Scott Luton (00:02):

Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the number one Voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights, and real supply chain leadership from across the globe. One conversation at a time. Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and soon to be Marty Parker here with you on Supply Chain Now, welcome to today’s live stream. Hey Marty, you had to knock something out real quick, huh?

Thomas Beil (00:27):

Yeah, apparently. I’m so glad to be back, man. It’s been a while.

Marty Parker (00:33):

Well, that and you’ve been traveling the world, which we’re going to work in at some point through the conversation. I’m so jealous. What was one of the most beautiful places you went to, Marni?

Thomas Beil (00:41):

Miha, Spain. It’s a small town in Southern Spain and a beautiful, spectacular, and it was small enough to sort of see it all.

Marty Parker (00:50):

Oh man. Okay. We’re going to dive more into all of that and really a lot more folks because today it’s the buzz where every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and global business. News that matters is what we like to call it. And folks, the buzz is powered by our friends at APL Logistics all month long in June. And if you don’t know, if you’re three people out there that don’t know, APL Logistics is a global supply chain logistics provider specializing in order management solutions. They operate from 180 locations across 93 countries and to learn more, visit apllogistics.com. Okay, so Marty, big show here today, we’re going to be talking about some of the leading performers in industry and what they have in common. We’re going to take another look at the growing suply crunch.

(01:37):

I guess it’s a supply chain crunch too in the memory chip world. Hey, what are some retailers doing with those tariff refunds? We’re going to find out. Plus, we’re going to discuss the power of the democratization of expertise, all that more and as if all that isn’t enough. In about 15 minutes or so, we’re bringing in a very special guest, Thomas Beal with Perfect Planner and UGA. It’s going to be a great conversation. So Marty, are you ready to go today on this big jam up edition of the buzz?

Thomas Beil (02:07):

Let’s do it. Really excited.

Marty Parker (02:09):

We are too. So folks buckle up for a lot to come here on The Buzz powered by APL Logistics right here today. And Trisha’s out there. Happy buzz day. Say hello. Let us know where you’re watching from. Do that folks. We’d like to connect the dots on this big, beautiful world that we’re in. And she’s already dropped a link to our friends at APL Logistics to check that out. All right. So Marty, before Thomas joins us, we got three things to work through. And the first one is going to be our latest edition of With That Said, which published over the weekend. And we led off by sharing an interview with Lauris Siri, the one and only Larisa Siri, who is publishing her supply chains to admire 2026 this week. Now, the research has gone on about 15 years or so. There’s lots of nuggets.

(02:53):

But according to Laura, get this Marni. According to Lara, the leading organizations that she’s again researched consistently over the years where they demonstrate five key characteristics. So I’m going to write these off. Customer focus, leadership alignment, clear strategic direction, balanced performance metrics and a culture of process innovation. So check out Laura’s perspective along with the Bevvia tools and resources and some terrific live shows. I think for the second week in a row, we have a live show every day this week. Man, it’s a lot of work. So give it all a read, let us know what you think. So Marty, did you get a chance to check out with that said?

Thomas Beil (03:30):

I did. And I told you before, I thought it was one of the best with that said that I’ve read. I talk extensively about how strategy determines supply chain strategy. You have to know that. And I love seeing research that supports the five things you mentioned. And if you’re missing any one of those, your supply chain’s not going to be successful and your team’s not going to be successful.

Marty Parker (03:54):

I like how you said that, Marty. And also check this out. I got two more things on this first one, if that makes any sense. I’ll check this out though, her quote, “I would like to help spark a different conversation to help supply chain leaders drive value and sidestep the stupidity of existing conversations.” Hey, Laura tells it like it is, Marty, am I right?

Thomas Beil (04:14):

Absolutely. And she was talking about reducing cost, right? It’s all about reducing cost and value. Yo value when a customer actually pays you for something. And the supply chain teams that align with their sales teams, align with their marketing teams, align with their customer are creating that value. And I thought it was an amazing article.

Marty Parker (04:36):

Same, same. So folks, last things here. Number one, I want to share. So we always get a bunch of different comments on our newsletters, right? John W. Hansen really brought it here. And folks, y’all can go check out the link and you can chime in and agree, disagree, you name it. But I’m going to scroll all the way down to John’s final comment because he points out a trend that he’s tracked for over the past 27 years. “Technology is often credited for success and blamed for failure when the determining variables are frequently found elsewhere in the operating environment. “And quote,” Marty, hey, tech gets the credit. Tech gets the blame. “When I stop thinking about that, I think he’s right, huh?

Thomas Beil (05:18):

No, absolutely. I talk about how I’ve never seen a technology project fail technological reasons. It’s always leadership reasons. And so we’ve really got to focus on root cause and it’s not the technology itself. I’m with

Marty Parker (05:32):

You. It’s

Thomas Beil (05:33):

Ridiculous to blame the technology.

Marty Parker (05:35):

I’m with you. I am with you. All right. So folks, go check out. With that said, hey, it got Marty Parker’s. The Marty Parker’s rubber stamp of approval so you know it’s good stuff. Trisha’s dropped link right there. So go check that out. And hey Adam. Adam, terrific to see you. Fellow Atlanta based dynamo. He says Happy Buzzday and join the podcast from John’s Creek, Georgia. And Marty, I think you know Adam. He’s done big things with the ASEM Atlanta chapter amongst other things.You’ve spoken to him.

Thomas Beil (06:05):

Oh no, I know Adam extremely well. He comes to our supply chain advisory board meetings and gosh, I don’t even know how many years. It’s five, six years I’ve known Adam well. And he is a super nice guy, super good looking guy too. Okay. I’m jealous. He’s probably going to kill me after that comment. We’ll see what he says. He dresses so impeccably at our meetings. I’m always so impressed.

Marty Parker (06:30):

Same, same. I saw him and really the gang at Modex. No, what a great industry that was. All right. So one last note folks on supply chains to admire. We’ve got a jam up live show tomorrow. That’s Tuesday, June 23rd at 12 noon Eastern time. Laura and friends are going to unpack all the research. There’s 33 companies, her and a team have identified as being the top real performers based on the data. And we’re also going to talk about a terrific dynamic benchmarking opportunity. So come join us and bring your perspective whether you agree or disagree. All right. So Marty, let’s see here. Two more things to talk about before we bring on the Thomas Beal. Let’s see here. I got a great image here. I love this because folks, we got our own Dave Chappelle right here with us today. And we’re going to talk about something that I don’t think we’ve ever talked about on the buzz and that’s standup comedy.

(07:23):

So I bet you didn’t know this or you may have known this. Marty Parker gave a well received standup show about a month or two ago. So Marty, two questions for you. Number one, how’d it go? Number two, what did it teach you about business or leadership or anything like that?

Thomas Beil (07:39):

Well, it went extremely well and you can ask Thomas his impression of it. And a lot of folks were shocked that I did about a 30 to 40 minute set having never done this before. But what did I learn? We had a saying, Parker’s persevere and my wife says you can do hard things. And this was a bucket list item for me. And Ross Kimball from jury duty and he’s also in the new live action Scooby-Doo put me through sort of a comedy bootcamp. But you know what he really taught me in leadership? Scott, it was being present. Be in the moment. Don’t be worrying about the past. Don’t be worrying about the future. And so to me, some of the best parts of the show where folks were making comments or the audience got involved and I wasn’t thinking about what I was going to say next.

(08:26):

I was actually right there. And Ross, who I hope to have on the show with you again as another person one day, teaches that. His business is called Show Up Better and he teaches salespeople how to be in the present moment. I like

Marty Parker (08:40):

It.

Thomas Beil (08:41):

And I learned that in doing this bucket list activity. And I’m not going to lie, it was hard. I bet. But it was fantastic. I just loved every minute of it.

Marty Parker (08:52):

Well, hope you didn’t have too many hecklers, but I know since Parkers do persevere, I know you could tackle each and every one of those hecklers. And hey, for whatever it’s worth, I’ve had no less than five people come up to me and say, “Hey, I know Marty Parker’s on your show at Zapache now.” He is so funny. So Marty, I’m telling you, you never know, you’re going to have your own special Netflix soon. But all kidding aside, really appreciate the leadership, really the human lessons that this really challenging experiment brought you. And I look forward to your next time on the stage. Well,

Thomas Beil (09:23):

And I’m going to bring it into the classroom, Scott. I’m not sure I like that. I’ll feel about that, but I’ve been experimenting with it at the beginning of class and I think it really engages the students. I

Marty Parker (09:34):

Like it. I like it. Okay. So folks, let’s see here. Tricia has dropped going back to the great live show we got coming up tomorrow, right? Supply chains to admire 2026 and Laura Cecilia live. You don’t want to miss Marty Parker live. You don’t want to miss Lara Cesari Live. So go check that out. Adam says, “Hey, thank you. ” Marty and Scott. So he likes your kind comments there. Francis. Hello, everybody. It’s Buzz Day Health Logistics watching from Nairobi, Kenya. Well, Francis, great to have you here on LinkedIn. Looking forward to your take here today on things we talk about. All right, so we’re about to bring in Thomas Beal. I got one more thing I want to share with folks. Folks, you know, I am that supply chain nerd that loves a good case study. And this one here from our friends at EasyPost features a re-commerce marketplace that ships over 25,000 packages a day.

(10:22):

Working with EasyPost, get this. They’ve saved over $2 million and have had 273,000 fewer late deliveries. And get this, it didn’t require new carriers or renegotiated contracts. Not even any new headcount was added to the organization. You’ll learn more via the link that Tricia has just dropped right there in the chat. All right. Marty, thanks to you. We’ve got a great guest joining us here today on The Buzz powered by APL Logistics. So get this folks, Thomas Bill brings over 17 years of industry experience to the table having reshaped operational landscapes and he spearheaded strategic initiatives to revolutionize efficiency, drive down costs and amplify profitability. Man, he’s like the supply chain whisperer. A certified Lean Six Sigma master black belt and transformation architect. Thomas is distinguished for leading digital transformation teams and initiatives fostering innovation and orchestrating profound supply chain enhancements across Fortune 500 companies such as Molly, Honeywell, and Whirlpool.

(11:27):

Now our guest serves as lecturer with the management faculty at the Terry College of Business and he’s an instructor in UGA’s Terry Executive Education Department, but he’s also the founder and CEO of Perfect Planner. So please join me in welcoming Thomas Beal. Hey, hey, Thomas, how you doing?

Scott Luton (11:44):

Good. How are you, Scott?

Marty Parker (11:45):

Wonderful. Great to see you. So I got to ask you, Thomas. We were talking about Marty’s standup, or should I say Dave Chappelle’s standup a month or two ago. You were there in person. How’d he do? I

Scott Luton (11:56):

Thought he did a really great job. You could definitely tell right away all the preparation you put into it and his Elvis impersonations were next level.

Marty Parker (12:05):

Oh, Marty. Okay. We got standup coming to supply chain now soon.

Thomas Beil (12:11):

And I sang Elvis Acapulco. He did. Acapello. And I looked a little bit like Liza Minnelli and Elvis together, if you could imagine.

Marty Parker (12:22):

I’m trying to. I’m trying to. All right. So here’s the official fun warmup question, Thomas and Marty. So we got a lot to celebrate today. It is today, June 22nd is National Union Ring Day. It’s National Lemoncello Day and we’re celebrating all those wonderful professionals that keep us cool because it’s National HVAC Tech Day. So shout out to the one only Mr. Chris Feather and his sons, Luke and Matthew out in my neck of the woods. So it sounds like a great day at the office, onion rings, adult beverages and lots of cool temps. I’ll take it. So Thomas, which one are you going to be celebrating the most here today?

Scott Luton (12:58):

You know, as much as I love lemons and lemonade, I think I’m going to have to go with HVAC day. I’m

Marty Parker (13:04):

With you. Definitely. I’m with you. And what’s your AC set at?

Scott Luton (13:09):

Usually like 71 during the day, 70 at night.

Marty Parker (13:12):

Okay. All right. Man, Marty, he does like it cool. What are you celebrating the most, Marty?

Thomas Beil (13:17):

Definitely lemoncello day because when I was in Spain, took a tour of the largest lemoncello plant, had lemons about the size of my head and they grind them up. You’ll see a post from me, Scott. I’ve got some pictures, some videos. I’m excited about the post. Manufacturing is an important part of supply chain and manufacturing booze is top of the list.

Marty Parker (13:42):

Hey, it’s how we cope with all the Braves losses and my Clemson tiger losses. Come on. Getting aside, getting, getting, getting. All right, really quick. Hey, the Doc Hollywood of Global Supply Chain is here, Fred Tolbert. The Fred Tolbert folks. He says Marty Parker and Thomas Beal, UGA Supply Chain Royalty. Well, Fred, it’s been way too long. Great to see you here today.

Thomas Beil (14:03):

Right back at you, Fred. Fred’s some royalty himself. Just a comment about Fred. He is the most active member of our supply chain advisory board and he teaches something like five students every semester as part of his group. Every two weeks puts them in front of top supply chain leaders. Fred is just incredible.

Marty Parker (14:25):

All right, Fred, come on back. We got to get you on the upcoming edition of the buzz. We got to catch up. All right. So Marty and Tom, speaking of things we got to do, we got a lot to get to here today. So I want to go ahead and dive into some new stories here on the buzz powered by our friends at APL Logistics. And we’re going to start with this interesting story that’s probably going to impact all of us, I imagine. We’re going to take a look at what’s taking place in the memory chip sector. Wall Street Journal reports that prices for memory and storage chips have quadrupled since 2025 and analysts project prices that continue to increase moving into 2027. Now, smartphones in particular use two common forms of memory and this is really putting it simply for the sake of brevity folks.

(15:05):

DRAM, which runs apps and NAND or NAND, whatever folks call that, to store photos and videos amongst other things. Now Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said price increases on their devices are unavoidable due to memory market conditions. Cook referenced his decades of time in electronic supply chain over 40 years, I think, and said these price wings are like a hundred year flood. He’s never seen it. A research firm Tech Insights, and you can see the price journey as well as the estimates there on the screen. Research firm Tech Insights estimates get this, $270 will be added on average to the next iPhone Pro model. Morgan Stanley estimates that there’s going to be about a 15% increase on smartphones and PCs in the US this year alone. More factories are coming online and production capacity is expected to grow some 30% by 2027 for DRAM wafers in particular.

(16:00):

But that, as you can tell with those estimates there are still going to be expected to fall short of man. So Thomas, that’s not some of the good news I like to open with, but your thoughts there, my friend.

Scott Luton (16:12):

When I was reading that story and then there was a couple other stories and articles I had read What’s fascinating is that this really isn’t just a consumer electronic story. It’s an AI infrastructure story because the memory isn’t just suddenly scarce because people are buying more phones. I think it’s really scarce from what I’ve read because the economics of AI are pulling that memory capacity towards data centers. And so what you’re finding is that these consumer electronics companies used to not have to compete with AI build outs and now they do. And so what you’re finding is that memories always for at least for the past 10, 15 years been somewhat constrained and now it’s extremely constrained.

Marty Parker (16:56):

Yeah, it’s gotten a lot worse. Good stuff there. Thomas, Marty, your thoughts?

Thomas Beil (17:00):

Yeah, it’s interesting. Andy Grove from Intel said only the paranoids survive. And Intel and AMD before NVIDIA used to battle around chips. And if you look at the case studies, it was about commodity. And so now with the shortage, just like with oil, we saw the same thing, prices are going to go up and we’re seeing it in the inflation numbers. You’re going to talk about an example, Scott. It’s affecting all of us. I think it just ticked to 4.2, 4.3% inflation. And I lived through much higher inflation back during the Civil War when I was a kid, but inflation is hard for everybody. But if you look at it from a company perspective, companies have to raise prices. Their margins erode, they get destroyed. They can only cost save to a certain point when their material costs are going up like Apple is seen.

Marty Parker (17:56):

As both of y’all speak to, there’s a variety of factors fueling this, right beyond our got to have it and got to have the newest one today, the demand, right? And then of course, data centers are competing for so many different things, but especially technology inputs. And then as Marty mentioned, my least favorite, and I’m not economist as y’all can tell, but my least favorite economic trend here this year has been the inflation. It’s every time I step into a grocery store, which we’re going to touch on in a second, I see it slap me in the face. But hey, nevertheless, there is good news if we go looking for it, but it’ll be interesting to see how this electronics, some of these electronics trends and pricing trends continue to unfold. Folks, but that’s just me and Thomas and Marty’s take. Trisha has dropped the full article right there in the chat.

(18:44):

Go give it a read and let us know what you think. All right. We just talked about prices going up. Here are some good news about some prices going back down. Marty and Thomas, I’m breaking records here because I haven’t said the word tariff in like 72 hours. But that aside, supply chain dive reports on what several retailers are doing with expected tariff refunds. BJ’s wholesale club, which this article mainly focuses on, has already received tariff refunds and has used them to help reduce overall retail prices by around half a percentage point trying to gain pricing ground on its key competitors. Quick aside, I’m Costco for life, BJ, for life. But following in BJ’s footsteps, Walmart is planning to use a big chunk of its expected $2.4 billion in terrif rebates to reduce prices as is. Now this company’s new one for me. Y’all might know it.

(19:40):

ELF Beauty or Elf Beauty, I’m not sure how it’s pronounced, is projecting a $58.5 million refund check. They’re going to lower prices with that amongst other things. We’re saying a minute ago, Marty and Thomas, we’re talking about inflation. Well, folks, I’m a loyal Kroger shopper. We’re in there five times a week where we live. I love the company. But yesterday as I was in that store, I saw a can of cream of chicken soup and it was $2.99. Oh my gosh, Mr. Craig Ferran and Kroger team, hope you are going to follow suit and lower those prices. Thomas, your thoughts on what BJ’s and others are doing here.

Scott Luton (20:15):

Scott, when you sent over that article on Friday, I read it last night and I was surprised, but I think it’s a really interesting case where supply chain savings are being used as a commercial weapon, like that strategic pricing lever. So instead of simply just taking that refund below the line, what BJ’s is doing is that they’re going to reinforce that value perception with their customers. And so I think that that’s a really smart move because right now consumers are still highly price sensitive, kind of like what you’re talking about going into Kroger. And so yeah, I applaud them.

Marty Parker (20:49):

Yep. I think that’s a great point and it delivers value on a variety of levels. Marty, what’d you think?

Thomas Beil (20:55):

So I’ve said it many times. I’m not a fan of tariffs for a bunch of reasons. It’s a price increase on consumers. It doesn’t help with competition. And keep in mind, we’ve already paid this so it’s not really a price cut. And we paid it at a lower inflation level like two years ago. So the net present value for us, I don’t care how much money they give us back. We are out of pocket by the 25%, 35%, 40%, 110%, whatever percent. It changed every day during that. And frankly, I’m glad they’re illegal. I think they’re terrible for US economy. I think they’re terrible for supply chain and terrible for the US economy. So world economy, I’m sorry. So I’m pretty clear in how I feel about them and the impact that they’ve had on all of us.

Marty Parker (21:46):

Reach. You and the Supreme Court are in the same camp and largely I am too. And we’ve had this discussion numerous times, Marty. I think we really … And this is just my take, folks. I think we missed a terrific opportunity to be very surgical with how we apply vehicles and measures like tariffs to work on very specific products or relationships instead of kind of what Marty’s talking about where you want a tariff, you want to … I mean, everything got a tariff. And personally, I don’t think that is sound policy, but it’s just my take folks. You may feel different. Thomas, I’m not even going to put you on the spot with trade policy unless you want to weigh in and you can also say, “I’m good. Thanks. We’ll move along.” I’m good right now. That’s

Thomas Beil (22:29):

What I should have said.

Marty Parker (22:30):

Yeah, this is good. Folks, Tricia is dropping a link as she always does to that great supply chain dive article. Folks, if supply chain dive is not on your reading list, that and really all the dive publications, you got to add it and do great stuff. All right, I’ll pop this up. Here recently, I shared some data nuggets on the supply chain workforce and then some last week on LinkedIn and I led off with this bactoid here that may or may not surprise you. So talent traction says that we’ve seen a 31% year over year increase in demand for supply chain talent in 2026. Now, if that’s true, of course it comes on top of the talent deficit we had coming into the year, so only got bigger. Other things we shared on this same post here is Gartner says that demand for supply chain jobs requiring AI skills, well, that’s increased 387% since Q1 2023.

(23:23):

Deloitte research shows that globally we’re going to be short, just shy of two million manufacturing workers by 2033. And here’s an interesting workforce data point that I bet is not on a lot of folks’ radar. It’s just my prediction here. I could be wrong, but a lot of folks aren’t tracking this. Reuters reports that 41% of construction workers, that’s right, 41% are expected to retire by 2031. Of course, that’s going to worsen shortages in build out such as logistics facilities, manufacturing plants, those data centers that folks have all kinds of opinions on. Where are we going to find all those people? So Thomas, your thought on that or any of these data points, my friend?

Scott Luton (24:03):

Well, I really have two thoughts. So I saw that post, Scott, and I thought it was fantastic. The first one I’ll touch on is the labor shortage problem. And really what jumps out at me is that we keep talking about labor shortages as if this is just purely a hiring problem and I don’t think it is. I think it’s also a work design problem. So if Gartner’s right about AI skill demand and supply chain being up almost 400% and that half of all the new warehouses being built by 2030 are going to be robot centric, then the real issue isn’t just, do we have enough people? I think it’s really focused on are we redesigning jobs and workflows for a very different operating model. So the problem to me that really stands out is that I feel like, and I would have to prove this with data, but companies are still training people for the old style of work while buying technology for the new work.

Marty Parker (24:58):

Thomas, I’d love to see that data too, but my gut tells me you’re absolutely right. We’re talking out both sides of our mouth, right? We’re leading digital transformations, but we’re still acting like it’s 1982 in some aspects of our operation. Marty, your thoughts on these workforce nuggets?

Thomas Beil (25:15):

Well, it’s great for my kids and Thomas and I, along with the illustrious Fred Tolbert are working on the supply side of this equation. Fred has been after us for many years to make our supply chain program a full supply chain degree, which we’re going to do very soon. And that’s going to add folks coming into it and wanting to grow into that career, which is, as we all know, a fantastic career. The students have great starting salaries and they have huge long-term prospects in the company. They can move into all kinds of different areas in the supply chain and even outside of the supply chain as they do that. So to me, and there’s opportunity because AI has been killing computer science jobs as an example and a lot of those students will start pivoting over to our side of the world.

Marty Parker (26:08):

Love it. Well, two thoughts, both y’all’s comments. Number one, hey, kudos to what you both and Fred and really everyone at the University of Georgia is doing and not just from a suply chain standpoint, but really in business and leadership education. So folks, make sure UGA is on your radar. And then secondly, Thomas had mentioned operating models, right? And folks, you’re going to hear a lot more about that phrase. It’s going to be maybe the ecosystem. And when ecosystem hit the scene, it hit everybody’s conversations. Well, I would argue these operating models is going to be very similar. And if you listen or watch the buzz regularly, a few weeks ago we pointed to research that shows, and don’t hold me to this if I get it wrong a little bit, but basically a survey of hundreds of supply chain leaders. Last year they said like 14% were reinventing their operating model to this year like over 72% Thomas and Marty.

(26:58):

So hopefully that will mean, Thomas, going back to your point that we are going to be redesigning roles while we redesign the operating models, but there’s no guarantees. What we shall see, won’t we Thomas and Marty? Go ahead, Thomas, go ahead. You’re going to add

Scott Luton (27:09):

Something. When I was looking at the 41% of construction workers, they’re going to be retiring and we’ve got to do something about this. And I know the technology is a big appeal for a lot of executives, but I think also the statistics that stuck with me was that there’s a big gap between executive confidence and then the actual workforce capability. So you have all these companies out there saying, “We’re ready for AI.” And what I think that really means is we bought some technology.

Marty Parker (27:40):

Yes.

Scott Luton (27:41):

And so that’s very different from having your employees and your workforce ready to work in an AI enabled environment.

Marty Parker (27:46):

Well said, Thomas, and we’re already feeling that in an adjacent area, I think. Folks, if you ever try to find a plumber or an HVAC, a reliable HVAC or other more services related, it’s tough to find. We were trying to get our fireplace cleaned one winner, Thomas and Marty getting ready for like weekend fires and stuff. It took me months to get on the calendar for folks like that. And that’s why I appreciate the folks like Chris Feather out there. But Marty, you were about to comment, I think, on what we heard there from Thomas before we move on.

Thomas Beil (28:19):

Yeah, I would add too that it’s dynamic. And what I mean by that is you can build buildings and houses in a factory now. Germany has been building, because of these labor shortages, has been building homes for probably 20 years, about 20% of their residential construction is done in a factory using robots. So it’s absolutely dynamic. And we saw everybody went into computer science degrees because they were encouraged to do so and now the jobs aren’t there. There’ll be a similar thing in supply chain, frankly. We’ll have a flood of students going into it and it’s a pendulum. It’ll go back and forth because people will automate things as they need to. They have to to stay in business.

Marty Parker (29:08):

That’s right. Well said. Thomas and Marty. Okay. We got a whole bunch more to get into, but really first I want to share this message from our friends at APL Logistics folks. The biggest supply chain problem isn’t always visibility. We’re solving that problem over the last decade or two. It can be though the gap between the plan and what the network can really deliver. Execution gap is the space between a supply chain plan and its actual financial outcome. It’s what happens when a carefully built strategy for inventory, transportation and distribution, they all fail to produce the margin working capital or service level results it was designed to deliver. That’s where APL Logistics steps up. APL Logistics helps customers close the gap between what the plan says and how operations can actually deliver because insight matters. The execution moves the business. Hey, check, click on the Link to learn how APL Logistics can help you build a resilient supply chain that sticks to the plan.

(30:06):

And Trisha’s dropping that link right there. All right, Tom, let’s get ready. So me and Marty are going to dive into the Thomas Beal chapter here on the buzz for June 22nd. Gosh, can’t believe we’re almost in July. So Thomas and Marty, I want to start by talking about this notion of the democratization. I knew that word was going to get me eventually. The democratization of expertise. AI is delivering that amongst other things. This article from Business Insider offers up an interesting use case and features some friends of the show too. It’s focused on a yard logistics company named Laser Logistics, who some might say is attempting to take your company’s best manager and clone them. Company’s Uncle Phil AI is attempting to take institutional knowledge inside the heads of humans and make it accessible across the organization. In this case, the name Uncle Phil, what comes from the industry guru, Phil Newsome, who is Laser Logistics COO.

(31:08):

They want to take what Phil knows and what he’s accumulated over some four decades and share it with 750 sites. Our friend, Bart DeMonk, who’s quoted an article, he says that the yard is one of the last parts in the supply chain world to get a technological upgrade unlike warehouses and factory floors. He says, “We have very clear KPIs from the warehouse. We have very clear KPIs on transportation. No one has a KPI on the yard.” So we may all have more Uncle Phil or Aunt Sally or Cousin Toya AIs in our future. We’ll see. Thomas, your thoughts here, my friend.

Scott Luton (31:43):

I love this article. I think to me, one of the most powerful future applications of AI is helping us scale this expertise. Taking this process knowledge and making it available to the entire organization or industry, however we want to do that. And I see this as the competitive advantage of the future. When I think about what hurts the most, it’s when our best analyst walks out the door or a best leader walks out the door and they have all this process, knowledge and expertise and they were pretty much the only one who really understood every facet of a function or a process. And so the future, in my opinion, is these organizations need to find a way to capture and digitize that process knowledge. It’ll be game changing.

Marty Parker (32:30):

I largely agree. Marty, are all your friends disagreeable like Thomas Beal?

Thomas Beil (32:35):

Yeah, Thomas is agreeable and super smart and super nice.

Marty Parker (32:39):

Yes, I agree. Your thoughts.

Thomas Beil (32:41):

So a couple of thoughts. We’re going to talk later about how planning, especially in manufacturing. I’ve been into several companies where if their planner got hit by a car, they’re bankrupt. Literally every bit of planning is in their head as they’re trying to put together 25, 30 different reports in their ERP. And so like Thomas, I agree. If we could get that institutional knowledge automated in some way, it’s awesome. But I think the most important thing would be to clone Max Headroom Scott Lewton for a podcast. And I think St. Thomas, I think St. Thomas and Max Headroom Lewton would be two of my favorite bots. Uncle Marty, I think that’s scary, right? But you guys, I would love to have bots of you two guys.

Marty Parker (33:31):

They could probably do it better and they definitely would pronunciate things better. Their jokes would be funnier. Marty, I can see it now. I can see it now. We’ll work to that. We’ll work on that in the Skunk Labs. But Marty, I tend to agree with you and Thomas here and it really is fascinating. And I also agree with Bart’s take. The yard as it were, it really has been maybe arguably one of the last vestiges of not having as much technological innovation applied to it, but that is changing. So folks, check out this great read in Business Insider. John,

Thomas Beil (34:06):

One other quick comment. I had a student doing an internship out in a yard and there were like 200 trailers full of stuff and the way they kept track of it was sticky notes and pieces of paper and it had literally millions of dollars in inventory sitting out in the yard and the big technological upgrade was to move it to a spreadsheet.

Marty Parker (34:28):

Oh my gosh.

Thomas Beil (34:30):

And this was just a couple years ago. So I really think we’re in for a revolution here.

Marty Parker (34:35):

I’m with you. I’m with you. Your anecdote reminds me, we’ve got a parking yard not too far from where we live here in Walton County and it’s filled in part by trailers. And on trailer has been there for almost the 15 years we’ve been out there. Both doors have been open and they’re just a bunch of junk hanging out and I’m just waiting. I’m like, “Come on, can’t we do better?” There at least a spreadsheet over there that can fix that. I don’t know. All right. So Marty and Thomas, speaking of stickies, I think you are just talking about this, this next story. Look at this. That is a wall full of stickies. We’re going to be talking about supply chain decision intelligence via Jim Frazier and logistics viewpoints. Jim says quote in this great read, we’re going to be dropping a link to it right there in the chat.

(35:19):

Jim says, “In most enterprises, the operational challenge is no longer simple visibility. Companies can already see more than they could a decade ago. A harder problem is deciding what matters, what does not and what should happen next.” That’s where decision intelligence of course comes into play. We had the uncle of DI, speaking of uncles, Marty and Thomas, we had the uncle of DI on the buzz a couple weeks ago. We’re going to have to drop that link in the chat. Jim goes on to describe the decision intelligence layer in technology as the connected tissue between all the fragmented systems that can be found in industry, all those silos and the real operating decisions that must be made all day long by both humans and machines for that matter. So Thomas, this is right up. I bet I was hitting one of your passion bones, maybe a couple of them with this article here, your thoughts.

Scott Luton (36:15):

I love decision intelligence. It’s what we are trying to do at Perfect Planner where we’re turning fragmented signals into clear action. I like to say it’s the straight to execution approach to where we’re able to provide that direction. You can almost think of it as like a shopping list if you’re going to Publix and want to shop because most of these companies, they have their ERP systems, planning tools, visibility platforms, dashboards, you name it. But the problem isn’t the lack of data, it’s knowing what matters and what should happen next with that data. And so to me, the opportunity is really moving beyond reporting into a layer that helps us make better decisions. And so you’re seeing that this is what is starting to come out. More and more solutions are in this space.

Marty Parker (36:58):

Well said, Thomas. And I kind of used, Marty, I use this backdrop of sticky notes as kind of an antonym to modern decision intelligence. Your thoughts of Marty.

Thomas Beil (37:09):

Yeah. So Thomas has forgotten more about this than I’m going to ever know, but I would add that think about how hard it is for a company to get their CRM and their ERP and their various spreadsheets and all the other, their control systems, their robots to talk to each other. That’s intracompany. But many of these companies have done acquisitions over the years and have multiple ERP systems that don’t talk to each other. And so I agree and Thomas will get into more detail, but we’ve got all of these legacy systems inside the company that we bought over the years with acquisitions and we’ve got to coordinate those in a really smart way to make better decisions. And that goes back to the process and that’s what Thomas is just an expert in.

Marty Parker (38:01):

I’m with you. And he mentioned Perfect Planner. We’re going to touch on Perfect Planner in a minute, folks. And before I ask Thomas my next question, I want to make sure folks, Trisha’s dropped a link to this article focused on supply chain decision intelligence as well as the last one where we were talking about yard logistics and a much better approach. But picking up where Marty left off there, Thomas, as I mentioned when I introduced you on the front end, you’ve spent years doing big things at companies like Whirlpool and Honeywell and Molly, which was new to me earlier today. Don’t judge folks, but what’s the biggest planning challenge that manufacturers still haven’t solved, Thomas?

Scott Luton (38:41):

I think the biggest planning challenge, Scott, is that manufacturers still haven’t solved the decision support problem. It’s all about DI. Years ago, I remember a Honeywell executive saying that we need both tactical analysts and strategic analysts. And I remember thinking, why?That’s a little backwards in my opinion, not to knock him, but the nature of the work was there, which is why he was feeling that way. But if the body of work is that overwhelming to understand all these signals, trying to decipher what I need to work on, then the answer shouldn’t be splitting the role and creating more labor. It should be, let’s remove the waste from the role. And all this administrative and analytical work is just waste, especially with the technology that we have today. So most analysts spend 75% of their time of their day on administrative analytical work. Just let that sink in.

(39:33):

What are we doing? And it’s not executing. It’s not really adding any type of value because of that. And so if we were able to strip out that waste and give them better decision intelligence, direct them in what they need to do and the actions they need to take instead of having them hunt around for it, then they can handle both the tactical and strategic aspects of the job. And if I was a betting man, I think the result would be that a lot of these downstream problems would be resolved.

Marty Parker (39:59):

Thomas, I agree with you once more. Two big things you said there. I agree with Marty. I’d love to get your take here. Number one, a lot of the tedious aspects of the work that humans are still performing and the planning function and elsewhere so much of that can be offloaded to free up their time to focus on more fulfilling work that takes advantage of unique human skillsets. And then number two, you shared something number two, and I agree with you. I’ll think of that in a minute. Marty, I need to take more Ginkgo globa these Monday mornings. Marty, what’d you hear there from Thomas and what do you think that we’re still not solving effectively when it comes to planning, especially manufacturing?

Thomas Beil (40:37):

So I think Thomas really hit the nail on the head with decisions. Not making a decision is a decision.

Marty Parker (40:44):

That’s right.

Thomas Beil (40:44):

And so many companies just keep discussing the same things again and again. I remember being in meetings for an hour and I would do the math and say, “We just avoided saving $19,000 with the last hour. We just wasted not making a decision.” And I think that’s one thing that tools like Perfect Planner are doing is putting it in a decision framework so that we can go ahead and make that move. One of the most powerful tools, by the way, you didn’t mention this, Thomas is teaching people how to be master black belts. So he has got to be the smartest process guy that I know. And so if I simplify those processes, I make those decisions clear. I use Pareto to execute the 20% of things that result in 80% actions, then it don’t stay stuck making a decision by not making a decision.

(41:46):

I can’t tell you how many companies I’ve been in that are just paralyzed by that because there’s too much data, there’s not enough wisdom, there’s too much information, it’s not well organized. And planners do this every day and it’s in their head and the only call that a planner gets is when something’s screwed up. Nobody calls a planner and says, “Wow, thank you 98% of your job doing it right.” It’s the 2% that the planner gets called, “Oh, you ran out of this thing.” And usually

Marty Parker (42:18):

It’s

Thomas Beil (42:19):

Because of this lack of process view, as Thomas mentioned.

Marty Parker (42:22):

Yeah, we got to fix that. We got to fix that. And to both of y’all’s points, I was just on a YouTube channel, a new one for me earlier today and it was a former CPA that left the organization because all they had him doing was these tedious tasks that modern day AI can do. It was not fulfilling. Now he’s driving a truck and he’s loving it, right? There’s other buckets of people, but there’s two buckets of people, right? There’s folks that will get tired and will leave the organization because of all the tedious work, but then there’s also an equally dangerous bucket where folks want a cling to that because they fear change, they want to keep doing that. And unfortunately, as industry continues to evolve, that leads to not so nice list of options, right? We got to be willing to change including the things we like and the things we got to learn to like.

(43:10):

But Thomas, I’m going to ask you, we’ve talked about Perfect Planner a couple times. Tell us what Perfect Planner does in a nutshell.

Scott Luton (43:16):

So the 32nd elevator pitch, right?

Marty Parker (43:19):

All right.

Scott Luton (43:20):

Perfect Planner is really just a decision intelligence platform for MRP, make the stock repetitive manufacturer. So the ones that are using that have a lot of purchase parts and they’re using bill of materials and it was really specifically designed for the planner buyers, what a lot of manufacturers will call a material planner. And so when we started the company a few years ago, we wanted to create a product that was achieving a simple goal. We wanted to create a standardized, proactive and scalable planning process for the entire manufacturing sector. And so now what we do is our platform is access kind of the decision layer above the ERP and MRP system. So we’re going to take those data and we actually turn it into prioritize comprehensive to- do list for those planners. And so instead of them having to navigate thousands of exception messages, reports, spreadsheets, system screens, now what we can do is we can prioritize their day.

(44:17):

We can look for shortages, inventory risks, other planning issues, six month horizon. And again, they walk in and get straight to execution and that really allows them to have about four times the amount of time each day to be adding strategic value and eliminating tactical issues before they become emergencies.

Marty Parker (44:36):

Thomas, very nice. And folks, if you want to learn more about PerfectPlanner, Trisha’s going to drop the link here about perfectplanner.io. And Marty, I know you want to comment and really quick. Hey, Glen from Washington DC. Great to see you. Give us your take on anything we’re talking about here today. And as promised also, Trisha dropped link to perfectplanner.io. Marty, you know, perfect planner. I think you’ve seen it in action a litle bit. Your thoughts on what and Thomas shared.

Thomas Beil (45:04):

So it’s bringing a bit of PTSD early in my career as a process engineer working in a factory and I became the backup planner and I remember it was just treading water. I mean, you just literally had 87 balls in the air as a juggler and if you made any kind of mistake, the whole thing just came cascading down and there was one person that I could ask, “Hey, should I do this? Should I run this report? Should I do this spreadsheet?” Whatever it is. And I think what Thomas and team are doing is moving it to a more proactive approach that could actually drive business success and add value, which we talked about before. Let’s add value. Let’s not just juggle 8,000 balls in the air.

Marty Parker (45:53):

I’m with you. I’m with you. Well, speaking of what we’ve been juggling with for decades, we’ve touched on this spreadsheet. So Thomas, industry we’ve invested in billions, if not trillions of dollars in all sorts of platforms, ERP, MRP systems and the like. Why are we all, especially planners to some extent, living in spreadsheets?That’s

Scott Luton (46:14):

A great question, Scott. I think the truth is that the spreadsheets are filling a gap. I don’t think they’re the disease, although a lot of companies will be like, “We want to get away from the spreadsheets.” I think they’re a system or a symptom of the system. And so what we have is we have ERP systems that are just systems of record. I don’t think they were ever really designed to fully solve the planner’s day-to-day decision making. And so what they’re good at is storing transactions, keeping parameters, they’ll have outputs. But if we need planners to quickly understand what matters most right now and why it matters and then take actions to address those things, these systems were not designed for that. So what you have with the planners and why we pay a lot of money for these planners is that we need that process logic to either be already in their heads or to be developed over time because they’re using the spreadsheet as layers to help prioritize that work or combine data from multiple sources as Marty was talking about, all these different systems or applied business rules or logic.

(47:21):

And so that’s what they use the spreadsheets for.

Marty Parker (47:24):

We can have a whole spreadsheet series to really get the stories of the good to bad and ugly while they’re still around out there. We’ll have to think about that. That may be a real popular series. It may not be. I don’t know. But Marty, I want to get one more question out. I want to get both of y’all to peer deep into your crystal ball and predict the future. And I’m going to start with Thomas here. So Thomas, if we think five years from now, so what’s that, 2031, what will the planning organization of 2031 look like, Thomas?

Scott Luton (47:57):

I think in the next five years, what you’re going to have is that the leading organizations are going to have a lot of this administrative and analytical work automated or systematized. And so then if it’s planning, I think that that role is going to shift from being a data wrangler into being a decision maker and then also using those insights to drive strategic value. I think that’s what we’re going to see by 2031.

Marty Parker (48:21):

Well, I wonder if data wranglers will wear red bandanas like The Cowboys and what’s that great Western movie? All right. So Marty, same question, same question. What will planning organizations look like five years from now?

Thomas Beil (48:36):

One word, integrated and that’s where the spreadsheets are. I was in a company once that had 40 pieces of software to run the company and everywhere there was an interface, there was some sort of custom code and/or spreadsheets. And so now if I have this AI interface that’s able to sort of look at all of those processes at the same time, which is part of what Perfect Planner is doing from both the reporting and proces perspective, then I’m integrated. And that’s the holy grail because we know this CRMs have nothing to do with the ERP. We pretend they do, but they don’t. And so we’ve got all this forecast data, we’ve got all this customer data that isn’t talking to our planners, it isn’t connected to our inventory management. And that’s what I see in five years. And I’m excited to see that too, by the way.

Marty Parker (49:27):

I like it. I am too. We live in exciting times. We really do. Challenging times, but exciting times. Hey, Dr. Valerie Fuller, great to see you. Says Perfect Planner sounds amazing. I’m with you, Valerie. Great to have you here today and McClean Babcock. Still amazed I get to learn from these two gentlemen on the world of supply chain. Keep it up, McClean from UGA. I think someone just got some extra credit, McLean Babcock. I love it. Great to have you here. We could talk about supply chain planning and innovation and technology. We’ll have to have you back, Thomas, and talk more about the Perfect Planner journey. But folks, you can learn more perfectplanner.io. But I want to ask, both of you all are doing really noble missions because you’re in classrooms and elsewhere helping turn on the light bulbs in our bright, bright now generation.

(50:14):

Folks either in the industry or they are about to get an industry or maybe they’ve been there for a couple years or getting four year degrees or advanced degrees and you’re really just like McLean here, you’re helping them really piece everything together and figure out what they want to do and then some. Thomas, how do you see the professional education space evolving over that same five, 10, 15 year timeframe?

Scott Luton (50:37):

Marty and I and Troy and our group over there at UGA, we’re a really close knit group and Derek, we talk about this quite frequently and what can we do? And I think the future of education is going to move from knowledge transfer to capability transfer. I talk about capability a lot. For a long time, a lot of education was built around transferring knowledge. We’re going to give you the theory and we want you to have that knowledge and you should be able to use that when you get into your career. And I think that that still matters absolutely is critical, but I think a bigger need moving forward is helping people apply those concepts, all that theory that they learn in messy real world environments. I hats off to Marty and everything he’s done with the supply chain advisory board to make that happen.

(51:22):

Get our students into internships. We really work hard to do that so they can get that experience, but also bring it into the classroom so they can use real data. In our supply chain analytics class, we’re using real data from real companies solving real problems. And so if you think about supply chain, those questions that we’re going to ask aren’t going to be clean. So that’s what we need to prepare the students for.

Thomas Beil (51:44):

Yeah. I’d add it’s all about application. I used on my recent epic trip, I used Claude to run the dishwasher, Claude to operate the oven, Claude to turn on the microwave because think of the language barriers. Claude decided where we were going to go, what our activities were going to be. It optimized how we were going to walk around the city. Think about that for a minute. I didn’t have Claude on my last trip and this trip was so much better, so much more efficient. It allowed me to take two hour naps in the middle of the day, which I couldn’t do. So it’s all about application. Just like Thomas said, if we can teach our students how to practically use these AI tools in their jobs when they go in to make things better, then we will have done our job. And I would throw robotics in there too, but that’s a whole nother podcast.

Marty Parker (52:38):

Yes, it is. Marty and Thomas, we got so much more to talk about. I hate that our time here on the buzz powered by APL Logistics is almost at a close, but you know what? I know both of y’all got big afternoons, including maybe a two hour nap. If you’re lucky, Marty, we’ll see. All right, so let’s do this. Folks, we love sharing resources beyond the great resources that Thomas and Marty are, and we’re going to make sure y’all know how to connect with them in just a minute. But the resource hub over at relatively still new supplychainnow.com. We’ve got a variety of blog articles and white papers. I bet we load three or four new ones each week, including one of these newer ones here, which offers terrific perspective from my friend Richard Howell with SAP. He shares some intriguing key takeaways from SAP Sapphire 2026.

(53:24):

And by the way, make sure you catch Richard’s podcast, the future of supply chain. He’s doing good work. Let’s make sure we can connect folks with Thomas Beal and Marty Parker. So Thomas, how can folks track you and the Perfect Planner team down?

Scott Luton (53:38):

Well, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can also go to our website at perfectplanner.io. If you want to know more information about PerfectPlanner, you can email us at info@perfectplanner.io and we would love to connect and I would love for you to even get involved with all the great things we’re doing there at UGA.

Marty Parker (53:57):

All right. Folks, Trisha’s on it dropping Thomas’s LinkedIn, dropping again, perfectplanner.io. And Marty, same question. If it’s not at a comedy stage near you, how can folks track down Marty Parker?

Thomas Beil (54:11):

Same thing, easiest on LinkedIn, but you can also Google Marty Parker, UGA, and that brings up all kinds of stuff I want you to see, probably some things I don’t want you to see, but yeah, we won’t be saying Google in five years, but right now you can Google me, see me on

Marty Parker (54:28):

LinkedIn. That’s true. So true. And folks, if you heckle Marty Parker, you will have a price to pay. I’m going to put that out there. All right. I want to thank our esteemed panel here today. I really enjoyed Thomas Beal, founder and CEO of Perfect Planner. He also serves over at the University of Georgia. Thomas, thank you so much for being here.

Scott Luton (54:45):

Thank you for having me, Scott.

Marty Parker (54:46):

You bet. You bet. Stay out of that Chattanooga traffic, okay, my friend.

Scott Luton (54:49):

I’m going to try.

Marty Parker (54:51):

I’m going

Scott Luton (54:51):

To be moving to Athens is what’s going

Marty Parker (54:52):

On. Okay. All right. We’ll connect and break bread soon. And of course, my terrific co-host and overall industry, comedic dynamo to Marty Parker. Marty, always a pleasure, my friend.

Thomas Beil (55:05):

Glad to be here. Thanks for having me, Scott.

Marty Parker (55:07):

You bet. And we also drop Marty’s LinkedIn profile, so go check that out, folks. Hey, big thanks to our friends at APL Logistics. Be sure to connect with them, APLlogistics.com. Big thanks to Amanda and Tricia behind the scenes, making production happen each and every time. And most importantly and most importantly, big thanks to our global audience for tuning in though we couldn’t hit everybody’s comment and question. Y’all keep the feedback coming. Okay, folks, hope you enjoyed the show today. You know the homework, take one thing and Thomas and Marty gave you lots of options. Optionality is a great thing. Take one thing they said here today, do something with it, put it into practice, deeds not words. That’s how we’re going to keep transforming global industry and leave no one behind. And with that said, on behalf of the entire Supply Chain Now team, Scott Lutin challenged you to do good, get forward.

(55:51):

Be the change that’s needed and we’ll see you next time right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

Scott Luton (55:58):

Join the Supply Chain Now community for more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation. Check out supplychainnow.com. Subscribe to Supply Chain now on YouTube and follow and listen to Supply Chain Now wherever you get your podcasts.