“Companies will look at their supply chain, and in addition to looking at cost they’ll also be looking at the risk and the diversification and the resiliency and the ability to pivot in particular situations.”

– John Paxton COO and CEO Designate of MHI

John Paxton is the Chief Operations Officer and CEO Designate of the Material Handling Industry Association (MHI). MHI is a trade association made up of member companies that focus on products and services in the material handling, warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing spaces.

Professional associations have always been one of the most important ways for people to continue learning and growing from their peers, but as John points out, that is only the beginning. Associations such as MHI provide professionals with an opportunity to volunteer, showcasing their leadership abilities, and setting themselves apart.

In this interview, recorded live at MODEX 2020, John Paxton shares his perspective with Supply Chain Now Co-hosts Greg White and Scott Luton:

• The cutting-edge best practices and technologies being developed and tested within supply chain
• The availability of data that can enable the integration of various levels and types of supply chain solutions
• The enormous potential of supply chain talent, especially as efforts to diversify the talent pool come to fruition

[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, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

[00:00:29] Hey, good morning. Scott Luton here with you, Liveline Supply chain.

[00:00:32] Now welcome back to the show. We’re broadcasting live once again from Moad X, the largest supply chain trade show in the Western Hemisphere. It’s being held right here in Supply chain City, Atlanta G-A. Now on today’s show, we’re speaking with one of the senior leaders from an incredible professional organ’s association that has been making a global impact for years. Stay tuned as we look to increase your Supply chain IQ. Quick programing note, like all of our podcasts here at Supply chain. Now you can find our replays and subscribe wherever you podcast from. And we encourage you to subscribe so you don’t miss a single thing. All right. Let’s welcome in my fearless co-host here today. Greg White serial supply chain, tech entrepreneur, trusted advisor, and evidently the world’s biggest fan of Gandy dancer.

[00:01:18] Greg, how you doing? I’m doing well. Yes. Great. Great. See, it’s Zvornik. As soon as we found out John was from Pittsburgh, that’s the first place I mentioned, of course, a bar that makes you the biggest fan in the world of Verusen in the Pittsburgh area, right?

[00:01:33] Yeah. And you mentioned you kind of let the cat out the bag. So our featured guest who they were really delighted to have John Paxton back with us. John serves as CEO and CEO, designate for MHR material handling industry. That’s me, of course, the powerful team behind Moto X and Pro Matt. John, good morning. Good morning. It’s great to be here. It’s great to have you back. Really enjoyed our conversation a few months back up in Charlotte, where it May Chai’s headquartered. And we had a chance to sit down with both you and a couple others and really enjoyed you getting to know more about you and what MHR does. And and now we get to refresh your memory there, but also pick your brain on some of the key takeaways from low-tax 2020 this week. Great. So we are going to dove right in. So you know what? I can what can I want to start with you. Tell us about, you know, where you’re from and give us a you know, a story or two from your upbringing.

[00:02:29] Yeah, you’re about to be right. I mean, you’re already right there at the top. But I mean, you’re about to be as if you don’t already need a vacation from this show. Right. You’re about to be the person in charge of this thing.

[00:02:42] Yeah. That’s correct. Well, I actually grew up in Pittsburgh. And and through that, it was hockey player. And I was going off to say, where am I going to take my hockey skills? And took us to Ohio State and played club hockey there for several years. And very kind through that, I realized that perhaps hockey wasn’t going to be the future, but. But it was I went there and studied engineering and went off and started my first job at Dematic Cranes.

[00:03:13] So before we leave hockey, what position on the hockey team do you play? I was right wing. Right wing? Yeah. And and I am going to show you my complete ignorance when it comes to hockey. But that’s a that’s an offensive scoring position, right? That is correct. OK. So what was your best scoring season? I don’t love you because of the track points, goals and assists or points, right?

[00:03:34] Yeah, that’s correct. OK. Yeah. So I think in my junior year in high school, I think I had about twenty five goals. Wow. Yeah.

[00:03:42] Nice. And that goes way of serious business in Pittsburgh. Yeah.

[00:03:48] It’s come a long way. And when the Penguins started winning Stanley Cups then it really built the youth hockey program. Yeah. And it’s developed great since then.

[00:03:57] Mm hmm. Yeah. All right. So you’ve mentioned can get past hockey once you graduated. What organization did you join?

[00:04:05] Yeah. So I went to Dematic overhead cranes and that was actually up in Cleveland. And the first role was to write software to automatically design cranes. Mm hmm. And back then, that was kind of high tech, but nothing near what you see today.

[00:04:22] That’s similar to a cat type Technical. Yeah. Well you call a cat today.

[00:04:26] Yeah. Well cat but programing cat automatically. So you didn’t have to draw it. It actually automatically drew drawings and set it up depending on what your inputs were.

[00:04:34] Wow. So not to get too basic but there might we might have some listeners that haven’t been through a facility in manufacturing plan or otherwise that uses overhead cranes to describe some of the applications back then for their work. Crane Yeah.

[00:04:49] So overhead cranes, basically anything in a manufacturing plant and sometimes and warehousing or particularly at the shipping points, right? If you’re lifting and moving product. Overhead cranes come and play along with voice, and what you’ll find is it starts at a capacity of anything someone can’t lift. So that could be fifty pounds, one hundred pounds. But then where the overhead cranes really come in are some of the very heavy capacities. So I tell the story off. And when people ask, what do you lift? I say, do you ever drive down the road and see one of those coils of steel on the back of a truck? And usually you don’t drive behind that because you’re not sure if those chains are gonna hold. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Those weigh about 30 tons. And that would be kind of a key area for overhead cranes. Okay. Supplying manufacturing operations.

[00:05:38] All right. So anywhere from 50 pounds to 60 thousand pounds or more or more.

[00:05:43] Yeah. What leg? They go even heavier.

[00:05:46] So from the overhead crane you sort of dematic. Yeah. That right. So kind of forward from there. Kind of fill in any of the key roles before you joined MHR. What were some of those key roles that kind of helped shape your your world view?

[00:06:00] Yeah. So at Dematic Cranes, I had a lot of opportunity to get involved in outside sales operations and also product management and ultimately ended up being the president of Dematic Cranes for North America. And so we had a large we had several manufacturing facilities and also a large service contingency going out and servicing overhead cranes in the field.

[00:06:24] But it’s really important that when I think of overhead cranes and other heavy equipment like that, I think of big generators, I think of big dunk or main. Yeah, big things that if they go down, it stops the operation. So I’m assuming from a service standpoint, you knew exactly where all of your products were and could get a team on the ground pretty quickly if the overhead crane went down.

[00:06:48] Yeah, that’s correct. And from a service to be effective in service, you need to be within two hours of all of your customers. So we had forty five locations around the U.S. and Canada.

[00:07:00] And so we were there and someone would call and immediately dispatch a technician. Mm hmm.

[00:07:05] So you went from engineer to president. What’s the time span there? That’s a pretty impressive leap by any measure.

[00:07:13] Yeah. So the first 15 years I had many different roles in the organization.

[00:07:19] And then for the the last 15 years, I had the president’s raw. Wow, man.

[00:07:25] And then from there is that when you joined the michon.

[00:07:28] So we were a member company of MH II and and MHR is made up of about 800 member companies. And and it really the it’s the volunteers of the member companies that really provide the power for the association. So I was a volunteer for the organization and I always describe it as the more you volunteer, the better, the more things you’re asked to volunteer. Yeah. But in any case, I through the course of getting involved in the association and seeing the value of it, I was the president of the Crane Manufacturers Association, the Monorail Manufacture Association and the Hoist Manufacturers Association, and then went through the chairs of the MHR board and finished as the CEO of MHR as Eyes Board.

[00:08:14] So do you have twins that helped you carry out these duties?

[00:08:17] There’s other there’s 24 hours in a day. I use them all.

[00:08:22] But but seriously, I found that with the volunteer work, though, you put in extra time volunteering, you found you got so much more back with the connections, the contacts, the things you learned about the industry. It was amazing what you learned by the volunteer work that you did.

[00:08:38] Excellent point. And you know, as as a member of a variety of associations, professional associations, going back almost 20 years to any of our listeners, you know, there’s such a great wealth of of resources and connections. You can make business deals, you can close. And it’s all directly proportional, regardless if it’s MHR or any others is directly proportional. What I found to what you put into it. Right. So many folks and some of the associations I’m a part of, they join in. It’s like, okay, come to me. And it doesn’t work like that. You’ve got to like you mentioned, get get involved. You got to showcase your leadership bandwidth capabilities and and make things happen. And that’s really where you begin to benefit.

[00:09:19] I think what’s interesting about what you said, too, is that, you know, I learned this in college.

[00:09:25] You know, if you’re in an organization, you give work to the people who are already busy because the inertia of that person already being an action and being someone who takes action already exists. And it is amazing how the work gets piled on, somebody who’s already busy. But somehow that person is able to can to do it. Yeah, right. And look, I think that’s a great life lesson for people, whether you are a leader or a member as you’re talking about these kind of groups. Let’s get busy, get more opportunity, display your leadership capabilities more. And it’s a great you know it. It’s a teachable moment for you. It helps you learn to be a leader. And it starts to display that leadership.

[00:10:05] Deeds, not words. There you go. And that’s what we meant to finish up the other day at our Atlanta Supply chain Award. That was a phrase that eluded me. Oh, well, it’s such an important. It was still the way you said. It was still eloquent. OK. So, you know. Thank you. All right. So we back to you, John. So, John, we’ve talked a lot about MHR. Let’s for the for three people out there in our audience that may be unfamiliar with what MHR does in a nutshell, what is the MHR organization?

[00:10:33] So MHR is it’s a trade association made up of member companies that really focus their their production of their products and services in the in the material handling, warehousing, distribution and manufacturing space. So when to make it real simple, I I describe it as if you ordered something online and it came to your door. There’s 100 percent chance that one of our members or many of our members had something to do with getting that product to you. Yeah. So. So with the member companies, what the association does or we call it the why of the association is we provide a unique platform or that a unique community that the members and users can engage with and ultimately their engagement leads to prosperity.

[00:11:25] So. It’s a unique community where members and users can engage so that they prosper. That’s kind of what we’re all about.

[00:11:32] And you mentioned 800 companies are members globally. Yeah. Wow. OK. And clearly here with mutex as the backdrop, of course, pro Matt, most percent of folks have heard about those shows. A huge gathering. It’s usually on air by his radar because it alternates. Right. Madox is one year here, typically in Atlanta and pro-Mitt in Chicago. Next year back and forth. And as we’ve experience this week is the place to be in Supply chain. Right? Deals happen. You make connections. You exchange best practices.

[00:12:05] Yeah, I think that’s that’s an important part of what we’re seeing at motets X this year is even the exhibitors are starting to get together. And I know this happens. It’s just that because we’re sitting where we are, we’re actually watching it happen, watching exhibitors interact with one another. And formulate partnerships.

[00:12:23] Yeah, absolutely. All right. So and so pro Matt. So that today this is day four of Moto X is the first of our interviews from day four. I had a wrap up today, a good show. And then I’m sure the teams probably already planning proactively. You got dates. I imagine in short order you move right on to the next year’s planning. But that will be in April in Chicago. Correct? That’s correct. Twenty. Twenty one. OK. All right. Before we leave MHR, anything else you know, as folks or you considering what organization to get involved in or the whys of getting what? Want to get involved in anything else you would like to Sheer about MHR before we can move into the key takeaways. But mutex.

[00:13:09] Yeah. So M.H., I when I talked about the unique community in underneath that, there’s really four core pillars that we call our pillars of value. And then the first one is knowledge. So MHR looks at the time and to be the knowledge leader, the authoritative resource, and to bring that knowledge from our members out where people can access it ways we do that and we have an annual industry report, which is a survey of over a thousand users and about the latest trends this.

[00:13:38] And this year we published the next in a Roadmap series is what will this supply chain look like in the next 10 years and beyond. So that is just rolled out. So we provide the knowledge component and then within with that are our members also provide the knowledge component so that people can make better business decisions. So that’s one key pillar. The next one, what you spoke about earlier was, is the connections. Is there a platform that even competitors can get together, users can get together, and we make those connections in the industry and the networking that these are things that you can’t do on your own and not necessarily at this scale. And then a big part, what you’re here today at Moto X, a big part of what we do is, is we provide market access. So market access is bringing the users together. And in this case, in motets, we had thirty thousand people registered to come to this show and bringing them together with the manufacturers and providing the access to the Supply chain market.

[00:14:41] That’s a big role that we play not only here in person, but also at a digital level. And then the final piece of the four pillars is what we describe as industry leadership, and that is where groups get together. We have 16 industry groups and they develop standards for the industry. Develop safety and safety information. They provide operator manuals, they provide best practices, and these type of things are are set to make the industry a better place to do business. So those are the four pillars that we provide value under this community.

[00:15:16] It’s a big responsibility. That’s it. It’s good to pull it together like that. So this organization was created by the members, created for the members. As you said earlier, largely guided by the members. Right.

[00:15:32] That is correct. So actually this year we’re celebrating our seventy fifth anniversary. Wow. And and it started really way back seventy five years ago as Logistics and supply chain as it related to the war effort. So so it was it was brought together so that they could help facilitate companies working in those areas. And there was a trade show of the very small trade show, but people could come and see the latest technologies. Fast forward seventy five years. What you see now on on display at Moto X is is the complete supply chain.

[00:16:08] Yeah. So, you know, one of the things you touched on as you walk into those pillars is, you know, Bill, to make connections and Bill to find resources for your global supply chain. You know, as crazy as it sounds, this is my experience and certainly it’s something we’ve seen in the 300 plus episodes we’ve had here at Supply chain. Now, even in this highly digital Google era where everything is, you know, a Google search away, folks still struggle to find certain resources for certain problems and challenges related to growth or other challenges in Supply chain, in global in Supply chain. And so being you have a body like it made John a global body like MHR to help you find these connections to help grow bit. It’s critical. It’s absolutely critical. You know, Google solves love challenges, but you still gotta to find the right people. Yeah, right. Yeah, that’s right. All right. So I want to move along to mutex 2020 as Greg and our Sheer. And before we went live on today’s show, we’ve had a great week. You know, this Buth 40 970 has not been busier. I don’t think you’re right. This has been a great place. Learn a ton of things from a variety of whether they’re entreprenuers or already tenant technology leaders or part of big Fortune 50 companies or, you know, all points in between. What, John, from your point of view, what’s been some of your key takeaways from this mutex 2020?

[00:17:33] Yeah. So the first the first thing that if people attended the show, they would see the technology. So you see robotics and automation and really it’s the cutting edge of what’s going on in Supply chain. So so if you see the technology and some really interesting products, I’m always amazed every time I come to one of our shows, the new things that are developed and how far they’ve come in just a year’s time. So so examples, you know, several shows back, you just started to see robotics and in the supply chain robotic picking. And then the last last show you start to see, hey, they’re figuring out the figuring out with how to grab items and then they’re putting vision systems on the robots. Right. And then they’re putting machine learning on the robots. And before you know it, you have a complete automated picking system that can pick multiple sizes, multiple shapes. It knows when something’s not in the right place. And it it has evolved and developed. So that’s one area from the technology point of view. And then the other area that you’ll see is all the different products we talk and manufacturing and supply chain about workforce and workforce shortage.

[00:18:46] And how do you get people to do the work and the products that you’ll see out here are really designed at making people’s lives easier as far as cutting down on on the distance, people have to move, bringing product to people, helping them with COBOL X, for example, working side by side. And it’s working on that’s on that workforce part of it. And it’s not only the technology of moving it. It’s it’s you’ll see things on the floor about how to train your employees, how to get them up to speed quicker. You’ll see things about gamification to make their jobs more interesting. And so. So it’s all about the workforce. How do you how do you enhance and enable and simplify the things that the workforce is doing? So that’s the second piece. And then Moto X, when we originally said set out and said what type of a show are we going to develop? Moto X was was launched in 2012. And the idea with Moto X was, we want to go outside the four walls and really look at the the broader supply chain. So that brings in transportation. So you’ll see transportation companies here. You’ll see the connectivity and the visibility so that the software providers that provide access to where where are my parts, where my items, how is my supply chain working along with all the technology and the products side and the traditional technologies, traditional technologies, wracking storage systems. That means you need those. Yep. But what you’ll see and what most ex put on display this week was the entire supply chain. And that is something that we’ve been continuing develop. Modoc started with 500 exhibitors. Basically five shows ago and now we’re up over 900. And it just continues to expand.

[00:20:40] Well, I mean, it’s it’s an important thing to see all this brought together because we can’t afford in the supply chain to have silos anymore. Everything is so interactive. And finally, there is the data available to enable that that integration between various levels and types of of supply chain solutions and technologies.

[00:21:00] That’s correct. And now the one interesting thing that was not what was going on at this time is the Corona virus. So so that was a big topic of what’s happening every day. Now it’s evolving. Every day there’s new information coming out, you know, and and and what the discussion centered around. Is this the impact on the supply chain? What should companies be doing? How should they be reacting to this? And so we’ve had also educational topics along along those lines. But, you know, putting all your eggs in one basket, putting your supply chain all with one supplier or with one region is now showing that may it may be the most cost effective way, but it is not. The risk is still in play. And and we’re starting to see that play out. So so this week was a dynamic week with with that topic.

[00:21:57] And but I do see there’ll be learnings coming out of it and there’ll be understandings and people will and companies will look at their supply chain. And in addition to looking at the cost of supply chain, they’ll also be looking at the risk and the diversification and the resiliency and the ability to pivot in particular situations. Right. That was a key topic on the floor this week.

[00:22:20] Speaking of resiliency, one of the so dementor experts that you are brought in to discuss coronavirus and other risks associated with global supply chain was David Shillingford, chairman of Resilience 360. We had a chance. Sit down with David earlier this week. All right. Fascinating. Not only is their platform, but just his his depth of knowledge. And it reminded once again reasons that come out to a in person trade show. You have access to that bill to pose questions and have sidebar conversations with folks that know this stuff. No more stuff that they forget, more stuff in their sleep than than I certainly will ever know in my lifetime.

[00:22:57] David lives that risk every day. I mean, he he, he, he and his company live to solve that. So they’re looking at it in a way, even if you are the most prepared of companies, you can’t be as prepared as a company who does that for a living. That’s right. Right.

[00:23:12] Okay. And then we hear a lot of great feedback about not only a variety of sessions, but that session.

[00:23:18] I think that was Tuesday morning that you had that panel. We had a little Supply chain women and Supply chain heard a ton about that. We heard a lot about the Archie Manning and Peyton Manning. And the socialite, I think was last night one of the comedians, Colin Powell Ineos Joe.

[00:23:36] Yeah. So it’s been it was really funny. It was very good. Was he was about to make jokes about Supply chain?

[00:23:43] Yes, he did, actually.

[00:23:48] He’s the one joke that I thought was the was rather clever was he thought when he came here that Moto X was was the pill to cure coronavirus.

[00:24:00] But but the supply chain might just be the thing that gets us through that. Yeah. You know what? So kidding aside because we’ve touched on this probably through three or four shows this week.

[00:24:10] I believe we believe that Supply chain, who has a seat at the table, unlike ever before, was almost born to address issues like we’re seeing. I mean, the know how the problem solving the technology, especially these days calls supply chain is technology, the practical application that how we take action in the leadership. I mean, we are going to solve this problem. You know, there’s no doubt in my mind. And but anyway.

[00:24:36] Well, John, you said it. You just said it. Yeah, right. All other things being equal. The you know, the strategy to go for low cost providers in a particular region of the world where this may have begun on paper looks good. But the truth is, I think we will in I we will in the future save very infrequently. All other things being equal because I don’t think all other things will be equal. Right. Good time to come. Mm hmm. You know, it’s not a matter of whether there will be disruptions. It is. The Supply chain is so intertwined and it is so international that there will inevitably be disruptions and you have to provision for a disruption. And then respond based on what that disruption is. I mean, we’re coming towards hurricane season this fall. Right. So, you know, about the time this virus hopefully is if it’s flu like starts to diminish. Jerai as we get out of Season 4, that it’ll be hurricane season and that’s just what’s next in winter. You know, there will always be those things. And because we are so, you know, it’s a double edged sword because we are so dependent on one another because there are no solid silos and then we have to provision for those kind of disruption.

[00:25:52] And then in the panel discussion with David, you know, the topic was, you know, you need to look at it and say, what if?

[00:25:59] Yeah, you know, what if. And we talked about that. And some of it would seem far fetched when you start asking that question. But I can tell you what we’re seeing today. You know, it’s not far fetched, right? What if, you know, China can’t ship products? Right. Well, what if the ports on the West Coast can’t receive strikes?

[00:26:19] So it’s don’t you think there are a bunch of Industrial engineers and in supply chain analysts sitting around going, I told you, you know, it’s easy.

[00:26:29] It’s easy to say it in hindsight. Yeah. Yeah. Not many people would be predicting it. Yeah. Well, and even though David and some of the guys on the panel said this shouldn’t have been a surprise. Right.

[00:26:39] That’s right. And you know, just in the last 24 hours, of course, there’ll be a few weeks old before we publish this episode. We’ve seen some things that have taken place for the first time ever. You know, the NBA is has either suspended at least suspended their season because of a of a, uh, an illness, a virus, a spring football games or have been canceled for the first time for these reasons. And then probably ends at the NCW, a dead, no fans first time ever. And you know, this is all things will pass. Right. So we’ll just know. That’s right. So we’ll keep driving here, though.

[00:27:15] Karan Agrawal, you know, it’s been a backdrop, has been as played a role in all the conversations we’ve had and we will manage and move forward. Speaking of moving forward, John. So my understanding from a timeframe standpoint is you step into the CEO’s office succeeding George Prest at in the year. That right? That’s correct. So, you know, I really enjoy sitting now. When we met first time in Charlotte a few months back, I had the same opportunity with George, really appreciated, especially his entrepreneurial background. You know, that speaks volumes to me. We’re able to kind of bond a bit on that. Really enjoyed our time, kind of getting a sense of of his tenure as CEO and kind of his outlook on the world and some things he wanted to do. You know, I’d love to, you know, get a sense of what your vision is moving forward in twenty twenty one and in and the years ahead. What what are some of the things you’d like to get done?

[00:28:08] Yeah. So as I talked earlier, I spoke earlier with the the four key key pillars of value. What we’re looking and what I’m looking to do is is bring the digital component on top of those four pillars. So so if you think about what’s going on in our industry with with automation, with A.I. and analytics and all these type of things, for MHR to continue to play a role as a thought leader in that area, we need to be at the top of our game in the digital world. So. So we we’re doing a heavy investment in that area, in personnel. We’re building out a team to really take our association to the next level from a digital point of view and a digital connection point of view. So that layers on top of the four pillars that I spoke about. But and then in addition, as the pillars, the example of the industry leadership is to continue to add additional pieces to that. Right now, we have 16 industry groups and we’re starting we’re in discussions of the next industry group will be automatic identification and scaling and dimension thing. And that’s a key part that is is developing very rapidly.

[00:29:26] And and we’ll form a group around that to communicate the latest technologies and what’s going on in the industry to help that advance. And then there are other products, some we don’t even know about, but we have a platform that as they come available, we can continue to build out the umbrella. And then from the connections side of we’re looking to really provide deeper connections into the companies. So not only not only the engineers, not only the business leaders, but we have a community now with marketing professionals. We’re putting a committee in place for H.R. professionals and and also students. So so we’re really looking to deepen our our value that we can provide to our member companies. And I mentioned the students one thing at Moto X that we kind of skipped over, which was student day. Right. And that is where we and we have this year we had 200 students come in either city students and or students from from universities, and we introduced them to the Supply chain and we do development for them and we also make the connection of them to our member companies. So that was something from a connection point of view.

[00:30:42] Well, that makes me think about one other thing you did as a leadership organization. You hosted our Atlanta Supply chain Awards, which we thank you for. And we identified and and gave awards for what we call bright future awards to students who are studying or young professionals who are early in their in their professional journey and supply chain.

[00:31:04] So anyway, folks like John Pennington, that that will go from engineer to CEO press. Yeah. Right.

[00:31:09] Yeah. That’s really. Oh yeah. That’s that’s what it’s all about. They’re coming for your job. That’s right. There are a lot smarter than I could tell you that as well.

[00:31:19] So one of the things I love seeing this year, I didn’t get a chance to sit in on it personally because we’ve been here is the woman in Supply chain panel sessional had. And I’d love to get your take it. Is that’s something you’d like to double down on as leader and continue to provide a platform and then get the word out? One of things we heard from a variety of of leaders, female leaders, you name it. Even college, you know, college students. One reasons why we have our full access series that spotlights exceptional female leaders is students or early professionals need to be able to see sea level female leaders. And it helps encourage and inspire and know that there’s a path for them. And so you can be it. Yes. That’s what we’ve heard that verbatim from a variety of folks. And to see what you all did here was a great example and testament to that. Is that something you all want to do a lot more of in the years ahead?

[00:32:20] Yes. Yeah. We continue to work on on the women and in supply chain and also diversity in the supply. So those those two areas, we we recently published a U.S. impact study that was provided by Oxford Economics. And the data that they showed us still shows that we have a way, just ways to go. That’s right. And those two areas. So as more women come into into engineering. But it’s not only engineering positions, it’s it’s all supply chain marketing. And we want to have a platform that they can get together. They can make connections and and really develop and train. And we provide information to them so that they can advance their careers and gain the visibility within the supply chain.

[00:33:09] And that’s that’s the critical piece, because that’s where the numbers and the data, at least the data we’ve seen is really where you see the disparity. You know, if you look at the at least in Supply chain is now more than 500 supply chain for your degrees, two degrees, Technical degrees, you name it, the graduates coming out those programs is really close to 50 50 in terms of the male-female breakdown. But then as you as you see, the numbers start to progress through. And then, of course, up into the C-suite, that’s when the disparity really shows itself, right? Yeah. So I hear what you just shared there where you’re providing these opportunities for all folks to advance their career. If I’m making the connections, gathering the market intel, the industry intel. I mean, that’s that’s some of the secret sauce.

[00:33:53] Yeah. And one of the one of the things that recently we we have a nominating committee that nominates people for a roundtable of industry leaders. And those are the people that provide the vision for the association. And and we this I’m very happy that we now have two female CEOs on our roundtable of industry leaders. And some people might look at that and say, why only two other people might look and say, why? What took you so long? But I could tell you, if you look at from a positive point of view, the idea is getting more diversity.

[00:34:27] And I continue to build that out. It’s a journey. It’s a journey. And I need only you only start when you start and end in the end. But we’re very happy that. And they are at sea level and sea level women in our supply chain industry. And they’re part of our roundtable, which will continue to drive our activities.

[00:34:47] Love that. Love that. That’s that’s great news that, you know, a journey. What’s the Confucious saying? A journey of a thousand steps begins with the first step or something like that. Thousand miles and every guy has. Yeah. All right. But I admire that. I love what you are doing.

[00:35:03] It’s actions about action and love how your your showing how it’s done and and really setting the bar for many other situations out there that have very similar challenges, much like industry does. So appreciate what you’re doing there. John, from a leadership standpoint, OK. We want to make sure as we wrap up this interview, sitting here with John Paxton, CEO and CEO, designate of MHR, how can folks not only connect with you, but how can they learn more about MHR? Yeah, yeah.

[00:35:33] So there’s several ways. The first thing is MHR. Dot org is where you’ll find that’s our Web site and you’ll find all the information of our industry groups there. You’ll find connection, all our thought leadership information that we have just launched five new blogs on the topics of R-AK, overhead, safety, overhead, lifting us safe handling. And so those are actually up and running and we continue to feed those. We just launched also a podcast series seem to be kind of kind of clean these days.

[00:36:07] Everybody’s got that.

[00:36:10] And then and then feel find their two hour video platform. So when I talk about the digital component is serving up, you know, micro micro learning pieces, three minute videos where you watch it and you can learn the latest about the technology. So we continue to build that out. We have over 400 technology videos there. So that’s on MHR dot org. And then for people who are looking or if they could not make it to Mode X or they didn’t get because the show’s so big, they couldn’t get to all the different boosts. Right. This year we took the entire Moto X show to a digital platform and we taped every single booth here at the show. And then we will launch it’s called Moto X show dot com and there’ll be a digital presence for the entire show. So this is specifically targeted on people who had travel restrictions, couldn’t make it to the show or people who have needs that come up later. They can access that. They can see the exhibitors. They can click down and see what happened. That’s your show on all the boose. So those are those are two key areas of where you’ll find our information going forward. And I encourage you to work with that and look through it. There’s some really good stuff there.

[00:37:22] I think they popped in an interview you for a second. Greg White did. Yeah.

[00:37:26] And hopefully I did us proud. They wouldn’t let me see the video. John, who is hosting your podcast? Is it Daniel McKinnon a dent? And Daniel is Carol Miller. OK, ok. OK. I’ll say I think I may have seen one that Daniel was on. That’s probably what it is. Yeah.

[00:37:46] Yeah. OK, so, so much stuff going on. So many resources here. MHR provides MHR dot org. You can check out the blogs, the podcast, the video series, the modish show outtakes show dot com, Murdoc show dot com, the connecting and get it if you couldn’t make it to Atlanta. You can check out a lot of folks that are here because it is even if you’re in Atlanta. To your point, it’s such a big show filling up the entire Georgia World Congress Center, which is a massive facility. That gives you an idea just how big is it over?

[00:38:17] I know that the World Congress Center is like 2.4 million square feet. Is it how much of that are we using here?

[00:38:23] Yeah. So. So we’re using we’re using about 400000. OK. So I still got a ways to go. But we’re. But there’s center. There’s room to grow. John. Yeah. And this year this year show growth 30 percent over last year’s show. So 30 percent growth per year.

[00:38:38] I’ll take I’ll take you there. Yeah. All right. Good.

[00:38:42] Knock out some more walls. That’s right. Big thanks to our guests here today on Supply chain. Now, I really enjoyed reconnecting with John Paxton, C.O.O. and CEO, designate for MHR UCO and more MHR dot org. John, thanks for your time. Really appreciate it. We’re going to wrap up here momentarily. You bet.

[00:38:59] Greg, great interview. Yeah. What’s the first time I’ve gotten to meet John? So I appreciate your time. I really appreciate, you know, the sport for the Atlanta Supply chain Awards. And and you’re we’re happy to provide this access and and exposure for the attendees here at the show.

[00:39:18] That’s right. And we’ll have you we’ll part we published in about twelve or fourteen interviews.

[00:39:23] Yeah, I can’t count. Froome. And I’m going to need a day.

[00:39:28] But a lot of technology geek plus pro glove action speech, mobile call pass you name to me your name. Yeah. Really. Will be naming him over the next few days. That’s right. So again, big thanks to John Paxson and the MHR team to our listeners. Be sure to check out of coming events. Replays were interviews, you name it, at Supply Chain Now Radio dot com fondness and subscribe review your your podcast from Onbehalf. The entire team. Greg Clay, Amanda, you name is Scott Luton. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead. And we will see you next time on Supply Chain Now.