They say the proof is in the pudding, so if you want to understand the value of a group purchasing organization (GPO), look no further than the successful partnership between Lanter Delivery Systems and OMNIA Partners. In this episode, tune in to hear Greg and Scott chat with Johnathan Foster of Lanter Delivery Systems and Robert Mietus of OMNIA Partners on how GPOs save you money and free up your time to focus on change management, why they’re ideal for smaller to mid-sized companies, the important role of data, how to overcome common challenges and more.

Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:32):

Hey. Hey. Good morning. Scott Luton and Greg White with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s show. Greg, how are you doing?

Greg White (00:38):

I’m doing pretty well, Scott. Watching the weather a little bit, but, yeah, doing good. It seems to have turned in our favor, so that’s good.

Scott Luton (00:47):

That’s great to hear.

Greg White (00:48):

So, by the time this airs, nobody will know what we’re talking about, would they, hopefully?

Scott Luton (00:51):

Yeah. That’s right, hopefully. I’ll tell you, our thoughts and prayers certainly go out to all the folks across the southeast dealing with yet another storm. But on a much lighter note, Greg, looking forward to a great show here today, as we’re going to be talking about really forward looking procurement leadership and its impact on organizations and industry in today’s ever-changing environment. This should be a great show, huh?

Greg White (01:14):

Always. I love talking about leadership, and particularly all this procurement and supply chain jazz. It seems suddenly people are interested in that.

Scott Luton (01:26):

And that’s a great thing. That’s a great thing. So, with that said, no further ado, I’d like to welcome in our esteemed guest here today, Johnathan Foster, Senior Director of Procurement with Lanter Delivery Systems. Johnathan, how are you doing?

Johnathan Foster (01:39):

Oh, I’m doing lovely. Yourself, sir?

Scott Luton (01:40):

I’m doing wonderful. Thanks for your time here today. I can’t wait for your perspective. And, of course, Robert Mietus, Director – Managing Director, rather, for Central for OMNIA Partners. Robert, how are you doing?

Robert Mietus (01:52):

I’m doing well. It’s a beautiful day here in Chicago, so you can’t complain.

Scott Luton (01:55):

Man, from one of our favorite global cities in Chicago, I’ve already got all kinds of food memories going through my mind. Thank you so much, Robert, for making us hungry. Okay. So, what we want to do is kind of continue on that theme, we want to get to know y’all a little bit better. We’ve enjoyed the pre-show conversation. Of course, we’ve enjoyed a variety of conversations with our friends at OMNIA Partners. Johnathan, welcome to the family here. So, let’s get to know y’all a better and, Johnathan, we’ll start with you. So, tell us where you grew up and give us some of your anecdotes from your upbringing, Johnathan.

Johnathan Foster (02:27):

I’m from North Central Arkansas, middle of the Ozarks, what I affectionately call God’s Country. So, beautiful place to be from, especially in the fall. And my family, I guess, would say humble beginnings, very blue collar, centered around the logging industry. And I find a lot of those mindsets of that hard work still permeate today in my day to day. I like to say I’m bringing a blue collar mindset to a white collar world a lot of times.

Scott Luton (03:07):

Oh, I love that. Greg.

Greg White (03:09):

Yeah, that’s a beautiful part of the country. So, when I was younger, I lived in Springfield, Missouri, and we went to the Ozarks, Bull Shoals, up and down the White River all the time. So, it is a really, truly beautiful part of the country, and definitely can relate to that hard working thing. So, you’re not likely to be a quiet quitter, are you?

Johnathan Foster (03:31):

No. [Inaudible].

Scott Luton (03:33):

You know, going back to your comment there, Johnathan, about kind of bringing that blue collar mentality to work, there was a great defensive coordinator for Virginia Tech, and his name’s going to escape me right now, but his whole moniker was like bringing this lunchbox. And it was like an analogy he taught with his team, you know, day in and day out. You got to bring it every single day. So, I love that. I love what your upbringing taught you. So, I got to ask you one more question before I flip over to Robert. So, growing up in Arkansas, what is one food dish or meal or restaurant or whatever that was inseparable from your upbringing, Johnathan?

Johnathan Foster (04:09):

Biscuits and gravy.

Scott Luton (04:11):

Biscuits and gravy.

Johnathan Foster (04:14):

My grandma’s table, my momma’s table, wherever, throw me some biscuits and gravy and you got a happy balding southern guy. Bald southern guy now.

Scott Luton (04:26):

Oh, man. I love it. Okay. So, now that we’re really starving for lunch – thank you so much, Johnathan – Robert, same question. You know, tell us where you grew up and kind of give us some of the flavor of your upbringing too.

Robert Mietus (04:37):

Oh, sure. Yeah. So, born and raised here in the Chicago land area. I guess similar to Johnathan, my parents are blue collar. Dad was a bus mechanic station engineer for a corrugated box plant. My mom was a cleaning lady. Actually, I had jobs with my dad starting in high school. So, you know, I did random maintenance work around the plant. And my uncle worked there, too, so whenever he went out and took a break, I was the machine operator for the jumbo corrugated machine. I probably can’t do that these days, but I learned a lot through that experience.

Scott Luton (05:14):

Oh, that is so cool. What a special experience, Greg. I mean, to be able to work with your dad day in and day out at the plant, right?

Greg White (05:22):

And, also, with big machinery. What’s better for a kid, it’s like a full size toy those things. That’s awesome.

Scott Luton (05:34):

So, same question as a follow up question, Robert, I bet you’re going —

Greg White (05:38):

We’re going to talk food in Chicago, aren’t we?

Scott Luton (05:40):

We got too, man. We got too.

Robert Mietus (05:41):

How much time do we got?

Greg White (05:42):

Yeah. Right.

Scott Luton (05:43):

So, to help narrow it down, you know, growing up in Chicago land – what a special upbringing that is as well – what’s one food dish inseparable from your childhood?

Robert Mietus (05:54):

Oh, sure. So, I guess every Chicago, let’s say, suburb or location has their special pizza dish, and it’s different than the next town over, different than nobody’s ever heard of it, but it kind of brings you back to your childhood, so to speak. So, I’d say Phil’s Pizza down on, you know, 87th and State Road is my local pizza joint.

Scott Luton (06:21):

Love that. Shout out to Phil, Greg. Phil of Phil’s Pizza.

Greg White (06:25):

Yeah. Hey, you know what? It’s good to hear about some of the other places besides the usual stops, right? There’s no shortage of outstanding food in Chicago, and pizza has to be the top.

Scott Luton (06:38):

That’s right.

Robert Mietus (06:38):

And I would just add onto that, Chicago’s grown up from pizza and hotdogs, I would say we’re one of the best culinary cities in the world. So, we’ve got the best of the best.

Greg White (06:49):

On my vote.

Robert Mietus (06:49):

Come and step up.

Scott Luton (06:51):

But I’m not sleeping, and I’d suggest you don’t sleep on biscuits and gravy. So, Johnathan, we’re going to have to make a trip back to Arkansas and break some bread there. Okay. Well, hey, thanks for giving us a chance to get to know y’all a little better and letting our audience get to know you both a little better. Where are we going next, Greg, with the dynamic duo here?

Greg White (07:11):

We probably ought to find out what these guys do for a living at some point, don’t you think?

Scott Luton (07:15):

Sounds good.

Greg White (07:16):

Maybe we can start with you, Robert. Give us an idea, you know, what your role is, and tell us a little bit about OMNIA, and maybe share some of the basics around GPOs and that kind of thing.

Robert Mietus (07:32):

I’d be happy to. So, I basically help companies, enterprise level companies, so Fortune 1000 typically, leverage a group purchasing organization. So, just to kind of give you a quick version of GPO 101, a group purchasing organization leverages the spend of its members to get better pricing terms and conditions than they can get on their own.

Robert Mietus (00:08:02):

So, just for some context, we have over 15 billion spend going through OMNIA that we leverage. And we’re typically going to be the top customer of our supplier partners. So, not only are we delivering a great – call it – price upfront, but we’re also making sure that our members are customers of choice. So, we expect that you get, you know, great programs and great service as part of it. And then, we have resources, the support, solutioning and the drive for continuous improvement over the course of the program. So that, not only are you seeing day one savings in terms of piece price, but we’re also identifying how do we improve the program from demand consumption, improve service levels, is there a better way, standardization, harmonization. Depending on the category, there’s lots of ways to drive down total cost of ownership and, in some cases, improve even some revenue streams for companies.

Robert Mietus (09:07):

So, my role and responsibility is working with companies, especially on the frontend of our engagement and relationship to truly partner and identify how to unlock all those resources and best utilize the model to improve the return on effort within our model.

Greg White (09:27):

Very cool. Yeah, I mean, we’ve talked a lot about GPOs and a lot with some of your colleagues, and it is just fascinating some of the stories, some of the benefits that companies have got. So, I think we’re going to have a lot of fun talking about what you can expect and what you can get out of a GPO.

Scott Luton (09:48):

Greg. I was just going to say —

Greg White (09:49):

All right. Johnathan – go ahead.

Scott Luton (09:50):

… what came to mind as he was explaining that is, you know, that old phrase, it takes a village, but then what do you do when you have the village? You got to leverage the village, and bring the power of the numbers to bear. So, I love that, and looking forward to learning a lot more from your perspective, Robert. Greg.

Greg White (10:11):

Johnathan, I see that you are consuming the real fuel of the supply chain and procurement industry – coffee. That’s what really keeps supply chain moving.

Johnathan Foster (10:23):

One hundred percent.

Greg White (10:24):

So, we know a little bit about you, but tell us a little bit about your role at your group, and a little bit about how you guys started working together. You have a great story about what you brought to your current company, so I can’t wait to have the audience hear you share that.

Johnathan Foster (10:47):

So, about 16, 17 months ago, I was a consultant for a pretty large procurement organization. I led the U.S. supply chain and logistics part of their practice. And I heard about this opportunity to start a procurement organization within a relatively mid-sized, mid-tier company that had never formally created the function. I heard about an amazing leader who I worked for. But it was really the challenge that I think we all look for and really an interesting company. I had been in the logistics space, this will be my 22nd year, so I’ve actually called Lanter, the biggest company I’ve never heard of, and they grew organically.

Johnathan Foster (11:41):

And it’s really an amazing story where we deliver 1.5 million packages a week. And most people, you know, besides the automotive, the ag, and the heavy truck that we deliver parts in the middle of the night for, really didn’t know us. But we had grown, and our CEO likes to say, we jumped in and figured it out. Our company’s really good about jumping in and figuring it out.

Johnathan Foster (12:05):

But what my leader and a couple others recognized is, we could take and embrace procurement and supply chain differently. So, they created a role, they hired me. And, for me, I came in and they said it’s a greenfield, figure out how you want to do it. Well, I have a corny saying, and maybe it’s still the consultant in me, but I like it, and it really goes to this saying is, everybody wants to talk about best in class, but before you can be best, you got to get better first. And I like that approach. And the fastest way to get better is to embrace the GPOs, especially when you’re so immature like we were.

Johnathan Foster (12:56):

So, I knew coming into this role that I had done business with other GPOs. And I knew that I was going to compete and actively solicit GPO partners. I’ll be honest, I didn’t know OMNIA. But as I was leaving the procurement consultancy I was, one of my peers said, “Hey, don’t sleep on OMNIA.” And then, as I got here and as I was doing it, one of my former mentors said, “Hey. OMNIA, you need to look at OMNIA when you’re looking at these companies.” I like to use these things on the side of my head, not just the one on the front, and get my ego outta the way. And so, these are people I listen to. So, I pursued OMNIA, you know, at least in introduction. I competed four GPOs, all great companies. But based on maturity, based on barriers to entry, based on just cultural fit within my organization, it was very clear that OMNIA was the right partner for me. And if I’ve got anything right in the first 15 months, I got it right. And they have embodied what I needed as a partner.

Greg White (14:18):

Man, starting from scratch, I mean, it sounds overwhelming, but it’s almost a blessing in disguise because you don’t have any baggage as such. I’m curious, you know, there are so many companies that are probably in the position you were, probably not the size that Lanter is, I mean, as you kind of reflect on that, do you think that is a way to go, just start by going with a GPO?

Johnathan Foster (14:51):

A hundred percent. And what I’ve seen a lot of people in my industry, everybody wants to think they’re the best negotiator in the world. I’m as good as I need to be or maybe I get lucky sometimes. But what I like is, if you can get past your ego and you can say, “Hey, look. How can I get out there and I can improve my organization at pace?” What it allows you to do is adopt contracts that are already mostly negotiated. There’s some nuances you can influence, but it’s mostly done. So, what it allows you to do, specifically in a place like where I’m at, I can focus on adoption and change management. Because I was introducing something brand new, and so I could focus on that, and then my compliance. So, it allowed me to impact the organization and make things much more sticky. And I would tell you candidly, again, I’ve been doing this with a head full of hair, I would say there’s some categories here that, absolutely, I would say, we are getting best and we’re doing that through an adoption. And frankly speaking, that is being a part of the GPO, specifically through this OMNIA program.

Scott Luton (16:17):

So, we’ll jump into that head first. Not dump into that, jump into that head first in just a second. I want to just really quick make sure we level set. So, Lanter Delivery Systems in a nutshell, just for the handful of people out there that hadn’t heard of them, Johnathan, what do y’all do at the heart of the business?

Johnathan Foster (16:37):

So, we deliver automotive parts, ag, heavy ag, tractor parts, heavy truck. We deliver that when most people are sleeping. We have 95 percent of our product we pick up this afternoon and evening, and it will be delivered tomorrow morning by 8:00 a.m.

Scott Luton (16:54):

Okay. Wonderful.

Johnathan Foster (16:55):

And so, that is our role.

Scott Luton (16:56):

And folks can learn more at lanterdeliverysystems.com. Of course, we’ll include that in the show notes. So, Johnathan, you have jam packed there. And, Robert, I’m coming back to you for a quick second. Did you hear what he said? Because evidently biscuits and gravy are going to be the theme throughout. He said, don’t sleep on OMNIA Partners and don’t sleep on biscuits and gravy there. Starting from scratch. So, Robert, what else would you add? You know, Johnathan was kind of describing the genesis of how you’ve worked together now, I think 14 months roughly. Elaborate a little bit more on that. And then, Greg and I, we’re going to take it kind of in a different direction in terms of what else GPOs can deliver. Robert, your thoughts.

Robert Mietus (17:33):

Oh, absolutely. And Johnathan’s been a great partner, so we really strategically aligned with his vision, his goals and objectives, and really leveraged the ecosystem within OMNIA. And when I say ecosystem, it’s not just the categories that we have. We’ve got over a hundred supplier partners that companies could leverage, but it’s also other members that are going through similar experiences. We’ve got lots of experience with people, process, technology, and can help provide some avenues to improve on those and some guidance and connect with other members that have the unbridled feedback of the good, bad, and ugly of what they’ve gone through of any sort of initiative. So, you know, I think there is untapped value there. Just leveraging that entire ecosystem, not just kind of the prenegotiated contracts that we have to bear.

Scott Luton (18:28):

Love that. Okay. That’s perfect foreshadowing for where we want to take the conversation next. And, Greg, as you know and many of our listeners may know, we recently conducted a great webinar focused conversation, really dialed in on the value GPOs bring to the table, in particular when it comes to helping business leaders mitigate their risks in this ever complex environment. And to piggyback on what Robert shared in the last point there, Greg, one of our favorite phrases that came out of that conversation was three bids and a cloud of dust. Greg, speak to what Mark was sharing in that conversation, and I’ll keep moving forward with our guests here.

Greg White (19:04):

Yeah. You know, that’s sort of the old school way of doing things. And I think there’s value in that, of course. But it doesn’t have to always be that way. And I think what we’ve seen is this evolution of companies to leverage the group. We talked about that the other day on that webinar, you know, leverage the power of the group. Because I think we talked about $2 million categories that companies have shared that they don’t even look at. They can’t even really adequately manage because that’s a relatively low amount of spend, for some companies. But imagine whatever that threshold is for a particular company, that’s even lower amount relative to the total at OMNIA. But think about this, they have a hundred customers with a 500,000 or 2 million category. So, it adds up to be something meaningful for them, and it allows them to put the appropriate resources behind it and make sure that that gets managed appropriately. What should we call that, Scott? That’s the new type. That’s the RPO. The GPO is the RPO, the run-pass option offense.

Scott Luton (20:25):

We’ll go with it. We’ll go with it. Maybe Robert is about to share some –

Greg White (20:28):

GPO, RPO, that’s a lot of O’s.

Robert Mietus (20:30):

Greg, there’s value to managing that category strategy, right? Because three bids and a cloud of dust, there’s diminishing returns on that strategy. It works on a transactional buy. But if it’s a recurring spend, what you’ll notice is what you bought last year isn’t necessarily what you’re going to buy next year or the following year, or definitely in year three of that contract. So, you’ll see some price creeps, some diminishing returns if you just shell that contract in the top drawer and never see it again. And the supplier is going to make it up on the back end, they’re a highly profitable account.

Greg White (21:02):

Yeah. Of course, they are.

Robert Mietus (21:02):

Whereas, we actively manage the agreement, make sure that it’s market competitive every day of the week. But more importantly, we’re making sure that we’re driving program improvements through the life cycle, that contract. So, you’re actually seeing continuous improvement and continuous value being delivered year over year. And we report on that to help our members just put it up the chain so they could see the shareholder return or EBITDA improvement that we’re helping drive towards the organization.

Greg White (21:32):

And you can see through the cost to quality as well. Because when you do that three bids in a cloud of dust, you always find a new sucker every year. Nobody falls for it twice. And so, you have inconsistent quality as you were talking about, or maybe even inconsistent products. And because every vendor thinks we’ll get in there with low price, and price is a huge part of the decision making almost all the time, we’ll get in there with a low price and then we’ll be able to build something up. Well, sometimes they can’t. And when they find they can’t, they don’t bid again next year. So, you don’t have that consistency a lot of times.

Scott Luton (22:12):

So, Johnathan, you were going to add something to this discussion.

Greg White (22:15):

Oh, sorry, Johnathan.

Johnathan Foster (22:17):

Not a problem at all. I was just going to say more than the price, they’re managing the relationship and allows you to build a relationship. And more than anything, I think if the last couple years have taught us anything, relationship matters and relationship with your suppliers matters.

Scott Luton (22:35):

Excellent point.

Greg White (22:35):

I think somebody said at the beginning of the COVID outbreak, it’s too late to make friends now. If you’ve mistreated or haven’t been in touch with a particular supplier, it’s too late now. And I think that’s really, really important because you guys mentioned the term customer of choice, you are that customer of choice simply by virtue of being part of a GPO. And I think that’s important. They managed the relationship and then you get the waterfall effect of that.

Scott Luton (23:06):

That’s right. All right. So, let me jump in here, and, Greg, you and Johnathan, the point you made there, relationships matter, that has been a steady drum beat common theme through – gosh – a thousand episodes here at Supply Chain Now. And that’s a great silver lining to what we’ve been through, right? I think there’s going to be a lot of good being created and value being created because of those lessons learned.

Scott Luton (23:28):

So, as we’re teeing up this segment, and then we dove into a lot of goodness there, been there, done that goodness, we really want to pick your brain, Johnathan, I’ll come back to you first. A moment ago, you saw Johnathan, he was backing up that Lanter Delivery Systems truck to the deck. It was chalk full of a bunch of experiences and lessons learned and he was about to unload it. Now is the time, Johnathan. So, talk to us about how you’ve seen, you know, GPOs, OMNIA Partners in this case, really help your organization and you as a business leader through this really complex environment.

Johnathan Foster (24:05):

Yeah. So, if you look at certain categories, we work at pace. We call it Lanter pace, which means we work pretty fast. We take a lot of pride in being adaptive in taking our customer’s demands and trying to solve them. But what that does is it doesn’t allow a lot of time for a lot of, “Well, let’s stretch this out multiple months” or “We need to make change.” And when we do that, if I think about adoption, it needs to be relatively easy. So, I don’t disrupt my operations team who are on a mission to take care of our customers. And so, if I look at the first couple things we tackle, if you look at MRO, you look at office supplies, you look in our rental car programs and travel, these are categories. And you were talking about that small spend, I call that as a consultant. We call that the tell spend. And that tell spend, these are important categories, but they’re relatively easy adoptions.

Johnathan Foster (25:22):

So, you can come in, you can leverage an office depot contract. Let’s just say, you come in a national enterprise contract and you can get really good aggressive pricing, but you can get a relationship that supports the mission of your organization. So, it is a fast way of coming in and making an impact. And so, that’s what we learned. Because, again, who’s this long-winded country boy coming in here trying to impact our organization? And what it did is it let me show significant double digit gains, a base, compared to what we were able to get on our own. Do that, do it at pace, and do it where it was relatively easy to adopt. And so, that to me was what we’ve been able to accomplish in short order. I don’t know if I answered the question exactly.

Scott Luton (26:23):

No, you really did. And by the way, new moniker, the Waylon Jennings of global supply chain right here in Johnathan. Greg, I’m not sure where Waylon Jennings s grew up. I’m going to bet Arkansas or somewhere in that region. But, Johnathan, keep it coming.

Greg White (26:37):

There’s no shortage of long winded country boys in Nashville either, by the way.

Scott Luton (26:43):

All right. So, a lot of good. You know, that speed to change, that speed to value, that is so valuable regardless if you’re a startup or if you’re a medium sized business. Enterprises, big global organizations don’t change. You know, they turn like aircraft carriers. However, initiatives within them. You know, that speed is really, really important. So, I appreciate you sharing there. So, Robert, piggybacking what he shared there in terms of that speed to value or what else do you see GPOs in general bringing value to the table?

Robert Mietus (27:19):

Oh, sure. When we speak about speed to value, one of the biggest hurdles to get there is, typically, data, especially in the indirect world, and especially in a lot of the categories that we discussed, and especially when it’s a brand new organization. And, typically, if you’re doing it on your own, it’s a chicken in the egg. You got to get good data to get a good contract. But you can’t get the data until you get some sort of program in place. So, what do you do? Well, we help cut through that. And it doesn’t matter what your spend is, it could be a hundred thousand, it could be a million, it could be ten million, we’ve got pre-negotiated programming and you’re getting the best pricing that’s out there. So, we can help solve for that data complexity.

Robert Mietus (28:05):

But we also want to make sure, because it’s an important part of change management. Because if you don’t know what the value that you’re delivering is, and if you don’t have any data, it’s hard to kind of sell it to the stakeholders. I’m also an ex-consultant, or I would actually call myself a current consultant within the role that I’m in, but you can have the best program in the world, but if your stakeholders aren’t on board, if you can’t sell it to your stakeholders, you’re not going to have any adoption or compliance, which is a big topic today.

Robert Mietus (28:33):

So, I’m always a big fan of getting some sort of data. Let’s go figure it out. Let’s find out who a major stakeholder is, a major influencer that’ll help advocate on behalf of the program if we could deliver that value prop to that stakeholder. So, let’s have some sort of baseline. And with a key influencer, make sure that there’s value that will hit the bottom line. And that we could report on it through the ongoing program execution. And then, we have a business case so that the organization could be onboard. And then, any stakeholders that are maybe laggards on that technology curve, so to speak, we can help guide them along because it’s clear and undoubtable that there’s value and benefit to them in the program. And so, I always like the clear hurdles because without clearing those hurdles, that kind of diminishes the value and makes things a lot harder at the end of the process.

Scott Luton (29:30):

And, Greg, I’m going to get your take here. But one of the things I heard you speaking to there, Robert, is the power of confidence to add that velocity. Confidence in data, confidence in the direction, you name it. I mean, that really helps build trust in the path that we’re going and speeds it up in many ways. Greg, what’d you hear there between what Johnathan shared and Robert shared?

Greg White (29:52):

Well, you know, we talk about this a lot, it’s leverage. I mean, it’s the power of the group. It’s the power of being part of something really, really big and having something really, really big be part of your organization. You know, you can benefit from the relationships, you can benefit from the economic effect. We called it scale economies shared. As we talked about the other day, this is the best kind of business. That’s the Googles, the Amazons, the Costcos, the Walmarts, the Ford Motor Company who took an $800 car down to a $200 car because of production efficiencies and shared that with their customers. In this case, that’s exactly what GPOs and OMNIA, in particular, are doing with their members, is, they’re taking the power of scale economies and sharing that with all their members. And it’s every single one of those scale economies that may be, of course, fiscal. It’s certainly relationship. But there are all kinds of other benefits as well. It’s also the input of the other members of the organization where you can share ideas, share thoughts, or learn from the things that OMNIA learns from all of those varied businesses that they work with.

Scott Luton (31:15):

Well said, Greg. Very holistic. So, I want to move forward. Kind of forward looking here, Johnathan, tell us about what’s coming next for Lanter Delivery Systems. And really quick for you, as we talked about pre-show, I keep wanting to add a constant end on the frontend. And here on the tail end of Halloween, has anyone ever been Green Lanter at the organization? Because if not, someone needs to step up and dress up as a Green Lantern next. But anyway –

Greg White (31:46):

Green Lanter.

Scott Luton (31:47):

Right. I digress. Sorry, but I can picture my son, Ben, getting a kick out of that. All right. So, kidding aside, as we look into 2023 and beyond, I mean, clearly y’all have come so far, Johnathan, with some of the cool things you’re doing, both what you’re leading, what you’re leveraging, Robert and the whole OMNIA Partners team to do, what’s next? You know, what’s next for the organization?

Johnathan Foster (32:11):

Yeah. So, I want to build off a point you just made, and then I’ll talk about our go forward. For me, my old man used to say, that there’s only so much, yourself, that you can sell in any given day. Make sure you’re selling it to the right people. But, mentally, there’s only so much time I can focus on any given category, and I touch all of the categories. And what the GPO allows me to do is put some and focus my team on adoption while I focus my attention on maybe bigger, more strategic programs that are outside the GPO as well.

Johnathan Foster (32:46):

So, it’s what time they buy me mental space that allows me to impact. So, when I go forward, we’re focusing on a couple things. We’re focused on a couple strategic things that are outside of the GPO program. But I’m also working inside and partnering with Rob and the team of what I call second pass. Where, we’re still making first pass on certain categories, but we’re going to come through. And if you look at safety vests, right now, yes, I’m getting a better price through my MRO supplier. But what I’m able to do now is optimize on where do I get within that skew, that best vest that meets my safety requirements in that.

Johnathan Foster (33:25):

So, I’m going to focus in on that, and then focus on where my leakage is. And then, you know, where and why, and have an honest question of why. And the great thing I love about OMNIA in this program is we can say, “Well, we’re hearing this, we’re hearing this.” And I have a partner, almost like a big brother, to help me solve that. I’m not trying to solve everything by myself. I’m collaborating to find that. So, it gives me the mental space on these other areas, but also these tail categories of where are these leakage. So, that’s what is next for us.

Scott Luton (34:06):

No sitting on laurels there at all. Greg, I’m going to get your comment in just a second. I’m going to give Robert an opportunity to speak to that first. And, Robert, I’d love for you to speak to what Johnathan just shared there. But as a quick follow up, I love for you to speak to – I mean, Johnathan gets it clearly – are all the folks that you’re working with as – I don’t want to say evolved, but as savvy as Johnathan and his ability.

Robert Mietus (34:33):

Yeah. Not everybody is as quick and agile as Johnathan. He’s been a great partner in looking to drive significant value in a fairly quick amount of time. And he’s very collaborative and very open and transparent with the good and also the areas for improvement. And we appreciate that because we all have areas for improvement that we need to recognize. And if we don’t recognize, we can’t improve upon. So, he’s been a great partner from that perspective. I wish everybody was like Johnathan.

Scott Luton (35:08):

I’m with you. I’m with you. And it looks like the path ahead is going to have more of the same, but more of the new as well, right, Robert?

Robert Mietus (35:17):

Yeah. I would kind of break it off into three tranches. One is, within OMNIA, because of the partnership that we have with Lanter, we’re actually looking to invest in a spend visibility tool to help identify spend under management, where that leakage is, and really help develop strategies on driving that compliance/adoption. But first, we got to recognize where it is, develop a plan to address, and then go upon it and execute upon it, as well as provide some resources to help with the execution of that. Secondly is the continuous improvement over the programs that we do have implemented. So, now, we have some data, some good data for, you know, 20 categories that we’ve worked with Johnathan on. And so, now, is there a better way?

Robert Mietus (36:09):

And so, we’ll start doing some data mining and then identify is there a better cost option? Is there some OEMs that we could go back and get a second level of discount by being able to leverage some spend with specific OEMs, demand, consumption, reduction, et cetera. So, there’s a whole continuous improvement strategy that I would consider part of that second tranche. And then, third, there may be some new areas that we partner on, like facility services or maybe IT, that we can work together on for a new wave of opportunity. But first, we got to solidify the foundation on what we built first so that we can build upon it.

Scott Luton (36:49):

Okay. Man, Greg, lots of clarity between these two here. Your thoughts on what they just shared.

Greg White (36:55):

I think the best thing about what Robert and Johnathan are talking about is you don’t have to be Johnathan to benefit, and it’s probably better for you. I mean, from a relative impact standpoint, if you’re not a Johnathan, if you’re a Billy Bob – which Johnathan, you must have met. I know I did in Springfield – if you’re not as adept as Johnathan, you’re not as visionary, you’re not as educated or evolved – I like evolved, by the way, that term – I think you can get even more benefit. If you can’t have the focus or don’t have the strategic ability, that’s something that a GPO can help you with as well. The foresight or the vision of what procurement could be for your organization and what other things you could be spending your time on if you’re not spending it on, we got to say it again, three bids and a cloud of dust.

Robert Mietus (38:00):

And, Greg, you have a good point there. What we’re trying to help accomplish is taking some of the tactical things off people’s plates and help them become more strategic and focused on driving significant value creation across the organization. And we’re a tool in that tool set to help them become more strategic.

Scott Luton (38:20):

Okay. Man, I love that. All right. So, we’re coming down the homestretch here because I’m either going to go get some Phil’s pizza or I’m going to get Grandma Fosters biscuits and gravy, one or the other for lunch here today. But, Robert, I want to pose this next question to you because, as we talked about at pre-show, there is a wonderful movement afoot for years now, where much like years ago, supply chain finally got a seat at the table and gotten recognized for the value it really brings and how much it is to the business. But procurement has seen a lot of that as well now, which is great, a wonderful development. You know, this conversation has really been speaking to the power of procurement and in a very forward looking way. So, I’m going to go around the panel and get everybody’s take here. So, what are your thoughts – we’ll stick with you, Robert – on the evolving role or more evolving, evolvement maybe, the evolving role and perception of the procurement function, I’ll call it.

Robert Mietus (39:13):

Oh, sure. I’m going to leverage some of my other experiences. I’m also past president of ISM here in Chicago, and helped start a procurement executive round table over the past few years. And so, what we’ve seen is supply chain and procurement has really helped companies that utilize it in an appropriate way make that a strategic advantage for their company in the marketplace. And Greg had mentioned a couple examples earlier, what Ford did, and the Costcos and the Walmarts. Their business cases for when you unlock the power of supply chain and procurement, you basically kind of take over your industry by being able to turn that into competitive advantage, because you’re able to have better cost products, better value products, can deliver it. I needed an hour and a drone pops up and gets me what I need. That’s kind of where the industry is going. And so, not only are we getting the seat to the table, so to speak, but making sure that we utilize it to become that strategic advantage and help our companies accelerate in our industries.

Scott Luton (40:35):

Well said. And those savvy sea level leaders and other leaders are taking more advantage. They’re seeing the light and they’re leaning into the value offering you just spoke to there, Robert. Johnathan, what are your thoughts along the same lines? You know, folks are finally having the eureka moments on the impact that procurement expertise can have.

Johnathan Foster (40:56):

I think it’s an interesting time. So, as you pointed out earlier in the conversation, early part of the COVID periods, you know, people figured out that relationship, that maybe they had been neglecting, really did matter. And they treated that three clouds. And, to me, the three clouds and you burn the relationships and you move on, you’ve now burned a relationship. Even if you don’t award business, keeping a relationship with that supplier and taking the time to explain why you didn’t do that, so that you keep that. But I think what’s evolving and what’s coming is how many people forget those lessons.

Johnathan Foster (41:37):

So, if we do have a recessionary period, you know, I made the brilliant career decisions to go into the heavy construction industry in May of 2008 – not a more lovely business to be in. But I learned a lot of lessons about that period and how we treated our suppliers as our business really struggled to stay alive. And as companies, if there is uncertainty in a company, how they treat them, because, you know, when I was at a big carrier, we had a saying that said, “Shippers had long memories,” but so do carriers and so do your suppliers. So, I think when you’ve spent the last couple years in saying, “Hey, we’re in this together. I need you. We’re partners,” how you treat them and how you treated them in that bid and how you treated them when things maybe flipped the other way in your favor, I think that’s what’s coming, is, I think we’re going to say, “Okay. Do these scars stay with us? Are we just going to rip off that Band-Aid and act like it didn’t happen?” I think that’s what’s going to be interesting.

Scott Luton (42:45):

Well said, Johnathan. Like baseball closures, we can add them to that list. They got to have a terrible memory. Greg, it’s interesting to hear Robert and Johnathan speak to kind of the evolving role and influence and presence of procurement out there in the C-suite. What’s your thoughts here, Greg?

Greg White (43:04):

I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement, frankly. I mean, as much as people in the procurement industry or segment, whatever you want to call it, have seen a lot of that, I think there’s still a lot of room for enlightenment in the executive suite. And I think you have to keep pressing. It’s very similar with supply chain. And it was very similar maybe with procurement, but very similar with supply chain as we started to come out of the disruptions of the pandemic for people to backslide into their old ways. And I think you have to keep the spotlight on the fact that this is such a powerful portion of your business. And I think, again, the difficulty that, Johnathan, you described there in maintaining the relationships but also maintaining the focus on improvement, I think that’s just another case for why you would outsource this. And I think more and more businesses will do that over time.

Greg White (44:11):

You know, we talk about this a lot, the new brands, the new retailers, they are buying companies or outsourcing to companies and letting those companies run on their own, gaining the benefit of those shared economies, and sort of doing what they do best. I know Lanter has a lot of internal skills, but you know that what they do best is deliver parts. And it also allows you that freeing strategic discussion that we had earlier. It allows not just Johnathan to do that, but the entire organization. And whatever your organization is, to focus more on your core values and on your core gifts and skills, and strengths, and make those stronger. You don’t have to worry so much about some of these other things that are really super complex and hard to master and hard to staff for and hard to scale in your business. It’s just so much better to be able to have someone create a great skillset for you, and the scale of those relationships, and allow you to focus a lot more on your core. So, you don’t have to have 25 people in procurement. I don’t know what size your organization is, Johnathan, but having started from scratch, it’s probably fairly small if you went immediately to a GPO. And even if you have all those people, those people can be doing more strategic things, like you talked about.

Scott Luton (45:41):

Absolutely. It goes to the heart of building more competitive advantage in the business. So, I love that, Greg, great comment there. And, Johnathan and Robert, I really appreciate y’all weighing in on what we’re seeing, some of the trends out there in terms of the rise of procurement. Not to be dramatic, but it’s been cool to see the last few years. Okay.

Scott Luton (45:59):

So, as we start to wind down here today, I want to make sure folks know how to connect with you both, whether they want to compare notes with you, Johnathan, whether they want to have you come in and speak to their group or association or something, and, Robert, they want to sit down and have a meaningful conversation with you and kick the tires on the OMNIA Partners value prop. So, Johnathan, I’ll start with you. As we mentioned earlier, the company website, lanterdeliverysystems.com, and how can folks connect with you?

Johnathan Foster (46:26):

I would say LinkedIn is probably the best path. Just shoot me a connection, shoot me a message. Happy to have a conversation.

Scott Luton (46:33):

Over a hot cup of Duncan Coffee, right?

Greg White (46:36):

Yeah, that’s right.

Scott Luton (46:37):

Love it. We really appreciate your time with us here, Johnathan. Robert, same question to you, how can folks connect with you? How can they connect with OMNIA Partners? And tell us about just how easy it is to get started, maybe?

Robert Mietus (46:53):

Oh, absolutely. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. My contact information is there. It’s probably the easiest way to share. If you want to learn more about OMNIA Partners, it’s omniapartners.com, so fairly easy to remember. And then, it’s free to join. No commitments. No obligations. So, it’s fairly easy, especially in the enterprise space, we have to earn our value every day and every year. So, we try to make sure that we tailor our strategy to meet our members’ objectives, and so we try to make it as easy as possible and eliminate all hurdles.

Scott Luton (47:25):

Okay. So, Greg, on the webinar that we referenced earlier, a lot of folks were surprised at that in terms of being able to join for free. It’s like they’ll prove it, they’re willing to prove it, huh?

Greg White (47:39):

We’re willing to prove it. I mean, we need to eat our own dog food, Scott. Seriously, we’re signing up We’re signing up, Robert.

Scott Luton (47:47):

Let’s do it. Well, hey, really enjoyed today’s conversation. It really touched on a lot of different aspects, both procurement related, and general business, and leadership, and change, and innovation related. So, big thanks to Johnathan Foster, Senior Director of Procurement with Lanter Delivery Systems. Thank you, Johnathan. Robert Mietus, Managing Director for Central for OMNIA Partners. Robert, thanks so much.

Johnathan Foster (48:15):

Appreciate it. It’s been a pleasure.

Scott Luton (48:16):

You bet.

Greg White (48:16):

Thanks, gentlemen.

Scott Luton (48:17):

But, hey, we’re not going to let y’all go just yet, because I want to put Greg on the spot here. We’ve covered so much –

Greg White (48:21):

You’ll make make them listen to that, aren’t you?

Scott Luton (48:22):

Yes, I’ve got to. Because, you know, I’ve got about 17 page of notes here between Johnathan and Robert’s expertise and experiences and whatnot. But, Greg, as we wrap here, if folks forget everything else, what’s the one thing that our listeners have got to leave this conversation with in mind?

Greg White (48:43):

Well, I’ve said this before, and we do talk about this internally, it’s group. Purchasing organization, that’s valuable. But group is the power here. The power of bringing everyone together, of having all of these external organizations creating these shared economies. And allowing you to leverage the power of that huge group. It takes a village thing, but it’s much bigger than a village, and it’s much more interactive than that. Because everybody has one common interest, their procurement. And we’re focused on a singular thing as this group, and it is incredibly powerful. And I mean it when we say we’re doing it because it’s just too powerful for us.

Greg White (49:37):

And I think of this as our business case, Scott, right? This is something that I think you and I in particular, possibly two of the worst negotiators. The only way Scott and I can win at negotiating is negotiating with each other and then we both lose, which I guess is a win. But I think for organizations as small as ours, less than $10 million a year in sales, or as big as Sony, who obviously needs some procurement help, Robert, because for three years they have not been able to produce enough of their PS5 consoles, and it’s the same issue every year, they can’t get supplies. So, I dare you to go get them, obviously.

Robert Mietus (50:20):

Let’s go. I’ll give you an update after the [inaudible].

Greg White (50:24):

But it is. I mean, even companies that size can benefit from this just because of the focus and, again, the power of that scale economy.

Scott Luton (50:33):

That’s right. I couldn’t say it better. So, I really have enjoyed today’s conversation. Hey, we’re going to change that cliche, it takes an ecosystem. And once you have the ecosystem, hey, leverage it for all the good that it can bring. So, this conversation’s really been a testament to that. So, again, big thanks to Johnathan and Robert and Greg. Big thanks to all of our listeners out there. Hopefully, y’all enjoyed this conversation as much as we have. But, hey, it’s not about just listening and taking it in. It’s about taking action, doing something with it. Deed’s not words. On that note, on behalf of our entire team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton signing off for now, challenging you to do good, to give forward, and to be the change. We’ll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (51:15):

Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain Now community. Check out all of our programming at supplychainnow.com, and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain Now anywhere you listen to podcasts. And follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain Now.