Clogged ports, executive action, more inflation and The Winning Link! The Buzz is on for June 13 and Scott and Greg are teaming up with Billy Taylor, host of our NEW podcast program, The Winning Link, to discuss the top supply chain headlines of the day. Tune in for their thoughts on Target’s inventory problem, the upward trajectory of inflation, the arrival of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 and more.

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 (00:00:31):

Hey, good morning, Scott Luton, Greg White, and Billy Taylor here with you on supply chain. Now, welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how you doing?

Greg White (00:00:40):

I’m doing great. Even better since Billy’s here. I mean, not that you’re not great Scott <laugh> but how you doing Billy?

Billy Taylor (00:00:46):

Good. If I was even better, Greg, I’d pay them to let me go to work.

Scott Luton (00:00:51):

<laugh> all right. That’s a new one. I’ve heard about 17,000 different different iterations of that. And that’s a new informing Billy and, and of course, Greg, of course, that would come from the one and only Billy Ray Taylor. So great to have you here own the supply chain buds, where we share some of the leading stories across global business. We’re gonna be discussing a variety wide variety of topics initiatives here today. So buckle up and get ready because Greg and Billy, we want to hear from all the great folks in the audience like Josh and Brenda and kaon. And we’re gonna give some more shout outs here momentarily. So, uh, Billy and Greg, y’all ready to get down. We, we gotta share some programming notes. Is that okay with y’all too? Absolutely.

Greg White (00:01:29):

Yeah, let’s do that.

Scott Luton (00:01:31):

So, uh, y’all see that Amanda Katherine and Chantel the production team big. Thanks. What you do. I gotta make sure I get permission from Greg and Billy, uh, to make sure as we work through all the different segments, uh, the bosses here. Okay. Right. So <laugh> so let’s, uh, let’s share a couple things. So Greg, this has been percolating for quite some time. We had a great prep call late last week. Uh, latest one, uh, webinar tomorrow is free to attend June 14th at 12 noon. The link isn’t gonna be in the comments here momentarily. Can AI Greg be the unexpected ally for demand planners? What are you looking forward to tomorrow, Greg?

Greg White (00:02:07):

Uh, yeah, I’m looking forward to it because I, I believe it can. And um, I’ve been a demand planner and I’ve built technology that served demand planners in the past. And I know what a thankless job that is, right. The saying goes, if you’re overstocked, it’s your fault. If you’re outta stock, it’s your fault. And if anything happens to go right, and things go, well, thank goodness to the sales team.

Scott Luton (00:02:33):

<laugh> Billy, you’re shaking your head as, as if you’ve maybe experienced that first hand.

Billy Taylor (00:02:38):

Absolutely. You know, I, I, I, I, I compare it to being an offensive lineman on the football team. Right. You only get recognized when you jump off sides. Right.

Greg White (00:02:49):

That’s right, right. Or let the quarterback get sacked. No doubt.

Scott Luton (00:02:52):

Right. Love that

Greg White (00:02:53):

Billy, we used, used to have meetings. We called, how did you hurt the company yesterday meetings,

Billy Taylor (00:02:58):

Right? Yes. <laugh>,

Greg White (00:03:00):

That’s pretty much what they were

Billy Taylor (00:03:01):

About. That’s exactly it.

Greg White (00:03:03):

So there’s, I mean, there’s a huge opportunity to fix that. Of course, demand planners are trying to do the right things. And usually frankly, it’s because of the data or the tools that they have, that they’re unable to do a better job.

Billy Taylor (00:03:14):

Absolutely. And you know,

Scott Luton (00:03:16):

Great, good stuff. We gotta get Billy and Greg, we get your, get your own webinar talking AI and all the football analogies that could come out of that. But folks, June 14th, that’s tomorrow already. We’re in, mid-June already 12 in Eastern time. You’re not going wanna miss it’s a live webinar. And uh, you gotta sign up to join us. Uh, good thing is that is free of charge. Okay. Secondly, Greg, we’ve been talking about this quite some time. Our dear friend, John gold and the whole NRF team. Yeah. One of the best things going when it comes to voices, uh, for retail and modern, innovative forward looking retail, they’ve got supply chain 360 coming up just around the corner next week, June 20th, 21st in Cleveland, Ohio, not too far from Billy’s, um, uh, neck of the woods, but Greg, what, what, what are you looking most forward to about this event coming up?

Greg White (00:04:06):

Well, it’s, it’s an NRF event, which it means quality anyway, the national retail Federation, which probably ought to be called the international retail Federation. I mean, biggest, most powerful most, um, I mean strongest in terms of resources and, and knowledge and do bring the world’s retailers and their suppliers and their technology providers together every year at the big show, this is the supply chain version of the big show. Yep. That’s right. Uh, completely focused on supply chain. It’s I mean, it’s gonna be qu a ton of quality speakers, a lot of discussions. Um, I mean it’s and a lot of knowledge shared, so it’s gonna be really incredible if you’re a retailer, you better be there.

Scott Luton (00:04:48):

It’s a place to be. <laugh>, it’s a place to be other than the buzz next week, next Monday. Um, but really quick, Billy, you know, Cleveland, I think. Um, well, how far is Cleveland from, uh, um, Akron?

Billy Taylor (00:05:03):

So it’s really about a 30 minute drive.

Scott Luton (00:05:05):

Okay. That’s piece of cake. What should folks not miss the opportunity to do in Cleveland? If they’re making a trip,

Billy Taylor (00:05:11):

What’s a combination of rock and roll hall of fames. There’s, uh, those that in theater, they have the, the, the Playhouse square down downtown. And in Akron you have the NFL football hall of fame. So at 30 minute drive, you, you should miss that. My parents just came up this weekend for my son’s graduation party and they had to hit the hall of fame.

Scott Luton (00:05:31):

<laugh> that is awesome. Wait, did

Greg White (00:05:33):

They really? Wow. That’s cool. Absolutely

Billy Taylor (00:05:35):

Absolutely.

Greg White (00:05:36):

Shades of things to come, Billy,

Billy Taylor (00:05:40):

A football

Greg White (00:05:41):

Player, an owner.

Billy Taylor (00:05:44):

My mom, when we didn’t make the grade NFL stands for not for long. Right. <laugh>

Greg White (00:05:51):

That is so true.

Scott Luton (00:05:53):

Yeah. Well, so y’all check out NFS supply chain 360 links in the comments. And of course we got, we got, um, on the ground market Intel from, uh, Billy Ray Taylor. Okay. So we’ve got a full crowd. Uh, I’m gonna say hello to a few folks. We got a couple new faces, Greg and Billy, which is always exciting. Uh, we’ll lead off with Mr. Reliable, Josh goody tuned in from rainy Seattle. Uh, there was a comparison this morning said it was colder here than in Alaska. Wow. Dang.

Greg White (00:06:24):

What is, is that well, let’s let’s know the temperature. Josh, give us the full weather report.

Scott Luton (00:06:28):

We’ve gotta have the data, Josh goody. We’ve gotta have the data. Uh, Hey, great to see you, Brenda Allen. Good morning. She says from Sunday Springfield, Tennessee, as they continue to ramp up production and fight the good fight in their company. Uh, great to see you again, Brenda, enjoyed your perspective on Friday. Of course, Catherine, Chantel and Amanda are here with us. Couldn’t do anything without the, uh, wonderful production team. Uh, kaon Mr. Uh, the new abnormal right first, the first person I’d heard use that phrase was kaon so happy Monday to you, wherever you are. Uh kaon. And let us know where you’re tuned in today. Kavon, we hadn’t asked you that question in a while. Um, typically it’s Harran but what part of the country, uh, let’s see here, Greg and Billy Sylvia. Judy, the great ambassador for supply chain in Charleston, South Carolina is here this Monday, zero vessels on Anchorage in Charleston. How about that, Greg?

Greg White (00:07:21):

Yeah, well maybe we oughta sh send a shoot few over from Savannah. Let me check Savannah while we do that while we’re doing that. And I’ll give you an update on Savannah

Scott Luton (00:07:30):

We’ll circle back on that, uh, Jez, Jez or jam, uh, let me know which allowable to put the and fastest on. Um, you know, me, uh, my three kids, give me my plenty of pronunciation problems, but Hey, welcome here today. I’m gonna go with Jez welcome and let us know. Oh, you’re tuned in from Raleigh Durham via LinkedIn. Great to have you looking forward to your perspective throughout, uh, today’s conversation, uh, can, is back with us, uh they’re with us last week as well. So great to see you. They remind us where you’re tuned in from they’ via LinkedIn, uh, Noman tuned in via LinkedIn. Hey, let us know. We’d like to connect the dots. I think Greg is ready to give us that Savannah update.

Greg White (00:08:16):

I’m I’m not ready, but I have it. It’s about 27 vessels anchored. Wow. And, uh, numerous moving in and out of the port now, uh, what I’ve heard and if there’s anybody, uh, at the Savannah port can confirm or refute, this is that they have a lift or two down at the port, but this is by the way, enormous for that port. Um, and also counter to what all of the other ports around the country are experiencing, right? I mean, because shipping has largely stopped or come way, way down because of the shutdowns in China, everyone else has cleared their docks or is clearing their docks. Um, so this is unfortunate. <laugh>, uh, kind of situation here, but I think maybe they’re taking the opportunity for lower volume. I don’t know if it went down for maintenance or it went down broken. Hmm. Tell you what Scott, actually later in the week I’m gonna be in Savannah. So I will go take a look at the port, please do,

Scott Luton (00:09:19):

And see what’s up and send us back some beautiful bean footage. We want to see you at the port of Savannah straightening, everything out <laugh> uh, so, so Billy you’re you’re nodding your head. I bet you’ve been in and out of, of various ports around the world. Uh, any quick comments? No,

Billy Taylor (00:09:36):

That’s what Greg said. It’s it’s chaotic, right?

Scott Luton (00:09:39):

It is. It is. We got some work to do

Billy Taylor (00:09:41):

Very vulnerable.

Scott Luton (00:09:43):

Yep. Gene pledger from Northern Alabama is back with us. Gene. Hope this finds you well. And folks, if you’re not connected with gene on LinkedIn or at least following him, do that, he shares some great content regularly. Uh, let’s see here. Um, Mubarak is with us via LinkedIn from Nigeria. Welcome. Uh, look forward to your perspective here. Lisa Eckles is here from Memphis, Tennessee. We’re just, Memphis has been an ongoing trend in these live streams here lately. Uh, good. And then finally, Josh goody he’s come back with the data. It’s 50 degrees. Wow. Inside his office. Wow. How about that?

Greg White (00:10:19):

What did, what did the two of you wake up to this morning?

Billy Taylor (00:10:22):

<laugh>

Scott Luton (00:10:23):

It was hot, Billy?

Billy Taylor (00:10:25):

No, it was, uh, it was warm. It was warm. Wasn’t quite hot yet in Ohio

Scott Luton (00:10:31):

80? Yes.

Greg White (00:10:32):

80 at 6:00 AM.

Scott Luton (00:10:35):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I’m not sure what it was here, but it was hot and dripping with humidity as I

Greg White (00:10:40):

Drinking cold coffee on the back patio.

Scott Luton (00:10:44):

All right. So James, thank you very much.

Greg White (00:10:46):

Okay,

Scott Luton (00:10:46):

James, just with a Z. I love that. All right. So James, welcome, welcome. And looking forward to your perspective, Tiran, uh, Keon is in Tiran. Uh, I Iran so great to see ya. Um, as always, and that’s of course that’s the capital of the country, right? So, um, let us know, give us, we hadn’t gotten an update on what Keon has been up to, you know, he, he was earning his PhD, so give us the latest, uh kaon okay.

Greg White (00:11:11):

Now I’m waiting for him to put the letters behind his name in his right. That’s

Scott Luton (00:11:14):

Right profile. Yeah.

Greg White (00:11:17):

You can do that once you have him do it.

Scott Luton (00:11:20):

One last point here, uh, Sylvia says, you know, we’re talking ports, throwing the labor strike with the dock workers in Germany. The hits do keep on coming for sure.

Greg White (00:11:30):

Yeah. Well on a potentially pending one, um, I L w U is that’s right. Um, is whatever very on very shaky ground right now.

Scott Luton (00:11:41):

That’s right. Um, okay, so welcome everybody. Nobody could hit everybody. Welcome. Welcome. We look forward to your perspective throughout today’s conversation, a jampacked conversation. We got a lot that me, Greg and Billy are gonna be working our way through, and we’re gonna start, we’re gonna start folks with, um, a big topic that has really, uh, taken the market by storm. Uh, gotten a lot of chatter, a lot of observations and interest, and that’s all about this. Um, you know, this, this hot news story from our friends at retail dive that involves some decisions that are being made over at target, but in the bigger picture, Greg, as you, as you’ve been speaking to this last week or so, um, you know, it’s not all about target. It’s more about what we need to change in the bigger picture when it comes to global supply chain. So tell us more about this and then we’re gonna circle back for Billy’s take.

Greg White (00:12:32):

So this was an interesting article that I, uh, published a commentary on, I think, was it Wednesday Scott? I believe it was Wednesday last week. Yep. Really interesting. Uh, what’s going on there? Uh, just two months ago or so the, um, leaders of supply chain and, and generally at executive leaders at, at target were crowing about how superior they were. And they were gonna spend four to $5 billion a month, um, building up their fulfillment infrastructure and, and they had just announced that they were gonna spend billions and billions. I don’t know how many billions <laugh>, I don’t know how many billions to say there, but it was billions double or maybe even triple digit billions on their supply chain the year before and how good they were doing. And then in a rapid succession of what should I say, uh, rapid succession of, of notifications of guidance to the marketplace.

Greg White (00:13:30):

They said one expect profits down and things like that three weeks later when they had not announced, uh, this next condition, they then said, this, we’ve got all this excess inventory we’ve MIS bought for the coming season and coming year, you know? And, um, and aside, first of all, aside from the fact let’s not pick on target, right. Um, though, one of their big investors, one of the big investments banks who’s invested in them, Covas clearly has some very serious concerns about management. I believe I’m interpreting what they said all the way to the top, because I have never seen a company revise guidance twice in three weeks, you know, during earning season like that. So clearly they were either caught off guard or, um, you know, B um, you know, I don’t know, thought they had it under control and, and didn’t or worst case scenario.

Greg White (00:14:27):

Maybe they didn’t reveal everything they should have during the first first guidance. So none of those are good things and all of those reek of poor management. So, um, but let’s aside from target, let’s talk about this generally. And that’s what this article is about is this is a systemic problem, not necessarily a target problem. This, it is obviously being poorly managed at target my opinion, but it is a systemic problem. The way that goods are bought, um, the art over science, in some cases of certain products, usually fashion products and short lifecycle products. They have a ton of excess patio furniture. So go get it on sale at target. I bet you it’s gonna be really soon, not kidding. I’m I’m a big fan. Cause we have expensive patio sets and we have a $250 patio set from target that I bought for my wife for her 40th birthday, which was a while ago

Scott Luton (00:15:25):

And we still have it. Oh man,

Greg White (00:15:27):

We still have it. It’s in great condition. And I’m, I look out out at the more expensive patio kit and I think I could have bought five of these for, for what I paid for that that’s it. Right. Um, but anyway, they have a ton of that. They misaligned in terms of apparel, as a lot of companies did Cole’s Walmart and many, many others, and some who haven’t yet reported earnings, right. Have reported that as well. So this isn’t necessarily just a target thing though. Their management of it is, is clearly in question, but, uh, really what this is about is how we use art in lieu of data, which is widely available for re retailers today and in lieu of science, which can help improve things like this. And a second factor, which is we continue to post cast, not forecast. We continue to post cast in retail where we look back at history and then try to interpret what some value, oh, it’s gonna be 10% less because people are gonna be released from lockdown or whatever.

Greg White (00:16:31):

Instead of looking at the influencing factors on consumers, for which there is a tremendous amount of robust data, adequate amount to do a much, much better job than this. So this really exposes a couple of those things. The, um, commentary that I put on this article on Wednesday is, uh, talks a lot about that. And of course, dozens of comments on that point because we are all consumers or we all serve a retailer of some sort bill you’re, you’re at a client now. Absolutely. That serves automotive retail. Right? So, so we’ve, we have all been hit by this and we’ll continue to be, but Hey, at least for once Scott it’s working in the consumer’s favor. I mean, if you really need patio furniture or sweats or yoga pants or any kind of fleece, they’ve got it at target.

Scott Luton (00:17:21):

Well, so, so much there, we could dedicate a couple hours, I think, to the story and to your commentary. Cause it did generate a ton and folks, we got link into comments. If you want to engage and give your take, of course you can give it here, but you can also, um, you know, if you’re, if you, if you’re a more of a typer than a speaker, check out the link and, and give us your 2 cents. Um, but Billy, I wanna come get, I’m get your take here. Um, but right before I do, I think one of, one of the things that Greg pointed out, uh, in the, uh, LinkedIn post was how we’re, we’re so committed and in, in many cases over committed to the physical infrastructure, when we got all of these, you know, uh, data and modern technology and forward looking technology that are sitting there that are ready to help. But Billy your take, well

Billy Taylor (00:18:07):

First, uh, Greg, thanks for the tip. I just bought a house in Houston. So we need patio furniture. <laugh> get hold of the wife right after this.

Greg White (00:18:15):

Yeah. Uh, yeah. Send her a text message.

Billy Taylor (00:18:18):

You know, I almost had a flashback a as Greg was speaking, uh, when we first started out, when I was in or actually working in Goodyear, we, we focused on S N O P right. Sales and operations planning. And what we had to do to rectify this issue was sales and operations execution. And so basically we looked at here’s what we planned, but what’s that frequency of checking in. So you, you can confirm you sold what you said so that we could stop the inventory building mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so we actually implemented a process called the tilt process. So at some point when we saw that, that, that it go out of kilter, we called a tilt meeting so that we didn’t keep building that bad inventory. And it goes back to those AI tools and things of that nature to give you that foresight into the market to help you do your forecasting, but also help you do your execution. And so both of those married together, SNP sales and sales and S sales planning for right. And then the execution of that, you gotta have both

Scott Luton (00:19:21):

Gotta have both that sales and operations planning is, it sounds like y’all have really had that, that tuned in and dialed in, uh, Billy.

Greg White (00:19:29):

So I go a little bit into that in this commentary. There’s very little accountability. And one of the fatal flaws of, of S and O P is that we still, in many cases, particularly in retail, Billy, I can’t really speak to manufacturing, but particularly in retail, we allow too much human intuition into the process, right. If the answer to, how do you know that’s going to sell is I just know that’s right. You know, they don’t

Billy Taylor (00:19:57):

Know

Scott Luton (00:20:00):

That’s so good.

Greg White (00:20:00):

If the answer is I have good, I have it on good authority, data science, whatever, right. It’s more believable. It’ll be much more likely to be less wrong, but, uh, there is so much human intuition in, in S and O P and other planning processes because Billy, you know, we don’t call it S O P in retail mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, but it’s very, very similar process. We just call it planning process. So

Scott Luton (00:20:26):

Yes, you lean on the gut in many cases.

Greg White (00:20:30):

And do we ever check it like Billy is, is promoting stuff, just flows into the warehouse,

Scott Luton (00:20:36):

Expect it and checked it. Uh, alright. Really quick. Uh, just to close loop here. Um, we’ve been talking about, um, the broader issues here, but it all started with the article that came out via retail dive. Of course, other organizations I’ve been reporting on as well, but good stuff. Y’all check out that and let us know what you think. Thank you for sharing your takes, Greg and Billy, uh, really quick from the, uh, cheap seats. I wanna share a couple quick comments here. T squared, uh, up in Baltimore, 90 degree club this morning. How about that? Hey, our dear friend KRA the one and only, uh, and KRA hope this finds you well, he says supply chain leaders must invest in building an advanced risk management function. It’s not a choice, but a for a survival decision at first and then a differentiator for success, time to make a change into the new normal economy. How about that good stuff there?

Greg White (00:21:30):

Yeah. And, and, and when we are considering risk management, we have to consider something besides cost as the risk, right. Reliability, sustainability, um, speed. All of those things have to be, have to be considered as well and more,

Scott Luton (00:21:48):

Yeah, there a whole risk Ench, lot Billy through governance.

Billy Taylor (00:21:50):

Right. You have to have governance and, and, and right. Yeah. Often how does it get things? How do you get things to stick is through governance.

Scott Luton (00:21:58):

Yeah. That’s a good point. You know, along those lines, Billy, Greg and I sat down with a couple of compliance leaders from ups, and I think Greg, you and I both walked away with a whole new appreciation for experts in that space and how oftentimes they’re untapped, um, resources, because folks hear the C word that compliance and they kind of, you know, pull away a bit shut down

Greg White (00:22:19):

Down. Cause what they hear is roadblocks. Absolutely.

Scott Luton (00:22:22):

Right, right.

Greg White (00:22:22):

Yes. And, and the difference and they relayed it really well, Billy, the difference that they relayed is that the road, the not roadblock, but the, just a kind of check and balance instead of repairing something that’s done after the fact it’s so much more valuable. Right? Yep. Cause nobody goes to prison. If the compliance people love

Billy Taylor (00:22:45):

It. <laugh> that’s right.

Greg White (00:22:47):

Right. I mean, if you inadvertently do do business with a bad actor and we’ve talked about that, I’ve, I’ve done a commentary on that. The us government, the bureau of prisons inadvertently did business with a country in a way that was illegal and could have sent the, the practitioners to prison.

Scott Luton (00:23:07):

Man, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta, um, make friends those compliance experts. I’ll keep you outta trouble. Um, good morning, Eric from Ecuador. Great to have you here today via LinkedIn. Uh, let’s see here. Uh, you know,

Greg White (00:23:20):

I was nice in Ecuador. Of course, not that we need a report, but we’d appreciate it. If you wanna say this,

Scott Luton (00:23:26):

Ry, I think this is commenting on patio furniture value, not price Greg white. How valuable was that patio set and those memorable, memorable events you hosted or just sat there, sipping tequila and have wife would tell you how awesome this patio set is and not quite a visual. Yeah,

Greg White (00:23:44):

Yeah. Yeah. I mean it is. And it gets sat on almost every day still. I mean, it’s not like it’s sitting there collecting dust, it’s getting a workout.

Scott Luton (00:23:52):

Josh says there was a great article in last week’s, uh, economist called the not so supermarket comparing the sales consumption ratio and the shelves. It went in depth on food markets, a lot of interesting stuff going on in the food markets. Uh, I saw over the weekend that Smithfield is pulling outta California. I saw that. Um, what is the, the garlicy really hot sauce that we put on? Um, our Vietnamese food what’s that

Greg White (00:24:22):

SRA?

Scott Luton (00:24:23):

Yes. SRA is not fulfilling any orders received after April until after labor day because they’re having, uh, drought problems with the peppers that go into it. It’s lots of stuff going on in food markets. Uh, let’s see here. Kaon descriptive analytics post cast instead of predictive analytics forecast.

Greg White (00:24:42):

Preach it brother.

Scott Luton (00:24:43):

Amen. Yes. Yeah. Amen. Uh, de uh, kaon is a deacon at the first church of supply chain practitioners. I love that. <laugh> clay. Hey, uh, diesel. Welcome with us. Welcome. Hey, 11 games in a row for our Atlanta Braves. Wow. And yes, we’re gonna talk about winning league in just a minute. Uh, let’s see here. John says, if Greg brings up his wife’s birthday again, he will need to furnish a new apartment.

Greg White (00:25:10):

<laugh> if I, if I were to give away what it actu what the count is definitely. Right, John, I hope you have an extra room

Scott Luton (00:25:18):

By the way. Oh, John’s on the money. Love that, John. Okay. So, uh, so much good stuff to jump into. Uh, but Billy, I wanna move right along. I got about 1225 our time Eastern time here. And of course we gotta talk about something that really, uh, supply chain leaders, business leaders, consumers, uh, you name it. We’re all, it’s all front and center. And that is the I word inflation. So here, based on a great read from Foley and Larner LL P Billy, you’ve got some tips on how companies can mitigate these increased prices, especially those that are, that are, uh, impacting supply chains everywhere, right?

Billy Taylor (00:25:56):

Yes. And it really, Scott, it’s a different way of thinking now, a different way of thinking about the supply chain, right? It’s it’s around, how do you shore that up become more resilient. And companies used to be really bottom line focus and top line folks, right? They look at their cost and you look at purchase price value, but what you’re paying your customer now, it’s difficult to get that back in the marketplace, especially in the automotive industry, but what’s happening now with inflation. As you look at the labor labor workforce, we’re actually bidding up labor participation, right? The labor ation participation rate today is the lowest since world war II. And so we’re not getting people engaged in the workforce. And so we’re paying more. If you look at the minimum wage it’s to increase, where was rather stagnant for a long time, that’s still going into your top line.

Billy Taylor (00:26:49):

Your costs are going up and think about supply chain the way we used to think about it. Even wall street and analysts, right? It’s around that more resilient, they’re putting pressure on the companies to optimize their supply chain. But what that means now is right. You have to start reassuring manufacturing capabilities, reassuring your inventory, because right now you, you’re what I’m seeing, even in restaurants, margins are eroding, but revenue is growing, right. And so how does that happen? Right? It’s a volume play because you have it for people to purchase, right? And so companies, and it goes back to what Greg and I were talking about healthy inventory that he accountability for that inventory mm-hmm <affirmative>. And when you start build putting no systems in place and you can shore up bad inventory decisions, uh, you actually go after that labor, cause it’s a different workforce. Now, the different workforce, since COVID, COVID taught us how to live and work at the same time, and people don’t wanna shy away from that today, right? Even Elon Musk, as you saw in the recent posting, getting every, you know, mandating everyone come back to work, right? And, and, and people weren’t resisting coming back to work. The transformation to living and working at the same time has taken root and people want

Scott Luton (00:28:16):

Well said.

Billy Taylor (00:28:17):

And so companies now what’s that happy medium. Uh, it’s not just in time inventory at this point, right? And you know what global global manufacturer now is expensive. It goes back to Greg where you were talking about those vessels. We can’t get the product off of the vessels chip shortages. And so I’m gonna pay more for those chips so that I can acquire them so that I can meet my market demand. And when companies start to embrace reassuring manufacturing capability, the bidding of labor, uh, maximizing their, their supply chain through health inventory, they can counter this inflation piece and then the purchase price value. They may take a hit now on their top line, but they can grow their bottom line to offset that increase through volume.

Scott Luton (00:29:04):

Mm well said, uh, a lot of good stuff there really quick, Greg, I wanna get your take here. We’re talking, um, we’re getting Billy’s, uh, expertise and experience, but also, uh, some of the points are maintenance article from Foley and Larner. And one of the things they touch on, um, is, uh, taking the opportunity to get with your suppliers or your customers and tie some of the, the price increases or decreases in this case, mostly increases right to two VA, uh, uh, credible third party indices. And this is something we did in the metal stamp industry with a very well known, um, uh, ATV and watercraft. And, and beyond a manufacturer, we tied, we tied probably 114 parts to, uh, one of the steel indices. Right. And we repriced every quarter. That way they were protected. We are protected now with that said,

Greg White (00:29:52):

And it’s accountable.

Scott Luton (00:29:53):

Right. Right. And, and it’s credible. And, and it’s very transparent. These are published, you know, published numbers. Um, but you gotta have the right relationships, right. With your suppliers and customers to agree to mutually take that step, really a test of that relationship. Anyway, uh, Greg, your take on ways that we’re finding the battle inflation, uh, right now

Greg White (00:30:15):

Buying less. Finally, I think consumers are finally buying less, which will unquestionably throw us into recession. I mean, this, this condition of rising labor rates, rising prices, rising prices will probably last longer than rising labor rates. Uh, let me qualify that gentlemen, by saying not an economist, but right. Every bit, as much as any economist is, which is almost never. So, um,

Scott Luton (00:30:45):

<laugh>

Greg White (00:30:46):

So, so, um, you can already see it starting to turn. You can feel people buckling their belts. I’m doing it. Don’t know about you guys, but I’m being very cautious because things are too expensive. I’ve been very cautious, frankly, for months because the, the cost of things have just gotten ridiculous. And I I’m willing to wait. I’m willing to wait till the prices come down or at least stop growing. And apparently we’re gonna have to wait a little bit longer because we just hit congratulations to us in the United States, we just broke the 40 year barrier. And now we have the highest inflation rate in 41 years. We’re all the way back to the seventies. So, wow. Congratulations to us. Um, we seem to have no ability or clue where it’s coming from or how to change it. We’re blaming it on foreign governments and all, all sorts of things. Um, so I don’t see that, you know, and we’re trying to use monetary policy, which is gonna be difficult to corral it at this point. Um, because the trillions and trillions of dollars we put into play, they’re in consumer’s hands. They’re not on bonds or things like that. So,

Scott Luton (00:31:56):

All

Greg White (00:31:56):

Right, it’s gonna be difficult, but I believe that the pendulum will start to swing back the other way. And Billy, this is just my opinion, and I don’t think it’s gonna happen tomorrow, but I think people in fairly short order, I would say in the next 12 months, or maybe even less, they’ll be happy to go back to the office to have a job because I follow the technology markets and the startup markets, and they are laying off people in droves, 10, 20, 40% of staff at technology companies. Some of which just became unicorns have plenty of money, but are still laying off staff because now they’re looking at the very near future, not the two to five year future, um, and being encouraged to, by investors like Billy, you were just talking about. Right. And, and like the article talks about as well. So

Scott Luton (00:32:48):

Billy, your quick, uh, quick re response there.

Billy Taylor (00:32:50):

No, I, I agree. Uh, and, and right now it’s that we’re in that soft space. We’re getting subsidized, right. Payments. We’re getting all those things when all that dries up right now. Yeah. You know, people are gonna be more willing to go back in the office. They’re gonna be more willing, uh, to be, uh, active participants back in the workforce.

Scott Luton (00:33:14):

Right.

Greg White (00:33:15):

I don’t think they should necessarily. I mean, there are only certain jobs that need to occur in person Scott and I used to do this in person solely in person. Absolutely. Now for over two years, God Scott, for over two years, we have been doing it exclusively, remotely. I think we’ve done a couple in person. Right? We did in Florida. Yeah. A couple months back, but

Scott Luton (00:33:40):

We’re getting we’re slowly but surely getting back out and we’re gonna touch more on, on our most recent excursion here lately. But Greg great point. This is by and large been remotely, it’s been

Billy Taylor (00:33:50):

Adaptive, right? You, we, we will, to a new way of living and it goes back to working and living at the same time, people have become adaptive to this new way of living and it’s gonna be hard to break those. And I, like I said, Greg, I don’t think that it’s bad either. Right. There’s a happy medium that somebody’s gonna have to find.

Scott Luton (00:34:10):

Yep. Yeah. Okay. So on that note, I want to really quick, uh, this is a non-sponsored tip, but we’re all in the business of giving up resources. And one of our earliest com uh, collaborators here@supplychainoutwasrodchikinandpropurchaser.com. And going back to that point about finding credible third party sources, information that suppliers and customers alike can share. Y’all check that out. It’s a great resource. Uh, and of course there’s lots of other in indices out there, but Rod’s a good, uh, smart guy and he’s doing some good stuff. Okay. So, uh, what’s next. I wanna share a couple quick comments, man. We got some great comments here, Greg and Billy, uh, I wanna start with Sylvia. Sylvia makes a great point here because reassuring, oftentimes folks are reading it that way, but they’re in their mind, it’s like made in America or made in the us, but she also brings up a broader point. It’s not just us conversations when it comes to reassuring nearshoring, whatever India has got, uh, the conversations initiatives, the EU, you know, Australia. These are Australia, these are global movements and conversations and shameless plug here, Billy and Greg, we’ve got a great webinar coming up, uh, not this coming week, but next week, I think that would be the, let’s see, 13.

Greg White (00:35:26):

Oh, motto. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:35:27):

Yes. 22nd of June. And we’ll drop a comment of the link in, in the comment, but it’s all about the rise of sovereign supply chains and all we mean by that is it’s the rise of reassuring and nearshoring conversations, especially reassuring, uh, check us out because Laura moav and Greg were gonna be talking about why what’s driving this and what’s the why, uh, what you should know and how you can take actions for your organization supply chain to, uh, react or, or persevere through it. So, uh, we’re gonna drop that link there, but Sylvia, great point here. Julio,

Greg White (00:36:02):

Billy, you get, if, if you get a chance, sorry, Scott, if you get a chance, please watch that. Cuz I’d love to get, if you could just put comments in the comments. I think it would be a great perspective on that cuz you know, sovereign is the, it is the far extreme of reassuring, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>, it’s basically reassuring everything.

Scott Luton (00:36:21):

Mm that’s an excellent point. And Billy, yes. We’d love to get your take. Um, Julio need, we need creativity with technology to make supply chains flexible. Absolutely. I think this is Cora again, every once in a while something you learn makes you visually angry. Like if you’ve had the person in front of you you’d wanna pop them. No, I really mean it. And that, that was president Biden. That Cora was just quoting about the nine leading global shippers apparently causing inflation surges. Now Korah we are gonna talk, we’re gonna

Greg White (00:36:51):

Talk about that. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:36:52):

In just in just a minute. So, uh, get ready for that. Okay. Um, and yes, June 22nd. Thank you, Amanda. June 22nd is the webinar about, uh, uh, reassuring and, and cyber and supply chains. Um, brief departure from all the news going on across global business because Billy, I am so excited, Greg and I and the whole team are so excited that what we’ve been working on for so long is here. And that is the launch of the winning link podcast. With the first episode that dropped today on supply chain. Now it also dropped on the new, uh, dedicated RSS link for the winning link podcast. So tell us, Billy tell us, you know, what do we talk about here and give us a sneak peek of things to come.

Billy Taylor (00:37:37):

So the winning link, it’s really a platform for those, those leaders and those processes to help companies grow right? Those links to success. And so we’re bringing on, uh, leaders that are proven practitioners, not only in manufacturing, but in life. And so, you know, drew Joyce, who’s the, uh, famed basketball coach of LeBron James. He’s a wi wi high school coach in Ohio history for still championships and drew just, I mean he drops Jules or nuggets, uh, of success on how not only to, it’s not really about basketball. It’s about leading teams driving success. And so on, on, on each episode I have will Waller who’s the, uh, CEO of the wheelchair NBA, uh, will Waller was a young man that, that grew up in the city of Chicago overcame adversity of being shot a year after he graduated from high school was a senior executive for a fortune 500. And now he’s, uh, leading my example and he talks about how to do talent development. So we have a, a, a catalog of gas coming up that are links to success. And so these are a lot of fun. It’s not theories on how to do it. These are people that have done it. Mm. And so they, they talk about more about their failures than their successes.

Scott Luton (00:38:59):

Mm, go ahead. I’m sorry.

Billy Taylor (00:39:03):

No, I learned something every time I have a guest on, uh, because they not, they talk about their, their, how they overcame those challenges, not bragging about what they’ve accomplished.

Scott Luton (00:39:14):

It’s so that’s good. So true. And Billy, I’ll tell you, you are, um, you’re a natural in navigating these conversations. I’ve, you know, of course I’ve sat beside you and, and, and seen you in action. And of course I’ve heard and checked out the latest episodes we’ll be publishing, and I love how you focus on them, but then you add some of your own experience, expertise along the way. And of course, lots of references to Ms. Taylor, um, which we love, right. Billy’s mom, uh, and just, you know, all the BIMS, I guess I’m gonna call it, uh, which make it real, you know, uh, learning, but also humor at the same time. So Greg I’m

Billy Taylor (00:39:50):

With me though. So don’t, don’t, let’s not skate over that. <laugh> we, we, we shot the first show at the high school gym, the LeBron James arena that’s right. Got traveled to, uh, Akron, Ohio. Uh, we took him to some of the historical sites and restaurants and, uh, so it’s, you should join and see the episode. It’s pretty good.

Scott Luton (00:40:09):

It was awesome. We’re gonna do it again. Uh, it is, it was so neat to be in person and, and, and meet these folks in person, sit down, look in their eyeballs, as they’re telling a story, uh, and, and telling their, their, how they persevered through a variety of setbacks to become some of the best in the business as you point out Billy. Um, Greg, I, I know that a lot of this stuff resonates with you both on camera and behind the camera, your take,

Greg White (00:40:34):

Everybody needs a mentor and drew, just from what I’ve read about him is kind of a modern day, John wooden, right? It’s about building character. It’s about building in his case, young men from boys, it’s about, you know, teaching them, not just how to play basketball better, but how to live life better and how to be a better human. And I think that all comes out second to that, or probably more important in the sustainable aspect of this podcast is it’s obvious just from watching the few minutes, uh, that I’m sure I’m to, to our audience, that Billy Ray is a deep thinker, right? I mean, he thinks about these things at an incredible level of depth. He thinks about unlike other people on the show, <laugh> he thinks about what he’s gonna say, um, and how it’s gonna be interpreted and how to communicate it effectively as well. And it’s a gift. I mean, it truly is a gift. So what I love when I, and you know, I get maybe a little bit of preview to these things. So what I love when I listen to a podcast is someone who can engage credibly with the guest and have an intelligent conversation, do more than just ask them questions, but kind of share a real conversation and real experiences. And that’s, that’s what you’re gonna get with the winning length.

Scott Luton (00:41:53):

So right, man, Greg, you nailed it, man. Uh, and plus Billy loves people and man that comes out in each of these interviews comes out. If you ever spent time with, uh, Billy Taylor in person, it it’s, uh, it’s so true. All right. So we can’t say enough, so y’all have to, Hey, don’t take our word for it as, uh, the one only lava Burton used to say, tune in yourself, let us know what you think. Uh, coach drew Joyce, despite all of his successes is just the most humble, real, genuine person that you’d ever love the break bread with. So check it out. Episode one, the winning link podcast, checking on the main feed for the next couple of months, or you can look up the winning link, uh, or, uh, podcast, wherever you get yours from and subscribe. So you don’t miss a single thing.

Scott Luton (00:42:37):

I promise you. You’re not gonna wanna miss it. Okay. Uh, and Amanda, thank you very much. The winning Link’s gonna be published every other Monday. So it’s biweekly. There’s two different definitions. I don’t know if y’all knew this of the word biweekly. Uh, it could be twice in the same week or once every other week. I’ll learn that the hard way one day. Uh <laugh> so the gotta be on the same page folks with your supplier sometimes. Uh, but Billy’s episode, uh, podcast will publish, uh, every other Monday new episode. Okay. Sheldon says the stories of how we endure the valleys are just as important as the ones that tell how we scale the peaks man. Shakespearean. Yeah.

Greg White (00:43:17):

What a philosopher Sheldon is seriously. Yes. I mean,

Scott Luton (00:43:21):

Great to have you back to Sheldon. Uh, yeah, very important. Sylvia says similarly overcoming challenges instead of bragging about one’s accomplishments. Amazing. Amazing. Okay. So Billy

Greg White (00:43:34):

That’s what helps other people get to the pizza? That’s right. Is

Scott Luton (00:43:37):

That’s so true. Um, alright. So Billy looking forward, uh, to feedback on today’s episode and the one that would, you know, all the rest of ’em will drop, uh, every other Monday. So appreciate your partnership and collaboration. There let’s move right along and we’re gonna try to tackle, uh, Greg and Billy, let’s try to tackle this, let’s say over the next, uh, seven or eight minutes, we’ve got a big story karate and some others we’re already kind of speaking to. Yeah. And that deals with, uh, as reported by supply chain, dive, president Biden has visited the port of LA and he has had some really strong words for our, uh, our friends over the ocean carriers, quote, the ripoff is over in quote. So also you should know he is pushing for a passage of the ocean shipping reform act of 2022. I have not read all likely 3,427 pages. Uh, our team of attorneys may give us their take on it soon, but I wanna start here. Uh, Greg, I wanna hear your take here, uh, on the president’s appearance and his thoughts,

Greg White (00:44:41):

The ripoff is over if only that were true. Yeah. This is so multifaceted CORIs already, um, kind of spilled his thoughts on it. I think he’s right. This is something that P that not politicians, but supply chain professionals ought to handle Biden is attempting to use one of the most impotent organizations in the federal government, the federal maritime commission, who can’t even get domestic companies to not charge Dirage when, when there’s no reason to, they have no authority, they really have no power whatsoever. And international shipping companies are simply not gonna, they’re not gonna pay if we find them or whatever, they’re just not gonna pay it. They have it in the past and they won’t in the future. So it, and if we were to become, just imagine that this is successful and the United States becomes the lowest paying for ocean freight country on the planet, what do you think is going to happen? If somebody is gonna pay $23,000 for a container, and the us is only gonna pay 10,000, who are you gonna ship to?

Greg White (00:45:51):

I mean, this is very real supply and demand. And it’s great for politicians, you know, who have short lived careers like the NFL. They’re not here for long, thankfully for the most part, um, and who have to appeal to an ignorant constituency. And I don’t mean stupid. I just mean ignorant of the depth and the truth of the facts that they have to appeal to them and appease their concerns. And that’s what he’s doing here, which is great. That’s what politicians do I get it, but it’s not gonna change anything. Mm nothing. And, and it’s, and if it does it, won’t be for the good mm.

Scott Luton (00:46:26):

Billy, your thoughts.

Billy Taylor (00:46:28):

No, I agree with Greg, right? It’s a short term reaction and it’s staring things up, but it’s not gonna yield bottom line impact, sustainable bottom line impact.

Greg White (00:46:38):

There

Billy Taylor (00:46:39):

You go. And so that’s the biggest for me as I look at it, right? That’s I don’t have much confidence in, in that statement personally, because you’re right, Greg, if you, if people are not going that, that, that price differentiation, it’s just not gonna happen. And this is not, I wanna take my ball and go home and again, go that’s right. That’s not gonna happen. Right. This is real, this isn’t. This is. And, and, and when you look at every coupled with everything that’s happening out there in the world with inflation and supply chain disruptions, I just haven’t heard that the, you know, the ripoff is, is it’s deeper yet. Anyway.

Greg White (00:47:24):

Well, I mean, look, there’s one thing that will cause it to change. When people stop paying the prices, it will change. But to your point, Billy, you said, right now you have to be in stock. And these companies are paying a premium to be in stock so that they can maintain the business. That they’re less well financed competitors. Maybe can’t absolutely. So they’ll reap the benefits long term. And the other thing you have to acknowledge is that yes, it is excessive and don’t get me wrong. These ocean carriers are crooks and <laugh> not actual crooks.

Scott Luton (00:47:58):

<laugh>

Greg White (00:47:59):

Well, maybe actual crooks, but, um, but they, they are definitely Scott. What, um, they are definitely being opportunistic while taking advantage of an opportunity. They are undoubtedly lining their pockets, but also they went several years without profit.

Scott Luton (00:48:16):

You beat

Greg White (00:48:17):

Me to it because of the low cost of shipping. And this is the pay.

Scott Luton (00:48:21):

You beat me to it

Greg White (00:48:21):

For that. And no, no president wanted to give them money when they were losing money every year. But yet every time somebody makes a profit, we want to take it away from them. So, um, you know, I, I empathize with Hal, Lotton from tractor supply, you know, I’m a big fan of the company and the, the power and effectiveness of their supply chain. Right. Um, and I empathize with whoever it was, who very carefully worded their statement to say, we’re not a huge company, but we paid a hundred million dollars more in shipping. And that’s more, uh, that’s more than we, uh, than our entire profit. He didn’t say that they didn’t also make a hundred million profit, right. Or 90 million profit because they of course pass those costs right. Onto us, the consumers. Right. Right. So the truth is companies don’t pay high prices. They don’t pay taxes. They pass ’em onto the consumers. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, we are the ones who are causing this, all of this inflation because we keep buying at excessive prices. When we stop buying, they’ll stop buying expensive containers and the prices will come down.

Scott Luton (00:49:32):

So y’all, y’all, uh, pay extra special attention in here in this picture from Getty images. And splotching up in terms of what’s behind president Biden, right? Yeah. Now y’all seen this. I’m gonna, I’m gonna readjust this here. And Sylvia points out if you noticed the Biden speech had an evergreen vessel and the backdrop one, the foreign on carriers that had two vessels, of course ever given, and an ever Ford, general, average incident shake in my head. She says, but she continues. Um, please remember. And Sylvia look, Sylvia is in the, the, the logistics business, ocean shipping business, right. We, we mentioned earlier

Greg White (00:50:10):

Preaching. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:50:10):

Ambassador of, of Charleston’s, uh, supply chain ecosystem. Sylvia says, please remember that all us flag carriers are owned by foreign carriers. Don’t get me started. Don’t get me started. <laugh> okay. And then Josh adds reading the speech. I feel like I’m giving myself a concussion with all the face palming, basically Homer Simpson, no. Or repeat <laugh>, uh, that’s a good image. Josh. There’s been lots of, uh, lots of that. It is good over the last couple years. Um, okay.

Greg White (00:50:38):

Well, you know, look, this is not a reflection on the current president, right? This is a reflection on politicians in general. Right? Right. They have to appease the masses. They have to exaggerate and, and have, um, you know, quotable quotes so that, so that they can, they can keep us calm because part of this is, I mean, and this is one of the things that politicians have been, and governments have been doing forever. Keep the people calm. Right. Right. Especially in, um, a, a Federalist Republic, which the United States is not a democracy. The myth that we’ve been taught since I was a child in a Federalist Republic where we can vote everyone out of office, if we want to, they really have to appease the constituency. It doesn’t take an overthrow. It doesn’t take parliament. It doesn’t take prime minister to change the government here. People at the voting booth can do that. So they are in a tough position. And, you know, they all fall into the same trap, right? Power corrupt, absolute power corrupts.

Scott Luton (00:51:42):

Absolutely. So, Billy, I wanna get your final comment before I do here. Uh, Cora finish out the second half of his, I don’t wanna get too deep. He says, uh, maybe looking into the mirror in terms of our, all of our politicians will help once in a while, supply chain folks know best about that go supply chain experts and, you know, right. Um, I, I completely agree with you Greg. Cause it, cause you know, it goes, the scrutiny comes with whomever is in the oval office and we’ve seen P politicians from every ilk latch onto the word supply chain and try to, you know, appear relevant and appear. But it really oftentimes I don’t wanna prank too broad of a brush. Oftentimes it’s, it’s semantics and it’s about staying in office, unfortunately, and, and, and very infrequently, or at least not frequently enough about true actions that, that, uh, takes care of the industry. But Billy, your final thoughts here, and then we’re gonna move on to our final thing of the day. No,

Billy Taylor (00:52:35):

I had a senior executive and, uh, he, he, his comments to me around this, the whole situation around those vessels and, and supply chain disruption, because we have a, we don’t have a political party issue. We have a problem in DC and it goes back to no matter who you are, what side you represent, right. What’s the solution. And we’re not focusing squarely on that, hitting that mark. Right. And that’s the issue because whenever he spoke around political affiliations, uh, it was taken outta context. And when he start focusing down the middle on, we have a DC problem, a Washington DC problem, and that’s only we’re gonna fix it. And that’s hard to do in, in today’s world.

Scott Luton (00:53:22):

Right. It’s it’s

Greg White (00:53:24):

Supply chain. Go ahead. Sorry. Greg supply chain professionals. Don’t tell politicians how to run a campaign or to, or to run a, a government. Right, right. That’s right. Politicians should not tell supply chain people how to run supply

Scott Luton (00:53:40):

Chain. You gotta follow the money. Right. Uh we’re well, you know,

Greg White (00:53:44):

Stay in your

Scott Luton (00:53:45):

Lane, stay in our lane, also both of those. Right. But you know, Billy, you mentioned a second ago that transformation, we, um, you know, it’s been said time and time again, countlessly, you know, folks find their way to DC and then they find their way to stay in DC. Absolutely. And, um, you know, there’s very few winners outside of, uh, the, the, the belt line there when, when that’s in my view, uh, when that’s the case, but we’ll save that for another, another date and time, you

Billy Taylor (00:54:11):

Know, Scott I’m, it is one of my mother’s bill isms that I’ve stole before. And she says, be careful and goes, Greg says, know your lane. She says, because son, you can be right. Or you can be dead. Right.

Scott Luton (00:54:23):

Mm-hmm

Billy Taylor (00:54:23):

<affirmative>, <laugh> OK. If you’re dead, right. You’re not around to tell anybody. Right. You wanna focus on doing right. And, and more so being, right. Yeah. Things done.

Scott Luton (00:54:35):

Hey, love, we gotta interview Ms. Taylor at some point in time, Billy that’d be, that would be a lot of fun. And by the way, Hoya, uh, this is a great point here. Maybe the private sector has to communicate with government. We talk about collaboration, supply chain to why doesn’t that extend to government? I don’t, I don’t think

Greg White (00:54:52):

Billy mentioned that earlier. Yeah. Right. Exactly. None

Scott Luton (00:54:54):

Of the, yeah. All of us are not about, um, let’s, don’t collaborate. Let’s keep a, a strong separation. There’s got communications. How, how we bridge all these issues, but it is, um, it’s how it’s done, I think is, is what we’re all maybe speaking to. Um, okay.

Greg White (00:55:10):

Supply chain is not a sound bite. That’s I mean,

Scott Luton (00:55:13):

Greg has a good one. That’s the

Greg White (00:55:15):

Important that’s like, that’s like the important thing to understand Ms. Taylor

Scott Luton (00:55:19):

Esque with that one, Greg <laugh> the supply chain is not a soundbite folks. That that really is really good. Yeah. Agree. Um, okay. So, uh, we’re gonna wrap, we’re gonna switch gears. I’ve got 1255. I’ve got a couple minutes. Uh, I had a, uh, I’m coming off a high this weekend, uh, as Greg was alluding to, we’ve done a lot of our remote production, but we’re easing back into in person, uh, interviews and content creation and whatnot. And yes, they’re capturing that. That’s definitely, uh, that’s one of the great t-shirt isms today. Um, so I visited Greg in Billy. I visited, uh, Galveston, Texas over the weekend. Right. I joined up with, uh, our dear friend, uh, Kevin L. Jackson, and a couple things here. Uh, you may not know, first off, you may not know on a map where Galveston is, if you’re maybe bad geographically, like I am, but you, it is right there in the Gulf of Mexico.

Scott Luton (00:56:05):

And I believe y’all have to check me on this. I believe it’s the oldest port in, uh, the Gulf of Mexico, which surprised me a little bit, but regardless, it’s also the birth PA uh, birthplace of Juneteenth, which celebrates the emancipation of all slaves here in the us specifically there you see on the left hand side, that’s a us custom house that was built in 1861. And it’s where Juneteenth was born in 1865. Uh, it was one of the last places that general order number three, uh, reached, um, during that, that part of our nation’s history. So right. Kevin and I, and I’ve got a great snapshot here. Let’s see here. Um, Kevin and I, we sat down and conducted a special digital transformers episode recorded onsite at the custom house. It included interviews, uh, Greg and Billy with our friend, Tim Nelson, CEO of hope for justice, right?

Scott Luton (00:56:56):

Uh, they’re on a noble mission to eradicate slavery globally and human trafficking globally. It also included you see there to the left, you see me on the right and Kevin in the middle. And then on the left hand side, that is Doug Matthews. AKA Mr. Juneteenth is his literal nickname there in Galveston. He’s been advocating for this special holiday for 43 years, 43 years. And he is as salt of the earth as they come. Uh, I wish I could share more of a story. He was a very humble individual, but he also serves as a deacon in the Catholic church. I didn’t realize it took you six years, six years to work your way into earning the ability to serve as a volunteer like that had a great conversation, uh, with Kevin and Doug. So stay tuned. Um, we don’t five minutes, isn’t enough to cover this, this venture to Galveston, so much history.

Scott Luton (00:57:46):

Um, and, and just stepping into this custom house, Greg and Billy Kevin was walking me around. They’ve got some really big, big plans. They’re gonna, um, they’re gonna open up, um, a modern day, like a very digital version of a, of a, of a Juneteenth museum in the birthplace right there in Galveston, right in the custom house. Uh, so we’re gonna touch on that on an episode on, that’s gonna drop on June 27th on digital transformers. So y’all check that out. And I just had a wonderful time with our friends, uh, Kevin, Doug, and, and the whole gang. So that brings us, so

Billy Taylor (00:58:19):

Billy produced Rachel Taylor too. That’s my wife. So she’s from Galveston.

Scott Luton (00:58:24):

Oh, really?

Billy Taylor (00:58:25):

So, wow. So I’m familiar with that whole setup right down the street at Prairie and M and H B C U. And so I’m, I’m familiar with everything you talked about and it’s enriched in that, that culture, that Southern culture Juneteenth. So thanks man.

Scott Luton (00:58:43):

Billy, I should

Greg White (00:58:44):

Have you and the greatest wide receiver to ever live. Thanks for Prairie view

Billy Taylor (00:58:48):

A that’s right. And the older I get, the better I was okay. At the football player.

Scott Luton (00:58:53):

<laugh> I love that. Uh,

Greg White (00:58:57):

Did you play with Jerry Rice by any chance?

Billy Taylor (00:58:59):

No. He graduated the year that when I came in, he was leaving at Mississippi valley state,

Scott Luton (00:59:07):

Man. Well, we’re gonna have to compare notes on Galveston. It was my first trip there. And of course it wasn’t, um, you know, going for basically a day and a half. You can’t, you miss a lot. Right. Um, but so much history the throughout the city is so fascinating, the opera house, which I didn’t have a chance to go into. Uh, but we’re gonna be back. We’re going back and Billy, me and you and Greg will have to go back, uh, uh, bring our families and, and celebrate when the museum opens, uh, uh, where Kevin and his team are doing some really cool things. So, um, alright, really a couple quick comments and we’re gonna make sure folks know how to connect with Billy and Greg. Uh, T squared is borrowing from, uh, Proctor and gamble here, connect and develop anyone reference to government and private sector collaboration.

Scott Luton (00:59:50):

Good point Sylvia says, reuse, repurpose, and refrain from buying foolishly. We can all do our part. She’s making peach jam. Uh, let’s see here. Julio says due to crisis, people heard about the supply chain. The first time we need to, to do more in terms of educating people, Julio you’re right up a rally. That was really the Genesis behind supply chain now, right way back when 10 years ago, when, when you go back to its truest roots, it’s about spreading that awareness. So I can’t agree with you more and thanks for making that comment. Uh, Dennis, thank you. You, you must be in Texas. We had a great time there flying into, uh, the, the hobby airport, um, in Houston. Uh, yeah. And then finally Sheldon says, politicians are focused on their political cycles. They don’t have long term outlook. Strangely this long term outlook allows China as bad as they are, or tip hat to Greg, maybe to make plans that have long term impact.

Scott Luton (01:00:44):

They plan in chunks of 20 or 30 years in the west. We plan in chunks of four to five years. The short shelf life of politicians lead to, self-serving never the long term, best interest of the nation folks. I, I think that is brilliant. Sheldon, uh, yeah. Greg and Billy, I think y’all agree. We need to, we need to carve that out and share that. Absolutely. Uh, as we share some of these t-shirts that come outta the cheap seats? Um, not never enough time, never enough time, Billy, we didn’t mention, I’m not sure if we can publicly mention the great other project you’ve got. Uh, can we, can we say something about that?

Billy Taylor (01:01:22):

Yes. It’s officially out there now on Amazon and everywhere. Now

Scott Luton (01:01:25):

The winning link, the book.

Billy Taylor (01:01:27):

Yes.

Scott Luton (01:01:28):

All right. So wonderful. So we’ve got the winning link podcast and of course the winning link book. So y’all check that out. You know, everyone’s had a chance, at least from our, in our ecosystem, the Billy over the last, uh, year or so imagine a full book of his brilliance. So check that out. The winning, winning link, wherever you get your books from and Billy, how can folks connect with you?

Billy Taylor (01:01:49):

Uh, LinkedIn is the best place for me. I’m constantly monitoring my LinkedIn and I personally respond back to all of the people that reach out to me. So I have no one managing social media

Scott Luton (01:01:59):

Love, man. Okay. Whoa, impressive. <laugh> no kidding. Did it. All right. So Greg love these chats, uh, with you and me and Billy. Uh, Greg, I love your commentaries. Uh, you’re, you’re, you’re creating so much, uh, uh, dialogue, which has to happen, whether we’re talking supply chain or anything else. And I love your take again, you, you offer up a take, you and Billy both offer up takes as you share. Uh, and it changes how folks are looking. I think at some of these developments across industry, you publish those supply chain commentaries Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on LinkedIn, right?

Greg White (01:02:35):

Correct. Unless LinkedIn, uh, cuts off, you know, your connection that allows you to post it at first, which it did today. So apologies to anyone who was looking forward to it. The newsletter still comes out. I have a newsletter your day in supply chain that comes out, uh, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a number of articles, not just the ones that get commentary on, on LinkedIn. So you, you can subscribe to that. I should be better about putting the link in the articles, but I tend to use all 3000 characters <laugh> for the commentary.

Scott Luton (01:03:07):

<laugh> it’s true. Bring true, but it’s it’s goodness. It is goodness. Uh, down to the last, uh, drop as Folgers, I think used to say they may still do. I don’t know. Right? Um, Hey, really quick. Isn’t this never too late to get a shout out in, uh, Tanja Tanja, maybe, uh, from Louisiana via LinkedIn. Welcome. You can check out the whole replay, uh, via YouTube or any other social channel over the next couple of hours, the video replay. And of course the podcast version of this replay of this conversation here today will drop on supply chain. Now on Thursday of this week, I believe. And Luci, thank you for that. Love spending my afternoons with you guys. Thank you from Toronto CA uh, Ontario. Yeah. Thanks. That’s a wonderful city. We look forward to being there soon. We

Greg White (01:03:50):

Need to get temperature reports from theirs, but please convert to Fahrenheit. That’s right.

Scott Luton (01:03:54):

That’s all we have no math around here. No more, no more math than what’s

Greg White (01:03:58):

What’s required. We don’t do the metric system here. Sorry. Sorry,

Scott Luton (01:04:01):

World. That’s right. Sorry world. Well, Greg

Greg White (01:04:03):

Us in England,

Scott Luton (01:04:04):

Greg white, Billy Ray Taylor. Thank y’all both for, uh, another, uh, really fun episode of the buzz. I’ve got my 17 pages of notes from both of y’all and what a bunch of great comments and takes from yeah. Cheap seats all morning. Right? Um, big, thanks again to Amanda, Catherine and Chantel behind scenes, helping to make things happen from production standpoint, clay, these Amanda appearance here today as well. Folks. Yeah, whatever you do, hopefully we’ll see you next week. Again, the buzz comes at you every Monday at 12 in Eastern time. And again, it’s not just what we think. We love getting your take, uh, from the comments here. So, but whatever you do, you, you, we’ve gotta act on this, this knowledgeable goodness. We’re getting from our panel here and from everybody in the cheap seats and all about deeds, not words. And to that extent on behalf, our entire supply chain, now team Scott Luton, challenging to do good to give forward and to be the change that’s needed on that note. We see next time, right back here on supply chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (01:05:03):

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.