Intro/Outro (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.

Scott Luton (00:14):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and Richard Donaldson getting an extra cup of coffee here with you on supply chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream. Hey Richard, how you doing today? Good morning, Scott. I’m awesome. Happy December man. It’s almost the end of the year. Can you believe it? I cannot believe it. I need some extra caffeine like you were sneaking in. It’s been one for the record books. I’ll just say one for the record books, your take on that.

Richard Donaldson (00:41):

Yes, I’m going to say this year, closing out this year. I think a lot of people are going to feel the midpoint of the decade. It’s going to be almost a sense of relief to let go of those last five years and look forward to the next five years. How’s that?

Scott Luton (00:52):

Love it. I like that practical optimism as always. But folks, as always on today’s show is the buzz where every Monday at 12 noon eastern time, we discuss a variety of news developments, optimistic futures, and a whole bunch more across global supply chain and business news that matters is what we like to call it. And folks, the buzz is powered all month long in December by our friends at Pegasus Logistics Group, a leading provider of contract logistics and warehousing solutions. You can learn more about what our friend Tevin Taylor and the Pegasus team is up to at Pegasus Logistics. Richard, I’ve got to slow down a bit when I put all those Ss together, huh? Less caffeine’s got less caffeine, not more, less caffeine, not more. That’s right. Well, Tricia’s helped me out. She dropped the link right there in the chat. You can check that out.

(01:39):

And big thanks to Tricia and the man that behind the scenes. Let’s see here, Richard, we’ve got a big show teed up here today. We’re going to be checking in on the wide world of operational excellence. We’re going to be taking a look at some of the latest manufacturing data points and more getting a little pulse check on that industry, including the future state. We’re going to be talking about regional versus global cooperation. That’s going to be interesting, all that and much, much more. And in about 12 minutes or so, we’re bringing in a special guest. Gary Bennett, chief integrated supply chain officer with Array Technologies will be joining us. We’re going to be gaining Gary’s perspective on a variety of topics. Richard, big show today. Did you eat your Wheaties? Absolutely. Got my Wheaties ready to go. Got my coffee sitting here. Let’s fire it up. Let’s go. Alright, really quick, Leah, Kim is back with us from gorgeous Seattle, Washington. Leah, great to see you and yeah, Tricia is encouraging everybody. Say where you’re watching from, where you’re tuned in from. You name it. Just like this user here,

Richard Donaldson (02:35):

Scotland,

Scott Luton (02:36):

I’m going to take a guess, but Amanda and Trisha will confirm all the way from Scotland. Let us know you’re playing golf this morning or this afternoon maybe, but great to have you here today. Okay, Richard. Let’s see here. We got a lot to get into before Gary joins us, we got four things, count down, four things here on the Buzz powered by Pegasus Logistics Group. First up, we had a great addition of with that over the weekend, Richard, we led off with a bit of a recap of our participation in the 41st annual A ME International conference in St. Louis. That’s me and A-M-E-C-E-O, Kim Humphreys right there. So AME has been around a long time, serves some 4,000 members around the world and is laser focused Richard on operational excellence. Now at its core, AME has got a really solid manufacturing component to its organization, but really it has members and speakers from across industries. They’re seeing a growing contingent from healthcare, which is great to hear. All sectors need to find ways to continuously improve and innovate, right? It’s a universal thing. We included some great nuggets

(03:38):

In with that said from a variety of friends and industry dynamos, my buddy and lean guru, Mark Preston said this, help your suppliers win and you’re going to win too. The best organizations share their lean playbook with their suppliers so everyone gets stronger together. Love that. Cindy Hines with AO Smith made a great point here when she said, people stay quiet because we train them to, your team already sees the problems if they’re not speaking up, that’s a cultural issue, not a talent issue. Great point. And then finally our friend and dynamo, Billy Ray Taylor, Richard, I think you met Billy Ray before. He serves as chair of the a ME board and he shared a great nugget here. If we’re too proud to learn from others, we’re the bottleneck leaders who clinging to being the smartest in the room. Slow everything down folks. We included all that and more and the links to the actual video interviews with six great people. We’ve got resources, live events, a whole bunch more in this edition of with that said, alright, so Richard, did you get a chance to take a look at our newsletter over the weekend?

Richard Donaldson (04:42):

Absolutely, Scott, and actually I’m going to put you flip it around a little bit here because one of the things I have is I saw it and am e great discussions lean. I love the collaboration you talked about earlier pre-show about how collaboration indexes are now kind of a thing. This is like the open source mentality. So this filtering in here, but the thing that I want to ask about is, and you know where this is coming from, circular

Gary Bennett (05:04):

Just in

Richard Donaldson (05:05):

The overall temperament and just even data points and talking points was connecting that back into circular supply chains now. And I’m curious as to why that was so glaringly missed in all of the review of everything because everything was about traditional lean and data and I mean it’s great, it’s awesome, but I think looking forward, we’re really about izing the supply chain.

Scott Luton (05:26):

Yeah, it’s great point. I think two responses come to my mind. Number one, we still have so much opportunity with some of those lean tools and lean thinking and just the reduction of waste in so many different forms. And then number two, to your point, we have an equally great if not greater opportunity with circularity.

(05:42):

I think lean has been so much mature as a thinking despite the opportunity, I think eventually in the years ahead, hopefully months ahead, but in the years ahead, as circularity becomes more prevalent across industry, I think that will be a big time driver of not only operational excellence, but innovation. Richard.

Richard Donaldson (06:00):

Yep. Yeah, and again, I get excited about this stuff, but I don’t connect it to my two second favorite topic, which is space.

(06:07):

Because now as we’re moving out into space, like legitimately, Elon has got tagged it, right? We’re sending the robots, they’re going to Mars potentially people soon enough. But now think about what you need to do to do that. You need a circular supply chain. We’ve talked about this before, like doom, where you got to reuse everything because there’s no resources in flight, there’s nothing in space for you to pull from. So the idea of circular supply chains I think gains even more significance in the need and the requirement necessity being the mother of all invention to actually allow us to enable travel space travel.

Scott Luton (06:38):

Richard undoubtedly, and you and I both as big space nerds, we know the benefits that have come from the space programs, private and public sector. And I’m hoping to your point that more circularity type thinking, dominant thinking will come from the latest and the emerging space chapter as well. So we shall see. Hey, really quick, let’s see here. That is Felix from Scotland. Felix Whatcha doing in Scotland? And let us know, give us a weather check from Scotland if you would, closer to home. We’ve got Rob tuned in from Ohio. We’re in Ohio. Rob, and are you a Buckeyes fan? That was a tough game. Saturday afternoon, Rob. Okay, Richard, let’s do this. I said four things for the second time. Let’s skip over the pulse check. I want to share a couple resources with folks and then we’ve got Gary joining us here in just a minute. Now Richard, I got to ask you manifest 2026, you might be there. Is that right Richard?

Richard Donaldson (07:32):

Yeah, that’s correct. So looking to get myself there. And again, same topics that we’re talking about here, a lot of circular stuff, looking for a lot of the space-based supply chain kind of extensions if you will, and innovations that are come from that. And even data centers and space, I mean the information, the supply, it’s all moving in space-based. And I think that to me gets really exciting because it’s going to force us to change a bunch of stuff.

Scott Luton (07:51):

Well said. And folks, here’s your chance to come see Captain Donaldson in person. Perhaps

(07:57):

Join us at Manifest 2026 is on your calendar yet, February 9th through the 11th in Las Vegas at the Venetian. We’re going to be there with Bells on just like last year maybe. I’m hoping with Richard, the manifest Vegas 2026 agenda folks, it’s live. We’re talking 50 sessions, over 50 sessions, over 400 speakers across three days of innovation, strateg and real world insights that are shaping the present and future of supply chain logistics. Big themes, you see some of ’em there. If you’re watching us here today, technology, sustainability, automation, global trade, cold chain, and much, much more. But folks, I’m here to tell you and warn you, prices are about to increase. But if you’re a friend of supply chain now you can save 200 bucks off the current price. Learn more, be the link that’s in the comments. Okay, Richard, we look forward to you making your announcement of possibly being at manifest soon. One more thing before we bring on our esteemed guest speaker guest here today. Folks, we got to check in on what Innovative are doing over at Easy Post. Have you checked out Lori Boyer and the Unboxing Logistics podcast yet? Have you heard of that one yet, Richard?

Richard Donaldson (09:03):

I have not.

Scott Luton (09:03):

Oh, add it to your list. It’s a terrific Joe. It offers several opportunities from getting to know the fun side of industry leaders, which I love that. To staying updated with the latest trends, even leveling up your shipping processes. We can all get better at that. That sounds like a Jan. This podcast is for you every episode and check out some of these latest episodes. This stuff full of insights, innovations, real life stories from people who’ve been on the frontline doing big things for years. And better yet, Richard, it gets to prestigious five star rating from the supply chain Now team, the prestigious five star rating. You can find unboxing logistics wherever you get your podcasts or you can use the direct link that Tricia has popped right there in the comments. Good. Tricia and Richard, let us know what rating it gets from the one and only Richard Donaldson.

(09:53):

Okay, got it. Good deal. Let’s see here. Rob is a Buckeye graduate. Rob our apologies, but they had one heck of a year and hey, they’re still running for the playoff championship, so we’ll see what happens there. Felix says, nothing exciting to report on from Scotland weather wise. That’s good. It says weather rather dire. Oh man, Felix, you’re going to have to send pictures or it doesn’t happen. And again, as I mentioned, I believe Tricia dropped the link. Check out unboxing Logistics from our friend Laurie Boyer. You’ll be glad you did. Okay, Richard, you’re ready to get going. We’ve got an outstanding guest here today. Gary Bennett is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in procurement, supply chain management and industrial operations. Currently serving as the chief integrated supply chain officer at Array Technologies. He plays a pivotal role in optimizing the company’s global supply chain and procurement strategies. Now, prior to this role, Gary held leadership positions with companies such as PG Industries and Honeywell. I want to welcome in Gary Bennett, chief integrated Supply Chain Officer with Array Technologies. Hey, hey Gary, how you doing?

Gary Bennett (11:01):

Good afternoon. I’m doing well Scott, how are you?

Scott Luton (11:04):

Welcome to the Buzz Power by Logistics. Richard, we’ve been looking forward to this one, huh?

Gary Bennett (11:09):

Absolutely

Scott Luton (11:10):

Gary. Looking forward to it.

Gary Bennett (11:11):

Exciting times Richard. For sure.

Scott Luton (11:14):

It’s alright. So I’ve got a fun warmup question for you both and last time I posed this question was on a team call about two years ago, and I’m still recovering from the fisticuffs that emerged from this tough question. But first I’m going to tie it back to a little anecdote here, right? So raise your hand if you’ve heard of the Bite Shop. Well, today’s date on December 8th, way back in 1975, Paul Terrell opened the shop in Mountain, California. Now Paul, significantly history about a year later as startup called Apple Computer Company. In fact, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak’s, right, the was had planned on selling their computers as kits where customers had to assemble them on their own. I would’ve felt miserably at that, but Paul Terrell and the Bite Shop insisted that the 50 computers come fully assembled and most assuredly changing history with that demand of their order. Now, Apple’s market cap is only some as of this morning, 4.12 trillion. Holy cow. Thanks Paul, appreciate that. With that as a backdrop, I’m going to ask both of y’all Gary, apple or PC and why?

Gary Bennett (12:30):

Oh wow. Historically, I’ve probably been more of a PC guy. My background as an engineer, a lot of the engineering applications just required some PC formatting, but as time went on, the Apple ecosystem, the way the iPhone and the iPad interact with one another, that eco chain system has really, really caught on to a new generation. So historically I’ve been a PC guy, but I think in the later years I’ve migrated more to Apple.

Scott Luton (12:58):

You know what? You make a great point. I love the little bit I use with Apple. I love how everything’s connected, right? Richard, same question, apple or a pc.

Richard Donaldson (13:06):

I’m going to follow in Gary’s footsteps here, which is I started off as a kid in the eighties because the Apple Macintosh was the first computer doing your little step functions on and kind of building those. But then eventually I made my way to the PC and living and breathing in Silicon Valley. I can tell you there was a bit of a cult-like atmosphere that started to form around Apple viscerally made me want to not be a part of. So it has nothing to do with logic because I’ll tell you right now in six, one half dozen the other, I use PCs pretty prodigious for most of my business work. But now I use Apple fairly prodigious for my flying aviation and it’s really the only product that aviation uses

Scott Luton (13:44):

Really? I had no idea of that. Richard. That’s a great point. Let’s see here. Amanda says, same Gary, I would’ve said PC before I got an Apple laptop. But now the connectivity between my phone and my computer is amazing.

Gary Bennett (13:57):

It really is.

Scott Luton (13:58):

Yeah, well I’ve had a different experience, Gary and Richard. So I’m a dedicated iPhone user. I wouldn’t do use anything else, but when I tried to make the next shift to using an Apple mini, I think it was for production purposes, I was told by everybody and their brother and sister, you’ll love it. I’ll never let you down. No glitches, no blue screens of death, you name it. The very first interview I use the Apple Mini, I got a green screen of death, I never cranked it back on. So maybe it’s just above my pay grade and I’m not meant to use it, but Gary and Richard, I’m going to have talk more about the aviation element there. I had no idea. So do you use it for navigation or things like that?

Richard Donaldson (14:36):

Yeah, so there’s a program called For Flight, which is the electronic flight bag now that most pilots use. So all your charts planning everything and that only is developed and deployed on Apple products. So now everything changes the game a little bit because now we’re introducing the starlink into even your GA aircraft size can get 400 up and down in a small plane without any issues. So now all of a sudden that kind of opens the door to other products web-based that you didn’t have before. So there could be a shift. But yes, if you look at all the pilots, they’re carrying Apple products.

Scott Luton (15:09):

Alright, so Gary, when you go up to the Friendly skies with Captain Donaldson, you let us know. You see all those Apple devices. Alright, we got to get to work, but folks, a little running theme there. Apple or pc, let us know in the comments. I’d be curious to do a little informal survey. Alright, let’s get down to work here on the buzz powered by our friends at Pegasus. Up first we’ve got a great, always interesting story. We cover this I think for the five years we’ve been doing the buzz here at manufacturing dive reported on the latest ISM purchasing managers index. Now just a few highlights and I want to stress this is just one set of data, right? One thing to consider amongst hopefully troves and troves of other data. But ISM, let’s see for November, 2025 is what this data is for. It showed that the manufacturing industry here in the states it contracted according to their data.

(15:56):

In fact, the November reading came in more sluggish in Octobers suggesting that activity in the sector has further decreased. The main culprits were decreases in new orders, deliveries and employment. And in the broader sense, many manufacturers report plenty of uncertainty hanging around, especially with the tentative nature of trade policy and tariffs. Now again, one set of data points to consider. Here’s the interesting perfect example because if you look at the s and p global US manufacturing, PMI, it showed domestic growth for November. So two sets that are regularly published, two esteem sets of data and they show some contradictions. So one common theme though, market uncertainty and gosh, we probably hear it a dozen times a day. So Gary, in general, when you survey the manufacturing industry, what’s something you’re seeing out there?

Gary Bennett (16:47):

So tariffs have been a big, big situation for our industry. The last year, our particular business, last quarter we had an extremely solid quarter, but looking at other industries across the world in the US we’ve seen a lot of softness. A lot of the companies that we are, our supply chain partners we’re really busy, but others within that supply chain are not as busy. So we are seeing some softness not only in the US but also globally.

Scott Luton (17:15):

That’s right, good stuff Gary. And by the way, Trish has dropped the link to that Oracle right there. You’ll check it out. Don’t take our word for it, Richard, your thoughts.

Richard Donaldson (17:23):

So I think, I mean kind of pick it up on what Gary’s saying, one of the things about tariffs that I find interesting is that although it manifests in an economic discussion, I think the point of tariffs was more political from the onset. So I kind of create a little bit of separation there. It was sort of a leverage point for me in economic discussions between entities. So I think they’re going to go away and the overall uncertainty that people talk about I think is going to give way to the inevitability of just almost a perpetual demand. We might have some ebbs and flows, but I mean I’m looking forward right now and I’m sitting here saying, with all the things that are going on in the world, we’re still plowing ahead with adding about 60 million net new souls per year. That number’s going up and that’s based on 8 billion people.

(18:05):

And I keep pointing out, a hundred years ago is 2 billion, now it’s at 8 billion. So the demand is perpetually growing, therefore you’ll have continuous demand until you literally flatten the population curve, which ain’t going to happen anytime soon, I don’t think. That to me is sort of the bellwether that we’ll have these ebbs and flows, but at the end of the day it’ll normalize out and there’ll be, it’s just like the stock market. Look at anything else, good real estate, everything’s gone up over the course of decades and we’ll still continue that trend for some time.

Scott Luton (18:32):

Yeah, Richard, good stuff and economic conversations I hope to be part of one day. I never get invited to those types of conversations, Richard, we got to change that next year.

Richard Donaldson (18:41):

Yeah, absolutely. Well it’s a part of supply chain, why wouldn’t it be?

Scott Luton (18:45):

I’m only kid. I’ll tell you what, economics was not my favorite subject in college. Gary, was it yours?

Gary Bennett (18:51):

I did enjoy each genomics. Yeah, so I’ve always been attuned to the economic policies in theory. So yeah,

Scott Luton (18:57):

Okay. It was just me. I got kicked out a lot of classes. All right, well let’s dive a little bit deeper into the manufacturing industry. There’s a great story from our friend Marina Mayor, one of our faves over at supply and Demand Chain executive, and lemme share the right graphic here. She’s sharing her take on the Deloitte report identifies five trends that are predicted to reshape the manufacturing industry in 2026. Now they are in no particular order here. Right? Number one, investment in smart manufacturing and operations. Two new digital tools to offer transformative solutions. Three new incentives, a data center boom and continued demand for semiconductors could drive investment and growth. Four AgTech aftermarket services could transform the customer experience, already seen some of that. And five, an adaptive workforce planning framework that could help address uncertainty and increasing skill requirements. On that latter point, upskilling the workforce should be a big priority now and next year for sure in every industry. So Gary, in light of those trends or any others that you’re seeing your thoughts on next year in manufacturing.

Gary Bennett (20:07):

So it’s exciting times and probably all of those trends you just mentioned touch our business directly, the use of AI and just the power that’s needed to supply ai. Solar’s taking a big role in that, but also just from a supply chain perspective, the amount of AI tools that are going to revolutionize our ability to optimize logistics, our demand planning, our entire manufacturing process is going to be huge. And so 2026 is a big year for us to implement more digital tools across our enterprise. And so we’re super excited about where the future’s going.

Scott Luton (20:41):

We’re too, and Richard, you and I have talked about this a thousand times and for folks that want to learn new things and willing to go there, get out of their comfort zone, there’s going to be so many opportunities to upskill and apply and promotions, new roles, you name it. But if you like doing the same thing every hour every day, it’s going to be tougher times maybe. But Richard, your thoughts on 2026 trends in manufacturing.

Richard Donaldson (21:06):

So I’m going to piggyback yet again on Gary’s comments and focus in on all five things. Scott have a common theme underneath them all, which is technology driven. Every single one that you mentioned in that in Deloitte is kind of missing the theme here, which is the technication is still something that’s happening. So it’s AI data centers, chips alls driven by the propagation of technology, more and more data centers now we’re going into space-based. AI is going to start looking at the data when we connect to the entire supply chain and circularize it to the point where we’re really focusing on how much net new virgin material we’re extracting, refining manufacturing versus reusing, which I think is the trend that’s going to move. So I think technology is still the underlying theme that’s going to be driving everything that we talk about in pretty much every facet of life from medicine to supply chain to everything.

(21:52):

I think we forget, even though we’re 20 years into this or 30 years into this, we’re still kind of in baby steps of understanding what technology can even do for us. And I think that’s a theme that we need to open up to. Back to your point about learning, we don’t know what we don’t know and I think that we have to be open to understanding that we really don’t understand a lot of things and it’s going to become more and more apparent when we get technology tools to help augment our insights into those. And we need to be open to make those changes.

Scott Luton (22:19):

Richard. Well said. And that’s the thing you can count on in addition to death tariffs. And we dunno what we dunno, that will always be the case. And it’s so amazing as we sit here in 2025, we’ll probably all marveling at what technology is doing today and we don’t even have an inkling of the incredible things to be done just next year, much less 2030 by the way. And we’re going to talk about energy. Energy was mentioned in this article. I’ll pop it back up here. We’re going to talk about energy and some cool things that Gary and his organization are involved in soon. But I want to pull out this little nugget because we’re talking about nuclear energy in the pre-show, right Richard? And well the article here mentions that startups focused on small modular reactors. SMRs, you’re going to hear that a lot more Folks attracted 3.9 billion in funding in 2024.

(23:07):

That’s a tenfold increase over 2023. And I bet when the numbers come out this year it’ll be even bigger. We shall see Trisha’s dropping again the link to this right here by our friend Marina. Great work and y’all let us know your take on what you’re seeing and projecting for next year. Alright, Gary and Richard, now I want to get into this gorgeous shot of the blue marble as that famous space picture that was published as decades ago and interesting story from our friends at the World Economic Forum. Get this, the Global Cooperation barometer 2026 is set to be released in January. It a data-driven overview of the state of international cooperation, examining key trends across multiple domains. Now that’s too much to cover in a couple of minutes here. Those domains are pretty deep and I think there’s 41 trends they track. But one element I want to get both y’all to weigh in on Gary and Richard, a survey of business leaders, which is all part of this barometer reports we released next month, showed that 83% of respondents claim that the state of global cooperation in 2025 has gotten less cooperative or much less cooperative.

(24:15):

No surprise there, while regional cooperation is improving, no surprise there. Gary, at a broad level, your thoughts on what I’ll call maybe the state of cooperation?

Gary Bennett (24:25):

So looking at our business, so we’re a multinational company. We have supply chain partners all over the globe, but a big part of our business is US-based and we have definitely oned or regionalized our supply chain. And so we definitely see a lot more interaction with our regional partners and a lot less influence from a global perspective or a long supply chain perspective on our projects that are focused in the us. And so we do see a lot more regional and even onshore and domestic supply chains we did just a year ago.

Scott Luton (24:59):

Right? That’s right. Richard, your perspective on the state of cooperation.

Richard Donaldson (25:03):

I think it’s an interesting survey when again, I’m going to take the technology backdrop and go back to your original post when we started the show looking at the apple bite store, right? So back then you had two mindsets of closed source software development both at Apple and at the PC world, right? Until this Linus Tovo guy showed up and decided to open source everything and what won. I mean we all know the answer to that. It was collaborative development and I just don’t understand why yet we don’t apply that to just about everything.

(25:34):

So I actually look back in the survey and go, well, okay, this is interesting, but at the same time we kind of know that collaboration is a way to win and has a winning strategy as proven through everything that technology does today is driven off of open source. For the most part, closed source didn’t win. So how is that now not further emphasized even in a report like this, which is, hey everyone, let’s figure this out. You’re going to win better, faster, stronger if you collaborate as evidenced by every human episode where collaboration has shown up and we’ve won, but yet we still kind of get into this tribalism that happens. We haven’t really evolved past that. So I mean you’re opening some very deep philosophical discussions here, but at the same time I think there’s a way to wrap it into something that’s tangible, which is, hey, this collaboration index is actually kind of important because the better we get at collaboration, the better everyone else is going to win.

Scott Luton (26:28):

So true. And of course from a supply chain context, it’s got to happen. It’s got to happen. And again, that’s why folks, I said we’re just taking a tip, the tip of the the iceberg for this great read, y’all check it out, let us know your take. I’m looking forward to getting the full report in January and kind of diving into some of the stuff there. So check it out. Trisha’s already dropped it right there in the links as well. Alright, Gary and Richard, we got a lot more to get into, but I want to share one quick resource from our friends, Tevin Taylor and the folks over at Pegasus Logistics Group Power in the Buzz all month long in December. So hey, when your supply chain demand strength and dependability, you can trust Pegasus Logistics Group to get the job done. Their contract logistics and warehousing solutions provide scale, reliability and execution, all keeping your operations just like Kevin ahead of the curve, whether it’s kidding, inventory management, high value storage, nationwide, distribution, returns, processing.

(27:23):

We have to talk more about returns or complex project rollouts. Pegasus delivers precision speed and execution every step of the way. Kevin and the team invite you to discover how Pegasus Logistics Group can strengthen your operation and deliver opportunity knocking at your door for your business. You can connect with them via the link in the comments and let’s talk about your conversation. Okay, Richard and Gary really have enjoyed it. Gary, I wish we had a couple more hours with you here today and we’re still getting some really good stuff here in a minute before we get into some big projects, a big expansion that the array technologist team is leading. Let’s level set a little bit more around the company and your role there. Gary, can you fill us in a little bit?

Gary Bennett (27:59):

Sure. So my name Gary Bennett, I’m integrated supply chain officer for Array Technologies. Been with Array a little over four years. Background is a civil structural engineer with previous companies, PPG, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, running p and Ls, and also doing senior level operations roles. Array technologies is a publicly traded company. We’re listed on the nasdaq. We’re approximately 30 years old array technologies manufacturers, the substructure that solar modules sit on in utility sized projects that move with the sun. So as the sun moves across the horizon from morning to evening, our system enables energy optimization for us to capture more sunlight, to create more electrons to put on the grid. And so we’re based officially in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but we’re a global organization. We have teams in the us we have offices in Europe, south America, we do a lot of work in Australia. So we’re truly a multinational organization and I have to say I think I have the best job in the world array, the culture at array, the organization is the best. And so every day is a new challenge, but it never gets bored. And you look at 2026 and all the things that we don’t know, that’s what makes it super exciting to get up every day, new challenges and my team does a great job and we hit the ground running every single day.

Scott Luton (29:26):

Well you got to, got to keep up with the sun. Gary, I tell you, you had

Gary Bennett (29:30):

Follow the sun. Follow the sun. That’s what we say,

Scott Luton (29:33):

Richard, that is, he’s kind of blown me away there. It’s a very unique company. What’d you hear there, Richard?

Richard Donaldson (29:38):

I hear a number of things. I mean one, you got a great company that’s in the middle of what I would argue is of all the renewables, the one that has obviously started to really kind of stand the test of time is solar. So right place, right renewables. And I think it’s exciting times even, I don’t even think anything go back to my favorite of space travel, right? I mean what’s the easiest resource in space to drawn is the energy of a star. And ironically I can make this connection three eye atlas of all things random plug there going around the sun. One of the theories was it was recharging using the sun potentially as it wrapped around the sun. So there’s something about solar energy that even in a cosmic level and solar system level that has relevance to even what Musk is doing, what we’re doing on Mars. I know the first projects in Mars are all going to be solar based as energy because we don’t know what energy resources are available there. So I think Gary’s in a really interesting place that has the longevity that some of the other renewables may not have. You can’t argue with solar.

Scott Luton (30:35):

No, you can’t. Again, I’m not a solar engineer, but it seems like we still have tons and tons of opportunities and innovations to unlock in the solar energy arena. Is that right Gary?

Gary Bennett (30:47):

We’re just getting going. Every year we have new innovations and not only us but the energy, the industry itself is expanding and so our ability to make an impactful difference is growing on a daily basis.

Scott Luton (30:58):

Love that. And so this next question, it makes a lot of sense now given all of that because y’all been expanding left and right, that world-class team you’re bragging on, which I love to hear, culture is so important, almost as powerful as solar energy. Tell us about the big manufacturing expansion in New Mexico.

Gary Bennett (31:15):

So we have a new facility we’re building in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 200,000 square foot facility. Plus it’s really designed to meet our growing demand for utility grade solar while strengthening our US supply chain as we manufacture items closer to our project sites in the us, we reduce shipping costs and logistics variability. We reduce lead times and we just overall streamline logistics. It also gives us tighter control over production schedules, quality inventory. That’s incredibly important to an industry where delays can impact projects, tax implications.

(31:52):

So our ability to really reduce variability and serve our customers in the US is huge. And so we’re super excited about the new facility in Albuquerque. It’ll come online sometime in Q1 of 2026.

Scott Luton (32:04):

Alright, Richard, sounds like there’s lots to celebrate there. The array technology team.

Richard Donaldson (32:10):

Gary, just a clarification question and it’s both for me and I guess for the audience as well too. I think a lot of people think solar panels is the first thing that comes to mind, which is not what you guys do. And so just for point of clarification, how does that differentiate with array?

Gary Bennett (32:25):

Yeah, so obviously solar panels are all part of the same value chain, but for us to optimize the utility size solar, and when I say utility size solar, we’re doing large projects up to a gigawatt project or larger, that’s enough electricity to power entire cities across the us. And so we do the substructure, the steel and aluminum components that those modules sit on that enables ’em to track the sun, which increases the output, which further enables utilities to solve some of their energy concerns or problems that they’re looking at around high growth. How do you get new electrons on the grid faster? Well solar is the answer. We’re the fastest in cheapest methodology to bring on large volumes of electrons onto the grid in the shortest amount of time,

Scott Luton (33:16):

Man. Okay, all that sounds like a bunch of good news to me. I got a question though for you, aside from the innovative energy component, what you’re sharing, right? Manufacturing expansion, what’s some inside baseball here? What is one of the often overlooked challenges as it relates to standing up new major manufacturing investments here in the us?

Gary Bennett (33:35):

One of the things you talked about, uncertainty in the current political environment, policy uncertainty is a major challenge when we’re making multi-year investment decisions. We would like to see policy have some consistency versus making an investment and then something changing just a few months later that would negate that investment. Obviously additional tariffs are big one in some cases. The case for domestic manufacturing is really compelling. We’re a big fan of domestication and array technologies has been one of the first to really develop a purely domestic US-based supply chain. And so as we look at projects in the us, domestication was big. Some of the tax benefits for us as a manufacturer, some of the 45 x tax benefits have remained, which is good news in the big beautiful bill, but some of the incentives for our customers have went away. And so navigating this scenario has been challenging, right? Because we’re in such a dynamic environment around tariffs and around the big beautiful bill and tax incentives and what’s in and what’s out. But at the end of the day, solar’s value proposition is so incredibly compelling. It puts electrons on the grid really fast and it really cost effective manner. And so we’re super excited about now and 2026 should be a really, really, really good year for us as well.

Scott Luton (34:55):

Gary, I love it. I’ll tell you, we’re setting records here. We have never uttered the word electron on any supply chain now show and it’s history. So thank you for bringing Gary. And secondly, secondly Richard, we got to rename that bill. Big beautiful bill. I can’t say it with a straight face but alright Richard, what you hear there from Gary.

Richard Donaldson (35:14):

So I heard a lot of things, but I’m going to kind of step on the gas here a little bit and ask Gary about, because he’s got such an interesting view at this wholesale level of solar being consumed by the world. And so really take, flip the script a little bit and say who’s not using solar Now? When I look out forward and I say to myself of all the renewables, and I’m a big fan of renewables, big fan of energy, but a big fan of nuclear as well too, full disclosure because I view that actually as a quasi renewable energy. However, with solar, I mean again, like I said, the space, that’s how we power our vehicles. That’s how we’re going to power stuff on Mars. Who’s left on this planet that’s not using solar.

Gary Bennett (35:54):

Yeah, we feel that solar has such a unique value driver and proposition, but the overall solution is all of the above. You mentioned many nukes and other forms of electricity. At the end of the day, energy demand is rising whether it’s from AI applications or just various population growth in certain regions. And so you got to get electrons on the grid fast. And so I would say most people are looking at solar, the economics of solar, the feasibility of solar is very compelling. And as a result, I would say most utilities are looking to really expand using solar. They’re looking at other methodologies as well. But solar is such a value driven opportunity. I think most individuals are looking at solar as well.

Scott Luton (36:41):

So I was just at, this is a great segue to this next question, a little anecdote with y’all both. I want to pop this graphic up here because I had an outstanding time at the innovation summit North America 2025, which is hosted by a great company called Schneider Electric, right? One of the big themes is just what y’all both are talking about, surging energy demand. Gary, you mentioned gigawatts earlier. I think one gigawatt hour can power about 750,000 homes. That community you’re talking about, that’s rough maps, lots of moving pieces there. But to give you a figure, what we mean by gigawatt us is going to have to find some 200 gigawatts of new energy capacity by 2030. And I bet that’s conservative AI is driving a big part of that demand as you see here from Paul Wich Electric who shared that data centers consumed about 4.4% of US electricity.

(37:29):

That figure is going to at least double and may even triple by 2028. That is unbelievable. Now I’m hoping kind of along the lines of what we’re talking about here, renewables and new nuclear energy can be bigger sources of power supply in the months ahead. We still have lots of big coal fired power plants here in Georgia. Martin neck of the woods reporting on that a couple months ago. Gary, on the good news side of this, you’ve got a big time, I think you’ve referenced it earlier, big time solar energy project that you’re playing a critical role in. Can you expand a little bit more on that,

Gary Bennett (38:00):

Gary? Yeah, so we have a variety of big, big applications growing, but one thing that we’re in particular very proud of is that we’re now offering a 100% domestic tracker as it’s defined by treasury. We’re working on a 200 megawatt project here in the us. It really highlights our ability to resource supply chain and really create jobs in the communities where we operate. The project is expected to bring more than 250 construction jobs and a fully domestic supply chain, which is good. It’s not only about the project itself, but about creating these long-term opportunities. And earlier you had mentioned about retooling of workforce, our ability to come in and be at times countercyclical to other industries and allow workforces to be retrained is really a big deal. And by integrating domestic content, our customers oftentimes qualify for certain tax credits on their energy projects. And so it’s really a win-win, bringing the manufacturing closer to home, enabling local workforces and long-term job creation, but also incentivizing utilities and developers to go out and take the risk and develop projects that bring more electrons to the grid is really huge. US achieving 100% domestic content, it required deep coordination with our US suppliers. We had to do significant onshoring and capital expansions with our supply chain partners and we’re super proud of what we’ve done and really think that we’re just now getting going for now and in the future.

Scott Luton (39:36):

Alright, so two of my favorite parts of what you shared beyond the fact that it’s supporting the solar energy is more good jobs and then more good business for all those suppliers out there. That is terrific. Richard, what’d you hear there about the big beautiful solar energy project that Gary’s supported?

Richard Donaldson (39:54):

Well, again, I think Gary’s just in a really unique position to be at the forefront of one of the energy collection and distribution methodologies, solar that is going to be omnipresent even back to the original slide around electrical consumption and demand going up, right? Driven, I know the slide is conveying data centers, but that’s also why I threw a link in there because I always like to offset that with the actual energy demand, although spiking globally is fairly consistent, right? And data centers, in fact, I would always argue, and I’ve always argued since I’ve been in the industry that for every watt of energy that a data center’s consuming, you’re probably cleaning off 10 to 20 watts of superfluous power. And the efficiency gains are never the second part of the story that when people are always like, oh, it’s 3%, 4%, 5%, okay, but it also netted out 20% reduction in overall other waste energy consumption.

(40:49):

So that’s one. Two though to focus on Gary with solar and here is one omnipresent, and I think the innovation’s been great, but where I kind of want to segue into and open potentially a question here is with all this energy, effort and development that’s going on is what are the big winds that are coming in solar because it’s always been about, we can always be better at capturing energy, refining it and putting those electrons in the grid. So whether it’s the capture side of it, whether it’s the quasi refinement side of it, or whether it’s the actual pushing the electrons onto the grid, if those are the three components, Gary’s in again, a very unique position to be in a place that solar optimization is going to be happening for a long, long time. And I think it’s a key component to all energy. And I’d love to even see his thoughts on what innovations are coming in solar that people should be aware of because I think that’s going to drive a lot of the demand even further.

Scott Luton (41:45):

Yeah. Gary, any thoughts there?

Gary Bennett (41:47):

Yeah, we have a lot of exciting projects, whether it’s the use of robotics to install solar modules, use of robotics to clean solar modules from a long-term o and m perspective, the means and methods and the new technologies that we’re looking at just now just a few years ago seemed like they were something out of a science fiction novel. And so the amount of r and d and development that we’re doing now that’s going to be deployed in 26 and 27 is really amazing. And so it’s super exciting times with new innovation and new methodologies for bringing more efficiency to the marketplace. So we’re so incredibly thrilled.

Scott Luton (42:22):

I can tell Gary, I can tell you love, and that is always a great thing when you talk with someone, interview somebody that just loves what they do. Richard, you had, I can tell you were about to add one more, more.

Richard Donaldson (42:36):

You know what, man? You can see my lips piercing a little bit where I’m fighting the urge to say or question anything, but I can’t help myself, Gary. So the question that’s just I’m dying to ask is, and you may not know the answer to this, but have there been studies yet on the effects our atmosphere has on the degradation of solar energy that we can collect in atmosphere versus outside of the atmosphere? So if I’ve got a solar panel on a satellite and it’s collecting directly from the sun, do I have better energy production from that because of the filtration that occurs in our own atmosphere?

Scott Luton (43:09):

Interesting.

Gary Bennett (43:10):

So I don’t know the answer to it, Richard, but it does make sense as you come through our atmosphere. There’s definitely multiple layers that particularly could filter out some of the energy, but I’m not an expert in that space.

Scott Luton (43:21):

We’re talking to the green room and I bet with this where the question stems from Richard and Gary. We were talking about Jeff Bezos talking about having solar powered data centers in low earth orbit where again, not an energy engineer, but where the purest form of sunshine there might be a higher quality level and more powerful level of energy perhaps Richard, is that right?

Richard Donaldson (43:42):

Yeah, exactly. And that’s kind of where my brain’s going. We also mentioned Sam Altman as just you think of him, you think of ai, but because of the drive of AI and the need for data centers, he’s actually now talking about investing, buying space rocket company to actually go put up data centers to feed his AI machine. So I’m sitting here going, okay, well we already got data centers in the sky, we just call ’em satellites. We just don’t think of it that way.

(44:06):

We know how to be self-sufficient. I mean, hell, we got signals coming back from Voyager, from God’s sakes that was built in that original bite shop back in the eighties that’s still sending it back from how many light years away. So it’s like we can build things that can withstand and collect energy and build self-sustaining. So I think that’s what’s going to get tripled down here in the very near future. And that to me is super exciting with everything we’re doing.

Scott Luton (44:29):

Agreed. If we could figure out what went into Roman concrete, we’d be,

(44:34):

That’s the last big mystery. Anyway, a lot of good stuff Richard and Gary. And we’re going to have to continue our space supply chain series in a series, rich, we’ll work on that later. Yep. Okay. We’re got a fast and furious finish here with Gary Bennett and Richard Donaldson. I got about 10 minutes to go here on the buzz. Folks want to hear from you. Let us know. I bet you’ve got a question about the solar energy or space or great companies that are hiring you name it. And Gary, by the way, before we leave Array Technologies, I bet you’re looking to hire some folks. Are you direct people to the website? Is that the case, Gary?

Gary Bennett (45:07):

Yeah, so we’re constantly in a growth mode, so go to array technologies incorporated.com and look at our job boards. We’re always looking at bringing on the best of the best to join our team.

Scott Luton (45:19):

Outstanding. Good stuff. You’re someone I bet a lot of folks would like to work for. Gary, someone that’s passionate

Gary Bennett (45:26):

Hopefully. I think

Scott Luton (45:27):

So. Oh, okay. Now the truth’s coming out, Richard. Now the truth’s coming out. I’m kidding. I’m kidding folks. Tricia, is Johnny on the spot? Drop that link right there, check it out and let us know what you think. Okay, so Gary and Richard, I’ve got a two part question for you here, right? And Gary, you’re going to go first. You’re the Otis Nixon of the question and answer here. So as you reflect back on 2025, right, we’re here December 25, hard to believe one business trend or development that you’re most intrigued with or near the top of your list from this past year. And then one bold prediction for global business in 2026. Gary, your thoughts?

Gary Bennett (46:05):

Yeah, so we’re in a manufacturing renaissance in the US a number of years ago, supply chains in this industry, our supply chain was not only in the US but also in various parts of the world. So the reshoring has been a big impact to our ability to serve our customers policy shifts in 2025 around domestic content manufacturing. It’s giving our developers confidence of long-term manufacturing in the US are making it worth it. Second global volatility from freight and geopolitical risk as we focus on our domestic manufacturing, it really alleviates some of those concerns. And then lastly, the approximately as we produce our products closer to the us, it just makes things easier. We have less logistics challenges. So I would say the remanufacturing in the manufacturing renaissance that’s occurring in the US is a big deal. So for example, in 2025 alone in our industry, there was about 4.5 billion of private investment, and that’s a new manufacturing facilities, a new capabilities.

(47:18):

We looked at the value chain, solar module capacity, it surpassed 60 gigawatts. That’s a 37% uptick since 2024. Our ability to do solar cell capacities has tripled. And so what this is all getting at is that the domestic supply chain, whether it’s our supply chain or others in the industry, it’s really gearing up to really focus on offering more and more and more domestic capacity that’s going to continue to reduce risk for utilities and developers around the world. The amount of infrastructure and investment that is going into this space is amazing and that’s going to have long-term favorable impacts to the entire country. And so really a great news story around that.

Scott Luton (48:07):

Outstanding, Gary? Okay, Richard got the same two-parter for you. When you look back at this year, one thing that really sticks out, development news wise, you name it, and number two, bold prediction for global business next year.

Richard Donaldson (48:19):

So I’m going to kind of stick with the space-based theme here a little bit, right? Because right there we’re talking solar and I think it is the announcement of SpaceX just announced, or Elon just announced that they’re going to go public with SpaceX probably next year, early next year. So that’s been a long time coming. You’ve got Sam Altman now we’ve mentioned a couple times that’s threatening to get into the rocket space and this is all going to be going towards space-based data centers to compliment our satellites to create that data connectivity to our space exploration that’s coming. So I think that’s all been kind of announced or slowly announced during the course of 2025. And I think it’s just going to pick up more steam in 26, 27, and through the latter half of this decade.

Scott Luton (49:01):

Outstanding, Richard, that is exciting. That is really exciting. And you know what, again, I go back to, I get stuck on the simple stuff sometimes, but it rolls up into my additional layers of excitement.

(49:13):

We don’t know what all this innovation is going to lead to and unlock and it’s just one of my favorite parts of this golden era supply chain tech, business tech, human tech that we’re in for sure. Okay, couple quick points here. T Square, great to see you. He holds down to Forte for us on YouTube, says this was good, good nourishment here. Leveraging solar is a slowly adapted must for many, especially folks with cogen plans, I’m going to say co-generation maybe with traditional and maybe renewable T squared. You’re operating above my pay grade my friend, but great to see you as always. Stacy says, we’re currently going through an energy crisis here in Zambia. It’s good to hear this conversation and just understand how to proactively look at energy for sustainability. Stacy, I hope y’all have some breakthrough moments soon. I know they’re coming right around the corner and great to see you here today. Okay, Richard, we’ve covered a lot of ground here with Gary Bennett. We needed a bonus hour, but we’ll have them back for sure. If you had one patent to keep takeaway to share from this wide ranging discussion with Gary Bennett and you and me, what would that thing be? Richard?

Richard Donaldson (50:16):

Easy solar energy folks, pay attention to it, stay in the middle of it. Array of technologies is going to be driving it. I mean this is again, with all the playing that we’ve done, and we do need to experiment a lot, right? Whether it’s wind, whether it’s gravitational, whether it’s maritime, I mean all these quote renewable energies, the one that has stood literally the test of time is solar, right? So stars do make the universe grow and glow and in this case, that’s all we’re kind of tripling and quadrupling down on. I think Gary’s just in the middle of something that I think is going to have, he talks about a manufacturing renaissance. I think Solar’s going to have his own renaissance over the next five years because it’s the emerging winner of the renewable races over the last 30 years, in my opinion.

Scott Luton (50:58):

Wow, okay. That’s high praise on solar industry from one Richard Donaldson, captain Donaldson. And folks, I would just add to Richard, great perspective. Keep your eye on SMRs, those small modular reactors. You’re going to see tons of applications that are being reported about now, tried now and new applications coming soon, soon, soon. Alright, Gary, great to have you here. How can folks connect with you and array technologies?

Gary Bennett (51:23):

Yeah, best way to connect with me is via LinkedIn, so I’m very active on LinkedIn. I can list my login.

Scott Luton (51:31):

We got you right here, Gary. We got just like that. How about that, man? You’re one click away from connecting with Gary on LinkedIn or following him on LinkedIn, you name it. And you were about to add one more thing, Gary, I think the website again, is that right? Or maybe keying or anything else there,

Gary Bennett (51:46):

Gary? Yeah, so websites array, tech i nnc.com. We’ll go look at that and keep up with our news releases on what we’re doing and as well as look at our job boards for those who are interested in joining our team. We’re always looking to expand and we’re in a high growth area and we need people to help us achieve our goals. So look forward to bringing on more people.

Scott Luton (52:06):

Outstanding Gary. Folks, when you join the team, give us a full report on what it’s like to work for one Gary Bennett. We’ll see that’s a good thing. Hey Joey, David Barry via LinkedIn. Good Monday morning. To you. Give us your take on today’s conversation. Richard, I always enjoy your perspective. I’m so glad you’re back with us here on the Buzz today. How can folks connect with you?

Richard Donaldson (52:27):

Same old, same old. LinkedIn, got the link on there. Always active on that. And then there’s a couple other, if you Google my name, I’ll poke up in a few different places, but LinkedIn’s the best place.

Scott Luton (52:36):

Outstanding. Trisha’s, that right there, you one click away from connecting, following you name it, Richard Donaldson and folks who want to urge you, if you enjoyed this conversation, go check out Supply chain now, wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, well folks, what a great, I feel like I’ve gotten at least an associate’s degree after last hour from the both of y’all. Big thanks to our special guest here today, Gary Bennett, chief Integrated Supply Chain Officer with Array Technologies. Gary, thanks so much for being here, my friend.

Gary Bennett (53:02):

My pleasure. Thanks Scott, and great to meet you, Richard.

Scott Luton (53:05):

Great to meet you, Gary. You bet. Good luck to the Wolf Pack and your Eagles as they seek the playoffs. Big thanks to my esteem, co-host Richard Donaldson. Richard, always a pleasure my friend.

Richard Donaldson (53:16):

Pleasure Scott. As always,

Scott Luton (53:17):

Big thanks to a man and Trisha, they had their hands full today behind the scenes. Appreciate what you both do. Most importantly though, big thanks to the smartest audience, global supply chain. I know we didn’t hit everybody’s comment and question. We didn’t have time to, but thanks so much for doing what you do. But with that, folks, you know, got homework, right? I hope you enjoyed today’s show, but you got homework. You got to take one thing, and you know what? Teachers don’t give out homework these days. All three of my kids come home all the time. They got no homework. I’m like, gosh, they go straight to playing video games. That’s a different time. But folks, you’ve got homework. You got to take one thing. You heard a ear from Richard or Gary. Share it with your team, share it with your colleagues, put it into practice. It’s all about these not words. That’s how we’re going to continue to fuel the innovation and the transformation of global business and certainly global supply chain. With all that said, on behalf of the entire supply chain now, team Scott Luten first, wishing everyone out there, Merry Christmas, happy holidays, you name it. Happy New Year. We get ’em all in there. Secondly, you know, I’m challenging you to do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed. We’ll see you next time, right back here on Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (54:13):

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