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, Allison Giddens with you here on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream. Allison, how you doing today?

Allison Giddens (00:26):

I’m good. Happy Monday.

Scott Luton (00:27):

Happy Monday, happy Thanksgiving week. Happy almost into of November, and it’s hard to believe we’ve got a month and like a week left of 2024, huh?

Allison Giddens (00:37):

That’s wild. I’m still thinking 2024 is the year, so I’m very confused.

Scott Luton (00:42):

That might pose a problem or two in business, but we’ll talk about that after the show. On today’s show, folks, it’s the buzz where every Monday at 12 in Eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and business news that matters is what we like to call it. And the buzz is powered by our friends at OMPA software consulting company delivering advanced supply chain planning solutions, specifically tailored to individual industries worldwide. You can learn more@omp.com. It’s just that easy big show here. Teed up, Alison. Or, let’s see here. We’re going to be discussing the ripple effect related to declining imports from China. We’re going to be talking about how retail supply chains may, may, let me emphasize that May getting disappointed by ai. We’re going to take a look at top supply chain trends for 2026 as deemed by one great organization out there, as well as how Thanksgiving meal price points are looking this year. All that, and much, much more. Allison should be a great addition of the buzz, huh?

Allison Giddens (01:47):

I’m excited.

Scott Luton (01:48):

You are excited and you contain it. Well,

Allison Giddens (01:51):

Yes, Ryan,

Scott Luton (01:52):

Tricia,

Allison Giddens (01:53):

I’m only on the third cup of coffee, so give me halfway through the buzz and we’ll be there.

Scott Luton (01:58):

Oh man, I’m well ahead of you. I think I’m on number 12 or 13 by this point.

Allison Giddens (02:02):

Oh, that’s impressive.

Scott Luton (02:03):

Let’s see. Trisha says, happy buzz day. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. That’s right. We love connecting the dots, just like Tu watching us via LinkedIn from India. Welcome, welcome. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on today’s topic. Also, Tricia, drop the link to omp, check ’em out@omp.com. Alright, so folks, stay tuned for a great show. Two things before we get started here today. Number one, give us your take into comments, whether you’re tuned in via LinkedIn, YouTube X, Facebook, Twitch, no matter what. Let us know what you think. And secondly, if you enjoy the show today, we’d love for you to share it with a friend and or your network. They’ll be glad you did. And Leah Kim is back with us. Leah, hope you’re doing well. Tuned in again from Seattle, beautiful Seattle, Washington via LinkedIn. Leah, looking forward to your take on some of the topics we talk about here today.

(02:50):

Alright, Alison, we’ve got three things to knock out before we get into the news of the day. I want to start with our latest edition of With That Said, which published over the weekend, as you all know, this, our almost weekly newsletter. And we lit off with a bit of a recap of our participation in the seventh annual Wise Future Leader Symposium. Now this was hosted by Wise founder Dr. Stephanie Thomas at Dynamo at the University of Arkansas, one of the top rated supply chain management programs in the world. Now Alison, we shared some great nuggets from some of the sit downs that we sit downs and stand up that we enjoyed, such as Michelle Livingston, who served as a senior supply chain executive at the Home Depot. Now, Michelle shared with me, Alison, that moving product isn’t enough because supply chain leaders have a unique opportunity and capability to use our wherewithal to address issues of our time such as human trafficking.

(03:42):

Jessica Gambier, who was on the supply chain team over at Toyota Logistics Services. Yes, that Toyota, the famous global behemoth. Now Jessica urged folks to keep being curious is all that learning and stretching of your experiences. We’ll make sure AI becomes your assistant, not your replacement. Love that. And then one final one, Dr. Rod Thomas, moving mountains over there. He’s co-editor in chief designate at the Journal of Business Logistics and also a former supply chain practitioner at Lowe’s, IBM and Michelin. Rod said that growth requires, I love this sweaty palm moments and he urged students and all professionals to dream bigger, take risks, and get deep into your uncomfort zone if you want to enjoy a truly meaningful and rewarding career. So with that said, covered all of that and more resources, live events. Give it a read and listen to what you think. Alison, did you get a chance to check out with that set of the weekend?

Allison Giddens (04:41):

I did. I always do that. It’s like a Sunday afternoon kind of happening that’s sitting on the couch, scrolling, going, oh yeah, but that set is open. It has been posted officially. No, I really liked, well, first off, are you ever at home? It seems like you have traveled a lot.

Scott Luton (04:55):

It’s been a busy fourth quarter for us, Alice for

Allison Giddens (04:58):

Sure. Man, all over the place. I mean a blink and you’re, oh, you’re in Africa. No, now you’re in Arkansas. It’s like, did he get on the wrong plane? So no, I really liked what Jessica said with Toyota. There was a part in the newsletter that you called out that she really is encouraging the next generation to be selective

(05:18):

On where they go to work. I work a little bit with some high schoolers at a local Chamber of commerce program, and that’s kind of one of the things that we tell them as well is you’ve got this, what they call peak 18. So the 2025 graduating class, that was just a few months ago. That’s the largest high school graduating class in the country. Now from now on, those numbers decrease. And it’s because of population. It’s not because kids aren’t graduating, although, I don’t know, maybe they’re not, I don’t know. But it’s not so much that it’s the population. So if you think about the fact that now students should be more selective as they enter the workforce and you think about the numbers and the demand that workforce going to have is I really think this next generation, they’re in the catbird seat, so they really shouldn’t settle.

Scott Luton (06:03):

That’s excellent point number one, I appreciate you’ve always done a lot of work in the talent space and engaging student space, which is so important. And I know you’ve got some, we’re going to have to do a whole show on some of the changes we need to make curriculum wise and guidance wise. But it’s really interesting your point about the population declines. And so if you think we’ve got a big talent acquisition or talent war right now, it sounds like it’s just getting heated up. Wow.

Allison Giddens (06:31):

Oh yeah.

Scott Luton (06:32):

Well folks check out. With that said, hopefully it gives you great eureka moments like Alison just shared, but check it out. It publishes almost every week. We’ll probably skip over Thanksgiving weekend as y’all might imagine. But check us out and let us know what you think. And then secondly, back to Wise, wise is an incredible organization. We just talked a second ago about engaging talent and engaging the now generations. We like to call it here. Well folks, especially if you’re in academia, if you’re in a collegiate supply chain management program or university, whatever the right word is, if you don’t know wise yet, make sure it’s on your radar. Here’s all the schools, universities are already part of wise as it stands. Now, Alison, I draw your attention to my home city of South Carolina.

Allison Giddens (07:15):

Oh no,

Scott Luton (07:18):

Why don’t you we’ll get address. That’s right. But folks, the Wise Future Leaders Symposium was incredible. It was a seventh annual event and I look forward to being back next year. So check out wise and we’ll probably drop a link. There’s definitely a link in with that set. Okay. And unlike Alison, what that set is on your very competitive Sunday schedule.

Allison Giddens (07:39):

Oh yeah, man, praise. Especially when my football teams are stinking. And what else are you going to do,

Scott Luton (07:45):

Man, with that set is better than Atlanta Falcons this year. Heck yeah.

Allison Giddens (07:48):

Heck yeah.

Scott Luton (07:49):

Alright, shifting gears. Shifting gears, Alison, is it just me or do we waste a ton of time in meetings? There’s a little graphic that popped up over social, this throwback to my 1980s GI Joes. I wish I had those still up from the internet, but hey, couldn’t this just have been an email? And if you’re listening to us, it’s basically a view into the supply chain war room, and they’re having, it looks like a standup whiteboard meeting. And one person is just wondering, couldn’t this just been an email exchange? But kidding aside, get this, Alison, according to some estimates, and there’s a bunch of them that analyze meetings across the globe. You’re in the us, you name it. In the US alone, according to one estimate, 35 million meetings take place every day. And unproductive meetings may be costing the US economy over 250 billion a year. How about that?

Allison Giddens (08:42):

That’s

Scott Luton (08:42):

Disgust quick reaction, Alison,

Allison Giddens (08:44):

That’s disgusting. That’s gross. And back to our workforce conversation, I wonder if the problem is going to fix itself.

Scott Luton (08:50):

Oh, no doubt.

Allison Giddens (08:51):

Because you’re not going to have time for, and it’s not as though we have these meetings to go out of our way to quote waste time. I don’t think that’s the intent, but I think that old habits die hard and we all just kind of figure, oh, we all need to get in a room and talk about it. And we were talking right before the show that I’ve gotten better with asking for agendas before the meeting.

Scott Luton (09:11):

Yes.

Allison Giddens (09:11):

And I think that helps because if you do get an agenda and it looks like, oh, I have these answers. Why do we even need to meet here, let me shoot you the document or let me send you what I have so far. Then you’ve just saved 45 minutes, 60 minutes times, whoever was in that meeting.

Scott Luton (09:26):

That’s right. It’s so true. And I’m looking forward to it changing as I self-identified on the LinkedIn post. I was a former meeting addict, right? Everything needed a meeting. You want a meeting, you want a meeting and let’s have a meeting. But it’s interesting, especially my extremely talented colleagues have helped shape my view where a lot of things can be email, slack and phone calls and texting. It can’t solve everything, but I’ve learned last few years especially, they can save you a ton of your very finite time because everything doesn’t need a meeting.

Allison Giddens (09:59):

But see, that’s got to be tough for you because you’re a very collaborative person. And so it’s tough because, and I’m the opposite. I’m a very, not that I’m not collaborative, but I am more of like, yeah, I’m just going to get it done myself. I’m just going to get it done myself. Where I think that’s probably a big portion of why you tended to want to schedule meetings is you want consensus.

Scott Luton (10:19):

Thank you very much. Number one. Number two, on that consensus note, a great friend, a very talented friend, told me years and years ago I went to him. I was kind of frustrated with how this cross-functional meeting went and he’s like, Scott, hey man, it’s great that you like the democratic process and everybody gets a vote, but sometimes you got to be, as he said it, genus kahan. You got to just tell him what’s going to happen and do it. And that was such a great moment earlier in my career because yeah, I do like everyone to have a voice and a say, but sometimes we got to prescribe the path ahead and make it happen. So anyway, folks, we welcome your comments. Trisha’s dropping links to all this stuff. Thank you, Trisha and Amanda behind the scenes. Welcome your comments on meetings. Too many not enough.

(11:03):

You name it. And none of this is to say that you shouldn’t go out there and visit your suppliers and tour their plants, all that stuff. We’re not suggesting that at all, but check it out and let us know what you think. Okay, Alison, one more thing. We got lots of news to get through here today. I want to do a little OMP or lightning round here on the buzz powered by OMP. There we go. I think I said it right. Thanksgiving addition to the lightning round. So we’re going to get to the bottom of some of your culinary shopping and overall Turkey day habits. Okay, you ready? You buckled in. Ready? Let’s

Allison Giddens (11:35):

Do it. I’m ready. Seatbelts on

Scott Luton (11:37):

Five questions. First one is cranberry sauce as a part of Turkey dinner. Thumbs up, thumbs down.

Allison Giddens (11:42):

Yes, but not canned.

Scott Luton (11:44):

Okay. All right. I’m double thumbs down on cranberry,

Allison Giddens (11:47):

Really.

Scott Luton (11:49):

Stuffing or dressing? What’s the proper word?

Allison Giddens (11:52):

See, I grew up with stuffing, but then when I married a man from middle Georgia, I learned it was dressing. I kind of like ’em both. I don’t like watery, watery, but I don’t like super dry. Okay, so I’m with whoever’s making it. If it’s good, I’ll eat it. Whatever,

Scott Luton (12:07):

As long as you have it, folks stuffing or dress and call it

Allison Giddens (12:10):

With. Oh yeah, you have to have it. Yeah.

Scott Luton (12:12):

Thirdly, is your Christmas tree already up or do you wait until after Thanksgiving?

Allison Giddens (12:16):

If I even put a Christmas tree up? It’s a lot of work after Thanksgiving for sure. I don’t begrudge anyone that does it beforehand. I kind of am jealous of those that want the holiday spirit a sixth of the year.

Scott Luton (12:27):

Okay, and then let’s see here. After consuming the family meal on Black Friday, football games are fighting the masses for the best deals out there.

Allison Giddens (12:36):

Oh, football games and then online shopping. I used to be a super early go stand in line person.

Scott Luton (12:44):

Okay, alright.

Allison Giddens (12:45):

And then I got old.

Scott Luton (12:49):

I get old is no fun. I’m with you there. Alright, fifth one. This might be the toughest question. If Thanksgiving dinner were a supply chain, which dish is always the bottleneck?

Allison Giddens (13:00):

The Turkey, that’s the one you work. Everything else around that is your, in the theory of constraints, if you’re going to pick the thing that takes the longest or the slowest, it’s your Turkey. So it’s always the conversation is, well, if we put the potatoes on now and then we were able to mash ’em, then we can pull out while the turkey’s resting. So yeah, Turkey,

Scott Luton (13:21):

I’m with you. I think that’s a good one. That is a good one. Thank you for playing the lightning round. There are no right answers. However, we do welcome everybody’s take on those topics and all these news topics we’re about to take in. Now, T squared says, now this is nourishment. You’re right. Hey, Thanksgiving’s a great holiday, and by the way, he adds cranberries sauce, whole cranberries. Okay.

Allison Giddens (13:44):

Okay. I’m with you.

Scott Luton (13:45):

Their own and going back to the meetings conversation, Kenon says, and Kenya, great to see you. Good to see you in Ohio for an event a few months back, Kenya says, at my previous internship at SpaceX, it was commonplace that if you don’t have any value to add to the meeting, don’t be in it. I love that. That’s a great rule of thumb, I think.

Allison Giddens (14:06):

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Luton (14:08):

Okay, Alison, we got a lot to work. Enough fun. Enough fun. We got a lot more to get

Allison Giddens (14:12):

Into. Yeah. Stop having fun. Enough of that

Scott Luton (14:14):

News stories from around the globe that hopefully is on your radar here on the buzz powered by our friends at OMP. Let’s start with the first one, and this is where CNBC recently reported on the state of freight. Now I’m going to unpack this article and then I look forward to getting your take here. Alison, the US Census Bureau data shows a big decline in imports in the month of August, just after more and more tariffs went into effect. Imagine that August, 2025 imports were $18.4 billion less than July. Mario Cero, the CEO of the Port of Long Beach said, you’re looking at the 16% decrease in Chinese imports coming to the United States. The decrease is across the board. Now, main categories, the big drivers, even though it’s across the board, some main drivers here import, decreased drivers, I’ll call them electronics, furniture and toys and toys.

(15:08):

Buy humbug. What’s up with that? Of course, many importers and retailers frontloaded their inventory earlier this year as they were looking to avoid the additional costs from tariffs and all those headaches. Now, Ken Atmo, who joined us here before he serves as DAT Chief of Analytics, said freight volumes in the third quarter and October reflect what we’re seeing in the broader goods economy with shippers drawing on inventory buildup earlier in the year to reduce their exposure to tariffs and weak consumer demand. As a result, the traditional peak holiday shipping season looks virtually non-existent this year. How about that? And the data from DAT reflects just that US freight volumes are taking a big hit. Van truckloads in October, were down 3% from the month earlier, 11% down from this time last year, year over year. But refrigerated truckloads were down 2% month over month and 7% year over year.

(16:00):

And flatbed truckloads were also down 4% month over month and 3% year over year. One more quote for you, Alison Kyle Henderson, CEO of Vizient. I think I said that right, is calling it a structural goods recession as he doesn’t see this as a seasonal dip or temporary correction. He says, when furniture imports collapse 33% and toy imports, which has historically surged 40 to 50% ahead of the holidays when those things barely rise, 17%. That tells you retailers are betting on the weakest consumer season in years end quote Alison, there’s a ton there. What are your initial thoughts?

Allison Giddens (16:38):

My initial thoughts? It’s crazy that you have all these different independent variables that we see over the last couple of years. It’s really hard to sit there and put your finger and say it’s because of this or it’s because of that. I see that earlier in the year, I think a lot of consumers and a lot of businesses were sitting on what little cash they had because there was this anticipation that things were economy was questionable. Nobody really knew what was going on with the tariffs. So you have a lot of people sitting on cash, but again, it wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of cash when they were sitting on it, at least from where I was talking to other business owners and other consumers. But what I also noticed is my husband and I went to Microcenter this weekend. Microcenter is a, I don’t know if that’s a chain, maybe it’s a chain that’s

(17:21):

Electronic goods and things like that, right? Well, I was fascinated to see that there were certain products that there was very low supply on. And I asked Matt, who’s pretty in tune with the IT and technology market, and he pointed out that there were certain versions of things that they were coming out newer versions of, so that the manufacturer did not produce a lot of the previous version anymore because they were anticipating there being a demand and a decent amount of supply on something else. But conversely, they were so expensive, he said the prices had gone up that he was noticing almost 40% on things. So you have all these different variables and it’s fascinating to hear that someone who really knows what they’re talking about says this is not just a blip on the radar screen. It’s going to be fascinating When tariffs were kind of first starting out when I was talking to other people, they weren’t necessarily holding off on purchases. They were purchasing from other sources, and so they were kind of figuring out their work around, I wonder what percentage of those situations have now become the new pattern or the new habit. So if you used to buy from something that would be imported from China, and then a few months ago you decided, oh, I found this and it’s an import from Malaysia, are you now? Now that’s your go-to. So

(18:38):

You didn’t just lose the Chinese import was not just lost that once, but now it’s lost for good.

Scott Luton (18:45):

Great comments there Alison. There’s two things as I was listening to your take there. There’s two things. Number one, I’m thankful that the US government is publishing data. Again, because during the shutdown all that reporting, like from the Census Bureau, all that was shut down because I was looking for source data. In some of the shows we do, it was all dated. That’s the first time it dawned on me that, right? So number one. Number two, I’m looking for a lot of year end metrics and numbers and all, but one I am keenly interested in, and I bet a lot of folks are, is consumer spending final totals through the end of the year, right? That’ll be a very telling, very telling number. So we shall see Alison, Hey Gino, pleasure back with us. Good morning to you. He hails from north Alabama doing big things in industry, especially helping train up organizations and he’s a rock and roll drummer, by the way.

(19:32):

Great to see you, Gino and Tricia. Drop a link to that great article from CNBC. Check it out and give us, take your analysis of what has transpired or your fearless prognostications of what we may be approaching in the months ahead. Okay, let’s see here. From tariffs to retail, let’s pull this up here. So Mark Burstein, a contributor to Forbes Technology Council, says that retail supply chains need AI more than ever before. But he suggests AI is not cutting the mustard, by the way, that’s an old, old phrase, not analogy. Cutting the mustard means whether they’re meeting expectations or not, by the way. So anyway, did you know a recent MIT report found that 95% of organizations are seeing little to no return from their investments in gen ai. Now, MIT researchers point to several challenges, brittle workflows, lack of contextual learning or misalignment with day-to-day operations.

(20:32):

And when you throw those challenges as article suggests at global retail supply chains, which are highly complex and are connected, fast moving and time sensitive, well no wonder there are some frustrations with AI and its results. Plus retail supply chains have been amongst the hardest by tariffs that we’re just talking about. So there is an added considerable profit margin risk at play. Further complicating matters, it’s a leadership problem. Gartner research shows that only 10% of CEOs say their organizations use AI strategically implying there’s no clear AI strategy. So what do you do? Gartner says you define a clear AI vision, you identify barriers to success, you implement strong AI governance and you prioritize high impact initiatives that would deliver and position to deliver measurable RO. I would add this Alison, couple points. It’s critical to make sure we’re using the right tools. AI isn’t a perfect fit for every challenge. Just like a hammer won’t solve all of your construction problems. I know I’ve tried. And two, learn from your failures like never before. Oh, here’s a bonus one. As we’ve all seen, there are some retailers out there that are doing wonders. Wonders with ai, Walmart for example. They’ve deployed AI driven systems globally that are making big strides and predicting demand, managing inventory, and even automatically rerouting or rebalancing stock when irregularities take place. So Alison, your thoughts on AI in retail supply chains or in general?

Allison Giddens (21:56):

When I read this as well, I was kind of with you. I was like, wait, wait, what are the expectations exactly? I mean it’s saying it’s not meeting expectations. It’s like, well if you expected to download an application and it do the work of 10 people, what are we doing here? Everybody? I think there’s also a disconnect as to what problem are we trying to solve.

Scott Luton (22:15):

Yes,

Allison Giddens (22:16):

We are constantly, okay, we’re we’re an integrated AI and it’s going to see things that we don’t even know exist. Well, garbage and garbage out. First off, if we sit here and program something to find or to solve a certain problem, if we already have the data for that, then why haven’t we solved the problem? If that makes sense.

(22:36):

I watch in the marketplaces, there are certain implementations that are fascinating and they do work and they are better for the consumer. I was just ordering something online yesterday and I have one of those virtual credit cards, right, where you’re not actually entering your credit card number, you’re actually, so I have it saved on a browser so that it’s a different card number every time. And so I went to go enter that. Well, the application of the page that I was shopping on, it didn’t autofill the three digit number, the three digit code, and I didn’t notice. And so I went ahead and hit send or I hit buy and it popped up an error. Please call your credit card company. I’m like, what in the world? I no joke, got an immediate text from the credit card company saying your card was denied. Make sure that you’ve entered the three digit code. I was like, what? Went back to the site? Sure enough, the three digit code hadn’t been entered type that it went through. So there’s certain, I think pieces of the AI that have been done fantastically and they’ve really anticipated the user experience. But then there’s others that this article addresses it, them not having a clear strategy. What are we trying to do? The governance piece I also believe is very important in a small business. It’s really tough. First off, you can’t still automatically implement AI overnight,

(23:52):

But you’re also faced with, well, what do we do? Is it an ai? Is it a generative ai? Is it an AI with an application? Or to us in a small business, is it as something as simple as LLMs, like your Chachi PTs and having it help you do business operations a little bit better? Or how copy pasting a couple of sentences from an email that you need to clean up or that you want to make sure you’re being super clear on. All those things are still a piece of AI and they’re still helping us be more productive. But that overlap of governance and security, that’s still important. So I really think that the meeting expectations that we need to all reevaluate what are our expectations.

Scott Luton (24:33):

That’s right. Excellent points. Alison and folks give it a read. We’re dropping a link to this article, where do you land on this notion that AI is letting down retail supply chains everywhere?

Allison Giddens (24:45):

And just in case AI is listening and the robots are listening, I find value in everything you do. So when you take over the world, please remember that I’ve always said please and thank you.

Scott Luton (24:55):

I’ll just point out going back to your example of the credit card issue. I think retailers, companies, everywhere are trying to limit the inbound calls from customers and the problems they’re trying to resolve ’em without those hours and hours of call banks. But it’s not like we’re dying to have those meetings going back to earlier topic with credit card customer service reps. So I love the fact that simple, instantaneous text solved your challenge right away and you’re able to process transaction without any dialing 800 number and going through seven different departments to find the right person. Good stuff. And Gino says a great point. We’ve got to figure out how to bring value, what we’re trying to do with AI as Gino suggests, and after we’ve planned it and built a business case and communicated the wise, integrating it effectively, what’s the plan? You don’t just procure it and throw it over the fence like I’ve talked so much about.

(25:49):

So good stuff there. And Gino, you also suggest Sam’s Club. I’d love to know your thoughts of what Sam’s Club is doing with AI as well. Okay, speaking, this is the perfect segue. We like to bring resources, Allison, and we’re talking about AI and how to work with it and how to leverage it and you name it well, cool. New resource here from the team over at OMP who’s powering the buzz all month long. In November, you can check out their new ebook entitled Making AI Work for You from Explainable to Ag Agentic. This ebook explores how decision centric planning enables organizations to move well beyond explainable AI and towards truly ag agentic systems. It’s a practical guide for leaders ready to unlock the full potential of AI and planning, strategy and execution grounded in real world applications with the latest insights from our friends over at zero 100.

(26:41):

The guide shows how AI can drive measurable impact across the enterprise. You can learn more by clicking on the link that Tricia Johnny on the spot is dropping right there in the chat. Good stuff there. Alright, next up, I think you just hit about eight of these nine trends in your previous response. Allison, as always, you’re Johnny on the spot as well. Alright, the team at MHI here in our third news story has shared what they deemed the top supply chain trends for 2026. And here they are. They’re in no particular order, right? Number one, workforce and talent gap. That should be number one, maybe artificial intelligence and the demands for real-time data is number two, automation and emerging technologies. Number three, geopolitical trade and tariffs. Number four, uncertainty inflation and rising costs. Number five, we’re going to touch on that too. Number six, you were referencing earlier, cybersecurity risk and data securities.

(27:32):

Number seven, e-commerce and inventory pressures is number eight. Agility and resiliency is number, actually I’m getting ahead. Look, there’s nine of them, I’m not sure which. But agility and resiliency I think is number eight of nine. And then environmental sustainability is number nine. A couple observations on my end, I can’t wait to get yours. We need to have returns on that list. Returns continues to be an area of investment innovation and a rising tide that as Tony Schroder would say, never gets enough attention. We got to have it returns on that list. I think ai, AI I think has to be the super trend, if that’s a word that sits the top the rest because it’s impacting and driving innovation or challenges on all the other trends listed. In fact, I’ve heard some say that 2026 will be the year that AI moves from competitive advantage to competitive table stakes.

(28:25):

I like that. Two, the workforce and talent gap, which we’ve talked about for years. We’ve talked about just within this hour has been adding new twists. Allison spoke about a couple of the new twists, right, with the population changes on how that impacts the talent pool. But here’s another one. The members of the talent pool that are willing to learn how to work with AI versus those that don’t lean into that, right? And hey, we all know who they are. I might be pointing M myself three. Speaking of MHI. That’s right. We’ve got to make a quick plug because we’re going to be in Atlanta home base where modex is going to be joining us come April and we invite you to come join us the 13th through the 16th next year. And you know what? It’s free to attend. 35,000 people will be here in Atlanta. So in the biggest movers in shakers in global supply chain. So check that out. Allison. Going back to the trends zone nine trends. I tried to mess up the numbers, but nine trends, your thoughts there.

Allison Giddens (29:21):

I was most fascinated with the uncertainty. It was number five

(29:25):

And the uncertainty. It’s funny you have all this data, right? We’re being inundated with charts and numbers and statistics and being told, here’s the latest report of this and yet we’re still not sure of things. And I think it just shows how many independent variables really are at play here and how maybe more data isn’t necessarily helpful data. And that uncertainty picture, it always seems to me like those that are going to take certain risks, that’s where your biggest payoffs are. And I don’t know if that’s investing in workforce. I don’t know if that’s investing in ai. I think as long as you have a strategy, it’s a great idea, but that uncertainty is crazy. I think it also, uncertainty is not, maybe this is a good soundbite. Uncertainty is not scalable for a small business. Uncertainty is terrifying. Uncertainty for a large business, yes, it’s still scary, but you can hedge your bets on things. You have leverage in certain places where, yeah, we’re going to invest AI in this line of our business if it doesn’t go well, well we’re already kind of overcharging the consumer over here, so that’s going to help us pay for this. And I don’t, I say that with love for my big corporations.

Scott Luton (30:37):

That’s right

Allison Giddens (30:37):

Because I’m a stockholder with many of you. But I think that uncertainty is not scalable and that can be scary.

Scott Luton (30:46):

That is a great soundbite and I appreciate all of your perspective there. Folks, we’d love to hear from you whether here on the buzz as we’re live or as if you’re listening to the replay or if you see this discussion over on social weigh in, what do you love about this list of non supply chain trends for 2026? What do they leave off you think? Give us your take and make sure you join us in Atlanta for modex. I was going to add one more thing. You’re talking about risk a lot in your perspective there Alison. I was just meeting with some outstanding innovators in the cargo security space this morning and check out this factoid because this is a big risk growing risk since 2021. In the US some data suggests that cargo theft has increased 1500. That’s right, 1500% costing an estimated 15 to 35 billion annually. They gave themselves some wiggle room there. Lots of wiggle room, $20 billion worth of wiggle room. But no matter what data you look at, it is on the rise and has it been on the rise for several years. And as you plot out your risk mitigation strategies, cargo security has to be on your list.

Allison Giddens (31:54):

Oh wow. It’s funny that you say that. What we just started doing here at Win Tech,

(31:59):

I got tired of not knowing where certain product was in transit. And so there’s certain higher dollar products that when we send them back and forth for paint, when we know that we’re going to see the item again, we put a little tile tracker in the box. And so at any point in time, I know exactly where they are. We tell the vendor, Hey, if you see this, don’t throw it away. Just so that we know where this is so that when our large freight companies out there tell us we don’t know where your product is, we can say we do.

Scott Luton (32:28):

Oh, I like that Alison. I like that. And not to put you on the spot, is that a certain provider that you can share in case folks want to do the same?

Allison Giddens (32:36):

A tile tracker,

Scott Luton (32:37):

Just tile tracker,

Allison Giddens (32:38):

Just tile trackers. And you could probably do apple air tags.

Scott Luton (32:41):

Okay.

Allison Giddens (32:42):

So yeah, it’s just very inexpensive way of doing it. You pay for upgrades and things like that to have more visibility or to share access, but for our purposes it cost us 40 bucks.

Scott Luton (32:53):

When I was back, Allison in the construction manufacturing industry years and years ago, might as well be decades and decades ago. I wish I was smart enough. I wish we had a technology to do just that because I went round and around. We shipped construction products out to job sites across North America and I would duke it out with site managers. You didn’t send it? We sent it.

Allison Giddens (33:15):

Yes we did.

Scott Luton (33:16):

Oh my

Allison Giddens (33:16):

Gosh.

Scott Luton (33:16):

Alison, where were you 20 years ago, man?

Allison Giddens (33:19):

No kidding me too. Where was I? 20 years ago. We only just recently came up with this. We’ve had hundreds of thousands of dollars lost or stolen or destroyed for us to finally go, wait a minute.

Scott Luton (33:31):

Well folks, if this topic appeals to you, come join us December 5th as we talk about cargo. It’s not exactly cargo security that Alison’s talking about, but it’s very related to it. Come join us for a live webinar at 12 noon eastern time on December 5th. We might drop a link to that in the chat. Speaking of links, Alison, let’s see here. Tricia has been busy. Tricia dropped at link to the OP resource. Alright, making AI work for you. Very practical guide there. Tricia dropped the non supply chain trends for 2026 from our forensic MHI check that out. And of course the link to MODEX 2026, the place to be in supply chain in April. Okay, let’s see here. We are going to hit a topic that’s near and dear to your heart, Allison, and I’m looking forward to learning from you. So let’s see here. As reported by Air and Space Forces Magazine, the White House and the Pentagon plans to implement a reorganization which is aimed at evidently transforming the way the US develops sources and fields, weapons and platforms.

(34:31):

Now based on what I understand that’s been proposed, which is on a pretty big scale. One former Senate armed services committee, staff director and defense consultant, which is named here, Arnold Panero says this is the most sweeping package of reforms that he’s seen in 50 years. Now this is an interesting quote from Pete, Seth, the Secretary of Defense or war, whatever you subscribe to, we mean to increase acquisition risk in order to decrease operational risk by taking greater calculated risk and how we build by and maintain our systems. And 85% solution, he continues in the hands of our armed forces today is infinitely better than an unachievable a hundred percent solution endlessly undergoing testing or awaiting additional technological development. Now, Alison, in general, this is your space, your thoughts here.

Allison Giddens (35:26):

Oh my goodness. So when I first read this in the first part of the article, I cheered because I was like, yes, that’s what manufacturers want to hear is that we’re going to get orders quicker and that there’s going to be less of a hangup on things. For example, this morning I spent 30 minutes having a conversation with a large aerospace company that didn’t like the fact that I had put NA next to something that was not applicable. They wanted an explanation as to why it wasn’t applicable. So I had to point out it’s because it says, and I said something extremely obvious. So those kinds of things in my head, if those can go away, then the government and that our country can get product a heck of a lot quicker. But then when you continue to read through the article and it just like many things in government, the left hand on the right hand are maybe quite on the same page. And the notion that manufacturers and the notion that aerospace companies are dragging their feet and taking their sweet time, oh no, we’re not. It’s in our best interest to turn product. It’s in our best interest to get product in material in manufacture it and send it to the customer and send it to the war fighter and send it to the general on the battlefield.

(36:32):

That is a hundred percent, that is our driver. I mean, we’re talking about what Turkey being the constraint earlier. We are not the Turkey here. We are the manufacturer that wants this stuff on the floor. So part of me is heartened to see these kinds of conversations like, yes, change does need to be made, acquisition strategy needs to be revisited. But the other part of me thinks, oh, does this mean another layer? Is it going to have the opposite effect?

Scott Luton (36:58):

Right? We’re going to find out, and I’m intrigued by a couple of things here, kind of going to the secretary EFS comments. I completely get how there’s a famous general that I’m going to get the quote wrong. An actionable plan is better than a perfect plan or something like that. I can’t remember what general and who, so I largely subscribe to that. A lot of things we do around here, they’re not at the Six Sigma level of quality, but they’re at five Sigma and that’s pretty good. If you can do it a month earlier, that’s even better.

Allison Giddens (37:27):

What’s the saying? The other saying is a path of indecision is paved with flat squirrels, right? So it’s like we just need to do it.

Scott Luton (37:36):

That’s right. I get it. Another thought that comes to my mind, Alison and I was in the Air Force, gosh, 20 years ago, and a lot of things have changed, but I think when I think of how the national security landscape has changed in those 20 years, I think of speed to market that has changed dramatically. When I think 20 years ago, the supremacy that the US had from a war fighting technology standpoint or protect the peace standpoint was arguably I’d say maybe inarguably heads and shoulders above the rest of the world. And now as we’ve seen modern day technology change, not only global business but for good or for bad global military innovation. And of course as the US now has near peers or at peers in terms of some of the countries out there that we are competing for influence or unit markets, you name it, speed the market. And I think of every military out there as they are pursuing their own agenda, it probably has that as one of their top priorities, right? Speed to market. And again, for better or for worse, things like AI have enabled speed to market, unlike probably anything we’ve seen in the modern history of warfare. I don’t know.

Allison Giddens (38:52):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (38:52):

So Alison, and by the way, I say all of that just by analyzing what it is. Of course, in my heart of hearts, we’re entering a global period of world peace. However, my head does not necessarily agree with my heart. But Alison, your final word here.

Allison Giddens (39:09):

No. Yes, I’ve seen other conversations and other articles and research and memos from this administration that is also trying to figure out how just you put your nail, put your finger on it, the AI integration, how do we use today’s technology and not necessarily get around the red tape, but how do we determine as a country what’s more important? So a lot of the cybersecurity that I’m constantly living and breathing, having to work with, it’s funny to think that we are having to be just as secure on a ground support rivet as opposed to an F 35 cockpit something or another. What’s more important? What should we be focused on? Should we be focused on that rivet for the ground support aircraft that is 60 years old? Not to say that we should just assume that the bad guys already have the technology, but when everything’s a priority, nothing’s a priority. So if we can turn around and say, okay, these are the top technology that we’re going to focus on now, how can we, instead of going through and jumping through all these hoops, how do we use what they call cots commercial on the shelf? How do we figure out how to best use the technology in those avenues and get the product out quicker without compromising safety of the war fighter?

Scott Luton (40:21):

Well said Allison. Well said. And I appreciate what your organization win tech. And by the way, folks, I usually add it on the front end, but Allison leads a manufacturing operation that serves a wide variety of industries and sectors, but including the National Defense industries. Did I say that right, Allison?

Allison Giddens (40:36):

You got it? Yes.

Scott Luton (40:37):

So we look forward to your continued insights on the sourcing transformation that’s being planned, and we’ll see how it plays out folks. Also, you can check out that great read, I call it a niche read, but a great supply chain. Read what experts will watch as a Pentagon implements acquisition reform. Check it out and let us know what your take is. Okay, on a month, much lighter note, thankfully Thanksgiving is still here this week. It hasn’t been moved. Congress hasn’t moved it to December yet or cancel it yet, which is good. Thanks Congress. Let’s check out some really good news here from our friends at the American Farm Bureau Federation. That’s where we get this graphic and these numbers from. We’ll take a look at how inflation or the lack thereof may be impacting Thanksgiving meals across the us. So the A FBF, which is the American Farm Bureau Federation has been tracking grocery prices in November since all the way back in 1986.

(41:31):

That’s back when NTV still played music folks. Now, as we all know, I miss those days, Alison, I missed those days, some of them. But as we all know, there’s plenty of data that shows inflationary pricing across industry. So I’m not looking at this as the golden standard of telling us about inflation. So keep that in mind. But according to this data, the cost of the same meal, it’s the same meal that they always stack the prices up against. So it’s apples to apples, the cost of the same meal in 2025 versus 2024. Well, the prices are down, in fact down 5% from last year according to their data and get this, prices are down, they say the data says their data for the third year in a row for a Thanksgiving meal for 10. The cost of Turkey alone this year has dropped 16% from last year, but sweet potatoes are up 37% and get this a veggie tray, and they quantify that as carrots and celery is up a whopping 61.3%. And if you look at it by region, you’re going to find the cheapest Thanksgiving meal in the South at $50 and a penny and the highest meal in the west at $61 and 75 cents. So Allison, bunch of numbers, bunch of data, a bunch of good food. I’m not sure who has veggie trays and their Thanksgiving dinner. Don’t invite me to your Thanksgiving dinner, but does this ring true? Generally speaking for your dinner prep at the Giddens household,

Allison Giddens (42:53):

I am reminded of the boil the frog analogy, right? So remember right after COVID, right after the pandemic kind of that, and I say after, but it was like late 21, 22 for supply chain prices and things went wacky, right? I mean they shot up and a lot of it was that, whatever they call it, trailing indicator of sorts, I feel like things were super high there and I don’t really know that they’re coming down.

(43:21):

I think they’re just trying to level out. And so boil a frog, we’re sitting here and we can go, oh my gosh, the prices are down. But when you really think about and you really look at it and you butt it up against how prices were in 2019, and you look at trends maybe where they should be, we’re still higher than where we should be. And I recognize that’s a loaded term, but everything from hourly wage to who’s in the fields making it happen and who’s in the warehouses making it happen. So I don’t know. Part of me is like, yeah, oh heck yeah, it’s cheaper. I don’t really know that. It’s

Scott Luton (43:54):

Excellent comments. And I got to tell you, and maybe I’m out of touch, maybe if you remember Alison, back in the nineties, there was a famous at the time, a famous little clip that news got of President George Bush the first going to a grocery store and he had never been in the store, so he didn’t know how the scanner worked and he was like blown away. He didn’t know how to work it, right?

Allison Giddens (44:17):

Yeah,

Scott Luton (44:18):

He might not be that out of touch. But when I see these prices for a Thanksgiving dinner of 10, and it’s estimated nationally, the average is $55 18 cents for 10 people. That sounds really low. So I’m going to have to dive into their source data, but hey, I’ll take good news wherever we can find it. And if their data says that prices are down for a couple years, I’ll take it on its face value and then we’ll go dig it into the numbers a

Allison Giddens (44:41):

Bit. Y’all want to know what’s on that menu though too? That’s right. If it’s not stuff I like, then I’ll pay the higher.

Scott Luton (44:46):

To that point, Alison, Amanda and I, and a big thanks again to Amanda and Trisha behind the scenes. Amanda and I had dinner last week at a cool place in Athens and they were advertising side dishes that folks can take and take home for Thanksgiving. Allison, oh my gosh, I want to say it was like $75 for a side of macaroni and cheese. And

Allison Giddens (45:07):

Think about it. Think about it. You don’t have to cook, you don’t have to clean. They probably gave it to you in a pan that you throw away after.

Scott Luton (45:13):

Oh my gosh. I’m like, I need to get into the Thanksgiving side dish business. But anyway, speaking of, let’s see, Amanda says, Amanda says, I’ve seen grocery prices generally on the rise, but right now, Thanksgiving grocery sales are incredible. I saw 49 cents a pound on sweet potatoes yesterday and turkeys that have been on sale for a month, Aldi even has a $40 Thanksgiving dinner menu and shopping list for 12. Love to see the prices going down if only for Thanksgiving. Me too.

(45:42):

One more thing. And on this topic then we’re going to get your brave, bold, fearless prognostication. We can thank a supply chain planning error back in the day for the standard microwaveable Turkey dinner that we’ve all enjoyed at some point in our lives. Pretty inexpensive and not bad.

Allison Giddens (46:01):

Enjoyed, we’ve all enjoyed, put that in quotes.

Scott Luton (46:04):

I love them. I’ll tell you, stuffing the potato and the frozen Turkey Swanson was my go-to back in the day. But as the story goes in a nutshell, they over planned for Turkey, thought the demand would be off the charts and it was not all of a sudden they had tons and tons of Turkey that they had to do something with. It’s like back in the fifties, I think. So they came up with the idea of freezing it and creating meals and hey, the market answered and they liked it. I’m not sure if they still do some 75 years later, but I liked it. Alright, so Allison and Alan, you ask a good question. Alan says, Alan Jacques, great to see you. Why was Amanda doing the shopping? Alan, Amanda has all the smarts in our household. I’ve proven that to you over the years. My good friend,

Allison Giddens (46:45):

Can I answer that from another person’s perspective? Who insists on if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That’s right.

Scott Luton (46:52):

It’s so true. I can barely microwave a Turkey dinner, much less source all of our Thanksgiving supply chain. But happy Thanksgiving. Hope you’re doing well, Alan. Great to see you. Okay, two things we’re going to wrap with on a fast and furious finish. Number one, Allison, one big, bad, bold prediction for manufacturing in 2026. You’re a big leader within that critical industry. What’s your prediction?

Allison Giddens (47:15):

I’m going to say it out loud so if I say it out loud, it has to happen. I predict that small manufacturers are going to have much more leverage than they do right now. I think that they have always been nimble. They’ve always been able to pivot on a moment’s and do something different because they don’t have to cut through red tape to make it happen. Now, I don’t know that we’re going to see so many small manufacturers with a lot of investments or capital expenditures, but we’re going to see manufacturers be able to say no to big guys and be able to command better prices. So yeah, that’s going to be my big bold prediction that I really hope is right.

Scott Luton (47:50):

I appreciate you’re in the leadership chair and I always enjoy your observations from industry that’s very valuable. Finger on the pulse type of content and perspective. And I would add a hopeful corollary to that, if I use that word right, hadn’t used since college. We’re already seeing some rethinking, I believe, of trade policy and what tariffs have delivered here in 2025 after at least my perspective a whole year where I didn’t think it would still be lingering. And we see a lot of manufacturers, it’s your top business challenge. I’ve seen a variety of surveys I think next year in addition to what you shared, that we’re going to see a rethinking of our overall aggressive tariff approach and consider the ramifications and the ripple effect that it’s caused. And we’re going to see more serenity, we’ll predict that and hopefully it comes to be true less headaches and global supply.

Allison Giddens (48:39):

Say it out loud, maybe what happen, right? Save the universe,

Scott Luton (48:42):

Shout it from the mountaintop. Okay, so Alison Giddens, one more. It’s my favorite thing to talk about. I love what y’all are doing at the Dave Creat You foundation folks get this. The Dave Creat You Foundation has helped almost 2000 local kids here in the metro Atlanta area play the sports they love. We’re talking about families that may not be able to afford all the equipment costs or the application costs. Organized sports is pricey and I love this practical mission, such an impactful mission. You’all all been on here. So Alison, tell us if I got all that right. Tell us about the foundation and also tell us how folks can jump in and support what you’re doing.

Allison Giddens (49:20):

No, thank you so much. And you in supply chain now you guys have always been awesome in supporting this cause, so thank you so much. Yeah, we hope kids play local sports when their families are going through rough times, whether it’s a temporary financial hurdle in their lives or whether it’s more of a longer term. You name it, we’ve probably helped a family through some stuff and it’s all with a hundred percent volunteer organization, so we don’t have any paid staff. So 99.90 cents on the dollar go right to the cause. And that 0.1 is probably just the web hosting to be honest for the website. But yeah, it’s a great organization with great volunteers, a terrific board. So yeah, we’re doing good things and a lot of kids get to play sports.

Scott Luton (50:00):

So folks, so many great causes out there and there’s lots of causes that you need to do your homework on, right? Check out Charity Navigator along those lines. But I can personally vet for the great work that the Dave Creche Foundation is doing. We’re honored to be a very small part of the mission. If you want to join, check out Dave Kche, that’s K-R-A-C-H e.com. Learn more. And as Allison shared last time she was with us, if you’re in, let’s see, well Leah is in Seattle. If you’re in beautiful Seattle and you want to stand up a similar mission, go check out dave creche.com because there’s resources on there that will help you do so, right?

Allison Giddens (50:36):

Yes, it’s easy to set up the work is keeping it going, but if you’ve got a passion for it, they’re kid that need you.

Scott Luton (50:43):

Outstanding. Really appreciate what you and Donna and the whole gang of powerful volunteers are doing. Very consequential mission. And we’re going to be getting updated numbers soon, folks, because we believe that the number’s over 2000 now. So stay tuned next time Alison joins us, we’ll be able to update that number. Okay folks, I want to encourage you to connect, follow you name it Alison, on LinkedIn. We’ve got our one click right there. And Alison, you always like to add a little disclaimer for folks that approach you on LinkedIn. What is that?

Allison Giddens (51:14):

When you connect with me, include a note that you watched this, that you watched the buzz, because I don’t necessarily blindly accept all connection requests, but if you say that you watch the buzz and you caught us here, then by all means I’ll accept

Scott Luton (51:27):

Outstanding. So follow that rule of law. Alright, so as we wrap here today, a big jam packed edition of the Buzz Be. I worked for about seven hours getting ready for your appearance here, Alison, and it was all worth it, I think, real slow. I want to thank my esteemed co-host, Alison raci Giddens. Alison, I admire your industry leadership. I admire your volunteer leadership on so many different levels. So thanks for joining us here today.

Allison Giddens (51:54):

Thanks for having me. It’s always an honor to know you and I am privileged to call you friend.

Scott Luton (51:58):

Same, same my friend. Happy Thanksgiving to you too. Entire family. And to all of y’all out there that celebrate. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, hey November offers a great month. We should do it year round, but a great month to be grateful for all that we have in this incredible journey that we’re all on together. Big thanks to Amanda and Trisha behind the scenes. Appreciate all the great major league production support, and most importantly, a big thanks to our global audience out there. The smartest one in all of global supply chain. Thanks for being here with us today. But you know, got homework and Alison backed up the truck as Jake Barr would say, and unloaded a ton of actionable brilliance on us here. So take one thing you heard from me and Alison here today. Share it with your team. Put into practice deeds, not words. That’s how we’re going to keep transforming global supply chain, global business. And with that said, on behalf of the entire supply chain now, team Scott Luton first, wishing all that celebrate a very happy, happy Thanksgiving. And secondly, you know, I’m challenging you to do good gift forward, be the change that’s needed, and we’ll see next time right back here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (52:59):

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