Luton (00:53):

Well, um, so that’s big news, but what’s bigger news is I see you’ve got your rock and roll express starter kit on your arm. What would, what was that again?

Greg White (01:01):

It’s my, uh, it’s actually a mask, but it really doubles nicely as a,

Scott Luton (01:07):

Were you around here? Well, we’ve established what a second. Both of us were wrestling fans growing up. You remember Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson when the rock and roll express?

Greg White (01:18):

Well, so I grew up in the Midwest, so our local wrestlers were a total different group, but I think I’ve heard of rock and roll express. Yeah,

Scott Luton (01:27):

The world renowned. They do this thing. Oh, they had, they had all that back in the eighties. Hairbands, bandanas. Yeah. They had them all up there, all up their arms around their head. You name it. They were really cool when you’re 12 years old watching wrestling, but anyway, Hey welcome folks. Today’s supply chain buzz not and buzz supply chain buzz. We’re going to be tackling some leading stories across global business. So buckle up and get ready because we want to hear from YouTube. So we’re going to say hello to a few folks here at momentarily, Greg, but tell us, uh, before we get started, you’re in Kansas city, right? What’s the weather like what, you know, what’s the game, tee it up for us.

Greg White (02:10):

Yeah. Well it’s a little bit rainy. I’m looking out here. It’s a little bit rainy, uh, till about two o’clock it’s 44 degrees feels like 40, which reminds you quickly when you’re from Atlanta. What winter feels like. I mean, I know I’m going to, uh, I just can’t wait for Gary Smith or somebody from upstate New York, Bobby Holland from USBank right to say, uh, you guys, you don’t know what winter is, but uh, I feel like I will, after being out in it, uh, you know, 40 to 37 or whatever it’s going to get to tonight for probably five and a half hours or so. So, um, yeah, but it, it, it’s actually pretty nice here. The leaves are changing. Um, it’s pretty good, but it is kind of a reminder of one of the soon to becoming common disruptions of supply chain, which is the weather. Right. I’ve had a few snow storms in, you know, in the west and Northeast a little bit already. Um, they’re predicting snow in just north of Kansas city in the next day or so light snow. I’m sure. But you know, it’s just, when you thought we were out Scott, they pull us back then.

Scott Luton (03:22):

Um, they do. You’re absolutely right. Well, good luck with Kansas city taken on it’s here tonight. Let’s you know, I’m gonna flip the script a little bit. I’m gonna go in and say hello to a few folks. We’ve got Peter bowler all night and all day with us. He says, good afternoon, good. Monday afternoon, day after scary Hallows night. Certainly on the braids front. Of course, Halloween. Yeah, we can’t Greg, we can’t talk about the Braves game today, right?

Greg White (03:46):

I can’t it’s too soon Scott and there’s nothing. I mean, let’s talk about it to this extent. There’s nothing like a grand slam in the first inning of a game. And I literally thought the game was over. I thought no way they come back from that. They just got crushed in the previous game. Houston, no way Houston comes back from that, but they came back with a vengeance anyway, let’s move on. But you know what, there was a little bit of relief here in Casey because it was also Halloween all Hallows’ Eve. And not only did we get to see people out in their costumes, but, um, I’m here with one of my previous coach, two of my previous co-founders, uh, from blue Ridge, just kind of a celebratory after we sold the company. And, um, I was regaled with stories about one of my co-founders whose father is a Baptist preacher. So they didn’t really, they didn’t and, and from Andy’s from The Bahamas. So they didn’t really celebrate Halloween. And his wife is Haitian and is like totally against voodoo. And she feels like, you know, there’s a lot of that kind of bad Juju around Halloween. So their kids have never they’re kids now 25 and 23 have never gone trick or treating. So, and I know you’re, I don’t think you’re a huge fan of Halloween. I mean, not against it or anything, but it’s not like your favorite holiday.

Scott Luton (05:10):

I was just saying that sounds like a wonderful upbringing, Greg, a wonderful upbringing, but so really quick folks, um, I gave, offered our kids a little, little Mo monetary deal. If they stayed home and gave out candy versus going trick or treating, we couldn’t close the deal. But anyway, yeah, th they’re, they’re tough negotiators, Greg, so

Greg White (05:36):

That

Scott Luton (05:37):

We know it’s right. Hey, let’s say

Greg White (05:39):

Load two judges. They’re tough. Judges are

Scott Luton (05:41):

Really tough judges as well. Uh, Josh, you great to see you here via LinkedIn and by the way, Peter, thanks for stopping in as always, we can’t do a budget without ya. Um, Sushil is tuned in via LinkedIn. Great to have you back. So she’ll knee-high is with us, uh, via LinkedIn as well. Great to see in the harm. Uh, let’s see here, CICU from Arizona field LinkedIn. Great to see a great to have you here today. Hey, Jean pledger Gregory from, uh, Northern Alabama is with us here. You think he’s a Todd fan.

Greg White (06:13):

All right. Thanks

Scott Luton (06:15):

Jean. Let us know if you’re roll. Rolling, uh, uh, Crimson Todd fan. Uh,

Greg White (06:20):

But I think that, I think that matchup, by the way, the Georgia Alabama SCC championship metric, I think it’s already locked up. Is that right? Did I

Scott Luton (06:29):

Hear that right? I think you might be right. That’s going to be a great, I know

Greg White (06:32):

That Georgia is definitely in really? Yeah. I don’t know about Bama yet. So

Scott Luton (06:38):

We’ll see. Ramen is tuned in from LinkedIn. Winners are coming you’re right. Whether we like it or not speaking

Greg White (06:47):

Game of Thrones, reference

Scott Luton (06:49):

Speaking, Gary Smith, he’s here live in person. We’ll have to ask him about that fierce New York winter. So gear lists

Greg White (06:57):

Totally tuned in after I was complaining about cold weather. When it’s above zero,

Scott Luton (07:03):

The big show Bob Boba is back. Once again, he’s out there. I believe Greg. So I bet whether it’s really nice out there and he’s a giants fan,

Greg White (07:12):

They got a bunch of rain. Um, and you know, cause they had a big storm come to shore, which I think actually helped because their reservoirs in California were down by 26%. Wow. I mean, you could see the part of lakes that was, has been underwater for decades, frankly. So it was very strange, but I think that helps. Um, well of course it also helped with skiing, which I heard from a listener who is, uh, uh, ski buff.

Scott Luton (07:40):

Awesome. Love it. Uh, Jose and so great to have you here, Bob, uh, Jose, he’s also a giant fan. We got some giants fans here tuning in Greg. We’ve got Jennifer, uh, from Memphis, one of the barbecue capitals of the world to, to be LinkedIn. That’s right. Ackbar man. You’re breaking my heart go Astros. He says hello from Houston and let’s talk tariffs and one final one. So cringy. Do you

Greg White (08:10):

Think we could put a tariff on the Astros? I love that. I

Scott Luton (08:13):

Love that idea. Ackbar. Let’s see if we can do that. Yeah. Um, how about a tariff on really bad home plate umpires? That’s what we should talk tax, but we’ll set that aside. Hey Kerryn. Great to see you here today. Host of tech talk, digital supply chain podcast, and she says Bama has to get through Auburn still Greg.

Greg White (08:32):

And you know, that’s no small task in any year. It’s no small task because that is a hate game and hate can fuel a lot of surprises in a football game. Like the Michigan, Michigan state game this weekend, where in Michigan scored 21 points in two minutes and 35 seconds. Wow. And still lost the game.

Scott Luton (08:51):

Unbelievable. Uh, great. See you’re Korean Delano. Good morning guys from beautiful Southern California. Happy November 20, 21. Can’t believe it’s already here. That makes grievance.

Greg White (09:04):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (09:06):

Kelly Gray, sunny, Phoenix, Arizona, LinkedIn. Great. See Kelly and welcome to

Greg White (09:11):

As to, yeah, Phoenix only has two to a weather forecast. It’s sunny and 70 something or it’s sunny and 120 something. It seems like. Hmm. But it’s always sunny.

Scott Luton (09:24):

Yeah. Two gears, two gears to two toggles or welcome everybody. And I got to throw this one more common here. Bob says, you mean the Houston asterix, Bob bringing it today. Hey, love

Greg White (09:37):

That

Scott Luton (09:39):

Truth. All right. Well Greg let’s, uh, it’s just you and me today. And, and, and I say just, but we don’t have any, there’s plenty is plenty. We got plenty of stuff to walk through. Um, I’m going to tee up our visuals here and we’ve got a couple of events. We want to invite folks to starting with Greg tomorrow. We have got a webinar or a free webinar coming up. We’re talking about CX customer experience, especially as it’s being fueled through visibility diversification in the agility. Now, uh, not only do we have Nate Endicott with rate links, uh, joining us, but he’s bringing a great friend. Andy helps with school specialty Greg. So I’m excited for yet another great discussion with our friends, right?

Greg White (10:23):

I always love it when we get to talk to a technology provider or a services provider and, and a customer who’s really done. I think that perspective is so powerful, right. To see how people are competing and thriving or struggling, or, you know, meeting the challenges of the day, uh, in practical terms. I think it’s fantastic. Cause we talk a lot about what ought to happen, you know, and talk about it kind of a theory about how it does happen, but, but how it’s happening for a particular person or company just really drives the point home. So every time we can do that, hello,

Scott Luton (10:59):

Excellent point. Join us tomorrow at 12 noon Eastern time you got to register, but the link to register is in the show notes. Uh, and then coming up next week, uh, I’ll be joined by Larysa Siri and Dr. [inaudible], uh, November 9th at 12 noon. We’re talking about resiliency and agility, Greg.

Greg White (11:16):

Yeah. Kupa is making some big moves. They just thought, uh, well, not just bought, but recently bought llama soft and have completely expanded their offerings. And of course, um, big have done some big things over the course of the last couple of quarters. So I think resiliency and agility or something we need to titular attention on. Now, you know, we’ve done a lot of optimization and a lot of, uh, editors Paribas, all of the things being equal, kind of planning and analysis. And now knowing that all things are never equal, we realized that we have to reduce fragility, increase agility and resilience and responsiveness in the supply chain. It’s going to be a good discussion.

Scott Luton (11:59):

Agreed. Uh, and by the way, if you haven’t watched the world series, holy cow, Coupa’s everywhere. They’ve really made a splash, uh, with their sponsorship throughout the playoffs. Really. Um, so join us for that November night, 12 noon, the link to sign up. If it’s not in the show notes, Amanda Jada or Allie, if we drop it in the comments, please, and then Gregory. So today appreciate it. We were talking about sandwiches. So on today’s episode of this week in business history, we dive into some of the business side of the global sandwich industry, a little bit of fast food sandwich. So own that note to folks, if you like the intersection of business and history, you can find this week in business history, wherever you get your podcasts, we’d love for you to describe, but, um, we’re going to be talking folks about your favorite sandwiches. We’re going to hear from Greg. We’re going to hear from folks on the production side, kind of behind the scenes, Allie, Amanda Jayda. And we want to hear about your favorite sandwich and where you get it. So give us about three minutes or four minutes to get through the next couple of notes, but we want to hear about one of our favorite things are really good sandwich, right? Greg?

Greg White (13:08):

Yeah. And I think what was enlightening and asking people is it’s really hard for people to pick one favorite sandwich.

Scott Luton (13:16):

Right? Everybody’s got seven or eight favorites. So yeah. Give us one, I’m looking forward to working through that. So also take a listen to our five things you didn’t know about the sandwich industry. Now, Greg, one,

Greg White (13:29):

Other, any of those include who invented the sandwich?

Scott Luton (13:32):

It does. We, we touch on that a little bit. Um, you know, the, the third Earl of sandwich, I believe. Right. Great. John Montague, John. Um, we, do

Greg White (13:44):

You know why we invented it? Do you go into that in the show? Because I don’t want to spill it if you

Scott Luton (13:49):

A little bit, a little bit. Yeah. Um, you know, he, he liked to gamble, so he had, he wanted one hand on his food and one handle his cards perhaps.

Greg White (13:59):

And it was a particular night when he was winning and he, he didn’t want to step away from the table because he was winning.

Scott Luton (14:05):

Wow. Okay. Well, we’re going to have to get a full-blown series around sandwiches and Greg white and really do it.

Greg White (14:15):

If you watch enough, um, whatever it is, the national poker tour or whatever, they tell you, all those, all the gambling stories. Really.

Scott Luton (14:24):

Yeah. Okay. There’s a lot more there. I feel like you’re not telling me, but we’re gonna dive into it. Uh, before you’d know it. I want to give a shout out Greg to our dear friends at Azle. So we’re producing today’s show in partnership with our friends as Ark who built our stunning yes, stunning new website at supply chain. Now that com now Greg, you and I have had, of course met was the here and the team. And we’ve even had him on the show. They’re leaders in user experience, design and development of websites. And Greg you’ll get a kick out of this custom software applications within the supply chain industry. So big, thanks to the here and a talented award-winning team at Azule arc. You can learn more@azuahrq.com, but Greg what’s one thing whether about Zahir, who is, is, um, talk about food was the, here we can have a whole series there or about what this team does from a, that UX, uh, point of view, what, what comes to mind?

Greg White (15:22):

Well, so, I mean, they, they start first with a really solid foundation of research of the persona of who will be using the technology. So I’ve actually talked to them about some technologies that I have about doing you UI and UX work for it before. First of all, great team, unbelievably talented, really, um, all the folks that I’ve talked to there are really, really strong zippers, you know, your leader of course. But, um, but yeah, I think the thing is that they really want to know the type of people like what, what their makeup is and also how they intend to be using it, mostly working back from the goals of how they’ll use the technology. And I think that is really, really powerful. Um, you know, I’m a strong believer that you build the UI and UX first and, and then you adapt the technology that underpins that to that, because the worst thing you can have is a really, really good piece of technology that nobody wants to use. It’s true. Right. I mean, and it happens all the time,

Scott Luton (16:23):

The point excellent point, uh, great advice. Well, Hey, y’all check out as all art.com. If you have any needs in mind, especially for the new year, as, as we’ve already celebrated, we’re in November already, which is tough to believe. Okay, so Greg, we’re gonna move, we’re gonna spend a couple minutes talking sandwiches, right? Because national sandwich day is Wednesday, November 3rd. I had no idea they celebrate sandwiches formerly, um, that requires tuxedos one day a year. And so

Greg White (16:56):

You gotta pick your sandwich carefully on that. Right.

Scott Luton (16:59):

So, and, and by the way, Sophia, great to have you back, um, hope this finds you and, and your family. Well, so yeah.

Greg White (17:07):

Uh, Greg, you always got to ask though, when you see Sophia, are you, you, are you your sister? Right? Because they are twins.

Scott Luton (17:14):

Right. Um, all right. So I want to ask you Greg, with national sandwich day coming up on Wednesday, November 3rd, what is your favorite sandwich and or where do you get it? Okay.

Greg White (17:26):

It could be as popular and, um, insightful as my, you know, what would you do after you made a pile of money? Landscaping answer. My favorite stuff is egg salad. I love eggs out unquestionably, head and shoulders above the rest next would probably be peanut butter and jelly. And then that, because when you start a tech company, you better like eating peanut butter and jelly. Um, cause you’re gonna need it for like two years. Right. And then, you know, the vast array of sandwiches, which I’m sure we’ll hear from the, you know, the crew in the, um, upper decks and the club seats today. So that’s mine. What about you? What is your favorite sandwich?

Scott Luton (18:08):

All right. So, uh, Patty Milt from waffle house that from waffles. Oh man. With some Tabasco, I’ve been eating that since a little less of it, but since high school days. And it’s just a thing of beauty. And then, you know, if, if we’re opting maybe for a few less calories, uh, a good Italian sub and a Jersey Mike’s is our franchise. We like going to, uh, we like the bread. They’re not a big subway fan, but hometown Aiken, South Carolina, there’s a great place called pats sub shop. They’ve been around for decades because they get it right. They do it right. And they build it. Right. And it’s delicious. So a Patty melt or an Italian sub,

Greg White (18:51):

I have a philosophical sandwich question for you. And that is, do you consider a hamburger, a sandwich or is it a burger unto itself? Is it a totally separate category or is it a sandwich?

Scott Luton (19:06):

Excellent question about that. My quick date is since a Patty melt, I get it on standard wheat toast. That makes it a sandwich instead of a burger. But I think that burger is a different category. It would be my take. Yeah.

Greg White (19:22):

It is funny how Patty melt is a completely different definition of food from a hamburger. It’s not

Scott Luton (19:29):

Now for the purpose of that podcast. On this week in business history, we kind of took a sandwich, but then an extended view of the food industry. Inclusive

Greg White (19:40):

Yeah. Sandwiches. That’s good.

Scott Luton (19:43):

All right. So I’m going to a really quick, and it looks like we’re getting some great sandwich suggestions here. We’re going to share from around the sky boxes. Let’s see Allie, who’s on our production team, uh, Turkey from Publix, uh, Amanda, who’s also behind the scenes here today. A club sandwich, not from, I mean, just from anywhere. She also likes making a mean club sandwich and then Jayda, Greg had a couple answers here. So she’s a big Jimmy John’s fan loves the Pepe. They’re at Jimmy John’s or the Hammond cheddar at Penn station, which I think is also a chain of maybe in the further up the Atlantic seaboard. Wow.

Greg White (20:23):

Yeah. Hammond chatter. I love a hot hand sandwich

Scott Luton (20:27):

I’m with you. So

Greg White (20:29):

Let’s, let’s see. That’s what makes it so hard,

Scott Luton (20:31):

Right? Especially when the cheese is just like flowing, it’s just soft and velvety and you’ve got a good piece of ham and good bread because the bread is what makes sandwiches. But let’s see what Peter says. Peter says have many his self in terms of the favorite sandwiches, bacon, grilled cheese, or Ruben Montreal smoked meat, best

Greg White (20:54):

The smoked meat sandwich. Everyone should eat one of those before you die. It is unbelievably spectacularly delicious.

Scott Luton (21:02):

Wow. Souvlaki egg sandwich club with meat and a fried egg list goes on and on. And he also left out the Philly cheese steak. He loves her a Sophia pulled pork sandwich, avocado and spicy barbecue. How about that?

Greg White (21:18):

Yeah, I think, I think a barbecue sandwich is kind of, it’s kind of one of those fringe categories because so often eat barbecue, not on a sandwich. Right. But when you do, yeah, I don’t even, I didn’t even click it that as a sandwich option. Uh, but I often need it.

Scott Luton (21:37):

Pete smoked meat. Can’t beat pizza meat. Is there a slogan? Thank you, Peter. Boulay uh, Stacy. Great to see you here today. Uh, via LinkedIn Corrine says momma Goldberg’s mama’s love with trademarks team bun. Gary likes a homemade permitted cheese with ham at home and from the store. Definitely the classic Chick-fil-A sandwich. Okay. Big show. Bob Bova. Claros Claros Claros Italian deli, a great grandpa, Joe or sausage and peppers on the Joe mortadella, capricola capricola, provolone draws, salami pepper and cheese. Oh man.

Greg White (22:20):

That’s

Scott Luton (22:20):

Right. Finally, fully on what should we get everybody here at Felicia says hello, Felicia from our friends at RLA. My sister in Denver makes the best sandwich. No matter what I do, I can’t replicate it. Or maybe it’s just better when someone else makes it for you. Basic white bread, Turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and bacon. How about that, Greg?

Greg White (22:40):

Yeah, that does sound good. So I think I’m too old. He have caught on every sandwich, but I do frequently.

Scott Luton (22:48):

All right. Well, thanks for everybody’s sharing. Gosh, we’ve gotten deep into the show and we still gotta get to the news of the day, but Hey, we want to hear your take on three storage. We’re going to be talking about freight. We’re going to be talking about, uh, uh, partnership between sax and GX. Oh, we’re going to be talking about Amazon says it’s um, it is snarling snarl proofing its supply chain more to come on that. And then China’s manufacturing activity. Uh, we’re going to touch on all of that and more on today’s supply chain buzz. All right. So, uh, I’m going to pull this up, Greg, and we’re going to walk through suit. So Greg, as we do once a quarter, we had our friends from U S bank. Join us for the three Q 2021, uh, freight payment index this quarter. And I think show took place last week, maybe week four. Uh, Greg, we had, uh, Patricia from mandolins international who basically leads our north American, uh, transportation, uh, activities, which man wonder how much sleep she gets at night, but she was a home run guest. And it’s really neat to kind of hear the data side from Bobby and then the practitioner side from Patricia. Yeah. Um, I’ve got a couple of notes, but Greg, what was, uh, what was the key takeaway or two from you when it comes to their freight payment index

Greg White (24:04):

Inflation? There aren’t enough drivers. There’s not enough. Um, you know, the, I mean the cost of diesel fuel is so very high. Um, I think setting records now since we actually had that, had that show with them right there aren’t enough trailers, equipment drivers. Um, and, and one thing that I saw that was particularly interesting is that while there’s a lot of latent demand out there, demand is actually the ability to fulfill demand is actually tamping down demand in the marketplace because so many people are not even, they’re not even issuing forbids because they’re no trucks to haul this stuff. So it’s a really interesting point where it looks like demand is low. Um, but that’s only because so many people are out of the market.

Scott Luton (24:57):

Agreed and, and uh, a couple of things. And I’ll throw this graphic back up here really quick, Greg, everything’s up spinning in volumes in particular, third quarter spending is up 32.6% over third quarter. Last year. It has the second biggest increase ever, Greg. And if you check it out by region, check out the Western region here, when it comes to spend 44% increase in spend three Q a third quarter, 2021 over 2020. So no shortage of observations, no shortage of activity in challenges across the north American freight market. Uh, the best thing, perhaps the best news here, Greg, perhaps is you can get the freight payment index for free. If you go to freight that bank.com.

Greg White (25:44):

Yeah, don’t be, don’t be surprised by this information next quarter,

Scott Luton (25:48):

Right?

Greg White (25:51):

You can get on their mailing list and they’ll send it to you and then you can discuss it with us and our guests here.

Scott Luton (25:58):

See that. Yeah. We’d love to have your voice.

Greg White (26:01):

We had some of that. I mean, this time around too, we had several folks who were chiming in on what, what they’re seeing, right. Or why they think we’re seeing it. I love that discussion.

Scott Luton (26:11):

I’m with you. So Mohib mammo, heaps stolen down the gauntlet. He says, Scott, I know you like your food very much, but don’t you think it’s time to hit the gym as well. Two hours a day will make you look really good with your dash. And Erica may say, I love you too, man. I love you have this finds you well there in Wichita, Kansas, uh, Allie says, oh man, my favorite is actually the BLT. How did I forget that?

Greg White (26:40):

There’s a great harvest store near our house. They make a fantastic bop.

Scott Luton (26:45):

Sounds delicious. Especially during the summer with summer tomatoes, T squared who holds down the Fort for us on YouTube says, uh, Rachel is a good one. Just mess a Reuben with coleslaw instead of sauerkraut.

Greg White (26:58):

Huh? Okay.

Scott Luton (27:00):

You had me, you had me at Cole slaw. We love our Cole slaw around here. Okay, Greg, we got to keep driving. We still got a lot more information

Greg White (27:08):

Talking about the news yet. Right?

Scott Luton (27:10):

All right. So to that end, uh, I want to start, uh, news-wise Saks fifth avenue is partnering with GXO and fulfillment to try to keep it with e-commerce demand. According to this story, Colin Campbell, Colin Campbell, maybe over at supply chain down. So Greg get this luxury fashion demand foreign concept around these parts at least, uh, is expected to increase dramatic. It’s expected to increase dramatically over holidays. Thusly Saks is partnering with a new GXO logistics fulfillment center in Middletown, Pennsylvania. So it can ship directly to customers across the country. In fact, Greg, 70% of that new facility there, 70% of inventory is gonna be dedicated to Sachs. Um, your thoughts are Greg.

Greg White (28:00):

Yeah, so I, I posted a little bit about this article and there was some serious interest on this late last week. And GXO, and for anyone who doesn’t know is a spin-out of XPO XPO, sorry, there you go. Uh, cause you know, they’ve started spinning off business units to try and increase shareholder value and it’s happening instantaneously, but Sachs actually started a new business. This is actually a separate business from their regular retail for e-commerce. I’m not sure why that is. I think there’s a lot of synergies to be gained with it, with it being in the same company. But I think, um, I was actually really impressed to see a relatively old school you could argue, right? They’re one of the oldest luxury department store brands in the country, right. Um, to see them kind of tackle this and particularly for the reason that they did, they want to reduce complexity and risk in their supply chain.

Greg White (28:57):

Right. And not what I noticed right out of the gate was costs was not at the top of their list. I’m sure there is huge cost benefit, but cost is just one of the risks of supply chain. It is not one of the goals of supply chain, right? This is a risk balancing exercise. Often you’re, you’re weighing costs against optimal fulfillment, whatever you want, whatever that is for you. But I was really, uh, really impressed by their approach to this. I think it’s a very mature and innovative approach for this, particularly an established retailer like this.

Scott Luton (29:34):

Now did you know Greg, there are three towns named Middletown in Pennsylvania. I trying, I’ll try really quick for the show to look up and kind of see, you know, we’re where they decide to place this fulfillment center, but we’re going to do a little more homework cause there was no, there were no quick answers, but

Greg White (29:54):

Really interesting. Three towns named Middletown, right? Three different there’s a state that has two Springfield’s also, I can’t remember what state it is.

Scott Luton (30:02):

Come on. We can’t flood the market. Like come on let’s let’s pick one and get more creative, but uh, interesting to see what Saks fifth avenue is doing with GXO and we will see how these efforts, um, play out as we get through the holidays. So moving right along, Greg, I want to talk about, um, keeping up with demand. Now Amazon says it’s ready for the supply chain, snarls operative word snarls that will be coming with the days ahead. So, and before I came up to look, I tried to find when I think of the word snarl, what image comes to mind. So we’re trying to illustrate these powerful words they put in these headlines. So according to any Palmer over at CNBC, Amazon has stated in a blog post that the company is well positioned to quote get customers what they want when they want it, wherever they are. This holiday season, there was a big, big fight in words, but Amazon is also doing what other retailers, other retailers are doing encouraging shoppers to buy earlier for the holidays this year. In fact, I think I saw Amazon talk about, um, some, uh, black Friday ish looking deals already in October. Um, maybe trying to shift some of that demand,

Greg White (31:26):

Target and Costco too, then been doing it. Yeah,

Scott Luton (31:30):

Amazon says, and then my come get your take here, Greg, including your comments on our, our, our, uh, visceral pictures we used for the headline, uh, Amazon says it has amongst other things invested in inventory planning, doubled its shipping container processing capacity and partnered with more ocean freight carriers. Gregory. Are they going to be able to insulate themselves truly from supply chain snarls?

Greg White (31:56):

No. Is there anything else you want me to say? Um, of course, of course they’re not. Uh, and of course this is what they would say. I think if anyone can do it can be successful, there’ll be right at the top. But I think, you know, organizations like home Depot and Costco and others, who’ve basically chartered their own ships. So they’re in charge of whether they’re good, stay on the ship and that sort of thing. They’re in a much, much better position. Now, the other thing that Amazon has going for them is this vast fulfillment and logistics network that they have that is a service to their customers. The other thing that they have going for them is the plausible deniability of being able to say, well, that’s not that outage is not really on us. That’s on the, that’s on the merchant, that’s on the provider of those goods, right.

Greg White (32:44):

Or that’s on the, the seller in the marketplace. So, um, yeah, I mean, I think they’ll do as well as can be done, but as I was reading through this article and thinking about this, I’m thinking there are so many things that are already out of stock. It’s not like, and are presumably going to continue to be out of stock. They’re not gonna overcome that. What they’re really talking about is they hope and they believe that they have a strategy to, um, not get in snarled. I think not at fishing line line, by the way, when I think sorrow, that kind of sorrow. Right. But, um, but not getting ensnared in, you know, in further supply chain disruptions, and maybe they’re able to take enough control of what they’ve already got in motion or plan to have in motion or probably should already have here on our shores, um, that, that they, they feel that they can overcome it, but there are going to be far fewer skews, far lesser quantities of, of, um, products this holiday season. That’s just a fact, right. And it’s, you know, it’s impossible to avoid. I mean, the, the ships that have been waiting in the harbors for weeks or now in some cases, 90 days, they were, they were, and still are carrying goods for the holidays. And as we’ve noted today, Scott it’s now November. So, so it is effectively the holidays, right?

Scott Luton (34:12):

That’s right. Hey folks, let us know what you think is Amazon, how are they going to be able to mitigate or to what extreme and get around some of these challenges, let us know. You may already be seeing some things play out, uh, with Amazon or other e-commerce retailers. I’d say, Greg, you know, we’re going to talk about the power of diversification tomorrow with rate links when it comes to managing your supply chain. Um, I think part of that, well, something we’ve been doing around here at least as a consumers is diversifying where we place our orders. I probably have used Amazon the least amount in 2021 since I became a, you know, a regular user at Amazon, uh, whether it’s books from Barnes and noble and some other sources cause really, uh, and, and oftentimes for me, Greg, I don’t know what it’s like for you, but I, I really, I’ve tried to embrace the fact and fight against that, that, um, I need it now kind of human element when it comes, it comes, I don’t need that book tomorrow. I don’t need that book two days from now. And so when you really start to kind of peel that layer of human psychology back, you can really get what you need it of wide variety of places other than Amazon.

Greg White (35:21):

Well, and the truth is Amazon can, in a lot of cases, um, they can’t meet the two day delivery thing even for prime members, which I am. And I’m sure you are in the millions, hundreds of millions of Sr. Um, they can’t meet that. And then, and you know, it’s funny because two realizations, one, my wife told me that coffee, and if your coffee is going up substantially to give you an idea, I usually buy a six pack of coffee, beans and ground coffee beans. And they are where they were $88 for 4, 6, 2 0.2 pounds, a thousand kilogram bags. Um, I basically buy a key of coffee, only coffee, um, but it was $88. The last time I bought it at this time to buy it $118. So that is a substantial inflation rate. Um, there’s obviously things going on in Brazil and some of the other producing countries, but I was still able to find a coffee that must already be in stock at, at closer to my previous price. And I did what I, what I call a forward buy, which is really what got me into supply chain, hedging, hedging inventory against cost inflation. So I bought like three times as much as I usually do really did a little quick calculation, could determine what I expect the price to go up to and bought about three times as much as I usually do. Um, so that I hopefully won’t have to buy again until the price goes back down.

Scott Luton (36:57):

Wow, man, I love that Greg, you need to teach some classes around that. Hey, um, I want to add one other note and Amanda Jayda, Allie, if we can drop this in the comments, as we look to diversify our spin and look at other resources, a spousely.com is a great resource. It’s a community and a marketplace built and comprised of veteran entrepreneurs, military spouse, entrepreneurs, and first responder entrepreneurs. And when Greg talked about coffee, uh, we got a big old five-pound bag of coffee from one of the wonderful retailers there at spousely. So it’s a great resource to consider as we get into holiday, I’ve already been in holiday shopping season. So if we can drop that in the comments there, Amanda, that’d be wonderful. Um, let’s see here. Sophia says

Greg White (37:40):

I went out just one more thing before we get to Sophia. One thing that this really struck me when reading this article is the article referred to Amazon as the retailer, not the marketplace, not the tech company or anything that when they, when they use that specific term, it made me think that in a lot of ways, Amazon is just another retailer. They really, in so many ways, are there vendors in their case, they call them sellers, but their vendors sell goods that they then make sure make it to the consumer just like Saks fifth avenue or just like target or Walmart or, you know, whoever else. And when you think about it that way, and you know, Amazon stock has been wavering to put it kindly all year. In fact, it’s down over the year, uh, for some portion of the year. Um, when you think about it that way, it makes you think because that’s a big part of their business and it’s also the least profitable part of their business.

Greg White (38:44):

How much of a drag is this retail on Amazon? And how long will they tolerate that? Because clearly they have not fixed the cost benefit scenario in the retail aspect of their business. They make all of their money off of AWS, Amazon web services, hosting servers, right? So I don’t know why that just happened to strike me today in thinking about that. And they use that. So intentionally I’m getting pretty good at that. So intentionally, um, in the article, I think it’s worth a read. I’d love to get people’s perspectives on that or, sorry, let’s go back to Sophia.

Scott Luton (39:20):

No, I love that. I love that. I love that spin. I think a lot of folks may, you know, a lot of consumers may be looking at Amazon much more transactionally versus kind of that strategic overview of the model that you offered up there. Greg Sophia says, I believe that as much as Amazon can hold accountable sellers for delays or prove they are not responsible for the out of stocks, customers will sadly always blame them.

Greg White (39:45):

The sellers. Is that what you think? That’s what you mean? The south sellers or Amazon, because I don’t think it’s sad at all and blame Amazon. They’re the one taking responsibility for it.

Scott Luton (39:55):

Sophia, if you can clarify that remark, that’d be wonderful. And I’m so glad you’re here. Uh, Stacy says, I agree with Greg, Amazon might have strategies in place to make their supply chain better, but to completely avoid the problems that they are already having. I’ll take a whole lot of more and better management and accountability is what she is saying. That Amazon’s got

Greg White (40:18):

To agree with that. Yeah. All

Scott Luton (40:20):

Right. Wonderful. Uh, and then Jose says, Hey, Greg truck Colombian coffee from coffee bean. We’ll have to check that out.

Greg White (40:29):

Uh, yeah. So I don’t know what the source of the coffee is. I know it’s a, it’s an Italian brand, I, which I’m not going to name cause I don’t want you people there buying it out from under. But, um, but um, I think some of the beans are sourced from Africa and some are sourced from Columbia. I’ll have to look and look that again.

Scott Luton (40:52):

Wonderful.

Greg White (40:53):

Colombian coffee is spectacular, right? I mean, it really is. Um, Enrique and the team at vector global logistics have done a couple of different episodes of logistics with purpose where they talk about not just Colombian coffee, but fair trade, Colombian coffee, where the growers are part of the co-op and are appropriately compensated for their, um, you know, for their wares. So yay. Columbia. Yeah. You to these cooperatives

Scott Luton (41:24):

A quick trivia question. So Greg Brazil leads the world in at least in terms of 2020 production for coffee. Do you know the name of the country that ranks second as of 2020 production

Greg White (41:37):

Ethiopian?

Scott Luton (41:37):

No, that’s a good guess. Vietnam, can you, yeah. Can you believe that? Um, and, and I got that little nugget from a great site called visual capitalist.com. Amanda, if we can drop that in the notes, if you like infographics and like really interesting infographics, that’s really data-driven checkout visual capitalist.com. It really

Greg White (41:58):

Surprised me. It’s crazy. I would never guess that. Yup.

Scott Luton (42:01):

Wow. Uh, let’s see. Sophia does clarify, uh, she, she’s talking about sellers get

Greg White (42:07):

And blamed. Yeah. That’s exactly what Amazon wants.

Scott Luton (42:11):

Right. Let’s see here.

Greg White (42:13):

And, and to, to the previous comment, that’s where they need to take accountability. They are almost fully responsible for not only the sourcing or not only the fulfillment, but also the sourcing, uh, logistics for a lot of those sellers as well.

Scott Luton (42:29):

So Shashi was owned the money, man. He knows his coffee. I love that Shashi. And he also said, Amazon not responsible for out of stock. How would they manage accountability? Interestingly

Greg White (42:44):

Right there, they have a grand voice. They have a great, great voice. Right. They have the bully pulpit. So,

Scott Luton (42:49):

And you see Greg they’ve been investing in some of these commercials and these campaigns that talks about how it counters the news narrative out there in terms of how it treats the company treats its workers. Have you seen

Greg White (43:03):

Yeah. The F the, the Filipino guy who, um, yeah. Who’s become a nurse, thanks to them, right? Yeah. I mean, good on them for doing that. I don’t know if that’s the exception or the rule, but certainly good on them for that. And for anyone who speaks to Gallo, I love to know what he says in the last part of that commercial, you know, that the commercial I’m talking about. So he talks about his, he talks about the whole story, and then he says something into gala the Philippine language. And, but I don’t speak it. So I don’t know what he’s saying has a great,

Scott Luton (43:36):

No, I can barely speak English. Um, I struggle with that enough. Um, but Greg, you know, you don’t miss a thing. We’ll see if someone knows exactly what he says there towards, in that commercial. I don’t, I don’t think I’ve picked up on that, but, uh, Hey, you got to give Amazon credit. I do. You know, I love to see a really good meaningful story, even if it is perhaps the exception versus the rule, uh, good on the company for doing what they did, uh, on that story. All right. You gotta start somewhere. You gotta start somewhere. That’s good. Good point. All right. So finally, as we approach, gosh, we’re only, we’re about quarter til the top of the hour, and we’ve got so much more fun to have Craig. Uh, a lot of, a lot of good folks in the sky box is here today.

Scott Luton (44:17):

So according to Jonathan Chang, over at the wall street journal, China’s manufacturing activity has contracted for the second consecutive month. October’s numbers showed a bigger contraction than September and the overall manufacturing for China should the lowest reading since February, 2020. Now it’s a great article. You should check it out, be the wall street journal. We can’t do it fully justice here kind of walks into a variety of different, uh, different, uh, factors that are kind of colliding and intersecting, but a couple of them, they pointed out weak domestic demand related to, um, uh, uh, a variety of factors, including tightening regulation, especially when it comes up, uh, uh, property management, whatnot investment, and also, you know, they’ve had, uh, isolated breakouts of COVID all that has, and other things have helped to weakened domestic demand, but also the widespread power shortage, which some are calling China’s worst energy crisis in decades. So Greg, some of your thoughts.

Greg White (45:19):

Yeah, it is definitely that. I mean, and they have a very, very dangerous combination. They are already in a state of economy that for those of you who haven’t heard it called this before, it’s called stagflation where demand is flat or declining, and yet prices are still rising. Their, uh, their PMI, their producers management index and, and, uh, consumer pricing index are both on the uptick big time because the energy scarcity, um, you know, causes an increase in pricing. Um, the pricing of raw materials is, is well above the, you know, the article mentions an index, um, of the pricing of raw materials. And that is way up, way up. Um, and you know, there’s just a lot going on. So they are really, really struggling as an economy and their bank, their, their, uh, central bank is disinclined to start to kind of manipulate the money supply or anything like that.

Greg White (46:26):

Interest rates to try and stimulate the economy so that, you know, we’ll have to see what’s happened, but they are already according to some analysts in, in a state of stagflation. And it’s probably a precursor for the, you’re not gonna wanna hear this. Scott we’ll, we’ll talk we’ll, we’ll spin it positive. Somehow. That’s probably a precursor for what’s going to go on in the rest of the world, as well as, um, you know, as increasing pricing starts to drive down demand in the marketplace. Um, we’re going to start to see a lot of stagflation and possibly even recession around the world. I only say that because it’s better to be informed and prepared than surprised and broken

Scott Luton (47:06):

Well, uh, I hope you’re absolutely a hundred percent wrong, but, um,

Greg White (47:11):

Good point. That’s an excellent point. I hope I’m a hundred,

Scott Luton (47:15):

But I’ve learned as I’ve learned, don’t bet against Greg white. Uh, he knows what he’s talking about all too often. Um, you know,

Greg White (47:24):

It also, just to be clear, it’s got it also doesn’t mean it’s imminent in other parts of the right, but I mean, let’s face it China as goes the world these days, or guys go to China these days. So it goes the world in a lot of cases though, I still think that, you know, the way that their government manages and manipulates their, their economy and their industries, because they’re all owned by the state, of course, in some form or fashion, um, they do have a unique set of circumstances or there is a chance that it doesn’t impact the whole world. Right?

Scott Luton (47:59):

Um, well, we will keep our finger on the pulse for sure. Wide ranging a episode of the buzz. And again, this last article that we’ve been pointing to, uh, you can find in the wall street journal, and that was, uh, uh, written by Jonathan Chang. So good stuff there. Good reporting. Um, okay, so Gregory, uh, it got about 10 til man. We got through that a little bit faster than I thought we would, um, in possible. So, um, you’re in Kansas city, uh, for a couple of days here. Is there one legendary, um, uh, restaurant that you Def E each trip in the Kansas city? When you go to the, you know, football games, you hit up every single time.

Greg White (48:45):

Yes. Uh, there is the Arthur Brian’s is, is a place that I always go. It’s old school, Kansas city, barbecue. Um, it’s in a part of town where by the way, you can make a study of logistics because that part of town has kind of transitioned over the years. And there are just a ton of there. Of course, there’s a ton of trucking in Kansas city. There’s, there’s a bunch of, uh, logistics yards and truck yards, uh, right around place. So you have to be very judicious about what time of day you go to eat there, because you could get behind, uh, a couple hundred truck drivers and spend a lot of time in line, but that’s great. Um, majestic, which is, uh, possibly the best steakhouse in America. Um, and yes, I have eaten at Peter Luger’s Gary Smith. So I’ll stand by that. Um, so, uh, but yeah, I mean, that’s good. And, and always, if there is, uh, a new but reputable barbecue joint, um, 2 39 is another one, one of the newer, newer ish ones, at least to me. Um, and that was spectacularly delicious and Casey Joe’s, um, I’m a particular fan of Casey Joe’s because I liked the way they pull the smoke into and through the, the food.

Scott Luton (50:08):

Love it. I love it. Um, so gosh, we can, we need to talk a lot more food around here. Maybe we don’t need to talk a lot more food around here because Mohib is already encouraging me to go into jail and we talked about food, but Hey,

Greg White (50:24):

Pretty good, by the way, in your new swag, look at that, Scott. I love that quarter. Zip man, that is very styling. I’m surprised nobody, nobody commented on that. I mean, seriously, it looks fantastic.

Scott Luton (50:37):

Well, we got, we got a lot more coming, hitting a few supply chain snarls, as you might imagine, they’re Greg. Um, but Hey, nobody is immune these days. Nobody is immune. Um, I want to wrap on one thing that we don’t talk enough about folks. Um, you know, there’s a lot, there’s a wide variety of ways. You can engage what we do here at supply chain now. And by the way, your engagement is the best part of this journey. We’re on really enjoy hearing from all of you. Um, Amanda and Allie and Jayda, really the whole team here, um, produces a weekly e-newsletter and yeah, there’s plenty of them, but we have really been reinventing how we do it. And it’s called the voice right after the voice of supply chain. It drops every Wednesday and I’m gonna give a man a chance to, uh, find the link and drop it in the comments, because I want to pose a challenge out there to folks. Um, so if we can drop that link in the chat, and by the way, Jennifer says, I’ll weigh in. When you come to Memphis, if you don’t have a favorite barbecue joint, all Jennifer, you can’t mention that and not come on, you got to let us know your favorite. Uh,

Greg White (51:44):

Yeah, actually I have been to Memphis, um, and I have to confess, I wrote it down so I didn’t commit it to memory, but there are a couple of pretty good places. There’s one, I think grand Concourse, which is really famous. I’m not sure that’s not, that’s a good one. It’s not at the top of my list. I cannot remember what it’s as somebody’s name or nickname or something

Scott Luton (52:06):

Embarrassing. Quirky is that it is it Jennifer Corky’s is a name.

Greg White (52:12):

You can’t leave the place without smell. Like you’ve been barbecue. Right? Which I love.

Scott Luton (52:17):

Alright, well, Hey, back to, so a weekly newsletter, um, chock full of not just our stuff, uh, headlines, some humor, uh, some giveaways, you name it, but sign up for the voice link is right there and I’m going to sweeten the deal a bit. So, um, for the next three subscribers that, uh, subscribe to newsletter, but then also let us know. And whether you send us a note on social, or you can shoot an email over to amanda@supplychainnow.com. We’re going to send you some goodies. We’re going to send you some goodies. Uh, it may be chili reps. It might be Allie’s

Greg White (52:54):

Championship winning,

Scott Luton (52:57):

But we’ll make it worth your while. So if you, if you, the first three folks that subscribe and shoot us a note, we want to send you something good. And by the way, Jennifer says Corky’s is good for a chain. Oh man, we said that we said the wrong thing.

Greg White (53:12):

Um, I’m trying to figure out what the place is. Oh, rendezvous is that’s. That is a really good one. Yes, that’s it. And it’s not grand Concourse. I’m not thinking there’s one, that’s in a train or something like that. But rendezvous,

Scott Luton (53:32):

Kevin L. Jackson popping in, uh, happened,

Greg White (53:35):

Which has happened November. I’m glad you made it home safe to see you on Friday.

Scott Luton (53:41):

It was great to see you. Kevin has came into Atlanta for our, uh, Atlanta hot Chile championship. Cook-off which Allie one. And you know, of course, uh, Kevin leads our digital transformer series and many other things across a global business. A great see here, Kevin, thank you, Bob. The voice, I think, uh, at Amanda rally or Jayda came up with that. So I appreciate that Eric Germantown commissary, one of my favorite places in Memphis

Greg White (54:07):

Commissary. That’s right?

Scott Luton (54:11):

Yeah. Now Jennifer responded Memphis barbecue company. You got to get the barbecue nachos there or central barbecue. It all sounds good to me, Jennifer. Um, Rhonda view is touristy. She says, but has amazing barbecue shrimp.

Greg White (54:28):

Maybe the one. Yeah, I know Scott. We got to wrap this up,

Scott Luton (54:35):

Stacy. Hey, I want them goody. She says, Hey, we’ll make sure you sign up. Make sure you let us know. And uh, thanks for everybody being here today. We had a lot of fun talking sandwiches, talk in Kansas city and little bit of football, a little bit of baseball, not much baseball, a bit of football. We’ll see what happens in the next two day. Next two games between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston asterix. According to big show, Bob Boba, just kidding. That was, Bob had said that, um, well-deserved well-deserved and a lot of other things taking place across global supply chain folks, make sure you sign up for the voice. Make sure you let us know. So we, you can, uh, be part of the, uh, very rough, informal drawing, best wishes, Greg safe travels to you and the contingent, the delegation out there in Kansas city.

Greg White (55:24):

Have a thank you. I think we’re going to have a good time.

Scott Luton (55:27):

So have a wonderful time. Hope you win the game tonight against the giants and folks. Most importantly, beyond football and sports and anything else do good. Give forward. Be the change is needed. And on that note, see you next time. Right back here at supply chain. Now thanks for buying.

Intro/Outro (55:46):

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.