Some industries think they have it tough – and then there is retail. From constantly shifting consumer demand and intense competition to razor thin margins and a huge workforce, succeeding as a retail executive requires courage and conviction.

Scott Luton recently spoke with Marie Hurst, Vice President of Operations and Logistics with Bunzl Retail Services, a division of Bunzl Distribution North America. She has deep retail experience in transportation, process improvement, supply chain, and reverse logistics.

In this conversation, Marie and Scott talk about:

• How the high cost of labor is changing the way they manage their operations and even lay out facilities
• The tight margins in the retail supply chain that force companies to be thoughtful about their margins
• Ways ambitious professionals can position themselves for consideration as supply chain executives

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and opportunities Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:31):

Hey, good morning, everybody. Scott Luton with you here on supply chain. Now, welcome to today’s show. We have an outstanding episode, tee it up once again, as I’m speaking with a senior supply chain leader, doing big things in the warehousing transportation and trade compliance space. She’s also what I would call a friend of the show. Certainly a professional friend of mine, and I’m really tickled to be able to sit down and interview her for the first time here on supply chain now. So no with no further ado, wanna welcome in Marie Hurst, vice president operations and logistics with Benzel retail services, which is a division of Benzel distribution north America. Marie, how you doing?

Marie Hurst (01:09):

I’m great. Thanks for having me today. Scott,

Scott Luton (01:12):

You bet we were talking, you know, we shared a phone call as we were got connected by a mutual friend that we both think highly of mm-hmm <affirmative> a few years ago, Marty Parker is doing some big things at, at, uh, UGA and their supply chain program, but it’s the first time we’ve we’ve we’ve had you here on the show and I can’t wait to dive into your journey and your insights and expertise.

Marie Hurst (01:33):

Great. I’m looking forward to it.

Scott Luton (01:35):

So we’re not wasting time. Uh, but before we get into the heavy lifting, at least let’s get to know you a little bit better, Marie. So Hey, tell us, where did you grow up and, and give us a few anecdotes about your upbringing.

Marie Hurst (01:46):

Okay. Uh, so I’m originally from Western Massachusetts. So, um, whenever I say to somebody I’m from Massachusetts, they say, but you don’t have an accent. <laugh> I’m like, no guys, there’s Boston. And then there’s Western ma like the rest of Massachusetts. So I grew up there, um, the oldest of three girls and then I today have three girls. So <laugh> not that that means anything, but it’s right. Yeah. Um, so when I was a kid, my, you know, my parents were working class folks and you know, my mom took jobs. Like she was the bus monitor. She was the lunch lady and all that. Um, my dad actually worked for mobile chemical in plastics, so more of a manufacturing type job. He was a line worker. Um, and I had the benefit of being able to go to UGA.

Scott Luton (02:40):

Oh, did you okay, Marie?

Marie Hurst (02:42):

I’m sorry. Did UMass my bad. Oh,

Scott Luton (02:47):

I’m uncovering new things about you. I didn’t know.

Marie Hurst (02:50):

I’ve been in Georgia so long. Yeah. Um, mess. I’ve been in Georgia so long. Everything’s about Georgia go dogs. <laugh>

Scott Luton (02:57):

So you know your accent and, and, and now I’m reminded now after we spoke years ago, it is very neutral, very neutral. Mm-hmm <affirmative> our dear friend Kelly Barner here at supply chain now is from the Boston area. Um, um, I wanna say strawberry, Hill’s not strawberry hill. Uh, Sugarberry hill. Maybe. Does that sound familiar?

Marie Hurst (03:19):

Uh, Shrewsbury.

Scott Luton (03:21):

Sure. No, I’m, I’m getting it wrong. Anyway. Her accent is much more like that. Boston accent. Mm-hmm <affirmative> but I’ve gotta ask you before, before we talk about maybe, uh, your time here in Georgia. So your parents and your dad being, uh, on the frontline, it sounds like of a mini manufacturing plant. Uh, did y’all have any, any, uh, times where you sat down, maybe he took you to the plant or, or he shared what he did day in and day out?

Marie Hurst (03:44):

Yeah, I mean, we, so he worked there and then my, one of my uncles actually worked there as well, and we had the chance to go in a couple of times now we were kids. So you didn’t get to really walk the floor, but you got to see, you know, from the side what was happening. Um, and you realize the culture and that type of business with the, you know, 24, 7 execution. And he did rotating shifts back in the day. So I remember you better be quiet when dad works third, cause he’s home sleeping during the day. And if you wake him up, there’s gonna be hell to pay <laugh>. So,

Scott Luton (04:20):

Uh, you know, I remember, uh, a couple of friends of mine when I, and for some reason in kindergarten or first grade, and I would go over to their ho uh, houses after school and we’d get a little bit loud. And to your point, you better not wake up, um, wake dad or mom up working at works. Third shift. So yes. Uh, those are some tough gigs. Yep. Now your mom, it sounds like she was very active in your academic journey, always volunteering, uh, uh, a bus. What was her bus?

Marie Hurst (04:49):

She did the bus monitor and she did lunch lady duties. Um, and then when my little sister, I have a little sister who’s 12 years younger when my little sister came along, my mom actually converted and started doing daycare,

Scott Luton (05:03):

Man. Okay. So yeah, whatever it sounds like, whatever she could do to, to kind of keep an eye on her three daughters. Is that right?

Marie Hurst (05:12):

Yep. Pretty much.

Scott Luton (05:14):

<laugh> so <laugh> so many questions. So on top, but, well, let’s talk about, um, so what brought you to Georgia? I wanna talk about your time in retail supply chain. Yeah. In a minute, but, but you’ve been in Georgia, as you mentioned a little while ago for quite some time. Yeah. Where did you, when did you first move to Georgia?

Marie Hurst (05:31):

So I was working for a retail division called FES that, that got bought out. It was part of the may department stores, which were out of St. Louis and got purchased by federated, which is Macy’s. Um, so I was in Connecticut and had it was, I was actually running the transportation department for the regional department store S and the scenario was, Hey, their central offices in Atlanta, you can take a severance or you can take a promotion. <laugh>

Scott Luton (06:05):

Wow. Options options. Huh?

Marie Hurst (06:07):

Yeah. So that was a tough conversation with my husband. He was, um, he does TV news. He’s a cameraman that goes around with the reporter really. Um, and he loves his job, but I, we always looked at it as, you know, what’s the career path and what he wants to do, what he loves to do. He would say you can’t do it anywhere, but you could, you could pretty much do it anywhere. I mean, it’s, it’s a very solid transferable skill set. Um, thank goodness. He didn’t go to CNN. Right. Because that has changed so much over the years. He’s actually with one of the local Atlanta stations.

Scott Luton (06:48):

That is so cool.

Marie Hurst (06:48):

Yeah. So we transferred, he was able to transfer and, you know, keep the same length of service and vacation and everything. So it worked out well. He still, he gave me a hard time for a couple years about, about moving to Atlanta and the difference between living in, at the time we were in Northern Connecticut and then dealing with the population here in Atlanta. Right. So

Scott Luton (07:15):

<laugh> well that, and probably, uh, the weather differences are, are probably pretty big too. At least he doesn’t have to worry about snow here as he is capturing that, that perfect shot. Right?

Marie Hurst (07:24):

Yeah. Yeah. That, that’s, it’s funny. It’s like, you’ve been at the dinner table because I’ll say, oh, I love Atlanta, Atlanta weather is great. There’s no snow. And he’ll say, yeah, you don’t have to stand outside when it’s 95 degrees

Scott Luton (07:36):

That, oh, well that, and, and trade offs, I guess, trade offs. Well, that’s fascinating. Uh, I’ve never had a chance to meet someone in, uh, in like that other than, um, some producers that weren’t the camera technicians. I mean, we’ll have to sit down and, and, uh, have a chat with your husband, but, um, so as you mentioned, you mentioned Macy’s you mentioned, um, was it Phil? What was the other uh Eileen’s yes. Eileen’s, mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, you spent a good bit of time within that Macy’s organization. That’s where you were when we first met. Yeah. Um, for our listeners mm-hmm <affirmative> that may not have spent time in retail supply chain, I’ll call it what, what’s one thing that might surprise people.

Marie Hurst (08:17):

So, um, I actually, I was thinking about that and there’s a couple of things that, that come to mind for me. So first thing I would say is there are a lot of, um, complete competing priorities. So often they’re conceptually counterintuitive to each other. So as an example, a lot of the product is planned and committed six months to a year ahead of, of actual delivery to the store because it’s, you know, you have to produce it. You have to get the, the raw materials. You have to make it in some other country. Often you have to plan that transit. You have to get it. If you were gonna do any kind of value added services and then get it to the store. Well, so a lot of that tends to be flowing year over year it’ll flow by the same or similar calendar. But then at the same time, the merchants are always trying to be attentive to trends and hot product, which means you may suddenly get a request to move multiple containers or truckloads of something from a place you’ve never covered before. And it’s gotta happen right away because some other retailers trying to get their hands on that same product and there’s X amount. So it it’s really, I think it can be, it’s a combination of we, this is what we do and oh my God, we gotta go do this.

Scott Luton (09:34):

<laugh> no, it’s, it’s interesting. I’m hearing a couple things there. Uh, and my all my retail experience was not in supply chain. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> back as I was coming through, uh, college and well high school and college, uh, as it was where I got the most of my retail experience. But the sequencing that you’re describing, cause it’s, you gotta plan so far out because of all the different things and the different suppliers, but also what’s interesting. I’ve never really thought about, and it makes perfect sense is the competition. There’s all, you know, there’s tons of competition to retail, but the retail supply chains are competing long before it even hits the stores. That that’s really something that I bet if a lot of our listeners hadn’t stopped to think about yet. It’s fascinating,

Marie Hurst (10:12):

Marie. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. And then the other thing that I was thinking about I felt was worth raising is, you know, returns and reverse logistics are a big piece of retail and have always been even prior to how we’ve seen so much growth with online shopping over the past several years. I mean, retailers generally try to have a return agreement with the vendors up front as part of the purchase order and the agreements that they have with those vendors, but they can’t always negotiate that. So often after you see something on a clearance rack, it’s been marked down two or three times that will have to go back to logistics to deal with. Right. Generally you’re trying to liquidate it. Some of it’ll end up in an off price store in the us or shipped overseas. You really don’t wanna throw it in a dumpster. You wanna find some end of life reuse wherever possible.

Scott Luton (11:04):

Yes. And you know, to that point, uh, there’s a ton of innovation taking place in what, uh, Tony Sheroda with the, uh, reverse logistics association, uh, one of our dear friends and, and mm-hmm <affirmative> and content partners, he’s called, uh, the dark side of supply chain. Cause it doesn’t get as much visibility. Uh, the great news there though, the good news is, is, is that aspect cause of e-commerce cause of, of, uh, consumers are demanding more sustainable solutions. We’re seeing a lot of innovation on that reverse side is that, will you see that as well?

Marie Hurst (11:35):

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Especially things that are re you know, it’s a customer return and it’s re saleable. Right, right. Because you can build some of that into your, your mega center logic where you can put it in a location that’s close to where you’re gonna ship again and not put it back with its brothers in the original location. Right. Because you know, it’s gonna turn and why put it away if I’m gonna be able to ship it again.

Scott Luton (11:59):

Well, and, and the whole re economy, uh, gosh, I’ve seen all kinds of projections in terms of market size. And that’s a great thing. You know, we, um, I’ve shared this with our listeners before last, uh, holiday season. I got my kids a, um, a, um, remanufacture, Nintendo, we, and of course they don’t make those anymore. It was probably, I don’t know, 12 years old and they loved it. Yeah. And that, that’s a really cool, uh, cool dynamic taking place. Uh, I bet you could talk retail supply chain till the cow, the proverbial cows came home and that there’s so much there, but I wanna get into, uh, Marie, unless is it okay to move to what you’re up to now?

Marie Hurst (12:34):

Sure, absolutely.

Scott Luton (12:36):

So, uh, I have been way back when I first came to Atlanta, uh, I did a little bit of business with Benzel and I think it was out on the, um, the west side of Metro Atlanta. And I’ve been into a couple of the facilities, um, there, but tell us

Marie Hurst (12:53):

Lithia Springs.

Scott Luton (12:54):

I think so. Yeah. I think so, Maria and that was, that was three kids ago and my three kids have killed my memory. Uh, but I’m pretty sure Lithia Springs. Um, so, but level setting with our listeners, tell us about buns of retail services and what the organization does.

Marie Hurst (13:09):

Yeah, sure. So, so Benzel globe, and then I’m gonna say globally, because we do have presence in other countries as well. The Lithia Springs building is part of another division. Benzel does a lot of distribution for a lot of different markets. So there are divisions that manage grocery supplies. There are divisions that manage case goods only for some of the retailers. Um, we do our own fleet in a lot of those divisions. So we’re doing our own deliveries from our local warehouse and we’re doing a run like every Thursday, they do the run down to Savannah or whatever as example, and they build out their roots like that bun retail services is a little bit different in that we’re doing a lot more of the, the smaller or niche or value added services type services for our retail, uh, partners. Um, so most of what we’re doing is distribution.

Marie Hurst (14:07):

So about 90% of what we’re doing is just the actual distribution of you want a case of bags. You want a vest for your employee. You want a pack of pens and a couple of batteries. Um, we also have a subdivision within retail services that does designs, packaging, and visual displays. Um, and then we have material consolidation. So that would be an example would be if you have a new store and you don’t wanna just spam that location with all the supplies, from the different display companies and, and, um, cleaning supplies and so forth, we can actually do a service where we will consolidate it all, build out pallets and then release it to you in time for your setup, for your opening.

Scott Luton (15:03):

Okay. A, a lot, you make it sound so easy and we all know it is not easy. Is it Marie?

Marie Hurst (15:09):

No, not at all. <laugh>

Scott Luton (15:12):

Well, so let’s, let’s focus in on more on more of your role. So, uh, VP operations and logistics. Yep. Uh, tell us where do you spend and what do you, you know, what makes up your, uh, day to day alcohol, even though I’m sure each day is different. And what is your favorite aspect to your role

Marie Hurst (15:28):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>? So, um, I spend, I spend about half my time on the road because I have about eight different locations around the country that I’m attentive to more than some of the others. Um, the bigger ones or the ones undergoing change would be probably the, the most important for my time on the road. But then we’ve also got some locations overseas that we service at three, three PLS. Um, and I have a local transportation group in Chicago that manages that in partnership with a corporate group in St. Louis. Um, and then I have a couple of engineers that are working with me because we’re trying to do a lot of work on continuous improvement and growing our facilities to be more efficient. Uh, I think everybody has noticed that there’s a lot of challenges with labor and the cost of labor continues to go up.

Marie Hurst (16:26):

Um, so we’re trying to be really thoughtful and methodical about the way we lay out the buildings where we can put in, um, sorters, we’re looking at pick cards. I think you’re doing something with six rivers. We’re actually talking to six rivers, um, to see, you know, whether we can do a pilot with them for some of our pick pack areas and a couple of our buildings. Um, it, it it’s really, it’s, you know, distribution is down and dirty, but how can you make it more effective and efficient? And I think what’s interesting to me with non retail is you’re trying to do things and your margins, you gotta be really thoughtful about your margins because you’re, you’re, you don’t have the markup that you have on retail to cover some of your sins. So you’re just, you gotta be, you gotta execute,

Scott Luton (17:17):

Gotta execute that’s right. No Willy nilly allowed. Right. Um, uh, so speaking of, I, I love your emphasis on the team member and the colleagues and the employees at, at ex that employee experience is, is I think one of the silver linings of what we’ve seen and all gone through in the last couple years. And I think I saw on social as I was doing my homework on you. Uh, Marie Hurst, I promised I wasn’t lurking <laugh>, uh, to try do little homework is, uh, you know, emphasis on safety mm-hmm <affirmative> and, and making sure we’re taking care. I love that that has come back to the forefront and, and, and, um, in recent years. So it sounds like that’s a big part of the culture too.

Marie Hurst (17:55):

Yeah. Yeah. Um, that’s one of the things that I really enjoy with this organization is there’s a very robust safety culture and what you’re referring to as we did the caterpillar safety training module, which was great. I brought my team members from around the country and we sat for a few days, went through that training with the caterpillar people, and then had some of our own operational discussions about what are our best practices, what are our standards, et cetera. And, you know, for me, it’s not about having a safety moment, which is a catch phrase these days is what’s your safety momentum.

Scott Luton (18:31):

I love that. Uh, we got an 86 safety moment and make it about the momentum and the bigger picture and, and, uh, what really stays front of mind, which will, which I’m assuming. And, and I’ll defer to you, but how can we prevent situations from even happening that then we gotta react to make sure folks are, are safe. So, right. Um, I love that emphasis, uh, on, on taking care of the team. Um, what else do you love about your role? And then I wanna talk a little more about your culture.

Marie Hurst (19:00):

Okay. Um, what I love about my role is that I have some really strong team members with me. Um, we are vocal and open and we, you know, bring things to the surface. Uh, it is not a political, I try not to lead a political sphere. Right. I don’t want you to tell me what you think I want to hear. I wanna know what, tell me what you’re thinking. Let’s talk it through. I might still be right, but I might not. Right. And let’s air it out. Let’s, let’s get the best of everybody’s ideas and try and, you know, percolate the best solution. Um, I think that the leadership team with bun retail services does that for the most part. I mean, we all have days where we just, we Def go back to, it’s easier just to agree and not right, but we have a lot of good, robust conversation and we’re all focused on how do we continue to drive the business and service the customers.

Scott Luton (20:04):

Um, so speaking of that culture that clearly, uh, you’re, um, um, helping to maintain, helping to lead and still, um, what else? So I love the non-political culture. Uh, uh, you know, I think a lot of us can probably relate to, uh, at least one organization. I know I’ve, I’ve been in a couple that were heavily political and it’s so stifling, it’s so stifling to new ideas, it’s stifling because you’ve gotta kind of figure out how to navigate a minefield cause of just the sheer politics. And I am so thankful, uh, that that is not what we’re building here at supply chain now by a very, um, with all deliberation. Right. But what else do you love about the culture at bun?

Marie Hurst (20:50):

So something that I found interesting when I first started working there is, you know, I came from Macy’s and it, it was so big, you know, 130,000 employees, something, you know, significant, um, and had been centralized across the board. Um, this is very different in that bun acquires companies and there is corporate oversight, but they have kept a lot of those different divisions to themselves. So the benefit of that is that you have a culture where you have more ability to have your voice heard or to, to be impactful because you’re not going up five levels. Right. I report to the division head, he reports to the north America CEO who reports to the corporate CEO in London.

Scott Luton (21:45):

So it’s, it’s almost kinda like that, that, uh, the, the, the benefits of like local ownership, um, you know, uh, and, and it also sounds like, and, and please correct me if I’m wrong that as bun has made these acquisitions, they protected the, um, you know, the individual personalities, cultures brands, and, and, um, you know, uh, helped empower and, and really leverage, uh, that locally owned, uh, leadership ownership. Is that, is that accurate?

Marie Hurst (22:15):

Yeah, they, they call it the entrepreneurial spirit.

Scott Luton (22:18):

Okay. Hey, I love that. Uh, as, as a fellow entrepreneur, I know exactly you’re, you’re speaking my language. Yep. Um, so let’s shift gears a bit. So I wanna shift from bun, cause I know there’s a lot more, we’re just scratching the surface with, with what you and, and the, and bun and its various divisions do day in, day out. But I wanna talk kind of you as, um, as, as, uh, your leadership style. And I think one of the things that as I was doing, my homework seems to be really important to you is, is volunteering in that, in that service mm-hmm <affirmative> um, so you volunteered your time in a variety of charitable initiatives, uh, central night shelter year up mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, and some others what’s been your favorite or one of your favorite volunteer experiences. And what’s, what’s your why?

Marie Hurst (23:05):

So, I mean, I like them all for different reasons. I think that the night shelter really resonated with me the most it’s the men’s night shelter in Atlanta. Um, I think that a lot of times when people think about night shelters, they’re thinking about women and children, which is extremely important, um, we don’t necessarily think about the men. And so that central night shelter takes care of that subgroup that doesn’t always get BEC for righteous reasons. Doesn’t always get included in the main shelters. Um, I supported it initially. It was part of the church group activities and I fell into it because it hits me on a couple of levels. It hits me because I grew up and we didn’t have a lot. So I understand what that’s like to, to be trying to decide where to put your dime. Right. Um, that’s, that’s important to me.

Marie Hurst (23:58):

Um, and then the other thing that it really helps me with is a lot of those guys are hard working. They’re trying to do right by themselves. And they just they’re stuck in a situation where they, they can’t afford a house or they can’t, you know, they have to make choices. They, that some of them are working. They just don’t have a living wage. Some of them have other situations and they’re, that’s why they’re there. That’s why they’re homeless. But I feel like it helps you personalize and not just broad brush. Right. Because I think a lot of times in life, we just say that bucket is X mm-hmm <affirmative>. And to me being on the front line with those types of situations helps you differentiate and be compassionate and it helps you, you know, reflect on yourself and, and how you are as a person.

Scott Luton (24:50):

Yeah. I love that. Uh, you know, if I think about, uh, the cultures, uh, and the leaders that I would wanna work for, uh, and I think back through some of my favorite folks I’ve ever worked with, or before that entrepreneurial spirit spirit, which you, uh, referenced earlier, but that comp that really authentic, compassionate leadership, that folks that can really, um, empathy is a, is a true, um, uh, skill set. Right, right. Um, so I love that and, and it, it crystallizes your why. Um, so growing up, uh, y’all had to make some sacrifices. It sounds like Marie.

Marie Hurst (25:24):

Yep. Yep.

Scott Luton (25:27):

Um, alright, so let’s shift gears once again. Uh, so to our listeners that, uh, you wanna be like, Marie, you wanna, you know, uh, be successful in supply chain, move up into the senior levels of leadership, uh, what you’re already hearing. I think Marie’s already shared, uh, some important advice and tools and tips, but I, I wanna be very intentional with the question here. So folks that do wanna break into supply chain, maybe they’re, they’re still matriculating through their programs at UGA are otherwise or UMass maybe. Yep. Um, and they wanna break in with both feet and move into the senior levels. What would be your advice, Marie?

Marie Hurst (26:03):

Um, I would say look for any internship opportunities, look for summer jobs. Um, I would say once you get your foot in the door somewhere, try to be the one that stands out because you take things that other people don’t wanna do. I would say that a lot of times in my career, I have been able to advance or, um, take a new role or be noticed because there were five of us trying to go for, for this one role. And then we found out that this other role, four of them are like, eh, and I said, I’ll do it, I’ll do it. And then it got to the point in my career where, because I had said, I’ll do it and I didn’t always wanna do it, but I learned something every time I did it, um, where they started coming to me and saying, Hey, can you, we want you to come do this. Um, and that, to me becoming well rounded is critical to rising up because you have to know enough about enough to be able to supervise it all.

Scott Luton (27:06):

So, um, I, I love that. I, I think folks at raise their hand, you know, volunteer, blessed our to volunteers. I’ve, I’ve heard, uh, it said, uh, you know, folks that are willing to take on the, the projects initiatives that, that other folks don’t wanna touch with a 10 foot pole. Uh, I love that advice, but let me ask you kind of lemme play devil’s advocate for a second. Okay. Um, uh, at the same time, finding that voice, uh, kind of going back to, Hey, tell me, don’t tell me what I want to hear. Mm-hmm <affirmative> tell me what, what you wanna share. Yep. So, so when you’re volunteering and raising your hand and taking on these things, other folks don’t want to do, what about those moments that you’ve had? I’m sure you’ve had where you’ve had to kind of draw a line in the sand yep. And kinda lay out, you know, um, you know, and be heard. Right. Any, any, any experiences come to mind there?

Marie Hurst (27:58):

Um, yeah. There’s definitely been a couple of times where I jumped deep into something and was like, wow, this is, this is ugly and painful. <laugh>

Scott Luton (28:06):

<laugh> and you got the scars to prove it. Right.

Marie Hurst (28:08):

You got the scars to prove it. And, you know, it’s, I think that’s interesting too, because one thing we don’t tend to focus on is teaching people how to fail.

Scott Luton (28:17):

Right. Yeah. Abso and, and, and I would take it a step further is it’s okay. You know, and even, even in a, in a, um, you know, in a, in, um, I don’t know if this makes sense, but like a real execution environment, like a manufacturing plant where, you know, you’re not on a product development side, you might be in operations where failure can mean a lot worse, uh, consequences and repercussions, but still, I, I, I completely agree with you, you know, failure, um, love to get your take. I think the most, the highest performing cultures that, that really are truly innovative in a, in a real, uh, action oriented manner are those that, um, that tolerate and maybe even encourage failure much more than others. Would you agree with that, Marie?

Marie Hurst (29:05):

Yeah, I think it’s, I think it’s critical because if I’m not allowed to fail, then I’m less likely to try. Now the other piece, I would say there though is when I fail, I need to learn from that failure.

Scott Luton (29:17):

That’s right. 1, 1, 1 more quick follow up question related to, um, your advice here. And we kind of talked about this in a different vein pre-show, but, but the ability to call time out mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, I think, uh, when I think about some of my most complex projects or initiatives that either I’ve led or been part of, um, oftentimes especially as a team with folks from different walks of life, or they’ve got their own data in different spreadsheets, mm-hmm, <affirmative>, you know, uh, some of the most valuable meetings or, or days is when we call time out and we’ve level set and we’ve kind of removed the fluff and, and really kind of reprioritized on what’s important.

Marie Hurst (29:54):

Right?

Scott Luton (29:55):

Know, sometimes it can be painful and it can be awkward or uncomfortable to call that timeout and be that person. Yep. But it is Ely critical speak to that a a minute, if you would, Marie.

Marie Hurst (30:06):

Yeah, sure. So it, that actually resonates with me for something that happened this week. Um, and I won’t get into that, but one of the good things that I got outta Macy’s is I got trained as a six Sigma black belt. And I think key to, to the training of being a black belt is how do you, how do you document what a process is and where your defect points are and what are your priorities and how do you support that with data, not emotion, right? So a lot of times when I’m counter to somebody on how to solve something up here, we’ll say, um, I, I try to bring it back to wait, hold on. <laugh> what are we actually trying to get to? Right? Because you can throw five other problems at me, but if that’s not gonna solve what we’re really trying to accomplish here, then we’re just getting ourselves off into tangents and we’re not actually gonna make progress. So let’s stop. Let’s whiteboard it. I love a whiteboard <laugh> and I’ll, and I’ll take a picture. So I, you know, somebody else walks in and erases it. I’ve got it.

Scott Luton (31:08):

<laugh> I love that. And Maria, I gotta tell you, we, we are kindred spirits. Um, and, and where I see it spill over, cause I lean six Sigma has been part of my journey as well. Um, where I see it spill over and where I really think it’s universal is with, on my customer service calls as a consumer mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, uh, the last couple years our appliances got worn out, I was on more calls for more replacement parts, and I hopefully I’ll ever be on the next couple years. Yep. But just getting to, Hey, what part number are we talking about? Give me some dates, you know, gimme specific data points so that we’re not just all nodding our head when we really don’t understand, you know, uh, where a different partners come from. So, um, I’m with you, I’m with

Marie Hurst (31:48):

You, is that, and then it’s, who’s actually gonna take the steps, the initiative to get some of these things done, sign, put names next to who’s doing what and dates. Right.

Scott Luton (31:57):

Love it. I love it, Marie. Yeah. Uh, we may be cousins. Maybe we might have been separat at some point <laugh>. Um, okay. So I wanna switch gears as we kind of come down the, the home stretch here. Yep. Um, now that we’ve kind of, you’ve given our Lister some advice for folks that wanna really achieve, um, let’s broaden out, let’s look at the, the global supply chain ecosystem. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, you know, kind of the current state of things. What’s one or two things, items, trends, news, really, whatever that you’re tracking more than others right now.

Marie Hurst (32:27):

Yeah. So from a pain point perspective, I think the, the challenges related to product shortages items shortages, right? Because we’re doing some project work and it’s, you know, you’re waiting for a part to come in. We’re trying we’re we did narrow aisle racking in my building in Reno, and we are putting the, the magnets to stop the equipment at the end of the aisle for safety. Um, and then you’re, you’re waiting for the magnets cuz they’re on back order. <laugh> all right. So it’s that type of stuff. Um, I still have my oven com microwave combo died in on Thanksgiving. It was supposed to be in, in January then it was supposed to be in, in may. Now it’s supposed to be in, in July it’s wow. Same thing as what you were talking about, like what’s going on. Um, so I think that that to me is, is gonna be an ongoing concern.

Marie Hurst (33:20):

Um, then from a creativeness and fun perspective, it’s really about things like what can six river systems do for us so that we can get some efficiencies, um, looking at some of the different options for goods to person pick modules and how might that come into play in some of our facilities and refining standard practices, like some of the back to basics. Some, I think that there’s a, a lot, you know, we went to mod X and there was just, you’re just awestruck. You don’t know where to look because right. There’s something cool to do everything. Right. The, the automated floor washer <laugh> that can, it’s like a Roomba for a warehouse, right? Like there’s, there’s something everywhere. So it’s really figuring out which of those things are gonna give us the best bang and then explaining why we need the money to go do it. <laugh>

Scott Luton (34:14):

I love it. It it’s like, uh, the greatest show on earth for supply chain, uh, at mod eggs. Right. Yep. Um, so let’s um, uh, going back to your first point, you made just to kind of illustrate, you know, we’re all familiar with the product delays and the longer lead times mm-hmm <affirmative> even, I was reading the other day Tootsie role. Yeah. Tootsie rolls. I don’t think there’s been an interruption in the manufacturing of Tootsie roles in history. Right. But they are, if they didn’t shut the production line, they were really close to having do that. And that, that, that, to me, that was a signal of just, you know, we all, we all read about it in headlines every day, but man, it is just everywhere. Yep. Um, alright. So, uh, let’s talk about Eureka moments. Uh, okay. So that touch a role moment was a bit of a Eureka moment for me. Right. <laugh> yeah. Even the things maybe that we take the most, uh, the things we take the most grained for, um, you know, the candy aisle, the, the convenience, uh, store, what have you mm-hmm <affirmative> but what’s been for you, what’s been one of your stronger Eureka moments here lately.

Marie Hurst (35:19):

Um, I think one of the things that comes to mind for me is, so we, we have seen a lot of challenges with warehouse space and I don’t think there’s a short term solution and you can go out in any of these markets. You can see that there’s a lot of they’re building warehouses, um, to try and accommodate the needs because we’ve done so much to try to pull product into the us earlier and et cetera. And we’ve got all these retailers who had things that came late, that they now have to store until the next peak season. Um, but something that, that is interesting for me to watch that resonates with me personally, is the push to move from plastic to paper, which is appropriate from a sustainability perspective, right. Takes up a lot more space. So we have, when we have the PA the plastics like the grocery sex, right. You can have a thousand of those in one box. If you do paper bags, you’re looking at eight times the space mm. For the same number of bags,

Scott Luton (36:28):

Competing priorities. Um, yeah. I think you mentioned that on the front end. Yeah. Um, you know, that’s just a great example. Um, but I, I do love, um, I, I collect, uh, it’s so funny. Um, uh, last week I had two events, two in-person events for the first time in a very long time. And I actually came home with paper bags. Mm-hmm <affirmative> cause I got room service on a couple of occasions and they use these sturdiest. I might sound like a big nerd Marie, but bear with me, they use the sturdiest huge paper bags for like a small sandwich mm-hmm <affirmative> and I could not, I just couldn’t throw it away. And I used to work in a grocery store and, and bagged plenty of things. I came home with them, you know? Um, but back to, you know, those trade offs, those competing priorities, right. It is, it is such a reality. Right. Uh, it seems like every hour, every day and some decisions we’ve gotta make as, as organizational leaders. Right,

Marie Hurst (37:22):

Right,

Scott Luton (37:24):

Right. Um, so what, um, I wanna make sure folks know, uh, how they can connect with you, Marie I’ve really enjoyed following you and, and interacting with you on social. So folks make sure you’re, you’re connected with Marie and, and you follow her on LinkedIn. Mm-hmm <affirmative> I enjoy that content there, but how can folks Marie learn more about you and bun?

Marie Hurst (37:46):

So I would say to your point, um, try to connect with me on LinkedIn. And then, um, Benzel distribution has a website and Benzel services. Benzel retail services is actually launching a website this week it’s Benzel services.com. Um, and that will actually tell potential customers about the different service levels that we offer and the different customer bases that we’re targeting. We’re already servicing. Um, there’s actually a little chat bot, which is connected to a live salesperson really during, during the day, during the week, obviously, you know, with some limitations cuz he has to sleep, but, um, they, they actually, um, sent it internally out yesterday.

Scott Luton (38:28):

Love it. Uh, I love it. Um, well, Hey, uh, Maria, I’m so glad I appreciate as busy as are in the team and everything you got, uh, cooking, uh, thanks so much for taking some time out to, uh, to share your, your expertise and your, your journey with our listeners. Uh, so we’ll have to have you back maybe later in the year, as we’re reflecting on the year, that was, it continues a trend, uh, fascinating times to being supply chain, right?

Marie Hurst (38:54):

Yes, very much so. Hopefully when we talk again, I’ll actually have that oven

Scott Luton (38:58):

<laugh> and you’ve put it use. I love that. <laugh> uh, we’ve been chatting with Marie hue, vice president operations and logistics with Benzel retail services. As you can check out their new website. Of course that’s a division of Benzel distribution, north America, Marie, always a pleasure. Thanks so much. We look forward to reconnecting soon.

Marie Hurst (39:17):

Great. Thanks.

Scott Luton (39:18):

Cut. You bet. All right, listeners, hopefully enjoyed, uh, this, uh, time with Marie as much as I have chalk full of practical. Been there, done that perspective, uh, both in her early in the journey and what she’s doing now, which I find fascinating and a ton of advice, not just with when I asked her about advice for, uh, folks that wanna, uh, really achieve in supply chain. But I think the whole conversation was full of practical advice. So, uh, but Hey, uh, make sure you connect with her, make sure you find supply chain now wherever you get your podcast from and whatever you do, uh, on behalf of our entire team here at supply chain. Now Scott Luton challenging you to do good to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. And on that note, we’ll see next time, right back here at supply chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (40:02):

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