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 Digital Transformers edition of The Buzz, hosts Scott Luton and Kevin L. Jackson discussed a variety of news and developments across global supply chain, with a heavy focus on technology. Listen in as they discuss:

• What “Intralogics” means
• What procurement executives are prioritizing in 2024
• Accelerating digital transformation in logistics
• How D-Day would have played out with modern technology
• And much more!

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 Kevin L. Jackson with you here on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream, Kevin, how you doing?

Kevin L. Jackson (00:43):

Yes, it’s another beautiful Monday. I love the summer. I love summer weather.

Scott Luton (00:48):

Really?

Kevin L. Jackson (00:49):

Yes.

Scott Luton (00:49):

Well, we’ll have to disagree on that. I’m a big fan of late fall and early spring or maybe early fall and early spring. I think that’s what it is,

Kevin L. Jackson (00:59):

Late spring, early fall. Well,

Scott Luton (01:01):

Anything that gets us like those crisp 65 degree days. Oh, that’s so nice.

Kevin L. Jackson (01:07):

Well, we didn’t have spring this year. It went from winter to summer really? Up here in Virginia. Yeah, it was like 2030, and then a day later, 70, 80.

Scott Luton (01:20):

Always we start with the weather updates. Who knows, just part of what we do and Kevin. But hey folks, we’re bringing the heat regardless of where you live, because it’s the bus, we’re every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and business. And a second Tuesday of each month as y’all have come to appreciate is the digital Transformers edition of the Buzz where we tend to focus a lot more on technology and where I’m always joined by the one and only Kevin L. Jackson, host of our Digital Transformers series, which is available wherever you get your podcasts. Now Kevin, before we get into things, we’ve got two quick reminders for folks, right? Because we want to make this as always really interactive. So number one, give us your take in the comments. If you’re listening, if you’re tuned in watching us live, give us your take into comments, whether you’re on LinkedIn, YouTube, X, Facebook, Twitch, no matter, let us know what you think. And no matter if you’re watching us live, listening live, listening to the replay, watching the replay, whatever, if you enjoy the show, we’d love for you to share it with a friend and your network, Kevin. That would be the neighborly thing to do, right?

Kevin L. Jackson (02:28):

Exactly. Because I exist for the buzz and the live commerce because it’s just so fun. People from all around the world come and listen and interact, and I learn so much on this show from the

Scott Luton (02:42):

Audience. That’s right. Completely agree. And one other tidbit along those lines, Kevin, is folks, if you’re listening to the replay and you hear us reference a comment from someone that is with us, live those comments live and breathe for as long as we’re on God’s green Earth,

Kevin L. Jackson (02:57):

That’s

Scott Luton (02:59):

Go back to the social platform of your choosing and engage on those comments. So we’d love for you to do just that. Okay, Kevin, we’ve got a couple of resources that we want to share with folks before we dive into. I think we got four stories teed up here today. You ready to get going?

Kevin L. Jackson (03:14):

I am very ready. Let’s do it.

Scott Luton (03:16):

Alright, so I want to start with our latest edition of our almost weekly newsletter. With that said,

Kevin L. Jackson (03:24):

You got a problem there.

Scott Luton (03:27):

I don’t

Kevin L. Jackson (03:27):

Like airplane. What’s wrong with that airplane there?

Scott Luton (03:31):

Well,

(03:33):

You’re probably just unhappy with the fact that in bold letters it says on the side of the US Air Force instead of US Navy. But I digress. We released our latest edition of what that said over the weekend. We’re going to drop the link in the chat just for y’all, and it was jam full of good stuff. I think. Number one, Kevin, and I’m going to circle back around and you get your comment on this, we celebrated Global Maintenance Day, which was yesterday, June 9th, every year. So we lifted up the incredible maintainers that help us whether in the military, in the private fleets, you name it, they keep business going. We also shared news related to the manufacturing industry. It’s still kind of just treading water, at least here in the states. Economic news inflation, still about 3% here in the us, which is about a full point higher than where we want it at 2% or at least where Uncle Sam wants it.

(04:21):

Budget slashes. We talked about how budget slashes potential impact on cyber strategy, and we’re going to talk more about that impact later in the show. And Jake Barr in our first video, key takeaways video from Gartner’s recent supply chain symposium, new co-host Jake Barr, spoke about the human capital effect related to slow moving, ineffective digital transformation leadership. So I want to circle back to one thing though, Kevin. Yeah. You see the tagline, the title this edition was maintainers Matter. We really wanted to lift up how critical these, unfortunately these invisible folks and professionals are across industry. So Kevin, you were a naval aviator and I want to kind of focus there for a minute. Yes. How critical were maintainers that you knew every time you went up, you were in a rock and roll solid aircraft that would bring you back home in one piece.

Kevin L. Jackson (05:10):

So first of all, they were not invisible. I’ll tell you, when you’re up there on a carrier deck and you’re getting ready to go off the pointing end, they’re checking your plane, making sure this is right. That is right. Especially when you roll up on a catapult. You got your engines running and you’re wiping out your flight controls and there’s so many people looking for it. Is your hydraulics fine? Are you all fine? Does that engine sound quite right before you do your salute and your life is there, there hands, and when you feel good about your maintainers, you feel good about your airplane, you feel good about life. So they are never invisible hats off to all the maintainers even at their Air force.

Scott Luton (05:57):

Kevin, I love that. And as I was sharing on Friday as part of my good news message, I suggested that the private industry has learned so much and taken so much from our military, right? Especially when it comes to supply chain, logistics, transportation, you name it. And one of the thing I’m hoping that private industry will borrow from the military is how to make the maintenance community truly, as you said, it highly visible in the private sector. We were honored to support something called knuckle busters in recent months, which to your point, one of the military’s way, especially in the Air Force and especially at McCall Air Force base of lifting up this maintainer community and celebrating what they do and recognizing and honoring them. And I’ll tell you, I think from personal experience, we have a lot of work to do across global supply chain to do just that. Kevin, I’ll give you the last word and then we’re going to switch gears to our next resource.

Kevin L. Jackson (06:49):

Well, when I was in the Navy, we were on detachments, and you would go in the middle of nowhere and your plane would break, and it was those maintainers that you would depend upon to get you home. That’s right. So I’m there with you, man.

Scott Luton (07:06):

Outstanding. All right. Call to action folks. Lift up the maintainers, the maintenance professionals in your organization. They certainly, certainly deserve it. Okay, so we’ve got a link to what that said from this past weekend right there in the chat. Real convenient for all of y’all. Check that out. Let us know what you think. Also about this digital transformers, the move just moves forward, right? I’ll tell you. Yeah. Cranking out great content here. Kevin, tell us about the most recent episode with, I think this is Mr. Allen Seed.

Kevin L. Jackson (07:36):

Yeah, Allen Seed. Yes. He’s the digital asset evangelist for the Pacific Islands. Talk about a great place to live. He lives in Palau. Just little on fact. His daughter is a representative to the UN for the nation of Palau, and he’s been doing a lot of work to save the earth with respect to carbon offset. He taught me about the fact that coral is being killed by carbon in the oceans, these beautiful coral reefs. They are dying and they’re turning white because of too much carbon. And what they have done is they worked with National Geographic and I think Stanford University, and they’ve determined a process where they can actually measure the carbon in the ocean. Excessive carbon is killing the coral, but what the country of Palau is doing is that they are flagging with respect to national flags, not throwing the tigers and container ships and the tax that’s being paid. They’re giving credit, carbon credit to the owners of the shippers. And then these ships, they can actually get benefit by reducing their taxes in other countries by reducing the amount of carbon they’re putting in the atmosphere. And that’s saving the coral reefs. So this is a great show. You’ll learn a lot. And hey, you’re help Mother Earth.

Scott Luton (09:17):

I love that. A very important, impactful, consequential conversation and show. Check it out with Mr. Allen Seed. And we dropped the link to this episode right there in the chat and make it easy and convenient. Kevin, appreciate your ongoing work as we continue to expand the digital Transformers community and mission. So good stuff there. Kevin. I’ll be remiss if I didn’t add one more quick plug for all of our friends at the saex Annual Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, which kicked off in earnest early this morning. I think they’re about five or six hours ahead of us. So to all the folks gathered there, all the supply chain leaders and professionals gathered there in Cape Town from around the world, some 33 countries. Hope you have a wonderful week and look forward to your key takeaways, including our own Sophia Rivas Herrera and her sister Andrea. So we look forward to their key takeaways. And we dropped the link there, Kevin, how about that? Big thanks to Catherine and Amanda behind the scenes helping make that happen. Link to the conference right

Kevin L. Jackson (10:20):

There. The trip there is on my bucket list. I was really envious of you and Amanda last year.

Scott Luton (10:26):

That’s right. It was last year. It was such a great trip. Alright, so Kevin, we got four articles. All part of the news that matters that we’re going to be working our way through here today. And we’re going to start with this first topic, intra logistics, Kevin. So this is via a neat blog article from our friends at AR racking. So Kevin, hey, tell us more.

Kevin L. Jackson (10:47):

Some days you got 10 pounds in a five pound bag today I think we may have 15. And it starts off with intralogistics, right? It’s described as the set of activities and processes to manage the flow of goods from the moment of their receipt through delivery to the end customer. So this is really internal logistics, the storage, the handling, the internal transportation, and people are always thinking about their external logistics. But the internal logistics is just as important because if you focus on that, you get better efficiency in your processes. It improves your operational efficiency by removing bottlenecks, it optimizes cost and in the end it gives greater customer satisfaction because it ensures accurate and fast deliveries. It optimizes your inventory management and gives you greater visibility and traceability. There are some challenges, however, because you need to leverage automation and technology and implementing advanced technology like warehouse automation and automated storage systems can be very complex for some companies. But it’s all about managing your change and data, data, data. You get large volumes of data focused on internal management of logistics. And this can require a lot of training of not only the people at the end point, but your management as well. And flexibility. You need to be able to adapt to change in market demand and dynamics. This is essential to any agile supply chain. So remember not just your external logistics, but also your internal intra logistics.

Scott Luton (12:45):

That’s right. Well said Kevin. Almost universal to global supply chain. A lot of what you touched on there, and I’m going to pick one thing in particular because we just had an outstanding webinar session. Kevin, our dear friend and fellow co-host, Alison Giddens, right? Yeah, yeah.

Kevin L. Jackson (13:01):

Alison, yes.

Scott Luton (13:02):

Alison has done big things in manufacturing circles for a long time. She runs an organization here in the metro Atlanta area that does a lot of work in a variety of industries, including aviation. So we’ve got a big aviation theme here today. But on this webinar, which was very well received, got a lot of great feedback from across our global community, IT featured Barry Kaku, CTO, and founder with net Stock. Now as you point out, optimizing inventory management, huge opportunity because it’s always an opportunity. But in the last couple of years, inventory kept on hand is up for almost everyone. Kevin, as we went from, and this is cliche these days, Kevin, I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times, going from just in time to just in case, right? We accumulated stockpiles of inventory. Now the last year or two, retail amongst other sectors have really worked on right sizing inventory and retiming inventory, their inventory strategies. But there’s still a massive opportunity to unlock cash for organizations out there by improving, enhancing, optimizing, innovating that inventory management approach. And y’all should check out this. Let’s see here. Oh, look here. Catherine, Amanda, Johnny’s on the spot. We have got the webinar link right here, folks.

Kevin L. Jackson (14:16):

I like the way they are implementing AI in order to deal with the change.

Scott Luton (14:22):

Yes, Kevin, you beat me to it because while we really focused a lot on inventory management, kind of the overarching thing was our efforts and especially leaning on Barry’s expertise of demystifying this golden age of AI that we’re in. And I’m telling you all, check out the webinar replay, you’ll enjoy it because Kevin, before we move on to this next article, there’s a ton of fact, but also fiction related to opportunities out there as it relates to ai, huh?

Kevin L. Jackson (14:49):

Yeah, absolutely. My main people don’t really understand what AI is. I was talking to a gentleman the other day and they said there’s no difference between AI and a good database. What

Scott Luton (15:03):

Man was he starting his weekend a little bit early and having a nice adult beverage or seven

Kevin L. Jackson (15:07):

Kevin said about artificial intelligence is changing everything and taking my job and I got to change, change, change, okay, people don’t like change, but it happens. You got to deal with it.

Scott Luton (15:20):

And you got to deal in truths, in reality and facts, right? Even if it’s not always a pleasant conversation, which they aren’t, that’s what we sign up for. But y’all check out to Kevin’s point, lean into this time that we’re in this golden age of AI because there’s new ways, all kinds of new ways of moving the business ahead and changing how business is done that your team will appreciate. And then secondly, more tactically, check out this webinar replay and let us know what you think. Alright, Kevin, we are going to move right along to our next item here today. Now this next article, look at the headline. It’s not going to surprise anybody because as reported by supply chain procurement executives are prioritizing cost cutting in 2024, right? No one’s surprised by that. But check this out, Kevin, the Hackett group has released data from a recent survey where it asked 375 industry executives a variety of key questions.

(16:10):

Again, no surprise, procurement leaders in the survey said that cost savings was their top priority for 2024. That’s the first time it was number one though, since 2021. Wow. So three years ago, 75% of the procurement executives also said they had planned improvements focused on data and reporting. Goes back to Kevin, your summary of that first article, right? Good data and the power that you have with good clean structured data. So 75%, they’re doing something with data and reporting. 56% said they plan to improve strategic sourcing. Another 50% said that supplier relationship management was a big focused area of improvement too. That number should be a lot higher, folks. There’s so many returns you can get from investing former and informally in your supplier ecosystem. But I digress. Here’s where I want to ask you, Kevin. Yeah. So I’m going to tie these spending cutbacks to another key part of any businesses strategy these days and that is cybersecurity.

(17:05):

So over the weekend in that, with that said article, one of the things we touched on, Kevin was a great read that mentioned Hayden Brooks, who CEO at Risk Ledger, right? This is in an article by IT pro. So bear with me, I’m going to quote this and I’m going to get you to respond, Kevin. So Hayden says a lot of security budgets are being tightened, a lot of business budgets are being tightened. And the way businesses tend to deal with that is by looking for suppliers to outsource things too. And that’s led to a massive increase in the attack surface in people’s supply chains. If anyone in the audience is experiencing your security budget being squeezed, imagine your suppliers, their budget was probably a lot smaller than yours to begin with, and the pressure goes down the supply chain then gets bigger the further down the supply chain you go. So Kevin, in this era where a lot of folks are looking for cost savings, tell me this. How do you see a dollar store cyber strategy playing out?

Kevin L. Jackson (18:03):

Well, look, if you are trying to save money in cybersecurity, you are going to lose, lose, lose. Because in today’s world, protection of your data, protection of your customer’s data is critical. And you could lose your entire business by not investing properly. In cybersecurity, people are really worried about what’s going to happen. Are we going to go into a recession? What’s going to happen with the election? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay? It doesn’t matter which way the election goes, the cyber criminals are out there and they’re going to get you. That’s

Scott Luton (18:41):

Right. So

Kevin L. Jackson (18:42):

Don’t skimp on this cyber. That’s right. Don’t

Scott Luton (18:46):

Kevin, excellent point. So many of the hackers don’t care about your politics. They don’t care about your sports team, they don’t care about your,

Kevin L. Jackson (18:52):

None of them care.

Scott Luton (18:54):

Edna up in Idaho. They don’t care about any of that. They care about one thing and that is separating you from your resources. So exit well said Kevin. So folks, don’t skip on that cyber strategy. I know it’s appealing, especially if you’ve been one of lucky F that haven’t been impacted by all the attacks that inevitably have hit your organization. Cause every organization has been attacked. It’s just some have been very deeply impacted.

Kevin L. Jackson (19:15):

Some know about it and some don’t know about

Scott Luton (19:17):

It. Yes, Kevin? Yes, yes.

Kevin L. Jackson (19:21):

But everyone’s been attacked.

Scott Luton (19:22):

That’s right. So don’t skimp, buyer beware, savor or leader beware because there’s lots and lots of bad folks out there to get you. Now, Larry Kline, Hey Larry, great to see you. Oh, lk ISS back with us and he makes a great point. Larry says, need to recover from pandemic spending levels. Some companies may be sitting on what we call in my line of work, iron Mountains of stuff. Larry, that’s a fair comment because a lot of organizations went crazy with spending during the pandemic, right? But Kevin, I think there’s a fine line and it takes some management know-how some management muscle. Kevin, we got to tread carefully between gaining some cost efficiencies for businesses and not cutting corners with protecting our teams, our products, our ecosystems, you name it, huh?

Kevin L. Jackson (20:04):

Yeah. Let’s be real. During the pandemic, people were catching up to being so far behind in protecting and paying for cybersecurity, protecting against that risk. They got blindsided because for years and years and years, basically been ignoring cyber hygiene. And then when they were pushed off the cliff and they had to use teams or their online collaboration tools or their video and their audio because you couldn’t go into the office, then they got scared. So they weren’t overspending on cyber, they were just catching up.

Scott Luton (20:47):

I like it.

Kevin L. Jackson (20:47):

You’ve gotten to the point that you are actually addressing your cyber hygiene. That’s right. Don’t fall back. Don’t fall

Scott Luton (20:58):

Back. Well said Kevin. Well said. And a couple other comments here. Bernardo says, Hey, could cybersecurity investment save you money when hiring insurance given that you’re less exposed to a hack? I think that’s a great point. Great questions there. Bernardo, and I love T squared, who holds down a force on YouTube says cybersecurity is boring until someone or something happens. Internal controls need to be paramount and not just financially. T squared on the money as always, no pun intended. Okay, Kevin, I think we have beat that one Seven ways to Sunday.

(21:31):

So y’all check out the article though, supply chain dive and you’ll find that it pro that article on how the current environment is impacting cybersecurity. You’ll check that out in with that said, which we already dropped the link to. Okay, let’s see here, Kevin, I’ve got an interesting ReadUP next from our friends at Siemens focused on accelerating the digital transformation and logistics. But before I flip images folks, be prepared. Our cracker jack team, big thanks to Catherine. Amanda behind the scenes has done their homework and we have uncovered a top secret picture of Kevin L. Jackson when he was working at nasa. And here it’s Ride ’em Cowboy. Look at this. Alright, so kidding aside, top secret images here. Let’s talk about accelerating the digital transformation in logistics. Kevin, tell us more.

Kevin L. Jackson (22:21):

First of all, Siemens is a huge multinational and they have so much experience in every industry, especially in logistics and manufacturing. So the quote that started off this article really hit the mark. It said, logistics has become the key factor driving success in the global economy. It is an industry that delivers solution. So when things go wrong, you look at logistics to compensate things that go off the rails. Anything that disrupts the supply chain or the production process, you need to find strategies to get it back on track or you’re out of business. As simple as that, every organization has a supply chain that has to run like a clock. And this article, it gives you viewpoints and information and lessons learned from Siemens and their worldwide operations. I really like, there’s three white papers in this article, talks about how you can strengthen your supply chain, how you can synchronize production and logistics.

(23:38):

And the third one is making your logistics, the center of your circular economy, be sustainable. This is number one in the C-suite in a lot of areas. It also gives you examples. Lesson learned of successful digital transformation. Talks about how Audi, the car manufacturer looks at their logistics cost leveraging digital technology and how dragger achieved seamless transparency into their supply chain and metro logistics. They used this control tower for visibility across their wholesale logistics. And finally it wrapped up with a viewpoint from multiple industry verticals. And this one you can just sort of zero in on what’s important to you Talked about automotive and how the automotive supply chains operated, electronics, semiconductors, the consumer products, retail, chemical industry and more. So you can take this learn, don’t repeat the mistakes of others. So thank you, Simmons.

Scott Luton (24:54):

You bet. Hey folks, y’all check it out. Drop a link to that read, which offers a variety of resources right there in the chat and let us know what you think. Alright, so Kevin, before I kind of share a couple things, I’m a bit under the weather and I’m fighting. I’ve got my cough drops, I’ve got my Kleenexes, I’ve got my fluids in here. So if I happen to get choked up, it’s not because I’m emotional talking about supply chain is because I’m fighting this cold. I’ve got all right.

Kevin L. Jackson (25:18):

Yeah, but you’re emotional about supply chain.

Scott Luton (25:22):

I didn’t take it to heart, I’ll tell you. All right. It’s not going to also surprise anybody. Some of the major factors accelerating digital transformation that we talk about a lot here for years now, especially logistics. You got AI power decision-making, which is augmenting the powerful human factor. We’ve got automation throughout the warehouses and fulfillment centers, right? More and more we’re leveraging visibility to drive powerful outcomes and innovations. No, visibility is not enough. It’s what you do with it, right?

Kevin L. Jackson (25:49):

Yeah. Yes,

Scott Luton (25:50):

Absolutely. And T squared. You know what I wish I could blame on the pollen, our pollen season wrap a couple months back, maybe we’re still lingering. All this polling down here is pine pollen. But here’s one thing we’re all watching, and I think it’s an exciting time. So it will also not surprise any member of our incredibly smart and gifted global audience that last mile accounts for over 50% of all transportation costs. And that’s where drones and self-driving vehicles have a growing opportunity to impact that cost tremendously. Kevin, I was just at Venture 50 three’s, funders and founders field day last week where I enjoyed a presentation from Beth Lippo, CEO at Drone Express. Now Kevin, you may know more about this than I do. There’s only a handful of companies that have had their part 1 35 application accepted by the FAA. We’re talking about the big folks like Amazon and Walmart.

(26:40):

I think there’s only five or six companies. Well, congratulations to Drone Express. I think we’re going to be dropping a link here in a second to Beth and their team who recently had its part 1 35 application accepted by the FA. One Last thing, Kevin, as I was asking this panel, I was moderating to give me one bold prediction, right? One bold prediction. One of the founders of Venture 53, pat had responded that I predict everyone in this room will have something delivered to them by a drone in the next two years. Kevin, what do you think about that? Do you think that’s what’s going to happen? Do you think there’ll be mass application and adoption, a mass drone deliveries in the next couple of years?

Kevin L. Jackson (27:21):

Yeah, it’s happening today. In fact, I was down in Northfolk, Virginia, a Navy conference and I was driving down interstate. There was this building on the left side and on the top of the building in huge letters it said Drone Up.

Scott Luton (27:36):

Oh, love it. I love it.

Kevin L. Jackson (27:40):

That’s a company that’s leading charge when it comes to leveraging drones. So everyone, all these companies are droning up. I’ll

Scott Luton (27:48):

Tell you, it’s remarkable. So we are briefed by Beth and the Drone Express team, and it’s amazing what they’re up to and just how close, I mean, we own a lot of our supply chain leadership series across Africa that we’ve done in conjunction with Jenny Free and all of her friends at saic. It’s really amazing how they’re leveraging drones across the African continent because of some of the infrastructure challenges and the whole globe can learn from the incredible things they’re doing across using drones and modern technology across Africa. And the time is coming. So folks check out, I think we’re dropping the link to my LinkedIn post about the Venture 53 event, which was first class I mentioned Pat. I was talking about Pat Martin, founder of Venture 53, excellent organization, investing in entrepreneurs that are solving some of supply chain and logistics biggest challenges. So a lot of good stuff there. Okay, Kevin, but hang on a sec. Did you make a bold, fearless prediction around drone delivery?

Kevin L. Jackson (28:44):

So I believe drones are really going to overtake things like Uber delivery and Uber Eats

Scott Luton (28:54):

Where it is. Oh yeah. I had Zaxby’s just a couple weeks ago, powered by good old, our friends at Uber Eats,

Kevin L. Jackson (29:01):

So it’s cheaper, faster, and hey, you get your barbecue right there on your porch or your screen house.

Scott Luton (29:08):

That’s right. Two thoughts there, Kevin. Hopefully they’re going to make real fast drones because if it’s carrying some delicious barbecue or Zaxby’s, better watch out for the wildlife. And then secondly, folks, I learned a new term in the pre-show. So me and Catherine, Amanda and Kevin were getting ready for today’s buzz. And Kevin was talking about something he did over the weekend and he goes, yeah, we did this project in the screen house. I’m like, is that like a vacation home or is that somewhere up on the lake? He goes, no, he goes right off the kitchen side of the house. We’ve got a room that is screened in the screen house. And I have never heard that phrase in my life, Kevin. It’s a screened in porch down here. That’s what we call it. But it’s a screen house up there in Virginia, huh?

Kevin L. Jackson (29:47):

Say you live in the south, we have different languages, different terms.

Scott Luton (29:55):

That’s right. Different languages, different terms. Plenty of them. And also going back to the food, Catherine says she’s got premium DoorDash, maybe that they operate at a fast velocity and it protects the food from the wildlife.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:09):

Yes.

Scott Luton (30:10):

Alright, lots of big things ahead. Such an exciting time to be in global business, global supply chain automation, drones, you name it. Now, and by the way, Eno, great to see you back from Auburn, Alabama via LinkedIn. I think you’ve joined us on some previous shows. Hey, give us your bold prediction of what you think is coming up when it comes to drones. T squared says, Hey, but then Uber Eats would have to have a new way to mitigate the amorphous issue of fraud in ordering. Hey, that’s a real, real thread, right?

Kevin L. Jackson (30:39):

Yeah. I tell you, fraud is everywhere when we’re just talking about cyber security. That’s

Scott Luton (30:44):

Right.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:45):

All these people not taking that investment, that’s what you’re going to lose.

Scott Luton (30:51):

That’s right. That’s right, Kevin. Man, we got to be vigilant. Ever vigilant,

Kevin L. Jackson (30:55):

Always.

Scott Luton (30:56):

So all the kidding aside, our last topic here today is something that is really serious and something that we should all reflect on, right? Because in our lives, many of us have the good fortune of having things at our fingertips and the challenges not threaten our bodily harm. And we’re not charged with sacrificing ourselves for the turning point in World War ii. And I don’t think I mentioned D-Day earlier, but last week the world recognized and reflected on its 80th anniversary. It’s hard to believe. Kev, we included a great story from our mutual friend, Rob Tiffany, who shared this great blog article about his visit to Omaha Beach. So y’all check that out. And with that said, but many of y’all out there should know that D-Day, who refers to Operation Overlord, which truly changed World War ii, it involved 150,000 troops, almost 7,000 ships operated by another 200,000 naval personnel, all focused on five Beachheads, Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, gold Beach, Juno Beach and Sword Beach.

(31:58):

And by June 30th, 1944, just a few weeks later, over 850,000 personnel, 148,000 vehicles and 570,000 tons of supplies had landed on the shores of Normandy. All as we mentioned, at great price of human treasure and so many souls. But thankfully changed the rest of that awful, awful global conflict. So Kevin, as we start to look back and also look at things through the prism of modern day technology, be it supply chain, you name it, but especially modern day technology, there’s this really neat article from our friends at Hadeen where we re-imagining D-Day as we think about how it would’ve all played out with modern technology. And by the way, that’s a picture of Braves, which is there on the beaches of France. So Kevin, tell us more about, as we look back at D-Day.

Kevin L. Jackson (32:50):

Yeah, first of all, we’re losing those heroes, right? And we have to remember that they had given us the life that we have today, the so-called World Order as we move forward. And many of our leaders no longer have had any experience in the military, and it’s really hard to relate the importance of that. But as we reflect on this anniversary, you wonder what would that event be if it happened today or if today’s technology had been available, what would the drones do? Modern satellites and drones would really improve intelligence gathering. They would update in real time using imagery, showing enemy position sensors and cameras were offered closeup views of enemy defenses and modern communications could allow much faster coordination. Talk about improved logistics. The decision support systems would enable decision makers to make decisions much faster because they have more information that’s advancements in logistics technology, especially, which streamline and accelerate mobilization and the supply process and cyber warfare. That data supply line would be just as critical. Virtual reality and augmented reality would transform training. Back then they had to practice and practice and they actually used rubber tanks to deceive the enemy. But today you could use spatial computing and artificial intelligence to simulate and practice the landing and any combat scenarios. So modern day technology would’ve really transformed D-Day operations enabling quicker and more precise execution because it would provide a holistic view of the battlefield to enable swift and informed decision-making, sort of like supply chain management.

Scott Luton (35:09):

That’s right. I really enjoyed your perspective there and big thanks to our friends that took some time to kind of reflect on D-Day, which was such a monumental day and time in human history and reflect on it in a way that compare and contrasted where we are in the modern technology world. I think that’s Kevin, that’s how we move forward, right? As we reflect on where we’ve been, the big days, the monumental days, the small days, and reflect on that. And that help drives innovation and hopefully it helps us all prevent global conflict from happening again and prayers to all of those that are currently being impacted by conflict around the world. Kevin, Larry Klu says, Hey, that was my job. Uniform Army nine two Y. Now I looked up while you were sharing some of your perspective there, Larry, I think I’ve got this right as I looked up what that was. Unit supply specialist, of course, that’s the MOS in the Army

Kevin L. Jackson (36:01):

In the Air

Scott Luton (36:02):

Force. We call that the A FSC, at least we did when I was in, I was a two R 0 5 1 when I got out. Kevin, a maintenance data systems analyst. What does the Navy call it, Kevin? I forgot.

Kevin L. Jackson (36:12):

Well, the rating I guess. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. The rating is what your specialty is in the military. Actually I had a specialty as logistics as well. Airborne logistics. I flew the C two A, the COD carrier onboard delivery.

Scott Luton (36:28):

Oh man, that is cool. Yeah. I’ve always kind of couched you as the technology guru, but you were a supply chain before. Supply chain was cool too.

Kevin L. Jackson (36:36):

Yeah. I mean we were always called the mailman, right? And we would carry the high priority parts out to the aircraft carrier.

Scott Luton (36:44):

Love it. Love it. All right there it says, I’m from the last generation of supply folks who know how to use technology, but can also function when the network goes down. That’s very valuable. It’s easier to appreciate the new ways more when you had to do it the old way, Kevin, I think there’s a lot of truth in what Larry is sharing there.

Kevin L. Jackson (37:00):

I always have to have that backup. Backup A and backup D. Backup C.

Scott Luton (37:07):

That’s a great point. And know how to do it manually. I mean, not many folks prefer to do things the old fashioned way, the manual way, because technology has made our lives so much easier. But gosh, in the moment of a contingency, you’ve got to be able to take care of the most important things in any way that you can get it done. Well,

Kevin L. Jackson (37:24):

It’s a big problem, right? Before any olden days, you would learn the manual way. That’s right. And they would always say, well, you need to know the manual because if this machine goes down, you won’t have it there. And today they never get to know the manual way. Right?

Scott Luton (37:44):

The manual way is usually involving one of these,

Kevin L. Jackson (37:47):

Hell, I’m pushing a button. The manual way is pressing a button. The modern way is talking to it with ai.

Scott Luton (37:54):

So true. It’s so true. Alright, a lot of good stuff here today. Really enjoyed today’s episode of The Buzz. But Kevin, before we call it a show, two questions. First question is, what’s coming up next when it comes to all the great work you’re doing as digital Transformers continues to grow left and right?

Kevin L. Jackson (38:11):

Yeah, absolutely. So in the next month or so, we are going to be talking a lot about space again and how to work with these cube sets and protect the information that’s going back and forth and how we are leveraging low earth orbit and the future of the Space Station. It’s not going to be up there forever. Forever. And in a few short years, five to six years, it’s going to be orbited and there’s a new space station in town. So check it out. We

Scott Luton (38:46):

Will. All these rocket launches have been fascinating, absolutely fascinating. What to have a space show coming up soon. Kevin, one last question. Folks can connect with you, of course. You can get digital transformers wherever you get your podcasts. You can connect with Kevin on LinkedIn and where else, Kevin, would you suggest folks connect with you? Yeah,

Kevin L. Jackson (39:04):

I’m on the X, Kevin Jackson and on Facebook as well. And Kevin Jackson Media on Instagram. So I’m everywhere. I’m everywhere.

Scott Luton (39:16):

Omni Kevin. Alright, one last question. We covered a lot of ground today, covered a lot of interesting articles, news stories, you name it. What’s one of your favorite takeaways you want to double down, spike the football on and share with our audience here?

Kevin L. Jackson (39:31):

I really liked the Siemens article because it’s lessons learned, right? Don’t make the same dumb mistake that somebody else did, learn from other mistakes. Be better than they are. And Siemens basically provided insight across all the different industries. And you can learn about other industries to be better in your own industry. So continuous learning, that’s what I liked about that Siemens article.

Scott Luton (40:02):

Love that. Be bold to be better. There’s so many opportunities out there to do just that. And sometimes it comes with a very scary first step, right?

Kevin L. Jackson (40:11):

Reading

Scott Luton (40:13):

And reading reading’s important still these days, which thankfully, but humans, we all have some sort of resistance, some sort of resistance to change, doing things differently. But there’s so many opportunities out there. So Kevin, appreciate your challenge for folks out there to be better. Okay, Kevin L. Jackson, always a pleasure to knock out the buzz on the second Monday of every single month with you.

Kevin L. Jackson (40:37):

I really enjoyed the conversation and the dialogue with the audience. I’ll be back.

Scott Luton (40:43):

That’s good. We’ll sign you to a three year deal. We got Kevin L. Jackson locked in and thanks for everybody’s comments, but in particular T Squared and Larry Klein, appreciate y’all sharing a couple of your thoughts here today. Y’all keep ’em coming. We want to keep the conversation going. We hope you’ll join us for all of our programming. But again, every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time as we come live with you on some of the biggest news stories that matter and the perspective that you can count on every Monday, 12 New Eastern Time, 5:00 PM Central European time, I think if I got that right. Alright, folks, big thanks to Catherine, Amanda behind the scenes, helping to make things happen. Thanks for all of y’all that tuned in. Big thanks to the one, only Kevin L. Jackson. Make sure you connect with ’em on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, check out Digital Transformers, wherever you get your podcasts. But most importantly, folks, on behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain now, Scott Luden challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. And we’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (41:39):

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain now, community. Check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain now, anywhere you listen to podcasts. And follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain. Now.