The Supply Chain Buzz is Supply Chain Now’s regular Monday livestream, held at 12n ET each week. This show focuses on some of the leading stories from global supply chain and global business, always with special guests – the most important of which is the live audience!

This week’s edition of The Buzz featured Scott Luton and special guest co-host Allison Giddens. They opened the conversation by sharing the latest edition of “With That Said,” Supply Chain Now’s LinkedIn newsletter. It highlighted Armed Forces Day by taking the opportunity to celebrate Supply Chain Now’s Veteran Voices programming, led by U.S. Army Veteran, Mary Kate Soliva.

In this livestream, created in collaboration with a live Supply Chain Now audience, Scott and Allison discussed:

• The long lead time and increasing cost of spare and generic airplane parts, estimated to represent a $35 Billion annual industry expenditure

• How 3D printing is keeping the Air Force’s largest cargo plane, the C5, in the air – and plans to do so through 2040

• Signs that U.S. manufacturers may be moving their sourcing activity from China to Mexico because full Made in America production is too costly

• What is means that generative AI ChatGPT is now connected to the Internet in real time

• And more!

Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:32):

Hey. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, Scott Luton and special guest host Alison Giddens here with you on Supply Chain. Now, welcome to today’s livestream, Alison, how you doing?

Allison Giddens (00:41):

I’m good. I’m good. How are you?

Scott Luton (00:43):

It is great to see you here today, back by Popular Demand. Good

Allison Giddens (00:47):

To be here.

Scott Luton (00:48):

You’re on the other side. So I’m out, uh, let’s see here. East, west, north, south. I’m on the east side of the, uh, metro Atlanta perimeter. And you’re on the other side, right?

Allison Giddens (00:58):

Yes. And it only takes you four days to get from you to me in Atlanta traffic,

Scott Luton (01:03):

<laugh>. Hey, that’s progress. It was eight, eight a couple years ago, right? But, uh, anyway, great to have you here. Appreciate what you do there at Wintec, and of course, with the Dave Creche Foundation and a lot more. So we’ll try to touch on that towards, uh, the end of today’s show. But folks, welcome. It’s the supply chain buzz, as you may expect, a live show that comes at you every Monday at 12 in Eastern time. As always, Alison and I Alison’s sitting in Greg’s on assignment. Alison, we’ll call that Greg’s on assignment somewhere around the globe. How’s that sound, Alison? That

Allison Giddens (01:31):

Sounds super secret. <laugh>.

Scott Luton (01:33):

Okay. Uh, but as always, here on the buzz, we’re discussing a variety of news and developments that you gotta be tracking all the way across global business, global supply chain, and we want to hear from you. So use that, you know, share your, take your comments, your analysis, share what all that in the public chat and a k a, the cheap seats, uh, we wanna hear from you as well. And Allison, one other thing. So some of you, uh, listeners or viewers may be listening to the replay of the buzz. Hey, we encourage you to come out and try joining us live, uh, on LinkedIn, YouTube, or some other social media channel of your choosing. We’d love to hear from you. Okay, Alison, before we move right into, we’re gonna share some resources. We’ll say hello to a few folks, and then we are going to get through, I think we’ve got five stories to work through here today. So, uh, uh, Ji your Wheaties, Alison, think

Allison Giddens (02:22):

So? I think so. Let’s do this. Okay. I had a lot of coffee this morning, so, yeah. <laugh>,

Scott Luton (02:26):

I’ve been told, I’ve, I’ve gotta update that reference. If you remember, Alison, when, when you and I would go into elementary schools and talk supply chain back in the day, uh, I would say talk about Wheaties and we’d get all these blank stares from, oh no, the third, fourth, and fifth grader. So I’ve gotta update that. Uh, maybe, uh, fruity Pebbles,

Allison Giddens (02:44):

Lucky Charms, or, yeah. Fruity Pebbles, right? Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Scott Luton (02:48):

That is right.

Allison Giddens (02:49):

That’s, that’s a winner right there. Yeah. <laugh>.

Scott Luton (02:51):

All right. So I wanna, uh, start by sharing some resources here. Uh, so, um, many of our listeners and viewers may know we, uh, featured, uh, the US Bank team and along with, uh, G a f, senior Supply Chain Leadership, as we dove into the freight payment index for Q1 2023. As y’all may know, this free resource that comes out every quarter dives into, uh, freight volume and spend a lot of outstanding, not only supply chain observations, but economic observations, and then some. So if you want to sign up, get your free copy freight.us bank.com. It’s just that easy. And we’re also dropping the link there in the chat, so y’all can check that out. Alison, do you do any weekend reading?

Allison Giddens (03:36):

Oh, a bunch. A bunch. A bunch.

Scott Luton (03:38):

So what is, uh, well, I’ll talk, talk about what that said in a second, but what is, what’s been one of your favorite recent reads? We’re talking about y’all’s voracious reading appetite on the front end. What was one of your, uh, favorite recent reads?

Allison Giddens (03:51):

I think one of the ones I kind of keep coming back to is, uh, Dory Clark’s The Long Game, uh, talks about kind of strategic, long-term thinking, and I think that’s applicable to supply chain or whatever industry you’re in. It’s all about thinking about the, the next step. Not only the next step, but the ones after that. And really the big picture. So, oh,

Scott Luton (04:13):

I love it. A really,

Allison Giddens (04:14):

A really good book.

Scott Luton (04:15):

What comes to my mind as you shared that is critical thinking, you know, and how difficult, real, real, critical thinking can be. So it sounds like it was a great readout to pick that up. Speaking of, we were talking about your mother and all the Braves games she goes to. We’re talking about that in a pre-show. Well, hey, my mom is here, Leah Luton. She says, hello, Allison. Welcome to the Buzz.

Allison Giddens (04:35):

Hello, miss Luton.

Scott Luton (04:36):

We’re gonna have to get, uh, mom on one of these shows at some point soon. Uh, Vinke is here. Vinke great to see you here from, uh, Bangal, uh, via LinkedIn. Great to see you. Hi,

Allison Giddens (04:47):

Vinke.

Scott Luton (04:47):

And then Saed as well. Uh, Saed from Bangladesh, great to have you here via LinkedIn. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Uh, and hey, folks, we, we’d look to make it easy that back on the US Bank Freight Payment Index, we dropped a link. Y’all can click that and you’ll be having your own copy, uh, shortly, shortly. Uh, make, keep it easy, man. Easy button, Alison. We need more easy buttons in global supply chain, right?

Allison Giddens (05:10):

Uh, yeah, but then back to your point on critical thinking, right? <laugh>, you know, it’s, it’s tough. You want that easy button, but then you can’t go on autopilot all the time.

Scott Luton (05:18):

Oh, it’s so true. It is so true. Hey, Veit says, my critical thinking I do these days with chat g p t on my side, Veit. I love that. Okay.

Allison Giddens (05:27):

How do we know that he didn’t write that with chat G P t

Scott Luton (05:30):

<laugh>. That’s right. That’s a good question, Alison. Uh, speaking of, Hey, Donna Creche, Alison’s mom is here, too. Hey, Donna.

Allison Giddens (05:36):

It’s a mom festival.

Scott Luton (05:38):

<laugh>. Hey, Jerry, uh, tuned in via LinkedIn, uh, from Vinings. Great to see you as always, Jerry. And finally, T Squared, who holds down the Fort Force on YouTube, bring on the buzz nourishment. We got a lot here today. T squared. Okay, uh, I wanna mention really quick, over the weekend, we dropped our latest episode of, with that said, I think this is, uh, we’re, we’re approaching 40 editions. We’ve got about 20 already approaching. Yeah. Can you believe that you blank and you got 40 editions almost. We’re approaching 22,000 subscribers. Uh, so this one we really focused on a variety of things, but in particular, armed Forces Day, which was Saturday, and we took a minute to celebrate our Veteran Voices programming, uh, which is led by a US Army veteran, Mary Kate Saliva. And it’s our, uh, pro bono, uh, programming. We really are investing in ampl, the amplification of the veteran, uh, voice and, and their journeys and their challenges and, and their wins and successes.

Scott Luton (06:34):

So y’all check that out. Check out what that said. We dropped the link there in the chat. And check out Veteran Voices wherever you get your podcast. Uh, and finally, Allison, uh, we’ve got a, we’re gonna have you back tomorrow for a special event, but Wednesday we are featuring Market Dojo, and Dan Reeve with Esker is back with, it’s not Dan Reeves who used to coach the Falcons. Uh, all right, well, so Dan Reeve with Esker backed by Proper Demand. Uh, Greg and I will be hosting Con a conversation focused on, Hey, helping folks stay ahead of the curve when it comes to supply chain strain, supply chain strain. Alison, have you, have you, uh, experienced any supply chain strain over the last couple years?

Allison Giddens (07:14):

No, none at all. We, uh, we’ve figured it all out. Um, we have not made any mistakes. Um, oh, love

Scott Luton (07:21):

That. Really,

Allison Giddens (07:21):

That just, yeah. We take a magic eight ball, okay. And we shake it <laugh>, and then we say, where is our product? And then it says, please ask again.

Scott Luton (07:30):

<laugh>. I love that. It’s like a, it’s like the, uh, uh, poor folks version of chat, G P T, right? Yes. The Magic Eight Ball.

Allison Giddens (07:37):

Yes. Oh, you’re right. A Magic eight Ball is the original chat. G p T. Holy, you’re onto something.

Scott Luton (07:43):

Uh, we try, we try. All right. So folks, uh, be sure to join us for tomorrow’s, uh, uh, or I’m sorry, Wednesday’s, well join us for tomorrow too. But Wednesday’s livestream at 12 noon, and this is a great jumping off point. So I brought that graphic back because we’re talking on our next, on our first story about some supply chain strain, right? So, Alison, I’m gonna tee this up, and then I am going to get your take here. So, first story, in fact, the first of two that will focus on the aviation industry, one of our favorites here, I’m sure, uh, up first, as reported here by Reuters, with all the travel demand that’s been unleashed out in the market, Hey, we gotta keep those jets flying. And more and more airlines have been relying on used and even generic parts. Did, you know, it’s been estimated that about 35 billion B as in Bezos, is spent annually on parts and components for repairs.

Scott Luton (08:35):

And while these used in generic parts are a small minority of that figure, sales are taking off and penetration is growing. Now aircraft parts supply globally, they’re still recovering from labor shortages, lockdowns, of course, associated with the pandemic and other things. Uh, so the lead time on new and even repaired components can be an issue from a cost perspective. Use parts cost somewhere between 20 and 40%, less than new parts. And all of this is driving an absolute boom, a gold, uh, um, I’m, I’m thinking of like the, uh, the gold drive in California’s creating a boom on tearing down old and aging planes that canalize those parts as, as the term we use in the Air Force. So Alison, and all of this, again, is brought to us by our friends at Reuters. Alison, I’d love to get your take on what we’re seeing there with these, uh, spare and generic parts.

Allison Giddens (09:27):

Yeah, it’s, uh, it’s kind of wild. So I’m in the aerospace industry, and I kind of watching how a lot of these conversations are taking place. And remember, too, that during the pandemic, it was a really big deal that planes were sitting for a long time. Like planes weren’t designed to just sit on a runway. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they had to move, the engines had to, to run. And same thing with an old car, right? You don’t let it sit in the driveway forever and ever and ever. Um, so now that we’re back up and going, and now that demand has come back, and now that we’re seeing the need to use everything we’ve got, uh, we are seeing that in aerospace and defense industry, we’re having to be even more hyper aware than usual on what they call counterfeit parts. And counterfeit parts aren’t necessarily, uh, you know, somebody trying to be sneaky about something.

Allison Giddens (10:11):

I mean, sometimes that is the case, but sometimes it really is just about the misrepresentation of parts. It could be somebody along the supply chain who says, yes, this rivet is what I say it is. And maybe it’s not really made by the same, or isn’t the same material or the same heat treat of that material, which could matter in terms of the structural integrity of the piece. Hmm. And so you can see how all of these things could cause problems. You don’t, you know, when I’m getting on an airplane and I’m looking at the rets on, on a Boeing, I’m like, let’s just hope everyone had their certifications for this suck,

Scott Luton (10:46):

<laugh>. It’s so true. Uh, and you know, when I was a male stamping, we’d support some of the auto automotive industry. You know, it’s just like aviation things gotta be right. Cause lives are in jeopardy. And, you know, I loved what you just mentioned, Alison, stepping on a plane. I’m gonna go back to this image. I gotta tell you, if I’m sitting by the wings, uh, I’m, I’m watching the, I can’t help but like stare at the wings, and I don’t wanna see any flap move <laugh> in what appears to be in the wrong direction, right? It can kinda be a bit, bit of an anxious, uh, time for me. But, uh, that’s

Allison Giddens (11:16):

Why you just close the window. Just close

Scott Luton (11:18):

The window. That’s right.

Allison Giddens (11:19):

You can’t see it, it doesn’t exist, right?

Scott Luton (11:21):

That love that. Uh, and you also made make a great point. You know, these, um, billion dollar aircraft aren’t meant to sit there and just sit there and sit there. Things are gonna happen, right? And that’s what so many of these aircraft did, uh, during the, the pandemic. Cause we couldn’t go anywhere, right? Yep. All right. So we’re gonna move to a related second story. But first gonna say hello to Gino. Pledger. Gino, great to see you here. He hails from North Alabama, uh, unless he’s on the road traveling. But great to see you, Gino. Kim, winter Greetings from the United Arab Emirates. All I just spent a little bit of time, Alison with Kim Winter last week as we, uh, tackled a Middle Eastern version of the business. Buzz Kim has got not just one finger, he’s got all four fingers on the pulse of, of global business. And Josh Goody, great to see you, uh, as always from Seattle. I’m looking forward to your contributions here today. Have you ever been to Seattle, Allison?

Allison Giddens (12:19):

No. In fact, funny enough, they were on our very short list to travel and go see the Braves, play the Mariners back in 2020. And that was supposed to be May of 2020. Okay. And, you know, some other stuff came up. So, <laugh>,

Scott Luton (12:32):

But next time it’s coming, yes, next

Allison Giddens (12:33):

Time on a shortlists. On a shortlist.

Scott Luton (12:35):

And Kim drops a great factor. Fun fact, he says, middle East carriers are ordering nearly 3000 jets by 2040 folks, if you’re in the airline business, uh, that is j that’s called job security. Job security. And probably profit if it’s well managed, I imagine, uh, Alison. Yep. All right. So let’s keep driving. I wanna get to this next story here. Cause we’re talking about one of my, I’m a big old military air aircraft nerd, Alison. I was before I went in the Air Force, and I still am coming out to the other side as I exited in 2002 21 years ago. Unbelievable. Um, but check this out. So that is a picture of the C5 that is the Air Force’s largest, uh, aircraft, and it’s inventory. I, and I’m, I’m pretty sure Amanda and Catherine, thanks for your support as always, but y’all check me on this.

Scott Luton (13:25):

I’m pretty sure when it was launched, the C5 was the largest aircraft in the world, I believe. But it since has been overtaken. So interesting article here from Business Insider as it talks about how the United States Air Force set in the global standard since 1947. I added that in there, Alison. It plans to keep its largest cargo aircraft flying, so introduced 1970. So it’s already been flying for some 53 years. My math is right. Um, the C5 fleet has undergone a variety of upgrades and the Air Force plans to keep these big birds flying until 2040. Man, and talk about, um, you know, back to talking parts, which we’re doing on that first story, Alison, one of the ways this article speaks to it a little bit, one of the ways that the Air Force and its world class maintenance gurus have been keeping the C5 in the air 3D printed parts. So here’s a dig you note the rollout. And Alison, I bet you know this already, so th this is not a, did Allison know? This is a, did our listeners know, maybe I might

Allison Giddens (14:21):

Not have,

Scott Luton (14:22):

You may not <laugh> the rollout of the first c5 Galax, uh, galaxy took place here in the Atlanta area at the Lockheed Martin plant in Marietta, Georgia back in 1968. So Alice and I, I know, uh, I have toured that facility. I know you’ve been in there too, I bet. Yes.

Allison Giddens (14:40):

Yeah, it’s awesome. It’s really cool. What’s really fascinating too, is this whole, the conversation with 3D printing and airplanes that have been designed and manufactured over the course of the past five, six decades, because 3D printing, there has to be, uh, there has to be, um, how do you, how do you word the industry acceptance of the process itself? Hmm. So it’s not as though you could just take a blueprint for a piece of a C5 and say, here, instead of putting this on a traditional C n C mill, make it through a 3D printer doing this. Because if, if you’re in the industry, or if you’re kind of familiar with how this work, there are plenty of, uh, parts that require certain, what they call grain direction on parts. And that has to do a lot with the structural integrity of different pieces of the plane.

Allison Giddens (15:36):

And so, when you think about it, if you go to a 3D printer, and, um, a lot of these almost like powdered metals or, or composites, um, it’s not as though you can all of a sudden say, oh, the grain direction needs to be this. Hmm. The whole process of the manufacturing has to change. So it’s gonna be very interesting to see over time how design engineers incorporate a lot of these changes into more efficiencies in the supply chain. Because yeah, 3D printing, if, if you think about it, that that could be a savior of a lot of different printed parts, but at the same time, you have to make sure that the changes that are being made in the production don’t adversely affect the safety of the product or the quality of the product. Alison,

Scott Luton (16:22):

Excellent point. From someone that knows, uh, many of y’all that have called Alison’s, uh, previous appearances here, knows that she leads a, uh, a manufacturing organization that does a lot of business in the aviation space. So you’re hearing it from a subject matter expert for sure, here today. I wanna add to that, um, Alison, going back to what you shared on the first story, you know, our, our military supply chain, you know, in, in the thousands, tens of thousands of providers that provide parts, not just for aircraft, but all of our machines and, and some of the bad actors, Alison, that you alluded to on the, on the front end, man, that is so important as we lean more and more on our military to keep, uh, peace across the globe. So, and, and hey, those, those maintenance, uh, technicians and specialists and experts, I, I touted and I worked alongside those folks. I had the honor to do so. And they, they are amazing what they do day in and day out. So, Alison, I bet, uh, I bet you can appreciate, uh, those same folks, huh?

Allison Giddens (17:20):

Oh man. For sure, for sure.

Scott Luton (17:22):

Uh, all right. So, hey, John, great to see here. John Peterson. He says, uh, the B 52 s first launched in 1954 and are also slated to continue operating until the 2040s. It’s a great point. And

Allison Giddens (17:33):

So here’s, here’s some trivia. I have a question about it. Maybe John can answer this. I heard someone tell me in the industry that if you do any work for B 50, and maybe it was a, maybe it was the bomber instead, maybe it wasn’t, I don’t know. I thought it was B 52. If you do any work for them, any paperwork that you have related to the manufacturer of that part has to be kept on hand for 100 years.

Scott Luton (17:55):

<laugh> one.

Allison Giddens (17:57):

I’m cur I’m curious if that’s a true or if somebody was just making it up.

Scott Luton (18:01):

Oh, Alison, uh, we’ll see. Well, let’s put it out there. Hundred years. Yeah.

Allison Giddens (18:06):

Yeah. Maybe John knows. I know.

Scott Luton (18:08):

But you know, uh, and I can’t give the whole thing here today, but the B 52 is John speaking to, uh, it’s got a nickname that’s an acronym called The Buff Big Ugly. And I’ll let you, you, uh, use your imagination for what the last two stand for. Well,

Allison Giddens (18:24):

It’s also a great band out of Athens.

Scott Luton (18:26):

That’s right. That is right.

Allison Giddens (18:28):

So, yeah,

Scott Luton (18:29):

Rome is one of my favorite songs of all time by the, the wonderful B 52 s. But it shouldn’t surprise anybody. Kidding aside, the Air Force is, you know, has got budgetary constraints and these proven aircraft, even if they are older, you know, uh, they’re trying to hang, you know, hang onto ’em for a long time. And this isn’t new for the Air Force. When I was in, uh, the KC 30, uh, KC one 30 fives, the air fueler was still around. And some of those tail numbers, Alison, were from the forties and fifties at the time. So, uh, anyway, but, uh, God bless all the folks operated in these, uh, aircraft and, uh, keeping the peace around the world. Jerry says, um, nothing wrong with these used generic parts. If they’re inspected meet standards, and the source is confirmed provenance. Yep. As, uh, Greg would say if he was here, the safety record, Jerry says it’s good in the aviation industry. Alison, quick comment there. Yep.

Allison Giddens (19:21):

No, I agree. The generic parts, there’s nothing wrong with generic parts as long as, again, if you have certifications and you can prove that the part is represented in the way that or the part is accurately represented, then uh, yeah, that’s solid.

Scott Luton (19:35):

Agreed. Agreed. And hey, let me call attention, uh, if, if mom is still listing mom, the safety record is good in the aviation industry. We’re gonna get you on a plane soon. We’re gonna go somewhere. So mom <laugh>, take Jerry’s message to heart. Uh, all right, so Alice, let’s keep driving here. I wanna share this next story. Uh, cuz we’re talking about sourcing, right? And this is all about, pull my notes up here, sourcing and reshoring trends. So, as more and more companies are looking for ways out of China, for a variety of reasons, uh, reported hereby, supply chain, digital costs here in the US may slow that reshoring trend a good bit. Keith Hartley, c e o of Leva data makes a great point. In this article, he says, quote, sourcing managers have many variables to consider to make the best decision for the company, but cost usually takes priority in quote, he and many others point to the popularity of supply chains, moving, sourcing and, and other operations to Mexico and other countries in particular, Mexico, Vietnam. Those have been really popular destinations here recently. Um, Allison, your thoughts

Allison Giddens (20:46):

Interesting cuz you see a lot of the, uh, you know, made in the s a stuff pop up and everybody’s under a lot of pressure to, you know, buy American buy local, but then nobody wants to pay more <laugh>. So I think it speaks to that whole, yeah. Are we gonna, are we gonna be resh reassuring as quickly as, uh, a piece of us our integrity wants? Um, I, there’s, do you follow Diana Huff on LinkedIn?

Scott Luton (21:10):

Uh, name sounds familiar.

Allison Giddens (21:12):

She is up in the northeast and she’s got some cool stuff. She does. She is hyper aware of the maid in the USA initiative, and so she’s always identifying different things in her life that she could purchase or do that supports made in the U s A. Mm-hmm. And so she’s, that’s really, it’s kind of a fun follow. So I encourage you to check her out and, and see Diana stuff.

Scott Luton (21:33):

Diana Huff.

Allison Giddens (21:33):

Diana Huff, h U f F.

Scott Luton (21:36):

Let’s see if, uh, Katherine or Amanda, if y’all could drop Diana Huff in the link, that’d be neat to, to follow. Um, and as Josh points out, man Mexico, they have been doing big things. There’s tons of activity. Yes. Uh, and Josh has, Mexico has continued to make leaps and bounds and reassuring efforts. Absolutely. I imagine the U S M C A helps that as well. Uh, you know, smoothing, streamlining trade between Mexico, the US and Canada. Uh, of course costs, uh, access to workforce, I imagine are some of those. Uh, Alison, anything lastly to add, when, when it comes to sourcing stuff and ever-evolving global supply chain footprint?

Allison Giddens (22:15):

I think it’s gonna be interesting in the next several years. I think the, the Mexico and Canada, I think we’re gonna start seeing a lot more partnerships. Um, not only because there isn’t as a much of a language barrier between those, you know, us three as maybe you think. Right. Um, you know, so I, I think that, uh, we’re gonna start seeing a lot more, a lot more there. That’s

Scott Luton (22:36):

A great point. And it’s, it’s a very unique market between the Mexico, US and Canada. That many folks that are in trade will say, you can’t really find that, uh, that type of regional relationship elsewhere in the world. And of course, that’s leveraged quite a bit. Um, I wanna go back to, as we wrap here before we move on. You, you started your commentary with a very, uh, universal truth. We can’t have it both ways, folks. Uh, you know, if if you want <laugh>, if you wanna support stuff coming back, it’s probably gonna cost you a little bit more. So we gotta vote if you want to, you know, vote with your wallets, right? Also, um, Alison, when you shared that, it reminded me of, uh, uh, and if Greg was here, he, his, his mantra is, consumers are the beginning and the end of supply chain. So us cons, cause everyone’s a consumer, you’re, you’re a big part of it whether you like it or not. And so when you think about as we more and more demanding sustainability, right? And reducing, um, uh, carbon footprint and all of that stuff, but we can’t leave those rallies to drive policy and then go order, you know, 18 pairs of shoes to get, get it next day to try on all 18 and send 17 back. We can’t, you know, we gotta be smarter and savvier as consumers. Right? Your quick comment there, Alison. Yeah.

Allison Giddens (23:51):

It’s tough. It’s all, it’s, I think we are constantly grappling the, the, um, the competing priorities, right? Of, of our supposed elevated integrity, uh, to our immediate gratification. Yes. You know, it’s like, yeah, yeah. U s a u s a rah rah <laugh>. Yeah. But I really, really need, uh, you know, hair ties <laugh> put set to my house and put on my porch in the next seven hours.

Scott Luton (24:22):

<laugh>, right, man. Competing priorities. Yeah, I think you nailed it. Uh, let’s see here. John says, reassuring depends on the item and cost. Great point. For example, injection molded plastics have been a good reassuring item due to logistics cost and the prevalence of automation in the process. Excellent point, John. Excellent point. Uh, and our team found, uh, Diana Huff. So we’ve got that link as, uh, Allison mentioned the great person to follow us. So y’all check that out. All right. So Allison, get Josh’s comment in here. Uh, Josh says, good news is that Elon, Elon Musk said he wanted to use a webcam to do point of origin for the cobalt, uh, industry. Have to see what happens there. I agree with you. Um, Josh Mining in particular, right across the globe, really important workforce considerations, right? As, especially as we are trying to get a stranglehold on forced labor and modern day slavery, we’ve gotta really, really shine a big old, uh, flashlight into that industry and hold people accountable.

Scott Luton (25:24):

So Josh, great point there. All right, so quick commercial, Allison, quick commercial. Hey, we’re very frank and direct here. Uh, folks join us Thursday at 12 noon. That’s May 25th. As we bring back Zao and repeat guests, Mark Holmes with InterSystems. And we’re gonna be talking about realizing the power of real time accurate data to not only accelerate and optimize decision making, but empowering your people. So y’all join us for that. All right. So Allison, back to work. Not only am I a big old aviation nerd, I am definitely a big space nerd, <laugh>. Um, so let’s talk about the space supply chain. It’s a great read here from Axios, I think I said that right, that discusses the growth and evolution taking place in this space industry. In the modern day space industry, for example, the space business is becoming far more plug and play than it used to be.

Scott Luton (26:18):

It’s more approachable, massive players like NASA are interested in buying equipment like satellites and space, uh, spacecraft that are not over the top customized for your unique mission. They’re more and more willing to use kind of more of a standardized model. Trends like this, and many others are creating what I call a space for the people movement that is welcoming more and more players. Additionally, Allison, just like we’ve seen just about everywhere else, technology is evolving and making things easier and less expensive in this case, such as satellite production and launches. Everybody wants a satellite these days. So, Allison, before I, I get your thoughts here. It reminds me of, uh, when I, when I read this, especially about satellites getting smaller and getting more reasonably priced flat screen TVs. You know, do you remember back in the day when they first came out? Uh, oh, yeah. I don’t know about you. I can only afford the Michael Scott flat screen. You know, <laugh>, it’s about that big. And I hung on the side of the wall, but these days, goodness gracious, you can get one that’s eight feet wide. Oh yeah.

Allison Giddens (27:19):

Oh, a couple

Scott Luton (27:20):

Hundred bucks

Allison Giddens (27:20):

Need to take it, right?

Scott Luton (27:21):

Yeah. It’s crazy. But Alison talk, let’s talk about, uh, what’s going on in the space industry. It’s

Allison Giddens (27:25):

Really interesting because I’m, I’m seeing a lot of the conversation, um, and my industry overlaps a lot with space. And there are a lot of manufacturers in aerospace and defense that are also doing business in space. And a trend I’m seeing is that, um, that the space players, they want the work yesterday. Mm-hmm. So if you think that, you know, aerospace and defense and, and ground support equipment and aircraft, if you think that stuff was quick turnaround space, it seems like they want lead times that are yesterday. When do you want your parts? And, you know, you, you waited for ’em to say two weeks, and you were gonna hold your breath and say, you can’t do it in two weeks. And then they say, we want it yesterday, <laugh>. I’m like, oh my gosh. So I, I see, I, it really is a space race.

Allison Giddens (28:07):

It really is a who can be the quickest, who can be, you know, and I, that article talked about, um, the space junk too, right? So that’s, that’s really interesting. Cause that’s something that you, you have this concept in your head that like, I, I am really bad spatially, pun intended. I, I have a hard time grasping infinity. I have a hard time grasping the space of space. Mm. And I’m sitting here thinking, oh, but you got all this junk that’s gonna show up eventually. And you know, what, if spaceships run into it, okay, well, you know, what’s the likelihood of that? I don’t know. But I don’t know. Is it <laugh> then, the more stuff you have in space, right? I mean, I’m, I’m the idiot that’s gonna run over something in the road if it’s the only thing in the road, <laugh>.

Scott Luton (28:50):

Uh, I think that’s a real, real concern. You know, I’ve, I’ve read, uh, you know, since the International Space Station’s been in operation for, for years now, I guess that they’ve had some close calls, uh, with some of the space junk up there, right? And of course, that can take out, if you have a, um, I can’t remember exactly how fast they’re moving. I wanna say like, you know, 25,000 miles per hour seems to be a common velocity for satellites that are rotating, not the, not the, not the, uh, the ones that are, what is it called? Geosynchronous

Allison Giddens (29:21):

Orbit. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.

Scott Luton (29:23):

The ones that are staying still. But those are, they’re rotating. They’re, they’re moving. And so whatever you hit when you’re doing 25,000 miles an hour is not, it’s not gonna be pretty. Right? No. So I think, and as more and more, you know, Alison, I think your comments are dead owned because as the satellite industry is democratized, right? And there can be more and more players, there’s only gonna be more and more volume. And so I think the likelihood of there being accidents up there is only gonna grow. And then, Alison, we’re gonna complicate things as nation states begin figuring out how to, how to, how to fight wars in space. Goodness gracious. So Alison, I think it’s gonna be, it’s an exciting time on one hand of, of space exploration, the democratization of the space industry, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is gonna answer some of those questions, Alison, that, that, uh, you were pointing out. But then it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s scary. Cause you know, when we make things easier and less expensive, we don’t just do it for the good actors, we do it for the bad actors too, right?

Allison Giddens (30:23):

Right. Yep, yep. And it’s unpaved. It’s, it’s, this is, there is no protocol. There is no, oh, it’s how we’ve always done it. It’s, it’s, uh, yeah. It’s gonna wild,

Scott Luton (30:34):

Wild west.

Allison Giddens (30:35):

Yeah, for sure. All right.

Scott Luton (30:36):

So let me share a couple quick comments. And folks, with each of these articles, we have dropped a link, just like this one to the article. Y’all check it out and let us know what you think. Uh, Allison, I’m figuring out, we may have the wrong Diana Huff. So, so <laugh>, is that what that we have the wrong link there. I

Allison Giddens (30:52):

Was, I was hoping to tag her. So she catched the live version. I didn’t tell her I was gonna, I was gonna <laugh>, I was gonna, I, I thought, you know, surprise. Here you go. So she’s gonna, she’s gonna see the, uh, tag and go, what the heck, <laugh>, why are all these people all of a sudden following me? <laugh>,

Scott Luton (31:08):

Right? Yeah. Hey, Diana, you’re doing good stuff. That’s why. Um, all right, Greg, Greg, great to see you here. Just finds you, well always enjoy your perspective. He says communication is the key. This is going back to what you were talking about lead times, maybe getting out the information that you have, uh, manufacturing hours available, or letting people know you’re looking to buy in the USA with your supplier needs. Yeah, that sound makes sense to me, Alison. Huh?

Allison Giddens (31:34):

That’s a good call. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And there’s, and there’s a lot of, back to our C5 conversation and some of the, some of the aircraft conversations, a lot of those designs call out specific, what they call cage codes or, uh, specific manufacturers or sources. And so kind of by those requirements, mm, you are ultimately going to be using us, provided sources, domestic sources. So that’s always, that’s, that’s a good thing. Um, but yeah. Yeah, I think being communication is key. And that’s knowing what it is that you’re getting into, or knowing what it is that you can offer on the front end saves everybody a heck of a lot of time. That’s

Scott Luton (32:11):

Right. You know, what’s old is new again, uh, the importance of communication, you know, whether it’s the, this digital era we’re moving through, it just becomes much more important, especially as we’re moving faster and faster. And speaking of, uh, Alison and Jeremy, I’m gonna get your comment in just a second here. I read, let’s see here, let make sure I get this right. Um, over the weekend, I, in fact, I think we put the blurb in with that said, uh, on Sunday morning, yet, you know, Moore’s law, which has been around a long time, time, it really speaks to the speed and the advancement of the semiconductor, uh, industry, right? I think every two years or two and a half years, I think it doubles. Well, according to Google, the speed, uh, and the ability of AI is doubling every six months. How about that, Alison? That’s

Allison Giddens (32:58):

Wild.

Scott Luton (32:58):

It is wild, isn’t it? Um, alright, Jerry says, exactly. Space is a tiny and complex subset of the aerospace vertical. As a three pl I will be offering support for parts replacement and aviation, and then see if I could provide a unique value prop for space down the road. It’s not where I would start. That’s probably a good point, what you think. Yeah.

Allison Giddens (33:20):

Yeah. I, I agree. I agree. And part of it too is trying to connect with the people that already have the interest in aerospace. I think to start with the space side, I think you’re putting a lot more hurdles in front of you than, than you need to. And it might work for some people. I mean, you know, heck, sometimes it’s the craziest people that end up the, the most successful, right?

Scott Luton (33:46):

That’s right, Alison. Uh, but I think you and Jerry’s, uh, advice there is, uh, appropriate. Uh, come on, Lutton. Hey, finale gamer. I’m trying hard here to deliver the news to ya. Do you, do you happen to know her? Uh, that person, Alison, I didn’t know if Matt was gonna sneak in here and, uh, have a little fun with us. No, don’t

Allison Giddens (34:06):

Know. I think he’s gotta work.

Scott Luton (34:07):

Oh, does <laugh>?

Allison Giddens (34:09):

Oh

Scott Luton (34:09):

Yeah. Okay, good. I get back to work. Sa great to see you here via LinkedIn, and you ask a great question. And Allison, I’d love to get your take here as we’re getting off subject a little bit. But, uh, I wanna, I wanna address this because last week I assembled, or I was, uh, leading two panels, uh, with an and an executive from Walmart. But these two panels was focused on, um, reinventing global value chains. But also the second panel was focused on, uh, the warehouse, uh, the warehouse of the modern age, basically. And of course, automation, you know, like every other organization, the warehouse industry is really leveraging automation in particular, but to a person, no pun intended to a person. All of them, all of the leaders and experts on automation spoke about the power, still the power and the necessity of having humans involved, making decisions, uh, driving success, solving problems.

Scott Luton (35:05):

And while Alison, you know, as we’ve talked about here, thousands if not millions of times now, you know, some of the basic, uh, blocking and tackling and operations from coast to coast and really around the world is being automated more and more for a variety of reasons. But in particular here in the states, because of workforce challenges, right? Organization, uh, businesses are, are gonna find a way that is opening the door up doors and windows of opportunity, maybe the whole house of opportunity to people if they wanna walk through there and, and take on a more fulfilling and rewarding and, and challenging role. And that’s good news to my ears. Alison, anything you wanna add there to Saba’s question?

Allison Giddens (35:44):

No, I, I think, so I think human resources is going to be operations if it’s not already. I mean, everything you deal with in operations, you have people involved, whether it’s vendor management, whether it’s it security, whether it’s, um, the hiring and onboarding and offboarding. And, you know, I, I, my, my speaking to, we were joking about Matt showing up or not, my husband just, um, onboarded a new job and he, he was telling me stories about the onboarding process and how thorough it was and how great it was because he was left with very few questions. You know, there, I think that there’s a ton of value to no matter how much we can automate things. And no matter the, the weekend before he started, he had paperwork emailed to him that he could fill out online. You know, we can automate that stuff, right? But it was the stuff that happened the Monday after that. He was so impressed with that involved people. Yeah. So I, I think that no matter how much you automate something, maybe the automation really just gives us more time to insert the people.

Scott Luton (36:48):

Yes. Well said. Uh, Allison. Well said. I love that. Um, and Greg says technology advances exponentially. It sure does, Greg, and it’s only gonna get faster. Um, all right, so speaking, that’s a perfect segue, Greg, perfect segue. So thank you for that, Alison. We kind of wanted to wrap on this interesting observation here. So, so we were talking pre-show about chat, G P T I can never, I gotta slow down when I say that. Uh, botch it all at the high heaven. Uh, now Alison, you’ve used it. Catherine and our team have used it. I have not used it yet. I tried to sign on a couple times and it was, capacity was full, so I gotta revisit it. But, uh, over the weekend I was reading, uh, on Twitter, um, yeah, I’m a fan of Twitter. Y’all can find me at, uh, Scott w Luton.

Scott Luton (37:35):

Um, this Paul and his ha his handle is it’s Paul ai. He was talking about some of the biggest updates that chat G p T had just rolled out. Um, and he listed eight things. And I wanna share a couple of those here. And I’m gonna leave this the graphic up just for a second. So folks, y’all can read the full list and we may can drop it in the chat too. Uh, let’s see. Now with chat, G p t, Alison, you can detect trends and conduct academic research. You can use it to analyze the stock market. Now, that could be a dangerous thing if you <laugh>, don’t be careful about betting the farm. Uh, and perhaps this is my favorite. You can use it to take a complex event or topic and explain it in a way that a 12 year old could understand. And we need to do that more, whether we’re leveraging chat, G p T or not. So Allison, your thoughts on any of those new, um, new, uh, services that you can leverage there. So

Allison Giddens (38:30):

I kind of arguably think that it was able to do a lot of those things before this weekend. Okay?

Allison Giddens (38:36):

And it’s all in how you ask the tools certain questions and what you take of it. Um, in fact, Catherine, on the pre-show and I, we were talking about how, you know, you can, you can have it come up with a meal plan for you and even itemize a grocery list. I mean, you can, you can ha it’s just like anything else. It’s all in the questions that you ask it. If you’re, remember Hitch hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Yes. And the certain questions that you have to ask in order to get certain answer, it’s the, it’s very similar to that. So, okay. Um, I, I mean, I, I use it for a couple things. I needed to come up with a generic letter for something and I thought, and I, I started typing the letter in an email and then I got frustrated cuz my brain was already fried. And I was like, this is not coming out the way I want it to <laugh>. And so I went, I went to judgy pt, I said, write a letter, um, telling a so-and-so person about this. Yeah. And they spit out the generic thing. I copy pasted it, changed a few words to fit my context and sent it, it saved me 45 minutes of brainless decision making.

Scott Luton (39:38):

Man, man, okay. Yeah. So, uh, what you’re saying is I’m behind times on chat G p T, so I gotta go back to, uh, our YouTubers. Come on, Lutton, get with it. Come on. Luton

Allison Giddens (39:50):

Know. Come on. Look. Now keep in mind though, too, the, the data that it’s pulling is yes, I believe pre 2021, I think it’s November, 2021. So if you, if you were to go in there right now and say, tell me about Alison and Scott on supply chain now on May 22nd. Okay. Um, it wouldn’t know because it’s got data that’s older. So just like with anything else, you have to remember, you know, this is artificial intelligence. This is, it is only as good as the data that it’s ingesting. Yes. So I, you know, I, I wouldn’t take it as the end all be all. I would just use it as a support tool.

Scott Luton (40:27):

Excellent point. Uh, Allison, and that’s from a, a user, uh, that’s been using for quite some time. I would just add what Greg likes to talk about. Uh, when we talk about artificial intelligence, it doesn’t always guarantee it’s actual intelligence. So you gotta be <laugh> careful of that. All right, couple quick comments here. And folks, we did drop the link to that Twitter, that Twitter feed where it listed the eight things. So y’all can check that out there. Let’s see here. Josh, Josh Goody says, there was a great question I heard five years ago. If you had to go back to the 18 hundreds, what is the thing that would blow the minds of everyone? The top answer was that we have wireless phones in our pockets that are hundreds of times more powerful than the computers we land the people on the moon with. And we use it, send cat videos and check sports updates,

Allison Giddens (41:11):

<laugh> for those cat videos. Thank God.

Scott Luton (41:14):

Could you, could you just imagine having that conversation? Uh, Josh, that’s a, that’s a good one. I appreciate you sharing. Uh, let’s see, Veit, uh, says supply chain now. I’m happy that it is now real time. I wonder if that update is available for all users or just for the plus? That’s

Allison Giddens (41:30):

A good question.

Scott Luton (41:31):

G p t four users, I guess, is he referencing, is that a subscriber, um, level?

Allison Giddens (41:36):

Yes, there’s a paid version, yes. And there’s a, um, that’s a really good question about the update. Maybe, maybe that post 2021 is available. Okay. Shows you I’m not a paid subscriber <laugh>,

Scott Luton (41:49):

Uh, and Greg likes your comment there about data in and data out could also be put garbage in and garbage out. Timeless, timeless cliche. But Greg, I appreciate that. Um, alright, so Allison, man, we are efficient today. Not only do we tackle a couple extra things here on the buzz, but we’re, we’re not even approaching, it’s not even 1245 Eastern time pm Eastern time yet. So good.

Allison Giddens (42:12):

Just in time for a quiz. Okay. We’re quizzing everyone. Yeah, we’re gonna quiz everyone on all the data that we just went over.

Scott Luton (42:18):

<laugh>, they’ll, they’ll be using chat G p t to answer No cheating doubt. No cheating. So Alison, I wanna, I wanna touch on, you know, we had your mother Donna Creche on a livestream, uh, last week or maybe a week before as she was celebrating 50 years in the workforce and had a great conversation. You know, we’re all big fans of Donna Creche, but one of the things we touched on that I, that I know is near and dear to your heart is the Dave Creche Foundation, right? So, uh, some of our listeners may recall us, uh, having some previous shows around that, which it enables, uh, kids and their families in need to play athletics and sports because there’s all kind of fees and equipment costs related. But Allison, talk to us about why the Dave creates you foundation is so near and dear to your heart, and, and how can folks, uh, maybe support you?

Allison Giddens (43:07):

Cool. Thanks for the plug. You bet. Yeah. So the Dave Creche Foundation helps local kids outside of the, the Atlanta and metro areas play sports when their families are going through tough financial times. And, um, yeah, we support the, to pay the fees to these organizations, um, to make sure that the kid can play when otherwise maybe their family would, would have sports fees on a back burner, understandably so, as things get much more expensive and mm-hmm. Uh, you know, it’s, it costs just as much, um, money to put food on the table and keep a roof over a kid’s head. We’re seeing a lot of single parent requests. We’re seeing a lot of, uh, grandparents who have taken in kids. We’ve seen a lot of medical issues. We’ve seen some veteran, um, support requests, of course. I mean that all these, these kinds of, of very deserving families that they just need, need a little bit of help.

Allison Giddens (43:56):

So we, um, my dad was Dave Creche, the Lake Dave Creche, and he was a sports fanatic. And so when he passed away, we thought, well, what do we do in his honor? Do we do a scholarship? We thought, no, that’s just not, that’s not as exciting as he was <laugh>. And so, um, we thought, and he really wasn’t exciting. He was a, he loved to vanilla ice cream, um, <laugh>, so <laugh>, but he was a sports fanatic. He loves sports, and he was the kind of guy who would always make sure that somebody who, um, who couldn’t do something if he had the ability to, to make it happen. He did. And he did it under the radar mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so he, he was a true believer that if you have the power and ability to help someone, it is your responsibility to do so by your own merit. So that’s kind of what we’ve turned, what we’ve turned the organization to do.

Scott Luton (44:41):

I love it. And folks, uh, where can folks go learn more information, uh, either submit, you know, a, a need, uh, or support the organization? Where can they go, Alison? Sure.

Allison Giddens (44:51):

Dave creche.com. D a v e k r A c h e.com. And, uh, awesome. Yeah, there’s information on the website whether you need our help or whether you would like to help.

Scott Luton (45:02):

Wonderful. I appreciate that. Appreciate what, appreciate and admire what y’all do. Real action oriented, results oriented, outcomes oriented, uh, uh, nonprofit is doing great work. Uh, and as, yeah, as Donna says, Hey, thank you all for telling everybody about the Dave Creche Foundation. You bet, Donna. And we’ve dropped the link. Y’all can check out the website there. One click away from learning more, and hey, I hope I can say this, and Alison, if I can’t, Donna, you can break my legs later. But over the weekend, uh, you know, dusty Rhodes is making a comeback. Alison didn’t know if you know that or not, but his, uh, between, and Dusty Rhodes, by the way, is a big wrestling legend. You know, he was really popular back in the seventies and eighties and and nineties, early nineties maybe. And he was one of the best wrestling interviews, wrestling, wrestling interviews you’d ever hear. Right? And so folks in Facebook, memes and stories where I’ve seen all these, just these little snippets of all the craziness that he would share was I was dropping something in Facebook over the weekend about, uh, how I thought Dusty Rhodes and Magnum TA walked on water back when I was a kid. Donna Croci mentioned how Dave Croci was a big wrestling fan, <laugh>, and I think Alison, I may get this wrong, but Donna said something like how Dave once said the N f NFL’s fake, but wrestling’s real

Allison Giddens (46:22):

Wrestling is real <laugh>. Yes. That was, that was a common Oh yeah.

Scott Luton (46:27):

Oh, oh, yeah. Love it. And that’s, and when you, you know, when you talk wrestling, you gotta, you gotta call it raslan, w r wrestling, a S s l I n apostrophe. Um, all right. So Allison, uh, really enjoyed your perspective here today, especially as we talked about, um, sourcing and the aviation industry where you’re, you know, day in, day out, you and your team are doing excellent work there. Um, how can folks beyond Dave Creche Foundation, how can folks, I know you do, you get out and you do a lot of keynotes, uh, you do a lot of industry work, um, and a lot more. How can folks connect with you? Uh, Alison Giddens

Allison Giddens (47:01):

Definitely come see me on, on LinkedIn. I’m pretty active there, so find me. I think I’m Alison Giddens on LinkedIn, so yeah,

Scott Luton (47:09):

It’s just that easy. It is just that it is easy. The link to her LinkedIn profile is there in the show notes. Uh, Alison really have enjoyed, and we’re gonna have you back tomorrow. We’ve got a great livestream set tomorrow. Yeah.

Allison Giddens (47:21):

I’m looking forward to it.

Scott Luton (47:22):

Yeah. The, uh, automation for the people, it wasn’t not an rem album, automatic, automatic for the people, people as the r e m album. We’re

Allison Giddens (47:30):

Gonna be performing cover songs from that album,

Scott Luton (47:32):

<laugh>,

Allison Giddens (47:33):

So please join us.

Scott Luton (47:35):

Oh, man. We’re folks are gonna le they’re gonna, uh, avoid that light the plague. No, yeah, no one will show up. <laugh>, we’re talking about the, uh, automation imperative tomorrow. Uh, so y’all join us, uh, for 12 noon as Alice and I host that conversation. But folks, uh, thank you for all that showed up and, and shared all the great comments here. Today is one of my favorite things as we, uh, continue down this journey. Big thanks to all the production team, Catherine, Amanda, Chantel, you name it, uh, help make today’s session happen. Alison, a pleasure to knock out the supply chain buds with you here today. Great

Allison Giddens (48:08):

To be here. Thanks for having me. Sorry, Greg. We had fun without you, <laugh>.

Scott Luton (48:11):

That’s right. We, Hey, Greg’s, be back soon. Uh, but Greg, safe travels wherever you are. But folks, whatever you do, and I hope you can take a nugget that you learned here today, or some advice and expertise, you name it and put it in action, deeds, not words. That’s what we challenge you with. And as we wrap here today, 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 that’s needed. And with that said, we’ll see you next time, right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Scott Luton (48:42):

Thanks

Intro/Outro (48:42):

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.