In Episode 184, the #SupplyChainCity team of Scott Luton, Will Haraway, and Ben Harris talk about Conference Takeaways, the Cannabis Supply Chain, and More.

[00:00:05] It’s time for Supply Chain Now Radio. Broadcasting live from Supply chain capital of the country, Atlanta, Georgia. Supply chain. Now radio spotlights the best in all things supply chain the people, the technology, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

[00:00:29] Hey, good afternoon. Scott Luton here with you. Libelled Supply Chain Now Radio. Welcome back to the show. On today’s show, we’re gonna be continuing our Supply chain City series where we dive into a variety supply chain stories with roots right here in Atlanta. But regardless where you live, work or play, we’re gonna be offering news, ideas, best practices, some of the neatest stories taking place in the global world of India in Supply chain. Like all of our series and Supply Chain Now Radio, you can find our replays on a variety channels Apple podcasts, SoundCloud, YouTube, wherever else you get your podcast from, as always. We would love to have you subscribe Siegelman’s anything. Let’s thank all of our sponsors, those that allow us to bring this information and content to you. Verusen. The Effective syndicate. Vector Global Logistics. Supplychainrealestate.com. And many more. You can check out our sponsors on the show notes of this episode, OK. It feels like Groundhog Day, but we’re gonna welcome. We’re going to bring in our my fearless co-hosts on today’s show. First off, Ben Harris, director, Supply chain Ecosystem Expansion with the Metro Atlanta Chamber Band. How you doing?

[00:01:34] Doing well, Scott. How are you doing?

[00:01:36] Fantastic. Great to have you back. It’s been a while, but looking forward to kind of seeing what you’ve been up to as well as you got some great stories that I think will be interesting to R Supply chain our global supply chain audience. Yeah, it’s good to be back. You bet. And we’ll. HIRWAY Founder, chief evangelist with backbeat marketing whichwill How are you doing? Hey, doing good, buddy. Great to have you back. And you’ve been out west.

[00:02:01] Have been. Yes, going out west today. Appreciate me as one, Zebo. And I’d say you’re a big out west. Yeah, that’s right.

[00:02:09] Well, so that’s really where we’ll start. You know, it’s been at least a few weeks or in some cases, you know, a month or so. Sanjar both in the studio. We’re doing to our Supply chain City series. Let’s give our audience update of your recent adventures and we’ll start with you. So at West means what?

[00:02:26] Yeah, we’re not to see SCMP, the annual conference for us. You know, this year it was in Anaheim. You know, it kind of goes in between Anaheim and Nashville and Orlando and Chicago and Atlanta. And this year was in Anaheim, right in the shadow of Disneyland. But it’s it’s honestly my favorite supply chain conference to go to all of them. And it’s because it’s so it’s just I mean, much like ourselves and Supply chain City and I. And our podcasts, Seno Supply Chain Now Radio, it’s so focused on that particular segment. I mean, it really is sort of like old home week in a way. You see people that you know, that I’ve worked with. Going back to, you know, my mom, my first, you know, dealings with Manhart Associates and on, you know. So it’s fun to see you get industry analysts, you get media, you get pretty much every player you can think of that. And I would say that over the years, the infusion of the new digital freight companies, particularly Uber freight in convoy. You know, know we had Kiersten in here. You know, about a month ago, I didn’t see her there, but I saw a lot of the guys on her team. She should have. She is a incredible speaker. Yes. And I’ll make sure you do this thing next year. I just didn’t find her. But, you know, that infusion of youth and an enthusiasm has really helped that conference and probably a lot of these conferences, honestly, because. And it and it’s sort of pushing like the S.H. Robinsons in the world. I mean, they have sort of updated their their marketing and their their, you know, their messaging to let people know like, hey, we can do this stuff, too, not just because we’re the old warhorse in the industry. But it was inspiring and great. And we had no clients there. And it was obviously the weather was gorgeous and they did a really good job with it. And, you know, saw Dave Maddox hang out with them quite a bit at the food truck people. And yeah, he’s good people. Yeah.

[00:04:29] He didn’t write for our listeners. Dave Mattox leads the Atlanta chapter of the CSC NDP roundtable and he’s been present now apart for three or four years. And he is great. People are doing some really neat things here in metro Atlanta. And Will, I don’t have the dates in front me, but I think we’ve got some key takeaway interviews set up in the next few weeks, right?

[00:04:48] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:49] Here next Wednesday, we’re going to talk to four different companies that we’re at. See SCMP and kind of get their sights and sounds because it’s one thing for me to say it. It’s. It’s another thing to hear from companies that were presenting and get an idea of, you know, certainly some of the conversations they had, some of the sales activity they had some of the media. So, yeah, we’re going to talk to Archie Hub, which is a new asset base, digital freight forwarder along that, you know, sort of a competitive convoy. So that’d be interesting to get their perspective. They actually launched there. We’ll talk to our friends Resilience 360. They were they were on hand. It’s actually really cool because that company in particular is it is great to show. It shows well, because they put up a big screen and it shows all the disruptions that are happening in the world that at any given time and at the time, as the whatever that was three weeks ago, Humberto was sort of bearing down on the, you know, as the latest hurricane on the in the Caribbean.

[00:05:47] And so you could see it and where they were predicting it to go and, you know, with it end and how it was affecting give it industries and you could see it on the screen. I think just visualizing that was was pretty interesting for attendees, but talking to them and talking to Bluejay, you know, not another one of the Supply chain transportation companies.

[00:06:09] And we’ll be talking to them, too. So it’s gonna be fun. I’m glad we’re able to do that. Would be a kind of a SEUS.

[00:06:15] Impey Recap sights and sounds kind of second helping. All right. Good stuff. Well, all right, Ben. So Will’s been busy these last three or four weeks for sure. How about yourself?

[00:06:25] Yeah. Guess who’s up in Boston at the Adva Med? They do a med tech conference. They do several often comments. But this is one of their largest and really devoted specifically to medtech and really that industry and in real. And to be even more specific, it’s more so on the medical device side, which of course, as we know from a supply chain standpoint, it’s been the entire conference. You don’t really you don’t go expecting it to be a supply chain Sheer. You know, you think about what all goes on in health care and medical device and so forth. But really, I think Supply chain was at the center of almost everything at the show. And Cash, I must have talked to every piece of the supply chain there as far as stakeholders and so forth. It was just really interesting to talk about, you know, from the actual the idea you had a lot of different, you know, venture capitalists out there, a lot of companies that were venture capital backed and so forth. You know, they’re looking for additional funding, different series and so forth. And just to look at their products and actually to experience, you know, some of their products. And then, you know, they had a lot of questions about, you know, how do we get to market on that stuff? And that’s what was really interesting, is taking it from the idea to actually put together the product itself. But then also actually getting it in the consumer’s hands to help them. And really, it was just amazing to see the amount of resources that are devoted to medtech like that for Supply chain.

[00:07:44] And it was really mind-blowing to me that just how many companies were out there. There are a lot of companies that were right, that were represented, that were they have a big presence in Georgia. Also, ResMed was out there. The CEO had a great conversation with him. They’ve got a pretty big manufacturing distribution operation here in metro Atlanta. And then a couple other companies, Stryker, which you guys might know, your knee replacements, your hip replacements and so forth. I mean, they’ve they’re it, you know, when it comes to that. And they had they had one of their guys there actually just they just made a big investment in an innovation hub, Atlanta, with Emory. So really excited for them to talk about that on a stage in front of a hundred plus people. They had a very sophisticated supply chain strike. They do. I do think they were Manhatten associate. They were. I estimate one way. I guess they still are. But yeah, really, really fun. A lot of fun companies that were out there. And it was just great to talk about, you know, from contract research organizations or CROI, as they’re called, all the way up to, you know, people do they’re doing you’re doing door deliveries like u._p._s is in your FedEx. I actually didn’t have a good FedEx contact until last week on the health care side. So I made a really good connection with their V.P. of health care. They’re so nice. Great. Great conference overall.

[00:08:57] You know, we I’ve exchanged couple notes with one of the other big carriers and their health care division. And we don’t talk enough about the health care Supply chain want the book a future episode. Yeah, I’ve been deeper on that because at that time, like every every different sector supply chain, there’s some or some unique HNIs about the health care supply chain that probably doesn’t give enough visibility.

[00:09:19] Or you could just come to my panel discussion tomorrow at George BIO’s.

[00:09:22] Look at that. Was so smooth.

[00:09:25] Been for those for those of you listening. That was not set up intentionally, I guess. And now we’ve been talking about, you know, summit that has been coming up for a while now. You know, as far as things that, you know, upcoming events that we talk about. But yeah, tomorrow is finally the day for Georgia BIO’s Summit. So we’re doing a little little panel discussion actually on Georgia assets as what we’re calling. Okay. It’s really more about the supply chain stakeholders within the industry. So I think we should do a little while redux maybe and maybe invite some of those guest back here and we could do to our own session talk about them.

[00:09:54] Let’s do it. We’ll make that happen. We’ve already got some dates booked for November and December for the. Sin City series may well add some bonus episodes. Great topics. OK, so the other news that I know we’re all aware that we’re all excited about, we just we continue to get kind of build the engine for the 2020 Atlanta Supply chain Awards. Yes, sir. It’s been a long work in progress. All right. Well, we tried to we’re trying to capitalize on the momentum and the success in the first year, right? Yeah. Which was just as it seemed like it just happened. Right. But we’re in position now this week to be publishing a new Web site, kind of a new brand, a new positioning of the event. We’re going a little bit bigger. We were adding more room and we sold out of seats last year. And a little more room. We’ve got a new partner with Moto X 2020, which will be serving as our host. We’ve got some new award categories, including the A Reverse Logistics Excellence Award.

[00:10:50] We’ve already confirmed that the reverse Logistics Association will be a partner once once again. Tony Tony Sciarrotta. That’s right. And talk about components of the Indian supply chain. It doesn’t give them visibility yet. Return side and reverse Logistics. You know, we’re doing our best to spotlight that that component more, more and been we’ve got thanks to you and the Metro Atlanta Chamber, we’ve got two exceptional participants between a keynote and MSDS. So tell us more about those.

[00:11:19] Yeah. So I actually just. Was it yesterday, Scott, that we confirmed Shane Cooper, who’s actually with a Vetlanta Center for Progress? I get that right. Atlanta Committee for Program LANTA. Committee for Progress. Thank you, sir. And she was actually folie with West Rod. I think she was like vice president there of transformation for them for a little while. Had a couple different supply chain related roles even previous to that. So extremely excited about SHANN joining us. She’s a she’s a phenomenal speaker, been a friend of the chamber for a long time. I have not had the pleasure of meeting SHANN directly. Yes, I’m really looking forward. I think we’re gonna take her lunch here soon enough, Scott, and get to know her a little bit better before before that. So, yeah, we’re very excited about confirming here. Then we also have one other guest.

[00:12:03] Let me late, but just a second. Go ahead. So not only was SHANN, the chief transformation officer at West Rock, but prior to that where I where she first hit my radar, no pun intended, where it is, where she’s led as a senior executive, Lockheed Martin facility. Yes. Wrote yes. Where they manufacture the the Hercules yet, which is the longest running military aircraft aviation product line in history here in the States. So great speaker. What a rich background that she has in Supply chain manufacturing, you name it. So they get her. And she’s also doing some neat things with her current role where she’s leading. She’s serving as executive director with the Atlanta Committee for Progress, which is helping to make business happen here in metro Atlanta. So excited about that. Sorry. Ahead to this. This is our latest breaking development. And ever since that came across e-mail over the weekend, that’s really just been space. All really excited, right?

[00:13:04] Yeah, absolutely. And that’s not our only other speaker that we just confirmed. Also, we’ve got one other from a pretty big lofty position ever. GP I’m not gonna steal your thunder sky, but I’ll I’ll let you make the announcement.

[00:13:16] Appreciate that. Christy Fisher, president and CEO with Georgia Pacific LLC really excited about a Christian joining us as keynote. We saw, of course, Christian was a keynote during the 2018 George Logistics summit and was well-received as part of one of many presentations he’s been asked to make over the years. But great story. You know, if we’re going to celebrate the metro Atlanta in the end, Supply chain successes as this outstanding to partner with some iconic brands that are headquartered right here in the city. So to have Christian Fisher, you know, the fearless leader of Georgia-Pacific join us as Keynote and Shane Cooper, what two big names to get to that our audience will be looking forward to hearing from you.

[00:13:57] I’m gonna say, in addition to your comments to Scott, it really complements well what we did last year around content. We talked about the fireside chat with Kevin Heath, of course, the chief procurement officer for GPE at him and also the leader who has started the point, a search for Supply chain innovation. So we’re lucky enough to have Kevin last year. And also Daria Farooqi was kind of at audible. We call them the reha kind of stand up. And I think that was one the highlights of the entire program was having her Israel, who’s she is now a fruit for your listeners out there who don’t know Daria. Daria Farooqi is the president of B Point A Center for Supply chain Innovation. So that was one of our big key themes last year around innovation. So we’re very excited to have them back. And we’re going to be talking about another fun announcement also that we’re going to a will tease now. I don’t want to steal thunder, but there should be a pretty big announcement for around around g.p actually at the event. So stay tuned for more details on that.

[00:14:51] Outstanding. So big thanks to SHANN and Christian and their teams, of course, for joining forces on our 2010 Atlanta Supply chain Awards. And, of course. Great. Great department with that. But marketing is a big part of the effort, and the reason that we founded this initiative first place is to, you know, spotlight and amplify all the different people in the companies and technologies, innovations that yet are the story here. Right. And the Supply chain City. So looking forward to that March 10th, 2020 and registration nominations, everything will be opening in the next few days before you know it. It sure will. OK. So moving right along, we can talk about that till the cows come home. I’m sure our listeners Veridian. Some say registration is not open, but hey. Go ahead. Mark your calendar. Right. March step. All right. So let let’s get to the red meat of today’s podcast and today’s episode. It’s always great to have Will. Well, I think you’re you’re an economist at heart, you know? Yes. You’ve got your finger on the pulse when it comes to trade and Sheer tariffs. And let’s dive into some updates there.

[00:15:57] Yeah. The latest is that the United States and Japan agreed to a limited free trade agreement last, let’s say, on the 25th. It’s been a couple of weeks, actually, but we haven’t touched on it yet. So we’re reducing tariffs on 42 different lines for over 40 million dollars of agricultural imports, both coming to Japan from us and from Japan here.

[00:16:23] And that’s going to eliminate some of the pressures on on on farmers on in both countries. It was really just. We know that in the U.S. it’s ethanol, beef and pork, wheat and barley, wine, soybeans that will now receive preferential tariff access. And so so that’s helpful to those guys. They have really been squeezed this year as far as fund profits due to some of these pressures. It’s one of the many stories that we don’t think we’ve touched on the farmers yet. But but but those are the one of the many stories have been affected by this by this trade war that’s been going on.

[00:17:02] And there’s the other thing is that they have lifted really the threat of auto tariff socialism, which is a major you know, a major sticking point, obviously, for Japan, considering just how much business they do here in America. And the plan was, well, you know, we want to yeah, we want to see a little tit for tat back and forth. You know, back back into Japan. But but they’ve never read the tape. They’ve agreed to table those discussions for now.

[00:17:28] So, so good news for the farmers and for the auto industry, for both for both countries. There’s so much going on now. I’ll talk with Albert Sorto, who’s gonna be leading a panel this Wednesday at the Georgia Manufacturing Summit on global trade and tariffs and some things going on there. But, you know, while there is plenty of negativity and issues that are slowing business down there, still a lot of really neat stories in an aggressive collaboration going on in light of this trade. Yeah, we need more certainty. Right. We need to get some these issues settled, right? Yes, for sure.

[00:18:02] But what’s interesting is just along what you’re saying is that it is causing people to take a deeper look on how to be more efficient and how to find find more profits within their company, like within agricultural. Just to touch on that. It’s specifically there are companies like native ag tech. You know, up in Brooklyn. And what they do is they they track when you plant a particular crop. They can track it from seed to sale. So it’s awesome, you know. So it just gives more visibility. It gives a grocery store. They understand where these crops are coming from, what they’ve gone through, you know. Have they gone to any weird weather patterns that have been droughts, you know, et cetera? Where exactly in the country it came from? You know, how close is it to me? Those steps, as I’d say. So it’s bringing some of the supply chain stuff that we talk about all the time with with the, you know, consumer products. But bringing it I mean, seed to sale to to the agricultural community, which again, as you know, Martin hasn’t had to be a sophisticated with this type of data until, you know, sort of in this way being forced to look at some different ways to try and find some efficiencies driving you drama, innovation and trying to capture efficiencies, how however we can.

[00:19:11] And in this complex global market, which has as some has some winds taking place that we that we hope are settled soon. Speaking at companies that are getting creative in light of some of the complexity of doing global business will know one of the companies on your radar is Bed, Bath and Beyond. Right.

[00:19:32] Yeah. I mean, that was again, I think this is exactly what we’re talking about. You’re looking at a company that Bed Bath Beyond. They’re looking to cut $1 billion in inventory out of their supply chain and at closing, what was it I believe is a 60, 60 stores.

[00:19:49] Initially, I think they were planning for 40 and gave up that 60.

[00:19:52] Right. And, you know, they’re going to do that within the next 18 months. You know, they. They already reported a hundred and ninety four million write down in the second quarter. So but but they’re looking to become more lean, you know, more efficient use. Use the stores that they have as distribution centers. A lot of the things that we’ve talked about on on on the show here in the past. I mean, this is again, you’re looking at a company that’s that’s pulling out all the stops to use technology to to to find some different ways to be successful.

[00:20:27] Yeah. And I think I saw that article in Supply chain Dobb. They speaking technology, they reference something called. And Malcolm went at The Shootist Note like a markdown optimization package Sheer that they were using to figure out how they can they can get rid of some of this dead inventory. You know, what was the right mark downs was right arms to mark down how much these kind of factors that will help them get rid of some of this excess inventory? That’s right. The other thing, interesting thing about that story that I read was how they are so much of their their in-house brand is source indirectly. So there’s a lot of middle companies. Right. Intermediary aspects there, supply chain. And they’re looking to procure that differently, which will you know, there’s some huge margin opportunities. So, you know, the devil’s in the details. It’s one thing to identify these opportunities and, you know, plan build your game plan. But man, talk about the Supply chain practicioners part of the Bed, Bath and Beyond team that I can be execute on these huge, massive projects.

[00:21:36] Want to work for sure. That’s a different kind of lean to when you’ve got one thing, you know, from an assets standpoint or stores and inventory, you going to get lean there for sure. But also from an operational standpoint with just pricing and margins mean they’re razor thin for retail as it is. Right. So there’s still some stuff that’s kind of built in there that they have really taken advantage of. And yeah, that’s a great place to start. So good for them to do for doing that.

[00:21:58] And it looks like they’re trying to do more importing as well, which is interesting because just like you said with some of those, you know, private label things, private label inventory that just sort of sits around, you know, and becomes that that that access enjoy that they don’t need they can use imported to sort of mix and match and figure out to patch some of the holes and and in order as they need on demand.

[00:22:20] You know, and to our listeners, whether you’re listen to this live or you’re listening to this on the replay, if you have any if you’re working at a company, retail or otherwise, and you all have kicked off some some creative ways of finding efficiencies here. And, you know, as we are in the last few months, 20, 19, shoot us a note. We’d love to talk shop with you. Please connect at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com. We’d love to kind of see what other teams are doing. You know, every company doesn’t have their their plan published like Bed Bath Miyata has had here. But, you know, it’s it’s a tough time for for a lot of folks in the global business environment. Okay. So that was the big bathmat and we should give a shout out supply chain dive. Great. Yeah, great stories that they’ve got their finger on the pulse over there. All right. So, Ben, let’s bring you back into the conversation. Let’s talk about U.P.S. and some big news that came out this past week or so.

[00:23:18] And I think he’d had to be living under a rock at this point. If you hear about this stuff with u._p._s. They just secured a milestone FAA approval for drone deliveries just now. So they received FAA part 135 135 certification, which allows the company to deliver goods anywhere in the country beyond line of sight and at night. So using Maton its drones and operating as a drone airline, quote unquote, U.P.S. is now permit to operate an unlimited amount of drones with an unlimited number of remote operators. So the unlimited being the key word there. That’s that’s the big difference for Sheer here. So really big deal for them. And I think, you know, it’s one of those things where there’s all these different startup companies that have been in the drone space for a long time, especially Silicon Valley, you know, and everybody’s got this cool idea for a drone. They’re kind of, you know, operating them, you know, one off here, one off there. And there’s which is great. But, you know, it’s almost like you get the big kids kind of table now. And that’s when you see big change when it comes to policy is when companies like U.P.S. take notice and they can really throw their weight around to get things like this done. So hats off to them. You know, for for being, you know, in the space early on, working with folks at the FAA to get this done. I mean, it’s one thing to engage them later in the process. But, you know, they’re talking about at the design level. They’ve been instrumental in the process of, you know, Froome from day one with u._p._s. And that’s the reason you’re seeing this, the certification, this point.

[00:24:58] That’s another now. We’ve got the green light. All right. For green light for takeoff, it’ll be really interesting to see how this goes into action. So we’ll stay tuned. What do a fallout report own on this really big news and how it continues to push on the local industry 4.0, which is happening right now? It’s been happening. So looking forward to seeing what UBS does with this this clearance. Now staying in the shipping space here. So there we go. Yeah. Let’s talk about DHL a bit.

[00:25:28] Well, and we as we talked about, you know, big mergers and big, big changes and also companies announcing big changes. You know, some companies don’t do that. But to Will’s point earlier, you know, at Bed Bath Beyond, the way they did what used to be DHL, which is now DP, DHL, after their merger with DP World, they unveiled that they are going to spend two billion euros in digital age git digitization, investments, asar or digitalization. Right. I mean, everybody says one that’s different. So, yeah, shame on me for botching that. But so, yeah, as part of a six year plan, DHL will deploy again two billion euros into warehouse automation tools, modernizing I.T. systems for them, routing optimization, Internet of Things, employee reskilling and more. So big, big investment for them. It should be it should be anything. You know, of course, the you know the details as is what’s very interesting there. So it’ll be exciting to see how that kind of comes to be and where they really make a lot of investments. Good for them. I think there’s just the amount of pressure on these companies to to move quickly and to make, you know, big investments like this. I think it’s a great move.

[00:26:36] Yeah. Speaking of technology, Logistics, one of the things we covered yesterday or this morning on the Supply chain buzz is counrty. Logistics came out with a research piece that it did in partnership with a third party marketing firm, research marketing firm. And they evaluated 13 different activities that go on in the Logistics space trying to figure out what’s the right balance between technology and humans. And that ratio that came out, which their research supported the 60 40, 60 on the technology side. But 40 percent of these activities really required that hands on that human element, the expertise, the experience factor. So be interesting. See kind of how how that story and how that research kind of this is disseminated out in industry and getting folks take. You know, I think for some companies, especially with this level investment we’re seeing across the board, you know, it might be 90 percent technology. I don’t know. It seems like for me it seems like the problem saw some of the problem solving, some of the putting out the fires. That just is part of making supply chain happen now that there’s not. Of course, as a technology play there. But I think that’s where I’m seeing that strong need for for human leadership, human interaction.

[00:27:49] Yeah, I was gonna say that. I mean, it’s for things that are you know, it’s always the automation vs., you know, kind of A.I. type tradeoff that you have there. You forget things that need you still you still need people to make choices. You know, there’s no decision making machines out there that if it’s programmed to do one way and it’ll it’ll adapt to to make different decisions based on certain things. But at the end of day, you still need humans do certain things also. That’s why, you know, a lot of there’s, you know, material handling Quinn. We talk about caillebotte’s and things like that. The reason they are caillebotte’s because they assist humans in those in that way. And I think that’s where we’re seeing a lot more investment. Investment is in the Kobol space as opposed to just straight automation when it comes to them.

[00:28:34] Well, you know, the thoughts are.

[00:28:35] I mean, that’s that you’re seeing that here in Atlanta, you know as well with, you know, the Air France front, friends of the show, Great Orange. You know, they they have technology that runs better, those gadgets as far as the kolbert’s and and the actual robots.

[00:28:52] So that’s that, you know, just to bring it back to one of team one. Yeah.

[00:28:59] Oh. Or if you’re operating a drone, you know, that was part of the announcement. U.P.S. is, you know, the drone operators themselves also in remote locations. So while they’re not, you know, inside the drone themselves, they’re they’re inside some, you know, somewhere controlling that. So, you know, it means it’s just gonna be a reskilling, if you will, of of what people are doing and how they’re doing it. And, you know, you’ll see some of those other much more menial tasks kind of go away. And that’s that’s that’s where I think robots and automation can really help.

[00:29:26] Yeah. So we didn’t really focus on this in the pre-show. But I know one of the things we want to talk about day is a kind of a supply chain. And I think we were talking about a recent article Steve Banker came out with right on the cannabis supply chain. Do we want to dive into that now or any any cover this now. I’m going on a curve ball. I’m gay. Hey, it’s the Braves card game for being at a curve ball. That’s right. Well, you know what was funny? And we’ll. I’m not not dwell on your misery. We’ve been there. The Braves haven’t won a playoff game playoff series since 2001.

[00:30:02] So what is wrong? I like your chances with being a Cardinals fan right now. Well, so, yeah, we’ll be lucky if you’re out. But also won. Well, you also admitted that it was the better team. You are an Atlanta Braves, but you know what better teamone always win.

[00:30:17] We are as. But we have the postseason history, man.

[00:30:21] You know, it always happens so we can go deal. It’s funny. Is it good?

[00:30:28] Well, earlier we were talking at the bit and we were talking about and I’m dying to talk sports right now, too. But, you know, talking about marijuana isn’t all that bad.

[00:30:35] You all right? So we’ll see. What’s funny about this is, you know, what will produce this and publish this episode? You know, a week and a half from now. And one of us is going to be, you know, either false hope or hate. The best is yet to come. Who knows how it plays out. I wish I had a crystal ball, but nevertheless. What? What a incredible couple. A three, three games a year, a late ending, late game heroics. And we’ll see what they’ve been heart wrenching and torturous.

[00:31:03] But if you’re not that bad, if you’re not like dad into it, they you know, if you’re just a baseball fan and was great baseball.

[00:31:10] Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s the playoffs. It’s just a different level of detail. It’s true coaching that goes on in the playoffs and that, you know, the season, you kind of have some of those games like, you know what that was, that it really work out, too. We’ll just get him next time.

[00:31:25] Get him new Miura. It’s not like that. The playoffs. I like that today, at least for the cards. Can’t get an MRI again today. It’s right.

[00:31:31] We’ll see what happens. All right. So let’s let’s let’s use this last segment of our of our episode here. And let’s talk about the marijuana supply chain of cannabis supply chain. It’s it’s it’s blowing up. Right. And we’re we’re seeing regulations ease up a little bit. We’ve covered that on past shows. We’ve seen an industry that is seeking out and hiring some some outstanding supply chain talent. Right. As the business prospects of growing a business in this in this specific, specific industry, really, you are are getting much more optimistic, right? Yeah. So Steve Banker came out with this Forbes article entitled The Marijuana Supply chain is home delivery next. So let’s get some initial thoughts on this article and the industry and who let me go first.

[00:32:21] Well, I think there’s still there’s some challenges to start with, you know, that with marijuana. And first of all, it’s still illegal from a federal standpoint. So that creates a little bit of problems, you know, when you start moving things across state line. Right. You know, you’ve got the Commerce Commission and whoever else that says you can’t do that. Exactly. Say it anytime. You know, in Colorado or California or wherever, the feds can go in there and just bust these guys up almost any time. I mean, yes, some things don’t hold necessarily, but it still is there’s disruption that causes doubt and disruption.

[00:32:55] So what’s interesting, some of the Sunda back-channel confidential conversations I’ve had with these these these national firms that are in this industry is as a hyper practical, no nonsense, supply chain talent. They’re ready to make stuff happen. But some of the regulations that still exist, they can’t you know, you can’t get a LTL shipment from Mexico or New Mexico to South Carolina. It’s not that you got to feel your way through it. So it’s really interesting to see that kind of old school make it happen. Supply chain expertise with this industry that’s got so many nuances right now still.

[00:33:33] Yeah. Well, there’s also this is a blessing and a curse for marijuana. Folks in the marijuana trade and industry is that, you know, unlike fruits and vegetables, there’s really, you know, marijuana can be grown year round in a controlled environment. So there really is no peak season per say like you would have, you know, with the fruit vegetable trade all the time. We know where you have kind of the season and you, you know, when it’s coming and so forth. But that makes things tough from a supply and demand.

[00:34:01] Everyone fishes on tour. Yeah. Yes. He did. By the man planning. All right. So, Will, I know you’re your don to weigh in here, but many jerai. Yeah. What’s your what’s your take? Give it. Give us give us soil.

[00:34:14] It’s funny that you were talking about the as supply chain professionals are coming into the space. It’s still a relatively unsophisticated methods that are being used. I mean, there’s I mean, there’s people are still using faxes, you know, to to help move to help move shipments in and make forecasting predictions. And. But you’re obviously going to see that at one of the things I found interesting was there’s a company called the the the salesforce.com of Bud.

[00:34:45] You know, or if wheat, whatever you want to know, McClay, what’s the name of the company? They’re called Leaf Link leafletting like that. Get it? Their scottoline.

[00:34:54] I’m usually so slow to the Greene. I go out with you. I’m with you.

[00:34:58] Well, and it’s it’s basically just a CRM for weed companies, you know, and all all the things that you’re talking about that’s lost, you know, with the pull downs that have to do with the fact that, you know, different regulations for different states and, you know, the the the diff-, you know, where you can ship and where you can’t and how you can ship it.

[00:35:21] And you know how you check for her permitting. Yeah. Yeah. Vary state by state, obviously. So. So I think that’s really interesting that you see somebody like literally Taylor and but but you’ve seen it across every industry. So it makes total sense. It’s just you know, you got to it just maybe just because it’s marijuana, it’s it’s it makes a little bit more high profile when these things happen in a little funny, you know?

[00:35:45] Nathan Leaf link, that’s not a bad a name for a company in the marijuana space.

[00:35:51] So let’s get to Steve’s question here. Home delivery, is that on the immediate horizon? What do we think? If you had to look in too deep into your crystal ball, Ben, is this is this what’s around the corner?

[00:36:05] I think it’s going to take a little while. I mean, we you look at home delivery right now and you’ve got companies that, you know, are trying to do it right now. Look at Instacart and software. Then they’re you know, it’s they’re doing OK. They’re not making money hand over fist, you know, but they’re they’re doing pretty well in the space. But a lot of times, you know, people, you know, are more opportunistic when they buy things like that. Like I think Steve talked about, you know, if we had to compare an industry with a marijuana trade, talked about alcohol. Right. And, you know, people don’t just go, I’d like a 12 pack delivered to my house. You know, per say, they usually just go get.

[00:36:42] That’s when those things just go to the grocery store or the liquor store and you go purchase it. And that’s how it works right now with dispensaries. Southwire going in Colorado. That’s for sure. Yeah. Well, what would you. Well, you had a great standing as far as the amount of dispensaries. There are three times as many dispensaries in Colorado as there are Starbucks. Wow.

[00:37:00] You know, that is it is a season to wrap your head around. Yeah. You know, in terms of because everyone can draw from, you know, think of your neighborhood and how many Starbucks you pass this, especially in a city like Atlanta. Yeah. Here’s an amazing stat. Yeah. Holy cow.

[00:37:18] They usually have a dispensary right next to the Dunkin Donuts doing that. I don’t know why that would be one that Iraq could put them right next, which I have been struggling so bad.

[00:37:26] Maybe outside that could be out there. Maybe it enhances performance. We’re going to learn all kinds of things. Oh, gosh. Nice ballpark. There it is. It sure is. All right.

[00:37:39] So any any other thoughts when it comes to standing up the industry, when it comes to the legality and also say, you know, we talked about, you know, kind of market drivers that are that can negatively affect the market, too, is you’ve got the black market still out there also. So we’re talking about legally trading marijuana right now. You know, the legal market for but there’s black market is always going to be there also. And it’s actually pretty profitable, I think. I had actually heard in Canada, you know, when they announced that nationwide that it was basically legal all. And one day I was actually in Toronto, you know, a time when they made the announcement.

[00:38:16] I didn’t partake say, but I thought it was really it was fun to be there and then passed on the grass. It did pass on the grass that day. But it was interesting just to just to see, you know, what would happen basically once it does, especially when something we talk about overnight and big change like that. I mean, that is a huge shock to supply and demand for a place over an entire country of that size to just say, oh, yeah, that’s so candidates who they just say.

[00:38:42] Go right ahead. You can do it. That’s a really bad idea. Canadian. Maybe it’s.

[00:38:50] But yeah. So. So but I think the the tendency there though is still the black market was still even though it was literally legal there. Yeah. Yet the black market is still is what dominates that market. Mm hmm. Which is just fascinating to me that I thought you’d think that people would be like, oh, I can just go get it for legally down the road, Spencer. But they can still get it cheaper and easier on the black market.

[00:39:12] It’s still got that. They’ve still got that one cousin. Yeah. So speaking of legal marijuana, currently, as STF cites his article, fully legal in 11 states plus Washington, D.C., but also he mentioned CBD oil, which is sold in 28 states. I think that the latter CBD, all including Georgia now heading here is right. Yeah.

[00:39:36] I think we’ve talked about on this show previous episodes, I’ve I’ve had some about job, but I’ve had some some folks I know well that have really used some of the cannabis treatments, especially with epaulette epileptic condition, not for their children. Right. And up up until recently, I don’t think you could get that in in Georgia, sort of. Folks are moving to different, different states. I think that that is one wrinkle in all of this or not wrinkle, but one aspect of all this that that I think a lot of folks maybe. You know, certainly I didn’t. It was on my radar, too. I kind of had these personnal interactions. I think that is this is this really important topic that most folks may not think about when I think of the legalization or the deregulation of the marijuana industry, you know. Right. There’s some really I mean, beyond the you know, the where most people’s minds go to, which is a recreational use, maybe there are some serious applications for related products that especially with very positive Kisha life changing and mental emotional support.

[00:40:43] I mean, there there there are a number of different applications beyond just the straight medical ones. That’s right. That those factors are going to have to be considered.

[00:40:52] Now, let’s see. Very good point there, Scott. And I think that’s where that’s why you see 28 states as opposed to 11 that have, you know, that are granted the CBD and the things that are, you know, really, really have a true, profound, you know, effect on people’s lives. And that’s that’s what’s been really exciting about, you know, some of the efforts here.

[00:41:11] So do you think that native ag tech was at the name of the company? Uh-Huh. Is it do you see an application where there can be tracking, you know, in this industry, you know, seed to sell?

[00:41:22] Not that that’s not in their plan now, but but I could see it becoming I mean, because obviously it’s a profitable industry.

[00:41:29] And companies continue to continue to grow. But I think they’re they’re they’re dealing with the you. Yeah. Just tomatoes and such at the moment.

[00:41:38] Yeah. Good stuff. Well, any final thoughts on the cannabis supply chain. Marijuana supply chain. And there’s some local players right now doing their own touch on some local players, Ben.

[00:41:48] You know, we did and we have in previous episodes of Supply chain City here. So we Satara Wellness actually, who I’ll know if Malcolm can can do this quickly, but they just changed their name, their company name, actually, as of today. I went to their Web site earlier and I looked at just the about us section, you know, thinking I was thinking, okay, let me just give an overview. Stairwell is kind of what they do, but they they, you know, manufacture and produce wellness products when it comes to marijuana, mostly CBD products, IMS and so forth and so forth.

[00:42:23] But yeah, they just change their name today to parallel a half of the Malcolm Pipp that parallels new brand name pioneering well-being.

[00:42:31] Is there their business there? So, yeah. So that’s excitement. And they’re based right here in Atlanta. They’ve been extremely aggressive about putting together a phenomenal group of leaders and some supply chain leaders in that area also. I know they work with another Atlanta based company here flourish. I believe that we’ve mentioned about previously on the show. Also Kolton Griffin Griffin, our good friend there, who’s a former Manhattan associate employee as well. He he’s been working there for a long time. And he started that company. He’s actually, of course, spends a lot of his time in the California area now. Course, because the industry is just much more mature USA out there. But yeah, they’re they’re both those companies are still based here and they’re huge as far as dominating the southeast.

[00:43:17] And in that arena will flourish. And you’ll both know much more about Supply chain software than I do. But that platform was built specifically for the cannabis industry, correct? Yeah. Okay. So let’s as we wrap up here today on the latest Supply chain City episode here on Supply Chain Now Radio, which is neat to have the gang back together, we’ve got some great shows in November. We’re gonna have a special guest from Stored.

[00:43:46] Yes, Shawn Henry. Shawn. We haven’t had him on and on about a year, probably.

[00:43:51] That’s right. Yeah. So looking forward to your store has been rock n roll in no different ways. I was looking forward to him being on the show in November and then we’ll have a special guest in early December as well, which we’re keeping the wraps for now. But let’s let’s get we got to talk about baseball. All right. We got game time not too far from here. Game of the in l._d._s. And well, what’s your what’s your fearless prediction game for?

[00:44:18] Oh, I mean, I like the Cardinals to win man and force a game five, not only because I have tickets to my Wednesday night, I’ll tell you that. Let me give us a score score today while the cardinals still can’t hit at all. So we’ll go. Yeah. Dallas, Michael on what, three days rest day? But I think that he doesn’t do that very often. And people do when they push guys like this, it doesn’t always work out. I’m sure they’ll have a quick look for him. It’s the playoffs. But, you know, we’ll go with something like five to three, five, the three card prediction.

[00:44:48] Ben, I think the Cardinals win today, too. I know it sounds bad, Scott, but I’m thinking four to two for Tebow’s.

[00:44:58] Boring playoff games as we’ve had so far.

[00:45:01] All right, so here might be the the the pattern and Rup then I think today I think there’s so much momentum in baseball is not like football and some of the games of momentum is tougher. However, I think the Braves and come out and they’re going to score. But Durant’s thought I think last night is a close amount. I’ll tell you honestly.

[00:45:20] Watch in the first inning. Dakota Hudson. He’s a sinker baller for the Cardinals and sinker. And on the ground balls. That’s the idea that he has had trouble with his command on that sinker lately. And in the last few of his September outings, he has walked several guys. He’s gotten out of it a lot of times, but he’s there. You may see like a bases loaded one out situation. And that will the game will turn right there. Here, right here. Left. If he is a righty, Mississippi. That helps. That helps for our luck at a little. Yes. Yeah, yeah. He does at hand, but he throws grand balls. That’s his thing.

[00:45:54] 3:52 Braves 84 drives and game. I would love that outcome. We’ll see what happens. Okay. So let’s wrap up today. A few just a few upcoming events. As always, we want to invite our audience.

[00:46:07] Come check us out in person. We’ve got some really neat events that we’re currently scheduled for and a few that we’re adding to a schedule here next few weeks. But for starters, here on October 9th, just two days down the road here on Wednesday, the cop, many in the Georgia manufacturing summit put Omar our friends over at the Georgia manufacturing alliance. We’re gonna be leading a panel session broadcasting love. Greg White will be leading a couple of onsite interviews there. Jason Maule, CEO of the GMH. He’s got some great, great keynotes from PDG and Kisha. So looking forward to that event.

[00:46:43] Will both y’all be there? I will be there. Yes. Fantastic. Well, I don’t I don’t know if I would be on. Get on your radar. Sit on my calendar. Put it on there. I might have. This guy was the keeper of his Gates in charge of me. If anybody was wondering, by the way. Oh, yeah, we’re going. I bet you’ll be there. Yes. The answer is yes.

[00:47:02] Registration is still open, too. So check that out at Georgia manufacturing alliance dot com for a full day of manufacturing heavy content, which you know, is gonna be celebrating the 10000 plus manufacturers that are here in the state of Georgia. Okay. And then October 23rd, we’re coming down to Charleston, where in partnership with the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, we’re be broadcasting live from the South Carolina Logistics Tech Talk. And you brought up DHL earlier. Their keynote event, DHL Supply chain will be down there. I will also are going to hear from Volvo cars, which the first North American manufacturing site was established in Charleston.

[00:47:44] They’ve got a pretty interesting story, but great event. You can learn more at SC Competes dot org and definitely check us out in person. And then if you’ll be in Austin, Texas. Yes. Oh, yeah. It has been a while. Both. Yeah. And, um. On the on that wire. I have not been asked yet. And so we’re gonna be an awesome with our friends at EAFE November 7th and 8th at the 2013 Logistics CIO Forum Spend.

[00:48:11] You should add a couple days before, after and just to kind of see the city for yourself, too.

[00:48:16] Well, we’re gonna be driving the van out there. So we’re gonna be adding a probably a couple days, a front end, a couple lives in the back. But the josee the news with to air lately. Now you got on leave soon. So Reuters. All right. The global media behemoth has purchased for transport, John, is that right?

[00:48:34] I just found out this morning and we have really proud of our partnership that we’ve established with E.M.T. Folks, Nick and USCIRF. Yeah. And looking forward to this next event. But really from from by all accounts, it’s going to be it’s going to be a perfect marriage that will help continue to grow. E.F. Events.

[00:48:53] Yeah, I think just the when you bring the name reuters’ to the table, I mean, that’s a whole different level of, you know, cachet. I think to that event. So that’s awesome. Scott, that’s exciting.

[00:49:02] Well, congrats to our friends at EAFE and course the Reuters folks. I think what an outstanding acquisition. The further their chops in the in the Siplon and global supply chain industry and. If you’re interested in that event, the Logistics SEO Forum in Austin, registration is still open. You can check out our events tab at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com or you can check out EMT dot com. Check out their events calendar. Okay. Reverse Logistics SCAC in conference and Expo in Vegas in February. Oh yeah, I skipped everyone. We’re gonna be partnering with the Atlanta CSC Impey chapter in January with one of the local events where they’re gonna be featuring one of the NASCAR NASCAR track leaders. So you’ll follow it with Astra. Yep. They’re gonna be coming giving an update on some of the things that that organization is doing, of course, in conjunction with CSC MP Organ broadcast live from the event. Looking forward to. Doing a variety of of their supporters and their board members as well as well, we’ll see the net mass tracked prisoner may kind of keep her presentation focused only on the local audience, but nevertheless, I bet we connect and interview her as well.

[00:50:14] And you can Google.

[00:50:16] That event has already opened their registration calendar. She can Google the Atlanta CSC NDP organization to a to sign up and join us. So then Arly Conference Expo out in Vegas in February 2020 and then of course, mutex 2020. We’re rebroadcasting laugh throughout the four days and yeah, hosting our 2020 Atlanta Siplon awards.

[00:50:36] So big, big mutex been a great, great partner and 35000 people right here in Supply chain City, one of the largest North American trade supply chain trade shows is the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Wow. So you got to kind of. Well, we worked my verbage. Moto X pro.

[00:50:54] Same thing basically. But yeah it is. It’s a pretty big show. Yeah, huge. Excited to have it here in Atlanta.

[00:51:00] And the really cool thing about that show is is free to attend. Yeah. Modoc show dot com to check it out for days. Presentations they have. As Greg likes to say, if it’s a white why wouldn’t you attend. You know if it’s free led to. Yeah absolutely. Yeah. Folks will stand up there. Many manufacturing production lines in their Georgia World Congress Center. So an outstanding networking. So if you’re interested, check out Modoc Show dot com.

[00:51:27] All right.

[00:51:29] We what do we not cover today? That was a lot. It was like I was kind of impressed at how much we gotten done in the same amount of time. Yeah. So the stamina. All right.

[00:51:41] All right. So we’ve given the baseball predictions. Kidding aside. Well, we’ve all been there was on the heartbreak losses. We were all it was a tough game. It was a tough one. You refer to Game 3?

[00:51:52] Yeah, it’s a tough one. I was a bad one, but good for you all, as always. A flip side to somebody crying and somebody somebody’s whipping. Yes.

[00:52:00] All right. So let’s give our listeners a chance. If if will they want to get in touch with you and watch all you’ve got going on backbeat marketing. How to fix fondue. Yeah, backbeat, marketing, dot com. Perfect. So that easy. Birgit. Just me an e-mail. William at backbeat marketing Danka. Okay. And Ben, if they want to check in on all the cool things at the metro Atlanta Chamber is up to furthering and expanding business, but especially supply chain in the sports business and in Georgia and in metro Atlanta. How can I get in touch with you?

[00:52:28] Metro Atlanta chamber com. And then there’s many places you can go from there. But I would start with that. And then always you can get me on my email. B Harris at M A SEUS as in metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce dot com.

[00:52:42] Okay. Great to have you both. Looking forward to the next episode with Sean and store. That’ll be an outstanding addition. Stored is a really interesting company that’s doing some big things.

[00:52:52] Yeah. And we get we added one more guest actually that show we’ve got a guy from Hermes, the founder of Hermes is gonna be on the show as well. A.J., people come in if you have not heard of Hermès. Get ready, because it’s definitely an interesting, really cool concept and it has huge implications. And supply chain.

[00:53:12] So R&M one two punch. Yeah. Read the book a second hour for that episode.

[00:53:17] It’s going to be tough to get it all in. That’s for sure. But you know what? That’s why we do this.

[00:53:21] That’s what we do. Should be fun. All right. So to our audience, be sure to check out other upcoming events, replays of our interviews, other resources at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com. You can find us an Apple podcast, SoundCloud, all of leading sites where podcasts can be found. Be sure to check out us on YouTube as we’re publishing our behind the scenes video of most of our podcasts. Be sure to subscribe. Still missing thing on behalf of the entire Supply Chain Now Radio team and the Supply chain City Gang. This is Scott Luton wishing you a wonderful week. A hit and we will see you next time on Supply Chain Now Radio. Thanks everybody.