Supply Chain Now
Episode 299

Episode Summary

On this episode of Supply Chain Now broadcast live from the RLA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Scott and Greg interview Tom Maher with Dell.

Episode Transcript

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

 

[00:00:29] A good afternoon Scott Luton here with you own supply chain. Now welcome back to the show.

 

[00:00:34] In this episode, we aren’t broadcasting live in Atlanta G-A, but rather at Las Vegas, where we continue our coverage of the reverse Logistics Association conference and expo, at least for this week. The Center of the Universe for all things reverse Logistics in returns. This episode is brought to you by Re Commerce re Commerce Group. Industries is an industry leader in returned product management returns center services, remanufacturing, reprocessing, repairing and recycling of consumer products for over two decades. The management team at Rod Commerce Group has been servicing some of the world’s leading consumer product manufacturers. You can learn more at Rod Commerce Group eak dot com. In this episode Greg White. I interviewed Tom Marre with Dille Senior Vise President, Global Service Parts.

 

[00:01:23] Tom, Hatoon. Great. Thanks for having me on the show. You bet. Our pleasure. SRODES said we could not get in and out of Las Vegas for us sitting down with you. Yeah. So I’m glad we had the opportunity at this. Oh, thanks. I’m thrilled to be here. All right. So as we always like to start before we start talking shop and best practices and what you and your team were doing at Dell. Let’s get a sense of who Tom is. So give us give that you were born and raised some your upbringing or something. The some of your. Give us the skinny on how Tom grew up.

 

[00:01:55] Okay. Sure. So born and mostly raised in the Northeast and New York. Young, maybe three years old, moved to Florida. Okay. Sports is huge for me. No matter sports fans, favorite sports team. So everything I learned from the ages of FRYDAY, I was in Florida, Port St. Lucie, so I’m a Miami Dolphins fan. We’re gonna have a great draft. All right. Boston Celtics. Cincinnati Reds.

 

[00:02:22] I grew up Notre Dame, Fighting Irish, but now went to Villanova University was a massive wildcat wow fan best basketball team The Nation. But I’m also a die hard University of Texas Longhorn fans supporting them after 21 years in Austin. Yeah. Wow. Butler grew up mostly in the East Coast. I went to Villanova University, got three siblings, parents were educators, went went to Villanova.

 

[00:02:49] Thought I’d be a great runner and thought I was a great basketball player. So you got to fill out a lot of a lot of students, wind up that way, built a whole new level. But yeah, great. For years there and then embarked on I was going to be a lawyer. Right. When did all the things you have to do? I thought I was a genius and said I’ll take a year off. So I went and spent some time with some buddies in Boston. Will Denise, Boston was officially thrown out that this is where Jay Leno, several people grew up and I was officially thrown out for not gaining enough weight. So I hope we were good. The plan was to move to Southern California, a group of us. And I ended up being the only one there, worked at a ranch, can’t learn how to ride horses, worked at a surf camp, did not learn how to surf blind as a bat, lost multiple pairs of contact lenses, gave up on that. But I really I literally lived in a trailer on the beach open the trailer there was the Pacific Ocean. I worked at the surf camp. Buddy of mine enticed me to learn how to ski. So we moved to Winter Park, Colorado, lived there for three years, met my now wife, who’s from France, who was an exchange student, spending some time working in the U.S. in Winter Park, Colorado. I did learn how to ski. Yes. So that was great. And then followed my then girlfriend, now wife to France. And I lived two years backpack and organized jobs across Greece, England, Ireland, France did that for a couple of years. And I guess I found myself. That’s a pretty broad perspective, right? Yes. But I applaud that you did in your youth.

 

[00:04:32] What most people have a bucket list for.

 

[00:04:35] There’s pros and cons. So I didn’t have a for one case. I was twenty. Yeah. And right now I’ve got a 19 year old son somewhere in Canada living out of the back of my wife’s Ford Flex. Oh, my. He built it into a camper.

 

[00:04:49] He’s got solar panels on top of fridge backup batteries hooked to the alternator. So he’s doing a gap year. And, you know, I have a tough. Time arguing? Yes. Now, I like to say I did it after I matured a little bit. Yeah, buddies convinced us he’s applied for schools. Is it literally a genius? Right. The problem is he knows it. And so we’re pretty confident he’ll go to school next year. Then I have a daughter at University of Texas graduating. Right. And and this May and a freshman at high school who will one day be in the MBA and my retirement plan. Is that right? That’s good. That’s what I’m telling them. What is your daughter going to do? You think she has her own company? Oh, wow. So already. Yeah. So she and my oldest boy have twice started up companies. He has his own photography company and that’s helping fund his trip. My daughter has a modeling agency, EVO Model Management. So even though my son is Everest and she is ocn and then the youngest is O’Ryan. So it’s even though it’s a mother agency, what she does is finds the talent. Right. So she. She did a little modeling when she was younger and understood that there’s a lot of problems in that and a lot of these industries that have, you know, young women. Yeah. And she went through some of those challenges and learned a, hey, I think I can do something her.

 

[00:06:13] So she recruits them, trains them, builds out portfolios and then works with the larger firms that I am g for. Right. And she signed several girls so that they can have a future in doing this. So we’ll do it as a gap year for them. So we’ll make it a profession. So she’s been doing that for about she just had her second year anniversary. Now you want to get a really funny story. So my my son is difficult to work with because he does all the technical stuff. Right. He’s the photographer. They had a company where she would go to all the races. She knows she’s met. A lot of the famous runners in the country would interview them and then put them up on a show like yours. But she had a lot of content that people would purchase. Right. And he would get fired every week. And then sundai by her by her. When you had to do the uploads, she’d have to rehire him because there be some technical difficulty. And he’s very Technical, very artistic. And he’ll get it all fixed. She made him sign a contract. He can’t date the models. Smart fired in the first week. Now, on occasion, Greene with a lot of prodding. He does. He does help out if she’s in a bind when he’s a photographer.

 

[00:07:25] Love it. I love it so much. We could dove into there. One question, though.

 

[00:07:30] So in your early years were from surfing to skiing to traveling the world?

 

[00:07:36] Yeah, a lot of my conjecture. A lot of folks don’t do that. Don’t feel empowered to follow up on passions and that sense of adventure. What allowed you to do that? Was it your parents or what? What enabled you to do that?

 

[00:07:50] Yeah, I don’t think my being a parent now. I’m not sure they were big fans of it back then. You didn’t have the Internet. You didn’t know everything you know today. And that’s, I think, good and bad. Right, to be able to survive on minimal amounts of money. Right. You take ketchup and put it in hot water until yourself as tomato soup.

 

[00:08:12] All right. I think I was just kind of grew up that way. We’re pretty frugal. And I was able to figure out how to get around, how to do things. I had jobs all growing up, so I never had a problem, you know, walking in and trying to find a job, waiting tables or what have you. Now, my parents, my father was an educator. So here’s his big advice was don’t get lost trying to find yourself. He probably would have preferred law school right away. And to his defense, I never ended up going. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Right.

 

[00:08:43] But they I think the end of the day as a parent and I’m a hypocrite. Right. The biggest hypocrites in the world are managers and parents. I stole that from a colleague, Nick Patterson. Yeah, but you got it. Procrit. Yes. You have to enable them and let them make the decisions, right. We’re not thrilled that I have a 19 year old started 18 drive and around. He’s driven to Fairbanks, Alaska, the Arctic Ocean, Washington, D.C.. Wow. Right. And that’s that can be a scary proposition. But you learn so much, Jess. And I think my my father once said he owes you know, you’re a great parent if you’ve got good kids who raise a family on their own and and you see them every day. And, you know, they’re not in trouble and they’re, you know, taking care of their families. You know, you’re a great parent when your kids can go anywhere on the planet and be okay. Because I think was I think he credit Erma Bombeck or somebody with that. But they you know, it’s not like they funded it for my Rod. I try to remind my 19 year old all the time, it’s not the same.

 

[00:09:48] I did it, but I paid for it. I figured out how to pay for it. All right. So before we start talking about what your team and you and your team are doing a deal, let’s talk about your professional journey.

 

[00:09:59] Reader’s Digest version, so kind of your earliest career, earliest jobs, they post surfing and skiing and traveling the world.

 

[00:10:08] First job to your current role, kind of paint that picture for that journey for us.

 

[00:10:12] Yeah, well, I’ll say in university because I thought I was gonna go to law school. It was English and psychology which has nothing to do with Supply chain. Right. So in hindsight, may may not have been the best choice, but they were great for law school. I got into Supply chain by accident. So my father was ill. I had flown back from Europe and the phone rang and it was a late temp agency and they said, hey, you passed the drug test. You can start on Monday. I said, great. You got the wrong number. But what’s the job? Yeah. Right. And it was it was an interesting role. It was TRW that was quickly separating off Computerland and then Computerland. After I joined quickly, he got split and became Van Star and the franchises kept Computerland. So I went in and I as a temp, I went in. It was part of excess and obsolescence projects. So I’ve always been in aftermarket service part. So we’re pulling a bunch of inventory from the field U.S. base and separating it and deciding what’s going to go for maybe refurbishment, repair, resell. Right. All that kind of stuff. So I learned a little bit. And then just, you know, getting to know the team leaders, getting to know me. I ended up running the warehouse. Then I ended up running a repair center as well as the warehouse and continue to just move up within what the company was then named Vance DA. And then one day it snowed like 20 some inches in 24 hours and never lived in New Jersey at the time. And my wife said, you need to make a decision. Miami or Las Vegas, Greene. She wasn’t kidding. Wow.

 

[00:11:53] So zero tolerance policy for 20 years is it’s no longer a flight attendant with United Airlines at the time.

 

[00:12:00] And she could, you know, transfer to either of those. And for me, I don’t recall the reasons we ended up in Las Vegas or right here for two years. And the company was nice enough. I actually took a demotion in order to facilitate that. And then I ended up running a rental like otherwise.

 

[00:12:16] You’re going to get a demotion, the mayor. Yes.

 

[00:12:19] Yes. Lose. Lose 20 percent of your pay or 50 percent.

 

[00:12:25] So that we had as a lot of companies do.

 

[00:12:27] Right. Dell was just phenomenal growth back in the 90s. And they took senior vise president from our company, who took a vise president who brought myself. And many people were still at Dell today over where Dell was growing so fast. I wanted to kind of professionalize the aftermarket services piece of that by getting people, you know, who were doing that as an industry verse says you don’t when you’re growing real fast, you find smart people, put them into new roles and give them opportunities, which is great, but wanted to augment that with a few people. Been doing it for a while. So I did that for about five years and ended up at Dell in Austin and my first job there. And we’re growing so fast back that it happened to a lot of people. I showed up and had a new job my first day. So I interviewed for Job A, I actually said no. Almost a year later and multiple stock splits. All right. My company was moving me to Atlanta. Nothing against Atlanta, gentlemen, but we preferred Austin and ended up in Austin.

 

[00:13:31] And when I showed up, we had just the announcement of digital being acquired by Compaq occurred. So Compaq is obviously a big competitor back in the day. And they were doing digital, was doing our repair depot for our notebooks when we ship them in. And so quickly, I was put onto that project with a brand new job and we had to move it riser, move it to a company P.C. server source. And then I just grew within the aftermarket supply chain inside of Dell. Back then, we were all very subregional, all inside the business units. And today, we are a global services organization that didn’t exist, you know, 20, 21 years ago. Yeah. And as that continue to grow out, I did stints where I ran North America, same day supply chain. I ran all of Latin America than the Americas. I did a few months in Singapore helping work on a project out there. As we started to outsource a lot of our supply chain and then, you know, many years later, now I’m responsible for the entire aftermarket service.

 

[00:14:35] So on that note, that costs so much to dove into across that journey. But for the sake of that interview here today, Greg, let’s dove into kind of what that mean. Everyone knows Dale, right?

 

[00:14:47] Right. Right. I think everyone knows in their mind what Dell does, either what it did originally or what it does now.

 

[00:14:58] But tell us a little.

 

[00:14:59] A bit about what global, sir, what role does global service ports play in in the Daryl ecosystem and Dell Technologies now as is obviously very large and by helping companies digitally transform their business because every company now is an I.T. company at some level. Right. And then they need a lot of help. And we’re uniquely positioned to provide and end to end solutions a piece of that. When you get into the hardware portion of Dell technology, so storage product all the way down to Chromebooks, that is part of the global services organization. We sell these products, hundreds of millions that are out there under active contracts that we have to serve as my team’s responsibility is to have the right part, right place, right time, right quality to ensure we keep those those consumers or those companies up and running so they can do well what what they want to do with our technology. Knight I’m fond of saying nobody wants nobody buys a Dell laptop means they enjoy typing, right? That laptop has a PowerPoint or that server has a purpose and our job is to enable that purpose. Yeah, right. There’s humans need to thrive and it takes the technology to enable all that to happen. So it’s keeping our customers up and running through whatever disruptions may be occurring in the world, in the industry, etc. Right now, coronavirus is a massive disruption to the supply chain.

 

[00:16:30] All right. We’re starting to see the news report this morning about the automotive in particular is, to your point, is disruptive across industries. There’s so much still unknown that is going to further impact, but they’re better shut down. They are shut down some automotive lines in Korea and they’re about to shut down the rest of them in China. But as as part shortages are starting to catch up and really be a huge obstacle, despite some the containment, which is good news that we’re hearing. So we’ll see. We’ll see how this plays out. But I like how you mentioned that your devices that no one buys a computer to type. It’s a vehicle to Rod the digital wave regardless of what the user’s passion is, right?

 

[00:17:25] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the important thing for people to recognize is some of the names that you talked about in the old days, the disruptive model that Dell had was that they sold you a laptop direct or computer direct. Before that, you had computer land, you had Gateway, USA, USA.

 

[00:17:47] I mean, you went someplace. You. I know this sounds crazy to a lot of our listeners out there, but you physically went someplace to look at and buy a computer.

 

[00:17:56] And and that evolution has continued as the cloud has become more and more prominent. That’s become a bigger part of the business at Dell. Right. And yet the laptop business, I know because I’m a big time Costco shopper and they sell a ton of Dell product, but yet that laptop and computer business has has continue to thrive. And as we’ve talked about with some of our other guests, there’s there’s sort of a cast off effect as these products break down or are even obsoleted. You have to do something with those parts and and you have to do something with parts to keep the product alive as it, you know, has certain aspects of the of the computer fail or fade or whatever. Right. And that’s a reality for business. And I think that’s it’s interesting, because I’m not sure that people would understand why Dell is at a reverse Logistics summit. That’s King Plow.

 

[00:18:55] It is a good point. The circular economy now affects every single company, regardless of what products they’re making. Right. And Dell’s known this for a long time. And I’ve been a part of the River Rivers Logistics for over 10 years. Sit on the board today. And it’s passionate across all of Dell that not just a bill product that will last a long time and support whatever purpose our customers are going to utilize it for. But we don’t want to end up in landfills. All right. We want that product to be able to recycle, repurpose, Rod use. Right. And that’s a reverse Logistics is all about. And there’s tremendous benefit. Right. And if my boss was here and he will be later today said my job is not the tactical day to day stuff. Right. We have a planning organization. We have to decide in over 165 countries that we support and an over 800 stock in locations. We need to decide what part, what quantity to put in each of those so that we can hit the different service levels our customers require, which can be to our next day mail it into. Fix it. Different, you know, various service levels. We have to be able to do that so we plan it, procurement, procure it. We have to bring it into our warehouses. We have demanders. Those warehouses. Inventory control, pick, pack, ship, deliver it to our customers. And the big pieces, getting the defectives back. It is a very challenging job when you’re calling and you’re talking to one of my family members and trying to diagnose a problem. Right.

 

[00:20:27] I know any family family member in particular.

 

[00:20:30] Well, almost all of them, except what they tend to do is now call my 19 year old. Yeah, right away. But if so, you’re trying to figure this out over the phone. Yeah.

 

[00:20:40] Right. And we’re gonna do our best. Right. We have World-Class Technical support. We’re gonna drop orders. I’m gonna have my organizational ship out a motherboard or a hard drive, whatever is required. And we want to get that customer up. That is 100 percent the main focus of our organization is take care of that customer.

 

[00:20:57] But the value I get those defective parts back. Yes, I’m able to do the analysis on those and determine what really went wrong. Right. So that’s the data that is critical for reverse Logistics v as my job is not just to get the customer back up and running. It’s to help Dell build better products in the future. And they never need it. Yeah. hoenn and tactical support to have the better diagnosis capability.

 

[00:21:23] So it’s all of our data that we bring into a data lake that is leveraged by our product engineers and our technical support engineers in order to provide a better overall experience for our customers.

 

[00:21:35] I love that perspective because, Tony, as you know, from working with him on the board, he’s a big proponent and was in his prior life of build it better or inform the the consumer better to avoid the return. That’s the most important part of reverse Logistics is to avoid as much reverse Logistics as you possibly if you avoid ever having an incident, those are the happiest customers you’re ever gonna have.

 

[00:22:00] Yeah.

 

[00:22:01] You know, as you’re describing what you do the benefits there. I love you’ve got a data play. Right. Which goes into a root cause analysis, which helps all the product lines. Right. You are keeping things out of landfills, which we can’t spend enough time energy trying to do that now. But then as with any corporation, there’s a financial incentive because you are taking some parts and able to reuse them. I would assume and other devices and rebuilt and remanufacturing computers, which are also finding bigger, bigger markets these days, too.

 

[00:22:38] Yes. And we do all of that and are remain you’re factoring a refurbishment activities, a different org. Right. But but we do that and we do it together in a way where I’ll actually do some tear down in order to leverage that inventory as well. But for us, when we bring that product back and if we go through a repair process, we’re able to put the latest and greatest revisions on it. We’re able to give feedback to our product engineers on hey services compatibility from one revision to the next. Can we make this more seamless? Is everything you ever buy? You’re going to have to dispose of that site in one one way or another. So we want to reduce that as much as humanly possibly half love and financially, it makes great sense. All right. Because you can avoid a purchase and the development of another product. You will have to one day dispose of. Yeah, right.

 

[00:23:30] You know, on a previous show we talked about built for CE Design Building, it sounds like as you’ll look at how you develop your own products. And at Dell, you take that seed mindset because we’re we have so many factors that go into how we design things for its post-U.S lifetime these days. Right.

 

[00:23:54] The serviceability is a big focus of ours has something. Obviously, you’ve got to have product that customers are enticed to by the look, the feel of that. But if you build something that’s got 500 different screws on it. All right. That’s not going to work. Right. All right. So you want to remove some of the complexity. Interesting.

 

[00:24:11] So how how how has ours sort of moved towards a throwaway society? How has it impacted your part of the business? You’re part of the business is fixing product that’s broken, right? I mean, it is. Or providing the parts that do so. Right. So how has that impacted your business? How do you see that kind of trending?

 

[00:24:31] So in our side of the business, we as so much of it is under contract. All right. So it’s an active services contract that while the customer we don’t we have consumables, of course, on his part side that are what you would call throw away. But it hasn’t had a major impact on Asma’s. We’re still the customers are incented. Well, you see, if you get a service part from Dell, you’ll have on that package a nice Greene label that talks about reuse. Right. They reusing the packet. Why it’s good for the environment and we educate our customers on if we get that motherboard back or we get that hard drive back, we can do things with a bigger impact we’ve had is data privacy rights. So we self offer such as Keith your hard drive. The things that don’t come back to us would be more components that are storing data and we give customers and offer an order for them to avoid having that level of perceived risk. Now, if it does come back to us, we’ve got all the proper controls in place to destroy that data. So a customer doesn’t have to worry.

 

[00:25:35] All right. Let’s shift gears a little bit here. We want to go broader. There’s so much that just your team is involved with it. Well, let’s go broader Scobey on Dell. When you look at the the NDA in global supply chain landscape right now, what’s one or two industry trends or developments or innovations, you name it, that you’re tracking more than others?

 

[00:25:59] So in the service parts world, we’ve always been more or less kind of the little step brother of manufacturing. Right. You got four Logistics, which everybody knows with the automation, the robotics, very lean. So that that’s, you know, case studies galore. As we said earlier, you didn’t go to school for Supply chain in the old days. Right now, that started to happen. And you’re starting to see kids take that as a curriculum and now you’re seeing reverse Logistics Keith. Right. So trends in specifically in my world and the reverse Logistics world, we’re for the first time ever seeing true investment in robotics is now we’re talking smaller warehouses that have tremendous more complexity. Right. So it’s going to be lots of SKUs that you’re going to be supporting product for 10 plus years, not just that manufacturing where you’re going to get it out the door and move on to the next product in six months. So we have the complexity of having to move across borders on a regular basis, bring the defectives, do the repair. So it’s been difficult over the years to get companies to invest in robotics because it wasn’t as well suited. We are now seeing that take off. The other big pieces, the data. So the innovation and leveraging artificial intelligence is huge and it’s going to change the industry. You’ve had a lot of smart people doing Excel based analytics and figuring out solutions now with artificial intelligence. To give you an idea what we’re doing inside of Delane with our partners, we can determine when a notebook is being returned to us, where would have it on 100 percent of the platforms, but a significant amount before it ever gets gets to us.

 

[00:27:38] What components do we have to replace? And it goes down to specific re paroline. That’s all with artificial intelligence rasheen learning engineering. We perform the facts. We called our predictive repair digital repair solution and then we take that data, we feed it into a data lake we’ve got that’s combined with significant other amounts of data to help build a better diagnosis solution for the customer. So we want to keep them up and running without even having an insane right. And as I said earlier, to get that data to the product Froome. So it’s leveraging in my world artificial intelligence across the entire supply chain. In order to do that, we have to digitize our supply chain. And over the years, it hasn’t been 100 percent. It’s got a planning module, you got a procurement, you got inventory. They were all interconnect. Right. So our focus is getting that to be one single digital supply chain. So if there is an effect somewhere with a Tier 3 supplier, maybe in China, that is going to have an impact. The planning tool knows without a human, even being involved can make the decisions, pull from repair. Do something different. Redistribute inventory, adjust appeal. So it’s a we can’t do that without artificial intelligence is just moving too quick.

 

[00:28:53] A volcano in Iceland affecting traffic pattern, right? Right. To have that quick response, we think the artificial intelligence will take over the bulk of the call it tactical decision making across the supply chain. And in the old days when we had a real smart, mathematically inclined person being a planner. We know p_h_d_. Right? So we have I think we have four p_h_d_ on the team now who are helping drive the algorithms, as you think 21 years ago, yet somebody knew how to use Excel. Right now is they really good at math? You’re very good. Very good. Go right. And it still runs a big part of the global economy. But now we’re getting students who have gone through school, supply chain experts gone on to get their p._h._d and data science or or an equivalent that are now coming into industry and changing it dramatically. Now we look at other trends, blockchain, for instance, to see if there’s ways of a more secure supply chain. Yeah, we’re looking at drone technology and doing. Some true testing there where we think there are some opportunities, especially when you get into some of the emerging markets and you’re supporting some of the customers who have like pharmaceutical needs. You have to get a product out to a customer in a very difficult environment. Now, private, as they’re, you know, spread across some of the emerging markets.

 

[00:30:19] It is interesting, as you know, we talk so much about a and it’s so interesting of how, you know, some contingent of the overall consumer base or even in the business world, things still around the corner. Asia has been leveraged and is doing things that I think a lot of folks still lean, Rula, as you know. Right, as they’re interacting with their retail brands or you name it, in every almost to a person. We’ll talk about what’s new global trends, will they track? And everyone’s talking about how not just how Asia’s been leveraged now, benefits now, but how they’re doubling down in 2020 and beyond. So it’d be really be very interesting. And the exciting thing at least. But we like talking about because whether you’re talking drones, you’re talking automation or in any of these kind of industry 4.0 themes, you know, a lot of folks are real worried about jobs or getting displaced. But really what we hear leaders talking about is how that’s going to open up doors of opportunities for so many folks that that that will we’ll do more within organizations and more more, you know, if you’re doing the same thing day in, day out.

 

[00:31:41] He’s going to be 40 hours a week. It is you can have a challenging period ahead.

 

[00:31:46] But unless that same thing is welding or driving, there is plenty of there are plenty of opportunity for humans to continue to do that. And they’re making a bundle do. That’s right. Great. But even those things, I think.

 

[00:32:01] I mean, not plumbing, but certain things will will come to be automated. And the truth is, look, the way that the way that the generational demographics are changing, they have to be right. We used to talk about, you know, the John Henry story. Right. We used to talk about the steam engine as being a threat to the worker who could drive who could drive 100 pins and. Yes, into the railroad ties. Right. But that’s that’s not what’s happening today. A.I., what’s happening with A.I. is it’s taking on those things that are repetitive or mundane or or less intuitive. Right. That require lots of deep learning and and can be managed with predominantly that that deep learning or experience or learning. And then that just elevates workers to the next level time, those things. Right. People, you know, you shouldn’t be fearful.

 

[00:32:56] Yeah. You know, I would just add that, you know, I’ll even go back to the John Henry story. Everybody’s going to have a fear of that change. Yeah. And what nobody really knows, but it has always happen is it creates jobs. Nobody even knew would exist. Yes. It opens up brand new opportunities or environments. There’s you’ll be, I believe, a massive rush to smart cities. Yeah. And making those smart cities are going to create a ton of jobs. Right. Now, if you’re trying to hire warehouse workers or mine repair engineers, drivers, it is very difficult. But that’s not going to be like that forever. Right. All right. Economies are they’ll go up and down. They’ll change. Right. The difference is, I think you’ll have kids coming out of school today that will reinvent themselves three, four, five times throughout their careers. The old days of having a career that’s, you know, followed maybe a pack. Yeah, one. But stayed within the vertigan one track. Right. Twenty five years or hard or whatever. That’s. Yeah. Yeah. We have a we have it inside. Right. Change management. All right. We’re moving we’re implementing new inventory system. And as we did that, we moved 100 percent of the reporting to power by. And it was a struggle. People wanted to, you know, see their data in a certain way. And my message to the team was, I would never hurt you in that way because your ability to do something in Excel does not impress anybody in the future. And the beauty of it is learning the new technologies is easier than ever before. Jury member, you know, certainly back in my day to learn how to really use Excel. Right. I need to spend some time and effort. Yeah. Pedro BII, you spend the weekend in your you are using it.

 

[00:34:37] You know, it’s not only easier, just as platforms and technology and how they’re built, it’s easier for the generations that are coming and they’re used to it. Yes, we have.

 

[00:34:49] Yes. Come in. We hire them right out of university and they’re they’re excellent, talented individuals. And we say, hey, have you ever coded anything? A python? Ryder machine learning lang right. Say no, but I’ll be back. Give me a weekend. Yeah. Yeah, literally a weekend. And some of them it means it’s more natural to. Yes. Yeah. But I do think you’re gonna see a spike in the other jobs, the arts, the customer service, the ability to, you know, interact with individual. So nobody knows.

 

[00:35:17] But the confidence level I have that artificial intelligence and all this other automation will create opportunities that’ll be 10x what we have agreed. It has happened with every industrial revolution we ever had. No reason I won’t happen again. It’s just trying to get through. That period of change is difficult.

 

[00:35:36] Agreed. There’s so much. Appreciate your time here today. So tell us about how can our listeners learn more and connect with Daryl and maybe even compare notes with you?

 

[00:35:48] Yeah. So we’re involved in a lot of different areas, right? So via the RLJ. Right. The reverse Logistics association is always a good way. It’s really about bringing like minded or industry individuals together. Yes. Right. And a lot of that critical. Right. That connection there is about partners learning to work together, finding new customers, all that kind of stuff. I’m involved in several universities. All right. I sit on the advisory board for the SUPPLY CHAIN Executive Consortium Advisory Board for Arizona State. We are very open when it comes. Every email you ever get for me, it has my my cell phone and everything. She can contact the Dell Supply chain team directly. OK. We’ve got all the social media. We got Twitter. So my my Twitter. Right. I’m the second greatest all around athlete ever.

 

[00:36:38] How about that? How do you know? You know, the greatest UPS, Jim Brown. It is not Jim Brown, but he’s in the running. Yeah. All right. It is Danny Ainge. Danny Ainge.

 

[00:36:50] Did you know he was the football player of the year in the state of Oregon? Quarterback could’ve gone anywhere. A great basketball player or starting third baseman from Toronto Blue Jays didn’t get a scratch. Golfer, really? So I give Danny Ainge a. I’m a master of none. But I go to a mall. Who else would be there? Still live in? Is it? Oh, no. He’s in Boston. He’s the GM. All right. Oh, that’s right.

 

[00:37:14] That’s right. Dave Winfield, Bill, that same Lu.

 

[00:37:16] He would a high jumper, a football, basketball, baseball, driving, not football.

 

[00:37:21] He was drafted in baseball, basketball and football. And he chose baseball. Frank Thomas. Frank Thomas, modern day. Frank Thomas, not the old today. The front Frank Thomas played mainly for the White Sox.

 

[00:37:35] Then all burn tied.

 

[00:37:37] Yes. Yes. But anyway, there’s shortage. But so you’re active on Twitter. We’ll check you out there. But really appreciate. You know, it takes as we become huge, not just RLA fans, but big fans of Tony Schroeder. It takes support from the big brands like Dale through the mid-market and through the into the smaller businesses to support and engage and participate in events like this. Because to your point, it’s even in this digital age in how we consume and we relate and communicate with each other, be all the social platforms that’s as important as not go anywhere. But man sitting down and, you know, building rapport and sharing and communicating best practices and benchmarking that still has not, you know, that hasn’t been replaced. LLC come 2050.

 

[00:38:31] See if they know really what you learn coming to these events is phenomenal. We’ve had more partnerships. You have lack of a better term cutting deals at RLA than any other industry event we’ve been at. And we have seen partners come together to solve solutions and even mergers and acquisitions, all by bringing the companies together.

 

[00:38:52] How a buck can see that? I can totally see that from just the companies we’ve talked to, OK, and in the lab and yesterday and in this part of today, I see the synergies between certain companies and others here.

 

[00:39:05] And there is definitely you gonna look at the history of the last like 15 years, the amount of consolidation that has taken place and will continue to happen by Israel. And I do think for all the students out there, supply chain is a career. Yes. And we’re in the reverse. Right. You’re you’re taking care of the environment. You’re helping the company. Right. Your bottom line. And you’re keeping your customers up and running. It’s a fun place to be. And it’s still very creative, very entrepreneurial, because you’re solving issues every single day.

 

[00:39:36] We have to connect you with Karen Eggroll. Yes. And I think that’s a great idea. These are the bright future recipient that we talked about in Ramshaw with Dell in the analyst organization. Because you just spoke the same words that he spoke to our Burnie’s live other. Yes. We have to connect.

 

[00:39:55] He came home with a message of wasall plot. Chain is perfect for millennial. Yes, exactly. Loved it. So we’ll do that. Kiran, if you’re listening. Yeah. Hello. Here, here’s a bit. Bernard Matress. Yeah, that’s right. All right. We’ve been speaking with Tom, the Wooddale Senior Vise President, Global Service part. Fascinating conversation. Really appreciate what you’re doing and your thought leadership. And thanks for carving out Tom Sheer and some with our audience. OK. Yeah, you bet. Now, sit tight for a second. We’re going to wrap up as always. We invite our audience, come check us out at also events like the reverse Logistics says shaking conference and Expo. And Greg, first up, is the largest supply chain trade show in North America, right?

 

[00:40:37] Thirty five thousand and two people will be there. You and me and 35000 of our closest friends at Remote X Modoc Show, Motor Show, dot com in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center, March 9th through the 12th. Free to attend materials handling this product. And I mean, not a reason in factories, many warehouses, many conveyor systems, and by many we mean 50 by 50, but not the size of a full warehouse. Right. So it’s a great opportunity to see what’s going on there. Lots of companies contributing to that. So we’ll be streaming live from there, interviewing twenty. Twenty five people hopefully while we’re there. And also on day two of Moto X, the Vetlanta Supply chain Awards is March 10th from 10:00 a.m. at 1:30. So you’re going to get to buy. You’re going to get lunch bought for you. That’s right. Nominate, nominate and nominate. If you’re interested in sponsorship, please give us a shout. But that’s not our biggest concern. And if you want to be there, you better sign up quick. Yeah, those two will sell out fast. Yeah, we’re very close in our.

 

[00:41:48] We’re pleased to have a keynote there. Christian Fisher, president, CEO of Georgia-Pacific. We’ll be sermons or keynote. And our emcee is Shane Cooper and Cooper, former senior executive at Lockheed Martin and chief transformation officer at WesTrac. So we’ve got one heck of a one two punch up at this awards program, which is all about celebrating the best of what takes place across and in Supply chain in metro Atlanta. Only requirement is you have to have some kind of presence or operations in that twenty nine county area and a repair facility counts. That’s right. Absolutely. We have a reverse Logistics award where we model over nominate nominate not the your quick learner, but we to that point, because of our partnership with RLA, we’ve modeled that a new award in year two of the Alliance Supply chain awards off their program here. Awards. Program? Yes. All right. So beyond that big event which takes place in March, we’ve got two events with the Automotive Industry Action Group, right, Greg?

 

[00:42:46] Yes. So that’s what April twenty eighth and ninth and no VI Michigan. That’s right. See UPS CSR number six on that train. Know? Yes. Caller. Yeah, it’s a little bit of trivia. We learned from Jim Liegghio. So, yeah. So that’s there.

 

[00:43:05] Sorry. That’s their corporate responsibility summit, April twenty eighth and twenty ninth. And then we’re back in June. It’s Sandwich is another event. We’re back in June, June 9th for their Supply chain summit. Yes. And then we have a top secret day.

 

[00:43:20] Yes. A day after which, Tom, you you may be arguably where this since you’re so plugged in to collinet next generation and that in the academic pipeline it support Supply chain Wayne State University. We’ve heard big things about their growing supply chain program. So we’re gonna be up there covering the AIG Supply chain summit on the night that follow up day. I believe we’re gonna be on campus talking with students and professors as part of that program. We’re gonna get to find out directly just how little we know about and how uncool I am and how cool Greg is. But that’s nothing. All right. So last event, A.M.E. Atlanta 2020. Lean’s summit is coming back to Atlanta, May 4th to the 7th, where there at that Association for Manufacturing Excellence event, May 4th interview and all the all the participants in this event, which is, of course, geared towards manufacturing and folks at love, continued improvement. Yep. Lots and lots of best practices there. You can find out about all these events right on our Web site on the events tab. You can also find past replays, other resources, all at Supply Chain Now Radio, BCom. And Greg, where can they find our podcast?

 

[00:44:28] They can find it at Apple podcast, Google podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcast. Really? And don’t forget YouTube. Pay you. It’s your turn. It almost got me. All it’s got to do the time he tries to trip me up at the end of every show.

 

[00:44:43] Surprising with the question I ask him a you own own target. Not bad, huh? OK. So we’ve got a big thanks again, Tom Wooddale, for joining us and sharing a lot of things. You probably did not know that this iconic brand is involved. So. And while Supply chain is not born, which it hearkens back to a different episode, we use that very tongue in cheek. But there’s so much going on in the world Supply chain reverse agist tics returns, you name it, that’s making us all better. Okay. On behalf of the entire team, Scott Luton Greg White, stay tuned as we continue our live coverage of the reverse Logistics comp reverse Logistics Association conference and expo right here in Las Vegas, Nevada. We’ll see you soon.

Would you rather watch the show in action?

Watch Scott and Greg as they welcome Tom Maher to the Supply Chain Now booth at the RLA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, NV.

Featured Guests

Thomas Maher joined Dell in 1997 and is the Senior Vice President for Global Service Parts. Mr. Maher is responsible for service parts life cycle support in over 100 countries. Mr. Maher’s global service parts responsibilities include: planning, procurement, distribution, returns, repair, inventory management, supplier management and parts disposal. Mr. Maher’s organization supports all Dell hardware service offerings for each of Dell’s Business Units and Lines of Business. The Global Service Parts organization provides support ranging from mail in Depot Repair to 2hr response and Onsite Parts Management. Prior to joining Dell Mr. Maher was with Vanstar where he held various positions in after market service parts support. Mr. Maher is an active member of the Reverse Logistics Association and Council of Supply Chain Professionals. In addition, Mr. Maher holds multiple advisory board appointments including: Reverse Logistics Association, Servigistics Advisory Board, and Executive Board for Arizona State Network for Supply Chain Excellence. Mr. Maher spoken globally on various topics on Inventory Supply Chain Management, and published multiple articles. Mr. Maher holds a B.A. degree from Villanova University.

Hosts

Greg White

Principal & Host

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

You May Also Like

Click to view other episodes in this program

Additional Links & Resources

Subscribe to Supply Chain Now

Connect with Scott on LinkedIn

Connect with Greg on LinkedIn

Connect with Tom on LinkedIn

SCN Ranked #1 Supply Chain Podcast via FeedSpot

SCNR to Broadcast Live at MODEX 2020

SCNR to Broadcast Live at AME Atlanta 2020 Lean Summit

2020 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards

SCNR on YouTube

The Latest Issue of the Supply Chain Pulse

2020 AIAG Corporate Responsibility Summit

2020 AIAG Supply Chain Summit

Supply Chain USA 2020

Supply Chain Now Listener Survey

Check Out Our Sponsors

Listen to the episode now!

 

Kristi Porter

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.

Connect on :

Kim Reuter

Host

From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.

Connect on :

Sofia Rivas Herrera

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.

Connect on :

Demo Perez

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.

Connect on :

Kim Winter

Host, Supply Chain Now

The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.

He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.

A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).

Connect on :

Adrian Purtill

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.

Connect on :

Kevin Brown

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics.  He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.

Connect on :

Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.

Connect on :

Nick Roemer

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.

Connect on :

Allison Giddens

Host

Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.

She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.

Connect on :

Billy Taylor

Host

Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.

An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.

A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.

A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning.  He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.

Connect on :

Tandreia Bellamy

Host

Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.

Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.

Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.

Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).

Connect on :

Marty Parker

Host

Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.

Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.

Connect on :

Laura Lopez

Marketing Coordinator

Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!

Connect on :

Jake Barr

Host

An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.

Connect on :

Marcia Williams

Host

Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.

Connect on :

Luisa Garcia

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.

Connect on :

Astrid Aubert

Host, Logistics with Purpose

Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.

Connect on :

Sofia Rivas

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

Sofia self-identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, her mission is to advocate for the field and inspire young generations from diverse backgrounds and cultures to join the industry so that thought diversity is increased and change accelerated. Recognized as Linkedin Top Voice and Linkedin Community Top Voice in Supply Chain Management, as well as Emerging Leader in Supply Chain by CSCMP 2024, Top Women in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive 2023, and Coup de Coeur Global Women Leaders in Supply Chain by B2G Consulting in 2021

Public speaker at multiple international events from keynotes and panels, to webinars and guest lectures for bachelor's and master's degrees, discussing topics such as sustainability, women in the industry, technology and innovation. Writer at different online magazines on logistics, supply chain and technology. Podcast host and guest on different recognized programs in the industry. Sofia has more than 5 years of experience from academic research and field studies to warehouse operations, demand planning and network design. She has worked in manufacturing, airport operations, e-commerce retail, and technology hardware across Latin America, North America and Europe

Currently working as Supply Chain Network Design and Optimization Manager at HP within their Global Supply Chain and Logistics team

Connect on :

Karin Bursa

Host

Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist. 

Connect on :

Vin Vashishta

Host

Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.

Connect on :

Amanda Luton

Vice President, Production

Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.

Connect on :

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.

From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.

Connect on :

Greg White

Principal & Host

When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.

Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.

Connect on :

Chris Barnes

Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring

Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.

Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.

Connect on :

Tyler Ward

Director of Sales

Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.

With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.

When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!

Connect on :

Kevin L. Jackson

Host of Digital Transformers

Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog.  He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community.  Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include CiscoMicrosoft, Citrix and IBM.  Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.

Connect on :

Enrique Alvarez

Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español

Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.

He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.

Connect on :

Kelly Barner

Host of Dial P for Procurement

Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.

Connect on :

Mary Kate Soliva

Host, Veteran Voices

Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.

Connect on :

Constantine Limberakis

Host

Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.

Connect on :

Clay Phillips

Business Development Manager

Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.

Connect on :

Trisha Cordes

Administrative Assistant

Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.

Connect on :

Chantel King

Social Media Manager

My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.

Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.

Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.

Connect on :

Lori Sofian

Marketing Coordinator

Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.

Connect on :

Katherine Hintz

Director, Customer Experience

Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

Connect on :

Mary Kate Love

Chief of Staff & Host

Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.

Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Connect on :

Joshua Miranda

Marketing Specialist

Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more.  In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.

Donna Krache

Director of Communications and Executive Producer

Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys.  She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.

Connect on :

Vicki White

Controller

Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.

Connect on :

Katherine Hintz

Creative Director, Producer, Host

Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.

Connect on :