Intro/Outro (00:00:03):

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 (00:00:30):

Hey, good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Scott Luton, Greg white here with you on supply chain. Now, welcome to today’s live stream, Gregory. How are we doing?

Greg White (00:00:38):

We are with you. Yes, I am doing quite well. How are you

Scott Luton (00:00:42):

Doing fantastic. Got a little rain already this morning. I had a great weekend. We’ve got a, a jampacked shows, some things that I think we’re gonna, uh, enjoy, you know, cheering, uh, our take and, uh, the facts, just the facts <laugh>, uh, with our, uh, global audience and Greg getting their take. Right. We’ve really enjoyed that. Especially in recent live stream. It’s been pretty lively around here. Haven’t it?

Greg White (00:01:06):

It has really, uh, very super engaged in a lot of new faces. Right. So, um, it’s been pretty cool to, to watch. And I, what’s interesting is when we have, you know, the shows where we have a guest on and they get to see it, I think they’re a little bit taken aback by how engaged in how intellectual our audience is. Right. I mean, they’re, they’re not just throwing out there what they had for lunch today or gonna have for lunch. That’s us.

Scott Luton (00:01:34):

That’s right. <laugh> that and weather, uh, and sports maybe, but, uh, kidding aside, they are, I think the engagement folks we love, y’all bring it every time, live streams, webinars, whatever really appreciate. And you share, as Greg mentioned, just how savvy and been there done that our audience is and how global that’s a cool thing, cuz you, you, you are getting perspective from folks, not just here in the states, but really, uh, around the world. So, uh, y’all keep, keep delivering, like we know supply chain pros know how to do despite all the obstacles and, uh, we lean into each of these, uh, these one hour long live stream, uh, global lunchtime discussions or morning or evening kind of depends on wherever you

Greg White (00:02:17):

Are.

Scott Luton (00:02:18):

Yeah. Wherever you are. We’re gonna say hello folks, uh, to a few folks here momentarily, but first, um, let’s share a couple of upcoming events where talk about being interactive. Uh, yeah. More opportunities, right?

Greg White (00:02:30):

Yeah, yeah, no doubt.

Scott Luton (00:02:32):

So this week, August 24th, I think that’s Thursday, we’ve got a, a big webinar coming up with ship Hawk where we’re gonna be talking about key elements to a successful warehouse management system, life cycle from selection, through implementation, through, uh, optimization and operation Greg Ws. Uh, it is a golden age of WMS here lately. Right?

Greg White (00:02:52):

It seems like it always is. I mean, I keep thinking. Yeah, you’re right. I mean, first of all, I keep thinking that how many more companies could need WMS because you hear about it all the time. It’s one of the most popular solutions out there, right. But every time you hear about an, another innovation in Ws, you get another statistic that says something like 80 or 90% of companies still don’t have it.

Scott Luton (00:03:17):

What

Greg White (00:03:17):

In the world. And, and I, it is stunning to me that that’s the case, you know, the company I had before blue Ridge, uh, we, we competed in a way with WMS. People would decide whether they were gonna solve their supply chain challenges with just knowing where their stuff is, right. Or doing something about the quantity of their stuff. And it is so easy. I think Ws is, is a great place. It’s so easy to see. And I mean, literally see the results of putting that technology in there, so right. Ship. Hawk’s doing some cool stuff, right? Yep. I mean, uh, so it’s gonna be great to hear from, uh, Ron and Bob.

Scott Luton (00:03:54):

So join us 12 noon on Thursday, August 24th, Frida free to attend, but you gotta register, check out the link. We just dropped in the comments. Uh, and then coming up, uh, on August 31st, I guess that’s next week hard to believe we’re already at the end of August, uh, we’re collaborating with six river systems on a free webinar, how to use data to improve fulfillment operations. So check that out. Uh, they’re gonna have a couple of their, their customers speaking about how they use data in their operations. So it should be a great learning, uh, opportunity August 31st, uh, 12 noon Eastern time. And then finally, Greg for we say hello to a few folks, uh, you know, we have been partnering with us bank for quite some time. You see there, the us bank freight payment index, uh, we, uh, covered the Q2 20, 22 version of the index, uh, probably about two weeks ago, maybe three weeks ago when it was released Greg. Yep. Uh, Cho full of data and insights and Greg, well, what’s really cool about it is we partnered their data, right? The one only Bobby Holland with a senior level practitioner for ministry. Yeah. And we really have a kind of a, um, hybrid conversation on the data, but also what we’re seeing out in the market. Right. And sometimes it agree, sometimes it doesn’t agree, but Greg always a pleasure and, and it is free to sign up for the index, right?

Greg White (00:05:11):

It is. And you know, it’s like 37 billion worth of transactions is how they get the data to do this. And I can’t remember the number of transactions, but it’s a huge number as well. And it’s a great indicator for why you saw what you saw and not for Bobby to do. Of course banks can’t project. Right. Right. But lots of companies like, like Clorox and, and the others Mount monies and others that have joined us, they do use it to not only analyze what’s happened, but to try to predict what’s gonna happen in the future. And good luck with that. No matter how much data you have. Um, because I, you know, I think we’re still kind of dealing with some slack and disruption at the same time. I know that sounds crazy. Right.

Scott Luton (00:05:58):

But plenty, plenty, plenty.

Greg White (00:06:00):

Talk a little bit about that in one of the articles today,

Scott Luton (00:06:02):

We are freight.us bank.com. Check it out free again, free resource out there, but you do have to sign up for it. Okay. So Greg, uh, we’ve kind of shared some upcoming resources. We’ve, uh, challenged our, our global family to keep bringing their perspective. One of our favorite parts, we’ve got four. I think we’ve got four stories teed up here today, which we’re gonna jump into in just a second. But before we do Greg, one of our favorite parts, one say hello to a few folks out there, uh, Savannah via LinkedIn. Great to see you here. Let us know where you’re tuned in from Greg. Uh, any guess is Greg, it looks like there’s a, she could be traveling. That might be the Eiffel tower behind her.

Greg White (00:06:44):

I think you’re right. Uh, but I’m not gonna guess. I mean, obviously she’s been in Paris, but right. Not gonna guess she is there.

Scott Luton (00:06:51):

Well, uh, gorgeous city of Paris, France. Our dear friend, Jenny fr was just there. And Savannah, let us know where you’re tuned in from right. To have you Josh goody. He says someone has stolen the rain from Seattle. And I don’t like it. <laugh> good morning at all.

Greg White (00:07:04):

It was us here. Uh, it has been raining off and on almost every day in the Southeast. Since what? Early last week, right?

Scott Luton (00:07:15):

Yeah. It’s been raining a lot. In fact, uh, we were just looking at our gosh <laugh> we were just looking at our water bill. Yes. Riveting riveting information this morning. But, uh, we had <laugh> we had a little long work done. So we had to water a lot about three months ago. Oh boy. And all this rain lately, we barely had to, you know, water it in the last 30 days. And Greg I’m ashamed to tell you what that water bill was three or four months ago, but we spent only $70. Wow. In water bill over the last 30 days. So that’s that’s so Josh, we have, we’re stealing your rain there. Jeremy’s back with us supply chain now fan that’s right. Uh, great to have you here tell you really have enjoyed your perspective, uh, Jeremy and, and live streams and webinars

Greg White (00:07:57):

From DDA. That’s right. Cause we call Kansas

Scott Luton (00:08:01):

<laugh> and looking forward to what he shares today. Uh, Sadam tuned in from North Carolina via LinkedIn. Great to see you here. Where

Greg White (00:08:11):

In North Carolina? I’m gonna guess Raleigh.

Scott Luton (00:08:14):

Okay. That’s a great guess.

Greg White (00:08:15):

Let’s see. We’ll just see.

Scott Luton (00:08:17):

I’m gonna, I’m gonna, um, I’m gonna, I’m gonna cheat a little bit and guess the triangle area, which well that’s Raleigh Durham. Durham. Yeah. Raleigh Durham. And what’s the third city that makes up is that

Greg White (00:08:29):

Carrie does Carrie maybe does Carrie big enough to make up part of the triangle?

Scott Luton (00:08:33):

So Sadam let us know. Yeah. Yeah. We’re part of butchering the definition of triangle, but great to have you

Greg White (00:08:39):

Here. Yeah. Please let us know what the three cities are.

Scott Luton (00:08:41):

<laugh> Jonathan, welcome back. Have enjoyed your perspective from Louisiana. Uh, says he learned so much. Well, Hey, if you’re not learning Greg we’re you’re

Greg White (00:08:52):

Addressing right. Well, great philosopher. You’re either growing or you’re dying there. Ain’t no third direction. <laugh> big Tom Callahan.

Scott Luton (00:09:00):

Uh that’s right. Big Tom Callahan. Love it. Uh, Randall is tuned in from Auburn university via LinkedIn. Uh, and Greg, you may know, I believe Gartner ranked Auburn university in the top five of its 2022 supply chain pro under undergraduate programs. Why

Greg White (00:09:16):

That, oh really?

Scott Luton (00:09:17):

Yeah. That’s

Greg White (00:09:19):

No, no, I didn’t. I don’t think I’ve seen that. Scott,

Scott Luton (00:09:21):

If I’m not mistaken, I was just looking

Greg White (00:09:23):

At still one.

Scott Luton (00:09:24):

Yes. I was just looking at that last week and I’m, if I’m not mistaken and Randall, let me know. I think four out the top five supply chain programs, or as ranked by Gartner, we all from C the Southeastern conference. It’s at

Greg White (00:09:37):

That strange. You’ll never hear the end of that now. Right?

Scott Luton (00:09:39):

<laugh>

Greg White (00:09:40):

S’s favoritism.

Scott Luton (00:09:42):

That’s right. That is right. Well,

Greg White (00:09:43):

It is on one hand you got there’s who knows who? And over here you got favoritism <laugh>, you know, uh, seriously though, Scott breaking, breaking into the top five and breaking up those, um, kind of top positions. I once heard a data scientist and mathematicians say that’s very, very, almost impossible to do. Right. Okay. Like it’s, you know, he explained, and I got it at the time, but I’ve slept since then explained why it is so impossible to unseat Wharton as the best business school in America, because there’s, you know, there’s so much not just statistical, but, um, anecdotal momentum there. Okay. So that, that’s huge to see that change. And by the way, I applaud Gartner for probably tweaking how schools are evaluated to do that. They’re very, very, uh, good about that. I remember when they started figuring out how to rank cloud-based technologies versus the old on-prem and they kind of get in front of the curve, uh, for things like that and start showing you what’s coming down the pipe. So that’s good.

Scott Luton (00:10:54):

Uh, well, congrats. That’s right. Congrats war Eagle, uh, a home with Auburn tigers and the war Eagles, uh, you know, Hey, they play great enough sports and, and they have a great enough supply chain program to have two mascots. Uh, Hey, always fun,

Greg White (00:11:08):

Fun. You, nobody really can tell you where that came from, by the way, war Eagle,

Scott Luton (00:11:12):

You know, they’re,

Greg White (00:11:13):

They’re like five philosophies and, and three, that kind of rise to the top. So really?

Scott Luton (00:11:20):

Yeah. Well maybe Randall can share his favorite version of that. Yeah. But regardless, congrats, Auburn and all the, all the schools that made the top 25 list that Gartner compiled. Cause I grew through Greg, uh, Gartner is out front and you know, Mike Griswold be back with us in about two weeks for his monthly appearance, uh, goes by fast. Yeah, it does. Uh, gene pledger. Now I bet we just were not making GPS day. Cause we were talking about Auburn,

Greg White (00:11:47):

An Auburn fan, right?

Scott Luton (00:11:48):

Yeah. Well, gene pledger is a big Bama fan and uh, you know, gene, let us know what Bama, what the university of Alabama, what, you know, there’s some of their strongest programming is I I’d be curious, but regardless football <laugh> that’s

Greg White (00:12:03):

Right. Sorry Jean. I know you have academics there.

Scott Luton (00:12:05):

That’s right. But Jean, great to see you here today as always Steven, hello, be a LinkedIn. Let us know where you’re tuned in from, uh, appreciate you being here Christa also good morning to you, uh, tuned in via LinkedIn. Let us know where in the world you’re tuned in from, uh, Omar. I believe this is good afternoon. Omar from Senegal via LinkedIn. Great to see you today. If I get your name wrong, it’s not from a lack of trying, uh, I speak Georgia English and that prevents me sometimes Greg making certain syllables, right? So, Hey, let us know. We wanna get everybody’s name, right. But Omar great have

Greg White (00:12:41):

Here Scott, by the way. I mean, if you that’s right, if you watched people try to speak a foreign language, it’s why you get the pigeon, which is not the bird. The pigeon version of all these languages is because people it’s not natural for them, right. To like shape their mouth, right? Uh, the way that you do for certain words. So

Scott Luton (00:13:00):

That’s

Greg White (00:13:00):

Right. It is to be forgiven. Even if you’re in Germany, which it’s not ever forgiven, you must always only an speak the most German, Eva <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:13:13):

Man. That sounded great, Greg,

Greg White (00:13:15):

To you. I’m sure there somebody in Germany is gonna, you know, crucify.

Scott Luton (00:13:20):

You’re gonna get it in feedback, but uh, uh, Omar, great to have you here from Senegal. Looking forward to your perspective, Philando is back with us from Huntsville via LinkedIn. Great to see you Philando Greg. Uh, good morning from a beautiful August day in Wisconsin.

Greg White (00:13:37):

Oh man. Greg. Yeah. He’s about probably about 30 days from three feet of snow. But enjoy it while it lasts Greg, because it is that’s right. Summer is beautiful. If you don’t get hauled off by a mosquito, the state bird of Wisconsin. Um, no, it is. It’s beautiful. I, and uh, I love it. We, we just spent a little bit of time at a ball game with a cat from Wisconsin, right.

Scott Luton (00:14:02):

That is right. Who is who’s uh, essentially becoming a legend in the digital content arena. So more on that to come soon,

Greg White (00:14:10):

Not just a podcaster Jason Hoke, right? That’s

Scott Luton (00:14:13):

Right. No

Greg White (00:14:14):

Longer the house stuff works guy. Now he is, gosh, he’s so expanded his horizons. And

Scott Luton (00:14:20):

It’s like Steven Spielberg,

Greg White (00:14:22):

Unbelievably knowledgeable about baseball. Holy macro. I don’t know how he has the time. I don’t know how you have the time. <laugh> I sat there like a drooling idiot listening to you guys. Talk about all those players

Scott Luton (00:14:32):

And the game. So Greg’s talking, Ray’s talking about a, uh, a game we attended, uh, where the Atlanta Braves took on the York on the New York Mets, but it was the one out the four games set recently. The only one we lost, but we had com good company, great food and lots of, uh, great conversations. So Greg hope it’s remains a beautiful day in Wisconsin. And thanks for sending that article along, having a chance to dive into that, but, uh, great to have you here. Shelly flips is back with us. She’s always dropping a truckload of perspective on these things, uh, from the great state of Colorado tuned in via LinkedIn, uh, IAL. Good morning. Supply chain, family. I’m from Pakistan. Wow. Uh, via LinkedIn

Greg White (00:15:14):

Rare in Pakistan. That’s what I’d like to know.

Scott Luton (00:15:16):

So Igal let us know, uh, let know what city,

Greg White (00:15:18):

One of the contractors that I hired for a previous company was from Pakistan. Oh my gosh. It’s yeah. It’s outside of his Islamabad. I cannot remember what the name is. He was amazing.

Scott Luton (00:15:31):

Okay.

Greg White (00:15:31):

Yeah. Amazing. Well,

Scott Luton (00:15:33):

Uh, let us know what part of the country Mark Preston is here from Peachtree city via LinkedIn mark. Now we

Greg White (00:15:40):

Know where that is. <laugh> where the golf carts are.

Scott Luton (00:15:43):

That is right. Mark. Hope. This finds you and your family. Well, uh, let’s see here, Simon. She now that’s. We were talking about earlier. She is from the Western portion of France. What is that? Ah,

Greg White (00:15:54):

You pronounce that not, you don’t say the Tess.

Scott Luton (00:15:59):

Ah, just

Greg White (00:16:00):

Not, she’s just not or non something like that. Okay.

Scott Luton (00:16:02):

Yeah. Well, Savannah, great to have you here looking forward to your

Greg White (00:16:05):

Perspective. Uh, yeah. Maybe she can, uh, give us a, uh, lesson. Yes. Phonetically, uh, Raoul Pindi. That’s what I was thinking of in, in Pakistan.

Scott Luton (00:16:19):

So Randall says yes, ARBs number four in undergrad and top 15 in the master’s program. So ARBs doing big things. Uh, Maria, I agree with you. She says, I love how Greg turns on the y’all accent when talking about the sec. Yes, <laugh> Marie. Great to have you here. Yeah. Today. All right. I know we can’t hit everybody here. Uh, I see a lot of, uh, regulars and some new faces T squares with us. Uh, uh, Hugh is with us back with us. Uh, let’s see here. Uh, Steven, Adam Remi, uh, you name it, but great to have everybody and we wanna get y’all’s take from the, uh, storage we’re about to hit. So Greg, we better get, we better get to work. Huh?

Greg White (00:16:59):

Can I share just one supply chain disappointment before we do this? Okay. So, um, want a new chair ordered it from my opinion, the gr greatest furniture store on the planet, Ikea. Okay. Um, they promised me delivery in two days.

Scott Luton (00:17:17):

Yeah.

Greg White (00:17:18):

And two days expired on Saturday and now they’re promising me delivery on the 23rd, which is tomorrow, correct? Yes. Embarrass that’s right. Yeah. 23rd, which is tomorrow <laugh>

Greg White (00:17:29):

And I’ve done, you know, of course we’ve all been disappointed. And we’re gonna talk a little bit about that disappointment in, right. Again, in one of these articles, we’ve all been disappointed, but I, I was thinking about why that could be for Ikea, which is so excellent in everything other than that. And yep. I think back to when I ordered office furniture and had it kind of a similar thing happen in 2018, so no excuses there. And I think it is because their customer base is so used to coming into Ikea for a day at the store. Right. Okay. Their Swedish meatballs are pretty darn good. <laugh> not the best, but you know, that’s the United States. What do you expect? Um, and, and you can just spend a whole day in the store going, I’ll take that room. Right. I want this Cavor niche or whatever. Um, and <laugh>, and I think that they have never really built a delivery infrastructure. Okay. Because the order completely disappeared. Then it showed up in FedEx with a, an exception, something I have never seen before. Anyway, I think that, uh, one of you folks out there let’s talk to Iken up their game a little bit. Yes. I feel like they could really, really expand their business certainly in the states with a better, uh, order management delivery structure. Right.

Scott Luton (00:18:50):

I’m with you

Greg White (00:18:50):

Very disappointing. I mean, honestly, as a huge fan, unbelievably disappointing and no notification, just one day they say, it’s gonna show up on the 23rd instead of the 20th.

Scott Luton (00:19:02):

Well, you know, maybe that’s why everybody goes to the store and stands in line because they have such a tough time, reliable time and experience and getting stuff delivered. I know we’ve we have modified what we have ordered so that we can fit whatever they’ll ship and get it here whenever we need it. So Greg we’ll have to get on line with the folks over at

Greg White (00:19:20):

Ike. Well, yeah. And, and their customer service experience. Wow.

Scott Luton (00:19:24):

Mm.

Greg White (00:19:25):

I mean, I’d never had to have it. They have some bear named Duncan or, or something like that. And you have to go that didn’t help, that didn’t help like three times. And then he finally asks, would you like to talk to a human being really? And then I think I’m still waiting. Hold on. I’ll check. It was

Scott Luton (00:19:41):

Four hours ago. <laugh> okay. All <laugh> all right. So lesson learned, if you ship Greg something, <laugh> make sure got all the information he needs and what he needs. I

Greg White (00:19:53):

Mean, that’s not right. I mean that we should be able to expect more out of a great company like Ikea, right. That’s right. It has nothing to do with me. I’m sure. That’s right. Other people have the same story with the same or other retailers.

Scott Luton (00:20:06):

Well, we’ve got, yes. We’ve got some comments along those lines. It

Greg White (00:20:10):

Was online, Josh.

Scott Luton (00:20:11):

Okay. So let’s get to the bottom of it. So we’ll see if we can’t, uh, get some other experiences, uh, from the Ikea e-commerce experience. And by the way, Krista, we asked earlier she’s tuning in from Baldwin, Wisconsin so much like Greg enjoying, uh, probably a late summer in Wisconsin. I bet it’s nice and cool. Jonathan tuned in, from California where you’re sending love, which loved that. Uh, Jonathan, great to have you here via LinkedIn. Yeah. Okay. So Greg, we are ready to dive into the, uh, first story today.

Greg White (00:20:45):

I am, I am now, now that I’ve ranted. I am ready. Okay.

Scott Luton (00:20:49):

Nah, that, that, that was, uh, um, that was, I’ve seen the Greg white patented rans.

Greg White (00:20:55):

Almost everyone here has haven’t they? So if you’re new, just wait. It’ll happen.

Scott Luton (00:21:00):

That’s right. That’s right. Hey, we’re gonna try to get everybody’s comments here today. A lot of comments here today. So keep them coming. Uh, I wanna dive into the first story here today, which y’all may have heard about labor strike taking place in the United Kingdom as reported by Reuters here about 2000 workers at Felix St. Is that how we pronounce that? Greg? Felix St. Felix,

Greg White (00:21:21):

Uh, something like that. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:21:22):

Okay. So about 2000 workers,

Greg White (00:21:24):

I do an English accent. So I wanna

Scott Luton (00:21:26):

Try, whereas Amanda would say, I cannot do any accent. So I, I, that usually keeps me, uh, keeps me in line, but about 2000 workers at Felix stove went on strike over the weekend, prompted by mainly a dispute over wages. Uh, in case you didn’t know a little perspective here, Felix, stove’s located on the east coast of England that we’ve got a, a rough map, much a map here. Yeah.

Greg White (00:21:49):

Much smoother waters.

Scott Luton (00:21:50):

That’s right. About 93 miles from London. It is the UK’s busiest port handling about 4 million, uh, TES or 20 foot equivalents per year, and handles almost half of the country’s container trade. So you put all that in the perspective, though, the busiest port outside of Asia lies just across the English channel there, you see, uh, Rotterdam Rotterdam, port of Rotterdam handles over 15 million EU. Uh, at least it did in 2021. So the strike is expected projected to last, uh, about eight days. Um, by all accounts, Greg, it doesn’t appear, it appears that any impact or disruption is gonna be regionalized, you know? And, um, but what’s your take Greg?

Greg White (00:22:34):

Well, uh, their complaint is that they got a measly cost of living increase, uh, last negotiation and a measly 7%. Right. Which is a huge uplift by the way, but still less than the rate of inflation in the UK, which it makes our excessive rate of inflation 40 year high look measly by by perspective. So, right. I, I think what’s interesting is that, uh, about 500 of the workers accepted the deal, but the other 1500 did not. So really? Yeah. Yeah. The article goes into the port workers union, um, which is somehow differently different. You guys, I’m not gonna pretend like I know how that all works, but, um, but they had accepted the deal, but the other 1500 did not. So, you know, I mean, this is the nature of things. And what’s interesting is at, at the same time inflation and recession, they’ve announced recession in the UK because they’re honest about it.

Greg White (00:23:44):

Um, whereas we haven’t here in the states because we are not right. Um, <laugh> there there’s a little rant for the new kids. Um, but there, you know, all of that is gonna start to back up. I think salaries are going to start to, they’re gonna start to level off. Um, hopefully if these banks can get control of inflation and right. And I don’t think that they can solely, it’s gonna take some other factors, like most of us ceasing to buy things at these incredulous prices, but if they can, these people are gonna get a raise and then the price of things should start to come down. So, um, I know that that’s, it’s hard to foresee that and I would never expect someone on the dock to be that tuned into global or even their national economy or by the way to bet on that. I mean, what if right, what if economists are wrong? And I don’t know if you know this Scott, but on occasion, every single occasion economists are wrong about

Scott Luton (00:24:44):

Receptions. Sure. So it’s like sports predictors, right, right.

Greg White (00:24:48):

<laugh> I mean, if you’re wrong, nobody remembers

Scott Luton (00:24:51):

<laugh> right. Or the weather with the weather, uh, meteorologists, same thing. Yeah.

Greg White (00:24:55):

That’s what an easy job that is. Right.

Scott Luton (00:24:57):

<laugh> well, uh, excellent thoughts there. Uh, and we’ll see it, it’s projected to go eight days and I think it, it kicked in yesterday being Sunday here in the states. So we’ll see, uh, what gets negotiated and when we can get everyone, everyone back to work. Um, alright, really quick, Muhammad, uh, he’s in SAAP supply chain manage from Bangladesh. Great to see you here. Mohamed, uh, Balan is from the UAE. Ah, uh, you

Greg White (00:25:24):

Can hear to your friend Kim winter.

Scott Luton (00:25:25):

That’s right. Bet Kim winter, uh, pops in. I saw him busy, uh, over the last couple days, uh, Greg, quite at yet another event, he was doing some sailing too, but blonde, uh, great to see you here today. And chill is saying, go, Greg. Uh, so want some more ranch?

Greg White (00:25:42):

Maybe I know what she’s saying it too. <laugh> he is a recession.

Scott Luton (00:25:47):

<laugh> well, uh, Shelly Baah, Mohamed, and many others. Great to see here today. Thanks for

Greg White (00:25:52):

Tuning in.

Scott Luton (00:25:53):

So let’s get into the second, uh, article here today. Uh, Greg, you, uh, commented, uh, via one year patented and, and growing, uh, legendary supply chain commentaries. You dove into this, um, what’s going on over at Sally beauty shop.

Greg White (00:26:10):

Golly.

Scott Luton (00:26:11):

Yeah. Sally beauty, uh, stores, maybe this is new to me, you know, it was new to me, Greg. And then I Googled as I, I was kind of diving into the story. There’s like eight stores right around our neck of woods out here. So, uh, but Greg, let us know what’s what’s going on over at Sally beauty.

Greg White (00:26:28):

Well, I guess maybe only I was surprised kind of like you Scott, that it, things had gotten so bad because the comments, frankly, more than my commentary were enlightening in a natural fashion, I kind of of took it easy on these folks because I also looked into the fact that their stock, um, is down, but they’re fairly from a financial management standpoint, they’re a pretty efficient company, right. They’re just apparently investing in the wrong, the wrong products right now, because what I’ve heard since the commentary is that the shelves have been empty or, you know, gape for a long, long time. And right. And I, I was kind of stunned by that. You know, it’s funny how you have to look at things from the inside to recognize that obviously this is a company that’s doing a very, very poor job managing their inventory. What I did like about the commitment from their CEO, who, uh, you have to forgive me, I, I looked at the link and then I immediately forgot her name.

Greg White (00:27:30):

But anyway, they, they are very dedicated to making some changes and that’s good. Obviously they’ve got a problem in their planning process and probably my guess is the technology that supports that. Um, so they need, they need to obviously shake some things up and they are willing to do it, which is a good sign. And sometimes companies have to, I think we’ve all experienced this. They have to fall off a cliff before, you know, they learn how to, whatever you do to keep yourself from falling off a cliff. They, um, right. I mean, they, they have to really be hit hard before they go and, and, uh, address something like this. But what’s interesting is that they still beat their sales estimate, even though they lost 15 million in sales. Okay. They still beat their sales estimates. So that tells me there was clearly an awareness of the fact that they were struggling with appropriate inventories and that they’re committed to.

Greg White (00:28:30):

It is interesting and good. We’ll see. And I’m gonna track, uh, I’m gonna keep touch with some of the folks that made comments here because, uh, they brutalized these folks really. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It, it, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s not just a Sally problem, but Shelly had Shelly Phillips had some, yeah. It scathing comments and I think appropriately. So, I mean, if you read her commentary, it it’s, I mean, it is right on target from what I’ve seen. And um, but I’m trying to think Tempus Woodford also commented on it. Yeah. Um, Ryan Lynch, Tiffany Brewer is talking about how that runs through, um, retail and yep. But I think Sally is an exceptional case and maybe they, some companies do this when they’re public. Maybe they announce this as here’s what happened. And we are on it to stem the tide of losses in terms of the stock,

Scott Luton (00:29:36):

Denise polos, uh, the CEO, I believe present CEO of Sally beauty holdings. Yeah.

Greg White (00:29:42):

Polos.

Scott Luton (00:29:42):

Right. Um, and to your point, Shelly says, I hope Sally gets her makeover and she, uh, Shelly talking about Sally, she held back, I held back.

Greg White (00:29:52):

You can, you can almost tell, um, except that she said dull and dingy, right. About the stores. So now I wanna go in and look at a store cause you know, Alta, which I think even most guys have heard of, yeah. Alta is one of their big competitors. And I think, um, up, up around our house in Atlanta, I think there is a Sally store and it seems crowded if I remember it correctly, it’s next to a really good Chinese restaurant. Okay. Um, it seems crowded and, and dark. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of what, um, Shelly was saying, I I’d have to go look,

Scott Luton (00:30:32):

We will keep our finger on the pulse of what’s going on over at Sally beauty and enjoyed, uh, not only your commentary, but all the folks that weighed in as well. Yeah. I wanna, I wanna go back, uh, before we move to the next story, I wanna share this comment from Krista, you know, kind of along the lines of Ikea and now salad, beauty, uh, Krista says, I think there’s much need around on time delivery in the entire supply chain realm, not just Ikea, but many retailers, companies and stores offer delivery or struggling to get things places, uh, on time holding carriers accountable presents a challenge in, in itself, a big conversation Chrisa continues to say we are having with our clients and customers is that there was a big shift twice if you will. People were at home and were willing and able to be flexible with the deliveries that took place at their homes. And then, uh, I think that shifted, I couldn’t get the rest of her comment there, but lots of it, it it’s, it’s only gotten harder. However, Greg, as we’ve seen time and time, again, some of the, the, um, more innovative organizations, leadership teams, management teams, it’s looking for, uh, and implementing more effective ways to navigate the current landscape while also communicating very transparently the customers, uh, those

Greg White (00:31:47):

Expectations setting

Scott Luton (00:31:49):

Expectation. Yes.

Greg White (00:31:50):

I don’t get mad if you tell me it’s gonna be the 23rd that’s

Scott Luton (00:31:53):

Right, right. You’re so right.

Greg White (00:31:54):

Great. So if you tell me there’s a disruption that has now made it the 23rd, but when the date just changes on the right on the day that I’m expecting delivery anyway, that

Scott Luton (00:32:03):

That’s right along those lines. Uh, I got a, a mix, you know, one of those nice mixing bowls at a bread hook. I can’t remember the name who maybe cuisine art maybe, or anyway, I got it for, I got it. Uh, what, what was that? Amanda? You could type that in. She yelled from around the corner, but it was for Amanda. And the thing was, it was, it was a holiday gift or maybe birthday gift. Uh, this was, you know, two years ago. So this is right in the thick of things. Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> uh, so everything was delayed as you might expect, Greg, but man, you could reach and speak to someone with, you know, directly, they were upfront with what they were experiencing. You know, they weren’t promising something tomorrow that wasn’t gonna be here for a couple weeks. Yeah. And that has stuck with me and, you know, to your point, Greg setting the right expectations and being able to communicate with customers beyond the operational execution and new wrinkles, we’ve gotta, um, and difficulties, we’ve gotta lean into there. Just talk straight with the customer, you know, that will resolve so much upfront, uh, you know, and not burn people, you know, not, not, not make people angry, you know, Greg.

Greg White (00:33:07):

Yeah. I, I think, I think you’re right. I, I mean, I think you, you have to set the, well, gosh, Scott, it feels like we, when we were talking a lot about CX, right. CX is more than just what the website looks like. Customer experience is all about the entirety of the experience and right. And I, I think, um, a lot of companies, they know how to do it to Josh’s point, they are very good in the store. Right? Yeah. And they’ve set an expectation, kind of a European expectation of, Hey, expect to wait in line at the store. We’re gonna feed you and you can get ice cream right after you pay, which by the

Scott Luton (00:33:44):

Way is

Greg White (00:33:45):

Why I tolerate it. <laugh> um, but what they haven’t done, they’ve done a terrible job for instance, at Ikea of setting that expectation online. And I think that is where so many companies who are late to the eCommerce party, that is where they, they have enabled it, but have they really created a, a, a, a pleasurable experience for the, for the consumer. And I just think no, in a lot of cases. Um, and, and of course, you know, everybody was willing to accept a late delivery during the pandemic cuz where were they going? Right. Oh, I’ll wait an extra two days, I guess. Right. Um, I’ll just have I, I mean, I’m gonna have to make another drizzly order, right.

Scott Luton (00:34:28):

<laugh> deliver,

Greg White (00:34:31):

Um, in the meantime, but uh, yeah, I’ll wait. And now people are back to that kind of two day do what you promise expectation.

Scott Luton (00:34:42):

Yep. So I’m getting corrected. Uh, so KitchenAid was the brand, not quiz cuisine on how

Greg White (00:34:49):

Shelly knows.

Scott Luton (00:34:50):

I don’t know. Uh, maybe her and Amanda have chit chatted or something. I don’t know, KitchenAid really handled that well. And of course they had got great products. Um, I wanna share a couple other comments here. Josh says online loves to reserve the right to take two business days to confirm orders. If they have two days for delivery, two business days, uh, worked in the call center for two years, working with the lack of communication and establishing expectations. Josh,

Greg White (00:35:17):

That must be specifically at Ikea.

Scott Luton (00:35:19):

Right. And well that, you know, Josh would love way in let us know. Yeah. But I would love to, uh, I bet you’ve got some stories that you could share,

Greg White (00:35:27):

Could tell. Yes.

Scott Luton (00:35:29):

Uh, Jonathan you’re right. Transparency and authenticity. You’re you nailed it. We need more of that. And, and not just between, um, um, retailers and customers, but retailers and their suppliers. And I think Greg we’ve, we’ve talked a lot about that. There’s meaningful partnerships, that power help to power, the visibility that, um, is table stakes these days. So Jonathan well said there mm-hmm <affirmative> Krista says, uh, you both said it well. Yes. Transparency, expectations. I think a big thing is proactive approaches to issues that happen and notification to the consumer.

Greg White (00:36:02):

Amen sister,

Scott Luton (00:36:03):

Uh, Amanda’s confirming, uh, thank you for the correction. It was a KitchenAid mixer and one of my all time favorite gifts.

Greg White (00:36:09):

So Shelly also, uh, I mean also what

Scott Luton (00:36:14):

We’re gonna have to get to the bottom Shelly Phillips. Yeah.

Greg White (00:36:16):

She’s psychic. We definitely need her in supply chain.

Scott Luton (00:36:20):

<laugh> Shelly. We’re gonna have to learn more about, you’ve got quite the journey, uh, between what, you know, we get a little piece of her story with each live stream. So, uh, we’re gonna have to dive into some of the recipes she wrote about, Hey, uh, Luke small is with this holy

Greg White (00:36:36):

Mac and, and confirming the weather for Josh.

Scott Luton (00:36:39):

Yes. Josh, uh, you, you and Luke

Greg White (00:36:41):

Left it with an Irish accent also, which is super cool. I love to hear Luke talk. So if you guys, if you haven’t ever seen him speak, he’s got all kinds of videos out there. That’s right. Transformation pro right there. Um, and like super cool to listen to <laugh>.

Scott Luton (00:36:57):

So Luke and Josh, y’all hailing from the same part of the, uh, neck of the woods you’re gonna to get together. But Luke, great to have you really enjoy your digital transformation. Been there

Greg White (00:37:07):

Like Kia Luke and, uh, help them with their eCommerce digital transformation please.

Scott Luton (00:37:13):

All right. So moving right along, this is gonna be a jampacked episode, the supply chain buzz here at supply chain. Now we, uh, a really cool story. Got my attention over the weekend. Yeah, I think Theo, um, put the on my radar, uh, so love this news from Ben and Jerry’s, uh, as reporter via food dive, uh, as a company, which by the way, Greg is now owned by Unilever. Some folks may not know that, uh, it continues its efforts to combat modern slavery and child labor in the chocolate supply chain. So Ben and Jerry’s announced a new partnership with Tony’s Choco lonely hope. I said that, right? Uh, Greg Tony’s Choco lonely that is expected to amongst other things, improve working additions for farmers optimize the traceability of cocoa beans, creating more visibility about those labor concerns. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, but to be fair, many chocolate and candy companies have kicked off improvement initiatives to address similar concerns, especially in the chocolate industry, which by the way, is expect, uh, is expected to surpass 67 billion as a global industry in 2025. Now, Greg, what say you about this new partnership and what they’re aiming to do?

Greg White (00:38:25):

Uh, it’s about time and thank you. I, I mean, um, it, it got, it has gotten so bad in the Coco industry that I will just I’ll, uh, regionalize. So as not to expose specific companies, certain organizations in, in Africa, governments have had ceased to send chocolate to certain organizations in Switzerland chocolate companies because of their abject refusal to, to actually help kind of solve things with, you know, the, the forced labor issues and other tragic issues of the cocoa industry, which you can read about all over the place. So I I’m glad, of course, anytime Ben and Jerry’s gets involved, you know, I know there’s, I know Ben and Jerry are mostly figureheads now, but anytime they get involved, you know, something good is gonna happen. They’re, it’s a great culture. And I, I think it’s good to see a big company like Unilever, continuing to enable all of that. Yes. You know, uh, social impact that, that Ben and Jerry’s has had for so long.

Scott Luton (00:39:35):

You know, we’ve talked, uh, speaking of Unilever, uh, multiple times, uh, over the course of the last few months and some of the, uh, ways that they’re truly leading were global supply chain, what they should be doing, what we should be doing. Uh, so I, I agree with you. I, I love the spirit in which they’re, um, honoring how Ben and Jerry’s was founded and, and what they did from a do the right thing and, and, and not just do what everybody else is doing, but, but, you know, really, uh, lead. Right. Yep. Um, and Unilever is really, uh, as you put it, enabling that to happen and drive the impact, that’s gotta take place. Cause Coco being industry to chocolate, uh, global chocolate supply chain has really gained a notoriety for some of these, um, practices that we can, you know, we just can’t be tolerated. Yep. Um, so, uh, there’s one thing I was gonna share, Greg. Um,

Greg White (00:40:27):

Oh, I got a sec. Go ahead.

Scott Luton (00:40:28):

Hang on a sec. <laugh> Ben and Jerry’s Ben and Jerry’s yeah. What, what is your, my favorite flavor is cherry Garcia, and I could eat that by the barrel. Any, any favorite flavors on your end?

Greg White (00:40:42):

Um, I’m embarrassed to say, I don’t know the names of them. <laugh> um,

Scott Luton (00:40:48):

Moose tracks, I think is one. I mean, we’ll see Amanda Clay,

Greg White (00:40:54):

Their chocolate is quite good. So, um, but honestly that’s why I know as much as I know about the cocoa supply chain.

Scott Luton (00:41:04):

So cherry Garcia, Greg. Yeah. If you hadn’t had this, I’m gonna fix this in the next couple days, because it is, it is one of their historically, uh, most popular flavors and it’s, it’s like a, uh, cherry cordial ice cream with chunks of cherry chunks of, uh, chocolate, uh, course delicious ice cream. And there’s named after Jerry Garcia, you might expect. And I can’t remember. There’s a great quote. Uh, I took a deep dive into this thing not too long ago. Cause I’ve, I’ve eaten in my entire life.

Greg White (00:41:35):

You need to do a biz history episode about cherry Garcia, man.

Scott Luton (00:41:38):

We do. But he, he had a, he had an interesting response once he got the call that they were naming an ice cream after him, before he passed away. And it was one of those legendary responses enough to dig it up. But anyway, cherry Garcia, we’re gonna, we’re gonna remedy that and get you one of the best ice creams in the world. Uh, let’s see here half baked is one, uh, chocolate chip cookie dough. Uh, Clay’s a big fan of chunky monkey and half baked, uh, Marie, Ben, and Jerry’s everything, but the everything, but the, um, oh, it’s the, that’s one of the ice creams, everything, but the kitchen sink, I think, or everything but something. Yeah. Uh, hue, strawberry shortcake and cherry Garcia. So cherry Garcia is just some of the best stuff. Um,

Greg White (00:42:22):

I think you guys are just old stoners and that’s why you like it. <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:42:26):

Maybe so, but you know what?

Greg White (00:42:28):

You’re grateful dead fans, so,

Scott Luton (00:42:31):

Well, uh, all that kidding aside. Great move here, Ben. And Jerry’s partnering with Tony’s Choco lonely and uh, we’ll keep a finger on the, on the, uh, pulse of the real outcomes that are driven by these. Uh, so moving right along

Greg White (00:42:47):

Greg. Yeah. And congrats to Unilever for doing the right thing. I can’t believe we have to say that, but, um, right. But uh, you know, whatever. Yeah. I don’t care why you do good. I just care that you do good.

Scott Luton (00:42:59):

Right. And a as you know, me and you both know consumers folks, uh, it’s what we tolerate as consumers. I mean, do your homework, we should all, and I’m not pointing fingers. We should all do our homework on these different brands and really support those that are doing the right thing, uh, to end some of the TRAs that go on across global, uh, global industry. Um, okay. Enough of that, uh, let’s get into this really. I, I thought really intriguing article, uh, via market watch. So lemme share, uh, a few, um, highlights here. I’m not gonna say reader’s digest a few. Oh boy. Tick talk highlights here. There

Greg White (00:43:36):

You go. Oh man.

Scott Luton (00:43:37):

<laugh>, I’ve tried. We’ve tried. That’s awesome. Uh, and for folks, you may not, some of the folks here may be new for my, my entire life. I’ve referred to short summaries of information as the readers digest version. And lately our team here has said, Scott, no one knows what reader’s digest is anymore. You gotta update your, uh, references. And I’m trying

Greg White (00:44:00):

You on the five o’clock news, all the, all the 77 plus people that watch it, which is apparently the only people who watch news these days, by the way on television, they would all know what you’re talking about. Right.

Scott Luton (00:44:12):

Right. So

Greg White (00:44:13):

If you ever get a job at CNN or CBS or ABC or NBC, it’ll be right in the right audience for that.

Scott Luton (00:44:21):

It’s good to know. Yeah. Fuel, uh, food for thought. Um, <laugh> so this article here from market watch on the future of transportation and some of the challenges we’ve been discussing Greg for quite some time mm-hmm <affirmative> but kinda through a different lens. So this is, uh, this was written by Dr. Joseph Coughlin, uh, and he uses a trip to the tire shop as kind of a vehicle for spotlight and, uh, some of these supply chain limits, but check out these data points. That’s my favorite part. You know, some of these opinion pieces, which this technically is, it’s all opinion and no data, uh, and no real factoids and numbers and statistics, but this has got a lot of that in here. So check out these, uh, remember the $1 trillion in federal spending or thereabouts rounding, I guess yeah. On infrastructure that was, uh, passed not too long ago.

Scott Luton (00:45:08):

Well, the labor woes that can be found everywhere else in global supply chain, well can also be found in the construction industry, get this, the associated builders and con and contractors group has identified almost 400,000 open construction jobs as of spring, uh, 2022, that’s up 60,000 openings since last year, speaking of talent, even if you can hire workers, good luck, keeping them now take the automotive service industry. You know, like the technicians that keep your cars humming right along, especially if, if you’re like me and you don’t have that skillset or, or the smarts or the, you know, the ability to do that kind of stuff. The national Institute of automotive service excellence, education foundation, wonder who named that.

Greg White (00:45:54):

Wow man

Scott Luton (00:45:55):

Has <laugh> has found, what does

Greg White (00:45:56):

It spell? That must spell something really cool.

Scott Luton (00:45:59):

Must be. I hope so, uh, for a name that long, right? But so this group is this, um, foundation is found at 42%, 42% of automotive technology graduates staying the profession for only about two years. How about that for churn? Uh, and you know, that electrical power grid that all these EV cars that, that are really in demand now will be relying on in the years that come the I E E E, which is another professional, uh, society says that about 50% of the energy workforce may retire over the next five to 10 years and like many trades. I bet recruiting folks into roles like electricians are extremely difficult. They gotta be, cuz we’re hearing ads by every day on the radio for sports talk radio here in Atlanta. We

Greg White (00:46:48):

Were great. We’re hearing that before the great resignation, right? Yeah. Good point. Any, any of those skilled industries, H V a C electrical plumbing, what else do you have in your house?

Scott Luton (00:47:00):

<laugh> all right. But you know, you make a great point because we all rely on these talented, uh, parks aspects of society, you know, every day. And these that’s where I found this article and, and just the fact toys I shared and some the stuff in the article, uh, not eye-opening if you’ve been kind of paying attention to the labor workforce, but, but you know, uh, we’ve got some serious problems, uh, not, not even sneaking up on, it’s just gonna be here really soon. But Greg, what was your take here?

Greg White (00:47:29):

Well, it’s been happening for now on a decade now, right? I mean 10,000 baby boomers a day, leave the workforce one way or the other. And last year, 3.6 million on top of that left the workforce. This great myth that the great recession was all gen Zers, gen Xers, a lot of gen Xers, but gen Zers and millennials, um, is coming home to roost. I had an interesting discussion with one of my gen Z daughters who I won’t name, but you know who you are, <laugh> about all the power and freedom that they have because of the great resignation. And I’m thinking, if you want anything done, you better replace your grandparents who left the workforce because it wasn’t your generation who left the workforce. Right. Um, and I wonder how some of these things will turn out. For instance, the housing market is now the housing market is now officially in recession.

Greg White (00:48:25):

So, you know, um, new home starts are drying up. Um, my eldest daughter got her household just before the market. I wouldn’t say crashed, but it is crashing in some markets, um, started its big downturn. Um, and you can expect some of those construction jobs, uh, that were required to no longer be required. So I think we’ll reach some level of equilibrium in the construction industry, certainly, but I think one of the things that is so interesting, Scott is not only is there a stuff shortage, but there is a people shortage and as economies around the world, slow as those who are again honest, um, they confess that they are in recession, which many have, um, including, uh, China who has, um, an incredible problem with an overabundance of housing and now an, an incredible debt crisis because a lot of the developers are defaulting on their, on their debt.

Scott Luton (00:49:29):

That really quick aside, that is a fascinating story. Folks y’all should Google or YouTube that cause the house of cards in some respects in that industry, in real estate and construction in China, it is amazing. What’s

Greg White (00:49:43):

A little bit like 2008, doesn’t it? I mean for them, right.

Scott Luton (00:49:47):

Yeah.

Greg White (00:49:47):

Sure. Um, but, but I think, um, you know, there, in any case there, we’re gonna start to see some equilibrium here. And what I’m curious about is as the economy starts to come back in the next year, year or two or three, whatever it takes as the economies start to come back, will those roles be filled by human beings? Right? Because a lot of these roles that are being left open were populated largely by people over 53 years old, most of whom all, but the first three years of that are baby boomers, right? If you’re 56 or less, you’re a, or is it 57 or less? Whatever, you’re a gen Xer, but everybody above that is a baby boomer and they are starting to leave the workforce in even greater droves than they were before. So what is going to happen? You know, when that, that occurs.

Greg White (00:50:39):

And I think we’ve seen people staying away in droves from certain of those jobs, we’ve talked about fulfillment warehouse and manufacturing roles that remain unfilled truck drivers. And by the way, I think it’s great that everyone wants to nurture truck driving, but they are not coming back. Yeah. Right. And, and we will either figure out how to do that another way. Or we will always have a shortage from now until the end of time. Yeah. So, um, you know, we have to acknowledge these things because it’s not just stuff, supply chain, it’s also talent supply chain that is having, I mean, it’s having a, a great transition and disruption. The difference with the talent supply chain is that disruption is permanent. Some baby boomers will probably come back to the workforce because they’ll be forced to, by, um, by the downturn in the economy. Right. I’m gonna just call it recession. Is it okay if I just call it recession? Hey,

Scott Luton (00:51:39):

Your, your

Greg White (00:51:39):

Call. Yeah. Any, you deniers just gimme a call and we’ll talk about it. <laugh> um, by recession and you know, and, and the impact of that. But I don’t think a lot will because so many of them are at, or near retirement age. Um, and that’s the largest, that is the largest generation in the history of earth, the baby boomers. So there will be jobs that will be unable to be filled, uh, and, uh, you know, it’s concerning, but I really think we’re at a good time and space with technology and autonomous and various and sundry things. So people don’t have to do some of those dark, dirty, dangerous, and dull jobs.

Scott Luton (00:52:23):

It will be solved. It will be

Greg White (00:52:25):

Solved. Oh, UN questionably, it’ll be solved.

Scott Luton (00:52:28):

Um, really quick sharing a couple comments here. Uh, <laugh> Josh, uh, going back to how we were replacing our references, Josh says getting rad with lingo for the hip new generation of supply chain. Hey, we’re trying Josh. We are trying

Greg White (00:52:43):

Oh, with the to thing. Yeah. Right.

Scott Luton (00:52:46):

Of course. Shelling. He

Greg White (00:52:47):

Just gave himself up as a gen X or using rad right.

Scott Luton (00:52:50):

Radical Jim, um, Shelly you’re you’re right. Micro does have a very powerful message and he’s taken real action, uh, about these essential jobs. Excellent point there, uh, Shashi’s back with us from Dubai, right? We’re just talking about Kim winter and, and to UAE momentarily, uh, a few minutes ago, rather Shahi says here everything’s back normal, the Dubai government relaxed visas to ensure supply of talents. This is amazing for us here goes on to say, construction’s booming. Again, all the cranes are back in action, which means real estate prices are back like pre COVID 19. How about that, Greg?

Greg White (00:53:26):

That’s great. I mean, they’ve exploded here in the states and now imploding in the states and China and various and sundry other markets. So, so wait for opportunity. Shahi that would be my suggestion.

Scott Luton (00:53:38):

<laugh> Shasha great to have you here once again, uh, on the buzz, Marie, Hey, I love your way in, by the truckload here today. She says, I started talking to a contractor last fall to remove a deck and replace with the sunroom. He agreed to the job, took almost a year to complete. I think we were all kind related. Some of those lucky

Greg White (00:53:57):

He agreed to the job. Right, right. Yeah. I that’s that’s frustrating timeframe, but I mean, that’s just the way it’s been. Right.

Scott Luton (00:54:05):

Yep. Shelly says once her handyman retires, which is soon there’s no, he’s, she’s got no replacement. Lot of folks are probably feeling that pinch

Greg White (00:54:13):

Like you did. So yeah.

Scott Luton (00:54:15):

<laugh> Greg says companies really need to start mentoring the next generation and start preparing start preparing. Um, all right. So Greg, uh, and, and, and by the way, just to close this, uh, last segment out, y’all check out that was via market watch. Yeah. Future transportation as an article is entitled, is on a collision course with retirement workforce recruitment and rescaling. So check that out. Then we drop in the link to that, uh, in just a second. Okay, Greg. Yes. Again, jampacked episode here today. Right? Jampacked episode, we got one last thing to share with folks, uh, as we look to really, you know, again, we wanna be a, um, a clearing house of resources and perspective and expertise here at supply chain now for our global, uh, family. And one of the things we launched, uh, week or two ago,

Greg White (00:55:06):

Photograph that is first of all,

Scott Luton (00:55:08):

Well, you know, so get this, uh, so we had a label on this photograph, uh, and now I’m hearing from clay Phillips attorney. Now I’m kidding, actually that

Greg White (00:55:16):

No doubt and should

Scott Luton (00:55:18):

<laugh> right. That

Greg White (00:55:19):

Is, yeah. Make sure you

Scott Luton (00:55:20):

Come clay Phillips as he attended, uh, the Atlanta Braves game at some point, uh, I think it was Fri last Friday night. And so I thought it fit in perfectly with one, some of the themes we had with, uh, our new LinkedIn newsletter. So this, this edition came out Wednesday. Um, this edition came out last Saturday, uh, and our newsletters called with that set, right? So this was, uh, this edition was called moving heaven and earth with purpose. And that’s what that image, it’s like the heaven’s beaming down on the supply chain stage. Right. There’s nowhere to hide. It’s Greg, you, you have shared time and time again. Yeah. Well get this though, Greg, we have got maybe one or, or maybe two additions of, with that set out just in the last, uh, week and some change. And we are approaching 9,000 subscribers. Wow.

Scott Luton (00:56:11):

As of this morning, at least. So folks check it out, subscribe. So you don’t miss it. We really want it to be a complimentary piece yet really focusing on some perspectives you may have missed from our hosts and some of the programming, uh, some re some resources and other opportunities to learn, uh, going back to what John was saying earlier to network, uh, to do good. Uh, so y’all check it out. If you go to the supply chain now company page on LinkedIn over to the right. You should see a section, uh, under our events. It says newsletters, click there. You’ll be able to subscribe and read the past edition. And, uh, we’d welcome your feedback. Now. One last thing, Greg. Yes, go. And then I’m gonna get your take for the subscribers, the new subscribers for this, this week, right? Folks that subscribe in the next, uh, couple days we’re offering, it’s gonna be a drawing.

Scott Luton (00:57:01):

Everyone’s not getting this, our attorneys, you know, let’s keep us keep communication accurate, right? This is a drawing, but, uh, Billy Ray Taylor, one of our hosts here has published a book called the winning link. And we got our, several of our first copies. Uh, we’ll see about getting autographed, but we’re gonna give a few of those out to some of our early subscribers to, with that said our LinkedIn newsletter and Greg may be, it may be as impactful as one of my favorite books. Ray may be listening here today. The fearless frontline run improve, grow. Y’all Google that and Google the fearless frontline and Ray AIA, but winning link by all accounts early in the its release is turning some hits Greg with that said, mm. Your thoughts.

Greg White (00:57:48):

I think it’s a great place to accumulate kind of what has gone on in the week, um, for supply chain now and what that has led us to think or talk about or share or discover. Um, and I, I just think that this it’s amazing, first of all, 9,000 people in two weeks, that’s really pretty impressive. So, and it’s a cool accumulation of articles and episodes and just kind of general discussion. So let us know what you think, uh, by the way, and we’ll tune it. So that’s whatever you’d like to see. It’s not as cool as seeing us in person. Do you think Scott, it can’t possibly be <laugh>, but, but if you can’t see us in person, or if you want a easy link to what we’ve talked about in person with that said, check it out, I’ll leave it to you. <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:58:39):

With that said, and, uh, Shahi uh, if you go to, uh, supply chain now the company page, and in fact, um, uh, Amanda or clay, if we can drop the link in here and by the way, big, thanks to the production team, our team here to help make, uh, these shows happen. Thank you, clay, Amanda, Chantel, Catherine. Uh, but Shahi, if you go to supply chain now on LinkedIn, the company page over to the right hand side, you will see, uh, newsletter category click on that, and you’ll be able to follow or subscribe to the newsletter. So Shahi thanks for that question and the answer. Hey, you joined in here at the tell end of the party, uh, but welcome and hello to you from Houston, Texas, a really cool city.

Greg White (00:59:17):

We were talking about hot and humid today earlier today. Yaser. So, so welcome

Scott Luton (00:59:23):

<laugh> man. I bet it’s 115 degrees in Houston.

Greg White (00:59:26):

Yes

Scott Luton (00:59:26):

<laugh> but you officer, we go live every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time for the supply chain buzz, 12 noon Eastern time. So join us and we look forward to your perspective or

Greg White (00:59:37):

Subscribe to our newsletter with that

Scott Luton (00:59:38):

Or

Greg White (00:59:39):

Subscribe, and you’ll get a link.

Scott Luton (00:59:40):

It’s just that easy. And Greg, I wanna pick back up as we, as we start to wrap up here that will evolve, uh, like everything else. We, we launched it, we’re testing some things out. We’re tweaking things. Uh, we’re gonna refine it. We wanna make it as valuable. You know, there’s, there’s so many newsletters linked in and otherwise out there, we want this to stand alone and be, um, a really helpful and practical resource. So your feedback, we welcome it, but, uh, watch it as it evolves over the, uh, the coming weeks. But right now it’s weekly, uh, Saturday mornings and, uh, check it out at supply chain, our company page on LinkedIn. Okay, Greg, I am surprised it’s one o’clock and we have knocked out our whole, I don’t know how we did it. Yeah. I thought we’d be one 15 because we jammed a lot into this episode, but, uh, had a heck of a time. All the great comments. No, we couldn’t get to all of them, but, uh, it, we had a room full here today. Um, Greg, your final, final, final, final, final key takeaway. <laugh> key. What’s your final thought you wanna leave with folks?

Greg White (01:00:47):

Yeah, I think the thing that we need to identify as, and you mentioned it, Scott as supply chain professionals is the world is not more complex than it was before supply chain was discovered by the world. It is just discovered by the world. And I think it it’s important for us as practitioners to distinguish between those things that are, uh, either temporary or permanent, but new disruptions and the old disruptions that are simply more exposed and more aware to the common, uh, observer than they were before. And it it’s important also for us to not prioritize those necessarily by that, but also to recognize that because there are some things that companies have been really, really effective managing some companies more effective than others, and they shouldn’t change just because they perceive that the world has changed when really only the world’s awareness and perception has changed.

Greg White (01:01:47):

Mm, there is, there are at least two columns, right? That which has really changed and changed permanently or, um, or temporarily, and that which the world has simply become aware of a thing that has changed for instance, whether we want to confess it or not forever is the driver’s shortage in terms of transportation. Just my opinion. Remember not an economist, but accurate as accurate as one. So let let’s say that is something permanent. We need to take a different tack to that than, than ever given, getting jammed in the, in the Suez canal, which by the way has happened right before. So, um, or this new sh uh, and this is, was fascinating on with that said ever a lot. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, I still think they oughta name one ship ever a ground because they seem to always be, but ever a lot a, a ship that can contains that can carry 24,000 TEUs. Yes. Um, the biggest container ship in the world ever a lot, not the most creative name, but I guess appropriate.

Scott Luton (01:02:53):

Right. Uh, ever, uh, what, uh, Bobby, what should we call this thing ever? Uh, ever a lot. Yeah. A lot. <laugh> it’s got a ring to it. Yeah. Uh, alright.

Greg White (01:03:07):

That’s important for people to recognize is these things that the world thinks are constant and new disruptions. When we know better, for instance, weather, the, to, you know, to address Texas. Since we have some listeners here from Texas, the weather has been bad in Texas in the wintertime before, and we survived it and we survived it again. In fact, people don’t even refer back to it now that they can get paint in various and sundry other things. Um, so again, I think we just have to be, uh, more thoughtful, uh, and, and the cooler heads in this not be driven like politicians are by the woman fancy of the, of the greater, uh, public

Scott Luton (01:03:51):

Well said there, Greg and I like what Josh says here, keep your eyes open your Spirit’s up and your feet ready to pivot. There you go. That’s not accurate. I like Josh, you and Shelly and, and all the other folks, Greg Shahi mark Marie. I really appreciate all of y’all’s contributions here today. Um, alright. As we wrap, uh, check out Google, the winning link by Billy Ray Taylor, I promise he’s. He is one of the greatest storytellers. Your rub elbow is

Greg White (01:04:19):

Really and truly in person or on paper, by the way.

Scott Luton (01:04:22):

That is right. Um, big shout out to my buddy Ray, a Tia who made a big impact on my journey. Uh, I think these books are, you know, I think this, uh, you can’t find too many copies out there. Uh, so who knows? I might sell this one for $5,000, Greg. I Don depends on the depends on the market, but, uh, Ray, if you’re listening, hope you and your family are doing well, look forward to catching up soon. But folks, I would just challenge you, you know, think about as consumers. You know, we were talking earlier a couple stories back, we’re identifying some companies that really were doing the right thing. Right. And that is so important, you know, voting with our wallets that will, if we do that and do, if we do it more and more, we’re gonna drive more behavior, right. Because all these companies, you know, a lot of ’em are driven of course, by sales and revenue, if it’s important to the consumers, right. It will be important to them. So vote with your wallet,

Greg White (01:05:13):

You power. Yeah. Excellent. That’s point.

Scott Luton (01:05:16):

Um, alright folks, uh, but whatever you do, I hope to see you every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, we go live here at the supply chain buzz. Me and Greg are joined by movers and shakers across the, across the globe. Oftentimes most importantly, our supply chain now family that show up in the cheap seats to comments. And we love all of that perspective, uh, on behalf of our entire team, uh, Scott Luton and Greg white signing off for today, but challenging you as always, Hey, do good give forward and be the change that’s needed. And with that said, see next time, right back here at supply chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (01:05:49):

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.