We need to evolve how we work. We've been working the nine to five, five days a week since about 1901, and I think it's time for us to think about it a little differently.
-Kim Reuter
Episode Summary
The Buzz is Supply Chain Now’s regular Monday livestream, held at 12 noon 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 week’s episode of The Buzz, hosts Scott Luton and Kim Reuter dig into the top supply chain news and stories. Together they discuss:
- Amazon’s new market cap
- Top takeaways from POLITICO’s supply chain event
- How a small manufacturer made a 4-day workweek make sense
- The next big food and beverage trends
- And so much more!
Episode Transcript
Intro/Outro (00:03):
Welcome to Supply Chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from Those Making Global Business happen right here on supply chain now.
Scott Luton (00:32):
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and Kim Reuter with you here on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream, Kim. How you doing today?
Kim Reuter (00:41):
I’m doing great. How are
Scott Luton (00:42):
You? I’m doing wonderful. Wonderful. I’m about to melt away in all the heat we’re having, right? But hey, it could be a lot worse, Kim. It could be a lot worse, right? It could
Kim Reuter (00:52):
Be worse. We got a hurricane down south. It could be a lot worse,
Scott Luton (00:55):
No doubt. And hey, kidding, aside to all those potentially impacted by Hurricane Beryl thoughts and prayers your way? Hopefully it’s one of those. Take a hard right turn or left turn and go away from all civilization, everybody.
(01:07):
Yep. Kim, great to see you here today. We’ve got a wonderful show teed up. It’s the buzz folks. Every Monday, 12 New Eastern Time we discuss of variety news and developments across global supply chain, global business. We’ve got some great stories to get into and Kim is uniquely positioned to speak to some of those, for example, how Amazon’s gearing up to battle with tmu and Sheen. Get ready folks. We got some top takeaways from a recent Politico supply chain discussion on critical infrastructure and stay tuned for how one manufacturing company has been embracing a four day workweek. What are the pros? What are the cons? And are more companies going to be joining them? We’ll see. Buckle up and get ready. Kim, we’ve got a lot to get into today. Which topic, out of all those are you most excited to speak to? Well,
Kim Reuter (01:49):
Obviously the Amazon topic because we have history there, but also I think Politico got some very interesting points that are going to lead to a great conversation.
Scott Luton (01:58):
I agree with you, I agree with you. Two things folks, before we get into and get things going in earnest. Number one, hey, give us your take in the comments whether you’re tuned in via LinkedIn, YouTube X, Facebook, Twitch, no matter, let us know what you think. Just like here, Nana, who is saying hello to Scott and Kim via LinkedIn. Great to see you Nana. Of course, T squared holds down a fort for us on YouTube saying bring on the nourishment in a half. Good to see you T squared as always. So number one, give us your take in the comments. Number two, if you enjoy today’s show, we’d love for you to share it with your friends, your network, you name it, they’ll be glad you did. Okay, Kim, before we dive into all four stories, we’ve got a couple resources that we want to share with folks. Resources are good things, right? Resources are great things. So we’re going to start with the US Bank Freight Payment Index for first quarter 2024. So folks, we are barreling along the second quarter edition of this quarterly resource will be released here in AM mere weeks, and it really does a good job of sharing insights related to the domestic freight market and it’s free. Kim. Hey, I love good free resources. You can’t beat ’em with a stick can you?
Kim Reuter (03:07):
It’s a great resource. We did an episode with this a couple of months ago and fantastic information. It really gives any retailer, anybody who’s in the importing manufacturing distribution, a good view of what’s going on in the market. And let’s be honest, things have gotten a little squirrely lately, so any information you can get is going to be very valuable.
Scott Luton (03:27):
That is right and we’re dropping the link there in the chat where folks, you’re one click away from signing up once you sign up, you don’t have to do it again. You get ’em all each quarter. And like Kim mentioned, you can join in into our quarterly conversations. Kim and Tevin Taylor, join me and Bobby from US Bank. I take Kim and Tevin knocked it out as a great exchange as we dove into the first quarter. You don’t want to miss that kind of stuff. So sign up and check it out. So Kim, moving right along too. With that said, which we dropped over the weekend, now we had some fun with some of our favorite places to eat in Atlanta and Ken, I’m going to put you on spot heads up. I’m going to put you on spot asking one of your favorite places to eat in Atlanta as you come through.
(04:07):
Okay? So think about that. We hit some news including how the aviation industry is tackling the ongoing perma crisis landscape, if y’all heard of that term Perma Crisis because disruption just doesn’t end. It’s the state we stay in permanently. We also offered some great resources, including a really neat ebook from our friends at OMP entitled the CSEO Guide to Green Planning. So check that out. Our almost weekly newsletter, we bake in a little flexibility for us there and we are dropping the link right there in the chat. You one click away, y’all check that out. Alright, so Kim, your comment whether it is one of your favorite places through Atlanta, which by the way the Optimist and Nuevo Laredo was two of our favorites that we put in there. Kim, when you pass through Atlanta, is there a place you love more than others?
Kim Reuter (04:53):
I’m going to be honest with you, when I passed through Atlanta, it’s the airport. I have not been to downtown Atlanta in a long time.
Scott Luton (05:00):
Okay, alright, we’re going to change that
Kim Reuter (05:01):
Fortunately. Hopefully we’ll change that soon. But yeah,
Scott Luton (05:05):
So folks, another one we dropped there, the Crescent City kitchen, the south city kitchen, kind of the midtown area, y’all check that out. And Kim, we really enjoyed speaking of one of the resources we put in there. We put in resources from OMP Omnia partners and many others. But on the OMP, you and I had a great live stream last week really focused on how we can help supply chain organizations make more progress to answer the sustainability imperative. How cool is that conversation and that guide they shared with us?
Kim Reuter (05:33):
It was a great conversation, a great guide as we talked about during that webinar is that start with the low hanging fruit, move up the tree in just having a more efficient supply chain, you will automatically be more sustainable and don’t forget about returns. That was the other big takeaway.
Scott Luton (05:50):
That is right. The returns are getting a little bit more attention, they need a lot more attention. So get ready folks. Alright, Kim, good stuff. Good stuff. Hey, really quick T squared says bring on the nourishment, which S is established tagline. Preferably though they say a chicken box and a half and half with extra lemonade. Yes, that’s my Baltimore sensibilities coming through. Kim, you’re laughing as if you know what he’s referring to.
Kim Reuter (06:14):
Yeah, so I spent some time in Baltimore, so yes, I understand this.
Scott Luton (06:19):
Oh, good stuff. Always good to have you here. T squared and Mattias via YouTube. What are we talking about? Well, folks, Mattias, we’re talking about all things business and global supply chain. Today we’re talking about a little e-commerce, talking about critical infrastructure and even some food and beverage trends. So we’d love to get your comments throughout today’s live session. Okay, one more quick tip folks. I’m a huge YouTube fan. I enjoy a lot of my content on there, a lot of variety of channels. You can find supply chain now conveniently on YouTube. You could even check out replays that conversation Kim and I were just talking about. So check it out and add it to some of your faves. So Kim, we got a lot to get into and we’re starting. We’re not saving the best for last. We’re going to start perhaps with the best here today and we’re going to dive right into this story here.
(07:04):
Interesting story from our friends at Retail Dive focused on Amazon reaching a market cap of $2 trillion and rumored plans in the works for Amazon to target better compete with Temu and Sheen, which if y’all haven’t seen those growth numbers, very interesting. As I mentioned, Kim, our oldest loves Sheen in particular. I’m going to get her voice of the customer on a future show, but back to this article, only a handful of companies have ever reached a market cap that big and it comes just ahead of Amazon’s 30th birthday, at least measured by the day it incorporated. Some of those in the media are reporting that Amazon plans that open up a budget storefront of sorts to better compete against some of the fast growing upstarts like tmu and Sheen. By the way, mark your calendars as prom day. Were run from midnight on July 16th through July 17th. But back to this story of growth and continuing to find new ways to compete. Kim, as a past member on the Amazon team, what’s your take here?
Kim Reuter (07:58):
So shocking that Amazon just continues to just dominate in all spaces. Everything that they do, they’re massively successful. We know that a lot of the success that we’re seeing with Amazon now is really AWS. The retail business is still strong, but AWS is carrying a lot of that revenue and that profitability for the company. And in the retail and e-commerce space, Amazon’s always doing something innovative. If you’re not already familiar, Amazon’s been doing Amazon basics and sort of their own brands of home decor, household products including fashion. So it makes sense for them to sort of spotlight on something they’ve already been doing to try to compete with those other markets. And I’m hoping that when Amazon does this, they take some sort of the sustainability and ecological factors and to play when they do this because I would love to see them not just jump into fast fashion and not address some of the negativities about it. So we’ll see what happens with it. But Amazon’s got more in store, there is more coming.
Scott Luton (08:54):
There is undoubtedly, and take it from Kim who’s spent time on that innovative organization there in Amazon. And just as we all know as practitioners, they certainly are a super competitor and it’s just amazing all the stories that roll out there. Kim, it just so happens that I placed an Amazon order this morning before I came on.
Kim Reuter (09:14):
Did you get it yet?
Scott Luton (09:15):
No. Well that’s a perfect, I know you’re kidding, but that’s a perfect question to ask because I love that option where you can combine items so they can make one trip to your home and sometimes use less packaging. And I try to preach that, not holier than thou, but I try to share that a lot, right? Because I think a lot of folks will place that order. They’ll want everything as quick as you can and the tremendous opportunity we have as consumers, do you really need that pair of socks like same day or overnight? No. If you just create a little bit of slack, I’m not making a consumer voice any less important than what should be, but we have active choices we can make as consumers to help, right? To help. And just because we can get it in two to four hours doesn’t mean we should get it in two to four hours. Your thoughts there, Kim?
Kim Reuter (10:03):
Yeah, there’s training of the consumer that needs to happen, right? Because we spent over 10 years training consumers to be like, I want it now no matter what. I want to have the retail experience on e-commerce, which means I’m walking out the door with it in my bag and we need to get as close to that as possible. Well we’ve seen the outcome of that, right? We have logistics companies growing out of the woodwork. Amazon is doing their own logistics now Walmart is doing their own logistics now Target is doing their own logistics. Now we didn’t take into effect that convenience comes at a price, right? And we’re starting to see the impact on the environment, curry it, fast fashion, things like that. So it’s interesting to see Amazon again be at the forefront of how do we bring that back a little bit? The service is still available to you if you need it, but to give the consumer options and I think there’s a very smart way for them to approach it.
Scott Luton (10:53):
Agreed, Kim. And one last point before we move on. I think everybody in supply chain loves talking about Amazon. At least that’s been the case since we started supply chain now it really is. It gives you plenty to talk about. But a year or so ago, maybe a little bit longer, we reported on Amazon’s efforts to use less corrugated and I haven’t seen any of the latest data. They had some early initial wins, but what I can say again as a consumer is it looks like the packaging sizes have generally been more accurate since they rolled that out from what I can tell. Any quick thoughts there Kim?
Kim Reuter (11:23):
So a couple things. One more accurate. They’re using more manufacturer packaging. There’s no need to over package something. You have the option not to over package something. They will ask you, can we ship it to you and shippers packaging if it’s not for a birthday gift for your child, you can probably save some money and some corrugate with that thing. So there are ways for you to continue to still engage with Amazon, but do your part. And so they’ve done a better job with that. You can choose not to have overpackaging, which makes a big difference. And then I think you’ll also notice that Amazon’s been embracing the mailer pouch as we call it, a lot more. That’s
Scott Luton (11:54):
Right, that’s right. Interesting stuff as always. Appreciate that Kim. And folks, y’all check out the read from the folks. I think it was over at retail. Do check it out. Okay, Kim, from there we are going, we mentioned this interesting Politico article. Now folks you may know Politico, it’s a leading political news site. You may read its articles. That’s one of my faves over the years. It recently hosted an in-person event that featured a mix of government, public and private sector leaders discussing the topic of securing America’s supply chain for critical infrastructure. Now one quick comment. When you think of critical infrastructure, don’t only think about the power grid, right? I know we’ve got a nuclear power site there, but think of water, right? Think of access to information. Think highways and byways really expand. Think frankly stadiums where lots of folks are at. All of that is critical infrastructure.
(12:44):
Now there’s four key takeaways, Kim, from this discussion as identified by Politico, let’s see the first one, hackers remain a serious threat to US critical networks. Well I think most of us would say duh, right? But hey, I’m still going to talk about it for the three folks out there that don’t get that yet. That’s okay. Secondly, the US is on path to hit the target for 155 millimeter shell production goals. Now, just in case you’re not aware, there’s been lots of conversations around the US and NATO’s ability to keep those artillery shells and that supply chain going not only for Ukraine and their efforts against the Russian invasion, but to protect stockpiles that we have across nato. So it seems like there’s good news there. Thirdly, again, no surprise anybody, the workforce remains a limiting factor many ways. Fourth, the red tape sometimes gets in the way of domestic sourcing. Now, Kim, with those four items, the key takeaways from the political event in mind, pick one and give us your thoughts on that.
Kim Reuter (13:39):
Number four really stuck with me. Were limiting our ability to source raw materials in this country, which limit our ability to have our own manufacturing and buy American and all of those things. But when we lay on top of that, the fact that we are putting additional tariffs and taxes on the raw materials that we import from, especially countries like China, we really put ourselves on a really tough position in order for us manufacturing to be successful. You can’t source it for a good price. It’s very expensive for us to get it here in the United States. Something has got to give. We have got to commit to manufacturing the United States and we have to make the appropriate moves to make that happen.
Scott Luton (14:18):
Well said, Kim. I completely agree. And just like it’s been leaving our shores for decades, we’re not going to overnight it in terms of the rebuild, right? Yes, it’s going to take some time. And like you called out a dedicated effort between the private public and the government sectors. A couple of quick things. Let’s see the workforce, we’re going to talk on the workforce in just a second, but folks, we’re all keeping our eyes on that potential dock worker strike in the east and the Gulf Coast ports. The last strike there was 1977. So my math is challenging, Kim, that’s, let’s see, 30, 37, no, no, no, 47 years, 47 years.
(14:54):
I should know. I should know that I was a child of the seventies. Anyway, 47 years. The current contract there expires at the end of September. Okay? Also, Kim touched on the red tape. I would add the rare earth metals, big constraints. There has been lots of conversation of how we can loosen that so we can lessen that dependence, especially on China. And then on a related note, the nuclear energy sector, kind of like the image we shared here, which shouldn’t be too startling, believe it or not. That is renewable energy and the US is far behind many other places around the world in terms of leveraging nuclear energy. But this might be why Kim. So plant Vogel here in Georgia, right? Nuclear plant recently completed a big expansion. It was launched in 2009. It was supposed to cost 14 billion and be done in 2017. Any guesses, Kim, what the final cost was and when it was finished?
Kim Reuter (15:46):
I can’t even,
Scott Luton (15:48):
You’re laughing because you know what the answer’s going to look like and it’s sad. Us Americans know what’s coming. It costs $30 billion more than twice. It’s one thing if it costs 15 bucks and okay, it ends up costing you 30 because you buy a few extra beers or something. But you’re talking about 14 billion and you more than double and it was finished seven years late. It was finished in 2024 versus 2017. Now one last thought on critical infrastructure, and Kim, I welcome your comments here, but from EV to all of our data centers to think of everything you plug in and have to recharge the electrical power grid, they’re already projecting when certain states will be hitting the limit unless new plants are built nuclear, solar, otherwise, I mean we’re going to be hitting over the next decade or two. I think there’s going to be some real eye openings, especially if we cannot find a way to do it to expand and invest more efficiently and somewhat on target. Kim, your quick thoughts there?
Kim Reuter (16:43):
Yeah, our infrastructure, all of our infrastructure is so far behind. We didn’t even talk about logistics infrastructure. How did we not talk about logistics infrastructure, but our rail systems, I mean everything we have to invest. This is also keeping us from being competitive for controlling all of our own costs, doing our own manufacturing, not having a strong logistics infrastructure in our country is limiting us on so many factors. You can go to Europe and you can get across Europe by train in three days. It doesn’t cost much. It’s readily available to everybody here. It’s not even available. It is kind of, but you got to jump a couple different trains and it’s rather expensive. And so that I think we have to focus on logistics, infrastructure, all of this electric and EV and all that is super interesting. But we really even haven’t nailed the basic
Scott Luton (17:36):
Yet, Kim. Well said. And I’ll tell you back on those trains, I saw an infographic somewhere in the last month or so and it showed the European train network and how robust it was. And then it showed the US train and it was like you wonder if Evens a light is on here in the States? But yeah,
Kim Reuter (17:53):
Only four lines,
Scott Luton (17:55):
Right? Great call out there. Great call out Kim, the logistics infrastructure. It needs a shot or two or seven in the arm. Alright, let’s move along to our next story here. We’re going to be talking about the workforce, right? That was one of the four key takeaways from that private, public and governmental conversation we were touched on a second ago and we’re going to talk more about it here. So plenty of organizations across industry are struggling to recruit and retain talent. So as manufacturing dive reports here, one small manufacturer has embraced a four day work week to help its current team get more production done in a manner that works for them. Now, the Society for Human Resource Management, also known as SH RM, says that 2023 data shows that 9% of companies have implemented a four day work week. Now the company featured here in this article, not the picture, but the article is the machine AAU manufacturing company.
(18:43):
It’s a contract manufacturing business that focuses on machine shop services, think machine parts and small assemblies, right? Small team of nine employees. And the CEO, Matthew Boucher, I think is his last name, said that they routinely were having to work on Saturdays overtime, get everything done, and they made a switch to longer days on four days a week. So now they work 6:00 AM to 4:00 PM four days a week. And so far they’ve been able to boost weekly sales per payroll dollar by 50%. The company’s also saved money and time when it comes to things like equipment startup and shut down time and a little tougher to measure, but the team is happier and loves the three day weekends every week. Now, the change has presented a few challenges too though, such as no deliveries on Fridays, which machine a source customers have had to get used to a bit. Now some experts point out that a four day work week may present unique challenges to process manufacturers in particular as they look to shut down things after four days of production and they got to better manage that so you don’t lose product especially in Whip. Now, regardless, when it comes to talent, a four day workweek proves pretty popular as shown by a variety of recent surveys, which means it could be used as a recruiting tool. Now Kim, your thoughts on the four day workweek,
Kim Reuter (19:53):
We need to evolve how we work. So the nine to five, five days a week, I think that was Ford that came up with that and that supported manufacturing of the automobile. And so we’ve been working that way since 1901 about, and I think it’s time for us to think about it a little differently, but one of the things companies have found when they’ve tried to do flexible work weeks, you still need people to come together, especially manufacturing. Not everybody can just do whatever they want whenever they want to do it. So having a four day work week, having everybody get on that same schedule, I think is going to be key for anybody who wants to do that, which means everybody’s going to have to agree on Friday or Monday or whatever it’s going to be. But those models work really well. The models I see that are not working well are when everybody gets to pick which four days they’re going to be in the office. So we need to evolve, but we need to do it in a slightly smarter way than we’ve been doing it.
Scott Luton (20:43):
I love that, Kim. And it’s not a standard fit for everybody, especially for, I mean this was a smaller manufacturer in this kind of case study that manufacturing dive reported on. Imagine a plant a hundred times the size, right? Exactly. Would’ve to take probably a more nuanced approach to that, but nevertheless, it is fascinating. I love how you point out when the five Day Workweek was established forever and a day ago, and I think a lot of us are trained in our brain Monday through Friday, and then we got two days, Dolly
Kim Reuter (21:13):
Wrote a song about it nine to five,
Scott Luton (21:16):
Right? Oh, Dolly Parton. Love it. What’s a buzz without the Dolly Parton reference, right? I love how this company has leaned into a new way of doing things that especially in this case, seems to benefit at least early on, the team members, especially in this day and age where you’re competing fiercely for talent and you’re battling fiercely to not just keep talent on the organization but keep them happy and fulfilled. And that’s a big part of the challenge, right, Kim?
Kim Reuter (21:43):
And attracting new talent. I think that’s the other piece that we have to look at too. I was talking to some people recently that made a shift from saying, Hey, we require all of our new employees to relocate to our headquarters. And the reason they did that was because they couldn’t track young talent. They didn’t want to move or they couldn’t get the right amount of talent or the talent wouldn’t stay. That was the other thing too. The talent would come, they would cash in. So yeah, in order to attract new talent and maintain that talent, everybody’s going to have to think about something differently.
Scott Luton (22:12):
That is right. Excellent point. Alright, so folks, y’all check out this Read from our Friends at Manufacturing Dive and let us know what you think. And by the way, if you work in a four day a week operation, manufacturing or otherwise, let us know what you think. We’d love to get your feedback there. Okay, Kim, we’re going to have a little fun with this last story here. Look at this. Look at the picture alone. The picture alone kind of gives you something to talk about. All right, so let’s talk about what some of the next food and beverage trends might be. So CNBC shared some of the key takeaways from the annual Summer Fancy Foods show in New York City. That kind of reminds me of the, oh, Amanda and Catherine behind the scenes got them. Help me out here. The office back in that TV show had a Finer Things Club, I think was the name of it.
(22:59):
It wasn’t a Fancy Things Club, it was a Finer Things club. Alright, so this is the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. So this show is hosted by the Specialty Food Association and it’s developed a bit of a track record when it comes to spotlighting what’s next in the food industry. So Kim, I’m going to share a couple of these things they’ve identified as potential trends. I would love to get your take here. So first off, honey is everywhere. Yes, the stuff that bees make, it’s everywhere in food and drinks, you name it. Honey soda. Honey licorice. Some of these products were showcased at this food show. Tinned Fish. We were talking about this pre-show, Kim, not the canned tuna of yesterday year. Like my dear grandmother, Hazel Rutland would make not canned TI guess it was canned salmon. Salmon patties with not that stuff though.
(23:40):
This is new flavors, new seafood varieties, new packaging. How about as we’re showing here, if you’re watching this, the Antarctic krill meat, canned krill meat. How about that for new stuff? Similarly, fish on the go is a trend trying to make fish easier to eat. I’ve noticed, of course some tuna packets. I’ve been more prevalent in recent years. And creative Charing, I say that right, charcuterie. So it’s instead of the boring pork and beef, how about elk, venison, bison cured meat on the charcuterie board. So Kim, out of all of that, what sounds best to you?
Kim Reuter (24:17):
The honey sounds best, but obviously have to talk about the seafood a little bit. But just on the honey mark for a minute, there was a little Italian guy who makes, he’s not a little, he is actually a tall Italian guy. But anyway, Nino makes pizza here out of his pizza truck. Fabulous. Makes all his own dough. And he has a pizza that is pepperoni with hot honey that he puts on it, which is very good. Interesting. But I had never had honey on a pizza before. I had Nino’s hot honey pepperoni pizza.
Scott Luton (24:41):
All right, so Nino’s hot honey pepperoni pizza, we’re going to have to order one of those and do an online livestream taste test,
Kim Reuter (24:49):
A online order. The DoorDash is going to be a while, but you could try it. But the seafood is ship. We’re interesting. That tinned fish, right? Of all things that is hitting the market, this kind of struck me the most. It brings me back to my grandfather and my father who used to eat a lot of sardines because they felt like they had nutritional value, which I think they do. But yeah, it’s very interesting that we’re getting into the tinned meats and as we’re discussing kind of pre-show, I think it’s related to the charcuterie because this is where people are putting their tinned and fishes and also smoked fish has been around for a long time. We’ve been eating locks forever, green cheese and locks. So I’m always glad to see seafood at the forefront. Would always love to see it refresh, but I’ll take tinned.
Scott Luton (25:31):
So I want you to establish, Kim, you do a ton of work in the seafood industry, right?
Kim Reuter (25:35):
I do, I do. Yeah. I help a lot of the Virginia watermen and selling their products and figuring out who they are and what their brands are and all that good stuff. So hoping everybody makes
Scott Luton (25:45):
Money, that’s good. If you’re in the industry, got questions, reach out to Kim. I think you’d have a fascinating conversation. Let’s see here. Double checking my bases here. Amanda, behind the scenes says, Hey, I want to go to that trade show. Catherine says, she’s helping me with my pronunciation. Charcuterie. Thank you Catherine. I got to break it down phonetically. Kim,
Kim Reuter (26:07):
If she could have done little pictures of animals, they might’ve been a little
Scott Luton (26:10):
Right. Break it way on back. That’s right. Let’s see here. Alright, so folks, we dropped the link to the article. Y’all check it out. I think this is Amanda. My favorite new coffee is a lavender honey latte. And she is not a big fan of flavored coffee. She says, how about that? Hey, Larry Klein, great to see you here. LK says he’s having venison from Fort Moore, Fort lunch today as a matter of fact. Okay, Amanda says she likes tin fish trend too. She saw it on a TikTok several months ago, and I have to admit, I bought some tins of smoked oysters and sardines and hot sauce to try. Now Kim, I’m hoping if that is Amanda, that she’s trying those things outside and not inside because I can only imagine how they may linger far after that. The meal is enjoyed, right? It
Kim Reuter (26:52):
Sticks with you for sure.
Scott Luton (26:54):
Edgar’s tuned in, I believe from Mexico. Great to see you Edgar. Be a LinkedIn. Let us know what food trend or beverage trend that you’re fascinated by. And then Larry Klein says, smoked mullet is the best smoked fish. Kim, I can’t say I’ve ever had smoked mullet.
Kim Reuter (27:08):
It is very good. It’s oily. So any oily fishes are always good smoked, but yeah, I had no idea. Right up there is hurting.
Scott Luton (27:14):
Alright, A lot of good stuff here. A lot of good stuff. And we’ll see. The reason I like kind of talking about some of these food trends and beverage trends, Kim, because some of ’em kind of die after the trade show and never pick up steam and then others really go bonkers. And then you’ve got the supply chain organization behind that. Got to figure out how to stand up the operation and meet that demand, right? Kim
Kim Reuter (27:34):
Ale. Scale, scale, scale, scale. Yep,
Scott Luton (27:36):
That’s right. T squared says chicken fingers, fried salmon fries and jalapeno poppers are on deck. Must be up for lunch today, man. How about that T squared? Love it. Okay folks, we have been efficient today on the buzz again every Monday at 12 in Eastern time. You can find us here talking about some of the leading news stories and takes from across global business. And Kim loved your perspective here today, but also enjoyed your article that you published I think to LinkedIn, which as we kind of get closer and closer peak season, it’s focused on flow, right? So I got to ask you, and I think we’re actually, we’re going to drop your article here, that article from Kim right here. So you’re one click away folks, I’ll check it out. So what are you writing about next, Kim?
Kim Reuter (28:20):
So flow’s a big part of it. We’re going to continue that conversation around flow. But what do companies need to start thinking about for peak season? We’re seeing in the market some of the covid behaviors are happening. Again, unpredictability in the supply chain, unpredictable ocean freight market. We’ve got some pending ILA conversations that are going to happen. We’ll get huge impacts on some of the ports. So the next one is going to be what do you need to be doing? And it’s going to evolve looking very far into the future.
Scott Luton (28:48):
I love it. I love it as far as we can see in the future, right? We’ll take every single day that we can look at and get out in front of the future. So Kim, if folks want to reach out and talk about that peak season or being able to look in the future and kind of predict what’s coming so we can be better prepared, or if they want to talk seafood with you or they want to talk supply chain with you, how can folks connect with
Kim Reuter (29:10):
You? Again, hit me up on LinkedIn. That’s the best place to find me. I love to talk about supply chain, always available for that.
Scott Luton (29:16):
Wonderful. So y’all do that. Kim Reuter, you’ll find her right on LinkedIn and always a pleasure here on the Buzz and on many of other shows. Always enjoy your take and your expertise here. The demand is growing. The demand is growing for the buzz. Demand is growing for all the perspective we had here in the comments here today. T squared says the best trend is breakfast.
(29:38):
It’s good to make time for breakfast, I got to say I don’t do it every day, but Kim, one of the favorite things we love to do is me and my son Ben, try to grab Saturday morning breakfast as often as we can. Little local place around the corner, locally owned, love it. Try to spend some dollars there. So we’ll see if we can’t make that happen this coming weekend. Alright folks that does it for the buzz. Check out the articles we dropped in there. Check out with that said some of the resources we shared on the front end. Make sure you connect with Kim and check out her most recent article focused on flow. Really appreciate y’all being here today and all the comments we couldn’t get to. But most importantly, thanks for being a part of our global community, our global audience. I would challenge you though one thing, take one thing that Kim dropped here today or take something that we shared, gave you some market intel Act on it, right? Deeds not words. And with all that said, on behalf of the end supply chain now, team Scott Luden challenging you, do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed, and we’ll see you next time. Right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.
Intro/Outro (30:34):
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