The relationship between a graduate professor and their students is a special one. They learn from each other, facing new challenges with fresh solutions. Dr. Jason Miller, a Professor at Michigan State University, believes his current students are among the hardest working that he has come across in his teaching career. In this interview, two of those students join Dr. Miller and Scott Luton to share their professional backstories.

Ashley Yearwood is a senior at Michigan State University in the Honors College and President of the Supply Chain Management Association. Jacob Lava, also a senior at Michigan State, is majoring in supply chain management and serves as CFO on the executive board for the Supply Chain Management Association.

In this interview, you will hear Dr. Miller, Ashley, Jacob, and Scott discuss:

• The importance of discipline-focused organizations run by graduate students, like the Supply Chain Management Association at Michigan State

• Their perspective on the top supply chain trends and news stories

• How the realignment being seen in global supply chains today opens the door to new ways of thinking – and plenty of career opportunities

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 (00:31):

Hey, good morning everybody. Scott Luton with you here on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s show. Today we’re continuing our series that we like the call the Now Generation, where we sit down with students and educators from some of the leading supply chain management programs, really around the world. Now, with that said, wanna welcome our panel here today, starting with Jo. Uh, Dr. Jason Miller, professor at Michigan State University. And repeat guest. Jason. How you doing?

Jason Miller (00:58):

Doing well. How you doing?

Scott Luton (01:00):

Doing wonderful. Great to have you back. We had such a great, uh, livestream discussion on the domestic freight markets, uh, with our friends at US Bank a month or so ago. So, uh, enjoyed your perspective there.

Jason Miller (01:11):

Oh, thanks. I was really enjoyed being on, it’s hard to believe it’s already been a month.

Scott Luton (01:15):

Can you believe that? And the best part is not only do we have you back, but we’ve got two of your brightest students, uh, and, and, uh, now pr uh, practitioners, I’ll call it, uh, at Michigan State University, starting with Ashley Yearwood, a senior at Michigan State in the Honors College, majoring in supply chain management, and minoring in information technology and economics. Ashley is also president of the Supply Chain Management Association. Ashley, how you doing?

Ashley Yearwood (01:44):

Doing great. Thank you so much for having me,

Scott Luton (01:47):

Man. I don’t know how you find any time. I, uh, you know, as I like, as I like to talk about these. Um, it was pizza and beer for me when I was matriculating through college. So great to have you here, Ashley. And you’re joined by Jacob Lava, also a senior at Michigan State, also majoring in supply chain management. And he serves get this as CFO on the executive board for the Supply Chain Management Association. Jacob, how you doing?

Jacob Levack (02:13):

Doing, going a while. How are you?

Scott Luton (02:15):

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Okay, so we’ve got, uh, so Jason, we’ve got quite a conversation teed up. Um, now I, I’m assuming you have been rubbing elbows with Ashley and Jacob for, for quite some time now, huh?

Jason Miller (02:30):

Uh, you know, unfortunately not as much as I would like, um, cuz I don’t teach undergrad anymore now that I transition into the chairperson role. So I am strictly only teaching the graduate students at this point in time.

Scott Luton (02:41):

Well, that’s no fun, huh?

Jason Miller (02:44):

Yeah, I mean, honestly, I love teaching undergrad. Um, a couple years from now I’ll be back to, to doing it, but yeah, this is my first year at Michigan State, not teaching, um, any undergrad sections.

Scott Luton (02:55):

Okay, man. Well, we’ll talk more about your role in just a second. Uh, but I wanna start now that we’ve got, uh, everybody here. I wanna start, uh, one of my favorite questions to ask is, where is everybody from right? Where they grew up? You always find out a lot about people when you start the conversation there. So, uh, Jacob, let’s start with you. Tell us where you grew up.

Jacob Levack (03:15):

Well, first of all, I wanna start by thanks for having us. Uh, but I grew up in Canton, Michigan, so that’s about 30 minutes outside of Detroit area. So go Lions, uh, <laugh>. But it’s, it’s, um, small suburb outside of Detroit. Uh, played a lot of soccer growing up,

Scott Luton (03:33):

Lot of soccer growing up. Uh, obviously a big Detroit Lions fan. Uh, what about the Red Wings? Were you a big hockey fan?

Jacob Levack (03:40):

Not as of recently, but I’ve been hearing they, they’ve been playing pretty well. Some, uh, I think the rebuild is is on its way to the finish line, so we’ll have to see. And Little Caesars Arena is a fun place to watch some hockey, watch some basketball too.

Scott Luton (03:55):

Okay. All right. So one final question. See, so Canton, Michigan. So if we were to venture up at Canton, Michigan, what was one, what is one place that we have to stop in and eat at?

Jacob Levack (04:09):

Well, I stop to eat at <laugh>. Um, I’ll tell you, you can eat here too, uh, is I think the only IKEA in Michigan is in Canton. And that’s how, uh, I’d describe if, if somebody doesn’t know where Canton is, I ask ’em, uh, well, have you seen the Ikea off the freeway? It’s like, yeah, that’s Canton. So, but they do have good food there too, and it’s a pretty good price. So I’d say Ikea

Scott Luton (04:33):

<laugh>. Oh, man. Okay. All right. Uh, all you have to say is Ikea these days for so many people. Right. So many consumers, uh, there are devoted fans to Ike everywhere. Um, okay, well, so Jacob is from Cant Michigan. How about you, Ashley?

Ashley Yearwood (04:48):

I’m from Lake Orian, Michigan

Scott Luton (04:50):

Lake Orian. Now, where’s that kind of geographically?

Ashley Yearwood (04:55):

Um, it’s about an hour 15 from East Lansing, and then about an hour less than an hour north of Detroit.

Scott Luton (05:02):

Okay. Uh, so that I bet the weather. What, what, what’s colder weather wise between Canton and Lake Oregon? Ashley, you think?

Ashley Yearwood (05:11):

I would have to say they’re pretty similar. Yeah. Um, we are a little bit further north than Canton, so if anything, I’d say we might be a smidge colder, but not by too much.

Scott Luton (05:20):

But it’s all cold for someone from Georgia, I would imagine, right?

Ashley Yearwood (05:24):

Yes, definitely.

Scott Luton (05:26):

So, uh, growing up in Lake Orion, um, we, we’ll get into food in just a second, but Jacob shared a couple of his, his sports alliances. Uh, how about you, Ashley?

Ashley Yearwood (05:36):

Uh, I played golf in high school. Um, I’m still really passionate about it. It’s a great pastime of mine. Um, like orients a beautiful town. Um, lots of golf courses. Love to golf with my family and friends there.

Scott Luton (05:48):

Okay. Who is your, um, who’s your favorite golfer?

Ashley Yearwood (05:53):

Ooh, that’s a tough one. I really, I really like Justin Thomas. I’d have to say he’s my favorite.

Scott Luton (06:00):

Okay. Fair enough. And then final question for you, uh, same question. If we stopped into, uh, lake Orion, Michigan and picked one place to eat at, what would that be?

Ashley Yearwood (06:11):

I would say Sage brush. It’s our hometown Mexican restaurant. Everyone’s go-to downtown.

Scott Luton (06:18):

Do they have really good hot sauce?

Ashley Yearwood (06:20):

They do have good hot sauce. Yep. And surprisingly enough, their chicken tenders are really good for a Mexican restaurant that <laugh> that is a go-to there.

Scott Luton (06:29):

All right. So, uh, Jason, it sounds like when we’re, uh, making pit stops and Canton and Lake Orion, uh, we’re gonna eat some great Mexican food, uh, with some chicken tenders and pick up some, uh, some, some very popular furniture. Jason, how’s that sound? Sound like a road trip to me, huh?

Jason Miller (06:47):

Yeah, definitely wasn’t what I was expecting.

Scott Luton (06:50):

<laugh>. So, so as I mentioned, Jason, you’re not getting at this question. I know you, we spoke a little about this, uh, on your last appearance with us, but where did you grow up, Jason?

Jason Miller (07:00):

I grew up in a little farm town in northwest Ohio, honest to God called Hicksville. Okay. Making that up. It’s area code 4 35 26, if anybody wants to throw it in Google, and it will pop up about 3,500 people,

Scott Luton (07:13):

Man. Okay. Uh, well, so what if, what was one thing you would call inseparable from your childhood growing up there in Hicksville, Ohio?

Jason Miller (07:23):

Uh, boy, inseparable. I mean, it’s just, you know, small town, small town America, about the only, you know, you know, for me, for me, I play baseball through growing up. So I think that probably would be the, uh, would be the big thing. But yeah, I’ve, I honestly, even though I live only about two and a half hours away from there, I haven’t been back to Hicksville and oh boy, about four years now, I think.

Scott Luton (07:46):

Okay. So, uh, final question then, Jason. What position did you play on the baseball team?

Jason Miller (07:52):

Primarily pitched in first base.

Scott Luton (07:55):

Okay. Man. Learned something new every day. Ashley, uh, did you and Jacob know that about Jason?

Ashley Yearwood (08:02):

No, I did not.

Scott Luton (08:03):

Okay. All right. We’ll have a, we’ll have a, uh, a strikeout competition later on, maybe, but before we eat the Mexican food, uh, Ashley there in, uh, lake Oregon. Um, alright, so really quick, Jason, you, you alluded to it on the front end before we kind of dive more into, um, kind of why supply chain, both for Ashley and Jacob. Let’s talk about your role. Cause it, it, you, you just mentioned, uh, on the front end how it’s evolved a bit and now you spend all of your time, it sounds like, with graduate students. Is that right?

Jason Miller (08:31):

Yeah, so my, so probably the first almost misnomer that exists with what faculty do is even as a quote unquote regular faculty member, I only spent about 25% of my time teaching. Most of it is spent doing academic research. Um, and that’s where what I really specialize in, um, primarily, but now I’m the, um, interim chairperson for the department. So I am, am essentially running the department. We have about 45 total employees, um, that I oversee. Then, um, I’m responsible for about 350 undergrads, actually about 375 undergrads per graduating class from our major as well as our two PhD programs, as well as our Master’s of science and supply chain management, plus a forthcoming graduate certificate program that’ll be starting in the fall. So right now about 50% of my responsibility is administration. Um, and only about 10% of my responsibility is teaching anymore,

Scott Luton (09:34):

Man, Ashley and Jacob. I don’t know about y’all, but that, that made me tired just hearing Jason describe all of that man full plate. And then, so, um, well, given all of that, I really appreciate you being back with us here and bringing, uh, Ashley and Jacob with you. So, um, let’s stick with you, Ashley. You know, one of my favorite questions to ask members of the the now generation is why supply chain? What, what made you say, Hey, that’s what I want to do?

Ashley Yearwood (10:01):

That’s a great question. So I came into college and I was an applied, um, engineering major, which is specific to Michigan State. It’s part engineering and then a concentration of your choice. And my concentration at the time was supply chain. And during my time, I was really involved my freshman year in the Supply Chain Management association. And after going to those meetings on a biweekly basis and attending their events, I realized that that was the right path for me. I really enjoyed it. I brought a lot of passion in that, so I fully switched my major to supply chain management after attending that club. And I’ve loved it ever since. It’s a great decision.

Scott Luton (10:36):

So the club, the scma and, and going there for the first time is what led you to pursuing a, a career of, of make it happen in global supply chain?

Ashley Yearwood (10:47):

Yes, it has. It was, um, I’m still involved in the club. Um, I love how it balances professional and social aspect, so you get a great view of, um, supply chain as a professional in, um, companies and then also like bonding with other members with similar interests. I think it’s amazing.

Scott Luton (11:04):

Wow. Okay. Um, Jacob, how about you? Why why’s supply chain for you?

Jacob Levack (11:10):

Well, so I started as a packaging major at msu, so that was in, in funny, not, most colleges don’t have packaging as a degree. Uh, and I really liked it, really liked the, you know, I was taking packaging 1 0 1 and, um, there were aspects of supply chain management that were kind of shown in that classroom. Uh, I had a roommate who was a part of the, a cma part of the club, popular, popular motivator to, to join, uh, to join the club and came to a couple of those meetings and really turned my ear. And I think the one thing I notice is, you know, as a consumer and then going to see like manufacturing processes and distribution centers, you know, touring a couple as a student, you, you have a rejuvenated respect for how companies go to get their stuff on the shelves and get stuff to, to consumers. So I, I’d say that’s a big part of why supply chain for me.

Scott Luton (12:09):

You know, both of you are speaking to, um, you kind of have the, and we’re gonna talk about eureka moments in a minute, but that awareness, that epiphany when, when you, you kind of uncovered what supply chain does and so many, and, and of course there’s so many different definitions to that, but, um, man, Jason, come to you, uh, from that scma, that supply chain management association, that sounds like a very powerful program you have there at Michigan State.

Jason Miller (12:36):

Yeah, I would say it is the best undergrad student run organization I’ve come across in my career as both being an undergrad student and then being, getting a PhD at Ohio State and then being a faculty member, um, in multiple universities. So it is incredibly well run. They’re very modest here, but, um, I mean, they hold their own career fair that is effectively as large as the college’s career fair that we put on. So, I mean, that just shows you how impressive of a student organization this is.

Scott Luton (13:09):

Well, uh, I really appreciate you sharing that. Uh, and Ashley and Jacob really appreciate y’all, um, uh, the leadership and the, the blood, sweat and tears that you go into making sure that other folks maybe have that same epiphany or that awareness, uh, that you had. It’s been so, uh, impactful to your journeys. Um, Jason, one of the quick comment and we’ll get you to, um, and folks, if you’re not following, if you’re not connected with Dr. Jason Miller or following him at least on LinkedIn, your miss now, so much great content ranging from, as I mentioned, a freight market observations to eCommerce, consumer finance, uh, and of course all sorts of, uh, global supply chain analysis when you, you know, Jacob mentioned packaging. Now, uh, a lot of folks may not think that packaging is, is, um, is sexy or insert whatever, uh, adjective there. It’s really good to see packaging really get a ton more attention here in recent years. Would you agree, Jason?

Jason Miller (14:06):

No, it, it is, and Michigan State has an outstanding packaging program. Um, it’s one of the top programs in the country. There’s a, I’m gonna say reasonably close relationship between the packaging program and the supply chain department. Um, and it’s, you know, it’s a absolutely essential major. I think some students get very surprised that packaging’s essentially applied engineering. I think that that’s always the, the interesting thing, um, you know, that we see, and it’s almost ends up being the supply chain major is the less mathy of the two. But no, it’s an outstanding program. Um, they’ve got great leadership over there and they’re looking at expanding essentially back to their former size, which if this all goes successful, they’ll actually be larger than our program in, which is one of the largest in the entire university in terms of undergraduate programs.

Scott Luton (15:02):

Man, that’s great to hear. There’s so many op, there’s so many opportunities, uh, on so many different levels for, um, uh, patching, not just packaging professionals, but just the art of packaging I’ll call it. So that’s great to hear. Um, alright, so Ashley, I wanna circle back to you. So, um, kind of using that as a segue packaging, just one of, you know, billions of topics, uh, that make up global supply chain. Ashley, what is one topic trend issue, you name it across global supply chain, has got your attention perhaps more than others? Right now

Ashley Yearwood (15:34):

I’m really interested in information technology and integrating technology and supply chains. I think after the covid 19 pandemic technology has proven to me the way of the world, at least for the future. Um, I think it’ll be really interesting in the coming years to see how we sustain that new technology, um, sort of boom in supply chain and then also like how we expand from that. And I think that’s a really interesting, um, aspect in the supply chain world right now.

Scott Luton (16:01):

Uh, I agree with you and I would add to that, uh, the change management, uh, and almost the psychology of how the workforce handles, uh, all the, the rapid pace of technology and change and innovation. Would you agree, Ashley?

Ashley Yearwood (16:16):

Yes, I definitely agree. And going off that also like the automation aspect, whether that be, um, in warehouses and handling and logistics, I think that’s all extremely interesting.

Scott Luton (16:24):

Yeah, agreed. Um, before I go to Jacob, uh, Jason weigh in on that, whether it’s the, the change management aspect or or automation, you name it. What, what, what sticks out there in Ashley’s answer, Jason?

Jason Miller (16:38):

No, I think it’s a change management aspect. I mean, we’re even seeing that today in terms of how do you better have data driven decision making and organizations. And the key thing that some of the initial research on this that’s coming out from economists at MIT who are using a lot of data, the census bureaus collecting as you can have, you know, all the predictive analytics for example, you want, you can have folks running neural networks and doing all these things, but if you don’t have the compliment complement organizational structures in place, nothing’s gonna happen. Or how do you convince people that to essentially accept the recommendation of something that for a non statistician is a complete black box. And I think that that’s, you know, one of the things we’re struggling with, you know, not only in organizations but even in our pedagogy and how we teach, is how much familiarity do we have our students learn with the methods versus understanding the core content, the key interrelationships, and you append the methodology to it. And I think that’s something we, you know, continue to struggle with and also have vigorous debate about,

Scott Luton (17:52):

Uh, as we should, right? Uh, if, if we’re not leaning into those, those frank discussions where we’re challenging each other’s, uh, opinions and perspectives, you know, we’re not moving industry forward. So I appreciate you sharing that, Jason. Um, and, and thank you, uh, Ashley, uh, plenty of stuff on your radar. Jacob, how about you? When you, when you survey global supply chain right now, what’s one topic that you’re really dialed in on?

Jacob Levack (18:16):

So, I, it’s kind of funny. We had a case competition, um, a few months ago that actually Scma puts on, I had the opportunity to compete in it and it was involving, uh, how, uh, OEM kind of stretches out their supply network and manufacturing practices. Where are they putting new production facilities in order to, you know, best meet demand. And the, I think the, the concept that was taken away from that case study was onshoring. Um, and how are companies mitigating risk by Onshoring as well as, you know, keeping the cost down. So for example, if you put a, a plant in the usa, it’s a whole lot more expensive to operate the plant in the USA than it is in Taiwan or Chi or China or you know, wherever name an Asian country out there. So it’s, it’s really interesting understanding how companies are. Um, I want to, I don’t there’s a word to use it, but, you know, understanding the investment costs to do such and then even operating labor. So that’s definitely been interesting cuz it’s the globalized supply chain is becoming a little less glorified after, you know, pandemic the, all the buzzwords of the last three years.

Scott Luton (19:37):

Glocalization, is that, is that the word you just used there, Jacob?

Jacob Levack (19:40):

Absolutely. Yeah.

Scott Luton (19:42):

Uh, I love that one. And, and I agree with you. I think, I think, um, uh, there’s a lot more that’s coming outta the blind spot, uh, as you set up and, and run and manage global supply chains that you’ve got to take into account for. I think the, uh, and Jason Love to get your view here, you know, supply chain leaders approach to managing that risk, uh, of where you’re gonna source and how you’re gonna construct your, your global supply chains. That algorithm may be changing a little bit, and it may be one of the silver linings from the pandemic, but Jason, your thoughts?

Jason Miller (20:13):

No, I certainly think there’s a realignment in certain industries that we’re starting to see a realization that quicker time to market being more local, China not being as cost competitive. And certainly now with the disruption we’re seeing with this continual whack-a-mole with c I mean, we’re seeing Apple stock get hammered today for that very reason about concerns with a supplier. Um, I will admit, I think there may be a little bit more hype to this than what we’re actually going to eventually end up seeing because there’s a reality that for certain, um, products, the parts ecosystem lives in East Asia, take smartphone, so many components come from South Korea and Japan. If you just shift final assembly to Mexico, we’re not really changing that versus there will be other things. So, you know, Mattel’s building a tremendously large facility in Mexico that’ll actually benefit US manufacturers of plastic resins, those packaging materials that we were talking about, because we’ll be a huge supplier of that. And Mexico will handle the final, you know, labor intensive assembly. So I, I certainly think that will be on the, the radar. I am curious to see though, how much of what we have as Nearshoring or reshoring is in fact just organic expansion. The facilities are kept overseas to serve those overseas markets and it’s more of just organic expansion.

Scott Luton (21:41):

Yeah, well said Jason, and, and, and I may be simp oversimplifying, but one of the things I heard you share there is, uh, while cash continues to be king, right, as always, I guess the rule of thumb, but those who control raw supplies <laugh>, so alls are also sitting pretty. Um, so, uh, I’m gonna ask you both, I’m gonna call three of y’all for a eureka moment here in just a minute. And Ashley and Jacob, thanks for, uh, sharing some of the things you’re tracking, um, how, you know, going back to how you found supply chain back to Scma, um, Ashley, would you encourage, you know, some of our listeners that may be, um, working their way through high school or maybe in their first year of college or tech school, you name it. How, how much would you recommend a career in global supply chain?

Ashley Yearwood (22:31):

I would 100% recommend it. I think it is so broad. There’s a lot that you can do with it. You can touch any industry that you’re interested in. Um, you can really do a whole breadth of, um, things with the degree, and especially in a technical path. It touches that it can touch sustainability, it can touch a lot of different aspects that you might be interested in. And I think that background knowledge is extremely important to have and especially as a freshman or high school student, just introducing yourself to it. I wasn’t sure what supply chain was in high school, and like I said, the scma really introduced me to what it was. So I think it doesn’t hurt to just see what it entails because Chance SAR touch your career path.

Scott Luton (23:12):

Ashley will said, and to our listeners out there, it, it’s okay if you don’t know, it’s okay. Lean into that. And hey, if you, um, even after a really effective introduction to, uh, supply chain management and, uh, piece of pizza and a good beer and it’s not your thing, that’s okay too, but check it out. Uh, make sure you kick the tires. Jacob, would you invite the same thing?

Jacob Levack (23:35):

Absolutely. Uh, the, I mean, the thing too is like supply chain hasn’t been a forefront news buzzword for, you know, it, it’s, it’s very recent and, um, it, as a result of, of the problems and of the new challenges that come about, there’s a lot of job opportunities. And like Ashley was saying, just about every industry imaginable. So the, the variety of, of job descriptions and problem solving opportunities are, are, you know, demanding students. Uh, so there’s, there’s opportunities all over the place.

Scott Luton (24:12):

I completely agree. And, and you know, consumers are, as we all know, they’re really smart. They’ve got more data, uh, at their fingertips than ever before. Uh, uh, kudos to them for figuring out wh what supply chain management means and here in recent years. And, and, and that’s gonna be great for the profession, getting more talent in as as evidence right here in this conversation. Jason, uh, before I shift gears over to Eureka moments, your thought about, um, you know, any of our listeners that may be considering, you know, kicking the tires on the supply chain management career?

Jason Miller (24:45):

Yeah, I, I mean, again, I would definitely highly recommend it. There’s something for everyone. Um, you know, the jobs can range from, you know, the traditional, think about, you know, general Motors working in the auto sector. You know, what we think of very much Michigan, we’ve had students hired from Michigan State who go to Nike, whose job is to arrange photo shoots with professional athletes. Mm. And so they’re in charge of all the logistics and all the procurement of everything you need to set up a professional photo shoot in the middle of Hawaii as an example. And so there, there is something for everyone in the major, um, the pandemic really, you know, I always joke raised awareness that cows don’t just fatten themselves up, slaughter themselves, turn themselves into steaks, and then ship themselves, you know, to the local, uh, local store and or toilet paper doesn’t, you know, just grow on trees type of thing.

Jason Miller (25:39):

And so I think that the awareness is there even as we come out of things and, you know, you give it two or three years will supply chain being showing up in the news as much it is today, maybe not, but we’re never gonna go back to a 20 18, 20 19 baseline level. And so I think that it’s a profession where there’s just so much more awareness broadly defined that it’s a very safe career trajectory. I mean, we have near a hundred percent job placement rate for students within 90 days of graduation out of msu, and that’s not gonna change anytime soon.

Scott Luton (26:17):

That is outstanding. And we’re gonna talk about what makes the Michigan State University supply chain program so, uh, unique and successful and innovative here in a second. But before we do, uh, and I liked your phrase there, Jason. Uh, toilet paper does not grow on trees and consumers. I figure that out now. You know, getting aside, I’ll tell you that one topic, uh, who would’ve thunk, uh, that we’d spend as much time and we’ll have learned as much as we have, right. But, uh, beat that as it may. Let’s talk for a second about eureka moments, right? And, uh, I wanna circle back, uh, to Ashley. Ashley, you know, if you, especially if you look in the last couple years, right? It doesn’t have to be tied the the pandemic, but what’s been a powerful eureka moment you’ve had?

Ashley Yearwood (27:00):

Yes. So I worked a student booth fair at the end of last year in the spring where incoming freshman came, walked by all the different student organizations. And I was working the s scma booth of the fellow executive board member. And I had a parent, a child come up and they were asking me about like the club and the school, and they said, oh, supply chain, like, what are you gonna do to fix that? And I kind of laughed. I was like, oh, like what, what do you mean? They’re like, oh, what’s the solution? And I just sat there, I was like, there, <laugh> isn’t a necessarily clear solution, but it made me think like, that is my question to answer that is my problem to solve. Like I am in my fellow classmates. Like, we’re getting to that point in our careers when like we are the ones figuring that out. And I thought that was just a really powerful moment,

Scott Luton (27:45):

You know, that’s such a great one to start with because, uh, the responsibility now that we have both realistically and, and maybe, um, figuratively out in, out in the market and consumer’s mind. So, uh, really cool. Uh, Jacob, how about you? Eureka moment you’ve had in the last couple years?

Jacob Levack (28:03):

So two years ago or two, two summers ago, uh, I, one of my internships was with a cherry pitting plant, uh, in Traverse City, Michigan. So top of the top of the mitten, and it was a smaller operation, I think that year we did about 7 million pounds of pitted cherries. And, uh, my role there was involved with, uh, logistics, outbound management, transportation, then some inventory pack materials, just kinda watching inventory, making sure we can keep our production line running. Um, and we had a fiasco where, um, kind it involved supplier ship performance. You know, we had a, a supplier with granulated sugar, um, come to us kinda last minute and say, Hey, we can’t fulfill this lead time. It’s gonna be pushed out months. And, uh, the cherry harvest is, you know, July to mid-August. So it’s, it’s not a lot of time to work with when you have a lead time changing and delaying.

Jacob Levack (29:00):

So, um, the eureka moment is this, is, this is problem solving, this is, you know, supply chain resiliency. This is what it looks like when, when you have to, to change and, and mitigate risk. So, um, that was definitely like, it, it was, you know, really stressful for a first, you know, for an intern to do it. But it’s, it’s, it definitely piqued my interest in saying, well, you know, I’m kind of at the steering wheel, uh, with, with working on all this stuff. So that was, I’d say like for supply chain’s sake, the big, you know, wow, I want to keep doing this, you know,

Scott Luton (29:36):

Fixing products, dealing with, dealing with constraints, uh, Jacob, right? Yes. And I’m hoping, uh, that that didn’t impact, uh, I don’t know if y’all happen to supply like cordial cherries, chocolate covered cherries that it impact order shipped?

Jacob Levack (29:51):

Uh, no. We actually, we were able to just reroute to a different supplier in a very short period of time. It worked out really well. But, so all the Sara Lee pies you see, like Sara Lee, cherry pies, coner, brand pies, uh, those are all Michigan cherries. Okay. For the most part. So yeah,

Scott Luton (30:09):

Man, learn something new every day. I love that. Um, alright, so Jason, uh, first if you would, before we get your eureka moment comment on what you heard there from Ashley and from Jacob, you know, Ashley, where someone was, uh, looking for her, uh, her superhero cape as a supply chain practitioner and Jacob, you know, talking about some of the constraints and some of the ways you’ve gotta work around it, you know, to keep things moving. Uh, your thoughts on what they shared and then e Eureka moment, Jason.

Jason Miller (30:39):

I know, I think those are two very good examples. I mean, we hear this all the time. You know what, there’s this magical silver bullet out there that will, will resolve things. Um, I advise several different, um, senior level government agencies on supply chain content. And from time to time I hear the same things. Well, there just has to be something we can do that’ll cause the ports to work more efficiently. It’s like we’re, we need to have a 30 minute conversation about why things are backed up. You know, for example, in January of this last year talking about LA and Long Beach. So I feel the pain there. Um, food factory stories, I love those. I just work at a Pickle factory when I was in high school. So I’m sure we can swap notes over the entertaining things that happen in food manufacturing. Um,

Scott Luton (31:27):

Hey, really quick, I gotta throw this in Jason. Uh, cuz I, I did not work in a Pickle factory, but um, you know, growing up in Aiken, South Carolina pickles were a homemade and otherwise we’re a daily part of our diet. Um, and as a great story, the, I’m not, I’m gonna get their name wrong, but the, the, um, the gentleman that took Vlasic the Pickle company to all Time Heights, I wanna say Joe Lassek, I could have that wrong. Anyway, he, um, passed away a couple years ago, uh, maybe within the last year or so. But one of his mantras he used, um, within his overall organization was, um, give me good news fast, but give me bad news faster. And I, I mean that is such a timeless, um, uh, approach to I think management and leadership and supply chain that um, I was so glad he shared and all of his employers knew that was part of his mo. But, and Jason having, I’m not sure if I’ve met anyone ever work in a pickle plant. So you and I are gonna have to compare notes cuz inquiring minds want to know how those operations work. Jason, but you were about to share your, your eureka moment.

Jason Miller (32:34):

Yeah, so if, if I had to say a eureka moment for me is really, you know, I probably anger some of my colleagues saying this, but in a lot of ways I’d say my eureka moment with the pandemic is supply chain and economics are just not that distinct. And, you know, I think that that’s really affected how I teach in that so much more of my teaching than let’s say four years ago now focuses on things like how do markets behave? How, how does pricing behave? How do we think about industrial production? And really trying to, I’m gonna say repurpose a lot of information that exists for economists, but really it’s directly affecting us as supply chain practitioners. And I think that that’s to me sort of been the thing is, you know, you look, markets work, they tend to do a fairly good job of, uh, of behaving in ways they should behave.

Jason Miller (33:30):

And I think that that’s been, you know, the challenge that many people have had with, you know, inflationary forces, you know, use cars going up the way they’re dead and people getting upset. It’s price gouging, it’s just who consumers are behaving. That’s what happens when you give people a tremendous amount of money and they can’t spend it on services. And so I think for me it’s just been sort of this realization that I increasingly think, you know, you almost can’t really teach supply chain, especially as an academic without a lease being a quasi economist because you need to understand how all these pieces are moving, which is, you know, why I’m, you know, I’ll be talking about credit card debt as I’m discussing what’s going on in the retail sector, cuz those two are, you know, very tightly linked to one another.

Scott Luton (34:19):

Jason Love that perspective. That, uh, kind of a different version of the Butterfly effect, um, how everything impacts each other. And you know, actually circling back, uh, cause I think you’re monitoring in economics that’ll be interesting for you moving forward, uh, to, to have, be to be well versed in those things. So you can see maybe more links than, uh, than many than other supply chain practitioners perhaps.

Jason Miller (34:43):

Definitely.

Scott Luton (34:44):

Yeah. Um, okay. So let’s talk about Michigan State University and what makes a supply chain program so special. And I wanna start, uh, with you, Jacob. Um, again, I can’t think enough. I’m, so it’s so cool to hear your earliest days of, of kind of becoming aware of what supply chain is and saying now that’s what I wanna do, right? The power of connection, the power of, of, uh, of, of fellowship and in some ways going back to supply chain management, uh, association. But when you think kind of more general about the program, both the supply chain program and maybe the opportunities that university afford you, what makes a program, uh, so unique?

Jason Miller (35:28):

So

Jacob Levack (35:28):

I wanna highlight two things. So the first one, and this is just no brainer as a faculty, is our, our faculty within our department is amazing. I mean, I mean Jason Miller himself and then everybody else included, um, for two reasons being. So one, I think a lot of, and it’s a cliche thing to say, well, you’re not gonna learn until you get into the workplace more. So things like that. And I think professors and faculty are getting very good at becoming aware of the evolving business need, constantly changing, you know, understanding the RP systems, understanding, uh, all those, all the sorts of different tools, how to understand data. So I think in the classroom it’s becoming more apparent that professors understand business needs. And then other thing too is, you know, faculty’s constant pursuit to engage with students. So, you know, for example, we have a professor going on a trip to the Panama Canal with 12 students. And that’s just an example of how, you know, how much professors really want students to learn about supply chain in the real world. And that’s probably one of the best places to go to understand it. So, um, otherwise that, and then the, we have a fantastic career management center. I, my resume is fixed up due to the help, due to their help and interview skills are, are really helpful. So, and that’s something that I, I don’t think other universities can quite flaunt like us, you know,

Scott Luton (36:59):

Jacob, and, and you know, based on what you submitted, uh, information to our team here, I take it that you’re really a, um, to your point, you, you’re big, um, you greatly appreciate that practical perspective, including some of your own, right?

Jacob Levack (37:15):

Absolutely. Yes, yes,

Scott Luton (37:17):

Yes, yes. Learn by doing. Right. Um, okay, so Ashley, same question, uh, for you and, and Jacob, did we get both of yours out? I, I’m, I’m making sure two big ones you’re gonna share about Michigan State University tackle

Jacob Levack (37:31):

Both. Yeah. Regarding to faculty. Absolutely.

Scott Luton (37:33):

Okay. That’s right, faculty. That’s right, that’s right. How could I forget that one? Uh, with Dr. Jason, mother with us. Um, alright, so Ashley, how about you? What makes Michigan State University and especially at supply chain program so successful?

Ashley Yearwood (37:46):

I definitely echo what Jacob said. I think our faculty is unmatched. They are extremely knowledgeable and put their students first. Um, Jacob also touched on the real world application in the courses. Um, the supply chain management program is organized sort of with three big umbrellas being like procurement, purchasing, and then logistics, and then manufacturing. So it’s really interesting, that’s how you start off. Typically as a junior, you take those classes, so you get to see those three different realms. And then as a senior you take a capstone class and you get into different elective courses based almost what you wanna pursue, what you find interesting. So I think that’s super valuable, like structure of the, um, program as well as the students. I just think that everyone in it has a passion to learn super bright minds and it’s just great to be surrounded by amazing faculty and students.

Scott Luton (38:38):

It must be, uh, and, and, uh, hey, sign me up for the next trip to the Panama Canal. Would y’all let me know? Uh, talk about a great trip. Um, Jason, that’s gotta be music to, to your ears what Jacob and Ashley both have shared and, and especially their common, you know, the common part of their answers, which where they’re touting, you know, the people they learn from and, and learn by doing with at Michigan State University. Your thoughts there, and then tell us what else you think makes, uh, the supply chain program so special?

Jason Miller (39:09):

You know, I I would start off first with the students. Um, I think the students at MSU are some of the hardest working and most demanding of faculty that I have come across. Um, but certainly the expectation, you know, folks come here, it is the number one rank program. It’s been undergrad number one ranked by US News and World Report for 12 years running. And that creates expectations. And I think the students hold, hold that up and they hold the faculty up to that. Um, same with graduate, I think we’ve been number one for about the last six years. Um, and so I think that, you know, the students having the expectations, the faculty really does, you know, drive things. I would say, you know, if I had to pick a second thing, it would be the, the breadth of faculty knowledge in this department is, I don’t really think equaled elsewhere.

Jason Miller (40:02):

Um, we’re not the largest department that there is. Um, there’s other programs out there that are bigger than us. Um, we’re not the most detailed in one specific area that there is. My alma mater of Ohio State has almost doubled the logistics faculty members that I have in this department up here. But when you look at the, the just breadth of knowledge industries covered, um, skill sets that exist, uh, this place can, you know, pretty much ball with anybody. And so we’re, we’re very, we’re very proud of that. I like to think that we still have an orientation that is both recognizing the changing business environment and, you know, how do companies like a Facebook, for example, need supply chain talent, but is still also, you know, recognizing that manufacturing ain’t going anywhere. D distributing product ain’t going anywhere. And while it’s really fun to talk about Uber driving people, you know, and passenger transport and we can’t have half of our faculty researching that <laugh>.

Jason Miller (41:08):

Um, and, and so I think that that’s where, you know, a lot of very applied real world problems get addressed by the faculty here. So it’s, it’s the students and it’s the faculty and it’s the programs. You know, if I had to add one thing, this is, and at least the logistics academic discipline is one of sort of the three founding programs. Michigan State, Ohio State, and Penn State, um, and the University of Maryland also coming in that conversation. So the program here, I mean, we’ve been around since the 1960s, which, uh, very few places can say

Scott Luton (41:44):

Right, long before supply chain was cool, right?

Jacob Levack (41:47):

Yeah.

Jason Miller (41:47):

Long before supply chain even was called supply chain

Scott Luton (41:51):

<laugh>. So I wanna start, so we’re gonna, um, one of my favorite parts here is we’re gonna get a sneak peek of what Ashley and Jake are gonna be up to and the impact they’re gonna be making, as well as some of, uh, Jason’s favorite, um, um, lessons learned or or learning, teaching, teaching, learning moments in the classroom. But before that, Jason touched on something about, um, expectations, right? And as it, as he started starting with students. So Ashley and Jacob, Ashley wanna stick with you here, you know, um, when it comes to expectations of the top rank program that can ball with anybody, I mean, your thoughts there,

Ashley Yearwood (42:30):

It’s definitely intimidating first off, but it’s also empowering. I would say just having that recognition and then like knowing and the impact that you can make, I would say is so important. It’s so valuable and it just makes your work seem worthwhile.

Scott Luton (42:46):

And do folks when they, when they, oh yeah, you’re a supply chain major, oh, Michigan State University, that, that, those different, different, um, they take those conversations differently when they hear that.

Ashley Yearwood (42:58):

I have noticed that, especially in s scma when companies come, they are very excited to meet our students just because of the press that our school gets. And I think that’s, um, exciting as a student.

Scott Luton (43:10):

Jacob, your thoughts around whether it’s expectations or kind of the, the prestige factor, we’ll call it with Michigan State University supply chain program, your thoughts?

Jacob Levack (43:19):

I think it’s, it’s been kind of apparent for the last few years I, as a student coming with that, you know, the, the structure of how our program is, you know, there’s so many tools that lead to where we get, I mean all the student orgs, you know, consulting student orgs are student org faculty. It, I mean, it, it’s, the expectation of students is very helped by, you know, all the tools that the, that the program has and the university provides.

Scott Luton (43:55):

Okay. And it seems like y’all are empowered to, um, expect the best, uh, at Michigan State. It’s really cool. Thank you Ashley and Jacob. Um, okay. So Jason, this has gotta be one of your favorite parts too. Uh, cuz as they’ve gone through the program, they’re both, you both, uh, Ashley, you’ll be graduating this this spring, right?

Ashley Yearwood (44:15):

Yes,

Scott Luton (44:16):

Spring 2023. And Jacob, you will be too, right?

Jacob Levack (44:20):

Yes.

Scott Luton (44:21):

Okay. Uh, that’s funny. Jacob kinda had to look down at his calendar to make sure, is that right? <laugh>? I’ve been there a minute. I’ve,

Jacob Levack (44:27):

Yeah, it’s creeping up a little too fast.

Scott Luton (44:29):

<laugh>. I’m only kidding. Don’t look it. Um, alright, so Ashley, what, um, two part question here. What impact do you want to have on industry and what’s some of your immediate next steps after you graduate?

Ashley Yearwood (44:43):

Um, the impact I wanna have on the industry is just to make a mark. I know it sounds cliche, but I want my work to be valuable. I want it to be worthwhile. Um, I want it to have a good effect not only on individuals, but just society as a whole. Like how supply chains operate, how consumers like view, supply chain, view the world. Um, next steps after graduation. I’m excited to join Accenture in Chicago. I in interned with the company this summer. Absolutely loved it and I’m excited to be joining them full-time as a consulting analyst.

Scott Luton (45:14):

That is outstanding. Congratulations, Ashley, man. Um, and Jacob, how about you? Two part question impact you want to have and what’s next?

Jacob Levack (45:23):

I, so with the, the class work I’ve had recently, um, one of my classes is, is strictly about sap. And I think that is a tool that a lot of companies are using to vertically integrate. And so I, the, the vertical integration concept is kind of what I’m falling to is something I want to continue. Cuz a lot of big OEMs, big companies really want to keep striving to go as far up the supply chain as I can to understand the structures resiliencies that they have. So that’s what I want to strive to provide. Um, now obviously as a student, I don’t know a whole lot about it yet, but we’re gonna get there. Uh, and so for the next, next steps, um, after May, 2023, I’ll be joining, going back to Caterpillar after I interned with them last summer, uh, to do the leadership develop, I can’t even say myself, leadership technical development program. Um, so it’s a three year program of supply chain management roles. One year each. Uh, they’ll be moving around to different facilities. I don’t know where I’m going yet, but that’s kind of the fun of it is, uh, it’s, it’s a little tour of, of the us so

Scott Luton (46:37):

That is exciting. And, and we we’re having a little fun in pre-show cause I couldn’t, I think I tried saying that six times and, and did not get it right Jacob. So congrats. I’ll tell you, um, having rubbed elbows and been in a couple different Caterpillar facilities and getting sense to the culture, uh, that is gonna be exciting not only to rejoin the culture, but with that rotational program, you’re gonna be able to kind of take the Baskin Robbins approach maybe to how they do global supply chain perhaps, huh?

Jacob Levack (47:03):

Absolutely. Yes.

Scott Luton (47:05):

That’s awesome. Congrats Ashley and Jacob. Uh, and then Jason. Um, how exciting. I mean, I, I know going back to your earlier comment that, you know, most of the, an overwhelming, uh, percentage, I think, um, close to a hundred percent of students get placed within 90 days of their graduation, if I had that right, what you shared. So these are kind of part, this is kind of examples of what happens anyway, but Jason, how cool is that based on what they, you know, the impact they want to have and what they wanna do next? And then we’ll get to here in just a second, some of your favorite moments from the classroom.

Jason Miller (47:39):

No, it’s absolutely great. I mean, these are, it’s, it’s always for me, been fun to teach spring semester when folks are either already coming in with their job offers and or those offers start to come in during the semester. And, you know, you can see, see the excitement. I mean also the sadness. I mean, you are leaving and moving on to a different stage of life and we almost recognize the four year uni, the four year undergrad experience is a completely unnatural thing that exists. Um, but, you know, it’s great. And again, it just speaks to the quality of students that we have here.

Scott Luton (48:16):

Agreed. Um, now speaking of the quality of students, um, so when you think of some of your favorite moments there in the classroom, whether it’s your previous role or your current role, what’s one or two things that come to mind?

Jason Miller (48:31):

You know, I, I think in terms of especially moments when I learn, I can at least share one from this fall where I was teaching our ms, our master’s science supply chain. One of the students works for one of the big four, um, you know, the ABCDs of ag. So Archer’s our, or Archer Daniels, Medland Bungee ConAgra or Louis Dryfus. So one of those four. And this individual mentions I’m hearing something internally about water levels in the Mississippi River, and this is during a live lecture. And I’m like, uh, okay, well let’s go see if we can dig up some data on this. And this was right before all the news outlets started talking about this. And then sure enough, we found some data from the, uh, department of Agriculture and we could just see the prices starting to skyrocket for, um, barge transportation. I never thought a barge transportation hadn’t, didn’t even, you know, it didn’t even register, right?

Jason Miller (49:29):

And then spent, you know, a decent amount of time helping the student out, you know, figure it out and, you know, corralling all of this data to give, to get a sense so she could take it back internally to her company and they could start making better decisions on grain pricing, um, as they were looking at doing procurement. So those are the moments where, you know, somebody says something about, you know, this specific industry and you know, you’ve, you’ve no idea, but you just try to go, I’d say learn on the fly. Um, and, and things like that, or just hearing, especially stories, you know, we’ve had some students go to, uh, Rivian and just hearing their stories of working for a startup, you know, light truck company, comparing it to the folks at Ford who work on the F-150 group. And I hate to say Chuck, when they’re like, oh, you call that production, we call that a month, month at one of our five plants that make these things. So it’s just always interesting too to get those different perspectives.

Scott Luton (50:33):

Mm, love it. Uh, learn on the fly, apply and then retry, you know, maybe a different take on, uh, um, uh, the, the DMAIC cycle. Who knows? Um, okay. So, uh, Jason, Ashley and Jacob, I’ve really enjoyed our conversation here today. I really appreciate the time that y’all have given us. Um, so let’s do this, let’s make sure our listeners can connect with each of y’all. Uh, and Ashley, let’s start with you. How can folks connect with you?

Ashley Yearwood (51:01):

Yes, LinkedIn, Ashley Ewood, and then also connecting with our MSU s CMA page on LinkedIn too.

Scott Luton (51:08):

Okay, wonderful. And Jacob,

Jacob Levack (51:11):

I’ll share the same, my LinkedIn page, Jacob Leve and, uh, msu s cma.com. See what we’re doing every week. It’s always something new.

Scott Luton (51:20):

Love that. I really appreciate the impact y’all are having on a couple different levels. And folks to our listeners, we’ll make it easy. One click away. You’ll be in the, the episode page so you can make it really easy to connect with Ashley, Jacob and Jason. Jason, how can folks connect with you?

Jason Miller (51:35):

Yeah, so again, LinkedIn and or just go to our department’s webpage, type in Michigan State supply chain main page. It’ll come up to me as interim chairperson. Um, and just get in touch with me through email.

Scott Luton (51:48):

Well said. Okay. And thanks for coming back and thanks for bringing a couple of your, uh, students as well. So big thanks to Dr. Jason Miller, uh, professor at Michigan State University. Jason, thanks again.

Jason Miller (52:01):

Oh, thanks so much for having us.

Scott Luton (52:02):

You bet. And Ashley Yearwood, thanks for joining us.

Ashley Yearwood (52:06):

Thank you so

Scott Luton (52:07):

Much. You bet. And Jacob Levack, thanks for joining us here today.

Jacob Levack (52:11):

Thank you very much, Scott.

Scott Luton (52:13):

All right. You’ll have to keep in touch. Let us know. I’d love to hear what y’all, uh, what the next couple years have in store. Undoubtedly, you’ll be moving mountains, uh, and we look forward to hearing all about it. So folks, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Noun Generation here on Supply Chain now, folks already making a big impact, uh, along with their, uh, professors and educational, uh, uh, experts that help inspire them to do so. Uh, but hey, whatever you do, on behalf of our entire team here at Supply Chain now, Scott Luton challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change. With that said, next time, right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (52:49):

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain now, community. Check out all of our programming@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.