Blockchain is quietly but very quickly becoming an important transformation force in every industry.
-Kevin L. Jackson
Episode Summary
The Supply Chain Buzz is Supply Chain Now’s regular Monday livestream, held at 12 noon 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!
In this monthly Digital Transformers edition of the Buzz, Scott Luton and co-host Kevin L. Jackson share and discuss some of the top news in digital transformation, technology, and cybersecurity. Listen and learn as Scott and Kevin discuss:
- Seven ways that blockchain is helping to accelerate digital transformation
- How McDonald’s is investing further into the cloud so “super size” analytics and more powerfully leverage AI.
- 12 proven metrics to measure your digital transformation
- And much more!
Episode Transcript
Intro/Outro (00:03):
Welcome to Supply Chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from Those Making Global Business happen right here on supply chain now.
Scott Luton (00:31):
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are, Scott Luton and Kevin L. Jackson with you here on Supply Chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream. Kevin, how you doing this morning?
Kevin L. Jackson (00:43):
It snowed. We had our first snowfall here in the Washington DC area. Oh, wow. Wait, it was just the dusting. Okay, so no accidents. It’s already melted away. Not even report by 10 o’clock, but it’s a sign. A sign from above, and it’s winter.
Scott Luton (01:07):
And for your sake, I’m glad it was just a dusting because if you’re as a bad driver and the snow like I am, we don’t need to be locked in due to some snow on the ground. Right?
Kevin L. Jackson (01:16):
Right, exactly. I saw something on YouTube about the polar vortex and apparently it’s really strong right now, and we’re going to have this El Nino, and when you have El Nino and a strong polar vortex is a high probability of a blizzard in the East coast and northeast. So it may be a bad year this year.
Scott Luton (01:44):
I’m going to think optimistically. I remember getting that polar vortex a few months back and it was the coldest weather we’ve seen in Georgia in years, but we’re going to think warm, optimistic thoughts. How’s that sound, Kevin?
Kevin L. Jackson (01:59):
Warm thoughts?
Scott Luton (02:00):
Warm thoughts here today? Yeah.
Kevin L. Jackson (02:02):
But we have our audience to bring some warm thoughts to us.
Scott Luton (02:06):
Yes, that’s right, Kevin. And today, as folks know it’s a special edition of the Buzz, it’s the Digital Transformers edition of the Buzz on the second Monday of each month. And as always, we’re going to be discussing a variety of news and developments today across global business with that extra helping of all things technology today. So we want to hear from you, as Kevin was just suggesting, we want your warm thoughts. We want your take on what you’re seeing, your take on the stories we’re going to be talking about. So give us your comments there in the chat. And hey, if you’re listening to the podcast replay, which we typically drop on Fridays, you ought to consider joining us live on LinkedIn, YouTube, or other social media channels of your choosing on Mondays at 12 noon Eastern time. We’d love to hear from you. Okay, Kevin, I’m going to go ahead and share a few resources out there with folks on the front end.
(02:54):
Then we’ve got I think, four stories to get through. We’re going to talk about also the latest episode of Digital Transformers. We got a lot of good stuff. I don’t want to start with this unique resource. So folks, if you’re not aware, Kevin L. Jackson was a naval aviator, so he and I love to talk flying and aviation on a regular basis. He’s an Navy veteran. I’m an Air Force veteran, so there’s that friendly rivalry. I wish I was as cool as an aviator, but I’m not Kevin’s the cool one here, but I’ve been watching this YouTube channel for quite some time called Green dot Aviation. Now, we all know the critical role that aviation plays in global supply chain, right? And global business. We also all know how aviation is so technological these days, right? Well, green Dot aviation goes into a lot of mishaps from years back, from current, you name it.
(03:43):
Not all deadly mishaps, but it really goes into and identifies root cause failures, both from a technology standpoint and from a psychology standpoint because these crews have to work together to transport people and cargo safely. Well, over the weekend, Kevin, I saw where our friends at Green Dot Aviation went into Asian Flight three 70, which we really lost, and everyone’s still trying to figure out what happened way back on March 8th, 2014, and it’s fascinating stuff. I wanted to share that all with y’all out there. Green Dot Aviation, if you’re looking for some really intriguing content this week on maybe your commute or your downtime or what have you, Kevin, I know you and I chatted just briefly about MH three 70. That’s a really intriguing tragedy, huh?
Kevin L. Jackson (04:27):
Yeah. One of the things that is really puzzling is the fact that the plane started out east and then made a loop and turned around West to go over Indonesia and Malaysia, and it wasn’t even near where it’s supposed to be. And what’s kind of amazing is that I guess Malaysian military saw it as it occurred, but didn’t say anything to the air traffic controllers, right? A plane going in the wrong direction over military airspace, and they didn’t talk why? And then it just sort of stays over the Pacific and goes south into the middle of nowhere. I know there was talk about maybe it was suicide by the captain, but we’ll see.
Scott Luton (05:19):
Yeah, it’s really fascinating. Y’all should. To Kevin’s point there, based on some sources, it’s slightly pilot. The captain of the plane flew right between air
Kevin L. Jackson (05:29):
Airspace, between Indonesia.
Scott Luton (05:32):
Yes, it kind of flew on the border of airspace between Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and so none of the airspace really owned the aircraft, and that really allowed the aircraft to be well on its way to whatever they were trying to do without it hitting their radar. So it’s really fascinating. There’s lots of content out there, but I want to give y’all something in case you’re looking for a new channel. There’s so many of ’em out there, but check out Green Dot Aviation. They’re doing some great work and it’s really, really fascinating. Okay, Kevin?
Kevin L. Jackson (06:02):
Yeah. Got another mystery to
Scott Luton (06:04):
Solve. No kidding. There’s plenty of those out there, right? Alright, so with that said, changing gears, with that said, over the weekend, our latest weekly newsletter, we’re going to drop link, check it out. We cover a lot of news from across the global business world, some stories that I bet may have slipped your radar here lately. Now we also include some resources like we always do because we want to enable y’all to navigate the business world more successfully. And Kevin, we included a really cool episode that our friends over at Logistics with Purpose have recently released with one of the senior supply chain leaders from L’Oreal and Kevin, our own Amanda Luton SA in as a co-host on that episode. How cool is that?
Kevin L. Jackson (06:44):
Wow. I’m going to have to talk to Amanda. I’m getting kind of worried she may take over all of the air. She’s getting really good at that.
Scott Luton (06:56):
Yes, she is. She’s proved in that episode just the latest time that she’s better at that than both of us are. How about that? But hey, y’all check it out
(07:05):
And you can find it in the latest episode of, with that said, one click away. We drop that in the chat. Okay, Kevin, let’s dive into this first story. Tell y’all, this may not be surprising you here today, that the tech workforce sector, well, it’s really hot. So putting our finger on the pulse of the tech labor market as reported here by dice analysis of data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s BLS. We love our acronyms, right? Well, it says that tech unemployment in November, 2023, so last month, what dipped to 1.7% tech unemployment dipped to 1.7% well below the overall national unemployment rate of 3.5%. Well, that doesn’t surprise anybody, right? With everything that’s going on, all the interest in finding and onboarding, hiring and onboarding top tech talent, well, it’s probably also no surprise that for the first time ever that’s right.
(07:56):
I think for the first time in workforce data history, AI related jobs accounted for more than 10% of all the tech job postings out in the market. According to a recent study by Amazon Web Services and Access partnership. It may also not surprise that it really pays well, more than you even know to know AI as their research indicates that employers are willing to pay an average of 47% more for tech candidates with AI skills, man, 47% more. And here’s some practical insights from yet. One more research piece out there. O’Reilly Media has released its new generative AI in the enterprise report where it finds that the following five skills are those most desired by companies hiring workers for gen AI projects. Count ’em off with me. AI programming, data analysis, AI and ml machine learning, general AI literacy, and data infrastructure engineering. We’re going to be dropping that article, the chat and let us know what you’re seeing out there, or maybe whether you’re a candidate in the marketplace and let us know what you’re seeing. Or if you’re hiring that tech talent, especially that AI tech talent, we’d love to know what you are seeing as well. Alright, Kevin, any thoughts on what you’re seeing out there across the tech hiring landscape?
Kevin L. Jackson (09:14):
Well, I see that everyone really wants to jump on the AI bandwagon, but not many organizations know how best to use it, how to integrate that artificial intelligence in a way that actually supports the business models and the business goals. It seems like it’s whizzbang entertainment right now. They’re not really bringing out the business value, but there’s a huge amount of business value can really accelerate decision processes and make those decisions much better by leveraging data.
Scott Luton (09:47):
Well said, I’m going to steal that term whizzbang entertainment out there. I think that can apply to a lot of things. All right. Talking about blockchain, I’ve just talked about how AI has really dominated tech conversations in supply chain, it seems here lately, but this is a seven point list in terms of ways that blockchain helps accelerate digital transformation. So Kevin, tell us more.
Kevin L. Jackson (10:11):
Yeah, as I was saying before, that blockchain is quietly but very quickly becoming an important transformation force in every industry. Vertical supply chain and manufacturing are two of the most innovative areas that this technology is being implemented. Algeria actually is one of Germany’s leading digital transformation technology companies, and they are pushing blockchain in seven specific areas, one as a standard for digital transactions because instead of having to store your data locally, blockchain is a virtual database that can restore it on a network where all users, companies, your business partners and customers can use the network to access a local copy of the database. It’s also, blockchain is an accelerator business processes and speed becomes really a crucial factor for setting your organization apart from your competitors. And in supply chain. It just maximizes transparency in every transaction across the supply chain, from procurement of raw materials to production to distribution and sale of the end product or the other area.
(11:28):
Number four was delivering improved connectivity, the internet of things. It’s just changing the nature of business. All these devices that are connected to the internet streamlined industrial production and cloud-based services and smart contract. I’m sure many of you heard of smart contracts, but they can automatically modify information in a way that you can trust. Smart contracts can be made in advance and are tamper-proof and transparent. They can revolutionize business processes. And then blockchain is really a fuel for financing. It’s creating and managing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. And finally, blockchain is really great in competition because many large companies will require their contractors and subcontractors to convert their interfaces to blockchain for certain business processes. So if you’re not looking or implementing blockchain today, you are already behind your competitors.
Scott Luton (12:40):
Well said Kevin. Well said. And just a few other thoughts there. You touched on a couple of these in terms of some of the ways blockchain’s being leveraged across global supply chain product authentication and establishing that provenance, which is one of our favorite words around here, right?
Kevin L. Jackson (12:55):
Yeah. That’s Greg’s favorite,
Scott Luton (12:56):
Right? That’s right.
(12:59):
We’ve all seen how important that is always, but in the last few years in particular, better quality control, detecting those defects in products and getting them out of the supply chain and the flow of products sooner and more reliably. Kevin touched on one of my favorites, those smart contracts, those are favorites of mine in some cases, oftentimes Kevin, because they eliminate paperwork and man, I hate paperwork and all the manual jobs that it can be associated with. So the list goes on and on. And I would just challenge you and Kevin, I hope you agree with me, the smartest one in the room, but Mark Twain came to my mind as I was reading this article and kind of hearing your take because just because AI’s getting all the lip service and the attention, a lot of investment, and we don’t hear as much about blockchain, the death of blockchain perhaps has been grossly exaggerated. Would you agree, Kevin?
Kevin L. Jackson (13:47):
Well, actually, blockchain is growing rapidly and what’s really interesting is the way that artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain emerging into new services, consumer services business to business services, and its enhancing or accelerating all of these business processes. So it’s not one or the other, it’s everything altogether.
Scott Luton (14:13):
Well said. The power of the, and I think you and I, Greg have spoken about, right?
Kevin L. Jackson (14:18):
Yeah. One of our great sponsors at and t.
Scott Luton (14:24):
That’s right at and t. I love that, Kevin. Alright, well hey, don’t take our word for it. Check out the article, the Seven Ways Blockchain helps Businesses Accelerate Digital Transformation and give us your take on that. Okay, so moving right along, Kevin, let me pull up this next story. Now here’s a fair warning, Kevin. Fair warning. Fair warning. We’re about to make all of y’all out there really hungry, really hungry. So I’m just going to warn you in case you’re stuck in the office for a little while or stuck at home for a little while, we’re going to be switching gears and talking about the provider of the world’s most delicious french fries. That’s right. Make it ease. Well, according to CIO dive, they’re investing further into the cloud so they can supersize analytics and more powerfully leveraged artificial intelligence. Kevin, tell us what you’re seeing here.
Kevin L. Jackson (15:15):
So the first thing that jumped into my mind was one of the first times I went to Europe and I went to McDonald’s and they gave me mayonnaise to dip my french fries in, but it was good. So if you ever go to McDonald’s in Europe, that’s a big thing. Belgium, I was in Belgium. But anyway, McDonald’s tapped Google Cloud to really infuse cloud-based analytics across all of its thousands of restaurants around the world. And they have developed, you guessed it, custom AI in order to support and make decisions better to support their customers. This is a multi-year partnership that spans hardware, data and AI technologies and it deploys the Google distributed cloud compute and storage to individual restaurants next year. And as part of this partnership, Google Cloud is placing a dedicated team at McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago. They probably get free fries for this been McDonald’s Speedy Labs, which is a innovation hub to explore more generative AI use cases. So you go to McDonald’s now and they got that big screen, the order everything, and I guess it’s going to be a generative AI being there now to welcome and talk with you as you order your fries. You won’t have to press those sticky buttons anymore.
Scott Luton (16:51):
That is music to my ears. So admittedly Kevin, and you may can relate, I can’t go to McDonald’s as often as I used to back in the day, but one of the last times I went to your point, my family and I ordered our meals in the kiosk
(17:08):
And as the pseudo germaphobe that I am, you hit the nail on the head. I almost wanted to wear gloves as I was punching our orders, but hey, we’re all progressing. These quick service operators got to find ways of adding efficiencies, especially Kevin when they’re trying to knock out that lunch crowd who’s got 15 minutes to get in and out and get served and hopefully get served some quality food. So I’m looking forward to robots, cobots, whatever you want to call ’em, bringing out the orders to us, right? Refilling our drinks, you name it. Alright, so now that we’ve made everybody hungry with this delicious picture of these McDonald’s fries, second to none, man, what makes
Kevin L. Jackson (17:45):
Those french fries so
Scott Luton (17:46):
Good? And you know what I’m willing to try? I like Mayo on everything maybe, but my fries. But hey, I’ll lean into different strokes for different folks for sure. Before we move on to our third story, I want to get you to tell us more about the most recent episode of Digital Transformers. Now if I’m not mistaken, this episode came on the heels of your visit to this company’s site. So tell us more about SES satellites.
Kevin L. Jackson (18:11):
This satellite company is amazing. They’re based out of Luxembourg, okay? And many people may not have heard of SES satellites, but they have lower earth orbit satellites and medium earth orbit satellites. And actually about three weeks ago, they launched their latest edition into medium earth orbit. Now what they really specialize in is providing high bandwidth service to remote areas like the continent of Africa. And in the middle of the ocean, their biggest clients and customers are the cruise liners. You would think you go on a cruise liner to get away from the internet, but the Cruise liner customers are complaining that they don’t have access. So now their satellites and medium Earth orbit are basically creating large spots of connectivity that follow the cruise ships around so that no matter where the cruise ship is that you have high bandwidth access and Carl runs their cloud services. The other thing that this enables is island nations in the Pacific and the Caribbean that did not have good connectivity can now have huge access and connectivity to improve business and enable the economic growth in some of these remote islands because now they can connect to the world. So it’s a fascinating conversation I had with Call. So we released it today, so check it out.
Scott Luton (20:00):
Love it. And folks, that is episode 72. Man, you and the team have been hard at work, cranking it out. Sounds like a fascinating latest episode and conversation. And as you mentioned, you actually were able to put your eyes and the ears by visiting the site there up in, what was that Virginia, Kevin you visited?
Kevin L. Jackson (20:17):
Actually, surprisingly enough, it’s about 20 minutes from my home. They have a network operations center and a satellite operations center sitting right next to ’em in this descrip building outside of Manassas, Virginia. You go in there and you stepped into 2050 and you can see the satellites where they are and they have this visualization of the earth of where the communication spots and it’s just literally, okay, there’s a ship right there. We’re providing our bandwidth through that cruise liner right there. So it was just fascinating and the business is just booming.
Scott Luton (21:03):
Yes, it sure is. Next time I’m going to join you for that tour. I hated to miss it this time. Adam makes a great point. So Adam, great to have you here via LinkedIn. He says the oil and gas industry relies heavily on satellite communications for real-time data feeds. To Adam’s point, Kevin, way back in the day, my first startup, we were fortunate to be hosted for one of our events at, I think it was GE Power at the time. It could have been a variation on that name. It was kind of the previous chapter of ge, not quite what it’s doing now. And it was like Kevin, it was like mission control. So what this massive ceiling height and room wide mission control screen was tracking was all of their high volume industry pumps around the world. And to Adam’s point, they had sensors and they were making sure that they were performing how they should be because the first indication, the very first indication that something’s wrong, they were going to diagnose it or send a SWAT team out or you name it. And it was so cool. You mentioned 2050. I felt like I had stepped into 2,500 in a Space Odyssey with my visit to GE powered, and of course that was probably 10 years ago. I can only imagine how the technology has evolved. Now, Kevin, your quick thoughts on what Adam mentioned.
Kevin L. Jackson (22:15):
Well, the oil and gas industry is one of SES satellites is largest customer segments and all of the offshore oil platforms because as the search for oil gets profitable, even as we try to rep dependance upon fossil fuels, they’re digging deeper into the ocean and they’re farther and farther away from the coast and all of the sensors on the machinery they need to be monitored. So they need to be connected to the internet. There’s huge amounts of data that flow from those platforms. So he’s absolutely right.
Scott Luton (22:55):
Yep. Well, very cool. And also as we’ve talked about, I love what SES satellites and many other players are doing to bridge that digital divide both in the commercial space but also just in the do good space. We’ve got a lot of folks that are experiencing that digital divide that holds ’em back in many ways. So I love how the world is coming together in many ways to cross that divide.
Kevin L. Jackson (23:15):
Yeah, there was a video I saw that SES provided to me about this woman who owned a hotel in the Galapagos Islands and her business was actually going away and dying because the guests didn’t have access to the internet from the island, right? So she was about to go out of business, everyone wanted to come, but they didn’t want to be disconnected until she was able to get service from the Empower. That’s the OB three empower satellite system to get connectivity to her hotel on the island. So now the bell is ringing.
Scott Luton (24:00):
Well, if you ask me if I ever get a chance to go to the Galapagos, I can’t even say it right. I guess I got to say it right, to be able to visit Galapagos Islands. I think I got
Kevin L. Jackson (24:09):
That right.
Scott Luton (24:09):
Yeah, Galapagos Island. And if I get a chance to see those world famous iconic tortoises and I can’t share it with the world via social media, that’d put a little damper on my visit as well. But it makes so much sense. We all want to stay connected whether we’re working or we’re out on leisure or you name it. That’s just the state of things across global society. But really cool, Kevin. Looking forward to tuning in to that latest episode of Digital Transformers, which folks you can find. We drop a link to it in the chat, but you can find digital transformers with Kevin L. Jackson, wherever you get your proverbial podcast from. Okay, Kevin, so we’re going to go into our next story here. Now, as we all know, Kevin, if we don’t inspect what we expect, we don’t make progress, we got to measure what we manage right now. Here’s an interesting read from engineering.com that shares 12 proven metrics to measure your digital transformation and progress there. So Kevin, tell us more.
Kevin L. Jackson (25:01):
This article really focuses on the challenges of supply chain transformation. And according to Microsoft research on leading manufacturing companies worldwide, most manufacturers have faced several challenges related to data change management, incomplete ot, IT integration and applications development. And that can really put a damper on any transformation your business. And the number one, the first challenge they mentioned was you need to make sure you have a culture in place that would accept and support the transformation. A good digital first environment is characterized by decision-making, which is not possible without efficient cross-functional collaboration and data. And you need a good culture to put that in place, people wink wink. So ensuring data integrity is also a really important aspect. You have to align, match, and have continuity over time. Data cleansing occasionally automated with artificial intelligence plays a crucial role. Real-time data from shop floors, sensors, these are really pivot for immediate insights and action because you need to have visibility in that quality. Microsoft also saw that more manufacturers are showing an interest in establishing these robust connection with the shop floor assets, robots to unlock operational efficiency, the refined quality control processes, and to make more informed decisions. Finally, you need to focus on making your supply chain sustainable. This means sustainability reporting tools to provide comprehensive tracking and analysis of environmental and social impacts. This gives the business ability to make informed decisions to ensure regulatory compliance and to be able to communicate their sustainability practices because your clients, your customers want to know that your operating a sustainable business,
Scott Luton (27:40):
Clients, customers, team members, suppliers, yes, you name it, investors, all of them these days, that’s the demand. That is a lot of good stuff there. And I would just add, and we’re dropping the link, those metrics to measure your digital transformation there in the chat, but I would just add it from a sheer supply chain management standpoint. Some of the metrics that come to my mind, Kevin, when we talk about how to see how your digital transformation is paying off in your organization, of course, productivity gains or gains in on-time delivery or on-time, full oif, right? User experience, customer experience, I would even say supplier experience, which more and more thankfully is becoming a thing. Adoption rates, Kevin as well as I do, we’ve talked a lot here that just because you roll out a wonderful piece of technology or a platform, if your users and your team members don’t adopt it, what do you get? Not a whole heck of a lot, right? Yeah. How are we measuring adoption rates, the overall return on investment, all sorts of different ways. And again, despite the football on this, as all of our supply chain leaders and practitioners out there, business leaders out there listening, we just got to measure it in order to manage it. Otherwise, we are working and leading in the blind.
Kevin L. Jackson (28:52):
So the thing that really I’d like to double cap on is culture, right? You don’t need culture with robots. You need culture with people, and without people you won’t be successful. So always in any transformation activity, digital or otherwise, bring the people along. Don’t forget to talk to ’em. Make sure you answer that question. What’s in it for me? That WM is critical,
Scott Luton (29:18):
I am with you. That’s one of my favorite acronyms. Whether they actually pose that question or not, they’re thinking about it. Okay, what does all this mean? What’s in it for me? That’s a great call out, Kevin. Now Kevin, you mentioned sustainability Again, we were checking out this article from engineering.com 12 proven metrics to measure your digital transformation. Y’all check that out. One of the things that Kevin mentioned was sustainability. It’s so critically important here, 2023, and Deepak says, sustainability with realtime CO2 emissions calculations in supply chain. Well, that plays a really important role. That’s a great call out, Deepak. You’re right. And one of the thing I was going to, on a related note to emissions, I saw Kevin, one of the stories we featured in with that said, which we shared on the front end, was at the net zero nuclear summit at COP 28 in Dubai, the Sapporo five got together. Now, when I heard Sapporo five, I thought of the beer. Kevin, I don’t know about you, but the Sapporo five is the us, Canada, France, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Well, that group of five countries has agreed to facilitate efforts to create 4.2 billion in public private investments to continue to help develop the global nuclear power industry, which I think is going to be critical to finding a more sustainable energy approach in the years ahead. Right?
Kevin L. Jackson (30:38):
Yeah. Yesterday on 60 Minutes, there was a great article on the governor of Wyoming, and it was kind of interesting because Wyoming is, when it comes to coal, it’s the number one coal producer in the country, but they’re also launching one of the newest, if not the newest nuclear power plant in the country. Also this year they just commissioned it. And the governor is a Republican, and I have nothing against Republicans, but he is also a sustainment pro climate change. And the whole premise behind the story there is that you can be red and green at the same time, red, Republican, and green. He’s supporting climate change in a state that, like I said, is the number one producer of coal in the country.
Scott Luton (31:45):
Well, I think there’s lots of common ground, practical, successful common ground if we go looking for it, and we hope to see more of that regardless of what country you live in in the weeks and months ahead. One other thing that comes to my mind, Kevin, that sounds like that will be one of the latest nuclear power projects here in the States, here in Georgia where we live. They just, I want to say a couple months ago, I believe they concluded the Plant Vogel addition, where they added another nuclear reactor and a project that I believe went well past budget like a lot of these do, but I believe it’s online and creating power now. So I really think I am no nuclear power expert. That was not my gift. Mathematics and engineering was not my gift. But I think hopefully we’re given a nuclear power industry a second look as we look to find more sustainable path moving forward. So we’ll see.
Kevin L. Jackson (32:34):
Wyoming is also building the country’s largest wind farm man. They’re putting up like 600 wind turbines there in a pass by the Rocky Mountains that would provide power for over a million homes. Apparently they don’t even have a million homes in Wyoming, but they’re going to be selling that power to California who’s hurting for it, right? Wow. So there’s a lot going on. There
Scott Luton (33:04):
Is a lot going on. I wonder, Kevin, I wonder, I wonder if they’re going to tap into the hot air market when all those business leaders from around the world fly into Jackson Hole and talk a lot about what should be going on. That could probably power millions of windmills, as I’m thinking about it. But kidding aside, I’m kidding. The whole Jackson Hole region, and of course the city of Jackson, Wyoming is such a beautiful place in the world. You just
Kevin L. Jackson (33:27):
Went there, didn’t you?
Scott Luton (33:28):
We did. Ben and I made a trip. He wanted to see some mountains, and it was just a great time, Kevin. Okay, so Kevin, great show here today. We walked through a bunch of resources for folks, four really cool stories, and of course, the latest episode of Digital Transformers here on this digital Transformers edition of The Buzz, which again comes at y’all every Monday, 12 noon Eastern time almost without fail. Kevin, how can folks connect with you and the cool projects you’re up to there, whether it’s digital transformers or many other things you’re up to. How can folks connect with you?
Kevin L. Jackson (33:57):
Well, you can always catch me on LinkedIn, Kevin L. Jackson, or on X, Kevin Jackson, and on supply chain now.com. So I’m there.
Scott Luton (34:09):
That’s right. That is right. Moving at the speed of light is one, Kevin L. Jackson, Kevin, really appreciate what you’re doing out there in the industry. Always a pleasure to collaborate with you. We’ve got some really cool episodes coming out, recorded podcasts. Kevin and I sat down with our friends at Village Reach, which are doing some really important things to provide access to healthcare for I think 70 million people, Kevin,
Kevin L. Jackson (34:33):
Right across the continent. That was amazing how they support the healthcare industry across all those countries on the continent of Africa. That’s huge.
Scott Luton (34:43):
That’s right. 54 countries across the continent and all sorts of different governments and policies and populations and customs. A lot of folks don’t think of that when they think of the African continent, but that’s critical. So y’all check out village reach.org and stay tuned for some really great programming as we continue our supply chain leadership series, which focuses on all the great things going on across the continent of Africa. Alright, big thanks to Kevin L. Jackson. Kevin, always a pleasure to have you here.
Kevin L. Jackson (35:08):
Thank you very much, Scott. I’m glad I was able to hang out there.
Scott Luton (35:12):
You bet. Big thanks to Catherine and Amanda. As Kevin said, man, we stand on the shoulders of giants around here, but hey, take one thing idea from what we chatted about here today, the articles, the resources, the views, you name it, Kevin’s brilliancy brought by the plane load, not the truckload, the plane load here today. Take at least one thing, put it into action. It’s about deeds, not words. B, blessed are folks that actually do something with what needs to be done, not just talk about it. Right? So with that said, on behalf of the entire team here, Scott Luden challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change, and we’ll see you next time, right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.
Intro/Outro (35:51):
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.
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