Scott Luton (00:02):

Welcome to Supply Chain. Now the number one voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights and real supply chain leadership from across the globe. One conversation at a time. Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and Marty Parker. Was he here on supply chain? Now welcome to today’s live stream. Hey Marty, how you doing today?

Marty Parker (00:25):

Fantastic, Scott. I’m really excited to talk about everything today.

Scott Luton (00:29):

I am too, and I didn’t call you Party marker as I messed up last week, but

Marty Parker (00:35):

My favorite nickname by the way,

Scott Luton (00:38):

It’s a good one, but great to have Marty here today as we’re all kind of getting over, at least here in the metro Atlanta area. A winter storm that wasn’t quite as bad as predicted in other parts of the world and other parts of the states are prayers and thoughts with folks that are certainly impacted deeply. But on much lighter note, today’s the Buzz folks, where every Monday at 12 noon eastern time, we discuss a wide variety of news and developments across not just global supply chain, but global business news that matters is what we like to call it. And the buzz, of course, is powered by our friends all month long in January over at EPGA leading global provider of supply chain technology solutions. EPG has over a thousand team members across 23 locations worldwide serving over 1600 customers. Learn more about how your organization can benefit from smarter connected logistics@epg.com. Okay, so Marty, big show today. Let’s see, we’re talking trade shows to supply chains battling these winter storms to new innovation in 2026. All that much, much more. And we’ve enjoyed the pre-show session with our guests today. Heidi Bingo with Infor is here with us on the buzz. You’re going to enjoy her perspective. Marty, we’ve got a big show. You ready? Did you eat a big breakfast? Hearty breakfast this morning?

Marty Parker (01:55):

Absolutely did. I’m ready to go.

Scott Luton (01:57):

Outstanding. So folks, stay tuned for a big edition of the Buzz Powered by EPG. Okay, so before we bring on our big guest, Marty, I think there’s three things I want to walk through here today, right? And kind of the A block. And we’re going to start with a little thing we published over the weekend. With that said, it’s our almost weekly newsletter. So in this edition we’ve got a variety of news notes, resources like folks have come to expect, but I want to touch on a few things here. First off, look at the average price for new cars sold in the us. We’re approaching $49,000. Marty was your first car, $49,000.

Marty Parker (02:33):

It was $1,000, Scott. Okay, it was

Scott Luton (02:36):

Cash. I love it. I love that. It’s remarkable. 49,000. So speaking of the automotive industry folks, automotive industry analysts are very tentative on the year that 2026 will bring to that key industry. Of course, we know how important the automotive sector is to the US economy. It’s estimated to be 4.8% of our GDP Marty. The US auto sector hit 17 million units sold for five consecutive years prior to the pandemic. You see that there. But recovery has been slow for a variety of reasons. Sales were 16.3 million vehicles in the US last year in 2025, and analysts are expecting to hit that mark or dropped below it here in 2026, we shall see. Secondly, also with that said, we shared urgent needs from the American Logistics Aid Network and we are looking at doing that every week. Marty. Alan helps a wide variety of needs, but each week we’re trying to gather two or three of their priority needs and share that with our global audience.

(03:35):

If you’re in position, folks to use your supply chain infrastructure or other resources to contribute towards the help venture over to allen a.org and also you can check out the priority needs. With that said, finally Marty, we’ve got to hit on our hands. Our never normal series, which started with an episode featuring three or four chief supply chain officers, well is drawn a ton of great feedback. So installment number three has been scheduled. Now get this Who’s who list here? Marty Douglas Rum, global Vice President of Supply Chain for one of my favorite companies, the Hershey Company, oh chocolate Corey Knox, vice President North America Personal Healthcare supply chain operations with p and g Shay Nessler, vice President, supply Chain, CPG and Beauty with Danon. Love the Yogurt. And Eduardo Adame, vice President Global Supply Chain at 3M. Folks. This panel session, home run panel session, it’s going to be hosted by the one only, Corin Bursa on February 18th at 12 noon. It’s free to join. You just got to register and we’re going to drop the link so you can do just that. Alright, so Marty, back to what got started. All with that said, did you read that this weekend as you were staying in off the roads and what stood out to you?

Marty Parker (04:48):

Yeah, so we’ve been doing digitization for a long time in supply chain and now with these generative AI bots and the technology around that, we’ve got people starting to use it to make decisions. I remember reading about forecasting and often people would take the forecasting reports and only actually use ’em about half of the time. And so that stood out from a serious, but I want to show you a not so serious that stood out. That’s what I’m talking about right there, my friend. That is what I’m talking about. The Bondy nine.

Scott Luton (05:25):

Yes. Alright, so Marty, we got to bring people into the inside joke there because one of the things we included in this edition with that said were some thoughts I shared last week. And long story short, I’ve worn dress shoes as I go to trade shows and I’m standing on my feet for all day long and I discovered by after lots of foot pain that orthopedic surgeons that I was getting stress fractures. It wasn’t just normal foot pain. So to Marty’s point, I switched over. My orthopedic surgeon said you got to have hocus, hocus, hocus and he had nothing to gain. I switched over to Hokas just like pair Marty had and Marty my feet had never felt better and it’s not a paid endorsement, nothing to do with Hoka, it’s just what happened to Marty. I think you’re a big Hoka fan too, huh?

Marty Parker (06:08):

Yeah, you should asked your professor fan who is on his feet on those. Yes, it’s carpeted, but it’s that really thin stuff. And I had the same problem early on in teaching because I had just been mostly behind a desk or out in manufacturing locations. So good for you Scott, because those foot problems just get worse and worse. So I’m glad you’ve done that. Plus you look awesome and you’re like two inches taller, my friend

Scott Luton (06:36):

And I could use that. I wish I was two feet taller, two inches taller as is. Alright, so Marty, now that we’ve kind of put everything out there, so folks you can find out more about anything we just tackled there via width that said, and let us know what you think. We’d love to get your feedback just like our dear friend T Squared, who hells from the Baltimore area says nourishment is definitely needed after the hammering we got by the snow. Well, hey man, T squared. Hopefully you ought didn’t get too much and it’s not too disruptive up there, but I agree with you. A lot of places did get, and Marty, I think you were talking earlier in the pre-show about friends and family up in Tennessee. I think you saw some big

Marty Parker (07:12):

Differences. Yeah, my nephew in Nashville, it’s a disaster up

Scott Luton (07:16):

There. Oh, it’s terrible to hear. Terrible to hear Well. And Robert, great to see you here via at LinkedIn. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. Robert, great to have you back again and folks on all of these things, Tricia is dropping links, so you’re one click away. Tricia has shared information on Alan like we talked about earlier on the Never Normal series on the newsletter on EPG, you name it. We’re going to try to make it really easy for folks to track down additional information. Okay, so Marty, I tell you we’ve covered the gamut. Just getting started today. A couple more things. We talked about trade show. Trade shows and trade show season is here. Once again, great article here from our friends at Easy Post. I think we did 13 trade shows last year, Marty, in terms of being at and covering them, participating, and I’m still tired, but I love them.

(08:03):

I love trade shows and I’d hit ’em all if I could and if I had 27 pairs of hokas maybe. But check out folks, this Easy post guide for some of the best logistics trade shows and conferences coming up this year. They share informational rela and Manifest Vegas Shop Talk, modex Parcel Forum, many, many others and they’ve got a helpful calendar. And my hunch, Marty, is that folks are going to learn at least one trade show that wasn’t on your radar. I learned a new one, maybe a couple new ones. So I want to ask you, we’re dropping that link to the article right there in the chat, but Marty, what has been one of your favorite trade shows out there in the market that you’ve enjoyed over the years?

Marty Parker (08:43):

Yeah, it’s here in Atlanta and I take my students to it and you see all of the latest and greatest technologies. You see just fantastic leaders in the space. But being a professor, it’s hard to get around the world. And my old career I did, but I love modex. I love taking the students.

Scott Luton (09:03):

I do too. And you know what? One of the best parts besides they’re going to be having, they’re projecting almost 40,000 people to Modex this year, right? But it’s free to attend folks. It’s not free to exhibit and stuff. There’s great opportunities to do that, although I think all the exhibit floor space is sold out, but it’s free to attend. And a great event like that, you gather, market intel network, sit in with some sessions. It’s not to be missed.

Marty Parker (09:27):

Yeah, no. Best practice is prepare because it’s overwhelming and make sure you’ve got sort your map set up and know who you want to talk to and when you want to talk to ’em. Otherwise you’ll just get overwhelmed quickly.

Scott Luton (09:40):

Oh gosh, Marty, you are right. You are right. But speaking of being prepared, which is a great rule of thumb, Marty just shared, go check out the article. They’ve got lots and lots of events to put on your radar, including information on targeted rents. And if you’re joining us at Manifest, we’ll be there in a couple of weeks. You can come meet Lori and the innovative EasyPost team at Booth. Get this booth. 7, 7 7 in Vegas. Marty, that is a great booth number for Las Vegas, huh? We

Marty Parker (10:07):

Were talking about predictive markets earlier and so that seems like the jackpot right there.

Scott Luton (10:12):

That’s right. So Lori, Kevin, easy post team folks buy a lottery ticket with a booth number like that in Vegas. Okay, one more thing before we bring on our outstanding guests here today. First off, Robert tuning in from South Africa, that beautiful country. I’ve enjoyed going to Cape Town a couple of times. Let’s know what part we’ve got. One more question for you, Robert. What part in South Africa are you in? We’d love to connect the dots there. Gino Pledger, the pride of North Alabama. Great to see you today, my friend. Alright Marty, one more resource for folks because we’ve got big news from our friends over at US Bank. They released their inaugural freight payment index rates edition in partnership with DAT Freight and Analytics. They released that on Tuesday, January 6th. Now as we do with the quarterly US Bank Freight payment index, we enjoyed a terrific live stream where we reviewed the rates edition data with Bobby Holland from US Bank and Dr.

(11:04):

Chris Kalis with DT is a hall of famer, I hear bonafide Hall of Famer. The podcast replay of that discussion will publish January 28th, just this week, Wednesday this week. So look for that. But in addition, US Bank will release its freight payment index for Q4 2025 on Tuesday, February 3rd. And it’s going to be really interesting, first off to see how the freight market perform some key takeaways there from the last three months of 2025. But we’re going to be discussing all the data, all the stuff, all the market moves and shifts, you name it via live stream on Thursday, February 12th at 12 Eastern time we’ve got Bobby Holland backed by proper demand, but also Nick Paulucci, senior Director of Supply Chain Logistics and Final Mile at Ferguson Enterprises. And in the meantime, tune in for that show for key takeaways from the Q4 index and domestic freight market. But in the meantime, you can download the Q3 Freight Payment Index or the brand new rates edition publication from US bank@freight.us bank.com. Marty, we got to keep our finger on the pulse of the freight market. Isn’t that right?

Marty Parker (12:09):

Yeah, absolutely.

Scott Luton (12:10):

So I’m delighted. So now that we’ve got all our homework done right, we share some resources with folks, we’ve got a great guest friend the show joining us here on the Buzz today. Heidi Bko is over 25 years of experience in supply chain product management solutions, strategy and marketing, all of which she has used to deliver innovative supply chain solutions to companies across industries to help them transform their supply chain operations. Please join me in welcoming Heidi Bko, vice president of product management and strategy for N four Nexus. Hey. Hey Heidi, how you doing?

Heidi Benko (12:47):

Good, how you doing?

Scott Luton (12:48):

Wonderful. I’m tired. We had a busy a block here today on the Buzz, Heidi, but hey, but Marty, as he always does, sees us through, he’s a steady hand guiding the whole show. Marty, looking forward to a great chat here with Heidi, huh?

Marty Parker (13:02):

Yeah, looking forward to learning a lot,

Scott Luton (13:04):

Me and you both. Okay, so let’s do this. Let’s start with a fun warmup question, Heidi and Marty, you know how we do things around here now, today is Australia Day, so to all our friends from across Australia, happy Australia Day, it’s bubble wrap appreciation day, which is an interesting one. If you remember Papa Noses as a kid.

Heidi Benko (13:21):

Yeah,

Scott Luton (13:22):

Sometimes some adults still do it. I’ve done it every once in a while. International Customs Day folks love on those compliance professionals. They’re your secret weapons. It’s National Bible Day and it’s also National Peanut Brittle Day, Heidi and Marty. So on that last one, here’s my question. I know a lot of folks love peanut brittle, but I’m one of those that do not, and I even love peanuts, but I don’t like peanut brittle. So I want to ask each of you now, Heidi, I’ll start with you. What is one food that everyone just loves it to death, but you do not? Heidi, what’s that food for you?

Heidi Benko (13:53):

I think mashed potatoes

Scott Luton (13:55):

Really? Now that is intriguing. Do tell more. What do you not like about ’em? The

Heidi Benko (14:00):

Texture. Just something about the I can eat smashed potatoes but not mashed potatoes. And I feel like so many holidays everybody’s like, why are you not eating these?

Scott Luton (14:12):

You know what? When you first said it, it didn’t make sense. Now it makes perfect sense because how much other food do we mash into that kind of texture? Not much, right? Marty? If it’s not mashed potatoes for you, what is it?

Marty Parker (14:25):

I’m going to keep the same thing going, Heidi. It is guacamole and avocado. Oh my gosh. Putting that junk on toast and smushing it all in chips. But I got to say the peanut brittle, the peanut bridle ones just left me. I don’t even know what to do with that. Scott. My best friend’s mom used to cook it and we’d go in eating it hot. Ooh,

Heidi Benko (14:50):

That’s so,

Marty Parker (14:51):

But anyway, mashed potatoes and guacamole.

Scott Luton (14:54):

I’m with you Heidi. So you’re saying I lost some esteem in your eyes with my disdain for peanut brittle. I hate to let anyone down, but especially Marty Parker. So I’ll try to get better at it. But wait, one quick note on guacamole. So Heidi and Marty, I wasn’t growing up really until my early adulthood. I was not a fan of guacamole and Amanda, big thanks Amanda Church, behind the scenes make it happen today, turned me on to it and then I fell in love. When we went to DC, we ate a famous Mexican restaurant, I can’t remember the name of it. And Marty and Heidi, I’ve never had guacamole as good as it was there. We could not eat enough of it. I turned green, but mashed potatoes, guacamole, and peanut brittle. So folks don’t ask us for our opinions on any of those foods.

(15:39):

That would be the worst meal on earth, wouldn’t it? Really a weird combo. So I think this is Amanda. My weird food ick is cookie dough. Everyone else loves it, but I am not a fan. That’s funny because when she does buy and she makes the wrong cookies, but when she does buy pre-made cookie dough, it slowly disappears as me and the kids are all taking slices of it. I don’t know. Okay, we got a lot of work to get to here today. So Heidi, great to have you back with us. We enjoyed you being on the buzz about six months or so ago. Really appreciate what you do out in the industry. So I want to start with as we dive into new stories here on the buzz powered by our friends at EPG with this retail brew story where they reported last week on some of the ways that Walmart was preparing for the winter storm that has hit so many areas here in the States in recent days.

(16:26):

Again, we got lucky here in metro Atlanta. I think Walmart used AI driven technology to anticipate demand changes from winter storm fern. I think we’re naming winter storms these days. Fern, FERN, the AI driven system forecasted demand shifts using historical weather data in advanced simulation models, all of which allowed Walmart to act much faster than in years past. Ahead of the storm, the big retailer utilized anticipatory inventory staging for storm related essentials. Think ice melt water probably generated some of the stuff and rerouted other goods to secure facilities so that during the storm, the AI driven approach helped optimize delivery routes. So navigating through some of the stretches of infrastructure, including providing for what they call jump trailers, mobile units, all pre stocked with essential items. So Heidi, I’m thankful we did not get a dose of what you see in the shot here, at least in my neck of the woods. But your thoughts on Walmart’s approach at optimizing their performance during these tougher times?

Heidi Benko (17:27):

Yeah, that kind of looks like my street without all the pretty trees here in Manhattan, but that was my trip to work. I mean, I just could, shows the power of ai. I mean there’s no way they could have done this before. And I think that’s basically essential now for companies to really run their supply chains and with so many disruptions and really enables them to have that competitiveness to now they can be proactive instead of reactive and have the right goods to where they need to be. And if you think about the volume of data and scale they would need throughout their entire network with this storm and the amount of coverage area that it had, I think it’s essential.

Scott Luton (18:03):

Yes, no doubt it’s that’s not a nice to have anymore it seems. Marty, your thoughts on this story with how Walmart got ready to navigate through the storm.

Marty Parker (18:11):

Now I mentioned in pre-show that I read a stat that about 40% of people have the forecasting information, but they don’t use it, they ignore it. And so if you’re using these tools, they’re not only doing it faster, but they’re actually making the execution, which is really mission critical when you’re facing something that’s happening this quickly.

Scott Luton (18:34):

That is right, that is right. Planning is great, but we got to execute on the plan. By the way, Tricia dropped all the links, these stories, so you don’t have to take me and Heidi and Marty’s word for it. You go check it out for yourself and let us know your take on these topics and these new stories from the storm to this story. It comes to us from CNBC and it points to some of the impact that tariffs are having on supply chain organizations. So get this according to a survey of supply chain professionals conducted by both CNBC and the Association for Supply Chain Management, A-K-A-S-C-M, you can learn more@ascm.org. Many are reporting that new tariffs and their related costs are creating layoffs in a challenging environment for companies looking to invest in their supply chain organizations. So I’m going to share some of the data factoids from the survey and I’m going to get Heidi and Marty to weigh in here.

(19:28):

So looking at numbers here, over 220 supply chain pros participated in the survey and the timeframe is important. It ran from December 15th, 2025 to January 7th, 2026, about three weeks there, 65% said their supply chain costs increased 10 to 15%, 34% of those surveyed reported an increasing costs greater than 15%, again, due to the trade policy and the tariffs, 32% unfortunately, are reporting layoffs. And an interesting note about that, it’s double the amount that reported layoffs earlier in 2025 in April, 2025, which came in at 16%. And in these latest numbers, 32% reporting layoffs when it comes to the economic outlook. Folks, I’m glad I got Marty and Heidi here because I failed every economic class in college I took. So when it comes to the economic outlook for the months to come, 38% had a negative view as opposed to 35% had a positive view. I think those are interesting contexts for the overall numbers here. 56% are concerned about a recession of those, about two thirds believe a recession will kick in during second quarter 2026. That’s scary. Finally, a lot of concerns that even if the Supreme Court rules against the White House on the issue, the potential refunds talk about a headache and a massive, massive tot wave of work, the potential refunds, a lot of concerns won’t make their organizations whole. So that is a lot there to digest and share. But Heidi, when you see surveys like that and see some of the findings, what are your thoughts?

Heidi Benko (21:04):

I mean, the past year has been so much about the uncertainty

(21:09):

With everything in the tariffs and the planning. So even just like we’re talking about Supreme Court may reverse the tariffs. Well, how do you plan for that? I have to plan if they do enough, they don’t. The cost impact of tariffs and even just some of the things that the article was talking about that I don’t think everybody always thinks about with international trade, it’s not just the tariffs themselves, but for companies managing customs and the customs bond, there’s a lot of underlying costs in that. So to offsets costs, companies often go for headcount and it’s that immediate, immediate cost implication and not really being able to think about planning for more future to look at the various scenarios, which companies need to factor in all these different costs into planning that

Scott Luton (21:51):

The planning processes and the crystal ball aspect of that has just gotten more and more challenging. And a perfect example there, Marty, I want to get your take here too, but a perfect example is last week the White House rolled out 10% tariffs just to take them back off less than 24 hours later. You can’t win for losing sometimes. Marty, your thoughts on this survey data related to the impact they’re having,

Marty Parker (22:17):

You may not remember this skit, but SNL’s, Debbie Downer, skit your manufacturing chart is a downer. The freight cost is a downer. This is a downer and you’ve seen me in these podcasts. I’m not a fan of tariffs, they’re tax and that’s reflected in pricing or costs. And on the cost side, companies need to make money and I’ve seen manufacturing jobs going down, not going up today or yesterday. A hundred percent tariff announced on Canada. If it allows Chinese EVs in, I mean it doesn’t stop,

Scott Luton (22:54):

Right?

Marty Parker (22:54):

And it has to stop because we’re bleeding jobs as a result of it. And we’ll continue to just like that. Horrible Debbie Downer, SNL

Scott Luton (23:02):

Skit. Marty, first

Marty Parker (23:04):

Off,

Scott Luton (23:04):

On a larger note, to your point, you and Gino Pledger both say Gino says full of good news, Scott, full of good news. So all right, I’ll try to let me Debbie downer throughout the rest to your point. And kidding aside, I think we’ve all mentioned uncertainty and gosh, if anything, I’m not sure if anything else out in the marketplace is creating more uncertainty than our trade policy and it’s almost a minute by minute update. And as we all know, business owners and leaders, they like to know what’s coming as much as they can to make investments and educated bets and stuff, in my opinion, a very challenging environment to do just that. A couple of quick comments here, and again, going back to what we’re using to discuss, this is a great joint study survey between CNBC and A SCM. So folks, check out the link.

(23:54):

Tricia dropped it right there in the chat, right? And then hey Jennifer Clark, follow us A SCM. Thanks for mentioning Scott. Hey, you bet Jennifer, appreciate the work y’all are doing and y’all can go check out ascm@ascm.org. A couple of comments here. I think it’s going to cut anybody off and lemme know who this user is. Amanda and Tricia, they say AI has done one thing, everything that is digital could be replaced by ai, like predictions about weather and customer demand and correlation to multiple factors. I believe that part of the supply chain is replaceable by ai, but the decision making is still with us, the humans. I love that. Excellent point there. Big show Bob Bova says unpredictability breeds fear. Without a stated strategy regarding tariffs, it becomes impossible to plan properly laying off folks and then rehiring is the easiest strategy and quickest to this knee jerk diplomacy.

(24:47):

Well said Bob, and great to see you here today. The previous, this was Roit. Roit had shared the comment about the decision making is still with us. Have you here Roit? Okay. And we’re going to try to hit some of one of these comments. Y’all stick with me. We got a little more to get to here today with Heidi and Marty here on the buzz. And next up we’re going to tackle this story from supply chain dive in kind of two ways. First, I want to share because the article looks at some of the major manufacturing projects being built out across the country right now are soon to come. Now here’s my obligatory disclaimer folks. Just because there’s a press release with a big number followed by lots and lots of zeros, doesn’t mean it’s going to a hundred percent come to fruition. So just keep that in mind a grain of salt until you see products rolling off the production line.

(25:34):

But anyway, the article talks about how overall manufacturing construction spending has actually gone down after peaking in 2024. But there’s still a ton of current factories that are supposed to be breaking ground soon. Here’s a couple of these, Heidi and Marty Micron is investing 200 billion to make memory chips in Idaho, New York and Virginia. Samsung Electronics is committed to investing $17 billion to make semiconductors in Texas. Solanis is investing 13 billion to make vehicles in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Lilly is investing 27 billion to make pharmaceuticals in Alabama, Texas and Virginia. So there’s a smattering of projects, but here’s where I want to get Heidi and Marty to weigh in. Getting folks to run those plants is going to be challenging many point to workforce challenges as one of the manufacturing industry’s top priorities. To that end, we just enjoyed folks a great addition of our webinar series called The Bridge, which focused on the manufacturing workforce.

(26:32):

I was joined by Alison Giddens who runs and owns a local Atlanta area manufacturing plant. And we featured Dr. Allen Amling and Daryl Edwards who wrote this white paper wrong graphic, this white paper reshoring the workforce Bridging America’s Manufacturing Talent Gap. Folks, this is free. Go to the UT site there and you can download it and check it out chockfull on great information. But here’s a couple of key findings from the research Heidi and Marty, there’s a tremendous gap when it comes to supply chain management knowledge, especially for companies that have not reshored production when you need it. There’s a shortage of data analytics skill sets that doesn’t probably surprise many folks, but on the soft skill side, leadership and communication we’re both cited as big needs, especially for companies that have reshored production. So check out, we’re going to drop a link to that webinar, but Heidi, y’all work with a ton of folks across industries, but what are you seeing as it relates to workforce or other challenges from some of your manufacturing customers?

Heidi Benko (27:28):

It’s definitely one of the top issues and top of mind for them, right? And it has been for a couple of years and it certainly seems to be even more of a focus given many things. One we were just talking about. There’s also been some companies, the layoffs, right? Just now you have to rehire with bringing all the manufacturing back. It’s the right skill sets. I think what was interesting about the University of Tennessee paper was the things like supply chain management, the soft skills on communication leadership and things like that. So it’s you have to upskill your workforce. You also have to bring in those skill sets that we really haven’t been training for the last few years. So everyone’s been concerned for years and the concern just seems to be accelerating and growing and now companies are, if they’re going to reshore, have to really rethink their whole supply chain practice in addition to what the right skill sets are.

Scott Luton (28:22):

Heidi, well said. And we all have been waiting and watching for the manufacturing renaissance. Well if we’ve got trade policy we can’t count on and we got big workforce challenges, that’s going to further exacerbate the challenge of finding and hiring great talent. We got to need to solve those things. Marty, your thoughts when it comes to the manufacturing workforce.

Marty Parker (28:42):

So I thought the paper also is terrific and our economy is 80% services and 20% making things and it’s been that way for quite a while. And so just flipping on a dime is just impossible, right? If you look at education systems and all of that, but the sad reality is so many Americans don’t want to drive trucks working, manufacturing plants, working warehouses. And the stark reality, if you look at manufacturing plants these days, they’re highly automated and you need engineers, you need people with data analytics skills. And the other thing we’re doing is this nonsense with H one B visas and we’re taking engineers that are here that are coming here and we’re getting rid of them. So it’s Debbie Downer yet again, but it’s a mismatch that you just can’t do that in a year. It’s going to take many years to fill the pipeline.

Scott Luton (29:42):

Well said, no shortage of challenges and developments when it comes to factors that impact our really the broader workforce, not just manufacturing but the broader workforce. Let’s see here, A couple of quick comments, Gino. That’s right. Data centers. We’ve got to keep our eye on data centers. They’re fast and furious build outs. And one interesting thing, actually, two quick interesting things related data centers I saw over the weekend. Number one is that there is a shift in certain parts of the country with a power provider that supplies 13 states and they’re having a hard time meeting massive electricity growth. Well, regulators and government is looking to shift the burden for the construction of a bigger infrastructure to tech companies. That’s an interesting thing. I’m not sure right and wrong, but it’s very interesting. And then number two, Heidi and Marty, we were talking coffee pre-show Heidi for, I was reading a couple weeks ago that data centers to get over the PR hurdle that in some circles they have, they’re looking at building like coffee bars and gatherings, places to make them more multifunctional other than just serving its main purpose. Heidi, I find that fascinating. Would you want to meet for a cup of coffee at our local data center?

Heidi Benko (30:56):

I mean is it exceptional coffee?

Scott Luton (31:00):

That’s the billion dollar question.

Heidi Benko (31:02):

Exceptional at the right price. Coffee? I don’t know. I mean

Scott Luton (31:07):

We’re going to find out.

Heidi Benko (31:08):

I’m not really following exactly.

Scott Luton (31:10):

And Marty, your quick thoughts with data centers are popping up left, right? Georgia’s of course is a big target for data centers. Your thoughts there, Marty?

Marty Parker (31:17):

Yeah, the energy is a bottleneck, right? And we’re starting to figure out how to build small nuclear power plants, which is great. I hate that we seeded production of solar and all those things to China. We we’ve basically given them windmills and solar panels and all of that, which I think was a big mistake, but we’ve got to figure that out. And onerous regulations certainly have kept us from building the nuclear power plants we’ve not built. So I think that part of it’s definitely going to help.

Scott Luton (31:50):

Yes, and make no mistake about it, all of us enjoy products powered by electricity, whether you’re in supply chain or you’re in a different industry and you enjoy scrolling on your phone or powerful apps at home. And we’re going to have to solve the infrastructure challenge and not just in the states but around the world. So we’ll see what innovation comes out of this because we love the AI that data centers power and all the innovation that brings. Let’s see here. Roit again, I’m going to share this comment. This might be a long one so I’m just going to read this. He’s on a roll here. Roit says, companies investing in the us is it feasible for any company or any customer in general? Companies are investing now, but I seriously doubt they will absorb the cost without passing it on to customers. Companies still have to get raw materials from other parts of the world like Asia, which still presents a costing problem.

(32:35):

Although companies are investing now, their supply chains are still intertwined with other parts of the world. That’s right, ROIT, I shared last week, I stole this from somebody somewhere Heidi and Marty. But as much as I love American football, global supply chain is the greatest team sport in all the world and it’s for that sentiment right there that Roit shared. So we’ll see how it plays out. But hey, have a leg up folks. Check out this white paper reassuring the workforce bridging America’s manufacturing talent gap. You’ll learn no matter where you are in this world, you’ll learn some really interesting nuggets on what is driving challenges and successes. Alright, Heidi and Marty, we got a lot more to get to including some of the cool things that M four is doing this year, talking about bringing innovation to global supply chain. But really quick, I’ll share an update from our friends at EPG.

(33:22):

The innovative supply chain technology leader is announcing new AI driven logistics solutions, which are powered by NVIDIA AI infrastructure and EP G’S deep logistics expertise. The company has introduced its new supply chain execution AI environment called EPG ara. These new rollouts will help organizations optimize decision-making, stability, resilience, and speed. All this points to an exciting new chapter at EPG where they’re on a mission to set the pace for the logistics of the future, you can learn more about EPG and this innovation via the link in the chat. Check that out. Okay, one more comment here, Gino. Data centers require chips and boards causing pressure on normal PC supply chain. That’s right Gino, I tell you, all these things are so intertwined, kind of like what Roit was sharing. Alright, so Heidi and Marty. Heidi, you didn’t know this little surprise. We got a snapshot of Marty’s closet right here for this next story. He’s a big cowboy boot fan. We didn’t know that

Marty Parker (34:17):

Scott. I actually own that tall brown one to the right. I literally do.

Scott Luton (34:23):

I like it. I love it. Alright, so up next Anna Freelander from N four Heidi’s colleague wrote an interesting blog article recently focused on a few key takeaways from NRF 2026. That’s right, the big show in particular how technology is shaping the next era of apparel, footwear and retail leadership. Here’s a few key takeaways that I gathered from the blog and we’re going to get Heidi and Marty to weigh into. First intelligent tech is now central with gen ai transforming planning design, supply chain finance and merchandising into a dynamic predictive automated series of workflows. AgTech ai. If you’ve heard that a thousand times to begin with this year, get ready, you’re going to hear for a thousand times a day through the rest of the year. AgTech AI continues to emerge enabling proactive actions like automated replenishment and risk flagging across the enterprise. Unified data, the power of unity and process intelligence are foundational linking product demand supply and financial systems to reduce that pesky friction and improve decision quality. Automation at scale from robotics to digital shelves to real shelves plus end in visibility is shaping a more resilient, responsive retail operating model. So Heidi, I thought your colleague Anna did a really nice job on this blog piece. There’s a thousand things always that the big show brings each year. Your thoughts Heidi?

Heidi Benko (35:43):

Yeah, I mean it’s AI and intelligence being the theme and we’re seeing it. We started the call today talking about Walmart and leveraging it and not just in the predictive forecasting but actually on the execution side. I think when we talked last year, everything was starting to switch from just generative to agen ai and we’re seeing that come more into play actually finding the use cases and companies are getting value from the various use cases.

(36:09):

And I think some of the other things that it calls out specifically are key enablers of truly transforming your supply chain and decision-making are things like single platforms, right? Because to really align planning with an execution to make the best decisions for the business, you do have to align the information on supply demand and finance and have access to that on one platform. And the other thing I think it called out that was great was process mining and process intelligence. So a lot of companies are getting the point, they’re digitizing their supply chains, but really leveraging intelligence to really understand all those workflows and those interconnected workflows where there’s bottlenecks and opportunities is really a way to help optimize those further.

Scott Luton (36:52):

Heidi, that was poetic. Your key takeaways from that blog there. Shakespearean, Marty, your thoughts related to this great blog? Some key takeaways from NRF?

Marty Parker (37:02):

Yeah, I can’t add to that. You’re exactly right, but I took students to the NRF student program and I jokingly now in class say every time I mention AI or generative ai, we have to put a buck in a jar and I think we’re up to like $300. They had all kinds of examples like associates in a Home Depot that are getting real time information to help clients that then trigger deliveries to the store that then trigger decisions in their supply chain. And like Heidi said, it’s the whole thing, right? Looking at the Home Depot example, it’s the finance data, it’s the customer data, it’s the external data like the impact of the storm right now all in one platform well coordinated. And so we’re now actively teaching our students how to write the right kind of prompts, looking at sort of big systems like what N four does and understanding the whole picture instead of just little small pieces of it. And so I think the blog was excellent around those points.

Scott Luton (38:10):

Good stuff Marty And I would say some of the themes y’all both shared, lean into your data silos, your silo data at your own peril because the immense value of integrated data from all these different systems and parts of the ecosystem that Marty and Heidi are both pointing to, leveraging it in a UN fashion is going to enable more holistic decision making rather than making decisions one particular functional area of an enterprise, you get a bigger picture and it’ll lead to better and business-driven decisions for sure. Okay, T squared shares. See we mentioned data centers and it hijacks conversation everybody. I think we’re all fascinated with data centers. T squared says risk hedging and agile supply chains along with code generation may come into play with data centers with heat creation and increased water usage. That’s right. Did you know I was at speaking on the heat creation and the water usage and I’m might not get the right number here, but I was at a Schneider electric event, great event late last year in Vegas and I didn’t realize that semiconductors used for AI purposes I believe generates 10 x the amount of heat than non AI semiconductors.

(39:23):

So water usage at data centers that are really focused on ai, we’ve got to solve that element of the water problem. So it’s all interconnected. I’ll tell you what, it’s hard to be Debbie Downer, Marty and Heidi. My apologies, I can’t stop. Alright, so hey this will bring I think a smile to a lot of faces out there. Let’s have some fun with this story because let’s see here. Yahoo Finance and Fortune magazine were reporting this that a lot of big names were talking about how ai, another buck in the jar there, Marty is going to dramatically shorten the typical human work week out of all of them. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, I think you’ve heard of them, probably created the biggest dur when he suggested that humans may be looking at a two day work week in less than 10 years from now. All thanks to ai. Now before I ask Heidi how she plans on spending all that extra time, I want to just share for a few folks that may not know that image is actually a time clock and in several of my first early jobs I use these, a lot of us use time clocks to punch in and punch out that is still around in certain circles, but some folks may not recognize that being for what it’s, but Heidi tell you, two days a week life would be good. Your thoughts on that prediction?

Heidi Benko (40:38):

I mean I think right now folks are looking for AI to make a reasonable work week. I don’t know about you, but with technology in the last few years, everyone I know and you hear about burnout is 40 hour work week even with 80 hours, whatever, you’re always on all the time. So I see AI changing the nature of work and as we talked about freeing up people from more strategic tasks, more intelligent, but two days seems like a stretch plus companies and the way they function and how you look at work cost, et cetera. I don’t know, two days, I mean four. I thought the four. I’m like I could maybe go for the four, I do the four 10 day or whatever.

Scott Luton (41:23):

Yeah, I’m with you. I think we may be on Mars before we hit a two day work week as terms of what AI delivers, but who knows? I could be wrong, but I like your thought about a reasonable work week. Marty your thoughts, two days in less than 10 years you see it happening.

Marty Parker (41:36):

No, but I’m a student of history and we used to have seven day work weeks and then we went to six and companies lost their minds. We can’t have people only work in six days and then we went to five days and it was the same thing. So I do fully expect four days and there’s a lot of movement around that. There are a lot of organizations pushing that and if generative AI does along with robotics, along with camera technology, along with IOT, along with all that stuff really does change things as fast as it seems like it’s changing right now. Then I think a four day work week’s inevitable. I think companies will whine and cry about it like they always do and they have for over a hundred years. But I think it’s going to be reality. You also have all of us baby boomers retiring and we are very affluent and a lot of us are working a lot longer. If we can get our butts out of there and spending all the money we got, that’s good for the economy. So I mean that’s a lot of stuff. But we went from seven to six to five. I think we’ll go to four. I don’t think we’ll go to two that fast.

Scott Luton (42:44):

Interesting, interesting. Marty, you and Heidi both in your perspective. I have no idea. I think two in less than 10 years certainly sounds strange. And I’ll tell you, some of us wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves if we didn’t work five days a week or six days a week. I’m one of those. But I mentioned Mars earlier, I got to put this because you talked about history Marty folks, if this is on your radar, Artemis, the Artemis campaign has started Artemis two, the second mission is going to send humans around the moon orbit for the first time in 50 years. But what’s interesting about that and maybe a supply chain analogy Heidi and Marty, is we had to unlearn our space program and then relearn his history just to do something that humanity did do 50 years ago. And I find that to be fascinating.

(43:33):

I wonder what else we need to unlearn and relearn in global supply chain that could help us see new feats because Artemis two is going to circle the moon, come back. I believe the whole aim of this campaign is to have humanity’s first base, permanent base on the moon, exciting times to folks as supposed to launch as early as February 6th. So be checking it out. Alright, speaking of things we got to check out. Hi, do we got throw a party? We’ve got to congratulate you and the N four team for being recognized as a leader in the IDC market scape for global trade management for retailers and importers for 2025 and 2026. So I hope I get my invite to the pizza party, but beyond that, give us a sneak peek of some innovations that you and the N four team will be bringing to global supply chain here later this year.

Heidi Benko (44:22):

And we were very excited to be a leader I think. And the way IDC covered the report, I mean global trade is so many things and obviously companies need to, if you look at all the variability, uncertainty, disruption and everything going on in global supply chains today, global trade technology is really critical for that.

(44:42):

And I love the report, I looked at it holistically. Everything from logistics of various aspects of compliance and even the finance aspects. So like we were talking about earlier with intelligence and bringing things together, you have to bring together supply, demand, finance, logistics all together. So that’s what I think global trade and bringing all this technology comes into play. So 2026, some of the things that we even talked about really continuing on with AgTech and continuing on with AI and getting first that data foundation and platform and good data. So we’re also doing a lot more on putting more data quality intelligence to help our customers make sure their data’s good and getting all the data in from their various partners and supply chain. And then working on both the various use cases when we’re talking about silos within the various business areas, but making sure they can connect on the data more broadly as well to make cross decisions in supply chain.

Scott Luton (45:39):

I like it Bliss B, the ties that bond because we got a lot of data, we got to build bridges around to your point and Marty, we’re not getting any less data, we’re going all of it. I maybe be getting wires crossed. You got data and you got information. Just because you got a tidal wave of data doesn’t mean you need everything. It’s like the math problems from fifth grade, two trains leave Chicago. Y’all remember those word problems, right? You didn’t need every fact in the word problem. You only needed a couple. Well we’ve got similar challenges today, Marty, your thoughts when you heard some of the innovation, some of the cool things we’re working on at Infor. So

Marty Parker (46:17):

I’m not going to be a Debbie Downer this time. I’m very positive about how we’re taking this sort of siloed information that we really didn’t have the tools to deal with these sort of connected networks of our vendors, our suppliers, our customers, ourselves, our other partners like say even government entities, things like that and bring it all together. And whole industries I think are going to come out of this where we have opportunities that we just don’t see today. And I’m going to tell you one you’re not going to read about, but I’ve been thinking about early in my career as a chemical engineer, did a lot of work on reverse osmosis and the idea of desalinization plants, places like Israel that Desalinate seawater, Texas is out of water, Arizona is out of water. We’re going to really build data centers there. I think we’re going to have a huge desalinization opportunity just as an example, many nuclear plants, I mean it just goes on and on. But with what Infor is doing to bring all the information together for companies, they’ll be able to make great decisions around things that create those opportunities.

Scott Luton (47:28):

Yes. And we can maybe finally solve beyond all the innovation that Marty shared, things that come, which I find exciting. I like your vision Marty, maybe we can finally solve that train problem. There’s two trains leaving from Chicago. Heidi, where were you in the N 14 when I needed you in fourth grade trying to pass math class. But kidding aside, Heidi, congrats on y’all’s continued success. We’ve enjoyed having you on and getting you to share your expertise over the years. So great to have you back here today. We’re going to make sure folks, you know how to connect with Heidi Bko and Marty Parker in just a minute. And you can also learn more about the big news we just released there, the celebration via the link that Tricia just dropped in the chat. So folks, if you like sessions like this, if you like sessions like this, we’re in a live format.

(48:16):

There’s nowhere to hide in a live format. We got Heidi and Marty sharing some really cool things, expertise perspective. Well I got good news because over our new site, that’s right, supply chain now.com brand new, well still brand new, how long you can say brand new. I think we’re about four months into a new site. We’ve got up all of our upcoming live programming right there on that tab on the site and in something that I’m particularly proud of, the new resource hub, you’re going to find all kinds of written interviews, blogs and white papers such as my interviews at events like Gartner Supply Chain Planning Summit, like the one there I just shared with the one only Rob Haddock. Check that out folks. We’re trying to continue our mission not to Mars, not even to the moon, but for informing supply chain professionals out there informing, educating, putting things on your radar and also offering some proven expertise for navigating more successfully these crazy disruptive times that we’re all living through together. Alright, I want to say this is still Roit, thank you so much here. I think Ruit says the last time I joined the podcast three years ago. I have to say, Scott, you still bring the same energy. Keep it going. I’ll be a regular from now on. Hey that makes our day, makes my day

Heidi Benko (49:28):

Nice.

Scott Luton (49:28):

Thank you so much. I appreciate you being here. Alright, so let’s do this Heidi, I bet you’ve got no shortage of trade shows you’ll be speaking at and being at and meeting people and probably sharing some of the cool things you’re doing. But how can folks track you down Heidi?

Heidi Benko (49:42):

So definitely LinkedIn. Find me on LinkedIn. You can also reach out my email directly heidi dot benco@infor.com. But yeah, you mentioned trade shows be at manifest in a few weeks.

Scott Luton (49:55):

Outstanding.

Heidi Benko (49:56):

That’d be the next one I think.

Scott Luton (49:57):

Alright, we’re going to see you there. It manifest has grown left and right over the last few years and we’re dropping Heidi’s LinkedIn. I’m trying to make it really easy. Tricia is on the money here today, so we got Heidi’s LinkedIn right there. Marty, you got a thousand things going on. I think you’re like the rest of us not slowing down a single minute. Where can folks besides Modex, how can folks get in touch with you Marty?

Marty Parker (50:22):

I think the easiest thing also, I’m a top voice on LinkedIn, follow me, connect with, I love talking about the leadership challenges and supply chain challenges we’re tackling and that’s the easiest way to connect

Scott Luton (50:34):

Folks. You got to because he is, when he says top voice, he is a legit top voice. Like only a handful of people around the world earned this. And what you’re not going to want to miss, and Heidi, I’m not sure if you’ve seen this, but Marty cranks out videos, so many of us learn the best via video. Some are audio, some are other. But you see Marty talk about leadership and supply chain, many other topics. So folks go check that out and every once in a while you’ll see him battling the Christmas tree. Marty captured some of this post holiday chores working on the reverse logistics there. Very good. Alright folks, we’re going to try never to be Debbie Downers, but we’re going to tell you we’re going to keep it real with the each and every week. Some weeks certainly are better than others. But folks, we welcome your feedback, keep it coming. We get tons of feedback from all of y’all and that’s why we do what we do. So as we wrap here today, I want to thank Heidi Bko, vice President of product management and Strategy for in Four Nexus. Thanks for being here, Heidi.

Heidi Benko (51:35):

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Always enjoy it.

Scott Luton (51:37):

I look forward to seeing you in Vegas at Manifest and my esteem. Co-host one of the top voices on LinkedIn, Marty Parker. Marty, thanks for being here.

Marty Parker (51:45):

Thanks for having me, sky.

Scott Luton (51:46):

You bet. Big thanks to our friends at EPG powering the buzz all month long in January. Of course, big thanks to Amanda and Trisha behind the scenes, all the wonderful production work they do. Most importantly though, big thanks to our global audience for being here with us. I love the comments and the great insights we’ve got there. Not just in the chat section that we hear from you all year long. Y’all keep it coming, but you know your homework to do because Heidi and Marty brought it here today. They backed up the truck. Lots of insights and actionable takeaways here. You got to take one thing you heard here from Heidi or Marty and put it into practice, share it with the team, do something with it. Deeds not words is how we’re going to continue transforming global supply chain, leaving no one behind. So with all that said, on behalf of the entire supply chain now, team Scott Luden challenge. You do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed. We’ll see you next time, right back here on Supply Chain. Now everybody join the supply chain now community. For more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supply chain now.com. Subscribe to Supply chain now on YouTube and follow and listen to supply chain. Now wherever you get your podcasts.