Una Actualización en Cadena de Suministros y Logística de América Latina, con Demós Pérez
Episodio 8

Resumen del Episodio

En este episodio de Supply Chain Now en español, el presentador Enrique Álvarez da la bienvenida al invitado especial Demos Pérez al podcast para obtener una actualización sobre la cadena de suministro y la logística en Panamá y el resto de América Latina.

Transcripción en Español

[00:00:37] Muy buenos días y bienvenidos nuevamente a otro episodio de Supply Chain en español Supply Chain Now en español. Mi nombre es Enrique Álvarez y voy a ser su anfitrión el día de hoy. Y bueno, tenemos una excelente entrevista. Una gran persona. Y bueno, de hecho va a ser la segunda vez que intentamos hacer esta entrevista. Este. Este invitado fue uno de mis primeros personas que tuvo el placer de entrevistar y la entrevista me pareció que fue bastante bien, aunque era mi primera entrevista y bueno, para no hacerles el cuento muy largo a los que no están escuchando este. Después de que se acabó la entrevista, resulta que no se grabó en la computadora. El archivo estaba corrupto, no pudimos salvarla y bueno, después de varios meses más logré agendar esta muy buena entrevista. Nuestro invitado de hoy es un experto apasionado de la logística. Este con más de 20 años de experiencia en esta industria, ha ayudado a diferentes clientes a nivel global y mundial a no sólo diseñar, sino ejecutar y desarrollar sus estrategias de distribución y logística. El está en Panamá, lo que le permite tener un muy, muy buen conocimiento de todo lo que tiene que ver con la industria, la transportación y muy muy pegado a Latinoamérica en diferentes industrias. Su carrera profesional como lo platicaremos en un momento, es bastante larga y exitosa. Es este Gerente General de Logistics Servicies, presidente del cÃnsul of Supply Chain Management Professionals en Panamá. El СВЯЗИ se CMP Vice Chair del CICI International Chamber of Commerce, vicepresidente del Gias Wan en Panamá, Kojo Rustico fundador de Now Shipping Now Shopping y Chief Comercial Officer de Happy Group. Con ustedes un buen amigo, una persona que si no conocen les recomiendo que conozcan muy bien conectado a una persona que sabe hacer muy bien las redes sociales y LinkedIn conmigo el día de hoy. Demóstenes Pérez, Demos Pérez. Veamos qué tal. Cómo estás? Muy buen día. Cómo te ha ido?

[00:02:51] Muy bien, muy bien. Enrique, gracias por estar a favor de esta oportunidad.

[00:02:56] Oye, no es el placer, es todo mío. Y les decía aquí antes de presentarte, que esta es la segunda vez que lo intentó, porque la primera cometí el terrible error de. Por alguna razón no grabar el episodio después de nuestra muy interesante plática. Así es que espero que ahora sí, con más experiencia éste resulte mejor.

[00:03:15] Super, súper. Siempre son buenas experiencias, siempre son buenas conversas.

[00:03:20] Es bueno tener a alguien como tú con experiencia y un alto sentido de profesionalismo, porque así mi trabajo es mucho más fácil, más tengo que dejarte hablar y presentarte. Así es que demos, cuéntanos un poco de ti, empecemos platicando de ti como individuo para que la gente que no te conoce, que son pocos en esta industria, te conozcan un poco más y sobretodo esa parte personal de Debemos Pérez.

[00:03:46] Bueno, eh. Mi nombre es Demóstenes Pérez. Eh? Yo soy nacido e criado y vivo y estudio y trabajo en Panamá, eh? Nací en un pueblo, una ciudad pequeña que se llama Chitra. Está en el centro del país, eh? Vengo de dos familias, eh? Una muy orientadas al negocio Otomo, orientadas a la educación. Por ende, creo que tengo una una mezcla rara de de. De emprendedor y de IDE y de maestro. Me encanta Gamba. Ambos temas. He estado involucrado en la industria de la cadena de suministro por los últimos eh. Casi 25 años de mi vida. Es una industria que he aprendido a quererla. Tengo mucha pasión por todo lo relacionado a la industria. Y bueno, después de ser ejecutivo de una empresa corporativa por muchos años. Ahora pues ya hace algún tiempo. Tengo mi propia empresa, mi propio Tupelo y me encanta. Me encanta aprender. Me encanta estudiar e hablar con gente como tú, Enrique de la industria, que te hace tantas cosas bonitas. No sólo a nivel de trabajo, sino también en la parte de ayudar a los demás, que para mí eso es tremendamente importante. Así que bueno, estoy en una etapa en mi vida ahora que sigo trabajando muy duro, tal vez más duro que cuando era más joven, claro, pero también he aprendiendo constantemente y también tratando de vivir la vida al máximo, siempre dando a los demás todo lo que pueda.

[00:05:26] Sí, hay muchas, muchas enseñanzas. Nos ha traído esta pandemia y estos últimos años. Y bueno, platicaremos mucho más a detalle de lo que está pasando en logística, en particular en Latinoamérica, en particular en Panamá. Pero antes de remontarnos un poco al futuro o al a la hora y al futuro. Cuéntanos más qué te atrajo a esta? Nos platicas que tienes la experiencia de enseñanza a maestros, pero cómo, cómo caes tú en la logística? Qué es lo que te atrae de logística? Cuando eras joven?

[00:05:59] Bueno, yo no escogí esta carrera, eh? Hace ya unos 25 años, por ahí más o menos, yo estaba muy tranquilo allá en mi pueblo, trabajando en el negocio familiar. Siempre fui muy inquieto, siempre tuve, sigue Josephs, como dicen ahora. Tuve un bar, vendía cosas en la calle, vendía seguros. Trabajaba con mi padre en nuestro negocio de la familia. Sí, fue inquieto y un buen día un familiar cercano, eh, me dice que se había. Él tenía una empresa de mensajería y se había ganado un contrato por una multinacional. Y dentro del contrato había un área de servicio que tenía que cubrir, en la cual él no tenía ni conocimiento de la experiencia, ni gente, ni nada, y que necesitaba ayuda. Y me habló. Me preguntó que si me si podía ayudarlo por dos semanas mientras él se armaba y hacía sus cosas y le dije Ok, vamos. Eh. Siempre me ha gustado el reto y las cosas de la vida. Entonces, eh. Vine. Eso era en la que hoy es mi segunda tierra en la ciudad de Colón, en la zona libre de Colón, un área que no conocía, que había visto una vez en mi vida.

[00:07:16] No tenías ninguna experiencia en logística ni nada. También estuvieron en la carrera y estudios y así que qué te gustaba a ti? Para qué los granos cuando eras chico?

[00:07:26] Mirá, como te digo, siempre estuve desde muy chiquito, desde que te digo seis, siete años estuve, iba al negocio. Pero ahora tenemos una ferretería. Mi familia tocó una frutería por unos 75 años. Mi abuelo. Así que siempre estuvo relacionado con la parte comercial ventas, compras, haber

[00:07:46] Trabajado desde los 6 años con tu papá. Me imagino que a tu abuelo también. En ese entonces

[00:07:51] Mi abuelo le había fallecido y el no lo tuvo. No tuvo la suerte de conocerlo. Mi papá continuó el negocio, eh. Y bueno, era un negocio de la familia y también participaron de España, de España.

[00:08:03] Hemos venido tú y tu abuelo. Cual fue un poco su historia? Cómo llegaron a Panamá?

[00:08:07] Ellos, ellos, eh? La familia Pérez llegó a uno. Lo último registro que tenemos por 1800, eh? Creo que fue 20 en una investigación pieso. Mi hermana Kawada le encanta el tema este de la genealogía. Logró encontrar rastros de ellos. Llegaron a la provincia, a la a lo que hoy es la Villa de los Santos, que es una ciudad histórica, eh? En la época de cuando para amar la colonia española, ellos venían de España. Hay registros de la familia en ese sector, eh? Así que si todos llegaron de España a la época de la colonia, eh? Y bueno, ellos hicieron raíces en esta en esta zona. Ambas familias, los padres y los Castilla hicieron raíces en esta zona. Eh? Yo te digo en la Poppo, la familia Pérez. Y también la familia Sánchez, que era la esposa de mi abuelo. Ambos eran emprendedores por naturaleza. Los Sánchez venían del Perú. Ellos sí, sí. Y ahora un poquito más reciente a Panamá. Pero eran gente muy emprendedora, eh? Tenían negocio y ha vuelto.

[00:09:17] Papá lo vio, lo vivió de manera muy similar. A lo mejor lo que tú viviste con él desde chico, los veranos me dijeron los veranos te la pasabas en la ferretería haciendo trabajos. Qué es lo que. Qué es lo que más te recuerdas en esa época? Mira, ferretería, qué era para ti el trabajo? Porque me imagino que se ha de vivir muy diferentes y desde niño lo ves y lo adoptas. A lo mejor y hasta la parte de un juego a la mujer.

[00:09:41] Era, era, era, era parte de la de la familia. Era parte de lo que éramos, eh? Llega a un punto en que ya no era trabajo, digamos. Era. Era lo que era. Pues era, era. Crecimos entendiendo que había que trabajar todos los días. Mi papá, también de formación, era ingeniero agrónomo y también le gustaba mucho, pues la parte de fincas, tierra y demás. Así que también teníamos algo de eso. Así que siempre había trabajo, no? Los días libres eran cosa rara realmente en la casa, así que uno se crió en un ambiente de trabajo permanente.

[00:10:12] Uno estaba jugando con el iPhone todo el día. Me imagino en el iPad como a las generaciones de ahora.

[00:10:19] Sí, sí, sí, para nada. No había nada de eso. Y ya te digo, lo que a mí me encantaba era la parte de la relación y relacionamiento con la gente, conocer gente. Yo comencé a aprender la parte de compras, de comprar los productos que nos va a vender. Y fíjate, te voy a contar una anécdota bien interesante de esa época, esta ferretería que se fundó por allá por el año 1930 35 por allá, eh? En esa época se existían lo que era transporte a través de carretas, de bueyes y ahí en Chile, en mi tierra habían dos talleres donde se fabricaban las ruedas de las carretas, verdad? E hice básicamente era como un lugar donde se fabricaban para distribuir a la región. Cita ésta no resulta que estas carretas utilizaban unos tornillos o unos pernos muy largos como de 12 14 pulgadas, que eran los que eran las llantas y eso tornillos venían de Alemania. Entonces yo siempre tuve la curiosidad de preguntarme cómo llegaban esos tornillos a la ferretería. Entonces me contaba que eso te estoy dando desde los años 50.

[00:11:27] Si no me imagino

[00:11:29] Los pedido, lo ansian por carta. Mandaba una carta. Nunca entendí cómo hacían los pagos ahí. Si no te puedo decir, pero sé que los pedidos se hacían por carta y tipos. Te podrás imaginar a esos liftings, no? Me imagino que eran como 8 meses, porque

[00:11:46] Si llegaba la carta y a lo mejor y se perdía la carta de

[00:11:50] El banco, entonces es muy interesante porque ese era el insumo. Osea estos tornillo era el insumo para poder que las ruedas de las carretas funcionase. Entonces eran muy importantes, pero era un insumo casi como los microchips que no tenemos.

[00:12:06] Pues con los mismos leadthings casi casi al ladito.

[00:12:11] Entonces bueno, siempre me intrigó como hacía en esa época, no? Porque. Porque muy poco era lo que venía de China en esa época. Y China era un mundo desconocido también. En esa época. Así que todo venía de los Estados Unidos o de Europa, eh, que eran los grandes fabricantes de esa época. Todo se hacía por carta. Mi abuelo no hablaba inglés, así que no sé cómo hacer las cartas para Alemania. No tengo ni idea. Así que bueno, siempre fue muy intrigante para mí, eh? Cómo llegaban las cosas? Cómo se movía? De muy joven también? Pues ayudé. Me hice. Me hice ayudante de chofer de camión. O me hicieron? Pues como a los 13 años. Y era la cosa más. A los 13 años

[00:12:55] Ya estaba manejando un camión.

[00:12:57] No, no, no. Yo era ayudarla.

[00:12:59] Ok, ayudaba a.

[00:13:00] Sí, desde entonces era muy, muy, muy way. Para mí era una diversión total. Primero, porque los camioneros, los trajes, son súper malhablados, tienen las historias más locas del mundo. Se conocían mejor, una buena aventura. Obviamente reconocían los mejores sitios para comer de la carretera y para mí era un paseo. O sea que había que pararse a las dos de la mañana y tal. Para Veníamos a la ciudad Panamá a buscar materiales para la para la. Para llevar, pues a vender. Y era todo un Journey. Para mí eso era súper interesante. Conocía gente, yo tengo desde muy niño, tuve esa, esa.

[00:13:36] Claro, no estabas expuesto a muchísimas cosas, muchos negocios, mucha administración, logística, la gente. Suena como que tu papá realmente te estaba dando una clase de vida, no? En cuanto a logística, en cuanto a negocios y cuanto emprendedor sing sing.

[00:13:56] Sin saberlo yo y no sé cuánto, él se lo había propuesto. Pero así fue. Fue una tremenda enseñanza, ya te digo, relacionarme con gente de toda clase. Mi papá siempre me decía que uno tenía que tener la capacidad de poder cenar en un restaurante cinco estrellas o tomarse un plato de sopa en la pata de un palo de mango. El decía que uno podía, que había que estar en cualquier lado y Alex expedirse bien en cualquier lado, sin importar las personas. Y así, así me enseñó. Así crecí. Esa es mi filosofía de vida. Para mí todos somos iguales. Y trato siempre de vivir esa enseñanza. Y eso es lo que le enseño a mis hijos.

[00:14:37] También me dijo que es algo que te ha llevado a ser exitoso en la vida. A final de cuentas, yo comparto lo que estás diciendo y creo que el ser auténtico, el ser genuino, el no pretender tener o ser o pensar más que los demás, digo que eso es importante y se refleja en una trayectoria muy exitosa y creo que es un buen momento como para pasar entonces a un poco. Ahora si tu carrera profesional. Cuéntanos un poco, ya que acabaste tú cuando saliste de la ferretería, cuando te dejaron ir realmente. Cómo fue esa transición?

[00:15:11] Bueno, fíjate que como te digo, fue fue esa casualidad que este familiar me dice oye, XX dos semanas. Me acuerdo que incluso habló con mi papá y le pidió permiso para que me dejara ir. Y nada. Yo me vine por dos semanas,

[00:15:27] Supuestamente dos semanas,

[00:15:28] Supuestamente dos semanas. Y en ese entonces resultó que la empresa que se había ganado contrato era Federal Express y yo no tenía ni idea que era Federal Express. No conocía el servicio, no conocía el lugar, no conocía nada. O sea, iba en cero. Y bueno, resultó que fue otro Journey. Comencé a conocer gente y aprender cosas. O sea, todo era todos los días. Era algo nuevo. Todo eso era una aventura y nada. Me comencé a meter, me comencé a meter ya.

[00:16:01] Y esto ya era en Colón, cierto? En la zona franca, apologías. O sea, ya es realmente en donde para la gente que no conoce Colón o la Zona Franca. Strict e col. Qué les puedes decir? Lo que era en esa época

[00:16:13] Por la ciudad de Colón está localizada en el Atlántico, en la en la salida o en la entrada del Atlántico del Canal de Panamá. La ciudad Colón es una ciudad pequeña, pero muy importante desde el punto de vista de la cadena de suministros. Allí se encuentra la zona libre de Colón, que es el emporio comercial más grande del o la zona libre más grande del del hemisferio occidental. E Es una zona que históricamente ha contribuido a la distribución de productos para toda América Latina. Y yo vivía en el lado pacífico, en un pueblo en todo el centro del país. O sea, culturalmente eran dos sitios totalmente diferente. La comida es diferente de todas las diferentes. Entonces era como te digo, para mí era toda una aventura. Y este, este lugar, las paredes de Colón tenía una. Una tiene como una magia. Y es que es como una. Como un sitio donde convergen muchas culturas. Entonces, como a mí me tocaba hacer la entrega. Bueno, hacíamos todo. Yo hacía de driver currir. Era costumes. Orbyt será vendedor hacia todo. Pues me tocaba ir a las empresas, no eh con los paquetes y a eso los paquetes estaban tarde y tal nosequé. Y comencé a conocer a los no solo a las secretarias que recibían los paquetes, sino los dueños de la compañía. Entonces había conocí hebreos, árabes, hindúes, chinos e bueno, qué interesante. Había una cantidad de gente y como yo lo que les llevaba les interesaba. A veces llegaban muestras, por ejemplo para nuevas colecciones y eh, y ya te digo, eh? O llegaban cheques, llegaban cheques o llegaban B o lo que sea.

[00:17:58] Hay buenas noticias. Lo que. Lo que trajeras como el correo en su buen momento no me imagino, era la conexión entre ellos y el resto del mundo. Las noticias, los cheques, los proveedores.

[00:18:10] Entonces, a veces, a veces cuando llegaba, estaban esperando paquetes que eran tan importantes que se describían y me invitaban a tomar café y me regalaban cosas. Comencé a conocer a la gente, Enrique. Entonces ya te digo, de pronto entraba una puerta y eran católicos en la puerta siguiente eran maoístas, en la siguiente eran hebreos. Y así me fui y comencé a hacer amigos.

[00:18:33] Como que no te jode, que no te cuesta trabajo tampoco tengo 6.

[00:18:36] Me encanta, además de tener, comencé a conocer gente. Imagínate venir de un universo tan pequeño como era mi pueblo. Claro que ciudad y llegar de pronto a este. E. Abanico de razas, de religiones, de idiomas. Yo en casa aprendimos inglés porque mi papá, como te digo, estudió en los Estados Unidos ingeniero agrónomo e y de chiquito nos enseñan inglÃs. Jessica Aprendimos inglés en casa. En esa época no había internet ni ninguna acosarlos. Aprendí a leer y créeme que en la escuela tampoco me lo enseñaron, así que tenía alguna facilidad para el inglés. Entonces eso me facilitó mucho relacionarme. Por ejemplo, hoy conocí a la primera persona de Singapur en mi vida y no sabía ni ni ni qué país era Singapur. Me contaba de su país, pues era súper interesante porque comencé a conocer tanta gente, tanta cultura, tanta diversidad, que ahora hablamos tanto de diversidad. Incluso me daban comida.

[00:19:30] Entonces viene todo de todo el mundo aparte. No es que Panamá y a raíz del canal, como todo el mundo sabe, en este programa este es. Es la Meca para la parte de la distribución logística transporte de Latinoamérica. Como decía, si yo diría gran parte de Norteamérica también son. Todo pasa por ahí.

[00:19:50] Claro, claro, pasa muchísimo y aprendí muchos temas relacionados al negocio. Incluso aprendí algunas cosas negativas. Por ejemplo, aprendí lo que era un auge industrial. Me pasaron dos o tres veces. Me pasó que llegaban paquetes con muestras de una ropa. Por ejemplo, una línea que venía y de pronto uno hacía que era el dueño del paquete, pero no era porque quería ver la muestra del otro hasta más allá de las autori. Sí, sí, sí, una locura. Tuve que. Tuve que estar en autoridades y todo porque a uno le robó el paquete al otro y. O sea, mentira. Estuvo expuesto a un mundo de negocio que para mí era fascinante. Eh? Porque ya te digo, sólo el hecho de que alguien me contara sobre una industria que yo no sea sobre algo, sobre un país que tiene muchos amigos de India. Entonces comencé a aprender un poco de los hindúes y las diferentes razas y religiones que ellos tienen y las comidas y tal y las deidades. O sea, para mí era como que guau! O sea, eso era tan, tan, tan interesante que al final del camino, como siempre, deja de ser trabajo. Y eso es todo un viaje. Así que bueno, eso fue mientras estuvimos la operación de FedEx. Después de esta operación la absorbió otra empresa que me pidieron que me uniera a la empresa.

[00:21:10] Y manejamos eso para eso, como por cuatro o cinco años. Y luego un buen día se me acerca. Graham siguió, me dice Oye, tenemos que tomar una decisión y hemos hecho un negocio o hemos hecho una alianza con DHL. Tienes dos opciones o sigues con nosotros y te vas a DHL o te quedas en FedEx y DHL era mi competidor natural. E El era el Big Monster y yo dije que no, no, no, yo voy allá. Yo necesito saber qué pasa allí. Así que bueno, no tuvo mucho que pensar, eh? Y me fui. Y la transición al H.L fue fue muy interesante porque fue una experiencia de nuevo en la que tuve que hacer un merge de equipos en mi equipo. Una parte de mi equipo que se quedó conmigo eran los de ver lo de FedEx y una parte del equipo de DHL que tuvo que hacer una una fusión de las dos de dos empresas, que si bien es cierto proveen el mismo servicio, lo hacen de maneras diametralmente distintas desde el punto de vista de sistemas, procesos, lenguaje. Pues fue otro super journey. Y lo más interesante fue mezclar las culturas en la gente, no hablar como una maestría de cambio organizacional brutal

[00:22:32] Que en tu opinión y bueno, tomando en cuenta tu experiencia, no sólo en ese momento, sino a lo largo de toda tu trayectoria profesional, con qué crees que sea? Las dos tres claves para para poder integrar un buen equipo este mucho tenemos muchos emprendedores como sabes que escuchan este podcast y Supply Chain Now, las tres cosas que tú has aprendido no sólo de tu experiencia conviviendo con gente tan diversa de todas partes del mundo, sino yendo de una cultura como la de FedEx a una como la de DHL. Qué? Qué le dirías a la gente que está tratando de tratar de cambiar o integrar culturas en estos momentos?

[00:23:08] Sí, sí, sí, sí. Mira, yo creo que lo primero es el respeto, respeto. Tenemos que demostrar respeto siempre por los demás. A veces mucho caemos en el pensar que somos más que el otro, o porque mi empresa mejor que la tuya, o porque yo estudié más que tú, o porque, o sea GAP, claro. El respeto es lo primero. Lo otro. Enrique es que tiene que haber actitud positiva hacia el cambio. 1 A veces me ha pasado. Muchas veces cuando el individuo no quiere no hay nada que hacer. O sea, tu tratas y tratas y tratas de la mejor, de la mejor. O tal vez no de la mejor forma, pero tu tratas de integrarlo y la persona lo quiere. Claro. No, claro. No rompa ese paradigma. No quieres. Hay que dejarlo ir. Bueno, no siempre hay un mundo perfecto. No siempre se pueden integrar la cultura y la gente. Eso es una realidad que tenemos que entender.

[00:24:16] Tienes que tomar esas decisiones, no? Al final de cuentas, tú tienes la la directriz de hacer que el equipo funcione y dadas las posibilidades, a todos para que sean exitosos. Pero si la gente, el cambio está en uno, no es lo que es de lo que estás diciendo. Sí, sí, tengo uno. Quieres cambiar? No quieres cambiar y pues no se va a poder.

[00:24:36] Sí. Y lo último, yo diría que quien esté al frente o quienes estén al frente del proceso integración tienen que tener habilidades de liderazgo. O sea, hay que, hay que hay que prepararse. No es fácil lidiar con con, con personas que como todos sabemos, pues todos tenemos buenos y malos días. Claro, en diferentes background, diferentes situaciones. Y eso hay que entenderlo. O sea, no somos robots. Hay que entender que somos distintos. Hay que entender que podemos tener puntos de vista totalmente distintos y eso hay que entenderlo y valorarlo. Entonces, con solo solo un buen líder tiene la capacidad de tomar esas diferentes puntos de vista o diferentes formas de ver las cosas y y y unirlas y crear un equipo. Si hay algo que es difícil es crear un buen equipo o equipo integrado realmente, porque equipo es fácil decirlo al equipo. No, no, no. O sea, un equipo de verdad que se respete, que se cuide entre ellos, que quien se apoye realmente es un trabajo muy difícil e que le cuesta y que requiere de un esfuerzo extraordinario, que obviamente también tiene un componente de actitud, como decía antes de los demás y. Pero siempre cerca, por delante. Y yo creo que son de las lecciones más duras que he aprendido en tantos años de armar equipos. Porque básicamente yo lo que he hecho es eso. Aprendí a armar equipos de trabajo, equipos de alto desempeño. Hoy por hoy estoy trabajando en fortalecer mi actual equipo en la empresa NO3 y eso.

[00:26:22] Y bueno, eso vamos a platicarlo ahora en un momento más y realmente gracias por compartir esto. Para los que nos acaban de paq lo están escuchando. Para los que acaban de unirse, nomás quiero recordarles que tenemos a Demóstenes Pérez en Panamá. Demos explicándonos un poco su historia y como ya lo oyeron, básicamente tres cosas si quieren tener un equipo exitoso, si quieren integrar gente con diferentes características, con diferentes historias y con diferentes perspectivas, son tres cosas básicas respeto. No, no, nunca sentirnos más, nunca sentirse que eres el primero o el primordial. Respeto es importante una actitud positiva y un buen liderazgo y demos. Si te parece bien, hagamos un breve corte, aquí este y ahorita volvemos. Seguro. Corte Penal 55 veintitrÃs. Cómo vas? Cómo sientes tú? Suave. Algo que quieras que cambiemos va bien? No, no, no.. Ahora un poco nos saca. Es cierto. Tu experiencia profesional no le puedes poner especial atención a lo que tú creas que es más conveniente para ti. Y después me gustaría mucho meternos a tu empresa para que sirva también de promoción y de hablar un poco del día de hoy o del futuro. Como ves la situación con los equipos, con el tráfico, como ves a Panamá?

[00:27:56] Vaporea Obrer.

[00:28:00] Nuevamente bienvenidos, esto es Supply Chain Now en español, yo soy su anfitrión, Enrique Álvarez, y tengo conmigo a un gran invitado que por cierto también es anfitrión y con el cual voy a estar entrevistando a muchas otras personalidades en toda Latinoamérica. Un buen amigo, Demóstenes Pérez de Mohs. Cómo estás?

[00:28:20] Muy bien, muy bien, Enrique. Contento, contento.

[00:28:22] Volvemos. Volvemos otra vez. Y bueno, se me olvidó mencionarle a todos los que nos escuchan que si les interesan escuchar conversaciones y entrevistas como ésta contigo, que nos acompañen, que se inscriban en cualquier lugar en el que tengan su. En cualquier lugar que tengan sus podcast. Esto es Supply Chain Now. Por favor, síganos en LinkedIn, en YouTube o en cualquier sistema con el cual escuchen sus podcast. Nuevamente volvemos con Vemos que ya nos explicó toda la parte de su del inicio de su carrera, desde trabajar en la ferretería con su papá y su abuelo y la historia de la familia hasta ir de una a otra aventura. Este que ha pasado por realmente de mosas conocido cada parte de la cadena de suministro desde literalmente los tornillos que vienen de Alemania hasta acompáñala a distribuir en camiones pasando por FedEx. Y ahorita cuando? Cuando. Fuimos a este break. No estaba diciendo de la transición entre FedEx DHL. Cuéntanos de ahí, retomemos de ahí de DHL. Qué más sigue para ti?

[00:29:37] Bueno, en esa época era full currir, como quien dice, notábamos mete la parte currir. En ese momento, estando dirigiendo las operaciones DHL, me picó de nuevo el bichito emprendedor y decidí salirme de la compañía. Unos amigos habían formado un un fregao Warner y me invitaron a ser parte del equipo. Y fue la verdad que como te digo, pues me. Siempre tuve esa vena emprendedora y acepté. Me fui con ellos como. Como director comercial.

[00:30:13] Esto es logistics servicios o no todavía antes

[00:30:16] O ya no lo yetis. A veces ya estaba con DHL, eh? Yo me salgo de Logistics Servicios por un año más o menos y me fui a aprender el negocio Free for wedding, que yo no lo conocía. Coquetos como tus buenos amigos que ya tenían su empresa, eh? Yo levanté algo de capital con la gente que conocía con. con buenos amigos de Colombia y de Honduras y otros países que teníamos amistades. Así que hicimos esta compañía. Pero eh. Una realidad, Enrique, que ya esa época te hablo de esto fue en el 2005. Primero que yo, yo era muy joven todavía me faltaba mucho más experiencia, sobre todo en la parte financiera, eh? Y nada era fue producto de una tremenda experiencia porque digo trabajamos durísimo. Éramos tres, eh? 16 horas al día. Era muy extenuante. Yo comencé a armar, a meternos en estas alianzas de Wilders que hoy todavía existen y son muy fuertes para conseguir carga y comenzamos a conseguir unos negocios. Pero bueno, la realidad era que en esa época, eh. Pues el negocio como fue, fue Worthing. Tú sabes muy bien, eh? No es, no es un negocio que te comienza a producir de inmediato. Y yo tenía una familia que levantar, tenía necesidad de actividades más la. La presión, el estrés y tal como el papá va a pasar factura. En ese entonces, el que era mi sitio antes en en el District Service, me llama y me dice Oye, ya estamos de vuelta.

[00:31:52] Tenemos esta situación particular, eh? Qué quieres para regresar? Entonces yo le digo Ok, ya yo estaba obviamente viendo a ver que hacía. Yo seguía con mi compromi socio, con el grupo Irada, les hablé y dije Señores, yo no puedo seguir. Así que eché un par de pasos hacia atrás, eh? Pero para coger impulso vaga la vaga documentary. Sí, claro. Y acepté entonces regresar a Agrestic Servicies como gerente general de la compañía y con una misión que era el de constituir esa empresa. Pues en un operador logístico. Con todo. Y me propuse e integrar todos los equipos que creé, todo mi backoffice, que en esa época no lo tenía, pues era un cumplido muy bonito e hicimos un finalmente un edificio. Comenzamos a desarrollar negocio importantes de centro distribución. Seguía pues la relación de la mano de DHL y globalmente me comencé a ualquier con con todos los aranceles y comenzamos a hacer muchas o mucho, muchos a participar en muchos proyectos de centro de distribución regional. Yo estimo que fueron como unos 200 proyectos para compañías globales en los que estuve involucrado desde cosas muy. Mira, me tocó administrar tanto operaciones como proyecto de cosas tan básicas como. Que te digo como preservativos. Hasta máquinas perforadoras para minas subterráneas. Todo in between, todo lo que está en el centro, me tocó estar de alguna manera llantas e productos a granel, computadoras, ropa, calzado.

[00:33:35] Etc. Tuve una experiencia enorme, enorme en esa organización del deber farmacéuticos, comida e todo lo que involucra este tipo de administraciones de estas operaciones que son totalmente muy diferentes, claro. Y lo otro interesante Enrique de esta experiencia es que también tocó tratar con empresas literalmente de todas partes del mundo. Claro. De Rusia, de China, de Asia en general. De bueno, obviamente de los Estados Unidos, ni hablar de Europa. Entonces, pues también mucho me ayudó la experiencia que había tenido previa en la zona libre de conocer a gente con tantas diversidad cultural, porque para mí era como fácil. Me entiendes? A comunicarme con esta gente porque entendía su cultura, tenía siempre alguna historia que contar cuando venía. No si los ustedes, que si las comidas, que si las fiestas. Pues siempre, siempre tenía como algo a contar a esta gente producto de esa experiencia. Entonces siempre fui un tipo como muy como muy de mundo, a pesar de estar acá en este país tan pequeño. Entonces eso me dio, pienso yo, mucha, mucha ventaja a la hora de hacer negocios. El mundo de los negocios tienes que tener diversidad. Aparte de que a mí me gusta también estudiar mucho y eso pues entre. Entre la parte cultural y la parte conocer la industria. Eso te va haciendo como. Como una especie de experto.

[00:35:09] Y me imagino que todos estos contactos que tenías o diferentes internacionalmente hablando, fueron los que te empezaron a acercar a lo que vendría para ti. Qué es esta relación con las cámaras de comercio, con los vos, con? Osea, a final de cuentas te estabas volviendo VEM, no eras un experto, a final de cuentas llegaste a convertirte en un experto y eres un experto ahorita yo diría de las personas más importantes, con mayor conocimiento, experiencia y estrategia en la parte logística en Panamá y muy probablemente en Latinoamérica.

[00:35:45] Yo lo que pienso es que si la experiencia ha sido tremenda, la relación con Dios, nunca quise meterme en el mundo gremial, digamos, de las cámaras. Pero bueno, sí, sí comencé conciencia happy hour. Desde el punto de vista. Educativo para aprender. Me gusta aprender. Pero bueno, por ahí me fueron invitando y acá en algunos, algunos gremios locales. Y entré así como muy de lejitos. Pero bueno, como soy yo, ya me he metido de cabeza y creciendo, presidentedel dos o tres eligiendo presidente del Consejo Empresarial Logístico, que es tal vez el organismo más alto acá.

[00:36:24] Esa es la Jesús. Cuando me platicaba antes de que estuviéramos al aire en tu asignación del gobierno, es cierto que tenías que sí, cuéntanos, cuéntanos un poco más de esto que me pareció muy interesante y es nuevamente algo diferente a lo que. Tenia socio de que

[00:36:44] Panamá es un país muy particular en ese sentido, porque existe. Yo diría que un nivel de colaboración público privada más alto que en la mayoría de los países. Aquí en la región, y esto no lo digo por, por, por blogging ni nada de eso, sino que por lo que me cuentan mis propios colegas de otros países. Entonces. Eh? Acá, eh. Tenemos un sector gremial bastante desarrollado e Hirsh y nació pues el consejo. Que casualidad que al final el el el el que funda el consejo personal es el que es mi socio hoy en Hyperloop. Entonces crea creante gremio de gremios con la intención de integrar el estado con con con con la con la gestión logística o de. El suministro fue privada y entonces nace por allá por el 2012. Se se más un ente que se llama el gabinete logístico, que es algo así como un gabinete público privado que preside. Bueno, hoy por hoy el vicepresidente de la República en el que se sientan una serie de ministros de Estado y también una serie de representantes del sector privado en el que se discuten temas relacionados a los avances de la E del negocio. Entonces a mí me tocó estar ahí, en esa silla, desde el sector privado, nunca como como empleado público ni nada parecido por por 4 años. Me tocó reemplazar a un colega. Así que estuve cuatro años asistiendo a presidencias, reuniones casi mensuales o mensuales, en las que básicamente discutíamos con los ministros de Estado. Estos proyectos y a veces iniciativa que traían a la mesa, que eran negativas para

[00:38:34] Que son proyectos de infraestructura y crecimiento y desarrollo comercial en Panamá o en Panamá, dos interesantes de por el país,

[00:38:43] Proyectos de aduanas, proyectos de meteria, salud e. Pues ahí se discutían estos temas y traíamos también nosotros idea al final. De allí nace lo que hoy se conoce como la Estrategia Logística Nacional 20/30, que fue un proyecto que entregamos a dos mil diecisiete. Si no me equivoco, donde es como una hoja de ruta de cuáles son estos factores en los que los sectores públicos y privados deben trabajar en conjunto para lograr fortalecer el desempeño económico del país. Desde el punto de vista logístico. Creo que es importante mencionarle a nuestros oyentes que Panamá. El componente de servicios del Producto Interno Bruto en Panamá es el más, o sea, el más alto en comparación con los sectores primarios y secundarios terciarios. El servicio es el que más aporta a la economía nacional.

[00:39:38] Vemos, en fin, que nos sin que nos des todo el detalle de esta estrategia logística nacional, ni mucho menos. Pero cuáles serían? Cuáles son las áreas más importantes de este plan del 20/30? Para dónde? Para dónde va Panamá? Porque te lo pregunto. Porque yo creo que. Panamá dicta mucho de hacia dónde van todos los otros países. Probablemente en Centroamérica, probablemente en Latinoamérica y bueno, tienen, pues tienen la puerta de comercio o el Canal de Panamá influye a todos los países. Entonces me imagino que mucha gente que nos está escuchando querrá saber que rentan un poco más de esta estrategia logística nacional.

[00:40:14] Claro, mira, eh, eh. Pero para ponerlo como contexto, Dios nos bendijo con una situación o una ubicación geográfica, con un sumo al país más angosto de del continente. Entonces eso fue como tú dices e pone aquí el Canal de Panamá, pone el ferrocarril tran sísmico que es el canal seco. Tenemos las autopistas que conectan detro ahora. Terminada la entrevista, yo voy a mi oficina que está en el otro lado del país y voy a llegar en 45 minutos. No cruzo el país en 45 minutos, es de Panamá, ya tiene, digamos, la parte física. Soy el blog. La estrategia va en pro de desarrollar proyectos que mejoren aún más esa conectividad e que el país ofrece al mundo del comercio e iniciativas, por ejemplo, desde el punto de vista de visibilidad. O sea que ahora la visibilidad, la cara suministro e es totalmente relevante para para poder garantizar la efectividad de la cadena de suministro. Entonces el país está abocado en que es una integración de las instituciones, la aduana con la zona libre o con el Ministerio Comercio o no, entonces tiene que haber una integración de sistemas, incluso acá a nivel de los estados, sobretodo en América Latina. Pero claro, es muy complicado. Ay, ay, ay! Caciquismo y hoy eh, eh, no es lucha de poderes y demás, pero pero, pero bueno, eh, todas las instituciones tienen que ser cada vez más digitales, eh? Hoy por hoy los procesos aduanales en Panamá son supremamente rápidos y eficientes comparado con Hong Kong o los países de la región. Sin embargo, tienen que ser lo más, eh? Por ejemplo, eh. Yo. Yo recibo un contenedor hoy en el Puerto Manzanillo, por ejemplo, y el barco ya atracó hoy en la noche.

[00:42:09] Yo mañana a las 11 de la mañana tengo ese contenedor en mi bodega, eh? Ya descargándose y ese producto va a estar listo arriba del sistema para que el cliente pueda locale órdenes y despachar. Desde el punto de vista de negocios regionales. Panamá tiene esas grandes ventajas ya. Eh. Como parte de su negocio. Pero. Hay que seguir trabajando en mejorar y darle más al comercio global. Se dice que entre el 5 y el 7 por ciento del comercio global cruza el Canal de Panamá. Algunos dicen que es más, yo no soy economista para saber cuánto es, pero lo que sí te puedo decir es que es muchísimo. Y eso hay que potenciarlo, porque sobre todo con todos los retos que hemos vivido o que está viviendo el mundo en pandemia y antes de pandemia, bueno, cada día vemos nuevas disrupciones en nuestra cadena. La bitro, claro, se hace más imperativo que existan opciones. No todo esto de la resilencia, que escuchamos mucho hablar de la industria, eh? Una manera de traer esa resiliencia a las a la otra cadena de suministro es tener más opciones. Y para América Latina, Panamá representa una opción muy interesante porque es tener un producto localizado mucho más cerca del punto de venta o del punto de consumo. Ubicado en una en un sitio, en este caso la zona libre de Colón, que es una zona que te permite tener el producto por un tiempo indefinido sin cargarle impuestos al producto. Entonces yo puedo reaccionar a lo que un mercado en Chile me pide hoy, pero también puedo racionar a lo que me pide un mercado como Guatemala o como República Dominicana mañana.

[00:43:53] Y yo no me atrevería a decir que inclusive te puedo decir mucho más al norte hasta Nueva York que a final de cuentas. Y bueno, de hecho para los que nos están viendo en YouTube, los que tienen el placer de vernos, no sólo de escucharnos, tienen una pantalla atrás que justamente muestra desde Panamá los días de tránsito. Me imagino que es

[00:44:14] Demons esto te

[00:44:15] Puedes llegar a la costa, a la costa, a California, puedes llegar en siete días a Nueva York. Hoy en día me parece que es este, espero, pero esto es lo que dices, no a final de cuentas. Panamá te da muchas opciones. Si tú tu eres una empresa a nivel mundial, si tu eres una empresa que está creciendo, creo que Panamá es la puerta para para el continente realmente y es muy importante. Entonces esto que mencionas de la estratégica logística nacional 20/30 es algo que a lo mejor yo sugeriría que la gente lo buscara si le podemos poner alguna notasen ahorita que no es claro cuando posteamos esta entrevista me encantaría publiquemos la entrevista. Ya, ya no sé ni siquiera hablar español, no podemos poner notas, comentarios y pongamos esto porque yo creo que a mucha gente le interesaría saber un poco más hacia dónde va Panamá. Qué opciones hay en Panamá y cómo pudieran realmente utilizar eso para seguir creciendo y mejorando sus cadenas de suministro por recto. Volveremos y como lo dijimos la vez pasada, no podríamos tener. Y de hecho, a lo mejor vale la pena tener unas 2, 3, 4 entrevistas porque hay muchas historias que contar. Pero bueno, sé que sé que tienes un día agitado y para no quitarte de más de tu tiempo, pasemos un poco de esta. Has tenido varios puestos muy interesantes. También estuviste en la que en la Cámara de Comercio también el GC 1 Llévanos hacia el demos de ahorita. No, tu empresa la empezaste? Cómo? Cómo llegamos hacia donde estás ahorita? Porque me gustaría preguntarte un poco cuál es tu opinión de hacia el futuro?

[00:45:55] Ok, mira, yo. Yo estuve como, como. Como gerente general de esta compañía por bastantes años tenía un desarrollo super super equipo de trabajo tenía. Hicimos operaciones muy interesantes. Abrimos por ejemplo la sala de operaciones para compañía para afortu infrinjan de componés e no e. Es decir, una empresa exitosa financieramente operativamente. Pero de pronto me comencé a sentir que ya no tenía nada más que hacer ahí e. Esto se llama la zona de confort. No tenía. Tenía todo, tenía un equipazo e tenía asistente. Tenía todo. Tenía todo. Y ya de pronto como que ya no me. Ya no había gente. Yo necesitaba algo más. Estaba. Necesitaba y comencé a pensarlo y. Y bueno, eh. Como te digo, con tantas relaciones que uno hace, me encuentro ante a este colega de gremio, mi amigo, que siempre conversábamos y digo oye, me pasó que me llamó fulano de tal para un negocio, pero no lo puedo hacer portada. Y él me decía coño, me pasó lo mismo. A mi también me llamo tal y tal y tal y tal. Siempre que nos encontramos al de la misma historia, todas las cosas que veíamos pasar porque él estaba en una situación bastante parecida a la mía, también era. Era gigante dejando una empresa. No éramos competencia, pero era parecida. Entonces, bueno, un buen día dijimos a la gente hagámoslo claro. Yo yo lo hice. En mi caso yo lo hice.

[00:47:25] Y esto cuando de cuando estás hablando de esto es el 2017, por ahí

[00:47:29] No mil, no dos mil diecinueve finales, eh? Cuando comenzamos con todo el proyecto, toda la idea, eh? Yo hablé con mí, con mi directorio y le dije Señores, yo, yo necesito irme. Y obviamente fue que fue muy difícil. Mi transición demoró algunos meses, tal vez más de lo que yo hubiera querido. La pandemia también se nos metió en el medio, eh? Y bueno, comenzamos el negocio, teníamos, eh, ya había, ya había una operación mediana que se había arrancado, lo había marcado mi socio, yo iba a entrar yo en trepà con él, eh? Y la idea que era teníamos ya varios, como unos cuatro o cinco proyectos muy interesantes para desarrollar. Obviamente viene COBIT. E Sí, que no estaba en ningún plan de negocio, así que eh. Mi proyecto insignia, por decirlo así, se cayó KLE el que yo iba a desarrollar se cae por hobby y nada tuvo que hubo que empezar a arre, arre, a repensar la compañía, a repensar el servicio, a repensar el proyecto, eh? Y bueno, creamos, creamos esta organización que hay, pues ya tiene más de 100 colaboradores a mucha honra. Wow!

[00:48:41] Eh, felicidades porque en uno de los años más difíciles en la historia del mundo, creo que es un gran, gran. Si este logro y algo que habla muy bien de ti como líder y bueno, de tus socios y del equipo que estás formando, así cuéntanos un poco más entonces de Hype Hype Group, me imagino.

[00:49:01] Y Federov si eh, yo te digo, pues el 20 fue un año, nunca cerramos porque el cliente que la operación que manejamos era una operación de telecomunicaciones e industria especial y nunca, nunca, nunca pudimos e cerrar puertas sigue. Obviamente trabajamos desde casa muchos meses y el equipo se encargaba de hacer cosas muy puntuales, iba a recibir los contenedores, cerraban después al día a despachar, iban, abrían, despachaban y se iban. Todo el equipo trabajando a casa. No despedimos a nadie, gracias a Dios durante la pandemia. Eso es algo que nos enorgullece bastante, eh? Y bueno, eh, ahí pasamos el año, digamos, tratando de ver qué cómo hacemos para salvar esos proyectos que ya estaban de alguna manera cerrados, eh? Pero no se salvaron ninguno. Así que bueno, eh, como te digo, tuvimos que repensar y eso es algo que la empresa nace en pandemia, prácticamente de lado y eso hace que el ADN de la empresa sea eso cambio. Resiliencia, eh? Retos, eh? Pensar distinto, cambiarla, cambiar el giro, el timón. Entonces, eh. Nos convertimos en una organización muy ágil, Enrique, muy ágil, eh? Cero atadura con con temas tradicionales ni nada. O sea, el cliente, lo que quiera, cuando lo quiera, como lo quiera.

[00:50:21] Qué servicios demos? Qué servicios ofrecen para que los que nos escuchan puedan saber qué es lo que hace?

[00:50:27] Hubo un operador logístico especializado en operaciones regionales. O potenciamos todo esto que hablamos antes de Panamá y los tránsitos y tal? En lo que traemos el producto, el cliente trae su producto a Panamá, a la zona libre de Colón, donde lo puede

[00:50:43] Ser por, por mar, por aire, por

[00:50:46] Día, por tierra. Exacto. Pronto llega por diferentes modales. Se almacena o se tiene almacenado en esta zona, eh? Bajo un estatus de inventario. Regionalizar es de metal, no es local, no ha pagado impuestos de ningún país,

[00:51:03] Pues la beneficio de estar trabajando con una zona franca que no paga impuestos hasta que realmente no necesitas el proceso. Y ahí se hace una importación.

[00:51:11] Así es. Y utilizando todas estas rutas, todas esto tránsito, todas esas frecuencias que ofrece Panamá por el canal y demás. Podemos recibir una orden de un cliente en Honduras hoy y estamos embarcando mañana para Honduras allí, pues ellos

[00:51:31] Tienen su propio almacenaje, sus almacenaje también es

[00:51:34] Distribución del almacén. Si hacemos almacenamiento, hacemos administración de inventarios en nuestra especialidad. Ahora son los servicios de valor agregado, que básicamente quiere decir que si un producto requiere de algún tipo de proceso o proceso para poder ser introducido en un mercado, para pasar barreras no arancelarias o para cumplir una condición del mercado, o

[00:51:59] Etiquetados, o insurrecciones o re empaque, o

[00:52:04] Todo eso hacemos. Por ejemplo, hoy estamos trabajando muy fuerte en la industria de la moda Enright Tell. He estado brindando servicios muy particular en el que el producto o la prenda sale de nuestra de nuestro almacén como el precio de venta en el país. En el destino al que va sale con la LAUR mitades al botón que pone crepitan la puerta cuando sales por la tienda, le hacemos costuras cuando requieren costuras. Etiquetas cosidas algunos países como Perú, Ecuador que exige que las etiquetas digan importado por fulano de tal

[00:52:38] Estol etiquetas toda la etiqueta lo pongo, lo hacen ustedes y

[00:52:42] Todo, todo. Hoy estamos trabajando en lo que llamamos un FullHD Fremen BTV no es negocio. Negocio es para Reiter en este momento, pero ya estamos comenzando a desarrollar la parte de Bitsy directa al consumidor también, eh? Pues tenemos todos los sistemas informáticos y todos los procesos para para manejar operaciones son operaciones, digamos que de alta demanda, no de otras

[00:53:11] Muchas exigencias también. No? Esto es valor agregado. Necesitas tener un equipo realmente comprometido con un nivel de calidad, me imagino alto, con tecnología de punta. También es parte de Lothal, un ente no HawÃi. En toda la región estás dando servicio a cualquier persona que quiera almacenar y tener estos servicios en Panamá. Palop Redistribuir en todos lados o estás empezando por ciertas regiones? Cómo estás pensando?

[00:53:36] No, fíjate que hoy estamos atendiendo desde Guatemala hasta Paraguay. Ok, todo en mi tween eh? Estamos en las diferentes industrias que atendemos. Como digo, seguimos teniendo muy fuerte telecomunicaciones y estamos también estamos en la parte industrial y también en la parte de facho. Imagínate industrias, industrias totalmente distintas, pero con el mismo concepto e inventario regio analizado va a los países dependiendo de la demanda. Es decir, el cliente no necesita tener producto importado en un mercado, no tiene que haber pagado impuestos por, por por algo que no sabe si va a vender o no. Si lo tienes en Panamá almacenado de manera regionalizar, solamente lo vas a despachar cuando realmente el mercado lo requiere. Por ende,

[00:54:24] Osea, no hay nunca lo importás. A lo mejor en Panamá, o sea, es algo que a lo mejor se importa una sola vez en Paraguay, o si sólo está solo está almacenado en Panamá.

[00:54:33] Exacto, exacto, ahí, ahí lo que el cliente lo que gana es costo de oportunidad. Claro, porque si yo tengo un producto que traje, por ejemplo para E para el Perú, porque me parecía que el Perú le iba a vender, pero resultó que ese producto por alguna razón en Perú no funcionó o el mercado no le gustó, pero resultó que en Guatemala el producto fue un golazo. Si lo tengo en Perú es imposible mandarlo a Guatemala. Imposible. No es posible. Pero los costos lo hacen que sea imposible.

[00:55:04] Bueno, es otra importación y exportación importación en otro país son más, lo guardas en Panamá, que está dos, tres días de distancia de cualquiera de estos otros países. Como quiera y

[00:55:16] Rarisimo. Es así. Esa es la secret tost, como dicen las altas. Secreta es esa.

[00:55:22] Podés jugar en todo Latinoamérica siendo tu centro de distribución.

[00:55:26] Panamá juega con lo que el mercado quiere decir. Hay sobre, sobretodo en la época que vivimos. No puedes darte el lujo de tener grandes inventarios sentados en un país sin moverlo. Entonces, la gracia o la belleza, por decirlo así, de venderlo en un lugar seguro, en un lugar que está en tu inventario, está en dólares americanos. Un lugar que es muy seguro tanto a nivel.

[00:55:52] Esa es la otra. Es una infraestructura bancaria y financiera muy desarrollada, muy importante, muy segura. Nuevamente, a raíz de del canal y de muchas otras cosas, Panamá ha logrado tener una infraestructura, pues modelo en muchas partes de Latinoamérica.

[00:56:08] Así es. Entonces eso, eso es lo que nosotros vendemos en lo que potenciamos. Para estas empresas. Así que. Básicamente, Sony Peele Group no adaptarse a cualquier necesidad. A lo que el cliente quieras, a simplificar los procesos. Ya, ya tenemos mucha experiencia en procesos complejos en en grandes corporaciones. He trabajado para proyectos, como te digo, de empresas muy complejas, muy grandes. Por ende, ya uno como cliente de codificamos la manera de hacerlo fácil y rápido. Cómo hacerlo?

[00:56:45] Cómo tienes la Anthea es la experiencia y lo has vivido con otras industrias y otras empresas. Pero si estás viendo, o sea, pasando un poco más allá de tu empresa, ahora yéndonos un poco más hasta lo general y un poco pasando a la última parte de nuestra entrevista, cómo ves cómo ves el mundo? Ahora tenemos los problemas de equipo en China, la congestión en los puertos en Estados Unidos, los precios tan exorbitantes que. Cuál es la lectura que tienes tú en Panamá? Primero. Y luego si pudieras extrapolarlo y decir bueno, cuál es la lectura que le das a Latinoamérica? Cuál es tu Forcas del mercado para el resto del año?

[00:57:26] Mira, una de las particularidades del negocio que yo manejo es que para nosotros Panamá es un mercado más y no necesariamente es el más grande. Panamá es uno de los mercados más pequeños que atendemos, por ende, toda la. Visión y el forcas que vemos tiene que ser a nivel de América Latina porque es el negocio que maneja. Claro, entonces mira, yo veo, yo veo sin muchos retos desde el punto de vista de los fletes, eh? Porque por los votos no pensábamos que iban a comenzar a bajar. Pero parece que nos equivocamos. Siguen subiendo. Siguen habiendo retos. Muy mucho de la logística tradicional que se hacía hacia América Latina, se hacía desde los Estados Unidos. Se sigue haciendo todavía en mucha medida del sur de la Florida, eh, pero con uno costos muy altos. Yo creo que es el momento en el que las empresas tienen que realmente hacer análisis de cómo están moviendo su carga con estos fletes tan costosos. Ahora hay que ser todavía más cauteloso en cómo cómo mover la carga. No desperdiciaron ningún, ninguna, ninguna pauta del transporte, eh? La demanda siempre va a estar definitivamente los mercados Caniff afectado, pero siempre vamos a necesitar productos. Hemos visto también el nacimiento de muchas nuevas industrias, muchos nuevos tipos de negocio e mucha producción. También que se pueda hacer local. Creo que que mucho nos ha enseñado la pandemia de que actualmente ante la pandemia, pensábamos que íbamos a ir comprando mucho producto. Eh? En Asia, eh. Estoy viendo ya alguna tendencia de empresas importantes, marcas buscando fabricación e en nuestro país. En Colombia, en Ecuador, en México. Ni se diga. Obviamente que es la cuna de la manufactura, pero si se está viendo fuerte la tendencia Enrique de de diversificar un poco esa, esa, esa fuente de fabricación. Nunca vamos a dejar de Bob, de recibir productos de China. Es raro,

[00:59:37] No es un monstruo, míralo.

[00:59:39] Pero si, si lo estoy viendo. He visto ya varias iniciativas de empresas conocidas que están viendo cómo pueden aumentar su fabricación para depender menos de de Asia y de esa cadena de suministro que se afectan rápidamente. E lo cine negro que antes eran la teoría, pues ahora parece que los a nadando por ahí por cualquier charquito todos los días para subtitle uno nuevo una disrupción en cosas inverosímiles, no? Por ahí leí al fin de semana que ahora viene un tweet más de la salsa de este restaurante chica fildeo eh? Qué locura! Y pelotón! Y cada día vamos a ver más

[01:00:16] Nacho Scotti Grec acá en esta semana o la semana pasada hablaban de con Carin, Bursa, en Supli Cheyney o hablaban de todo lo que está faltando. Todos estos, esto que dices, todos estos cisnes negros o Black Swan o short jazz que estamos viviendo y yo que eso será. Tú crees que será entonces la nueva norma?

[01:00:38] Yo pienso que hay ciclos. Yo pienso que sí, eh? Osea, desde

[01:00:42] Catsup pollo hay faltantes de

[01:00:46] Microchips e

[01:00:47] Chips. Es uno de los principales gasolina para los que están aquí en Estados Unidos, como nosotros

[01:00:52] Con la colonia Bit.ly editó esto. Entonces yo creo que debemos. El futuro va a estar. Enrique, pienso yo, pues no tengo una bolita de cristal para decirlo, pero va a estar en e la no dependencia de una sola fuente. No? La diversificación creo que va a ser la clave e utilizar más los chips de atribución regionales e apoyarse en estas estructuras existentes e quitar un poco los conceptos de que teníamos en el pasado y pensar, innovar e innovar tivamente innovadora mente. Pero ahora para poder garantizar los suministros, no al final del camino, eh? América Latina, por más pequeño que sea, he comparado con los grandes mercados, sigue siendo un mercado pujante, creciendo muy interesantes e muy diverso. Y obviamente lo hace muy complejo también. Pero. Pero para. Para eso hay gente como nosotros que pueda ayudar a decodificar esa complejidad que tiene América Latina. Creo que es la clave. Hay muchas compañías que deciden no venir o tratan de venir y se asustan, eh. Por qué? Porque sienten que es muy alta la complejidad existente. Entonces, ahí. Expertos le pueden ayudar a poder cumplir con esas normas de mercado

[01:02:19] Donde dejas en tu opinión a la tecnología y yo creo que con esto estamos ya a punto de cerrar.

[01:02:25] Así que cómo

[01:02:26] Ves la tecnología? Siento que mucho se ha hablado de la visibilidad. Mucho. Eso es muy importante, obviamente, pero con todos estos cisnes negros que mencionas, con todo lo que hemos pasado. Bueno, muchas veces todos estos sistemas para tener más clara la demanda y el consumo y todo eso se ha ido por el caño. Básicamente hemos tenido que re re afinar y ajustar todos los modelos de Forcas de

[01:02:56] El, de todos los canales, de todo ya, porque es como una mala palabra ahora no?

[01:03:02] Pero bueno. Pero y qué ves? O sea, cómo se moves la tecnología en general y guidas de eso hasta totalmente. Otras tecnologías como la en almacenaje o en distribución o en

[01:03:15] Tecnología, cada vez es más relevante cada día Assam. O sea, operaciones y tecnología van 100 por ciento de la mano. Yo creo que lo conversaba hace poco con una buena amiga que te la voy a recomendar la doctora Felisa Preciado de Depend State. Hablamos un poquito de de por qué América Latina es tan difícil, eh? Tener visibilidad por es tan difícil y que nos interconecta entre empresas, entre países. Y es un tema meramente cultural. Enrique. Necesitamos tener visibilidad, necesitamos integrarnos para poder facilitar las cosas y eso es un gran reto. Vemos en el mundo todas estas torres de control. Estas grandes empresas haciendo cosas interesantes globalmente, pero que en América Latina no es así. Esa realidad no llega a la famosa visibilidad dentro de la cadena de suministros. Es un mito. Como tú mencionaste. Yo. Yo formo parte de diez Wand. Es una agresión mundial de estándares de comercio que básicamente buscan la visibilidad en todos los procesos. Así que para mí también eso se ha convertido en una especie de bandera. Tratar de promover y hacer entender al empresario latinoamericano la importancia de compartir datos de importancia, de integrarse. Eh, no, eh. Sigue siendo un mito y sigue siendo un paradigma que no podemos hacerlo. Hay que romperlo. Porque si es necesario, desde mucho punto de vista del punto de vista aduanal, hacer mira, hacer operaciones de cross border luego de cruzar fronteras e commerce mientras América Latina es prácticamente imposible. Hoy día, eh, con todas nuestras diferen diversas aduanas y requerimientos, es sumamente complicado. Entonces ve, el mundo está yendo hacia una, hacia una dirección, pero América Latina está muy, muy anclado, tal vez a los esquemas del pasado y hay que trabajar fuerte en eso reconectamos e ir rompiendo esas barreras para que también eh? Todos estos avances tecnológicos y de negocio e penetren a nuestros países y a nuestras economías.

[01:05:26] No muy bien dicho. Y bueno, como tú dices, no levantar el ancla a procesos y modelos de negocio del pasado, no?

[01:05:32] Así es, así es, tal cual.

[01:05:34] Demos un gusto como siempre que donde la gente que nos está escuchando. Donde te pueden conectemos. Se pueden conectar contigo si te quisieran contactar. Cuál es la mejor forma de hacerlo?

[01:05:48] Mira, trato de estar por lo menos una vez al día. LinkedIn es la red social que utilizo hoy por hoy y eh, te digo diariamente eh. La página web de mi empresa y P.L Group es tres PL Panamá puntocom trippy Panamá. Punto com. Es muy fácil también. También ahora tengo un podcast del que pronto vas a ser invitado que se llama No Shipping Out Shopping. Es un proyecto personal

[01:06:14] E now shipping now shopping.

[01:06:17] Exactamente. Bueno, ahí mi coche fue uno de tus invitados. De hecho, mucho tuvo que ver dentro de vista para, para, para este chico y eso vamos a hablarlo después. Así que estamos ahí también cada dos semanas, hablando con un colega chico que tiene que ver mucho con la parte educativa de enseñanza en la cadena de suministros en Bakker del negocio. Así que ahí los invitamos también. Así nada estaría

[01:06:42] Perfecto. Hagamos un hagamos un un macho pariente y entre Supply Chain Now en español y no shipping Now Shopping

[01:06:51] No te habían dicho porque tú estás en el roster de logística arriba.

[01:06:56] Es un placer platicar contigo, así es que tómame en cuenta para lo que necesites. Un gusto. Vemos como siempre lo hacemos. Y bueno, tú eres un anfitrión mío en estos y vamos a seguir siéndolo. Cómo despediría se. Programa Ayúdame a despedir el programa y un reto que le quieras dejar a la gente que nos escucha el día de hoy.

[01:07:15] Bueno, yo no lo maté. Bueno, primero agradecerte la oportunidad, como siempre estas conversas. Se ha convertido en la manera mas bonita de aprender y de crecer. Eh? Yo. Yo le pediría a la audiencia eh? Que no dejen de educarse diariamente. Hoy por hoy es muy fácil. Tenemos tantas herramientas gratis disponibles para aprender y para crecer profesionalmente. Tengan al día. Vean este tipo de programa como su página en español. Que bien lo hablábamos antes de este proyecto, Enrique. Hay una ausencia de buen contenido en español. Hay muchísimo en inglés y tal vez en otros idiomas, pero en español tenemos una, una, una, una poca e oportunidad de escuchar. Así que aprovechen estas estas herramientas que gente como Enrique y el equipo de su paisano han puesto para para ustedes disponibles gratuitamente. Así es que con eso los invito a que estén sintonizados y sigamos. Conectemos, conectamos para, para, para hacer negocio y en el futuro perfecto vemos.

[01:08:22] No hubiera podido despedir el programa mejor que tú. Un gusto a todos los que nos están escuchando. Muchísimas gracias otra vez Enrique Álvarez con Supply Chain en español y nos vemos en el próximo episodio.

Episode Summary

In this episode of Supply Chain Now in Spanish, host Enrique Alvarez welcomes special guest Demos Perez to the podcast to get an update on supply chain and logistics in Panama and the rest of Latin America.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:37] Good morning and welcome back to another episode of Supply Chain in Spanish Supply Chain Now in Spanish. My name is Enrique Alvarez and I will be your host today. And well, we have an excellent interview. A great person. And well, in fact this is going to be the second time we’ve tried to do this interview. East. This guest was one of my first people I had the pleasure of interviewing and I thought the interview went pretty well, although it was my first interview and well, not to make a long story too long for those who aren’t listening to this one. After the interview was over, it turns out it wasn’t recorded on the computer. The file was corrupted, we couldn’t save it and well, after several more months I managed to schedule this very good interview. Our guest today is a passionate logistics expert. With over 20 years of experience in this industry, he has helped clients globally and worldwide to not only design, but execute and develop their distribution and logistics strategies. He is in Panama, which allows him to have a very, very good knowledge of everything that has to do with industry, transportation and very close to Latin America in different industries. His professional career, as we will discuss in a moment, is quite long and successful. He is the General Manager of Logistics Servicies, president of the consul of Supply Chain Management Professionals in Panama. The СВЯЗИ is CMP Vice Chair of the CICI International Chamber of Commerce, Vice President of Gias Wan in Panama, Kojo Rustico founder of Now Shipping Now Shopping and Chief Commercial Officer of Happy Group. With you a good friend, a person that if you do not know I recommend you to know very well connected to a person who knows how to do very well social networking and LinkedIn with me today. Demosthenes Perez, Demos Perez. Let’s see how it goes. How are you? Very good day. How did it go?

[00:02:51] Very good, very good. Enrique, thank you for being in favor of this opportunity.

[00:02:56] Hey, it’s not the pleasure, it’s all mine. And I was telling you here before I introduced you, that this is the second time I tried it, because the first time I made the terrible mistake. For some reason I didn’t record the episode after our very interesting talk. So I hope that now, with more experience, this one will turn out better.

[00:03:15] Super, super. They are always good experiences, always good conversations.

[00:03:20] It’s good to have someone like you with experience and a high sense of professionalism, because it makes my job so much easier, the more I have to let you talk and introduce you. So come on, tell us a little bit about yourself, let’s start by talking about you as an individual so that people who don’t know you, who are few in this industry, get to know you a little bit more and above all that personal side of Debemos Perez.

[00:03:46] Well, uh. My name is Demóstenes Pérez. Eh? I am born and raised and live and study and work in Panama, eh? I was born in a village, a small town called Chitra. It’s in the middle of the country, eh? I come from two families, huh? One very business oriented Otomo, education oriented. Therefore, I think I have a weird mixture of. As an entrepreneur and IDE and as a teacher. I love Gamba. Both topics. I have been involved in the supply chain industry for the last few eh. Almost 25 years of my life. It’s an industry I’ve grown to love. I have a lot of passion for everything related to the industry. And well, after being an executive in a corporate company for many years. Now it has been some time. I have my own company, my own Tupelo and I love it. I love to learn. I love studying and talking to people like you, Enrique from the industry, who do so many nice things for you. Not only in terms of work, but also in terms of helping others, which is tremendously important to me. So well, I’m at a stage in my life now that I’m still working very hard, maybe harder than when I was younger of course, but I’ve also been constantly learning and also trying to live life to the fullest, always giving to others as much as I can.

[00:05:26] Yes, there are many, many teachings. It has brought us this pandemic and these last few years. And well, we will talk much more in detail about what is happening in logistics, particularly in Latin America, particularly in Panama. But before we go back a little bit to the future or to the time and the future. Tell us more about what attracted you to this one? You tell us that you have the experience of teaching teachers, but how, how do you fall into the logistics? What attracts you to logistics? When you were young?

[00:05:59] Well, I didn’t choose this career, huh? About 25 years ago, around that time, I was very quiet back in my village, working in the family business. I was always very restless, I always had, still Josephs, as they say now. I had a bar, I sold things on the street, I sold insurance. I worked with my father in our family business. Yes, he was restless and one fine day a close relative, uh, tells me that he had. He had a courier company and had won a contract for a multinational. And within the contract there was a service area that he had to cover, in which he had no knowledge of the expertise, no people, no nothing, and he needed help. And he spoke to me. He asked me if I could help him for two weeks while he set up and did his stuff and I said ok, let’s go. Eh. I’ve always liked the challenge and the things in life. So, uh. Vine. That was in what is now my second homeland in the city of Colon, in the free zone of Colon, an area that I had never seen once in my life.

[00:07:16] You didn’t have any experience in logistics or anything. You were also in the race and studies and so what did you like? What were the pimples for when you were a kid?

[00:07:26] Look, as I said, I’ve always been there since I was very young, since I was six, seven years old, I used to go to the shop. But now we have a hardware store. My family ran a fruit store for about 75 years. My grandfather. So it was always related to the commercial side, sales, purchases, having

[00:07:46] Worked since I was 6 years old with your dad. I imagine your grandfather did too. At that time

[00:07:51] My grandfather had passed away and he didn’t have it. She was not fortunate enough to meet him. My dad continued the business, huh. And well, it was a family business and they also participated from Spain, from Spain.

[00:08:03] You and your grandfather are here. What was your story? How did you get to Panama?

[00:08:07] Them, them, eh? The Perez family came to one. The last record we have for 1800, eh? I think it was 20 in a feeto investigation. My sister Kawada loves this genealogy stuff. He managed to find traces of them. They came to the province, to what today is the Villa de los Santos, which is a historic city, eh? At the time when to love the Spanish colony, they came from Spain. There are family records in that sector, eh? So if they all came from Spain at the time of the colony, eh? And well, they made roots in this in this area. Both families, the parents and the Castillos put down roots in this area. Eh? I tell you at the Poppo, the Perez family. And also the Sanchez family, who was my grandfather’s wife. Both were entrepreneurs by nature. The Sanchezes came from Peru. They do, yes. And now a little bit more recently to Panama. But they were very enterprising people, eh? They had business and it’s back.

[00:09:17] Dad saw it, experienced it in a very similar way. Maybe what you lived with him since you were a kid, the summers, they told me, the summers you spent at the hardware store doing jobs. What is it. What do you remember most about that time? Look, hardware store, what was work for you? Because I imagine that you have to live very differently and since you are a child you see it and you adopt it. Maybe and maybe even the part of a game to the woman.

[00:09:41] It was, it was, it was, it was part of the family. It was part of who we were, eh? It gets to a point where it was no longer work, let’s say. It was. It was what it was. Well, it was, it was. We grew up understanding that we had to work every day. My father, also by training, was an agronomist and he also liked the part of farms, land and so on. So we had some of that too. So there was always work, right? Days off were really rare in the house, so you grew up in a permanent work environment.

[00:10:12] One was playing with the iPhone all day. I imagine myself on the iPad as the generations of today.

[00:10:19] Yes, yes, yes, yes, not at all. There was none of that. And I tell you, what I loved was the part of the relationship and the relationship with people, meeting people. I started to learn the purchasing part, to buy the products that he is going to sell us. And look, I’m going to tell you a very interesting anecdote from that time, this hardware store that was founded around 1930 35 around there, eh? At that time there was transportation by means of carts, oxen, and there in Chile, in my land there were two workshops where the wheels of the carts were manufactured, right? And I did basically it was like a place where they were manufactured to distribute to the region. Quote this one doesn’t it turn out that these wagons used some very long bolts or bolts like 12 14 inches, which were the ones that were the rims and those bolts came from Germany. So I was always curious as to how those screws got to the hardware store. Then he was telling me that I’ve been giving you that since the 1950s.

[00:11:27] If I can’t imagine

[00:11:29] The order, they crave it by letter. He sent a letter. I never understood how they made the payments there. If I can’t tell you, but I know that the orders were made by letter and types. You can imagine those facelifts, can’t you? I figure it was like 8 months, because

[00:11:46] If the letter arrived and perhaps the letter was lost and the

[00:11:50] The bank, then it’s very interesting because that was the input. That is, these screws were the input for the wheels of the wagons to work. So they were very important, but it was an input almost like the microchips that we don’t have.

[00:12:06] Well, with the same leadthings almost next to each other.

[00:12:11] So, well, I was always intrigued by how he did it back then, wasn’t I? Because. Because very little was coming from China at that time. And China was an unknown world as well. At that time. So everything came from the United States or Europe, uh, which were the big manufacturers at that time. Everything was done by letter. My grandfather didn’t speak English, so I don’t know how to write letters to Germany. I have no idea. So well, it was always very intriguing to me, eh? How did things arrive? How did it move? From a very young age too? So I helped. I made myself. I became a truck driver’s assistant. Or did they make me? Well, about 13 years old. And it was the most. At 13 years of age

[00:12:55] He was already driving a truck.

[00:12:57] No, no, no. I was helping her.

[00:12:59] Okay, it helped.

[00:13:00] Yes, since then it was very, very, very way. For me it was total fun. First, because the truckers, the suits, they’re super foul-mouthed, they have the craziest stories in the world. They knew each other better, a good adventure. They obviously recognized the best places to eat on the road and for me it was a walk. So you had to stop at two o’clock in the morning and so on. We were coming to Panama City to look for materials for the for the. To take away, then to sell. And it was quite a Journey. For me that was super interesting. I knew people, I have since I was a kid, I had that one, that one.

[00:13:36] Of course, you weren’t exposed to a lot of things, a lot of business, a lot of administration, logistics, people. Sounds like your dad was really giving you a life lesson, huh? In terms of logistics, in terms of business and as an entrepreneur sing sing.

[00:13:56] Unbeknownst to me and I don’t know how much, he had proposed it. But so it was. It was a tremendous teaching, I tell you, to interact with people from all walks of life. My dad always told me that you had to be able to dine in a five-star restaurant or eat a bowl of soup on the leg of a mango tree. He said that you could, that you had to be anywhere and Alex could do well anywhere, regardless of the people. And so, that’s how he taught me. That’s how I grew up. That is my philosophy of life. For me we are all equal. And I always try to live that teaching. And that’s what I teach my children.

[00:14:37] He also told me that it is something that has led you to be successful in life. At the end of the day, I agree with what you’re saying and I think that being authentic, being genuine, not pretending to have or be or think more than others, I mean that’s important and it’s reflected in a very successful trajectory and I think it’s a good time to move on a little bit. Now if your professional career. Tell us a little bit, since you ended up when you left the hardware store, when they actually let you go. What was that transition like?

[00:15:11] Well, look, as I said, it was that chance that this relative said to me, hey, XX two weeks. I remember he even talked to my dad and asked permission to let me go. And nothing. I came for two weeks,

[00:15:27] Supposedly two weeks,

[00:15:28] Supposedly two weeks. And at that time it turned out that the company that had won the contract was Federal Express and I had no idea what Federal Express was. I didn’t know the service, I didn’t know the place, I didn’t know anything. In other words, it was at zero. And well, it turned out to be another Journey. I started to meet people and learn things. I mean, everything was every day. It was something new. All that was an adventure and nothing. I started to get in, I started to get in already.

[00:16:01] And this was already in Columbus, right? In the free zone, apologies. I mean, it’s already really where it’s at for people who don’t know Colon or the Free Zone. Strict et al. What can you tell them? What it was like at the time

[00:16:13] For the city of Colon is located on the Atlantic, at the Atlantic exit or entrance of the Panama Canal. The city of Colon is a small city, but very important from a supply chain point of view. There you will find the Colon Free Zone, which is the largest commercial emporium or the largest free zone in the Western Hemisphere. It is an area that has historically contributed to the distribution of products for all of Latin America. And I lived on the Pacific side, in a town in the middle of the country. In other words, culturally they were two totally different places. The food is different from all the different ones. So it was like I said, for me it was an adventure. And this, this place, the walls of Columbus had one. One has a kind of magic. And it’s like one. As a place where many cultures converge. Then, since it was my turn to make the delivery. Well, we did everything. I played driver currir. It was costumes. Orbyt will be seller towards everything. So I had to go to the companies, not with the parcels and the parcels were late and so what. And I began to get to know not only the secretaries who received the packages, but the owners of the company. Then I had met Hebrews, Arabs, Hindus, Chinese and well, how interesting. There were a lot of people and like me what I was bringing them was of interest to them. Sometimes samples arrived, for example for new collections and eh, and I’m telling you, eh? Either checks were coming in, checks were coming in or B’s were coming in or whatever.

[00:17:58] There is good news. What. What you brought as the mail in his good time I can not imagine, was the connection between them and the rest of the world. The news, the checks, the suppliers.

[00:18:10] So, sometimes, sometimes when I would arrive, they would be waiting for packages that were so important that they would describe themselves and invite me for coffee and give me gifts. I started to get to know people, Enrique. So I tell you, all of a sudden one door would open and they would be Catholics, the next door they would be Maoists, the next door they would be Jews. And so I went and started making friends.

[00:18:33] As that you do not fuck you, that it does not cost you work either I have 6.

[00:18:36] I love it, besides having, I started to meet people. Imagine coming from a universe as small as my village. Sure that city and suddenly come to this. E. A wide range of races, religions and languages. At home we learned English because my dad, as I said, studied in the United States as an agronomist and they taught us English from a very young age. Jessica We learned English at home. At that time there was no internet and no stalking them. I learned to read and believe me they didn’t teach me that in school either, so I had some facility with English. So that made it very easy for me to relate. For example, today I met the first Singaporean person in my life and I didn’t even know what country Singapore was. He was telling me about his country, because it was super interesting because I started to meet so many people, so much culture, so much diversity, that now we talk so much about diversity. They even gave me food.

[00:19:30] Then everything comes from all over the world apart. It is not that Panama and following the canal, as everyone knows, in this program this is. It is the Mecca for the logistics distribution and transport part of Latin America. As I was saying, if I were to say much of North America are also. Everything goes through there.

[00:19:50] Sure, sure, it happens a lot and I learned a lot of things related to the business. I even learned some negative things. For example, I learned what an industrial boom was. It happened to me two or three times. It happened to me that packages arrived with samples of a garment. For example, a line would come in and suddenly one would pretend to be the owner of the package, but it wasn’t because he wanted to see the other’s sample until beyond the autori. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, crazy. I had to. I had to be in authorities and all because one stole the package from the other and. In other words, lies. He was exposed to a business world that was fascinating to me. Eh? Because I’m telling you, just the fact that someone would tell me about an industry that I’m not about something, about a country that has a lot of friends from India. Then I started to learn a little bit about the Hindus and the different races and religions that they have and the foods and such and the deities. I mean, for me it was like wow! I mean, that was so, so, so, so interesting that at the end of the road, as always, it stops being work. And that’s quite a journey. So, well, that was while we were in the FedEx operation. After this operation it was taken over by another company that asked me to join the company.

[00:21:10] And we drove that for that, like, four or five years. And then one fine day it comes to me. Graham went on, he says to me Hey, we have to make a decision and we’ve done a deal or we’ve done a partnership with DHL. You have two choices, either you stay with us and go to DHL or you stay with FedEx and DHL was my natural competitor. E He was the Big Monster and I said no, no, no, no, I’m going there. I need to know what’s going on there. So well, he didn’t have much to think about, huh? And I left. And the transition to H.L. was very interesting because it was an experience again where I had to do a team merge on my team. A part of my team that stayed with me were the ones to see FedEx and a part of the DHL team that had to make a merger of the two companies, which although they provide the same service, they do it in diametrically different ways from the point of view of systems, processes, language. It was another super journey. And the most interesting thing was to mix the cultures in people, not to speak as a mastery of brutal organizational change.

[00:22:32] That in your opinion and well, taking into account your experience, not only at that time, but throughout your entire career, what do you think it is? The two three keys to being able to put together a good team this much we have a lot of entrepreneurs as you know listening to this podcast and Supply Chain Now, the three things that you’ve learned not only from your experience living with such diverse people from all over the world, but going from a culture like FedEx to one like DHL. What? What would you say to people who are trying to change or integrate cultures right now?

[00:23:08] Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Look, I think the first thing is respect, respect. We must always show respect for others. Sometimes we fall into thinking that we are more than the other, or because my company is better than yours, or because I studied more than you, or because, that is GAP, of course. Respect comes first. The other thing. Enrique is that there has to be a positive attitude towards change. 1 It has happened to me sometimes. Many times when the individual doesn’t want to, there is nothing to be done. I mean, you try and try and try and try the best, the best. Or maybe not in the best way, but you try to integrate it and the person wants it. Of course. No, of course not. Don’t break that paradigm. You don’t want to. You have to let it go. Well, there is not always a perfect world. Culture and people cannot always be integrated. That is a reality that we have to understand.

[00:24:16] You have to make those decisions, don’t you? At the end of the day, you have the directive to make the team work and given the possibilities, everyone to be successful. But if people, change is in one, it’s not what it’s about what you’re saying. Yes, yes, I have one. Want to change? You don’t want to change and it’s not going to be possible.

[00:24:36] Yes. And lastly, I would say that whoever is in charge or whoever is in charge of the integration process has to have leadership skills. In other words, you have to, you have to prepare yourself. It is not easy to deal with, with people that as we all know, we all have good days and bad days. Of course, in different backgrounds, different situations. And that has to be understood. In other words, we are not robots. We have to understand that we are different. We have to understand that we can have totally different points of view and we have to understand and value that. So, just a good leader alone has the ability to take those different points of view or different ways of looking at things and bring them together and create a team. If there is one thing that is difficult it is to create a really good team or integrated team, because team is easy to say to team. No, no, no. In other words, a real team that respects each other, that takes care of each other, that really supports each other is a very difficult job and that requires an extraordinary effort, which obviously also has an attitude component, as I was saying before. But always close, always ahead. And I think those are some of the hardest lessons I’ve learned in so many years of building teams. Because that’s basically what I’ve done. I learned how to build work teams, high performance teams. At the moment I am working on strengthening my current team in the company NO3 and so on.

[00:26:22] And well, we’re going to talk about that in a moment and really thank you for sharing this. For those who just paq us are listening to it. For those of you who have just joined, I just want to remind you that we have Demosthenes Perez in Panama. Let’s explain a little bit of your story and as you heard, basically three things if you want to have a successful team, if you want to integrate people with different characteristics, with different stories and with different perspectives, those are three basic things I respect. No, no, never feel more, never feel that you are the first or the primordial. Respect is important a positive attitude and good leadership and demos. If it’s okay with you, let’s make a short break, here this one and we’ll be right back. Surely. Criminal Court 55 twenty-three. How are you doing? How do you feel? Smooth. Something you want us to change is going well? No, no, no, no… Now a little bit takes us out. It’s true. Your professional experience does not allow you to pay special attention to what you think is best for you. And then I would really like to introduce us to your company so that it can also serve as a promotion and to talk a little bit about today or the future. How do you see the situation with the teams, with the traffic, how do you see Panama?

[00:27:56] Vaporea Obrer.

[00:28:00] Welcome again, this is Supply Chain Now in Spanish, I’m your host, Enrique Alvarez, and I have with me a great guest who by the way is also a host and with whom I’m going to be interviewing many other personalities throughout Latin America. A good friend, Demosthenes Perez de Mohs. How are you?

[00:28:20] Very good, very good, Enrique. Happy, happy.

[00:28:22] We’ll be back. We are back again. And well, I forgot to mention to everyone who listens to us that if they’re interested in listening to conversations and interviews like this with you, to join us, to sign up wherever they have their. Anywhere they have their podcasts. This is Supply Chain Now. Please follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube or whatever system you use to listen to your podcasts. Again we come back to Vemos who has already explained the whole part of his early career, from working in the hardware store with his dad and grandfather and the history of the family to going from one adventure to another. This one that has gone through really has known every part of the supply chain from literally the screws coming from Germany to accompanying it to distributing it on trucks through FedEx. And now when? When. We went to this break. I wasn’t saying about the transition between FedEx and DHL. Tell us from there, let’s pick up from there from DHL. What’s next for you?

[00:29:37] Well, at that time it was full currir, as they say, we noticed the currir part. At that time, while managing DHL operations, I was bitten again by the entrepreneurial bug and decided to leave the company. Some friends had formed a Warner Fregao and invited me to be part of the team. And it was the truth that as I tell you, well, I was. I always had that entrepreneurial streak and I accepted. I went with them like. As commercial director.

[00:30:13] This is logistics services or not yet before

[00:30:16] Or no longer yetis. Sometimes I was already with DHL, eh? I left Logistics Services for a year or so and went to learn the Free for wedding business, which I didn’t know. Flirtatious like your good friends who already had their company, eh? I raised some capital with people I knew with. with good friends from Colombia and Honduras and other countries we had friendships. So we made this company. But hey. A reality, Enrique, that already that time I talk to you about this was in 2005. First of all, I was very young, I still lacked a lot more experience, especially in the financial part, eh? And nothing was a product of a tremendous experience because I mean we worked very hard. There were three of us, huh? 16 hours a day. It was very exhausting. I started to put together, to get into these Wilders alliances that still exist today and are very strong to get cargo and we started to get some business. But well, the reality was that at that time, uh. For business as usual was Worthing. You know very well, eh? It’s not, it’s not a business that starts producing right away. And I had a family to raise, I needed more activities. The pressure, stress and such like dad is going to take its toll. At that time, the guy who was my former place at District Service calls me and says Hey, we’re back.

[00:31:52] We have this particular situation, eh? What do you want to come back? So I tell him Ok, I was obviously looking to see what he would do. I was still with my partner, with the Irada group, I spoke to them and I said, gentlemen, I can’t go on. So I took a couple of steps back, huh? But to catch momentum vague the vague documentary. Yes, of course. And so I agreed to return to Agrestic Servicies as general manager of the company and with a mission which was to set up that company. Well, in a logistics operator. All in all. And I decided to integrate all the teams that I created, all my backoffice, which at that time I didn’t have, because it was a very nice compliment and we finally made a building. We started to develop important distribution center business. So I continued the relationship hand in hand with DHL and globally I started to ualquier with all the tariffs and we started to do a lot or a lot, a lot of participating in a lot of regional distribution center projects. I estimate that there were about 200 projects for global companies that I was involved in from the very early days. Look, I got to manage both operations and project manage such basic things as. I tell you like condoms. Even drilling machines for underground mines. Everything in between, everything that is in the center, I had to be somehow tires and bulk products, computers, clothing, footwear.

[00:33:35] Etc. I had a huge, huge experience in that organization of pharmaceutical duty, food and everything that involves this type of administration of these operations that are totally very different, of course. And the other interesting thing about this experience is that Enrique also had to deal with companies literally from all over the world. Of course. From Russia, from China, from Asia in general. Well, obviously from the United States, let alone Europe. So, the experience that I had previously had in the free zone of meeting people with so much cultural diversity also helped me a lot, because it was easy for me. Do you understand me? To communicate with these people because I understood their culture, I always had a story to tell when I came. Not if you, not if the meals, not if the parties. Well, I always, always had something to tell these people as a product of that experience. So I’ve always been a very worldly guy, even though I’m here in this small country. So that gave me, I think, a very, very big advantage when it came to doing business. The business world has to have diversity. Apart from the fact that I also like to study a lot and that’s why I went in. Between the cultural part and the part to know the industry. That makes you like. As a kind of expert.

[00:35:09] And I imagine that all these contacts that you had, or different ones internationally speaking, were the ones that started to bring you closer to what was to come for you. What is this relationship with the chambers of commerce, with the vos, with? I mean, at the end of the day you were becoming a VEM, you were not an expert, at the end of the day you became an expert and you are an expert now I would say one of the most important people, with more knowledge, experience and strategy in the logistics part in Panama and most probably in Latin America.

[00:35:45] What I think is that if the experience has been tremendous, the relationship with God, I never wanted to get involved in the world of the cameras. But hey, yes, I did start happy hour awareness. From the point of view. Educational to learn. I like to learn. But well, I was invited and here in some, some local guilds. And I came in from far away. But well, since I’m me, I’m already in the head and growing, president of the two or three electing president of the Logistics Business Council, which is perhaps the highest body here.

[00:36:24] That’s the Jesus. When you were talking to me before we were on the air on your government assignment, it’s true that you had to yes, tell us, tell us a little bit more about this which I found very interesting and it’s again something different than what. I had a partner in that

[00:36:44] Panama is a very particular country in that sense, because it exists. I would say a higher level of public-private partnership than in most countries. Here in the region, and I’m not saying this because of, because of, because of blogging or anything like that, but because of what my own colleagues in other countries tell me. So. Eh? Here, uh. We have a fairly well developed guild sector and Hirsh and so the council was born. What a coincidence that in the end the one who founds the personal council is the one who is my partner today in Hyperloop. It then creates a guild of guilds with the intention of integrating the state with the with the with the with the logistics or management. The supply was private and then born around 2012. There is another entity called the logistic cabinet, which is something like a private public cabinet that presides. Well, today the Vice President of the Republic sits in which a number of ministers of state and also a number of representatives of the private sector in which they discuss issues related to the progress of the E of the business. So I had to be there, in that chair, from the private sector, never as a public employee or anything like that for 4 years. I had to replace a colleague. So I spent four years attending presidencies, almost monthly or monthly meetings, where we basically discussed with the ministers of state. These projects and sometimes initiatives that they brought to the table, which were negative to

[00:38:34] Which are infrastructure projects and commercial growth and development in Panama or in Panama, two interesting ones for the country,

[00:38:43] Customs projects, metallurgy projects, health and. Well, these issues were discussed there and we also brought our own ideas at the end. From there was born what today is known as the National Logistics Strategy 20/30, which was a project that we delivered to two thousand seventeen. If I am not mistaken, where it is like a road map of what are these factors in which the public and private sectors must work together to strengthen the country’s economic performance. From a logistical point of view. I think it is important to mention to our listeners that Panama. The services component of the Gross Domestic Product in Panama is the highest, that is, the highest in comparison to the primary and secondary tertiary sectors. The service is the largest contributor to the national economy.

[00:39:38] We see, in short, that without you giving us all the detail of this national logistics strategy, far from it. But what would they be? What are the most important areas of this 20/30 plan? Where to? Where is Panama going? Because I ask you. Because I believe that. Panama dictates a lot of where all the other countries are going. Probably in Central America, probably in Latin America and well, they have, well, they have the trade gateway or the Panama Canal influences all the countries. So I imagine a lot of people who are listening to us will want to know that they’re getting a little bit more out of this national logistics strategy.

[00:40:14] Sure, look, uh, uh. But to put it in context, God blessed us with a situation or a geographical location, with a sumo to the narrowest country on the continent. So that was as you say and put here the Panama Canal, put the tran seismic railroad which is the dry canal. We have the highways connecting from the back now. After the interview, I go to my office on the other side of the country and I’ll be there in 45 minutes. I don’t cross the country in 45 minutes, it’s from Panama, it already has, let’s say, the physical part. I am the blog. The strategy is aimed at developing projects that further improve the connectivity that the country offers to the world of trade and initiatives, for example, from the point of view of visibility. So now the visibility, the supply side is totally relevant to be able to guarantee the effectiveness of the supply chain. So the country is focused on the integration of institutions, customs with the free zone or with the Ministry of Commerce or not, so there has to be an integration of systems, even here at the state level, especially in Latin America. But of course, it’s very complicated. Alas, alas, alas! Today, it’s not a power struggle and so on, but, well, all the institutions have to be more and more digital, eh? Today Panama’s customs processes are extremely fast and efficient compared to Hong Kong or other countries in the region. They have to be the best, though, eh? For example, uh. Me. I receive a container today at the Port of Manzanillo, for example, and the ship docked tonight.

[00:42:09] I have that container in my warehouse tomorrow morning at 11am, eh? Already downloading and that product will be ready on top of the system for the customer to place orders and dispatch. From a regional business point of view. Panama already has these great advantages. Eh. As part of your business. But. We have to keep working on improving and giving more to global trade. It is said that between 5 and 7 percent of global trade crosses the Panama Canal. Some say it’s more, I’m not an economist to know how much, but what I can tell you is that it’s a lot. And that has to be strengthened, because especially with all the challenges that we have experienced or that the world is experiencing in pandemic and pre-pandemic, well, every day we see new disruptions in our chain. The bitro, of course, it becomes more imperative that options exist. Not all this resilience stuff, which we hear a lot of industry talk about, eh? One way to bring that resilience to the other supply chain is to have more choice. And for Latin America, Panama represents a very interesting option because it is having a product located much closer to the point of sale or point of consumption. Located in a site, in this case the Colon Free Zone, which is a zone that allows you to have the product for an indefinite period of time without charging taxes on the product. So I can react to what a market in Chile asks for today, but I can also ration to what a market like Guatemala or the Dominican Republic asks for tomorrow.

[00:43:53] And I wouldn’t even go so far as to say that I can tell you much further north to New York than at the end of the day. And well, in fact, for those who are watching us on YouTube, those who have the pleasure of seeing us, not just listening to us, have a screen behind them that shows the days of transit from Panama. I imagine it’s

[00:44:14] Demons this will

[00:44:15] You can get to the coast, you can get to the coast, you can get to California, you can get to New York in seven days. Today it seems to me that this is it, I hope, but this is what you say, not at the end of the day. Panama gives you many options. If you are a global company, if you are a company that is growing, I think Panama is the gateway to the continent really and it is very important. So this thing you mention about the 20/30 national logistics strategy is something that maybe I would suggest that people look it up if we can put some notes on it now that it’s not clear when we post this interview I’d love to publish the interview. Yeah, I don’t even know how to speak Spanish anymore, we can’t put notes, comments and let’s put this up because I think a lot of people would be interested in knowing a little bit more about where Panama is going. What options are there in Panama and how they could really use that to continue to grow and improve their supply chains per rectum. We will be back and as we said last time, we couldn’t have. And in fact, maybe it’s worth having 2, 3, 4 interviews because there are so many stories to tell. But well, I know you’re having a hectic day and so as not to take up too much of your time, let’s move on from this one. You’ve had some very interesting posts. You were also at the one at the Chamber of Commerce also the GC 1 Take us to the demos right now. No, you started your company? How? How did we get to where you are right now? Because I would like to ask you a little bit what is your opinion of the future?

[00:45:55] Okay, look, I. I was like, like. As general manager of this company for quite a few years I had a super super team development had. We made some very interesting trades. We open for example the operating room for company for afortu infringe of componés e not e. That is, a financially successful company operationally. But suddenly I began to feel that I had nothing more to do there. This is called the comfort zone. I didn’t have any. He had everything, he had a great team and he had an assistant. It had everything. It had everything. And all of a sudden it’s like I don’t like it anymore. There were no more people. I needed something else. I was. I needed and I started to think about it and. And well, uh. As I said, with so many relationships that one makes, I find myself in front of this colleague of mine, my friend, that we always talked and I say hey, it happened to me that so-and-so called me for a business, but I can’t make it the front page. And he said to me pussy, the same thing happened to me. I’m also called so and so and so and so and so. Whenever we met the one with the same story, all the things we saw happening because he was in a situation pretty much like mine, it was too. It was a giant leaving a company. We weren’t in competition, but it was similar. So, well, one fine day we told people let’s make it clear. I did it. In my case I did.

[00:47:25] And this when you’re talking about when you’re talking about this is 2017, out there.

[00:47:29] Not one thousand, not two thousand nineteen finals, eh? When we started with the whole project, the whole idea, eh? I talked to me, to my board of directors and I told them gentlemen, I, I need to leave. And obviously it was that it was very difficult. My transition took a few months, maybe longer than I would have liked. The pandemic got in the way too, eh? And well, we started the business, we had, uh, there was already, there was already a medium-sized operation that had been started, my partner had marked it, I was going to go in with him, uh? And the idea was that we already had several, like four or five very interesting projects to develop. Obviously COBIT is coming. E Yeah, that wasn’t in any business plan, so uh. My flagship project, so to speak, fell KLE the one I was going to develop falls by hobby and nothing had to start to arre, arre, to rethink the company, to rethink the service, to rethink the project, eh? And well, we created, we created this organization that already has more than 100 collaborators with great honor. Wow!

[00:48:41] Hey, congratulations because in one of the most difficult years in the history of the world, I think it’s a great, great. Yes this achievement and something that speaks very well of you as a leader and well, of your partners and the team you are forming, so tell us a little bit more then about Hype Hype Group, I imagine.

[00:49:01] And Federov if uh, I tell you, well the 20th was a year, we never closed because the client the operation we handled was a special telecom and industry operation and we never, never, never, never could e close doors still. Obviously we worked from home for many months and the team was in charge of doing very punctual things, they would go to receive the containers, they would close the containers and then they would go, open them, dispatch them and leave. The whole team working at home. We didn’t fire anyone, thank God, during the pandemic. That’s something we’re pretty proud of, eh? And well, uh, we spent the year, let’s say, trying to figure out how to save those projects that were already somehow closed, eh? But none were spared. So, well, uh, as I say, we had to rethink and that is something that the company is born in pandemic, practically sideways and that makes the DNA of the company is that change. Resilience, eh? Challenges, eh? Think differently, change it, change the turn, the rudder. So, uh. We became a very agile organization, Enrique, very agile, eh? No ties to traditional themes or anything else. In other words, the client, whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants.

[00:50:21] What services do we provide? What services do you offer so that those who listen to us can know what you do?

[00:50:27] There was a logistics operator specializing in regional operations. Or do we enhance all this stuff that we talked about before about Panama and the transits and such? While we bring the product, the client brings his product to Panama, to the Colon free zone, where he can bring the product to the

[00:50:43] To be by, by sea, by air, by

[00:50:46] Day, by land. Exactly. Soon it comes in different manners. It is stored or has been stored in this area, eh? Under an inventory status. Regionalize is metal, it is not local, it has not paid taxes of any country,

[00:51:03] So the benefit of working with an FTZ that doesn’t pay taxes until you don’t really need the process. And there is an import.

[00:51:11] That’s right. And using all these routes, all this transit, all these frequencies that Panama offers through the canal and so on. We may receive an order from a customer in Honduras today and we are shipping tomorrow for Honduras there, as they

[00:51:31] They have their own storage, their storage is also

[00:51:34] Distribution of the warehouse. If we do warehousing, we do inventory management in our specialty. Now it’s value-added services, which basically means that if a product requires some kind of process or process to be introduced into a market, to pass non-tariff barriers or to meet a market condition, or to meet a market condition, or to be introduced into a market, then it’s a value-added service.

[00:51:59] Labeling, or insurrections or repackaging, or

[00:52:04] That’s all we do. For example, today we are working very hard in the Enright Tell fashion industry. I have been providing very particular services in which the product or the garment comes out of our of our warehouse as the selling price in the country. At the destination you go out with the LAUR halves to the button that puts crepe the door when you go out through the store, we make you seams when they require seams. Stitched labels some countries like Peru, Ecuador that require labels to say imported by so-and-so.

[00:52:38] Estol labels all the label I put it, you do it yourselves and

[00:52:42] Everything, everything. Today we are working on what we call a FullHD Fremen BTV is not business. Business is for Reiter at the moment, but we are already starting to develop the direct-to-consumer part of Bitsy as well, eh? Well we have all the computer systems and all the processes to handle operations are operations, let’s say high demand operations, not other operations.

[00:53:11] A lot of demands too. No? This is added value. You need to have a really committed team with a high level of quality, I imagine, with state-of-the-art technology. It is also part of Lothal, a non-Hawaii entity. Throughout the region you are giving service to anyone who wants to store and have these services in Panama. Palop Redistribute everywhere or are you starting with certain regions? How are you thinking?

[00:53:36] No, notice that today we are serving from Guatemala to Paraguay. Ok, all in my tween eh? We are in the different industries we serve. As I say, we are still having very strong telecommunications and we are also in the industrial part and also in theacho part. Imagine industries, totally different industries, but with the same concept and analyzed inventory regio goes to countries depending on demand. That is, the customer does not need to have imported product in a market, does not have to have paid taxes for, for something he does not know if he is going to sell or not. If you have it in Panama stored regionally, you are only going to ship it when the market really requires it. Therefore,

[00:54:24] In other words, you never import it. Maybe in Panama, that is, it is something that maybe is imported only once in Paraguay, or if it is only stored in Panama.

[00:54:33] Exactly, exactly, there, there what the customer gains is opportunity cost. Of course, because if I have a product that I brought, for example for E for Peru, because I thought that Peru was going to sell it, but it turned out that for some reason that product did not work in Peru or the market did not like it, but it turned out that in Guatemala the product was a great success. If I have it in Peru it is impossible to send it to Guatemala. Impossible. It is not possible. But the costs make it impossible.

[00:55:04] Well, it’s another import and export import in another country are more, you keep it in Panama, which is two, three days away from any of these other countries. As you wish and

[00:55:16] Rare. It’s like this. That’s the secret toast, as the tall ones say. Secret is that one.

[00:55:22] You can play all over Latin America being your distribution center.

[00:55:26] Panama plays with what the market wants to say. There are about, especially in the times we live in. You can’t afford to have large inventories sitting in a country without moving it. So, the grace or the beauty, so to speak, of selling it in a safe place, in a place that is in your inventory, is in U.S. dollars. A place that is very safe both on the level.

[00:55:52] That’s the other one. It is a very developed, very important, very secure banking and financial infrastructure. Again, as a result of the canal and many other things, Panama has managed to have an infrastructure that is a model in many parts of Latin America.

[00:56:08] That’s right. So that’s, that’s what we sell in what we empower. For these companies. So. Basically, Sony Peele Group does not adapt to any needs. To what the customer wants, to simplify processes. We already have a lot of experience in complex processes in large corporations. I’ve worked on projects, as I said, for very complex, very large companies. Therefore, as a customer we already coded a way to make it easy and fast. How to do it?

[00:56:45] How you have the Anthea is experience and you have lived it with other industries and other companies. But if you’re looking at, I mean, moving a little bit beyond your company, now moving a little bit more into the general and a little bit into the last part of our interview, how do you see how you see the world? Now we have the equipment problems in China, the congestion at the ports in the United States, the exorbitant prices that are so exorbitant. What is your reading of Panama? First. And then if you could extrapolate and say well, what is your reading of Latin America? What is your market forecast for the rest of the year?

[00:57:26] Look, one of the particularities of the business that I manage is that for us Panama is just another market and not necessarily the largest. Panama is one of the smallest markets we serve, therefore, all the. Vision and the forcas we see has to be at the Latin American level because that is the business it handles. Sure, so look, I see, I see without many challenges from the point of view of freight, eh? Because of the votes we didn’t think they were going to start going down. But it seems we were wrong. They keep going up. Challenges remain. Much of the traditional logistics that was done to Latin America was done from the United States. It’s still done to a large extent in South Florida, but at a very high cost. I think this is the time when companies really need to do an analysis of how they are moving their cargo with these expensive freight rates. Now you have to be even more cautious in how you move the load. They didn’t waste any, any, any transportation guidelines, huh? Demand is always going to be definitely Caniff markets affected, but we will always need products. We have also seen the birth of many new industries, many new types of business and a lot of production. Also that it can be made local. I think the pandemic has taught us a lot that actually in the face of the pandemic, we thought we were going to be buying a lot of product. Eh? In Asia, huh. I am already seeing some trend of important companies, brands looking for manufacturing in our country. In Colombia, in Ecuador, in Mexico. Not to mention. Obviously it is the cradle of manufacturing, but Enrique is seeing a strong tendency to diversify a little bit that, that, that source of manufacturing. We will never stop Bob, we will never stop receiving products from China. It’s weird,

[00:59:37] He’s not a monster, look at him.

[00:59:39] But yes, yes I am. I’ve already seen several initiatives from well-known companies that are looking at how they can increase their manufacturing to be less dependent on Asia and that supply chain that is rapidly being affected. E the film noir that used to be the theory, because now it seems that the a swimming around for any puddle every day to subtitle a new one a disruption in implausible things, no? Over there I read at the weekend that now comes one more tweet from the sauce of this restaurant fildeo girl eh? How crazy! And platoon! And every day we’re going to see more

[01:00:16] Nacho Scotti Grec here in this week or last week they were talking about with Carin, Bursa, in Supli Cheyney or they were talking about everything that is missing. All these, this what you say, all these black swans or Black Swan or short jazz that we are living and I that will be it. Do you think it will be the new standard then?

[01:00:38] I think there are cycles. I think so, eh? That is, since

[01:00:42] Chicken Catsup there are shortages of

[01:00:46] Microchips and

[01:00:47] Chips. It is one of the main gasoline for those who are here in the United States, like us.

[01:00:52] With Bit.ly cologne edited this. So I think we should. The future is going to be. Enrique, I think, I don’t have a crystal ball to say it, but it’s going to be about not depending on a single source. No? Diversification I think is going to be the key and use more regional attribution chips and build on these existing structures and take away a little bit of the concepts that we had in the past and think, innovate and innovate innovatively. But now to be able to guarantee supplies, not at the end of the road, eh? Latin America, as small as it is, compared to the big markets, is still a thriving market, growing very interesting and very diverse. And obviously it makes it very complex as well. But. But stop. That’s why there are people like us who can help decode the complexity of Latin America. I think that’s the key. There are a lot of companies that decide not to come or try to come and get scared, eh. Why? Because they feel that the existing complexity is too high. So, there. Experts can help you comply with these market standards.

[01:02:19] Where do you leave technology in your opinion and I believe that with this we are about to close.

[01:02:25] So how do you

[01:02:26] See the technology? I feel like a lot has been said about visibility. A lot. That’s very important, obviously, but with all these black swans you mention, with everything we’ve been through. Well, many times all these systems to be clearer about demand and consumption and all that have gone down the drain. Basically we have had to re-tune and adjust all the Forcas models from

[01:02:56] The, from all the channels, from everything already, because it’s like a bad word now isn’t it?

[01:03:02] But hey. But what do you see? That is, how technology moves in general and you guide from that to totally. Other technologies such as in warehousing or in distribution or in

[01:03:15] Technology, Assam is becoming more and more relevant every day. In other words, operations and technology go 100 percent hand in hand. I think I was talking about it recently with a good friend of mine who I will recommend Dr. Felisa Preciado from Depend State. Let’s talk a little bit about why Latin America is so difficult, huh? Having visibility because it is so difficult and that interconnects us between companies, between countries. And it is a purely cultural issue. Enrique. We need to have visibility, we need to integrate to be able to facilitate things and that is a big challenge. We see in the world all these control towers. These big companies doing interesting things globally, but that in Latin America is not the case. That reality does not reach the famous visibility within the supply chain. It is a myth. As you mentioned. Me. I am part of ten Wand. It is a worldwide aggression of trade standards that basically seek visibility in all processes. So for me too that has become a kind of flag. To try to promote and make the Latin American businessman understand the importance of sharing important data, of integrating. Hey, no, hey. It is still a myth and it is still a paradigm that we can’t do it. It has to be broken. Because if it is necessary, from a customs point of view, to do cross border operations after crossing borders and commerce while Latin America is practically impossible. Nowadays, uh, with all our different customs and requirements, it’s extremely complicated. So you see, the world is moving towards one, towards one direction, but Latin America is very, very anchored, perhaps to the schemes of the past and we have to work hard to reconnect and break down those barriers so that we can also, eh? All these technological and business advances and penetrate our countries and our economies.

[01:05:26] Not very well said. And well, as you say, do not lift the anchor to processes and business models of the past, right?

[01:05:32] That’s right, that’s right, that’s right.

[01:05:34] Let’s give a treat as always that where the people who are listening to us. Where we can connect you. They can connect with you if they would like to contact you. What is the best way to do it?

[01:05:48] Look, I try to be on at least once a day. LinkedIn is the social network that I use today and uh, I tell you daily uh. The website of my company and P.L Group is tres PL Panama dotcom trippy Panama. Dot com. It’s very easy too. I also now have a podcast that you’re going to be a guest on soon called No Shipping Out Shopping. It is a personal project

[01:06:14] E now shipping now shopping.

[01:06:17] Exactly. Well, there my car was one of your guests. In fact, a lot had to do inside view for, for, for this guy and we’re going to talk about that later. So we’re there every couple of weeks as well, talking to a fellow guy who’s very much involved in the supply chain education part of teaching in the Bakker supply chain of the business. So we invite you there too. So nothing would be

[01:06:42] Perfect. Let’s make a male relative and enter Supply Chain Now in Spanish and not shipping Now Shopping

[01:06:51] You were not told because you are in the logistic roster above.

[01:06:56] It’s a pleasure to talk to you, so keep me in mind for whatever you need. My pleasure. We see how we always do. And well, you’re a host of mine on these and we’re going to continue to be. How would you fire yourself. Program Help me to say goodbye to the program and a challenge that you want to leave to the people who listen to us today.

[01:07:15] Well, I didn’t kill him. Well, first of all thank you for the opportunity, as always these conversations. It has become the most beautiful way to learn and grow. Eh? Me. I would ask the audience eh? Do not stop educating yourselves on a daily basis. Today it is very easy. We have so many free tools available to learn and grow professionally. Keep up to date. See this type of program as its Spanish page. How well we were talking about this project before, Enrique. There is an absence of good content in Spanish. There is a lot in English and maybe in other languages, but in Spanish we have a, a, a, a, a little chance to listen. So take advantage of these tools that people like Enrique and his countryman team have made available to you for free. So with that I invite you to stay tuned and let’s continue. Let’s connect, connect to, to, to do business and in the perfect future we see.

[01:08:22] I couldn’t have said goodbye to the show better than you. A pleasure to all who are listening to us. Thank you very much again Enrique Alvarez with Supply Chain in Spanish and see you in the next episode.

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Una Actualización en Cadena de Suministros y Logística de América Latina, con Demós Pérez

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Demos Perez es un líder apasionado de la cadena de suministro que ha trabajado durante más de 2 décadas ayudando a cientos de clientes globales a desarrollar estrategias, soluciones y ejecutar operaciones para ventas y distribución en América Latina utilizando a Panamá como su punto de negocio fundamental.

Luego de dejar su trabajo corporativo, se convirtió en emprendedor logístico y dueño de un negocio con el propósito de generar oportunidades de crecimiento para su equipo y su red. Disfruta aportando su experiencia en operaciones de almacenamiento y distribución, creación de soluciones logísticas innovadoras, servicios de valor agregado, desarrollo comercial, formación de equipos, para generar valor a su red. Conéctese con Demos en LinkedIn.

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Enrique Alvarez

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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Demo Perez

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

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

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Mary Kate Love

VP, Marketing

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

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

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Joshua Miranda

Marketing Specialist

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

Donna Krache

Director of Communications and Executive Producer

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

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Vicki White

Controller

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

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Katherine Hintz

Creative Director, Producer, Host

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

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Kim Reuter

Host, The Freight Insider

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

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Kristi Porter

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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

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Sofia Rivas Herrera

Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol

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

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Katherine Hintz

Sales and Marketing Coordinator

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

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Kim Winter

Host, Supply Chain Now

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

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

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

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Adrian Purtill

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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

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Kevin Brown

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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

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Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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

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Nick Roemer

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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

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Allison Giddens

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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

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

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Billy Taylor

Host of Dial P for Procurement

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

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

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

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

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Lori Sofian

Marketing Coordinator

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

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Chantel King

Social Media Manager

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

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

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

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Trisha Cordes

Administrative Assistant

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

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Clay Phillips

Business Development Manager

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

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Amanda Luton

Vice President, Production

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

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Constantine Limberakis

Host

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

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Mary Kate Soliva

Host, Veteran Voices

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

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Kelly Barner

Host of Dial P for Procurement

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

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Enrique Alvarez

Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español

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

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

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Kevin L. Jackson

Host of Digital Transformers

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

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Tyler Ward

Director of Sales

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

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

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

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Chris Barnes

Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring

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

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

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Greg White

Principal & CMO, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain Now and TECHquila Sunrise

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

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

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Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

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

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

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