By now, most supply chain professionals have adjusted to having our profession top the news headlines nearly every day. If only that were the only change taking place… With supply chain performance becoming a higher profile part of national security, it would seem that our work is becoming more intertwined with government policy and politics as well.

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

This week, Scott Luton, Greg White, and Kelly Barner spent a fast-paced hour covering some of the most compelling news stories of the week:

• The complexities in the oil supply chain that might be making it possible for countries like Russia and Iran to export crude oil in defiance of global sanctions

• The real-world implications of the recently passed $280 Billion CHIPS Act for the U.S> semiconductor industry

• Whether 3D printing has finally gotten to the point where it is a practical solution for meeting parts needs

• Is it time to panic about the availability of Hershey’s product this Halloween???

Intro/Outro (00:00:03):

Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and opportunities stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain. Now,

Scott Luton (00:00:30):

Hey everybody, Scott Luton, Greg White, and Kelly Barner here with you on supply chain. Now, welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how are we doing?

Greg White (00:00:39):

I’m doing Dany. How are you doing?

Scott Luton (00:00:41):

Doing wonderful. And Kelly Kelly Barner is with us here. Kelly, how you doing?

Kelly Barner (00:00:46):

I’m doing great. I don’t know if I’m exactly doing dandy. I would have to double check on the difference between doing great and doing dandy, but I like your spirit, Greg.

Greg White (00:00:55):

Well, so thank you. My, uh, that is a, I don’t know if it’s a general, uh, greeting, but boy, everyone in my family says that dandy. <laugh> also also my father. When you meet him, pass him in the hall, he says how to, does anyone know what that means? <laugh> it means how do or how do you do this fine day? That’s what I,

Kelly Barner (00:01:22):

Why don’t you say Dan?

Greg White (00:01:23):

<laugh> exactly a lot of people. I can’t, I haven’t heard it in a long time, but a lot of people answer it in a very strange way. I, yes, I’d have to think back to that. Like they think I’ve said something else, so

Scott Luton (00:01:38):

Well it’s it’s dialect Monday here. Uh, there we go. Supply chain buzz. So y’all Hey, I’m glad we’re teeing. Y’all we’re leading with

Greg White (00:01:45):

This. Another in Boston, Kelly.

Scott Luton (00:01:48):

Hey. Oh,

Greg White (00:01:50):

<laugh> oh, that’s the Southern way.

Kelly Barner (00:01:52):

Cause it might be like freezing cold. So you have to be able to say it really fast.

Greg White (00:01:59):

The south it’s a little bit more drawn out. Hey right. It’s got almost two syllables, right? Scott, come on. Scott engaged

Scott Luton (00:02:08):

Man, about seven 17 syllables, man. Come on. Uh, how do you do miss wile? Nah, I’m kidding. But Hey today, Greg and Kelly, it’s so neat to have, um, Kelly bring the Dow P for procurement vibe here. Yeah. To that, this edition of the buzz and Kelly, look, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but Greg and Kelly, our dear friend Jeffrey Ostrander here, Greg. He was with us last week and we were talking about his, his, uh, artisan side Kelly. Remember when he was Dr. <laugh> drawing the graphics, right? Yeah,

Kelly Barner (00:02:41):

I do. We had a little Bob Ross moment on Jeff’s dial P livestream.

Scott Luton (00:02:45):

<laugh> happy. Had a

Greg White (00:02:47):

Blast supply chain, this happy little

Kelly Barner (00:02:49):

Supply chain. Exactly. No supplier relationship problems. Just happy little accidents.

Scott Luton (00:02:54):

<laugh> gosh, y’all both well educated in,

Greg White (00:02:58):

Um, UN need my pro

Scott Luton (00:03:00):

Yes hat. Right. Um, and you know, it was funny, funny. We were just watching that this morning. It is great. Uh, so Hulu’s got like, I don’t know, 10 of the seasons available and it’s great music. If you need white noise, kind of as you sleep, man, he’s got, he’s got a great voice and, and you know, you pop up for an art lesson from time to time. So, uh, stay tuned next week. The Bob Ross hour here at supply chain now going way too soon. Um, okay. So back to, uh, today’s show, uh, it’s all about supply chain buzz do P edition where we share some of the leading stories across global business, Greg and Kelly and folks should know all maybe except three people across the globe, DPE DW P for procurement podcast. Say that seven times fast mm-hmm <affirmative> is hosted. Of course, like Kelly Barner, where she shares news views and thought leadership from across the, uh, the newly cool world of procurement. Right? Kelly. Well,

Kelly Barner (00:03:54):

It’s always been cool it’s that you all just found out about it sort of like everyone and their mother is now an expert on supply chain because they found toilet paper and got a Turkey last Thanksgiving. <laugh> procurement has always been cool. Wicked cool, Greg. Uh, but thank you. It’s just that now there’s more awareness of just how cool we actually are.

Scott Luton (00:04:14):

Okay, Greg?

Greg White (00:04:15):

I think my awareness Scott is that I still don’t know enough about procurement. So whenever there’s a question I just ask, I just dial P for Kelly. That’s

Kelly Barner (00:04:24):

Right. There you go.

Scott Luton (00:04:26):

<laugh> uh, and some folks may know that’s little play off Alfred Hitchcock movie, which Kelly’s a big fan of, uh, dial M for murder. Is that right? Kelly? That’s

Kelly Barner (00:04:35):

Correct. Oh yes. With Grace Kelly. Oh my gosh. One of the greats

Scott Luton (00:04:39):

<laugh> okay. All right. So folks much like this opening, we’re gonna talk about a wide variety of stories across global business, right? <laugh> uh, and Hey, as always, we wanna hear segue <laugh> we wanna hear from you two, uh, right. Greg and Kelly and I are all gonna give our takes on a variety of stories, but one of our favorite parts, all three of us, uh, is hearing from folks, uh, in the cheap seats and, uh, hearing your takes. So before we get started, uh, Greg and Kelly, I wanna share two quick events, right? Yeah. So tomorrow Greg, we’ve got this, uh, really neat webinar with our friends that enable three ways to stay afloat through the supply chain crisis. Uh, really focus on the distributor side of the business world. Greg, that’s a very unique sector, right?

Greg White (00:05:26):

It is unique. And, um, it’s really interesting and necessary. So the reason that someone who owns a, whatever, a subway doesn’t have to buy a pallet of ham is because of distributors. So they take on the large volumes and they can distribute it in smaller bits to retailers because manufacturers wanna ship often in pallets or even larger quantities. So it’s a really, really important part of the, of the commerce and yes, and supply chain. Um, and I don’t know if you know this Scott, but 22 years ago, around 1999, 2000 people said that distributors would cease to exist within five years. Really? So yeah. Yeah. They really thought that brands would go direct. I, um, as you can imagine, wrote a ranting dissertation on, on why that wouldn’t work because of the economies of scale of, of manufacturers, but not that distributors are going away, but more and more manufacturers are going direct and we’re seeing the impact in terms of cost for that, because it’s cheap to ship a pallet. Yes. It’s expensive to ship in each.

Scott Luton (00:06:43):

Mm. Interesting. Well, folks necessary. <laugh> join us tomorrow. Special time, 1130 Eastern time. Join us for free. Just got to register.

Greg White (00:06:53):

I’m glad you said that Scott, I’m gonna have to double check my

Scott Luton (00:06:56):

<laugh>. Yeah. Kelly, that that’d be important. Uh, for sure. And then separately, uh, from, um, dis uh, distributor models to packaging and profitability and sustainability to join us August 10th, uh, at 12 in Eastern time, as we feature the, uh, organization that’s on the move, uh, start up on the move, uh, accurate and, uh, in store also organization doing some really cool things. So join us there. 12 noon, August 10th, the links are in the comments. Okay. Greg and Kelly, we’ve got four stores worked through here today. Really excited to get both of y’all’s take. Um, uh, I think we’ve got some hot topics we’re certainly gonna be diving into, but before we do all that, let’s say hello to a few folks, uh, starting with, Hey, Sophia’s back. Sophia says, hello, good morning. Starting August with good energy, Sophia. Great to have you back, Greg and I, we were just chatting about Sophia other day. Weren’t we?

Greg White (00:07:52):

Yeah, we were us and Enrique from vector.

Scott Luton (00:07:56):

Yeah. Enrique is a huge fan. He might have a Sophia yeah. Uh, tattoo on his left shoulder. Huh?

Greg White (00:08:02):

Did he? I didn’t get to see that. I was a little late to the call as I’m sure everyone here can imagine, but

Kelly Barner (00:08:08):

You missed the part where they were comparing their tats.

Greg White (00:08:10):

<laugh> right.

Kelly Barner (00:08:11):

Never show up late to a call where people might be comparing their tats.

Greg White (00:08:14):

Yeah, no TAs for me. So there’s no point in me showing up early

Scott Luton (00:08:17):

Oh, sane. That makes two of us. Um, I’ve never no tats and no piercings. I don’t know how I made it through my journey. Um, can’t

Greg White (00:08:25):

Say no piercings, but no piercings anymore.

Scott Luton (00:08:29):

Okay. Well, Sophia, uh, uh, kidding aside. Great to have you. I always enjoy your perspective. Uh, Shelly Phillips is back with us. Good morning. Two, three of my favorite supply chain people. How about that high praise? Hey Shelly Kelly Barner.

Kelly Barner (00:08:42):

Yeah. Shelly shared that she was excited. She was gonna start her week off on the right note by joining us here today. So I’m, I’m thrilled, Shelly, your schedule worked out so that you could be here with us live.

Greg White (00:08:52):

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you.

Scott Luton (00:08:53):

And Greg, Shelly’s been showing up in, in our live streams, uh, uh, throwing down some really, uh, interesting perspective and expertise, right? Yeah.

Greg White (00:09:02):

Yeah. I mean, it’s, it’s great to get to share with more and more practitioners like her and the rest of our crew here. Um, supply chain, whatever gang sign <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:09:15):

Oh, I thought you were taking a picture of something. If a forward was involved trying

Greg White (00:09:20):

Something, trying invent a gang sign right here on the, I

Scott Luton (00:09:22):

Got on the clip. <laugh> man, Greg, just when I think I’ve got you nailed and I, I know what to expect. You surprise me and keep me on my toes. I love it. Uh, as we mentioned, uh, Jeff O is with us back, uh, here today, looking forward to your perspective. Diesel is here. Clay Phillips says welcome all dial P and buzz day together. Uh, big, thanks to Katherine, Amanda and everyone on the production team helping to make it happen. Katherine says happy August and happy Monday buzz family. Uh, Greg, can you believe it? August 1st? Uh, Greg and Kelly. So I tuned in to some of Jose, um, Jose’s livestream Friday afternoon, really enjoyed it. Um, they talked about kind of how to break into supply chain on so many different levels. So Jose keep cranking out the great stuff. I love, uh, the coffee breaks with your focus on supply chain and logistics and great to have you here today. Lucie, uh, coming in, uh, coming in from Toronto via LinkedIn Kelly. Greg, have you ever been to Toronto?

Greg White (00:10:24):

Many, many times.

Kelly Barner (00:10:25):

I haven’t.

Scott Luton (00:10:27):

Okay. No.

Greg White (00:10:28):

Okay. Well, let me make a list of restaurants for you. <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:10:32):

Uh, thank you very much and Luci. Welcome. Great to have you here. Look forward to your perspective, Peter Bole all night on day back with us. He, uh, Kelly and Greg, he must have carved out some time cause he’s got a, a new role. That’s keeping him hopping. Right?

Greg White (00:10:44):

I was just thinking that, yeah, he’s busy busier than ever.

Scott Luton (00:10:50):

That’s right. So a Peter, I can’t

Greg White (00:10:51):

Even imagine what he was like at work. Right. For those of you don’t know, Peter is retired <laugh> so imagine when he was busy,

Kelly Barner (00:11:02):

He’s at work.

Greg White (00:11:04):

Well, so I, I think he retired from being retired cuz he couldn’t take the downtime.

Scott Luton (00:11:11):

So he’s gonna, he will fill us in, uh, Russ assured yeah. On, on the official status. But regardless Peter, I’m sure you’re doing big things right. To have you here. Uh, James tuned in, uh, once again with us via LinkedIn from the Raleigh Durham area, the triangle of North Carolina. Great to see you here, James. Uh, great barbecue up in that neck of the woods. For sure. Now Sophia asked not even a supply chain now top tattoo, Greg, I can’t speak for you and Kelly. I can’t speak for you. Uh, who knows? Uh, but I can say I do not have a supply chain now tattoo. Um, Greg could

Kelly Barner (00:11:46):

Be a merch opportunity. You know, the like, um, the ones that wash off

Greg White (00:11:50):

Yeah. Could happen. The Hannah ones.

Kelly Barner (00:11:53):

The little temporary. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:11:54):

When it like in the baka Joe packs of bazooka Joe gum stuff. Okay. Exactly. All right. <laugh> I love that stuff, man.

Greg White (00:12:02):

You were born like four decades too late.

Scott Luton (00:12:06):

Hey, Barb Sexton is back with is Barb. Great to see you here today. Uh, so lovely. She says to see all of your smiling faces. Well, Barb love your good work. And Greg and maybe Kelly. Barb is always one. She’s one of, one of the most positive people I think in our collective network. So Barb, Barb. Great to have you here today. Joey drop my son off at a twins training camp and excited to be back with the recruiter today for some great supply chain dialogue with the best Joey you’re too kind, man. Yeah, you’re too kind.

Greg White (00:12:37):

Yeah. I really appreciate that. Also twins played the Padres yesterday and it was a, when I left it was tied one, one. So I’m curious who won.

Scott Luton (00:12:49):

Wow. Joey, give us a box score. Joey, give us a box score. Hey, talking about, uh, uh, big winners. Kim winner is with us here today. Great to see you from, uh, Dubai, the one and only Kim winner, uh, Kelly and Greg and Greg. I think he’ll be joining us for upcoming buzz. Uh, maybe in a couple weeks.

Greg White (00:13:09):

I don’t know the exact date, but the answer is yes. Okay. Um, yeah,

Scott Luton (00:13:14):

I was gonna see if you wanna check your, your calendar on that one too. We’ll we’ll get back. But, uh, Kim, great to have you here looking forward to your perspective. And finally Peter said yes needed to fill my day. Uh, and I bet he has filled it quite a bit. So great to have you here with

Greg White (00:13:30):

He’s only remodel so many houses and, and build so many decks and

Scott Luton (00:13:34):

That’s right.

Greg White (00:13:36):

Uh,

Scott Luton (00:13:37):

Oh my gosh. He managing all kinds of projects running

Greg White (00:13:40):

<laugh> yeah, not just his, I mean he was going to the neighbor’s houses and running theirs.

Scott Luton (00:13:44):

That’s right. Uh, alright. So I gotta pull one final before we get into the news of the day, Kelly, there’s a question in our team chat and I’m gonna pull that out. Embracing says, Catherine asked if you have any secret Harley tattoos. Cause some folks may not know Greg that Kelly Barner and her significant other they’re big motorcycle, uh, enthusiast, right? Kelly.

Kelly Barner (00:14:08):

We are, yes, we are. Uh, first anniversary. We renewed our wedding vows on the back of a Harley at a drive through wedding chapel, same one Britney Spears went to, fortunately it’s worked out better for us. Who knows <laugh> maybe whatever time this is, will be the charm for Britney Spears for Britney. Yeah. So no, no secret or publicly known about Harley tattoos. However, if we’re looking for a little bit of edge, I will offer up that despite my little earpiece in yes. I have three ear piercings in each chair right down the bottom, which means I have too many piercings to get a job at Hooters <laugh> so if this supply chain now thing does not work out for me. True. Yes. You’re limited, limited to, I think you’re limited to two in each year.

Scott Luton (00:14:54):

My mind is two

Kelly Barner (00:14:55):

Energy to work at Hooters how’s that? No tattoos, but also not working at Hooters.

Scott Luton (00:14:59):

All right. I gotta pull Daniel’s comment here. He says tattoos, piercings, gang signs, definitely off to a unique start. <laugh> you

Kelly Barner (00:15:06):

Can’t take librarians anywhere. Seriously. It’s not safe.

Scott Luton (00:15:10):

Oh, Daniel. Great to have you back with us. Love your perspective. Well educated perspective. We’re

Greg White (00:15:15):

Supply chain that much Daniel

Scott Luton (00:15:16):

<laugh> that’s right. <laugh> uh, really quick arm. <laugh> Armas tuned in from Ethiopia. Uh, looking forward to hearing a lot of procurement best practice Armas. Great to have you here Mohamed tuned in from, uh, Somalia. Great to have you here via, uh, YouTube. Uh, so looking forward to y’all’s perspective here today. Okay. Folks, as much as I enjoy Greg and Kelly’s company and all the company of everyone in the cheap seats, let’s dive into our first topic here today. Okay. So let’s see here, uh, up first, uh, Kelly, wanna start with big news. Yeah. Out of Washington DC, us government believes it has identified a global network that is surreptitiously. That’s quite a word shipping Iranian oil and avoiding Western sanctions. So Kelly, tell us more about it.

Kelly Barner (00:16:05):

So this is actually really interesting. And part of what I like about it is because it makes clear how important understanding your supply chains and traceability is. But part of why I like it is this news broke on Sunday afternoon. I believe while I was doing the final research for this week’s dial P. So I’m actually digging into the oil and gas supply chain, looking at profit margins and capacity issues at different tiers of that supply chain. And this story broke. So basically what’s happening is that we have sanctions against Iran and they have found a way mid ocean to transfer crude oil from Iranian ships to Iraqi ships and either just plain, make it look like Iraqi oil or mix it all together so that once it reaches the refinery, you have absolutely no idea where this product actually came from. Although some of the really big oil companies, I know ExxonMobil was listed as potentially being involved in some of these transactions. They had no knowledge of it, which is scary for anyone managing a supply chain. And if we needed any more reason to be concerned about this, I will just simply say Russia, if we can’t create these sanctions and then find a way to ensure that the entire world is standing by them, it directly undermines the impact that those sanctions can have against some pretty bad actors.

Greg White (00:17:46):

Well, first off, every refinery can know and should know where their oil comes from because there’s varying levels of sulfur content and various in sundry, other things that are required to tune a refinery to refine specific kinds of oil. I know it sounds crazy, but oil ain’t oil. I mean, there’s, there is lo right light sweet crude. There is heavy crude, there is gray and you know, there’s all kinds of different factors based on what went into the making of that oil. So there’s

Scott Luton (00:18:18):

A clamp. It variety. I believe Greg.

Greg White (00:18:21):

They, they know, um, they know or could know and, and certainly should know what they’re getting, because if they’re assuming that it’s Iraqi oil and it’s not, and that’s a different enough makeup that could cause real problems, safety problems in the refinery. So, um, I have no doubt that this is, you know, this is known. The other thing Kelly, to your point is so impressive. And look, this is what Kelly’s always bringing us. What most of us don’t know. And that is sanctions are not, they are a political motion. They are not an effective enforcement motion because we say we have sanctioned this or that. But we’ve, as we’ve discovered, you know, this is what I love about the age of transparency, as we’ve discovered with the sanctions on Russia. It, you know, we do it in a way that allows us to convince our constituency, that we are really coming down hard on a bad actor, but the truth is even those governments that are sanctioning these bad actors are surreptitiously. That’s a great word, surreptitiously accepting shipments. And, and, and to the extent that now that Russia has cut off for instance, or is cutting off natural gas to Europe, Europe still has a crisis. Why? Because they’ve always been buying Russian natural gas. So, I mean, I think, um, I’m not sure that’s going to be overcome in the short term, but knowing that that’s occurring is one step towards agreed. Fixing agreed

Scott Luton (00:20:01):

Well said, okay, we’ve got a bunch of comments here. I wanna get to here. First off, uh, GP gene pledger is tuned in from north Alabama via LinkedIn. Great to have you is always Jean Love to get your take here. Uh, Daniel says, looks like they stole a looks like they stole a page from North Korea or recall stories about a decade ago about north Koreans getting oil at sea to avoid sanctions. You mean north, north Korea’s is, uh, set in the trends in global bad actor ship. Imagine that, um, Rhonda <laugh> Rhonda says goodness, busy August 1st, but I made it for some learning time. Dr. Rhonda, great to have you with us as always, uh, Jeffrey says, Hmm. I wonder what the eco terms would be for mid sea shipment. <laugh> I’ll do, I’ll do his, uh, his emoji. I don’t know. That’s a great, uh, great comment there, Greg.

Scott Luton (00:20:49):

Great, Greg, great to have you back with us. I wanna say from Milwaukee, it’s been a little while, but Greg, great to have you says, what would be a good research on gas is all the different winter and summer blends to Greg’s point. And do we really need all the, all the, uh, different types and would it be possible possible? Gosh, Mundy, uh, to narrow the different blends. That is an excellent comment there. Uh, and then Shelly, I think, uh, liked my Clampett, uh, blend comment, black gold, Texas T Shelly we’re channeling together here today. I love that. And Greg is confirming it is Milwaukee. Uh, Greg, we love Milwaukee. I was just on a panel last week with Dr. Rodda, uh, with someone that was, uh, has made Milwaukee their home for quite some time. Okay.

Greg White (00:21:37):

Milwaukee famous for the latest TikTok trend.

Scott Luton (00:21:40):

Oh, really?

Greg White (00:21:41):

Stealing Kias in Hyundais with a USB drive.

Scott Luton (00:21:45):

Really? Yeah.

Greg White (00:21:47):

Can you

Scott Luton (00:21:49):

No, what is, what is

Greg White (00:21:51):

Tana? I wonder if Greg’s experienced any of that? <laugh>

Kelly Barner (00:21:54):

Hopefully

Greg White (00:21:55):

Not. Apparently it’s very, very easy. So we’re not, I mean, unless any of you are potential key thieves out there, we’re not really telling anybody that all of TikTok and Instagram don’t know, so that’s

Scott Luton (00:22:07):

Right. Um, okay. So I got a couple of Digi knows. So Greg and Kele into all of our wonderful listeners, did you know that us has imposed a wide variety of sanctions on Iran dating back to 1979 mm-hmm <affirmative> now of course, when the us, uh, embassy was seized during the, uh, revolution, um, and Greg, to your point, if folks look in this article from the wall street journal, uh, there’s a lot of what’s the, you know, right hand asking what left hand’s doing and vice versa for, for these bad actors and countries to get around some of these, uh, political sanctions. And then secondly, Greg and Kelly y’all might get both of y’all have seen top gun too, right?

Greg White (00:22:48):

Yeah. Yeah. Average.

Kelly Barner (00:22:49):

I admit I have not yet.

Scott Luton (00:22:51):

Okay.

Greg White (00:22:51):

Oh my gosh, Kelly.

Kelly Barner (00:22:52):

I know I went to see minions instead. I needed to know about the rise of grow.

Greg White (00:22:57):

Okay. Cause you have little ones and actually I’m going with,

Kelly Barner (00:23:02):

I love the minions also.

Greg White (00:23:03):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:23:06):

Tell you where I’m going with this.

Greg White (00:23:08):

Yeah, go ahead, Scott,

Scott Luton (00:23:10):

To work. So that’s right. Well, so in top gun two, they don’t name the, uh, adversary that the, um, us Navy takes on right. Goes nameless. However, Greg, uh, I know, you know, about the F fourteens, which without making any spoilers makes an appearance in the movie and there’s only one country in the entire world that still operates the F fourteens and they’ve still been able to get around the lack of, uh, us made service parts. It’s really amazing. Some folks think they’ve got as many as 40 to 50 operational F fourteens and that’s Iran mm-hmm <affirmative> so, um, it it’s, it’s fascinating, but anyway, Kelly, go check out top gun two when your schedule allows, I think Greg has seen it seven times

Greg White (00:23:55):

Four. Just four now. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:23:58):

<laugh> okay. Yeah. So, uh, Greg says no, but I’m not,

Greg White (00:24:03):

If anyone wants to go see it, by the way.

Scott Luton (00:24:05):

<laugh> okay. Wingman wingman, Greg says he’s not been impacted with the, to trend that, uh, Greg suggests that goodness

Greg White (00:24:14):

Indoors and locked.

Scott Luton (00:24:15):

Right. Uh, let’s see, Gary says Maverick was awesome. A Gary, we agree with you and I hope this finds you well and, and your podcast, uh, great to have you back here. Sophia is confused by Maverick’s phrase. Don’t think just do it is a bit Jedi ish. Isn’t it Greg? It’s a bit Yoda. Yeah. Yeah. Greg.

Greg White (00:24:37):

Yeah. You know, the, they explain it on the show and, and actually that harkens back to the original top guy.

Scott Luton (00:24:46):

Ah okay.

Greg White (00:24:47):

But you don’t have time to think that’s right. Just sometimes you have to go completely on instinct is

Scott Luton (00:24:52):

The point muscle memory, right?

Scott Luton (00:24:55):

That, yeah. <laugh> so Greg and Kelly. Okay. We gotta move into and y’all keep the comments coming. Keep giving us your take on these stories. We gotta really interesting. Second story here, Greg. Uh, you know, your supply chain summary on this topic? Uh, I think it was Friday got a ton of attention. Uh, so I wanna talk semiconductors as Congress has delivered on the $52 billion bill, holy cow, that amongst other things provides funding to invest in the us computer chip industry. Y’all see. I had to emphasize B as in billion, massive bill, uh, amongst other things. So Greg, uh, folks, uh, you can check out the link to get Greg’s take from Friday, but in a nutshell, tell us about this, Greg.

Greg White (00:25:41):

Yeah. Um, you know, the us or companies in the us invented semiconductors. So, uh, you’d think we’d be a big player <laugh> it was interesting to look at, at the chart that goes along with this article, we are in the group, uh, of others that make up 13% of the production of all semiconductors around the world. And Taiwan makes up 63% and 18% is South Korea. So, um, you know, if anyone knows about China and Taiwan, you know what the danger there is, obviously they will inevitably be taken over by China at this point that, you know, now people are speculating. It could be as recent as the next 18 months, but definitely by 2031, the dirty little secret is the us government knows this and is planning for it and is coordinating with the Chinese on it. So, um, <laugh> so we have to do something still.

Greg White (00:26:47):

And at the same time, this doesn’t solve the biggest problem, which is that China is the largest extractor of not largest holder or even, um, minor. Well, they are the largest, minor and extractor of rare earth elements, which strangely are not rare. They exist in the Earth’s crust. And China is the only country that will, to the extent is at required disturb the Earth’s crust, peel the skin off the earth to, to then separate and, and extract these rare earth minerals. So they are, they, uh, are in charge of 80% of all rare earth mineral extraction. So there’s a whole lot of else going on here. Honestly, my feeling is, and man, we got some great suggestions in the comments. If you wanna read it, I think we can or did drop the link in there. People have suggestions from, um, um, lab created rare earths to mining asteroids and, and other space matter to try and collect, um, rare earth minerals because they’re highly conductive or have other properties that are required for semiconductors. But this, this bill, I is not substantially going to change anything because China is still in charge of rare earth, uh, mineral extraction. So, um, on the other hand, I cannot believe I’m going to say this out loud and I’m not, I can’t look at Kelly while I say this 52 billion is not that much money in the grand scheme of things for the us government. I cannot believe I just said that out loud.

Kelly Barner (00:28:28):

Well not when you’re looking to build fabs, that cost between 10 and 20 billion a piece. Ah right, right, right,

Greg White (00:28:34):

Right. Um, so I mean, this is, um, yeah, I mean, I, I think there are aspects of it that are necessary. There are industries for which it is necessary, obviously defense, um, and healthcare industries for which it is necessary. Other than that, I think everyone else is gonna have to kind of scrap for it and hope that, uh, hope beyond hope that Taiwan does not get taken over soon.

Scott Luton (00:29:07):

All right. So Kelly, your thoughts here.

Kelly Barner (00:29:10):

So actually this is brings up two interesting things to me. Um, one I’m sort of teasing on my advanced episodes this week is oil and gas supply chain next week on dial P, which I’m working on a little bit ahead of schedule is digging into this, the chips act of 2022 and I’m traveling this weekend. And so I had really hoped to record it and have it sort of in the can before I took my trip. But I am watching on an hourly basis, the news about whether or not speaker Pelosi makes the decision to land and visit in Taiwan because I suspect that how that goes will actually have a bearing on the way that we look at this story. So I’m watching minute by minute. And if I have to, I will rerecord on Monday so that we can go to production on time.

Kelly Barner (00:29:58):

But the other thing that I found interesting in again, researching this this weekend is that when you look at the biggest players worldwide in the actual manufacturer of semiconductor chips, you’ve got Taiwan, China, Japan, South Korea, the European union, they are all getting significant subsidies from their governments. So what this is really doing is catching the us up to the way that other countries around the world have been doing this for a long time. It’s a very expensive business to build a fab and to keep it up to date as we get down into smaller and smaller nanometer chips. But it makes me worry as a business person, are we throwing in the towel and acknowledging that this is no longer a profitable enough business to exist worldwide without government subsidy? I don’t know the answer to that. Um, anybody that’s ever listened to a dial P knows that I’m highly skeptical when the government shows up and says, they’re here to help us. Um, especially when one hand’s in front of them with money in it. I kind of wanna know what’s that other hand doing behind your back, right. What’s in there. Right. Um, so I think it’s on the one hand, it’s catching us up to way the rest of the world, especially major producers have been handling this, but I worry from an industry and innovation and leadership standpoint about whether this is actually the right thing to do bigger picture. Yep.

Scott Luton (00:31:21):

Well, speaking of that bigger, bigger picture, uh, Greg and Kelly accord. So fortune business insights, the global semiconductor market is projected to grow from 574 billion in 2022 to 1.4 trillion in 2029. Couple thoughts, especially as it goes back to China. You know, I wonder if, uh, the semiconductor industry was not as big as it is on the island of Taiwan. If the whole situation wouldn’t be where we are here today. And, and secondly, uh, looking over the weekend, uh, about what’s going on from a real estate standpoint and a financing standpoint in China, uh, and the impact it’s having far beyond the national banks, but the, the communist party. And it really there’s, there is a fascinating television mini series playing out here. So many different elements and Kelly much like you, um, waiting with bated breath to see what happens with the speaker and her travel and the reaction based on choice that are made Greg, uh, give you the last word here.

Greg White (00:32:26):

Yeah. If it weren’t for semiconductors and us strongly protecting Taiwan, it would already be part of China. Um, the only reason that China hasn’t already taken it back is because they couldn’t risk the commercial relationship with the United States, which is what all we really have to threaten them with. Right. And economic woes. Uh, and yes, of course, that is part of the long term plan of China. And they’ll just wait until they get the right administration to allow ’em to do it. They might have it now. Um, but, but they will Def, you know, they don’t plan in for an eight year increments like we do in the states, they plan in 20 and 50 year increments because they don’t have a constituency. They don’t give a dam about what their quote unquote voters think because they always right. Chinese communist party always wins the election. <laugh>

Scott Luton (00:33:18):

That’s right. So, um, okay. So, uh, stay tuned. We’ve been talking again about this, uh, uh, this big bill that passed, uh, um, gave the white house a big win to 52 billion. And, and, and as, uh, let’s see here as Greg points, or I’m sorry, as Gary points out, always wonder what the bill all encompasses. Sometimes adding additional language that it’s brushed over, but very important. Cause

Kelly Barner (00:33:45):

The bill as a whole is 280 billion, right?

Greg White (00:33:49):

Yeah. This is just part of a 280 billion bill and you can find what else is in it. I’m gonna suggest that if you’re easily angered, you don’t look too deep. <laugh> <laugh>

Kelly Barner (00:34:02):

Actually, I can tell you right off the top two things that would surprise people. One is that it re authorizes, uh, NASA, that space exploration, and it provides for security protections for Supreme court justices.

Scott Luton (00:34:18):

Okay.

Kelly Barner (00:34:18):

Interesting. So two things in there that have nothing whatsoever

Greg White (00:34:21):

To do some that is good. Wow. Yeah. But yeah. And that, and that’s this, I mean, and this is, you know, having studied politics, this is one of the strange, ironic things. The stuff that they stuff in to make someone vote for a bill that’s right. Is often not related at all to the original intent. Mm. Look at the COVID relief bill wherein New Jersey got a, um, soccer stadium built

Scott Luton (00:34:49):

Right. Running for

Greg White (00:34:51):

Whatever it was, 15 million.

Scott Luton (00:34:54):

Oh goodness. Um, alright. So, uh, move them right along. I wanna share a couple quick comments, Greg Kim winter is ready to be your wing man for top gun. Uh, that would make eight times between us in terms of, uh, views, but flights yes. Are a bit tight currently. Well, Kim we’ll make that happen soon.

Greg White (00:35:11):

I’ll meet you halfway in London.

Scott Luton (00:35:14):

That’s

Greg White (00:35:14):

Right. How’s that Kim, I’m not going to Frankfurt cuz you can’t get a flight outta Frankfurt right now. That’s

Scott Luton (00:35:19):

Right. Uh, Gary and Shelly and Jean and Greg are enjoying your perspective here. Greg says, Kelly is right when money’s in one hand, what is really happening? Uh, excellent point. And Daniel says, God bless writers. Uh, the writers, uh, in congressional bills, man, a lot of folks made a bunch of money that way. Huh. Um, okay. Well moving right along. Uh, Greg, do you remember last week when we talked with Karen Bura about 11 technologies, uh, that were really shaping global supply chain, right? Yeah. Um, and Kelly, you might have seen this too. This was, uh, powered by the MHI organization and, and based on 300, 400 practitioners. Well, 3d printing was, um, I, I would say, um, not one of the sexier technologies that, that the research really focused on. I think that’s pretty accurate. So Greg and Kelly, when I saw this article here, uh, via CNBC, um, I thought it was really pretty cool.

Scott Luton (00:36:23):

And, and, and at first I was like, as I started to read, I was like, man, this is like the same story. That’s been written about 3d printing forever, but Greg and Kelly, as I got a little deeper, um, it, it was, it was different. Uh, I remember some 10, 11, 12 years ago sitting in a presentation that, um, a procurement executive with caterpillar, uh, as, as he was sharing about how they were using it, uh, to get spare parts out faster to these big mining trucks, right. Uh, that, that are, um, at the time autonomous based on what he was saying, and they run like 24 hours a day. So if they sit there with a, you know, broken down with a need for a spare part, you’re losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in that gold mine. Right. As he was saying it, um,

Greg White (00:37:11):

25 million an hour now is what it is. Wow.

Scott Luton (00:37:13):

Great.

Greg White (00:37:13):

I just happened to have done a little bit of discussion with a company who helps keep those trucks running.

Scott Luton (00:37:20):

Yeah, man, that is fascinating, crazy, right on the money. Uh, no pun intended, but it seems like since, since I sat there and listened to, and it was really fascinated with what caterpillars doing, it seems like they, the mass adoption’s been, been really, um, slow, um, for lack of a better word. Um, Greg, if you remember, during the height of the pandemic, we were talking about some government agencies here in the us that were using 3d printing to better prepare for the PPE shortages, right. Masks and, and other things. Right. Uh, so back to the store via CNBC, uh, Goodyear, uh, as it, as it reports on open to plant in may, in Luxembourg that revolves around its use of 3d printing to make tires in small batches, get this four times faster than traditional production. And the company’s also leveraging technology to bring airless tires to the market by 2030, Greg Kelly have y’all heard anything about these airless tires?

Greg White (00:38:18):

Um, well, you know, it’s just an adaptation of run flats really. Okay.

Greg White (00:38:23):

And, and actually it’s worth going to CNBC. We have the link, right. It’s worth going to CNBC to see the photograph. That’s actually in the article of what an airless tire looks like. It’s actually ugly, but it looks <laugh>, but you get how it could work. Um, but yeah, I think, you know, the, if the article has shared anything, it’s that this is very specialized right now because it’s very high cost with machines costing in some cases, upwards to 500 K or a million bucks. Um, and things like the caterpillar parts, they’re actually finding some engineer, they argue, they’re finding some engineering benefits there because instead of composite parts, they are, um, laser printing or 3d printing, the laser printing. That’d be cool. Um, they’re 3d printing the entire part as one piece rather than componentry that has to be put together. And they’re finding some, uh, strengths in terms of the products, uh, wear rates with that.

Scott Luton (00:39:25):

Well, so, so, and Kelly, I’m gonna get your take in just a second, but Greg is knows exactly where I’m going because Boeing, which is also is a big part of the story, uh, has a subsidiary producing satellites that are a hundred percent 3d printed. And that offers using that process a 30% reduced cost and get this it trims five months off production lead time, but at the heart of it all. And, and maybe to the reason why it’s been so slow, one of the reasons why it’s been slower for the industry to adopt 3d printing in a more widespread basis, get this Kelly and Greg from Melissa, I’m gonna say Orme, it could be ORM ORM. I’ll go with Orme though. Uh, she leads additive manufacturing for the entire Boeing enterprise. She says, quote, it requires a cultural shift to embrace it. Engineers are taught to design with reduced risk, and that leads them to traditional manufacturing. We need more production data to get to a level of comfort and design for additive. Once we do that, we can eliminate or reduce the risk of this evolving technology end quote mm-hmm <affirmative>. She also references she needs something like they need something like 70 years, seven decades of production data in order to get to that point. I’m sure they’ll find a condensed way of getting there, but, um, uh, Kelly, get you go your own your thoughts. And I’ll circle back to Greg here.

Kelly Barner (00:40:40):

When I read this story, it was so interesting cuz 3d printing’s not new, right? It’s very prevalent in middle school science labs, uh, public libraries also, but clearly we’re getting to the point where there’s going to be actual industrial applications. And so looking at this as a procurement person, I think of it as sort of the classic optimization challenge. What we have to do is come up with some type of formula or analysis that allows us to look at cost turnaround time and the flexibility of being able to have variable specs. And not only do we have to build something that prompt, bounces all of those things off of each other, we have to build a model that can change as it becomes faster and less expensive. And some of the, the constraints that we might be facing today, um, are, are finally overcome, cuz especially in the case of tires, one of the things that allows them to cost what they cost is that they’re largely standardized.

Kelly Barner (00:41:41):

It’s a very few product numbers per maker. That is the vast part of their volume. And, and they can drive a lot of cost efficiencies that way. But as this technology actually starts to revolutionize because it isn’t as expensive and we all know the importance of speed in business, I think it’s gonna be around building a model that helps us make the decision for each use case and not get stuck in a, in an assumption every six months or eight months or nine months rerunning that based on the new information. So we have to build out an analytical model. That’s not fixed at one point in time, but evolves with the technology

Scott Luton (00:42:19):

Well said, uh, Greg.

Greg White (00:42:21):

Yeah. I mean, I think, um, a lot of that is well over my head, but uh, <laugh>, I think the point is, is the foundational point is we have the ability to continue to evaluate as more data is gathered and we need to do so with greater frequency. For sure. That goes to a lot of things, right? Not, not just 3d printing, um, reevaluating data or adding data that we’ve discovered, you know, POS post its its generation, um, will help us accelerate a lot of those models to assess their effectiveness. I think, look, you know, to Kelly’s point 3d printing’s been around since the eighties, right? It’s only taken 40 years for it to become an overnight success. Um, <laugh> so, but, but still I think, um, the, the thing that I like about the way that it’s being contained right now is that it’s in unique and high value, uh, product. If you can, if you are willing to, to apply a new technology to unique and high value life saving, uh, mission critical products that bodes very well for its future. Mm right. Um, so I think that that is, um, I think we’ll see that for a few decades more just the high value products. Um, and then we’ll, we’ll figure out ways to scale it as Kelly talked about by analyzing the continuing growing continually growing database

Kelly Barner (00:43:56):

And the company that can find that sweet spot and hit it ahead of the competition because they’ve been running the numbers and running the numbers and running the numbers is gonna have an advantage. That’s gonna be very hard for their competition to catch up with.

Scott Luton (00:44:09):

Well said, well said, it’ll be interesting when, uh, in, in engineering programs that, uh, 3d printing as a methodology, uh, for design and, and, and a lot more, uh, better permeates. Uh, so, so there there’s less risk seen around incorporating that into, um, you know, design engineering and whatnot, but I thought, I thought it was a fascinating, uh, different take what both of you are sharing different take on 3d printing and some of the constraints of why we haven’t seen it. Uh, Greg, to your point. Um, earlier I seen it more, um, so y’all check it out. We dropped link in the comments, got a bunch of comments here. Let’s see here. Uh, Dr. Rhonda says, looks interesting. And did he hear about car parts being creative, via 3d printing, amazing in terms of cost savings and maybe making things in remote areas? Uh, you know, Greg going back to our, some of our earliest episodes, uh, we had, uh, case studies, uh, as I recall around the Marines, um, and you leveraging 3d printing and some remote areas. I can only imagine where, where they’ve gotten to now, uh, great point there. Great,

Greg White (00:45:13):

Well in old cars, I mean to, to run this point old cars, there aren’t parts for some old cars now, but they have to spec around the, the product itself and can recreate ’em now. And that is believe you’ve ever been to bring a trailer, uh, dot com <laugh> um, that is no, it’s really allowing people to, um, to, um, bring back from the dead tons and tons of old cars. And I think that’s actually a great space for experimentation because those cars see low miles, um, low speeds, mostly their show cars. Um, and, and, you know, if you can make it fit and make it work on an ancient engine, um, you know, with, with loose tolerances and all of the various and sundry other issues that these old cars have. Yeah. I think it’s a great test ground for it.

Kelly Barner (00:46:09):

Unfortunately, by extension, we also have to acknowledge that as we were talking about in our last story or a couple stories ago, the Iranians could also use 3d printing to create parts for F fourteens that they can no longer get from us. Right. So every technology there are good guys in bad guys trying to use it for different reasons. Um, if it works for bring atra.com, it’s also gonna work for the Iranian air force.

Scott Luton (00:46:35):

That is right. Great point. Nice, nice to, uh, segue to different stories there, Kelly, uh, speaking

Greg White (00:46:42):

Air force first spare time, doing much more productive than mine.

Scott Luton (00:46:45):

<laugh> no pun intended. Spare time. Get it, get it. Hey, Greg Greg says, uh, Greg Studer says air force has been making parts of 3d printers on non, uh, vital parts cutting time in supply chain. Excellent point mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, gene pledger, the period future period. Uh, we said, Jean, Gary, appreciate your feedback here. Uh, we always have a good time. Uh, we get together with Greg and Kelly. We lead this show much more informed. Sophia says, it’d be interesting to see if airless tires performance is better, especially really the durability as well as if they also help to reach sustainability goals. Excellent point there James says, as a vendor, it does seem like procurement is getting faster ish technical word, even at LAR larger older companies, or at least keeping up with the excitement of the internal champions of a new tech Kelly. Quick comment there.

Kelly Barner (00:47:41):

Uh, absolutely thank you for noticing James and we’re doing it. Not just by going faster ourselves, but by distributing more decision making and access to information out into the company. So decisions that can be made on a more localized contained level should be made on that basis said no one should be waiting for procurement to get something that they need to do their job

Scott Luton (00:48:04):

Well said. And James, of course, uh, the infamous, the one and only the extraordinary, uh, James Mallie with packer, it’s gonna be with us August 10th, uh, for that webinar we mentioned on the front end. So James, great to have you here.

Greg White (00:48:16):

Great. Yeah. Next stage for your business. Sorry. I’m an idea, man. Chuck, um, next stage for your business, build the box around the product you’re shipping. There you go, James.

Scott Luton (00:48:27):

Nice.

Greg White (00:48:27):

Cause right now what James’s company does is they go, this is the box you’ve got here’s everything you should fit into it. So as not to ship air, which we hate in supply chain, but imagine if you could say here’s what we’ve gotta ship and just build laser print the box right around it.

Scott Luton (00:48:44):

Love it, love it. Idea ideas. All right. So Greg and Kelly

Greg White (00:48:50):

Read the Mayo to

Scott Luton (00:48:51):

The team <laugh> from, uh, we wanna, we wanna make the leap from 3d printing to Halloween. Did I read that right Halloween? Well, yes, it would not be the us retail industry. If we weren’t talking about Halloween on August 1st, goodness gracious. But Greg and Kelly Hershey’s CEO, Michelle Buck is predicting that their chocolate production may not be able to meet us consumer demand for Halloween. So the question I’m asking here, we just talked about 3d printing. There’s gotta be some kind of application to make sure that kit Kat there’s no disruption to the kit, Kat supply chain, Greg and Kelly, but I digress. Uh, Kelly, I wanna get your thoughts first about, uh, this, this read here about Halloween chocolate.

Kelly Barner (00:49:38):

So actually my response is actually a question back to you guys. You know, anybody that’s in, I don’t know. I guess my part of the state, the Shrewsbury community Facebook page is sort of the source of all information, both sorted and useful. I’m sure every town has its has its own, but somebody recently just last week, ratted out a local retailer that already has their Halloween section set up in the store. And of course it’s an emotional response. We’re saying we only just had the 4th of July. Why are you already putting Halloween candy in the stores? But my question is if the shortages are so severe, is it better for Hershey to be trying to have this long drawn out buying season? Or would they be better off piling up as much as they, they possibly can from an inventory standpoint, waiting until maybe back to school shopping is done mid-September and then taking more of a shock and awe inventory approach, uh, to, to meeting demand. So that would be, you know, where does the whole time question, why does Halloween shopping need to be four months long? Right? Um, is that potentially a factor they could play with,

Scott Luton (00:50:48):

Right? Uh, Greg, I’m coming to you next, but really first Peter Bole is kind of talking. Those, uh, is echoing Kelly’s thoughts here. He says likely setting us up for higher prices called conditioning and positioning tactic. Interesting. There, Greg, your thoughts, I know you did a, a kind of a deep dive in this few months back. Your

Greg White (00:51:06):

Thoughts are, can you believe it? Um, the Michelle Buck, the CEO at Hershey announced this a couple months ago after Easter because they, so abjectly failed at, um, fulfilling demand in Easter. Part of which the biggest part of which is Palm oil. So, uh, there was a major issue with Palm oil in Indonesia, which is one is the world’s largest producer by a long shot. Um, and they wanted to maintain Palm oil is also used for other products in Indonesia, by the way, one of the most environmentally destructive products on the entire planet. Um, maybe second only to rare earth minerals. Um, and, um, but it, but it’s, they had a major shortage in Indonesia where they use it for all kinds of things. So that kind of set all of this in motion. The realization occurred during the Easter season by Hershey’s and, and many, many others, and the alternatives are not very viable.

Greg White (00:52:09):

Other oils, uh, or volumes of Palm oil from other parts of the country just simply cannot sustain the volume of, of candy production. So she’s been signaling this four months now and, you know, I think this is, um, kind of like your take on the 3d story. This is a, a regurgitation of that, of that original warning, just because it’s closer to time to, to warn people to, for what purpose, I don’t know, but labor is an issue for them. Um, and then, uh, raw materials are, are an issue. Honestly, I have not checked back in on it and they don’t say anything about it in the article. We are presenting here about the state of demand, um, for Palm oil. Mm. Uh, because in the previous article that they had done that it was done. Uh, let’s see, who did that, uh, supply chain dive?

Greg White (00:53:03):

Did it, it, the previous article that was done, they talked about when they might actually release, uh, quantities of Palm oil to the marketplace, honestly did not follow up to see, uh, what happened there. So to your point, Kelly, I’m not sure, I’m not sure they could spread out the demand because the raw materials are, um, are not available and, or not adequately available. Now, one thing they did do, and this is what I report talked about when they reported this earlier was, um, they did say some products require less Palm oil, which is used to keep the chocolate from sticking to the wrapper or to other, uh, chocolates. Some products require less of that, and that won’t be as impacted as others. And I honestly would have to look back, um, whether it was smaller or larger products that had that used less Palm oil.

Scott Luton (00:53:58):

Well, you know what, um, and, and this graphic here kind of reminds everybody, some of the, her, some of the mainline Hershey’s products, why couldn’t like wax lips run out, run into supply chain disruption. Why couldn’t

Kelly Barner (00:54:11):

Circus peanuts.

Scott Luton (00:54:12):

Yeah. Circus peanuts. Why couldn’t, uh, what’s that peeps peeps, why couldn’t pee short, right? Or there’s a, um, there’s a, um, bit of honey why couldn’t all those things, but man, don’t mess with the kit cats I could, I could do. Okay. With the Reeses and, and even the Hershey’s chocolate bars, but don’t mess with the kit cats, but I’m, I’m so glad Greg, uh, you had, um, done dove in his story earlier, uh, kind of gives interesting perspective. Jose says it’s, uh, revenue now versus seasonal is what Jose says. James says Palm oil based Halloween costumes only <laugh> Greg white. <laugh> he’s he’s, uh, he’s quoting you kind of a fake quote there. I love that James. Um, and let’s see here. And, um, so don’t mess our candy, right? Uh, Kelly and Greg don’t mess with our candy. We’ll see what happens. All right. So as we kind of run, man, we’re coming down fast and furiously to the end of today’s Dow P version of supply chain buzz. But I wanna ask you Kelly, Greg, and I wanna ask you, uh, Joshua says everything’s better than pees. That is a equation there. Uh, we agree with you Joshua and great to have you here via LinkedIn. Um, alright. So Kelly, talk to us about Greg and I are interested in your latest episode, which I believe was cross pollinated on the main supply chain now channel today. So tell us more.

Kelly Barner (00:55:41):

Yes, no, it was, it came out on the main channel today. So this is actually an interview that I did as a follow on to an episode from maybe three or four weeks ago. Um, on June 17th, all of the member countries of the world trade organization voted to grant an IP waiver for COVID 19 vaccines. Now patents are held nationally. So the fact that this international organization took the step of saying we’re no longer going to enforce these patents internationally goes against some of the precedent that has had existed in the past, under something called the trips protocol. Um, and so in researching that episode, I, I had the opportunity to meet. We Shay she’s a patent attorney and, and someone that had a very interesting point of view on this story. And so I recently interviewed her and I think the most interesting thing about it is not just that she made this complex story easy for people to digest that don’t have a legal background or don’t work in IP, but we took a look at some of the other industries and types of innovation that might be impacted by this precedent being said, for instance, even since June 17th, the secretary general of the United nations has come out and said, you know, renewable battery technologies.

Kelly Barner (00:57:03):

That’s something that all countries need, especially developing nations and those intellectual property constraints they’re getting in the way. So we’re gonna need to find a way to clear all that up. Wow. And so it’s, it’s interesting now that this box is open, um, where are we gonna see it? Where it’s head, how is it gonna change private incentives to innovate in public or cross industry partnerships? Really fascinating, but honestly, down to earth conversation that I had with when, on this topic,

Scott Luton (00:57:34):

Love it. You can check that out at, uh, Dow P for procurement, wherever you get your podcast from, uh, find it and subscribe or on the main channel here today. Uh, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback around this episode, Kelly, so great work, uh, Greg really quick as we start to wind down, we’ve got some great comments. I wanna, I wanna wrap up with, um, you know, this, this IP and dismissing, uh, intellectual property claims on, on a variety of products, regardless of how they rationalize it. That’s dangerous territory. It Greg.

Greg White (00:58:02):

Yeah. It’ll stunt innovation. Unquestionably. Why would I spend all the money, take all the risk to build something that someone’s just gonna take away from me as soon as it becomes valuable to the masses? Right? Um, I mean, billions, maybe trillions were spent to develop the COVID vaccines and if, and who is going to spend that kind of money, knowing that it instantly becomes the world. That’s like riding gone with the wind and, and making it public domain before you even have a chance to sell it in the bookstores. So who who’s gonna take that risk? I think it’s really, really dangerous. It’s already dangerous. First of all, a lot of countries won’t enforce other countries, regardless of this trip’s protocol, they don’t enforce other countries. Um, um, protections of intellectual property in China is biggest thief of intellectual property on the planet. And and also the largest, at least currently the largest population nation on the planet.

Scott Luton (00:59:02):

So, so you’re saying they’re like

Greg White (00:59:04):

Flare more dangerous,

Scott Luton (00:59:06):

Right? They’re like the Rick flare of <laugh> of IP heavyweight thievery. Uh, Greg, is that

Greg White (00:59:12):

Right? Oh, okay. I, I guess, did he cheat in every single, uh, one of his

Scott Luton (00:59:17):

Matches, he cheated a lot of 17 national 17. Yeah. Um, well, well said Greg, uh, excellent point cuz who would make that investment, uh, if they don’t stand to, uh, profit, um, and, and lose all those resources, you know, Kelly, we’ve got, we can’t name names, but we’ve got an interesting interview being solidified soon where this plays into, uh, hopefully the conversation. So we’ll see. Um, alright, Greg and Kelly, y’all check out some of these comments here. As we wrap the supply chain buzz know we’re gonna go over just a minute or two, um, Sophia back to chocolate. Cause that is, um, a very important topic for all of us, right? And our kids, she had read that Hershey already had done the product rationalization in April to try to mitigate this. I think Greg, you touched on that, Marie. Hey Marie, great to have you back enjoyed our conversation a couple months ago. Marie says, now we’ll have to hoard again. <laugh> can’t have a Halloween without my peanut peanut butter cups. Part of

Greg White (01:00:12):

The problem with hor in chocolate is it becomes that chalky junky stuff that you get at those junky convenience stores that mostly sell lottery tickets. Right. Has anyone ever gotten a dusty right. A dusty candy bar that’s been on the shelf for a year or whatever it takes for it to do that?

Scott Luton (01:00:29):

Yeah, it’s the worst.

Greg White (01:00:31):

I mean, there is a shelf life issue here, right? That’s very, very real. So,

Scott Luton (01:00:35):

Uh, Rhonda says my goodness, what I learn on this show, uh, Palm, all users, she loves some kit cat, too. Scott lip, candy pees, goodness, sugar rush time. Uh, loved that and loved that you were here with us here today. Uh, let’s see. EB Dali, I believe, uh, via LinkedIn from Morocco. Great to have you here today. Next time tune in earlier. We’d love to get your take on some new stories that we talk about throughout the hour. Uh, Peter Bole is back to, uh, focusing on work and he’s got an upcoming fundraiser dreams take flight annual golf term. Peter, you’re gonna have to share information, uh, with us soon on that. Uh, Gary Rick flair. Oh my WWE <laugh>. So, and finally Greg Studer gets the final word <laugh> on the chocolate Palm oil. Was this Hershey issue of not having backup farms like in south America, uh, where they, or where they were just relying on a major source. That’s a great quick, Greg. You, you got a bunch great questions

Greg White (01:01:35):

In, in Argentina. Argentina has its own problems producing anything right now, and also has 62% inflation. Um, but still the combination of every other nation on the planet that produces Palm oil can’t produce as much as Indonesia does.

Scott Luton (01:01:50):

Mm, interesting. Very interesting there. Well, Hey, um, Greg and Kelly, always a pleasure to, um, audience listeners big, thanks for all the comments and the questions. And, and y’all weighing in here today. Really enjoyed that almost as much as Greg and, and Kelly’s perspective, uh, Kelly, how can folks connect with the one only Kelly Barner

Kelly Barner (01:02:10):

Easiest way is LinkedIn from there, you’ll get everything. I P everything supply chain now, and this week in business history that I do and everything out of procurement. So that’s the best place to go.

Scott Luton (01:02:21):

Wonderful. Y’all got a big event coming up at, uh, art of procurement. Um, maybe we can find a way of adding that link really quick. Uh, Kelly, what is that? And what date? Yes.

Kelly Barner (01:02:30):

Category Palooza on August 11th from 11:00 AM Eastern. See, I told you procurement was cool, Greg. I

Scott Luton (01:02:37):

Love it. Three.

Greg White (01:02:38):

Yeah, it’s cool. Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:02:40):

It’s

Kelly Barner (01:02:40):

Summer festival of category insights, color dust optional.

Scott Luton (01:02:44):

Okay. Is, uh, is, uh, red hot chili peppers or, um, Jane’s addiction involved in category za?

Kelly Barner (01:02:52):

Thankfully there’s no musical numbers. <laugh> oh, just insights and data and great discussions and lots of interaction.

Scott Luton (01:03:01):

Oh yeah. I tell you Kelly and Phil and the whole a O P team you’ll check that out. Uh, you will not be disappointed. Uh, Greg white, speaking of not being disappointed every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, uh, the hits just keep on coming. The fresh takes, keep on coming. We’re getting so, you know, the one we talked about fr from Friday had hundreds of interactions and comments. I mean, clearly you’re you’re, um, uh, you’re given something you’re given a new take for folks to think about and gonna respond and react to and share their take on. So, uh, the next one, uh, let’s see, well the next one in two days. Right? Great. Next

Greg White (01:03:40):

Day. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I appreciate that, Scott. I think Kelly does a lot of the same things. She exposes a lot of the underlying message there. The things people don’t know, things like that, south America, Palm oil thing and, and those kind of things. And she does a great job better than I do I think. But, um, but yeah, I, I really enjoy doing that because I think there is so much opportunity to, uh, get angled or biased in a certain way, even, even, um, unintentionally. Right. It’s funny because the most popular article I had has like six had like 10,000 reads in one day. Um, wow. And, um, it was about how companies are starting to pull out of, of Amazon and expecting lower returns and et cetera, et cetera. So it’s amazing what is top of people’s minds? And that helps us a lot too, with our content to learn what people really care about and Kelly, you do a great job of that. Um, as you know, it was, um, tough to even get me to understand procurement much less be interested in it. And I love listening to what you talk about because it is so fascinating and it, it really ties together the commonalities of supply chain and procurement to UN completely underappreciated, still areas of the business, but we’re coming up fast.

Kelly Barner (01:05:08):

Oh yeah, you sure are

Scott Luton (01:05:10):

Coming up fast, coming up fast. All right, folks, uh, big, thanks to everyone at tuned in today. Appreciate all the great comments, uh, and feedback. Greg white Kelly Barner, always a pleasure, really have enjoyed this dial P edition of the supply chain buzz. Hey, big thanks and big tip of the hat to clay and Amanda and Catherine Chan all the folks behind the scenes helping to make production happen. Uh, but Greg and Kelly, we got one final message for folks. No, it’s not go out and get your kit cats now and, and load up on a whole garage full. No, no, no. Don’t do that. Um, everything’s gonna be okay. But most importantly, whatever you heard here today, it’s all about deeds, not words, right? Uh, on behalf of Greg and Kelly, Scott Luton signing off challenging you to do good to give forward and to be the change that’s needed. And with that said, we’ll see next time, right back here at supply chain now. Thanks you. Bye.

Intro/Outro (01:05:59):

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