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 the Morning, and Only Don’t look now, but Kevin L. Jackson is back with us here chain now. Welcome to today’s live stream. Kevin, welcome back. How are you doing, my friend?

Kevin L. Jackson (00:29):

Hey, man, it’s good to be back. Thank you very much for having me. I know I’ve been away for a while, but I come back with smiles just in time for the Christmas season.

Scott Luton (00:39):

Well, you’ve been busy and we may touch on some of the great work. You’ve been up to a lot. You’ve been here and there and everywhere around the globe. But folks, welcome to the Buzz where every Monday at 12 New Eastern Time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and business news that matters, we like to call it. And folks, all month long the buzz is brought to us, to all of us by our friends at OMPA software and consulting company delivering advanced supply chain planning solutions, specifically tailored to individual industries worldwide. You can learn more@omp.com. Now, Kevin, we got a lot to get to here today. We’ve got a future NBA Hall of Famer, who’s investing in a supply chain startup. Stay tuned for that story. We’re going to be discussing one manufacturer’s attempts at creating a zero distance supply chain. We’ll talk about the ever evolving arms, race and e-commerce. As you might expect, it might involve AI all that much more and even better. Kevin, we got Kevin back, but we also have Pam Simon with Manifest Back, who’s going to be sharing big updates on a really big supply chain event coming up in February. Kevin,

Kevin L. Jackson (01:47):

See Manifest is always taking the lead and leading us into the future. I can’t wait to hear more from Pam. Same. Also, artificial intelligence has taken over everything. You don’t even know if it’s made for real, do you?

Scott Luton (02:02):

We’re going to have to send you a blood test just to make sure you’re all human. But it is exciting to see a lot of the practical breakthroughs. Seems like hour by hour that AI

(02:12):

Folks stay tuned for a great edition of the Buzz. And two things before we get going. Number one, give us your take and the comments whether you’re tuned in via LinkedIn or YouTube, X, Facebook, Twitch, no matter, let us know what you think. And number two, if you enjoy the show today, we’d love for you to share it with a friend and or your network. That’d be glad you did. Okay, so Kevin, hope you ate your weeders this morning because we got four things we want to knock out before we bring on the one and only Pam. Simon, are you ready to go?

Kevin L. Jackson (02:38):

Yeah, ready to go, babe.

Scott Luton (02:39):

All right, you’re always ready. And tco, we are bringing on the good, good nourishment. LTNS, Kevin L. Jackson, that’s an acronym. Kevin, long

Kevin L. Jackson (02:49):

Time, no C Baby,

Scott Luton (02:53):

You

Kevin L. Jackson (02:54):

Showing age there, Scott,

Scott Luton (02:59):

Great to have you here from the wonderful city of Baltimore, and thanks for holding down the Forte Force on YouTube. Okay, so let’s knock out number one, the most latest edition of With That said, published over the weekend. Now here we let off with a variety of incredible initiatives at Christie Porter and the Vector Global Logistics team. We’re up to including helping Jamaica rebuild from that devastating hurricane. They’re helping plan for more resilient supply chain ecosystem to help fuel Ukraine’s reconstruction. They’re providing food and other supplies for families in need here in the us. It’s still kind of stemming from the government shutdown that thankfully I think it’s resolved. Gosh, and as most folks know, Christie is one of the incredible hosts of our podcast, logistics With Purpose, and Kevin, I love Christie’s quote right here, says, across the world, logistics continues to prove its power to connect, rebuild, and serve. We believe that when supply chains unite, hope moves faster. Folks, you got a lot more information on all that stuff, including how to get involved. You got news, live of events, perspectives, and a whole bunch more. So Kevin, did you get a chance to dive into with that said, over the weekend?

Kevin L. Jackson (04:05):

I actually did, and I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast back in the sixties, and so hurricanes has always been a bit part of my life. So with Melissa, I was just watching every day as it was Cat five Monster, just barreled through that island. I mean, I lived through Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Camille was a Cat five and it just destroyed the entire place. So hurricanes, nothing you can do about ’em, but you can respond and I’m so really impressed with leveraging logistics for Jamaica and what Vector is doing with Inspire Goods and Lifting Hands, international and the Logistics Aid Network down there, the generators and critical supplies to get these people back on their feet.

Scott Luton (05:04):

Well said Kevin, and folks, I know there’s lots of options to contribute to in terms of humanitarian efforts everywhere, but make sure as you’re making your generous decisions there, make sure you’re contributing to a vetted organization and the ones we put in with that said, are all vetted indeed. So check that out. Okay, Kevin, on a much, much lighter note we’ve already dropped the link to. With that said, for all of that information, much, much more. Thank you Amanda and Joshua behind the scenes making production happen. But on much, much lighter note, did you hear that they have rounded up a whole bunch of supply chain super villains? No, we’ve got a right there, a live shot of the supply chain, super prison. And look, we got tariffs. I didn’t realize Garel. That’s a pretty scary looking tariff creature. We got representing bad data, we got shredder, workforce challenges, Cobra Commander from Gold, GI Joe, visibility and Skeletor, but we’ve always done it this way. So do you recognize any of those characters, Kevin? Oh

Kevin L. Jackson (06:10):

Yes, absolutely. Skeletor all the time.

Scott Luton (06:13):

Well, there is a new He-Man movie coming out soon, so we’re all going to get another big dose of Skelet tour. But kidding aside, let’s talk about tariffs just for a second. Our incredible team here polled, they’re always polling our audience, right? And here, most recently, speaking of tariffs, they asked our audience which challenge will hit manufacturers hardest in the next 12 months. And to no one surprise, no one surprise, trade and tariffs. 50% of respondents said trade and tariffs. And check this out, Kevin, Veronica shared a thought, great perspective here. I’m going to share this with all my family over Thanksgiving. Veronica says, trade and tariffs. Absolutely. The unpredictability is what makes this so challenging for supply chain planning. You can’t lock in long-term sourcing strategies when tariff policy could change overnight. Manufacturers need diversified sourcing and strategic supplier partnerships rather that can pivot quickly, not just lowest cost sourcing the companies with supply chain resilience built in will weather this much better than those trying to react in crisis mode. Well said Veronica, and appreciate your input. Respond to that, Kevin. I’ll tell you that’s a Shakespearean, huh?

Kevin L. Jackson (07:27):

Yeah, but it’s always worse when it feels like you’re shooting yourself in the foot. That’s right.

Scott Luton (07:33):

It’s so true.

Kevin L. Jackson (07:34):

Yeah. I just wish that we can figure out how to stop ruining the good things that we have, right? Well make things harder.

Scott Luton (07:42):

Yeah. Who needs more complexity? Raise your hand. One more complexity. Not many hands will be raised. So folks, check it out and stay tuned. Joshua and Laura, you’ll have a survey coming to you soon and we’d love to get you to weigh in with perspective, just like from TCO, who’s talking about our supply chain, super villains, T Squared says, this speaks to my Gen X and perfectly lines with the amorphous issues of supply chain management.

Kevin L. Jackson (08:08):

I got to go look that one up. Look at the word.

Scott Luton (08:10):

That’s right. It’s a good word.

Kevin L. Jackson (08:12):

Draw those big words at square.

Scott Luton (08:13):

Oh man. Alright, we got one more thing before we bring on an outstanding guest here today. I mean an outstanding guest, great to have Pam Simon with Manifest Back. But folks, we want to share resources right here on the Buzz powered by OMP. Well, our friends at SPS Commerce lead the industry in solutions that keep every partner, process and transaction in sync across your supply chain. So if you’re wasting time chasing invoices, playing phone tag with suppliers or wondering just where the heck my orders are, imagining bringing order to the chaos, what if it all just worked? Man, that’s music to my ears. Your orders flow, your data is automated. You’re always a step ahead. When everyone’s in sync, every part of the supply chain performs better. Well, folks, you’re five questions away from better connections with the free supply chain assessment quiz at write this down sps commerce.com/supply chain now, and we’re dropping a link to that.

(09:11):

You’re one click away if you’re watching live. Take the assessment, let us know what you think. Okay. Okay. Kevin, are you ready? We got to jam up guests. We got to jam up rest of the buzz. We got Kevin L. Jackson back in the saddle with us. Are you ready to go? Yeah, ready to go. Well, let me introduce a repeat guest, great friend of this show. Pam Simon is a very successful entrepreneur and business connector with more than 20 years of experience and multiple exits in event production, content creation, experiential marketing, and angel investing. Now in 2019, get this connective acquired her future of event series from Lab Ventures. That’s right. She created whole Shebang now she continued to lead Manifest, which it became known as the global supply chain event, which has doubled each year in size and space leading up to the recent acquisition just a few months ago by Hive. Now amongst many, we’d be here all day if I shared all the initiatives and ventures she’s created been a part of. But Pam also founded the LATAM Founders Network, which is the largest private network of CEOs, founders and investors focused on the technology sector in Latin America.

Kevin L. Jackson (10:15):

Impressive. Very impressive.

Scott Luton (10:17):

Seriously, let’s welcome in the one and only Pam Simon, conference chair at EVP of Programming with Manifest. Hey. Hey Pam. Welcome back. Doing

Pam Simon (10:25):

Hi, how are you?

Scott Luton (10:27):

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Kevin, you and I have been looking forward to Pam rejoining us here on the Buzz, haven’t we?

Kevin L. Jackson (10:33):

Absolutely. Thank you very much for

Scott Luton (10:35):

Joining us

Pam Simon (10:36):

Again. Oh, happy to be here.

Scott Luton (10:39):

And Pam, you’re down in Miami right now where it is absolutely gorgeous and almost perfect. Is that right?

Pam Simon (10:44):

Yes. Sorry, man.

Kevin L. Jackson (10:46):

South Beach, down on South

Scott Luton (10:48):

Beach, man, well share that with everybody. Everybody needs a nice mental image, right, of perfect weather. But I want to start with this Pam and Kevin, we got a lot to get to here today. And Leah, hey, it’s okay. Being a little bit tardy is fine. Welcoming back, I was just out your neck of the woods in Seattle. I can’t wait to hear your perspective throughout the show here today. But let’s start with something more question. Kevin and Pam, we got a holiday, a birthday to celebrate. Did you know on November 17th, way back in 19 70, 55 years ago, Douglas Engelbart received us patent 3 5 4 1 5 4 1 for his XY position indicator for a display system. Engelbart would later call it the mouse because he said the tail of the wire reminded him of a tail, right? While Xerox was the first company to include a mouse with a commercial printer, apple was the first company to include a mouse with a personal computer way back in 1983. So happy 55th birthday to the mouse and check this out, the image comes from this day in tech history. This is the first prototype of the mouse that looks painful to me, Pam, Kevin.

Kevin L. Jackson (11:59):

It has all the right parts though. You got a button, it rolls everything. I

Scott Luton (12:03):

Guess so. I guess so with the Mouse’s birthday in mind, Pam, the fun one question is, what’s one of your first computer memories that you recall growing up as a kid?

Pam Simon (12:14):

I mean, being in computer lab, I would say obviously playing Oregon Trail with most people that and then the typing programs like when you would compete with each other, or at least we did. So I can still type 90 words a minute.

Scott Luton (12:28):

Yeah,

Pam Simon (12:29):

I appreciate those.

Scott Luton (12:31):

No, we’re going to clock you words a minute is moving. So you really legit. 90 plus words per minute,

Pam Simon (12:39):

Man. I’m very competitive. What can I say?

Scott Luton (12:42):

Wow. Okay. Your days are much more productive than mine because I’m somewhere between five and seven. I think Kevin, she rolled out the Oregon Trail, which most a lot of folks on this live stream I bet recognize. What was one of your earliest computer memories?

Kevin L. Jackson (12:56):

Well, first I have to say that I clock out, burning up my keyboard at 10 words a minute. I believe you. I’m going. That’s right. But I tell you what, I remember getting my first laptop and it was a Toshiba 1100 back in 85. And the reason I remember it, because I was in the Navy and I was getting ready to go on cruise and I bought my laptop specifically to write reports and evaluations when I was on cruise. And people would come into my state room, Ooh, what’s that? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I brought my doc matrix printer and everything. Oh man. Just seven minutes to

Scott Luton (13:41):

Print anything on that. Good old days. Yes, man. That’s right. I would just add one more to our collection of memories here, and that’s the good old computer lab back in the days. Do you remember in elementary school for us, I think it was on Fridays, we’d go to spend a few hours at the computer lab, Oregon Trail, and lots of floppy disc if you want to do anything, goes on a floppy desk somewhere. But the good old days, I tell you what, and that’s right, Leah, we learned so much from history including the types of peripherals that you don’t want to have. Like the big wooden block that we shared a second ago. Amanda says, I got my first computer other than the family computer when I went to college in 2000, it was my dad’s old laptop that hooked into a docking station on my desk in my dorm room.

(14:29):

That’s high polluted. Amanda, wonder if you still have that. A lot of stuff to get to here today, Pam and Kevin and Pam, great hat, both of y’all back with us. We’re going to walk through three stories and then we’re going to get an update on all the great things going on at Manifest, which you don’t want to miss. I’ll touch on that in just a second. Let’s get into the stories first. As reported by our friends at TechCrunch NBA’s Super All-star and future Hall of Famer, Steph Curry is getting into the supply chain startup world. So Curry’s venture firm called Penny Jar Capital. Penny Jar Capital

Kevin L. Jackson (14:57):

Of that penny jar, okay.

Scott Luton (14:58):

It made a $3.8 million investment into a startup called Burnt, which is aiming to revolutionize the food industry, especially the seafood industry. Hence the big crap with ai. Now, the founders at Burnt shared an example of how things work today and having been in the food industry, I can vouch for this. They talk about how sales representatives at Food distributors can an order via variety of channels, email, phone calls, WhatsApp, voicemails, texts, faxes, maybe homing pigeons, and then each of the have got to be keyed into the system manually. So you have lots and lots of potential for errors. Well, this really inefficient process is said to Eat Up is not just said to eat up. It does eat up a ton of time that could be spent on higher value of human work, such as winning new customers or creating new opportunities with current customers. So Burnt is rolling out AI agents that will automate and overhaul order entry processes just like this one across the food industry. And better yet, one last point before I get Pam and Kevin to weigh in. The Burnt team has significant food industry experience both in the restaurant business and the seafood, A seafood wholesale business industry rather unlike what they call tech tourists who roll out technology and don’t have any experience in the food industry, right? That’s been done a lot in the last couple of decades creating lots of burnout and mistrust.

(16:18):

Yeah, you name it. So Pam first and then Kevin, Pam, your thoughts on this story and what Steph Curry and his VC outfit is investing into.

Pam Simon (16:27):

I mean, I always think it’s great when founders are dealing with a problem from their industry and then are fed up with it and then find a way to solve it themselves. So I think it’s great that they already have that experience. I also love seeing more athletes diversifying their investment strategies and getting more involved in our industry. There are more athletes and celebrities and artists that have gotten more into the space. So I think it’s good to see not just the traditional investors looking at ways to change how goods are moving around the world.

Scott Luton (16:58):

Pam will said, and I believe non-traditional is a big part of Steph Curry’s VC thesis help support folks from non-traditional journeys. I love that. Kevin, I should also just add, and well said there, Pam, I wish I had a penny jar step curry that had almost $4 million, and I don’t have one of those, but Kevin, your thoughts on this story?

Kevin L. Jackson (17:18):

Well, first of all, I was looking at something on TV a couple of days ago, and they were talking about the GDP of the United States and that most of the growth is being driven by artificial intelligence, but that they think that’s actually causing a bubble. Because as Pam sort of alluded to, people that have no understanding of a specific industry think that ai, whatever AI they have, can fix it with no understanding of the industry’s processes, challenges, or real value that can be delivered. So it’s causing a bubble. So I’m glad people are looking and leveraging artificial intelligence for new things, but to have human intelligence to guide the artificial intelligence. And that’s sometimes that’s lacking. Not saying that’s lacking here, but that’s something you really have to look out for.

Scott Luton (18:12):

Well said Kevin Mo said, folks, don’t take our word for it. Go check out the Tech Crunch article, which we’re dropping right there in the links. I would just add one more quick comment. As I mentioned, I spent some time in the food dentistry and back in the day, and this is a long time ago, back in the day, we collected orders on our laptops like we were referencing earlier, no T squared. It wasn’t an Apple two E, I’m not quite that old, but it was an early generation laptop. And after we got the order from restaurants, we had to race, especially if you’re in a rural part of the state like I was, you had to race to somewhere. You could plug your computer into a telephone socket and upload and transmit all your orders before 4:30 PM Eastern time every day because that’s when the window closed. And I got to tell you, you saw me running 95 miles per hour in some of those back South Carolina roads to get all those orders in technology has changed quite a bit. Okay, Pam and Kevin, man, these crabs are making me hungry. It’s like the seafood restaurant we ate at up in DC Kevin.

Kevin L. Jackson (19:12):

Yeah. Get some blue crabs. Yes.

Scott Luton (19:14):

Yes. Joe’s Seafood. Joe’s Seafood.

Kevin L. Jackson (19:18):

Yeah. Bite next to the Capitol.

Scott Luton (19:20):

That’s right. Let’s get to the next story. Supply chain dive reports that GE appliances is leveraging technology and it’s aimed to create a zero distance supply chain. GE Appliances has invested 3.5 billion in its operations throughout the US since 2016, and it plans to almost double down on that investment as a company says it’s going to spend another 3 billion over the next five years. Getting much closer geographically to their customers is part of this zero distance mentality at ge. Appliances, reshoring, equipment, investments, automation, all big parts of where those investment dollars are going. For example, GE Appliances has spent the last 10 years investing in its end-to-end visibility like a lot of companies out there, right? Leveraging technology to create a digital thread across its manufacturing footprint. Well, who cares, right? Well get this real time data stream has provided an incredible degree of visibility across its supply chain. And Bill Good, who’s the vice president of supply chain at GE Appliances says it’s made a big impact, especially when it comes to downtime and minimizing downtime. Downtime hovered between 15 and 20% across its plants previously. Now, thanks to these visibility and technology investments is down to about 5% in most of their facilities. That dog, Pam, as they say, will absolutely hunt your thoughts on the overall story, Pam?

Pam Simon (20:46):

I think they’re a great example of a company that started this process. The fact that they’ve been doing this for 10 years. They’re already much further ahead in any of their onshoring and reshoring processes than a lot of other companies. But I think when you’re creating large items that are things that people depend on their day-to-day lives, having it as close to the customer as possible is a great approach. We’re seeing that for companies that are popping up, even micro warehouses in different fulfillment centers across, so the closer to the customer the better, and I think it helps the overall delivery process if there are issues that come up. And then of course with tariffs and economic issues, having everything here will make it much easier to handle the disruptions that come.

Scott Luton (21:30):

That’s right, Pam. A lot of good stuff that you just shared there, and I think they’re seeing because of these changes, they’re seeing orders go up. They are very, very busy at GE appliances. Kevin, your thoughts on some of the investments are making,

Kevin L. Jackson (21:43):

Well, change is constant, but you also have to watch the pendulum don’t go too far the other way. I’m all for near Shen and onshoring, but there’s also important to stay part of the global supply chain and to be an active member of that global supply chain. So you have to balance, that’s all I’m saying.

Scott Luton (22:03):

That’s right. That is right. Well folks, if you haven’t bought Pam and Kevin, have y’all bought a dryer or washing machine recently?

Pam Simon (22:10):

No,

Kevin L. Jackson (22:11):

Not recently. No.

Scott Luton (22:13):

Actually

Pam Simon (22:13):

I did a year ago. Identify one a year ago because ours kind of flooded.

Kevin L. Jackson (22:22):

KA put.

Scott Luton (22:25):

It’s not what you want to come home to. It’s not. It’s amazing the innovation that they’re baking into washer and dryers. The new one we got when we’re a little bit slow and loading and unloading, it actually yells at us s close

Kevin L. Jackson (22:40):

That built in AI to yell at you,

Scott Luton (22:43):

Try to reprogram it to get the kids going, but it’s a work in progress. But regardless, getting closer to customers, right? No matter, I mean, they’re doing a lot of things at GE appliances, but that zero distance mentality is an interesting one. Many other organizations are leaning into, especially as Pam pointed out, these ever evolving trade policies. Man, before we get into one more news story and then we’ve got a bunch of perspective on manifest programming, I want to share a cool new resource from the team over at OMP who are powering the buzz all month long. In November. You can check out this new ebook entitled Making AI Work for You from Explainable to Agentic. Y’all have heard us AI has dominated the buzz so far. This ebook explores how decision centric planning powered by Unison IQ enables organizations to move beyond explainable AI toward truly ag systems.

(23:31):

It’s a practical guide. It’s going to help you act on the tremendous opportunities out there. And it’s got some great insights from the team over at zero 100. And it can help you share with your team how AI can drive measurable impact across the enterprise. So check it out. We’re dropping a link right there in the comments and let us know what you think. Pam and Kevin, I got an interesting story before we get into manifest stuff. Cause this is universal. It’s universal, right? And we’re talking about online shopping. I’m not going to surprise you with about anything about the share except one thing and I’ll let you know when we get there. So CN business reports on the continued arms race when it comes to online shopping, this should surprise nobody, as I mentioned, Google, Amazon, OpenAI, alibaba.com, perplexity all. And then some are all adding new AI powered shopping tools to their services. Get this AI and online agents are expected to be involved in 73 billion worth of global online sales from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. So next week through Cyber Monday, just in that short timeframe.

(24:33):

That is 22% of all orders placed according to Salesforce data. But wait, there’s a whole bunch more. Salesforce says traffic from AI assistance grew 119% year over year in the first half of 2025. For example, if you tell Google what you’re looking at or what you’re looking for, rather its AI agent will call local stores and ask the retailers if they have the product in stock, what are the promotions, what are the price points? But some platforms have a get the word out challenge, get this. Pew Research Center says that 66% of Americans still haven’t used chat GPT. Wow. And 20% said they haven’t even heard of it. Oh my gosh. Those two data points is what surprised me. One final note, I was just out in Seattle at Amazon Business reshaped last week where they rolled out last week some really cool AI driven business buying tools that’s going to change the business buying game. Stay tuned as we released a few interviews in the weeks ahead. So Pam, first off, react that 20%. I’ve never even heard of chat GP here in 2025. That surprises me a bit. Your thoughts.

Pam Simon (25:40):

I mean, I agree with that, but at the same time, I’m pretty sure my grandma and her community have never encountered chat gp. Fair

Scott Luton (25:47):

Enough. And even the 66% haven’t even tinkered around with it yet. That was also surprising to me.

Pam Simon (25:57):

I’m surprised by that. You would think people would be curious to at least play around and see what they can come up with,

Kevin L. Jackson (26:03):

Right? You’re really scared of technology. That’s one of the biggest problems. I use AI every day for a lot of different things and it’s valuable. It is very valuable. But the next thing you’re going to see from these online shoppings is that you’re going to have to prove you’re a human right? And all this automatic support may go away because the vendors don’t want to give all their information to ai.

Scott Luton (26:33):

Kevin, that’s interesting. And automated transactions are something we’ll all have to keep our eye on. Spending anomalies was one of the big AI driven tools that Amazon business rolled out last week. So it’ll be interesting to see where that goes, especially from a business perspective. But Pam in general, we’re all consumers. Arguably, I guess now well shop online. Although now after seeing some of those numbers, I might doubt that a little bit. Your general reaction. I mean, I think this was something we all expected to AI innovations in our buying experiences.

Pam Simon (27:02):

I mean, yeah, it’s something that you can’t get away from. I would say from a customer service perspective, I think it’s definitely helped a lot of companies be able to meet the needs of their customers that have all of these questions and want immediate response, immediate feedback or customization related issues. So it makes the whole process, I think, less frustrating for the consumer. That said, I also think Instagram is targeting me a little too hard. So there are boundaries. I think there are boundaries that maybe could be respected more.

Scott Luton (27:35):

I’m with you. Well said, well said. Alright, Kevin, I’m going to circle back to you one more time. Your thoughts as a consumer. Are you leveraging AI to make faster, easier decisions to take the friction out of your processes?

Kevin L. Jackson (27:48):

Well, how many out there are always trying to find a press zero for human button?

Scott Luton (27:54):

Yes.

Kevin L. Jackson (27:56):

Soon as you hear the computer start talking. I want a human. I want a human. No matter what, it’s, I get kind of tired of you can’t talk to a human, you can never find a human. You could barely find a telephone number anymore. Everybody wants you to do chat or send an email. I still like humans. Some of my best friends are humans, but other than Scott. But I do what I can, man. Ouch.

Pam Simon (28:24):

I’m with you though. Whenever it’s something really important, I am just like, give me a person. Just give me

Scott Luton (28:31):

The cool thing about what both of you’re we’re having a little fun with and kind of being serious at the same time. You’re pointing to the unique human superpowers, which problem solving some of the best words you’ll hear as a consumer is, Hey, I got you. Lemme take care of that for you. We’re still waiting for AI to get there. Now lemme speak out of the other side of my mouth because it is amazing to see how far the bots and the chat agents have come to make our lives easier, at least in my experience. So we’ll see what’s next. I want to share, look, check this out from Leah. My 73-year-old mom uses chat. GPT. Leah, you’re wrong, your mom that

Kevin L. Jackson (29:09):

That’s great.

Scott Luton (29:10):

We, we’ve got, I don’t dunno if this is arguable or not, but I think we all are better off at least with experimenting with ai, right? Even if you don’t use it every day, all day, that’s fine. A lot of people won’t, but it’ll really be eyeopening, I think for folks that have never even just experiment a little with a little bit how it can make their days easier. One last comment then we’re going to shift gears is most folks may not know this is Kevin’s hand. We’re not sure if he’s human today. We think it might be AI driven. This appearance here today, okay, we got a lot to get into about Manifest. As we were talking earlier, me and the supply chain now team can’t wait to be back in Vegas. Let’s see, manifest Vegas 2026. It runs from February 9th through February 11th at the Venetian in Las Vegas. And Pam, I tell you, when you do events at the Venetian, you’re like, Elvis, you have arrived. You got the best thing in town running. Would you agree with that, Pam?

Pam Simon (30:06):

I completely agree. I’m so, so excited to be back at the Venetian. It’s such a good place for the show and it really just, it feels like a home. It feels like your LinkedIn just came to life and everyone’s there and everything. It’s very productive.

Kevin L. Jackson (30:19):

My son lives right down the street from the Venetian. He’s in Vegas in,

Scott Luton (30:23):

Well Kevin, we’re going to look him up. We’re going to get him out at Vegas as we’re there in February. And Pam, lemme ask you this, a lot of our audience has either been or they’re going to, they’re certainly familiar, they’ve consumed the content on site or between the events. But if you would tell us what’s new for Manifest 26, Pam.

Pam Simon (30:43):

Okay, so I think there’s three big things that are new. So first, our dedicated procurement stage where we’ll dive into the whole procurement playbook and the critical role of planning and risk mitigation and obviously how AI plays into navigating global supply issues amid constant disruptions. And we’ll hear from Nordstrom, Patagonia, Taylor Brands, source iq, Intel, teal book and more. So very excited for that. And then second, we had our first cold chain symposium at this year’s show, and we’re going to be taking it to the next level for 2026 with its own pavilion in the expo along with a dedicated stage of content thanks to innovators like Lineage and High Tech. And we’ll be covering all aspects of cold. So from the pharma side through transparency, building an end-to-end supply chain transparency, especially when things are temperature controlled, it becomes a little bit more involved. And we have some amazing speakers from Merck Global and Sun Pharma, Vamo Delivery, Arctic Temper Pack, Americold, Avery Dennison and more. So very excited. We’re really leaning into that. I listen when people make suggestions. So this is working out pretty well.

Scott Luton (32:00):

Love it.

Pam Simon (32:01):

And then our newly revamped hosted program for shippers so that they can get the most value while they’re at manifest. So those of you that are overseeing supply chain logistics, procurement, manufacturing, sourcing will be able to sit down with your peers at different tables covering specific topics that you care most about. And many of these companies are bringing their teams to the show. So really that’s been the big shift of being able to spread out and take the most advantage of it. If your team is large enough, we’ll even provide a private meeting room if the team is large enough. And the revamped portion is that for those that qualify, also includes their eligibility for a travel credit and we can share those details with you. If you’re interested directly, you can reach out or you can find the information on our website under hosted shippers.

Scott Luton (32:51):

Well Kevin, that’s a ton of new stuff. Procurement stage, the greater cold chain presence, which I love. It’s a fascinating industry on the move. And for all of our shippers out there, there’s a ton of value in connecting with Pam and the team and connecting with other folks there at Manifest to find a better path forward. What was your favorite new item there, Kevin? What’d you hear?

Kevin L. Jackson (33:12):

Well, I heard that the private rooms, that sounds awfully interesting. Getting business private

Scott Luton (33:19):

Rooms, Pam Bar service and

Kevin L. Jackson (33:22):

No, you too. You went too far. Too far, Kevin, my bad. But no, getting that personalized service, getting all that information and being able to do real business before you get out there on the strip,

Scott Luton (33:38):

Lots of business to be done. I think Manifest made a name for themselves a bit in terms of connecting people and helping them make big business relationships happen. Would you agree with that, Pam?

Pam Simon (33:50):

Yes. An insane amount of business gets done at the show. Whether it’s new investment rounds, new partnerships, new customers, clients. Every day I talk to somebody new that’s created new business or closed a deal at Manifest.

Scott Luton (34:03):

Nice. Well folks, we are dropping the link right there to figure out, use that link because Pam, as we talked about a second ago, prices are about to go up I think November 21st. So folks act now, they can still save a couple hundred bucks off that next price tier. Is that right, Pam?

Pam Simon (34:20):

That’s correct. So you know you’re going to be there. Get your tickets now.

Kevin L. Jackson (34:23):

That’s right, that’s right. You also like that idea of your LinkedIn coming to life. That was

Scott Luton (34:30):

Another good visual. Alright, we got big guests. We got of course Leah and T Square and Amanda and others. We also have Tony Sheroda right here in the cheap seats. Tony says from the dark side because he returns and reverse Simon as one of the growing number of event content leaders who recognize the importance of including reverse logistics in their schedule. Pam has included returns discussions since their first manifest. I’m proud of to find leaders to talk at their event. Now Pam, that is high praise coming from Tony.

Pam Simon (35:02):

I know, thank you. Thanks Tony, and good to see you. We’ll look forward to seeing you again very soon.

Scott Luton (35:07):

That is right. Tony’s doing big things now at the NRF where the Reverse Logistics Association is now parked. Okay, so Pam and Kevin, a little bit more about Manifest here. I’m looking forward to leading a terrific panel session, connecting with tansel, doing big things as part of the manifest team. I’ve got some powerhouse supply chain leaders. Stay tuned for that. Pam, this is kind of probably asking you about your favorite kid, right? No one wants name their kid. What session or are you most excited about right now?

Pam Simon (35:39):

I mean, besides yours, obviously, and you’re right, I can’t pick, that’s not fair. That’s right. But I’ll say there are a few that I’m very excited for. So I think with Nearshoring and Reshoring putting more of a spotlight on the future of manufacturing, I’m looking forward to some of the conversations with Estee Lauder, new Balance XRC ventures and McKinsey diving into digitally enabled cost-effective manufacturing and strategic partnerships and how that will look. So that’s what I’m definitely looking forward to when it comes to automation and robotics. It’s hard to pick a specific session, you’re right of too many kids in this category. But I will say I’m really excited to hear from the CEOs of Apron, lab Zero, Corvus Robotics, R Bedrock, locus Persona, Dane Technologies, EV bots. So those are some of the ones that I’m pumped to see and also see their robotics live, which is always going to be, that’s always fun.

(36:38):

And I’m looking forward to our sustainability symposium from discussing Scaling Energy and Electric Solutions with 12 and Alaska Airlines to commerce and circularity with Feca Ventures. Ikea, PDS Create Me. I think it’s really interesting with these different alternative products that are really going to change the way things are put together. And we have over 155 sessions taking place at Manifest. So it’s really choose your own adventure, go to the sessions that you’re most interested and inspired by and make sure you talk to everybody in the room because they too are also excited to be there.

Scott Luton (37:16):

That is terrific. And folks putting this graphic back up there, the agenda’s now live. You can go check out all those sessions that Pam just mentioned. You can check out the new things that we were talking about earlier, procurement, cold chain, the big new shippers value, you name it. So go check it out and come join us in Vegas. Now Kevin, just share some great sessions there. What did you hear there that might spark your interest and who knows? We might get Kevin L. Jackson there in Vegas making a family affair.

Kevin L. Jackson (37:42):

Well, quite a few name drops there. I tell you it’s like the who’s who Supply chain and logistics. I mean, how can you not want to go to every one of them? I mean, I got to cut myself out. I guess I’ll check out all the replays because you miss something. If you go to one, you’re going to miss two, three other things.

Scott Luton (38:05):

Bring your digital twins and you can

Kevin L. Jackson (38:07):

On Digital Twin. Yes, that’s what I was going to have to do. My

Scott Luton (38:09):

Digital, Hey, one of those you mentioned sustainability, Pam

(38:13):

And I would argue Pam and Kevin, it’s been an interesting time for the sustainability topic in business, but I would argue that the world class companies out there, their commitment hasn’t wavered. Check out. This factoid I saw over the weekend came from Harold Sinat, who’s doing some great work. Pam and Kevin, 4% of all US electricity from 2024 went to data centers and some projections have that going to as high as 10% by 2030. That is just one of a million different data points you can find that we’ve got to figure out as we continue leveraging all the innovation, AI and innovative technology brings, we’ve got to continue solving the sustainability challenge. Your quick response to that, Kevin?

Kevin L. Jackson (38:53):

Yeah, so I live in Manasa, Virginia and here in Manassas and in Loudoun County, we’re the AI data center capital of the world. And everyone, you like to have jobs moving into the city, but what’s happening is the noise pollution being caused by these huge mega data centers and now they’re bringing in more power. So it’s just like everything else, you have to work the balance out here.

Scott Luton (39:22):

And I’m very practically optimistic about breakthrough as we’ll have including from a sustainability standpoint in the months ahead. And it takes organizations and shows like Manifest to bring all these people in the room, right? Have eureka moments. It unlocks not just business opportunities, but breakthrough and innovation opportunities.

Kevin L. Jackson (39:41):

Yeah. One thing I also want to sort of add to that is that the first space data center was just launched. Okay, so these data centers all going in a low worth

Scott Luton (39:52):

Orbit. Okay, well, Jeff Bezos, Pam and Kevin, Jeff Bezos had predicted not too long ago that in a few years, I think he called it a 20 year window. You’re going to have mega data centers in orbit. That’s all powered by the sun. That’ll be interesting. We’ll see, I’m not sure how they transfer all that power back down to earth. I’ll leave that to the smart people. But regardless, let’s do this. I’m getting way off the beaten path here, Pam. I want to make sure folks know how to connect with you and the hard hit and manifest team. We’re dropping a link for registration right there on the chat. How can they connect with you? I know you do a lot of keynoting and a lot of speaking, a lot of angel investing. If they want to follow up with you on anything you shared here today, how can they connect with you? LinkedIn

Pam Simon (40:34):

Or pam@manifestevents.com. Feel free to reach out. And as you mentioned, there’s still a take advantage of the discounts because prices go up on November 21st.

Scott Luton (40:45):

You got plenty of time now you’ve got four or five days, but you got to act now. And we’re dropping a link right there. You can see a bunch of the topics there. Come join us in Vegas. Okay?

Kevin L. Jackson (40:55):

Use your AI shopper, get it now.

Scott Luton (40:57):

That’s right. That’s an interesting thought. How AI can make event registrations easier. We’ll have to touch on that next time you join us. I got one final question for you both. And this is a two-parter. So where it’s November 17th, it’s hard to believe it’s November 17th, 2025. Where did the year go? As you both reflect back on 2025, what is one business trend or development that you’re most intrigued by? And then the second part is give me one bold prediction for global business in 2026. And Pam, you got to go first. Two-parter your thoughts.

Pam Simon (41:35):

I think one of the business trends or developments that I’ve seen that’s been most intriguing is how organizations are co-developing strategies and solutions more and more, given the turmoil with geopolitically or economically lots more collaborations on sourcing side and nearshoring and manufacturing. So I think that that’s been really interesting and something that I’m watching more closely. As far as my prediction or my bold prediction, that’s a good question. Well, I think realtime visibility is no longer a differentiator. It’s table stakes and disruption, whether it’s climate or labor or geopolitical, it continues to rise. So systems that can autonomously adapt will become competitive, mandatory rather than optional.

Scott Luton (42:23):

Yes.

Pam Simon (42:24):

I think we’re seeing companies that are experimenting to see how AI can continuously simulate reroute or self-repair supply flows without the human intervention. That’s where I’m watching.

Scott Luton (42:36):

I like that. And you and I kindred, what do they say? Smart, think alike or something like that. Whatever.

(42:44):

Yeah. Mondays messing with brain. Maybe I shared an element of what you just shared there in our prediction last year at some time about how visibility is becoming table stakes. I put there on social and Pam and Kevin, the powers that be were coming after me. Folks had been in issue a long time, were coming at me, they were ready to chase me down and put me in something. It seemed to be just something that struck the wrong vein. But Pam, I see it much like you do. We got to move beyond. We still have some more heavy lifting to do with visibility, but we got to move beyond. We got bigger things to do. So alright, I’m going to share Tony’s and then Kevin, I’m coming to you for your two part or Tony says, Tony predicts, we’re going to hear the word orchestration a lot from any consultants on the stage. Who knows orchestration’s everywhere for good reason. But I don’t like your prediction, Tony. Alright, so Kevin, reflecting back on 2025 and one bold prediction for 2026, what say you, first of all,

Kevin L. Jackson (43:35):

The meteoric rise of AI and everything that we do, everything last year. This time it was like, yes, AI is something that’s important, you got to watch it. But then this year I use it every day for everything. I mean that’s what’s happening.

(43:50):

But what’s more important is the rise of agentic ai where you’re going to have your AI agents out in the world identifying the changes that are happening, identifying other agents that you can work through and automatically collaborating with those agents in real time to improve your own visibility, your own workflow, your own logistics change. It’s going to be about more collaboration, more automation, unfortunately more ai. And these, your representatives are going to be out there in the marketplace negotiating, using smart contracts to improve your positioning. And that’s what’s happening. That’s going to happen next year.

Scott Luton (44:38):

Yep.

Kevin L. Jackson (44:39):

I like it, man.

Scott Luton (44:40):

I love both of y’all’s visions of the short-term future. I’m going to take a page out of Clubber Lang’s book and a lot of our listeners or viewers will know exactly where I’m going with this. I think it was Rocky ii. Clubber Lang was in portrayed about the one and only Mr. T, right? And as he was going to fight Rocky Balboa, a reporter stopped and said, Hey, what’s your prediction for this fight coming up? And Clubber Lang looked that reporter in a very intimidating fashion and he answered in one word, pain. Pain. So that is my prediction. I know it’s a bit negative, but there’s going to be lots of complexity. There’s going to be lots of pain, there’s going to be lots of tariffs, and there’s going to be a whole bunch of reason why it’s a great time to be in global supply chain tip of the hat to Corver

(45:24):

We get to solve all of that. And then as we do that, it opens all sorts of opportunities for career advancement, bonuses, promotions, you name it. Especially to those folks that are willing to learn new things. And so that 22% was it, where’s my note, that 20% out there has never worked with chat, GPT or it never heard of it folks. Yeah, yeah. Opportunity, jump in, experiment. It will change your life and it could potentially change your business journey forward and all the opportunities there with that. Okay, we’re running out of time, Kevin, we covered, I wish we had another hour because Pam Simon really have enjoyed your perspective here today. But Kevin, you get the final question because out of the last hour, we covered a lot of ground. I really enjoyed learning from both of y’all here today. What is one key takeaway though, from today’s discussion here on the bus?

Kevin L. Jackson (46:13):

To be honest, the key takeaway I heard was having your LinkedIn come to life at manifest

Scott Luton (46:23):

Microsoft. We’re going to love that. Kevin, you know what I learned? I just saw last week, something new, actually scan the room using your LinkedIn device, your app on your phone, and you can see who you’re sitting beside and their LinkedIn profile right there on the app, Pam, that was my reaction. I was like, oh my God, I was so excited. So we’re going to send out, so folks, we’ll have to send a link out in terms of how to do that. But hey, connecting people is a beautiful thing. Pam Simon, appreciate what you and the manifest team are doing to connect industry, connect professionals, connect shippers, you name it. Really had a wonderful time last year and looking forward to being back in February. So Pam Simon with Manifest, thank you for being here.

Pam Simon (47:08):

Thank you for having me and we’ll look forward to seeing you in Vegas very soon.

Scott Luton (47:12):

Can’t wait. Can’t wait. Kevin L. Jackson from your global travels, you’ve got a bunch of folks. I can’t share with y’all what he shared in the pre-show in terms of some of the ventures he’s part of, but he’s making the world a safer place. I’ll just put it like that. And folks, make sure you connect with both Kevin and Pam, which we dropped their LinkedIn links right there in the chat. The man is a big Barney fan. Kevin, thank you so much for being here, my friend.

Kevin L. Jackson (47:37):

No, thank you very much. Yes, click on my LinkedIn and disconnect. And Pam, it was just so great, thank you with you and collaborating with you here during this show. Thank you for joining.

Pam Simon (47:48):

Likewise. Again, thank you for having me.

Kevin L. Jackson (47:50):

A lot of

Pam Simon (47:50):

Kindred spirits.

Scott Luton (47:52):

Okay folks, as we wrap here today, big thanks to Pam Simon with Manifest. Come on to join us February 9th through the 11th in Las Vegas Act. Now the price is about to go up big thanks to my esteemed co-host, Kevin L. Jackson. Of course, big thanks to Amanda and Joshua who’s behind the scenes helping to make production happen. I really appreciate what they do. And most importantly, big thanks to our global audience for being here. Right? But folks know you got homework and Pam and Kevin shared a lot of great perspective. Take one thing you heard here today, share it with your team, share it with your family, share it with your 73-year-old mom like Leah’s

Kevin L. Jackson (48:22):

Doing. She needs g PT chat too. That’s

Scott Luton (48:25):

Right. Do something with it. And it’s all about deeds, not words. And with all that said, on behalf the whole team here at Supply Chain now, Scott Luden challenge. You do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed, and we’ll see you next time. Right back here on Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (48:42):

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