“I think the best thing that Logan did, and why our relationship has been so incredible with Alloy, is because they came in and they said, we’re going to show you how to do this. Like you said, we’re going to show you what our mission statement is, why we’re trying to do this, here’s our objectives. Then not just show us how he does it, but show us how we can do it ourselves.”

-Katlyn Davis, Valvoline

In this episode of Supply Chain Now, hosts Greg White and Scott Luton welcome Logan Ensign with Alloy and Katlyn Davis with Valvoline to the show to discuss how sales and supply chain can work together for retail success.

Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:33):

Then Scott Luton and Greg white with you here on supply chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how are you doing? I’m doing quite well. I can see that we both got new haircuts, so that’s good. Getting respectable for, for the community. I got to keep it that way, right? Yeah. Well, we have a great conversation today up here today. It’s been, it’s been a busy production week, but we’ve been looking for a forward to this one here today, diving into the neat story of really next generation business partnership. That’s powering supply chain success and in a way that really is benefiting the entire ecosystem. So we’re gonna be diving into the story of alloy and Valvoline. So Greg, we’ve been working on this for quite some time. This is going to be a good one. Yeah, it is next generation in every way.

Greg White (01:16):

I mean, we’re getting to see the next generation of technology and the next generation of supply chain professionals who Scott are well more educated than we are. Aren’t you glad we’re already in supply chain because I feel like we couldn’t get in now. We weren’t already excellent point an excellent point. It’d be like trying to be an offensive tackle in the NFL. I just wouldn’t make the cut, but, um, but nevertheless, great conversation teed up and I think there’s gonna be plenty of takeaway regardless of what aspect of supply chain or business you’re in these two, these two organizations really reinvented how they work together and, and, and it’s really blown up for everybody in, in a, in a great, great way. So quick programming note. So Greg, if folks enjoy this conversation, where should they, what should they do? Well, you know, what they ought to do, Scott is they audit, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts from go to our website, supply chain now.com or YouTube.

Greg White (02:13):

I put that just for you right there. Thank you. I think YouTube is a great vehicle for this. I mean, I don’t know about you, but Peter Bola and I, the other day, he’s got a problem with his convertible top on his Mustang. This is a supply chain professional part of our community. So he and I were going back and forth on this exchange. A totally different topic going, Hey, try this video. I think this will help you. So yeah, it’s a great vehicle. And you can learn a lot about supply chain. Now, you sure can supply chain now and tequila, sunrise, which is also on YouTube in podcast stream. So check that out wherever spelled just like that. Yeah. All right. So speaking of our community, our R D and thanks so much for all the comments this week hit episode 600 yesterday, which, you know, look, we don’t measure ourselves podcasts episodes, but when you’re, when you create content, it makes you think of everything went into all of those episodes and all the relationships. So really appreciate all the comments that we got from folks say hello to let’s see here. So Amanda, of course, Amanda and clay are behind the scenes along with Allie and Natalie here shortly. So hello, Amanda Lee Hoff Weber

Greg White (03:19):

From Houston, no container ships sucky. I think he means stuck, but what a great topic. I mean, I think the last three posts I’ve put out on LinkedIn in have been about companies waiting at port of Los Angeles. I’m thinking, just go through the canal. That’s right.

Scott Luton (03:39):

Smith is with us from probably cold New York city as Lee Davis. I’ll tell you, you can’t do it the last room these days without Gary at NASA. Leah, for sure. So great to have her here, Susan via LinkedIn is tuned in with this. So great. Great to have you as Susan [inaudible] hello from India via LinkedIn. Great to have you here, Samuel from Panama. Hello,

Greg White (04:03):

Two days in a row. That’s right too. And we won’t tell the boss.

Scott Luton (04:09):

Of course, you got to have David great episode with him not too long ago, a 25 minute interview on YouTube, by the way, find that T squared is with it’s great to have you back T squared. Good Friday Eve looking forward to the nourishment we are

Greg White (04:22):

To Eve. I like that. Finally,

Scott Luton (04:25):

John Perry. So hello, John. We’re looking forward to your sense of humor as always. And Todd rains,

Greg White (04:31):

The rain man. He is here.

Scott Luton (04:33):

It was neat to have him part of last week’s laughs from Hannon. Hello, Steve BSN. Hopefully you’re not. Yeah,

Greg White (04:38):

I can get for that already, by the way. So hopefully

Scott Luton (04:42):

Steve’s not riding that bike while he’s dialed in and typing. We’ll see. He may be just that town. Hey,

Greg White (04:48):

Always looking where you want to go. That’s the most important lesson of mountain biking. Don’t look where you don’t want to go.

Scott Luton (04:55):

All right. So hello everybody and welcome everybody. And especially those that we couldn’t get to, but we look forward to hearing your input as we wind our way through this great conversation, we’ve got teed up. So let’s buckle up and let’s introduce and bring in our two guests here today. We’re going to be featuring Katlyn Davis operation and sales analyst with Valvoline and Logan inside Logan inside vice-president client solutions with Alloway we’ll have, Hey, Hey, Logan and Katlyn. Good afternoon.

Logan Ensign (05:29):

Good afternoon. How are you guys? Good. Good.

Greg White (05:32):

It feels like we’ve already had this conversation. So now we’re just having it for the rest of the world, right?

Logan Ensign (05:38):

Yeah,

Greg White (05:38):

Exactly. Logan, welcome back.

Logan Ensign (05:42):

Thank you. Thank you. Excited to be on this morning or I guess afternoon, depending on, depending on where you are

Greg White (05:49):

Or evening. I mean, we’ve got people watching from 10 and a half hours ahead, so right. And in certain parts of the world, uh, gray celebrating

Scott Luton (05:58):

Friday Eve earnestly already. So welcoming everybody wherever you are. And let’s see here. So, and I’m glad you referenced Greg Logan’s previous appearance, uh, on supply chain now. Great podcast. We’ll drop that link in the comments. So before we get into the heavy lifting, we’ve got so much to talk with both of y’all about here today. And then Greg and I really been looking forward to this art as, uh, as, uh, as has our team. But let’s get to know you a little bit better. Let’s get to know maybe things you haven’t shared with folks starting with it is international waffle day, which I didn’t know is a thing, but it is a thing. And folks, our parades are taking place as we speak right now, they are. So let’s start with

Greg White (06:38):

Six waffles between each person.

Scott Luton (06:41):

So Katlyn, Katlyn Davis, what is, what is your favorite waffle? Whether it’s something you put in it or on top of it, what is it? Where did you get it?

Katlyn Davis (06:49):

Oh, that’s tough. Okay. So I was thinking, I’m thinking about this because I did know today’s international waffle day, I guess I’m in the know. So I think it depends on if you’re going for a Hardy waffle, you know, just a good Hardy waffle or a fancy waffle. So I would say you can’t go wrong with a waffle house waffle, you can’t go wrong. That that’s where I go. I would say the most often for a waffle, but I was in Amsterdam about a year and a half ago and I had the best waffle I’ve ever had. So that was an Amsterdam with Nutella and strawberries and all of the stuff that they put on it. And it was amazing.

Scott Luton (07:19):

Wow, man, making me hungry. It’s still in our heart, Greg with waffle house.

Greg White (07:23):

Nutella is food art that is largely lost on North America. Right? I think, I think that it is, yeah, it’s hazelnut butter, like kind of like peanut butter, so,

Scott Luton (07:34):

Okay. So that Logan, we’re gonna get you to weigh in. Where is your favorite waffle? What? What’s in it. What’s on it. And where do you get it,

Logan Ensign (07:41):

Man? Well, Katlyn stole the restaurant option there waffle house, especially middle of the night, maybe on a business trip. When you see that waffle house next to your hotel and you think I, I pick the right one here and then I think I just like straight whipped cream. It’s sort of a, a family obsession where we’ll have the whipped cream shoot in people’s mouths. And uh, it’s uh, so just whipped cream waffles waffle house is a good option, I think.

Scott Luton (08:05):

Yeah. Those are some exciting times in the, uh, inside household. Love that. All right. So Greg, now we’re going to go from waffles to,

Greg White (08:14):

Well, wait a second, Scott, let’s hear what your favorite waffle is.

Scott Luton (08:19):

Waffle house all day. So consistent. Like Chick-fil-A you pop in any day of the week and it’s going to be very consistent, but fried chicken and waffles if you haven’t had it yet. Oh my gosh. Delicious. And Greg, how about you?

Greg White (08:31):

That’s it for chicken and waffles is that is my favorite waffle and I actually have my own semi secret recipes. So I stole a recipe off of where everyone gets recipes, Pinterest, and then added my own secret ingredients. And back in the day, when I would still make them for my young, formerly young daughters, they really enjoyed it. It made a secret forever because I think

Scott Luton (08:56):

I’ve lost the original.

Katlyn Davis (08:58):

I’m going to say this recipe needs to be released to the masses.

Scott Luton (09:01):

Yeah. Yeah. I’ll have to dig it out last deep

Logan Ensign (09:05):

Fryer, Greg, or do you use cast iron

Scott Luton (09:07):

Or one of the ancient, one of the ancient waffle makers where you can’t tell? I have to remind myself every single time, is it light on or light off? That means it’s done. I can’t there’s this pesky machines and their indicators playing better. I would have brought it up here. So, um, all right, so let’s move from waffle day international waffle day. Let me get it right. We’ll make anybody mad. Uh, two recent reads. One of my favorite questions asked folks is what’s been a recent read that they’ve really enjoyed and, and we’ll go in reverse order. Logan. Let’s start with you. What’s a good recent read of yours.

Logan Ensign (09:43):

No, it’s, it’s, it’s a great question. Um, I’m very much into fiction. I don’t know if folks have read the Goldfinch. Um, but, uh, that was a fun one to read. My wife goes through about 10 books to my one book. Um, and it took me probably four or five months. And I don’t know if you consider it reading if it’s all through audio books, but, uh, that was, uh, that was a fun one to get spoon. Okay. All right. Yeah. So I highly recommend, uh, people are into fiction.

Scott Luton (10:08):

Awesome. Love that. And heard about that book. I don’t know. I’ve heard a lot about it. I’m going to have to write that down. Yeah. Write that down, Greg, which I’m doing nowadays. Yeah. Greg takes writing these days, so yes. So, all right. So Caitlin, we’re going to, of course, we want you to answer the question, but we’re going to let the cat out of the bag here a little bit, because you’ve got a book that is publishing next month called fierce conquering the battleground between who you are and who you’re destined to be. So tell us a little bit about the book. Yeah,

Katlyn Davis (10:43):

Of course. So I actually have it because the pre-orders just came in the mail this week. I’m so excited. So I can show you guys, this is a sneak peek. Not many people have seen it yet. So here’s the front. Here’s the back. Yeah. So I’m super excited. This book is two years in the making, so it’s hard to juggle grad school working. Full-time a puppy and writing a book. So it took me a little longer than expected, but I’m super excited. It comes out, like you said, April 26th is the release date. And yeah, it’s about self discovery. I do talk about my journey from growing up in a very poor town and moving to a bigger city, not a big city compared to where some of you guys are, but a bigger city. And then trying to tackle my dream of working for a big company and trying to navigate the waters of being a young 24 year old, trying to figure it out. So, yeah, I’m super excited.

Scott Luton (11:32):

Love that. Well, congratulations. What a huge feat. And we look forward to picking up a couple of copies as does, as Leah Davis. She needs that book. We’ll see if we can’t work on that as she needs her own book as Leah does. So maybe you guys can talk about that. Agreed. Todd says never settle by Marty Smith is one of his favorite reads and Gary says how to avoid a climate disaster by bill Gates is a good

Greg White (11:54):

One. So a lot of good stuff there. Okay. And Katelyn, do you want to add a different book other than of course careers has gotta be your favorite, but any other books?

Katlyn Davis (12:02):

Of course. Yeah. I actually just, I’m an avid reader. I feel like you kind of have to be if you’re going to write a book. Um, so I just finished an amazing read it’s by Victor Frankel. It’s called man’s search for meaning. So he’s a Holocaust survivor wrote an amazing book. I actually quote him a lot in my book. Like I said, the book has a few pillars that I think I need to mention that I think would be pretty good for this, for this group to talk about. I think you guys have some experience with this, but the four pillars I discuss are self-awareness growth, intentionality and confidence, which I guess have played a ton in my career journey. So once again, man’s search for meaning Viktor Frankl was an awesome read. It’s pretty old now. I think it’s sold tons of copies, but it’s a classic

Greg White (12:41):

Well, great segue, right, Greg? I think so. I mean, you know, one of the things we would love to know is a little bit about your search for meaning, well, we know we’ve already heard it, right, but we’d love for the community. Hear more about your sort of career journey. We’ve already heard about Logan N sign and his journey and in his episode, which we’ll drop in the comments, you’ll learn about what is in the background behind Logan. But since we’ve heard from Logan on, on a previous episode, we’re going to give you a little bit of extra time to tell us a little bit about your journey, your fierce journey and in through Valvoline can. So can you share with us a little bit about that?

Katlyn Davis (13:19):

Yeah, of course. So, like I said, I grew up in East Tennessee, so I feel like I should have backpedal a little just to provide some context of how it ended up at Valvoline. So I grew up in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, which if anybody knows where that is on the East coast, it’s very touristy town. So I grew up Dollywood, Dolly Parton, we love Dolly Parton. So I grew up there and then I moved to Lexington, Kentucky to pursue a degree in economics. So I went to the university of Kentucky, graduated in may of 2019 with a bachelor’s of science and economics, a minor in international business and a minor in sculpture. So I guess I just wanted to be a Jack of all trades, but, um, so I actually started with Valvoline before I graduated. So I started with an internship with been in 2018, the summer of 2018.

Katlyn Davis (14:03):

Then when I wrapped up that internship in August, they actually asked me to stay on and continue working with Walmart’s e-commerce platform. So I worked with them a lot for the last eight months until I graduated. And then as soon as I graduated, they offered me a position as a supply chain analyst with my accounts being Amazon, Walmart dollar general farm, and a few new channel, but I will give the caveat, I’ll give the caveat that I started with only Walmart. So I started with Walmart and doing a little bit with Amazon and I kind of picked up some other accounts along the way, the last two years. So, yeah. And then after actually more recently, I think in February, February 1st, I actually transitioned into a new role for operations in sales. So I’m an operations and sales analyst covering Canada and the United States with express care say, speaking

Greg White (14:52):

Of hitting that fourth pillar confidence, I love the way you say only Walmart.

Katlyn Davis (14:57):

Right. And it was only Walmart. It is only Walmart. Yeah. Walmart, definitely a big machine to tackle. I will say that I would say most of my time was in Walmart, which I’m assuming people would, would make that guess.

Greg White (15:10):

Yeah. But impressive that you, I mean, even in a single job, you can handle both Walmart and Amazon, even for a single product line. I mean, that is a lot of pressure. So we talked a little bit about, I actually come from the automotive industry. Valvoline is, is my favorite type of oil, which Caitlin already knows

Katlyn Davis (15:29):

Be so happy to meet, uh, a member of the family as we call it.

Greg White (15:33):

I was actually a buyer back in the day of oil. So I had a lot of interactions and it’s interesting. We got to share a little bit about the growth that they’ve had in their supply chain. And they’ve always been a really, really strong performer. So, so let’s talk about that. So historically Valvoline has had a really strong commitment to supply chain and, um, and now you’ve taken on a lot of digital transformation, growth, a lot of technology initiatives and things like that. And that’s how you came, I think, to get associated with alloy and Logan in particular. So tell us a little bit about that. I mean, any thoughts, anything jump out at you when we talk about digital transformation? I think instantly people tense up and because it’s big, right. And it’s changed. And as we’ve talked about here, a lot change is, is difficult and scary, but any best practices or any kind of findings that you’ve had as, as you both have worked together about how to get people engaged, how to get people over the line to accept and embrace change like that.

Katlyn Davis (16:39):

I was going to say, let’s let Logan go first because I think he has some good background on this.

Logan Ensign (16:43):

Yeah. You know, it’s, it’s interesting. We’ve been working with Valvoline for the last year and a half and we’d actually started, uh, pretty exclusively with the Walmart side of the business. And I think Valvoline has been a great example of, of all the components of change management and digital transformation that, that work. Uh, I think one it’s really critical to make sure if there is a technology partner involved that you’ve got really aligned business objectives. And so can we all be on the same page on what are we trying to accomplish collectively? And so that I think was really critical to, to kind of usually understand what alloys bringing to the table, but have that really open conversation about here are the pain points that are specific to Valvoline. And let’s go ahead and, and work on that together. I think technology is only a piece of this, right? And an organization bringing in big technology investments or really investing in, in digital transformation. It’s, it’s important to also acknowledge that you’re going to have to be flexible in your, in

Katlyn Davis (17:50):

How you collaborate to best take advantage of the technology. And I think that Valvoline was a great example of, of having that mindset of now that we’ve got new tools, new insights to go to attack our problems. Uh, what, what changes could we make internally to make sure we’re taking advantage of that? How do we evaluate our current processes and structures to go in and be most effective in this? So it’s not just bringing on a technology partner, but it’s acknowledging you need that aligned vision on what we’re trying to accomplish. And you have a willingness to talk through process and sort of revisit old paradigms to make sure you’re getting the most value out of that, the investment.

Greg White (18:29):

So Caitlin, tell us a little bit about how you did that because it’s really, I mean, it’s really on the organization to promote that you have to embrace a new business partner as almost one of your own, to be able to accomplish that at what Logan’s talking about. So share with us how you guys tackle that.

Katlyn Davis (18:47):

Right. Well, I think just to, to bounce off what he said, I think people are fearful of things that they don’t understand. So I think it’s a big part of this is trust. So I think we had to learn when you bring in a new data analytics platform. It’s not just because I think people think that everyone is just stuck and they don’t want to move on. I think people do want to move forward. They’re just afraid to trust this new. It’s a huge thing. I mean, putting in a new data analytics software and trying to navigate those waters when we already have a system. And like you mentioned, BeltLine is a very old, I mean we’re 150 year old company and we’re successful and I know I’m biased, but, um, but, um, we’re very successful and we’re good at what we do. And so I think it was intimidating, but knowing how the times are moving forward, we didn’t want to get left behind in that.

Katlyn Davis (19:28):

And so I think the best thing that Logan did and why relationship is, has been so incredible with alloys because they came in and they said, we’re going to show you how to do this. And like you said, we’re going to show you what our mission statement is while we’re trying to do this, here’s our objectives. And then not just show us how he does it, but show us how we can do it ourselves. So for example, I remember one of my favorite moments was I just started working as a supply chain analyst. Of course I was so intimidated and I came in and my big project was with Apple. And my first project was trying to onboard this new data analytics platform for Walmart to start. And now I think Logan can, can attest to so many different business units at Valvoline use LOE now.

Katlyn Davis (20:07):

And we’re trying to bring more on, we’re trying to bring everyone on. So it was very intimidating, but the best thing was when you guys came in and you did a training with us, like a hands-on training session with us. And I remember you saying Katelyn, okay, you’re going to drive now. And we’re going to show you how to build these dashboards. And we’re going to show you how to build this stuff out. And I think that broke the barrier of that fear I had because you showed me that I can do this, you know, and you showed the whole, everyone who was there with us that day was like this isn’t something that we’re trusting someone else to do. They’re just giving us the tools to be able to do it ourself. And I think that really built up the camaraderie that we have without Willie. Now

Greg White (20:42):

It does. And I think it, it also introduces learning logon to your, because you don’t know what they face on a day-to-day basis until Katelyn gets behind the keyboard in front of the keyboard. Where

Scott Luton (20:54):

Are you? Are you in front of,

Greg White (20:57):

In front of the keyboard and actually attempts to do it and go, here’s a hurdle that I’ve hit and helped me through it. And that helps you learn a lot about their business as well.

Scott Luton (21:05):

Great. Hey, really quick, before we move on quick programming, it looks like LinkedIn is, it’s been a little bit shaky for the last three or four weeks. So if you’re not able to tune in and engage on LinkedIn, of course you can check out us, same feed on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitter, wherever Twitch’s. Yes, that’s right. Logan, you were about to say something there.

Logan Ensign (21:26):

I was going to say at Greg you’re spot on, right? We bring some context with other customers we work with as well as kind of a deep understanding of what alloy is capable of doing, but it’s that partnership that has to happen. And I think Valvoline has been great at that Katelyn, especially in recognizing, all right, we are now partners, how do we collectively problem solve? And so it’s that conversation of, Oh, that’s, that’s a unique flavor of a business problem or a piece of your business that maybe we’re less familiar with. Let’s collaborate collectively. Um, and, uh, so, so no, I think, I think that’s spot on Greg.

Greg White (22:04):

Yeah. And you know, it’s, it’s funny. I I’ve been on both sides of those implementations, right? About a thousand technology implementations I’ve conducted or been some part of

Scott Luton (22:14):

Gosh, that seems like a lot, but

Greg White (22:17):

That is one of the most important learnings is don’t show people how to do it, get people to do it right. Go through what, one of the things we did so effectively I’ve seen done so effectively in trainings is show them once and then pull somebody out of the class if that’s how you conduct your training and have them do it. And man, the growth that everyone sees in that moment is really, really spectacular. So that’s great.

Logan Ensign (22:42):

Well, I’ll say one of our big core tenants of our product is we want to be consumer grade. Um, and I think sometimes organizations undervalue that when looking at technology, we want the actual operators business owners, uh, to be able to drive the analysis and get insights. So that’s a big piece of, of really what we’re about. And I think Caitlin’s found that and, and really become one of our great power users of the platform.

Scott Luton (23:08):

Well, Alex user love that. Yeah. I love that title. Yeah. Yeah.

Greg White (23:12):

So maybe you can lobby for that, to be your actual title at babbling Caitlin or amend or amend it yourself, at least on LinkedIn, you can give yourself,

Scott Luton (23:22):

I was gonna say, I think I would get some more connections on LinkedIn. If, if that was my title, you can a sword with something, a title like that, this sort, or a staff or something. So

Greg White (23:35):

Let’s shift to, so you, so you’ve kind of got everybody bought in right at this stage. And then the next stage is to grow is to grow in knowledge, to grow in awareness and to grow in performance. You know, one of the things that we talked about previously and I think is really interesting to see that come to life here is how, how do you move a company from being in constant reaction mode to a preemptive mode and utilizing the technology to help them discover those things that before they discovered after the fact, I think Katelyn, we talked about this a little bit in your role. Sometimes it can be how have you heard the company lately? And that’s how you report it. And it probably has felt like that in the past. But when you move into that preemptive mode, you can talk about those things that you’ve done that have made the company better before a crisis hit. So I’ll have you guys work together to make that happen.

Katlyn Davis (24:26):

Yeah. I think going back this, a perfect transition from the tools and having that customer buy in, as someone in the comments just said how important that is because before I don’t think we trusted the system enough, not babbling, but just in general, I don’t think supply chain trust the system enough to say let’s forecast in the future. And let’s, you know, put these stakes in the ground of what we think is going to happen because I think it’s so volatile, especially in today’s world, just demand is so volatile right now. So it’s difficult to be able to do that. But when you have these tools where as Logan said, I don’t have to reach out to someone else to get some, to get the insight that I’m needing. I can go pull that data back and reach out for support if I need support.

Katlyn Davis (25:03):

And I think having that connection to where I have, I know I’m supported, but at the same time, I’m the one who’s driving the data analysis. I can get these metrics, pull them in and send them to Logan or someone and say, I’m not looking at this correctly. Can we really be proactive and know that POS is trending down. So, you know, we need to burn through some inventory or POS is turning up. We need to, you know, have some raw materials delivered a little sooner than we thought. So I think that’s a huge win, especially for Valvoline, because I think we all know supply chain, nothing happens instantaneously. If there’s something, an issue in supply chain, it takes a little while to get it fixed. You know, it’s a long system and very complex system. So I think being able to see in the future and to say, Hey, I trust this. I trust my data analysis skills. And I trust this tool that I’m using enough to be able to say, I’m going to go to my buyer now and say, Hey, I think, I think there’s some issues that we need to be looking for down the pipe. So I think that’s huge.

Greg White (25:54):

That is that’s powerful. Logan. I’m curious. Cause like I said, I’ve done this before, but it’s been awhile. I’m not going to say how long it’s been, but I’m always curious how you get people over the line, the word trust, right trust in their own skills, but trust in, in the technology and the data that is being revealed to these power users, it’s critical. How do you get them over the line to that level of trust?

Logan Ensign (26:19):

Yeah, no, I think it comes back to, you know, our team is very much focused on, on value and how do we help deliver business value for our customers? So it’s that alignment that I think goes a long way and that if we start, I know very little about motor oil antifreeze and the vertical, but as we get acquainted with our customers, it’s just so important because each industry is going to have different wrinkles and nuances.

Logan Ensign (26:44):

And if, as a vendor we’re sitting, looking at implementation timelines and weekly active users, we’re really just missing the Mark. And really what we need to understand is all right, Caitlin, this is a dashboard as a starting place, but I want to sit next to you and understand how this gets to the action. Right? What, what, what does, what are you looking for? Uh, what decision are you making? What are the considerations in your head? Because the more I can understand that the more I can help you. And I think as that conversation reaches sort of that next layer of, of interest, curiosity, and alignment, that’s where we really, I think see big change. Um, and, and, and I think get the most out of the solution. You know, I, I remember, and I don’t know Noah, Kayla, if you remember when we were in Lexington, it was one of our last trips before the pandemic hit. I had never been to Lexington before we started working with Valvoline. Um, it is a hidden gem, especially for fried chicken fans, but it’s just beautiful you land and the rolling Hills and the, the horses and the white picket fence. I mean, it’s just, it’s just a beautiful place, but I remember being on site and actually there was a massive order. I think it was from Walmart for the high, high mileage. You know, I think that was a fun sort of dynamic to see. I don’t, do you remember that much Caitlin or

Katlyn Davis (28:01):

Yeah, I do. I do remember. I remember thinking this is perfect timing because I’ll always hear and they can help us, but no, it happens a lot. Those things that I have, I have that memory in my brain right now, thinking back to certain times, and even when we’ve come to visit you all and we’ve gotten to sit down together and we’ve had something and I’ve, I’ve been able to, I feel like there’s other platforms that we use that are great, that, that we utilize a lot, but it’s not that personal connection to where I can say, here’s exactly what I’m struggling with and here’s the dilemma. Can you help? Like what kind of metric do I need? I don’t even know what metric I’m looking for to solve this. And you can come to me and say, Hey, we’ve actually done this with another customer before and it’s really worked.

Katlyn Davis (28:38):

So I think about, you know, Phantom inventory, that’s been something we’ve wrestled with a lot and just trying to understand it better. I feel like it’s kind of aloof in a lot of in supply chain. At least it’s something that not many people really dug too much into. And as soon as we brought it to y’all’s attention and said, Hey, we just want to know more about this. Um, can you help us dig into this? Your response was, of course we ha we don’t have something yet, but we’re going to build it. And so the last year and a half, it’s just been so awesome. And I think the reason we built that trust with you all is because you’ve done what you said you would do. And you have helped us with that. You have said, Hey, by the way, circling back, Caitlin, we’ve been working on this dashboard for you. Let me walk you through it. And so I think little things like that, and like you said, the in-person meetings where we’ve needed help and we’ve sat down together almost like you were a part of our team and really walks through those things together, I think is a lot better than just giving someone a tool and saying here, learn how to use this. Hmm.

Scott Luton (29:28):

All right. So I want to, I want to share a couple of comments and then I want to kind of move the conversation kind of upstream and downstream the whole ecosystem. So we’ll touch on that in just a second. As Gary said, getting customer buy-in is key also in that partnership, Cindy, Cindy references here, that partnership clearly y’all are talking about your, your relationship, your partnership in a, in a very forward-looking progressive manner, which is kind of like next generation supply chain, which I love as Leah broadcasting needs of the consumer through our data that creates perceivable goals and trust. Gotcha. Caitlin. I love that a lot of good stuff. Uh, Jeff Miller, I have seen the most successful solutions become those which promote creativity and enable innovation, helping users, cultivate new ideas for business capability, going beyond simply improving, operating efficiencies by connecting data. Jeff is about five pay grades above me. And you can tell by how you wrote with that comment, Greg, you’re going to say something

Greg White (30:25):

Well, I’m just thinking that the human connection is critical to that happening. What Jeff is talking about because a technology can’t convince you that it’s the right technology for you, but someone empathizing like Logan has done with Katelyn, someone empathizing with the needs of someone who’s really wants to improve as we’ve talked about, but doesn’t really know how to get there. That’s a critical connection. And, but you’re going to talk about this probably here in a little bit, but that connection between companies is absolutely pivotal in terms of creating a success, a successful technology implementation ran out of air. There

Scott Luton (31:04):

Blessed be the ties that bind all my favorite sayings all the time. And that really speaks to strong supply chains, upstream and downstream. I want to pop in this as Lee has got a great thought here. So we’ve published a great podcast with crystal Davis, which is just a dynamo, much like Kaitlyn and Logan here. And she really urge folks. Don’t just focus on the tools, which is a lot of the intangibles you’re hearing here between Logan and Kaitlin. So I’m gonna go back to this question she posed earlier, cause Logan I’d love for you to weigh in here. So as Leah’s talks about these long runners, right, folks that have been part serving the business supply in the business for 30 or 40 years, she says changes, KPIs, standards are one thing, but data and technology does really scare people out there. The attitude toward it on our front line varies. When we talk about, you know, long-term suppliers and the type of transformational change at your partnering within the lead, any thoughts for how you make sure no one’s left behind so to speak?

Logan Ensign (31:57):

Yeah, no, it’s, it’s a great question. And, and we run into that fairly frequently, right? And, and I think that the key here is I know I sound like a broken record, but if we can understand, how can we help you, whether it’s saving time or helping find insights that historically have been difficult to find as a piece of that. I think also just the comment that it’s not all about the tools, which is, which is totally spot on being able to, from the top of an organization, articulate and convey, here’s where we want to go. And these are the reasons why are just really, really important as we try and help people move from an old way of doing business to a new way of doing business. And then I think incentives matter, right? And so as you think about how organizations are incentivized design, their current processes, you can’t just scrap that, right?

Logan Ensign (32:50):

You got to work with that and make sure that you’re acknowledging here’s where we’re are. Here’s where we are. So, I mean, we use the mantra really, really frequently crawl walk, run, and that’s the journey we go on with our customers in aggregate, but also individual users on, okay, how can we help you crawl and get early familiarity? Maybe we just help you with time savings in the short term, we can be patient as we help people start to get comfortable with technology and then making sure we acknowledge that, Hey, their existing processes that are there for a reason. I mean, we’ve got best in class supply chains that we introduce ourselves to, that we need to make sure we are working within those, those confines, at least initially, um, as, as we kind of partner with customers,

Scott Luton (33:31):

Love that. And also love one of y’all’s. Other core values are our big part of your MOS iterate to excellence. I love that. And I’ve seen it play out, uh, just in our, in our conversations. Okay. A couple of comments here and we’re going to move right along Enrique Alvarez, host of logistics with purpose and with vector global logistics, it all comes back to human relationships, human transformation powers, digital transformation, great point. Gary says, amen. Absolutely true. Enrique culture eats strategy for breakfast. Okay. Yeah. One of the, one of the all time greats, right. I want to change the conversation a bit because most of our conversations at this point, it’s kind of focused mainly on Valvoline and alloys, but the really cool thing that got my attention as I sat in on a previous webinar with Valvoline and alloy is how the wonderful improvements that you are driving together has been moving downstream to Valvoline’s customers. Right. And it’s improving really the whole ecosystem. And that’s a beautiful thing when you get transformation, right? So Logan, if you could speak to that a little.

Logan Ensign (34:36):

Yeah. Well I think some of our early customers and some of the early users have this mentality of, Oh, Walmart is Walmart. And so they’re going to manage my inventory great. And that I can trust and defer to them. And, and ultimately they’ve got great systems, technology people, but their portfolio is massive. And as a brand manufacturer, you know, your business better than, than Walmart does. And so if you think about, as retailers start to give more and more data access to their trade partners, you can ask the question, why are they doing that? And ultimately what we find is as retailers provide more and more information to their, their, their suppliers, they’re expecting their suppliers to step up and take a more active role in downstream sort of store level replenishment in flagging potential issues from an inventory perspective in auditing the, the forecast.

Logan Ensign (35:36):

So the order plans, and that can be daunting for organizations maybe that don’t have a grip on their point of sale data, but customers who do get a grip of their point of sale data, earn a ton of trust with their trade partners. It’s the expectation. And that’s where it starts to get really mutually beneficial that now we’re, we’re, co-managing this inventory with our, with our partners, even if it’s not, you know, a vendor managed inventory environment, that expectation is becoming, you know, a higher and higher bar for how you manage your business, uh, with, with your major trade partners.

Scott Luton (36:09):

Love it. So not only is the work you are doing together again, benefiting babbling, but the school and right downstream. And it’s benefiting the work that you all, uh, the work you do with your retail, with all your customers, right. Caitlyn.

Katlyn Davis (36:22):

Yeah. Right. And I think it used to be, I think supply chain, from what I’ve heard in the past used to be definitely a segment of the business that was more background work. You know, you would do it internally with your business, but you wouldn’t venture outside of that. You had, you know, like Logan was saying you would support things, but you weren’t at the forefront. And now in the role that I was in with supply chain, it was a forefront role. You were a huge part of the team. We would travel. I would go to the headquarters of Walmart. I would go on all those meetings with the guys, from the team. And so it was huge to be a part of that when, from what I’ve heard historically, that wasn’t usually how it worked. And I think it all goes back to what Logan is saying about the trust and being able there’s so many times I’ve been able to show Walmart, Hey, I have some data that I don’t know if you might have it, but you’re not looking at it.

Katlyn Davis (37:04):

And so, and I’ve analyzed this and I can tell a story to you of what I think is going to happen in the future. That’s like, like you said, you know, we know our business and we can see trends and we can predict things that I don’t think Walmart has the bandwidth to do necessarily. And so, and like, like you said, they’re huge. So even if they do have the bandwidth, it’s very difficult. And so I think the fact that I’ve been able to come to Walmart or Amazon or dollar general, some of these big businesses and show them, Hey, here’s some data that I think you should look into. And I think we can, we can both win here because our out of stocks are kind of low. So let’s see what we can do to fix that. And so they went, we went and I think that’s a huge, a huge thing that I don’t think we used to be able to do in the past. I think that’s something that’s new and changing with the times of supply chain being a forefront place to be. And then when it comes to corporate business

Scott Luton (37:49):

Customers of their customers, of the customers, all everybody wins really. And it’s, there’s two big things here and what Katelyn just shared. And Greg I’d love you to weigh in. But first thing I heard is folks, if you’re trying to do anything in business, any of our listeners that may be in school, still trying to break in, learn to tell a story very effectively. That’s what we’re hearing from Logan and Kaitlin. And that’s, that’s important, no matter where you go. Secondly, it’s a lot easier to tell a story and change the nature of those conversations. If you’ve got really good data, and it’s not this spreadsheet over here and this spreadsheet over here, but it’s, it’s that powered, you know, when, when those battleships and world war II, when they would sidle up against the coast and direct all those guns on one target that the power of the force multiplier. And that’s, that’s what we’re here a good

Katlyn Davis (38:36):

Bit. Yeah. I think that’s when analysts fall short a little bit, sometimes something I’ve noticed, and this is not just supply chain analyst, but the whole analyst world is we’re great with data analysis, but we don’t know how to relay it to other people. And I think if you can’t tell the story and get other people to really understand what you’re saying, um, it’s kind of gets lost in translation and you don’t, you don’t really get the results that you want. So I think there’s a huge benefit to having these conversations with the customer, because we’re made to tell the story and we’re made to interpret the data the best that we can.

Scott Luton (39:03):

Excellent. And Greg, I know you’re dying. This is, this is like candy to our ears. When we hear conversations like this,

Greg White (39:08):

Greg, you know, this is what I did when I was Caitlin’s age. Right. Um, which was a little while ago. Uh, but what we had to do was teach the people that used our technology. I worked at a company, it was called [inaudible] now part of blue, something blue yonder. And we had to both convince management to listen to their analysts who had their finger on the pulse of the supply chain and also convince the analysts and teach the analysts how to tell that story because they were inherently often numbers people. And what we realized and what we consciously did over a number of years was to start to help companies identify a, a personality type and a skillset like Caitlin’s where they’re both analytical and very thorough, and yet able to tell a story, right? So that has become critical because that the role is so important to so many companies. And I’m sure Caitlin, you’ve seen this, the executives really value your opinion, but you have to be able to give it to them in bite sized chunks, because they’re going to spend 40 seconds listening to you and then make a multi-million or multi-billion dollar decision. So it’s, it’s important to be able to do that, but it’s good to see that we’ve come to this point in supply chain where both the analysts and management recognize and nurture that

Scott Luton (40:31):

Excellent point. And, and again, what we heard Caitlin say, there is no longer is it just supply chain? It’s just, uh, you know, something you gotta do. It turns into a huge competitive advantage, and you can, you can take it on the offense. So you’ve all of a sudden supply chain becomes Patrick in the homes and the chiefs and that, that dynamic offense, or you’re changing the conversations as you heard Kaitlin talk about in our conversations with Walmart. Right?

Katlyn Davis (40:56):

Right. And I think a big part too. It’s like, I think it was Jeffrey who made the comment about creativity and people. When people think of supply chain analytics, you don’t think of creativity. That’s a huge part of it is being creative enough to say, how can we, or can we optimize efficiency here? You know, instead of just doing the day-to-day and trying to get product where it needs to go, where can we, you know, our, our forecast accuracy is 97%. How can we get it to that 99, you know, logistics, how can we cut shipping costs? How can we get it there quicker? All of these things become a lot more fun and a lot more about the innovation and the creativity and, you know, going that extra mile to get there. And I think we’re starting to realize in the supply chain world, that if you’re not doing that, you’re not being innovative and creative, you kind of get left behind excellent

Greg White (41:37):

Technology can do all that. The creative part is what we need humans. Right? We have a problem technology can’t solve, let’s get creative and figure out how to solve it. Right. We can rework some of that knowledge to technology for the future, but there will always be that layer of creativity where the best that the data or the technology can give you is the state of things right now. Right?

Scott Luton (42:01):

Yeah. Good point. All right. I got to reference what Simon said. Anytime someone says elixir and Perez. We can, we kind of share it. The single best thing Simon says about implementing is a Glint of excitement and the wow moments when the end user gets it and can see how their life, how their working life will be transformed elixir. He says, Simon, that’s, that is a wonderful

Greg White (42:23):

Somebody copy that because that’s something you ought to have up on your wall. Okay. One right there we are.

Scott Luton (42:30):

This is, this is what we, this is what we knew, uh, in, uh, in all the prep for this, this show was going to come out because this is how really, what we’re hearing here is how supply chain partners should work together. Right? So Logan we’ve, we’ve covered since last time you came into the conversation with, I know we’ve come a long way, but what’s one really important thing before we move forward, that folks should really keep front and center from you the last few minutes.

Katlyn Davis (42:53):

Well, I think the point made on great analysts, I think Caitlin is such a great example there of, okay. You’ve got to be quantitative and analytical to sift through numbers and understand data, but a key component of actually getting action and results is being able to tell the story, um, because ultimately the decision makers and the whole process is managed by people. And I think Caitlin has been a great example. You know, I remember, I don’t know, Katelyn, if you remember the, that antifreeze, um, you know, clear blue and red, as you worked with the Walmart team there, that you, you probably know more firsthand that, that story I just was able to kind of Marvel at, well, here’s a dashboard with some numbers, but this is a really sort of compelling story that needs to be told to get, uh, maybe a more, a more serious problem taken care of, um, more contents that Caitlin, I didn’t do it much justice.

Greg White (43:51):

She remembers all of this, right?

Katlyn Davis (43:55):

Walmart, you remember every detail because you can’t afford not to. So it’s a, it’s definitely a big thing in the arena. So you definitely want to be sure that, you know exactly what’s going on when it comes to Walmart. But, um, yeah, I remember exactly what you’re talking about. So we had three different antifreeze skews, and we were kind of doing some test runs and trying to see what would work, what wouldn’t work, what the buyer wanted, how they performed. And this is something that I truly don’t know if we would have had the opportunity to do, if they didn’t trust us. I don’t know if they would’ve let us, because at the end, what ended up happening was we were given a little bit more flexibility to say, okay, you let us, we were letting them know how we’re performing and how we’re and how, you know, we’re able to forecast demand for this pilot that we’re running right now, instead of letting Walmart, you know, take on the other burden.

Katlyn Davis (44:38):

We said, Hey, we’ll do it. We’ll take it on if you let us. And so I guess I was huge because I don’t think that would have been necessarily an opportunity if they didn’t trust their supply chain skills, which inevitably made us trust way a little bit more because we had those tools and we had that connection to where I could reach out to Logan or Manfred or anyone over there and say, Hey, here’s what we’re trying to do. I think I remember the first day I reached out to you guys and said, we have this huge project and I know what I want, and I know what I need, but I don’t know necessarily how to get it. And so that’s when you all came in and kind of showed me, and that was where the partnership, I think really sparked because that was a very successful pilot. It went great. I think it built some credibility with Valvoline and Walmart. So, and I can see us moving forward and doing the same kind of thing. So,

Scott Luton (45:18):

And, and, you know, we can only take it so far. Caitlin was critical and being able to communicate back to the buyer and replenishment analyst. And so I think it’s, it’s, it’s just a key component as you look at, you know, the really strong analysts, or if you’re in an analytics role, make sure that skillset exists and you can communicate all the way to the point of action, right? This is what it means, and this is what we should do. Um, and I think that’s where Valvoline has really shine and Katelyn in particular,

Katlyn Davis (45:44):

If you don’t have that confidence, that’s it just like what you’re saying? And I can only have confidence in, in what I know and understand, but I need confidence in the data before I can go tell that story. So I don’t feel comfortable telling that story if I’m not confident about, you know, the data. And so knowing that I have a partner to where I can get that information from and trust it. And that, that helps me to be more confident to go to the buyer and say, Hey, I think I have some information that you would like to know. And like, you all have said before, going to Walmart is pretty intimidating. So you want to be sure you’ve got it. You’ve got your stuff in order, but yeah, that’s, that’s great Logan.

Scott Luton (46:14):

So w what’s interesting, funny here, really, at least I find it funny is, as we’re talking about this glorious story where supply chains working, and then Enrique brings us back, crashing down back to earth, and then you have a pandemic or wind pushing evergreen vessel and blocking the Suez canal such as life in supply chain. Love that and Rico, but that’s fine.

Greg White (46:32):

You can, you can’t, even to an extent, consider that. I mean, remember the discussion that we’ve had so often supply chain is not a cost minimization exercise, and this is a massive shift that I think supply chain professionals need to undertake. It is a risk management exercise exercise, and you need to consider the likelihood that something like that will happen. I don’t think there’s a model on the planet that could predict the impact of a pandemic because it’s a rolling impact. First of all, there was one impact. Now there are more, it’s a rolling impact, but things like disruption, traditional disruptions in the supply chain, you can absolutely account for. There are models that can even address that really quick.

Scott Luton (47:14):

We’ve got one more topic we want to hit on, and we’re not going to get a chance to answer, but as a I’d love for Caitlin and maybe Logan y’all connect with AZA, Leah, maybe after the show, she, she really she’s on a path to become a data analyst. She’s already a brilliant mind, biomedical engineering, uh, love for y’all to compare notes and maybe, uh, shed some light on own that path, that journey. Yeah. Maybe she could take your role temporarily while you’re on your book tour. Nice, nice randomized data pool from disparate systems needs collaboration across functional stakeholders to ensure interpretation. The story is correct, and business users can improve decision and take action. That’s a great comment segue. Yes. Thanks Greg. We’re tracking together. My friend, because what we want to talk about is is that cross-functional collaboration, which is so critical across business, especially supply chain right here in the information age. So, uh, Caitlin, you know, given your journey and given what you’ve shared, you could probably be pretty uniquely positioned to address this, this critical component. Any thoughts on you’re in there?

Katlyn Davis (48:23):

Yeah, I think it’s, I think something that Valvoline does really well and I can’t attest to how other companies do this, but it’s, like I said before supply chain, wasn’t something that we did in the background and I didn’t have communication. You know, I met with the directors every week for, for each of my accounts and just being really actively involved with, with the account, with every part of it, with the marketing side, with, like I said, the supply chain, the customer service, the, the sales guys, I think it’s huge being able to have all those cross-functional teams because every analyst has a little bit different information or is at least in a certain specific, uh, niche part of the data a little bit more. So I think having those connections, and I’ve really learned that with my new role, being an operations sales analyst now it’s, there’s things now that I, I wish I would have trusted people on, or I wish I would’ve reached out more when I was a supply chain analyst because the operations guys, they could have helped me a ton, but I think I didn’t really know that.

Katlyn Davis (49:12):

And so one thing that Valvoline is really great about is having those cross-functional teams meet on a very frequent cadence to say, I have some data that you might not have, or that you might not look at as frequently. So let me pull that in and we can all use this to make supply chain better, logistics, operations, even marketing. I feel like that’s something you would never think a marketing analyst would go with a supply chain analyst, but we worked and I think Logan can attest to this Jordan. And I worked together every day, um, just to make sure that we had, we had the right data together, the right data set together.

Scott Luton (49:42):

Well, you know, in Logan, I want you to want you to weigh in here as well, but you know, one of the cool things that I’m hearing here, and, and I think someone referenced earlier in the comments is it is a, it can be a headache at times right now in years like 2020. And I’m not supposed to mention that year, sorry, Greg, or 2021 to be leading or being, you know, a supply chain practitioner, right. It can be a it’s, it’s a, it can be a labor of love sometimes ton of headaches and surprises much like the Suez canal hoop who predicted that two weeks ago. But these changes, these transformations, these, these, uh, condition improvement projects, these where you’re changing the game, but also equally as important. You’re making jobs easier for these folks that have, uh, have a very complex and pressure filled position. So I love hearing that Logan w weigh in on this cross-functional aspect, I

Logan Ensign (50:28):

Mean, Katelyn you’re right. I think Valvoline does quite well at this. And, you know, we find that that organizations are on a spectrum, right? And if you’re further on one side of the spectrum, maybe it’s your SNOP process is once a month dual between sales and supply chain. And that’s when I have to talk to them, um, all the way to I’m collaborating daily with my supply chain or my sales partner. And I think that that, that is so critical because different stakeholders have different pieces of context. And you may have decision-makers that sit in different parts of the organization. And when a crisis comes up, a massive order comes in and you don’t know what to do. If you can collaborate and say, supply chain says, I can’t fill this order. And sales said, let me see if I can get the muscle arrived date moved back so that we can avoid that Otis fine.

Logan Ensign (51:21):

That’s where the magic starts to happen, right? It’s, it’s, it’s being transparent and open and, and collaborating. I think one of the reasons that’s particularly tough in, in organizations is supply chains, marketing sales all have a very different source of truth and a very different language, right? Supply chain. You’re looking at your own internal inventory units of measure and KPIs and metrics, and your sales teams may own your point of sale data and your retail relationships. And so it becomes hard just because you’re speaking different languages to come together. And so alloy plays a layer to try and break down those barriers, break down those silos, but then also organizations that recognize, Hey, we got to work more closely together and collaborate collectively on problems that span our organizations because rarely do we see big issues or opportunities. Sit just in one piece of your organization, you’re going to need buy-in support, influence decisions from, from other organizations and being able to facilitate that as we find super, super critic,

Scott Luton (52:23):

Excellent point, uh, two quick takeaways there. First off Logan, you make me feel at ease because I talk with my hands too. So I love that Logan. Secondly, secondly, you know, these days, if you’re operating in silos, unlike this, the integrated manner that Logan’s speaking to, you’re inviting disaster and you’re invited and Murphy’s law into your global supply chains. You’ve got to work in conjunction in alignment. We’ve talked a lot about on the front end. So love that if you don’t, your container ship runs a ground in a canal. Okay. So Greg or we make sure that’s really folks. That is a fascinating if you’ve seen some of the imagery from the Suez canal and what they’re trying to do it is absolutely fascinating. Just the scale. The scale is fascinating. All right. So Greg, before we make sure folks know how to connect, there’s a lot of comments here. I’m, I’m hoping we can connect them after the show with Kaitlyn and Logan, but what’s give us that, that, uh, that proverbial one key takeaway or a couple of key takeaways from what we’ve heard today here, Greg. So this makes me think of a episode I did some while ago. I think we can drop

Greg White (53:26):

It in, in the comments, but it is how to conduct a it’s around a digital transformation, right? But this is not dissimilar. This is any sort of transformation that you do. And I think there are a few things you have to think about number zero is that technology is not, is not the solution to your problem. It is that it is the powerful hammer you put into your people’s hands, right? And I think that’s a really, really critical aspect of it. The other is, and I think Valvoline has done this in order of magnitude higher than most companies do. And that’s recognized that supply chain is your main customer experience driver and vice versa, no product, no program, right? There’s only one thing that your customer wants when they have their experience with you. And that is the product that you have promised them. So that among other things, you’ve got to solve a user pain, something that the users care about, you can’t solve a strategic ivory tower pain.

Greg White (54:31):

If it doesn’t also solve a user pain, because where ROI is delivered is on the desktop. And you know, I think both you, Logan, both you and Kaitlyn talked about, you have to teach people to fish. Don’t, don’t give them a fish, teach them to fish and you get real. Buy-in Katelyn, you annunciated this really clearly you get real buy-in from the people, because everybody talks about buy-in during these things, when you demonstrate wins, right? Demonstrate wins will for your people who have a real problem, you will, you will get by in, and then the last, and this is not, not as fun to talk about, but I think it’s, it’s something we alluded to, and it would be imprudent for Logan to ID to identify this. But the truth is you have to expect attrition. There will always be that one person who chooses to retire rather than reform. And that’s not a bad thing, but you even have to nurture those people. I’ve experienced it. You really have to nurture those people as well, and try to bring them along. And some of them just realize they’re just at that point in their career when they don’t want to learn one more thing and they buy an RV and they’re out and you replace them with somebody like Kaitlin and everyone is better off.

Scott Luton (55:41):

Love it. I love it. I wish I could share my screen here. Uh, uh, the alloys team has been allowed to eating along with supply chain out here today. And they picked up on one thing that Greg just shared. Their supply chain is your main customer experience driver and Scott, Michael Scott, given you a little tip of the cup because it’s such a great and powerful point. You know, we talk a lot about how that CX is becoming as synonymous as UX or employee experience or you name it. So a lot of good stuff here today, these kinds of conversations energize us here. And this is, this is why supply chain is such a cool place to be despite the challenge in years, like what we’re living in, let’s make sure. So we’re kind of running out of time here. I want to make sure folks know how to connect with you both. So start with you. Not only the, all the supply chain nourishment you’ve dropped on a community, but your first book is getting released next month. So how can folks connect?

Katlyn Davis (56:32):

Yeah. So I’m on LinkedIn, Caitlin Davis. And of course, if it says Valvoline that’s me. So I’m on LinkedIn. You can find me there. Also my website for the book is Caitlin, a davis.com. Um, yep. And the book will be available on Barnes and Nobles website, uh, amazon.com. Booktopia wherever you get your books. So yeah, I’m excited. You think you can pre-order it. Now, if you want it to, if you want to go on Amazon, you can also pre-order it now as well.

Scott Luton (56:55):

Awesome. And Hey, support your local boats out again. Yes. Wealth. God’s doing that. Love it, love it. I love them books put their, the authors on the, on the front cover because you connect with, with them.

Katlyn Davis (57:11):

I was hesitant about it, but the man who wrote the forward of the book said that it was a, he, he described it as a personal thesis. And so I said, I think I should put myself on it. I guess if it’s in reference to a personal thesis. So

Scott Luton (57:23):

I love it. We’ll support all those, but also support your local bookstores. I bet it’s going to be everywhere. So a lot of good stuff there. All right, before we ask Logan, uh, I wanna, uh, drop, uh, Greg has preached again is Quintin says, first users are always the people we have to satisfy. Peter says supply chain has always been a challenge 2020, simply elevated it to the C-suite there. And Gary you’re you’re reading, uh, you must be reading from our, um, I run a show here because Kaitlin just shared that it’s gonna be everywhere. It’s taken over the, taken over the world, fierce fiercely. All right. So Logan really have enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed our conversations and, and, you know, Greg, I think it’s important to point out the Logan you see here is a same Logan you see between the, between the shows, he’s just a incredible resource and a great individual to collaborate with. So Logan, how can folks connect with you in the LOE team?

Logan Ensign (58:16):

Yeah. So LinkedIn is going to be the best way Logan and sign I’m active there. So feel free to connect with me. alloy.ai has some great resources to get more acquainted with the platform. And then on that website, you can find different ways of getting in touch with folks at alloy. If you want to learn any more about what it is we do and, and, and our offering.

Scott Luton (58:37):

Awesome. Well, one last thing, I’m not sure if we dropped it in the notes as well, but for a continuation of the story you’ve heard here between Valvoline and alloy, there there’s that great webinar, which is available on demand, which features want to Caitlyn’s colleagues. Uh, Eric, is it Rossi, Rossi, Rossi, Eric Rossi. Yep. And they’ve got that available. I think we can maybe find a link to drop in and y’all should check that out. Uh, lots of very Frank information Eric tells it like it is, and there’s not enough of that in global business. Okay. Well, Caitlin Davis with Valvoline Logan in Saigon with alloy, really, it’s been a pleasure to share your story with, with everyone here in our community, love the interactions. I love the comments. We’ve got plenty of t-shirt isms from you both. And we got plenty from the audience and the community as well. So we look forward to reconnecting really soon. And thanks for joining us here today. Thank you all so much. This is awesome. I hope you guys have great rest of your day and I can’t wait to go back and listen to some of these other webinars that you guys have had. We’re looking forward to it. Thanks so much, Kaitlyn and Logan. Thanks for joining.

Intro/Outro (59:40):

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