In this episode of the Supply Chain Buzz on Supply Chain Now, powered by OMNIA Partners, hosts Scott Luton and Greg White, and guest Amanda Luton, discuss the top news in supply chain this week.
Intro/Outro (00:00:03):
Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and opportunities stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.
Scott Luton (00:00:30):
Hey, good afternoon, Scott, Greg white with you right here on supply chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream, Gregory. How are we doing?
Greg White (00:00:39):
I’m doing well. How are you
Scott Luton (00:00:41):
Doing fantastic. I love, you know, you raised the standard on, um, colorful shirts as, as with your lavender or purple t-shirt today. Thank you. And I had to meet that standard. So I went up to with, uh, almost like, uh, uh, Joseph’s Technicolor coat here today, all the different colors. Okay.
Greg White (00:01:04):
I feel like there might be a little purple in there. We’re kind of color coded today. Um,
Scott Luton (00:01:09):
So, well, by the way, we’ve got a wonderful Halloween costume idea, uh, mannequin with what we’ll wait until after the show to dive into that. But Hey, today is about the supply chain buzz about some of the biggest stores, most important stores that you need to be tracking across global business. And we offer the buzz up to you every Monday, 12:00 PM, Eastern time. And today’s show Greg is powered by our friends at Omnia partners, where they are reshaping the future of purchasing aren’t they,
Greg White (00:01:39):
Well, you know, I, I think about this frequently ever since we have had our, our Islamia and on, and some of their other folks that we’ve talked to, I think their slogan ought to be, why would you go it alone? Right? I mean, there are a group purchasing organization for anyone who doesn’t know, but, um, you know, the power that, that presents and not just negotiating power, but the opportunity to have additional vendors that you haven’t found or thought of. I mean, there’s just so much power in that. And thinking about where small businesses are today, it feels like it’s the right time to get into these kinds of communities to really start to, you know, improve the results that your company can have. So many people are outsourcing or multi-sourcing or communalized thing. So many things. This just seems so sensible. I can’t believe I’m saying that, but it does seem so sensible, right?
Scott Luton (00:02:36):
Yes. Agreed. We’re going to say hello to everybody momentarily. I want to bring Gary’s remark in. Gary says, Hey, everyone not used to seeing Greg on the left. What gives I’ve been demoted? Uh, Gary, I have been demoted.
Greg White (00:02:49):
No, you know, you are one of us when you notice that difference.
Scott Luton (00:02:53):
That’s right, Gary, I hope this finds you well and great to have you left
Greg White (00:02:56):
Handed Gary. So we’re trying something new, right? Yeah.
Scott Luton (00:02:59):
All right. But we were talking about Omnia partners a second ago and they’ve got a big event coming up in September in Miami connections, 2021. So Greg get this. So it’s free to attend for supply chain and sourcing and purchasing leaders. They’ve got keynotes, expos, networking, you name it 400 plus attendees. What they’re expecting to have down in the magic city. We’re going to be broadcasting live on Monday the 27th. And we’re going to be, uh, knocking out, uh, several interviews down there while we’re amongst the connections 21, 20 21 community. So you can join us though September 27th through 29th in Miami. And you can learn more about checking out the link we’ve got in the show notes. You’re ready to head down to Miami, Florida.
Greg White (00:03:47):
Who’s not ready for that. I mean, I feel like there ought to be a fourth bullet there, learn network, grow Miami. Maybe you should start with Miami.
Scott Luton (00:03:57):
I love Miami
Greg White (00:03:58):
In September. Okay. People Miami in September and all, and this huge collection of knowledge around, around procurement.
Scott Luton (00:04:07):
Well, you know, Omnia partners are one of those groups that they’re in the, um, a short list of companies that really invest in, uh, content and, and facilitating those best practices, uh, kind of building a community and there’s gonna be tons of market Intel and, and knowledge and, uh, expertise exchange down there. And, and you know, that doesn’t come cheap to be able to put on events like this. So, so big thumbs up to our friends, Omnia partners. We’re looking forward to being down there as Greg says, learn network, grow Miama. So I love that. We’ll see you soon. Okay. Let me share a couple of other, uh, events that need to be on your radar. August 18th, we’re partnering with our friends at Quip and alloy, uh, learn about quips omni-channel evolution. We’ve got Amrun Patel. You’re not gonna want to miss it. Greg. One of Amanda Luton’s favorite companies long before this webinar ever came about, you know?
Greg White (00:05:01):
Yeah. And you can tell by her shiny teeth just how effective this device is. So Quip is an electric toothbrush that they started selling direct before they started selling into retail, and now they sell through all these retail channels. So it’s a great juxtaposition. Let’s just try that word on for size Scott juxtaposition. Well, I mean, it’s a great combination of, of traditional retail and e-commerce retail direct to consumer. Um, so there’s a lot to learn here because there is a lot of that going on. Most companies seem to be coming for physical retail, into e-com or, or brands coming from even distribution into direct to consumer. And this is a great example of how all of that works together.
Scott Luton (00:05:50):
Join us August 18th at 12 noon, the link to join is in the show notes. And finally, of course, Larysa Siri, a huge supply chain insights, global summit coming up in September. We are very proud to be the exclusive virtual provider of the, of the, uh, digital feed of the event. But you got to register and it’s, it’s not an inexpensive event, but it’s going to be jam packed two and a half days. I believe September 7th and ninth, learn more at the link we’ve got in the show notes. All right. So Greg, you ready to say hello to a few folks?
Greg White (00:06:23):
Let’s do, there are a few folks out there.
Scott Luton (00:06:25):
There are SRE. Nevus is back from India once again. Uh, he’s always not
Greg White (00:06:30):
On, I noticed over the weekends, so usually I’m not on LinkedIn so much over the weekend, but I noticed that he is he
Scott Luton (00:06:38):
And I want to pose a question to always learning, I think. Yeah, I think so. We want him to share it. So share nevus, uh, from a supply chain standpoint, you know, what’s, what’s one big topic that’s been on your mind, whether it’s, you know, related to the, um, Indian markets there. And of course, um, we’ve heard some progress made from the COVID spikes from, uh, you know, 45 days or so ago, but tell us what’s the, the big, the big practitioner issue that you’re working through. We’d love to hear from you. Uh, let’s see here, Mustapha. Hey, he loves, he loves her purple t-shirt Mustaf. I love that.
Greg White (00:07:16):
So on the lighting, actually it’s pretty faded.
Scott Luton (00:07:22):
Kelvin says hello from Zambia. Great to see you here. Kelvin, look forward to your perspective being shared.
Greg White (00:07:28):
Why don’t we kind of add or re up a country here and there. I mean, that is fantastic that there are so many people across Africa, so engaged in global supply chain, right?
Scott Luton (00:07:39):
Greed, Hey, Mustapha, uh, afraid to start his own business. Hey, tune in to tequila, sunrise, you get some of the best entrepreneurial leadership founder advice ever. And where can they find tequila, sunrise, Greg,
Greg White (00:07:53):
I can find it wherever they get their podcasts or on YouTube. And if you are just starting out, one of the, um, you know, I’m just gonna, I’m just gonna pitch one, um, one episode, the seven things you need to do for, to build a three-minute pitch. And there’s nothing like that makes you understand your business, like having to communicate every aspect of it in three minutes. And it really doesn’t matter whether it’s a tech business or any other business. It really forces you to understand both what investors are looking for and what you need to know about your business to make it successful.
Scott Luton (00:08:26):
Love that. And it’s okay to be scared, use that as fuel. So, uh, thanks for joining us here today. Yeah. If you’re
Greg White (00:08:32):
Not, if you’re not scared, it’s you’re just, just playing crazy. You got to get a little bit crazy to be an entrepreneur, maybe a lot crazy to just plain crazy. If you’re not scared,
Scott Luton (00:08:42):
Be a bot might be a bot. If you’re not scared, Hey, precious is tuned in Vietnam. Geria. Great to have you here. Precious. Look forward to your perspective. So is back with us, uh, via LinkedIn. So she’ll back. Great to have you, oh, Aaron SMI tech is back Erin she’s back. It’s been a long time. Great to have you back, uh, looking forward to hearing your perspective here today, as we walk through four stories. And with that, that’s a perfect segue because with that, Greg, we’re going to get to work. Are you ready? Let’s do it. All right. So let’s bring this back into the stream here. So story number one, gray, we’re talking about one of Greg’s favorite topics, China, um, in particular is talk about the manufacturing industry in China. So Greg, according to this report via route, uh, Reuters manufacturing activity in China in July, well it expanded, but at the slowest pace they’ve seen in the last 17 months, analysts expected it to slow down from June to July, but the numbers came in lower than they had expected. So several factors, they identified bad weather as central China had record flooding in July. That’s never good, uh, higher raw material costs, of course, equipment maintenance and associated activities, surging logistics, logistics costs, of course. And one of the big signals stood out from the data. The new export order index was at its lowest level since July of 2020. So Greg, when it comes, uh, the manufacturing market in China and its activities, what, what are you tracking there?
Greg White (00:10:21):
Well, um, I think that we’re seeing this globally, right? And China is seeing the impact of it. Even at their relatively low labor rates. It was hard to get labor in to the shop to work because of the flooding. Um, and because of all the impacts that are hitting the rest of the supply chain, they’re hitting, they’re hitting China, even at a greater order of magnitude because China is still the largest producer, so many things in, in the world. Um, it’s natural to see that happen when you see global commerce kind of slowing because of all these cost factors. I think really this is a ripple effect of consumers. Um, recognizing that at least in, I think it’s like 21 states in the U S that they won’t be continuing to get the, um, pandemic unemployment assistance. The federal government’s extra three to $600 a week that were being sent to, to folks to stay home.
Greg White (00:11:27):
Um, and the clock is ticking in, in all of those states. Most of those states cease to get that cease, to accept that on June 1st and then state unemployment kicked in which only lasts for eight weeks and has of course on unlike pandemic unemployment has the requirement that you actually searched for a job. So, uh, with so many jobs on the line, I feel like this is a temporary thing. It will back because people will start getting back to work and all of these logistics costs and the difficulty in completing maintenance and that sort of thing will start to come down. We’ll start to, um, loosen up and, and we’ll be able to get more work done. So I just think it’s just a big impact on the world. And China is one of the biggest places you can impact in that regard.
Scott Luton (00:12:17):
Excellent, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Let’s uh, let’s keep tracking. I, I, I want to touch on this second issue. This is pretty cool. And I know this is one of the stories you dove in a little deeper on, on LinkedIn earlier.
Greg White (00:12:30):
It’s available by the way, it’s almost like a mind-meld Scott. I think we’ve done this three weeks in a row, right. Where you’ve picked, um, you’ve picked something that, that wound up in my little daily paper, right?
Scott Luton (00:12:42):
We try, we try very hard to keep up with you, Greg. It can be challenged and more challenging. I’m not sure
Greg White (00:12:48):
Who’s copying who I may have copied you on
Scott Luton (00:12:50):
This. All right. So in story, number two here. So talking tractors and related provisions, one of Greg’s favorite words and story. Number two as tractor supply company is accelerating its investment in its supply chain infrastructure. So according to Edwin Lopez over supply chain dive one of our favorite publications, the growing company plans add three new distribution centers to its network over the next five years. So by that time, once they add three more, there’ll be at 11 distribution centers. The first of these three new ones though is already under construction. They broke ground in Navarre Ohio, I think is how that said Navarre in a, B a R R E Ohio, Greg, any ideas of why they chose that part of the country?
Greg White (00:13:38):
Well, I’m guessing Ohio has a really strong physical, I mean, workforce, right? I don’t mean physically strong physical workforce, but there are a lot of people who are good with distribution and manufacturing and all those sorts of things in that part of the country. Am I right?
Scott Luton (00:13:54):
Workforce talent and logistics efficiencies, you know, Ohio is also known for its its logistics environment and network, no word yet on where are they going to break ground on the two sites? This is part of a plan $2.5 billion with a B as in Bezos and capital expenses over the next five years. But they’re making the investment earlier, which is, is, is, is a big reason why it’s a story here today. So the goal they say they want to provide one day delivery to 99% of their customers while improving profitability tractor supply company has also Gregg been opening a lot more stores to take advantage of BOPUS activity. One of our favorite acronyms around here. So Greg, I’ll tell you an old colon, colon Yankee, and the team are showing how it gets done. Am I right?
Greg White (00:14:42):
They are, and this is not new for, for, um, tractor supply. They have been a strong logistics supply chain organization for a long time. I mean, I did business with them ages ago, long, long time ago. I don’t remember exactly when, but I remember they had those little characters in their commercials back then. So, which still, I think are some of the greatest commercials ever, but now they’re not, you know, and they were just sort of a big farm and fleet store, meaning in farming and around farming communities and that sort of thing. And now there’s one up the street from me, not near any farming whatsoever, they have become like an ACE hardware or even a smaller home Depot, um, with some, you know, some additional, uh, other, other things that you don’t get. I mean, imagine being able to go someplace where you can get the stuff you want to work on use to work on in your backyard or your, your garden and dog food. Right. Right. I mean, it’s kind of like that. So, uh, it’s a great concept. It apparently is working in retail or in, uh, in urban areas or relatively urban areas, at least suburban. And in addition to the urban or the rural areas ban, wait this guy up in addition to the rural areas that they’ve always been in. And, um, and how about calling Yankee? Is that not the most ironic name for a guy who lives in Nashville?
Scott Luton (00:16:10):
We were talking about Colin Powell last week and you’re right. It is Colin Yankee, not colon my apologies, uh, Collin, um, but
Greg White (00:16:20):
You know, probably not as ironic as yang, right.
Scott Luton (00:16:25):
And we’ve had a couple of great interviews with column one just a couple months ago. So we’ll have to do a check-in, uh, with him and get it here, kind of from the horse’s mouth, what what’s going on behind some of these press releases, but it’s exciting. I love the acceleration. I love how they’re leveraging their stores, um, uh, in a, in a modern day retail way and as part of their overall supply chain, uh, plan. So a lot of good news coming out from tractor supply company. Now let’s say low to few of the folks that have joined us since mans. You tuned in via LinkedIn from Nova Scotia, be here. Gosha where it’s already winter, I think, Hey, okay. That sounds great. To me. It was pretty hot this weekend. We’re going to get
Greg White (00:17:10):
Some relief in the next couple of days, but you’re right. It was 97 degrees. So 1% humidity in Atlanta
Scott Luton (00:17:17):
Stay tuned for weather on the top of the hour right here, right over here, job high pressure center that jet stream just keeps on coming. And they’re from up test is where this feeling to and great to see you. John hope this finds you well, he’s got a little purple, you know, maybe today is just purple, purple, Monday. Um, great to see you, John, uh, Aaron Smith Smith tack was talking about, you know, who the countries are handed out money like the U S one year, um, favorite topics, Greg, but we won’t get, there was a time
Greg White (00:17:53):
And a place for it. Right. But that time and place has long since passed with millions of jobs open, right? Yes.
Scott Luton (00:17:59):
Not saying speaking of mains jobs, opening in supply chain where Ms. Yu is starting her career in supply chain. So congrats mans. You’re telling me working
Greg White (00:18:09):
In the states because that’s a good, there’s a job for you.
Scott Luton (00:18:14):
Uh, if you like, uh, what you’re doing, uh, as you start your career in supply chain, we’d love to learn more from where you are there in Nova Scotia. Uh, Catalina is tuned in via Columbia and LinkedIn. Great. See a Catalina. Welcome back. Uh, let’s see here. Oh, you know, who’s back with us, right? Oh, Mohit. Oh, great to see.
Greg White (00:18:38):
Yeah. Thank you. And thanks for the shout out this weekend, by the way, Mohit. I appreciate the nudge there. Where’s your net. Where’s your name tag? Oh my gosh. Where is it? You know, I’ve been moving stuff around in here and I it’s on the wrong shelf. I can tell already
Scott Luton (00:18:55):
Mervyn tuned in from Dublin. Great. And cm, Mervyn, hope this finds you. Well, Dr. Vias is back with us. Simon is back. He’s got new head shot, Simon, how you doing? I like, um, I liked the new head shot. My friend, he’s smiling in this one. He wasn’t smiling. And that last one, Hey, life is better. I like this better. All right. So let’s move right along to the next story here today. Let’s see here now, Greg, you know that we like our lists around here, right? Especially Amanda loves a good list. She loves right now a good list. So industry week recently rolled out it’s 20, 21 50 best us manufacturers list. So, um, I want to share a little background first and then we’ll talk about some of the companies. So the, the top 50 list Greg comes out of their annual top 500 publicly held us manufacturing company list, right?
Scott Luton (00:19:51):
The factors for these rankings include revenue and revenue growth inventory turns, profit margin, asset turnover, return on assets and return on equity. It’s a three-year review, but the current year is weighted the most. Thanks weighted like 50%. Um, the number one company owned the list this year is BWX technologies. The prod of Lynchburg, Virginia now. Oh, cool. Little sidebar here, Rick McDonald and our friends at Clorox come in and number six. So, uh, I know you love a good list and I’m not sure if you’ve seen the, the full top 50, but, uh, any thoughts that you saw?
Greg White (00:20:33):
I’m curious what the heck it is that BWX does. That’s what I can’t figure out right now. I’m doing it right now. Yeah. So, oh, nuclear operations group. So they have a nuclear operations group. Yep. Nuclear components and fuel to the U S government. How about that? So hopefully, hopefully, hopefully we are building power plants, not the alternative Iran will have something to say about that if we are building the alternative, I’m sure. Um, but yeah, I, I think it’s, it’s interesting. I really liked the way that they, um, that they attack the ranking. Right. It sounds very Loris to Siri ESC in terms of how efficient and effective they are in, in, in and around supply chain. I mean, they’re not just saying best quality, but they’re also talking about how, how effectively they turn over their inventory, their profit margins and return on assets and things like that. So those are good, um, measures of an effective manufacturer.
Scott Luton (00:21:42):
Okay. Greed and speaking to the Larysa Siri, uh, you know, we’re going to be having three executives from the supply chains. We admire list, which has great research, uh, that Laura puts out Laura and the team puts out each year. Um, speaking at the conference in September at the global summit, let’s see if, uh, Amanda or Jayda or clay, if we can drop the link to, uh, the supply chains to admire [inaudible] we admire research and the comments that’d be wonderful and, and big, thanks to clay and Amanda and Jayda behind the scenes a day, helping us to make the buzz happen. Okay. So Greg, look here, Mann’s use it responding. So she’s starting her internship with grace. Oh,
Greg White (00:22:27):
With gray bar. Wow. Also a good supply chain organization. I mean, did business with them way back when more, more than two decades ago. So a really seriously powerful team there. Yes.
Scott Luton (00:22:44):
She’s got 16 plus years in the Atty business development space. So now she’s applying that to the worldwide supply chain market. I love that Manju. Congrats.
Greg White (00:22:55):
Yeah. That reminds me of when we were in Austin a couple of Novembers ago. Right. And we just saw us, it was like that show. We saw so many people, it was a Reuters show. I think w we saw so many people that had come to supply chain from physics and mathematics. And I don’t even remember what all, but that diversity of knowledge is so, so powerful. And I think is it continues to up-skill the, the, um, practice, the craft. That’s what I’m supposed to call it.
Scott Luton (00:23:28):
That’s true. Well, Hey, best of luck, man. You look forward to putting our finger on the pulse and seeing how it goes. Um, so Simon, back to the story, and we’re talking about the, uh, industry week 50 best us manufacturers list. He says, I guess sustainability is not high on the top 50, then, you know, it, they didn’t, um, from the story itself, they didn’t spell that out as a, one of the key factors. So I don’t know, he may
Greg White (00:23:56):
Be speaking of, of nuclear. Right, right. Specifically.
Scott Luton (00:24:02):
And precious says Simon, Jonah. I think so too. And sustainability is key. We agree with you. Precious. I agree. That’s true. Okay. So Greg man, we’re rolling through these stories, uh, very quickly today. Yes. So, uh, this last story, this is kind of a, this, this may be in your blind spot, a liberal, a little bit of this was certainly in my blind spot. So as reported by CNBC, a big acquisition recently closed in the last few days, powered by the growing B N P L market, perhaps Greg, a new acronym, sir, for some folks around here, buy now pay later, be NPL, certainly not a new approach by any means, but this deal, so Jack Dorsey’s square company will be acquiring the Australian FinTech company after pay. Uh, Greg Afterpay offers at 16 million customers Tang the ability to pay for their items in, for interest free installments.
Scott Luton (00:25:06):
So get this, the market that it serves a market, these platforms plan the B NPL technology and platform market. Well, that was valued at 7.3 billion in 2019. And it’s expected to grow to 33.6 billion in 2027, lots of players already in the market in, in this, uh, niche market, affirm PayPal, MasterCard file serve. Some of those apple is getting into this, this space here. They’re going to be launching an installment lending program with Goldman Sachs in the months ahead. Now here’s some surprising, perhaps surprising information for you. So according to payments.com and that’s kind of abbreviated P Y M N T s.com. I only know how to pronounce it if it was a payments, right? Um, more than 26% of millennials and nearly 11% of gen Z consumers had tapped B and P L to finance their most recent online purchases compared to only 7.5% of older generations who had done the same one B in P L doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Does it, um, industry executive says that most of their customers referring to these numbers own a credit card, but prefer to use it only for emergency expenses and want more flexibility with their standard monthly expenses. So, Greg, I would say what’s old is new again, but I do find these shifting whatever we’re calling that these days, the shifting retail dynamics would be really intriguing your take.
Greg White (00:26:43):
I think it’s trouble. Um, yeah. I mean, if you can pay for, I, I get why you would, of course the incentive is incredible. If it’s no interest and you can pay over four months or some other period of time, rather than all at once. Um, why would you not? I mean, all the economics would say that you should write what my concern is. And I’ve seen this as more than a slight cultural trend for these generations is that because, because, um, there are many who don’t manage their money very well. They’ve only got enough to pay for a quarter of it right now. And they’re hoping they’ll have enough to pay for a quarter of it down the road three other times. And that is a recipe for disaster. Right. Um, so I don’t know, honestly, I don’t know how these companies make money if they’re not charging interest.
Greg White (00:27:41):
Is there a fee, is there a fee to the seller because that seems the motivational, is there a fee to the user? It doesn’t say so. Does it? So it doesn’t seem like there is, and I haven’t studied it much, but, uh, I don’t know about this. Remember layaway, when you say that, which is old, is new, again, remember layaway layaway, you didn’t get it until you’ve paid for all of it. Right, right, right. The motivation was definitely there to pay it off or, or risk your own money by having paid and then not paying it off.
Scott Luton (00:28:16):
Right. Yeah. It will be interesting to see all that the BNP FL uh, model applies to. Right. Um, and any supply chain ramifications. Uh, so we’ll see, we’re gonna keep our finger on the pulse clearly
Greg White (00:28:30):
Ramifications too, right. I mean, I mean, I think this is just free debt is arguably free debt. Right. But it is nonetheless debt, you know, it’s, it’s funny because you just made me think of something. And that was, I don’t know, it was one of, one of my, um, supply chain commentaries, where we were talking about new ways of, of retailers and shippers, right. Paying for goods and how that wasn’t being treated as a debt on the balance sheet. And yet was overburdening. These companies were debt, even though the vendors were paid, but the companies that were paying them were not yet. So you’d have to, I mean, I see something very similar. It doesn’t look like debt on the balance sheet of a human being, but it is nonetheless death agreed,
Scott Luton (00:29:21):
Agreed. Um, we’re gonna, we’re going to keep, you know, clearly there’s a, this is a growing sector, right. And, and you can tell just by some of the names that are getting into and, and now are leveraging, uh, their, uh, customers and giving them one more program, uh, you know, to, to, to increase that stickiness. So we’ll see, we’ll see how it plays out, but you know, where my brain went to when I read this and be in PL um, you know, it takes me back to 1996 and in 1996, I had separated from the air force, my first go round cause I got a scholarship. Right. So I was going to college for the first time. And you had to have, you know, those, those necessary things you have to have in college, uh, you know, textbooks and pencils and adult beverages and stereo systems.
Scott Luton (00:30:14):
Right. Exactly. Well, get through this as a, as a, you know, a twin, uh, uh, I don’t know, 20 year old, I guess, walking through a now bankrupt department store. And I see one of these new fangled 3d three disc, uh, uh, stereo systems, right. And this is the fact that I was able to Google and find just about, this is just about the exact thing that I purchased at this retailer. And only 277 payments later. It was all mine. It was all it probably, I can’t imagine the interest I’ve paid on this thing, but, you know, as I thought about this, and this is almost looked exactly like this, but really I was thinking about, you know, uh, that urge I had as a, as a, as a young consumer to get access to that credit and then apply it. And, and, and I made a lot of bad decisions. Right. And it, it’s, it’s really cool to kind of, kind of put that perspective around how the folks that are tapping into BNP PL you know, an interest free, um, you know, kind of, um, I wish we had maybe a, kind of a new, new take own, uh, access to that back when I was bebopping through that series. But Hey, you know, uh, the concept’s been around quite a while and we’ll see how we’ll see, what’s powering this, this niche sector.
Greg White (00:31:39):
Um, I made by an item on, uh, affirm is the one I see most prominently advertised. And also I refuse to give any more money to Jack Dorsey. I don’t, I don’t think, I think owning to DECA billion dollar companies is sufficient, don’t you? Right. Um, um, but, but I might try it because my suspicion is, as you were talking there, my suspicion is as, uh, as it often was with, with other financing schemes in the past, in the eighties and nineties was that you paid more for the product, right? And I wonder if the price doesn’t go up just enough to cover the, you know, the convenience of the payments. And also I think about the, you know, the usual argument for spreading out payments, even without interest is the ability to, uh, you know, to make money on that cash. And I wonder if people are really doing that, if you’re not making money on that, then you are paying only slightly less because a week or a month, or whatever later, even inflation hasn’t significantly impacted the value of your money yet.
Greg White (00:32:49):
So it’s not like you’re paying with tremendously less valuable doll dollars. So, and it’s a very short timeframe in which it would be very risky to make a significant amount of money on the free cash that you didn’t spend. So I’m not sure what the real attraction there is. I don’t think there’s a, um, let me preface this with, I am not an economist and I can show you the grades in my college classes and economics to prove it. Um, but the, you know, just the base economics, don’t, don’t seem to bear out. It seems more like a convenience or a cash management thing and cash management, because you don’t have, the cash is always a dangerous and slippery slope.
Scott Luton (00:33:37):
Yeah. And well, as Mohit says, here is debt for consumer and account receivables for the company is great for both parties at first glance, but risk and reward have to be well calculated and monitored. So it does not get out of hand, excellent point there. And then a Manju. I’m glad you can relate to my, um, the $300 sound system that I probably ended up paying $1,200 for.
Greg White (00:34:04):
You don’t have to play it. Right. I mean, it feels like it that’s a big thing in, in south America. When I was doing a lot of business in south America, we saw frequently you could buy a table and chairs and finance it, and what wasn’t effective, you’d go on payments. And the, the let’s just put it this way. The interest rate that they charged is illegal in the United States of America. And, and several of those companies that were doing that were brought under extreme scrutiny by the governments of their respective countries in south America. So it, there, there is something, um, something wicked this way comes right. In little opinion.
Scott Luton (00:34:50):
Well, so precious says, I think teaching children, financial management early would help in preventing future generations from walking that path, because this is so relatable. I agree with your precious and, you know, uh, not too long ago, um, a few weeks back, I saw a commercial for go Henry. And it was really, it’s a neat platform where you get it. You don’t give your children a credit card, but you’re able to enable with, with restrictions, certain e-commerce, and you can control how much, you know, they’re basically you can give them their allowance and, uh, digitally, you know, and let them with controls, apply that to different e-commerce decisions and spending decisions and whatnot. I think that’s pretty cool. I have not enrolled. And by the way, go, Henry is not a sponsor at all here at supply chain now,
Greg White (00:35:41):
But prove that, let me highlight another, there’s a company based here in Atlanta called Greenlight. And it’s precisely that it’s a debit card for kids that also teaches them financial responsibility, as well as enabling reasonable and rational spending. I think when, you know, when you’re doing this kind of thing, yep. It’s responsible to say, what else could you do with the money? Right. Um, and, and I, I think a vehicle or, uh, uh, a card or whatever it is that says, Hey, here’s, here are the economics of the decision you’re making. Here’s what else you could be doing with the money. So
Scott Luton (00:36:24):
Agreed. And Mohib says a graders work for B graders in a company owned by C graders financed by D graders.
Greg White (00:36:36):
Oh, I love that. How true, how true? Um,
Scott Luton (00:36:41):
Well, Greg, you know, we were so efficient getting through our, uh, stories here today. And I think it’s here at the start of a month, sometimes, uh, the live streams at the very start of the month, everybody’s wrapping up the previous month or planning the current month. Um, but what else, you know, since we have a little extra time, you know, what else is on your radar? Or what’s a good question. You want to throw out there to our folks in the sky boxes, cheap, cheap sheets, cheap seats, you name it. What’s on your mind, Greg this morning. That’s, it’s a very dangerous question, but what is it?
Greg White (00:37:16):
Well, it’s a very mundane answer as you would not expect. And that is, um, being an empty nester and no longer having to worry about these things. I’m fascinated by what the impact of back to school has been. Now, it hasn’t started everywhere, but Scott, I think your kids went back today or go back tomorrow. Is that correct? That’s right. Tomorrow bright and early. Yeah. So you know what, one of the things that I’ve seen in the news, and this is, this is as regards to supply chain, but I’m really interested more in how it’s impacting individuals, consumers, whatever we want to call ourselves. But one of the things I’ve seen recently is that because of the hiccups in the supply chain, that there may, may, may be no peak season in the states and peak season. Traditionally starts though. We think of it as kind of the Thanksgiving to Christmas holidays, new years, uh, until return season on December 26th, uh, boxing day in Canada, um, I’ve never seen a match, not one on the 26th of December in Canada.
Greg White (00:38:23):
That’s a whole different kind of boxing. Um, but, but what is not commonly known in retail is that the back to school typically kind of starts the peak season. And it is a peak for certain businesses in and of itself because you sell a lot of dorm fridges and backpacks and pencils or whatever kids use to write these days. If kids even write these days, they quit teaching cursive so long ago. I’m not sure that it’s even worth it for kids to write. Um, but you know, laptops and who knows what right. New shoes and whatever else. So I’m really interested in that dynamic. And yes it is. And maybe you, and maybe we can bring on Amanda, or maybe you can speak to what kind of, uh, upheaval or you know, or impact it’s having on your household right now.
Scott Luton (00:39:18):
It’s a great question. Let me, let me see in the green room, if Amanda gives us the thumbs up or the thumbs down for joining us, Amanda, would you like to speak to some upheaval? Okay, well let’s whoosh Amanda Luton into the stream.
Greg White (00:39:37):
Hey, Amanda, man, on the spot, how you doing for anyone who doesn’t know completely unplanned, but yeah, you can hear all that, right, Amanda. So, oh, wait. You’re muted.
Amanda Luton (00:39:51):
Of course. I am see. I’m totally unprepared. I’m being behind the scenes. Yes. I can hear everything now. Speak
Greg White (00:40:00):
Good. Yeah. Give us an idea of what’s going on in your household with back to school. And
Amanda Luton (00:40:07):
So what I was actually in the middle of typing before y’all invited me live, um, which is kind of unique for our school system. Walton county schools in Georgia has actually taken their federal dollars and all of the money, the relief dollars and everything. Um, that’s been provided by the government and have, uh, purchased school supplies for every single student, um, throughout the whole county. Um, also taken, I don’t, I’m not sure of the exact government agency, but whatever money that they were provided also to, to paper, um, lunches and breakfast, you know, food for kids, they have paid they’ve provided enough money so that all kids can have three, um, breakfast and lunches at school every single day throughout the whole school year. So are wow.
Scott Luton (00:40:59):
Which by the way, our three kids, I haven’t seen them celebrate school,
Greg White (00:41:05):
School lunch.
Amanda Luton (00:41:06):
They love it. I mean, I, I, I guess that, that speaks to how quickly and, and, and effortlessly I put together lunches. I just throw a couple things in their lunches, but they love getting school lunch. So that’s like a huge deal in our household, but the amount of stress and pressure that, that has that the school supplies being provided and the breakfast and lunch being provided has taken them enormous pressure, you know, off of my shoulders in particular, but, but our shoulders, um, as a household, because that stuff gets expensive, you know?
Greg White (00:41:42):
Well, yeah, and this year, then it’s a crush to get all of that stuff bought. Right.
Amanda Luton (00:41:46):
Well, and we have three kids, you know, I think about it all the time. You know, I have friends that have four and five children, um, and you know, you’re paying for not only for pens and pencils and stuff, but especially this year, Clorox wipes, you know, hand sanitizer, we were providing it a lot in the past, but, um, particularly this year and luckily, you know, we’ve kind of every time we see it in the store, we picked some up. So we’ve been stockpiling it for a long time, you know, thinking that when they go back to school after pride provide more, but, um, you know, depending on, on where you are different locations, there can be, um, you know, that stuff can be sold out still at this point in time, but,
Greg White (00:42:23):
Hmm. So, um, you made me think that that’s really interesting and wow. Um, I wish, and I bet a lot of people right now wish they were as prepared as you getting stuff way ahead of the season. And knowing that you’re a prepared parent as regards to the holiday without giving away any secrets, like what the gift is, are you, I mean, because you’re kind of tuned into what’s going on in supply chain and I think we can largely expect there to be great shortages of things for the holidays. Are you planning ahead for that as well?
Amanda Luton (00:43:01):
I typically, I plan, let’s say I play more than Scott does Scott, the Christmas Eve shopper, but I definitely usually, but, but typically, you know, I don’t plan too far. I start shopping after Thanksgiving. You know, I like to, to give myself a little bit of, uh, um, time, but not a ton, but this year I definitely I’ve already asked the kids to start their Christmas lists. Um, getting some ideas, um, you know, looking on Amazon, looking on, um, you know, Walmart website, looking on specific stores in particular, um, doing a little bit of shopping in person already, which I mean, typically, like I said, I don’t start shopping until November and I’m already starting now just anticipating those delays. I don’t like it, but I think it’s, we’re going to have to it, especially like with our kids, you can’t just say, you know, I want Barbies this year or I want Legos, Bennett picks out the very specific set of Legos, you know, that he wants. And, you know, the girls have, um, very specific ideas in mind. So it’s, it’s not like I could just go out, pick out a Barbie and pee, you know, and just be fine with it. They’re kind of picky. So I’m having to, um, to ask what they’re, you know, ask what they want now, seek it out. And, and a lot of times just go ahead and get it now.
Scott Luton (00:44:29):
Very active feedback cycles, very, very active. I’ve experienced that. Um, I’m, I’m glad Greg, I appreciate that this is on your mind and it’s neat to hear Amanda’s perspective as a school and holidays. And clearly, um, I don’t have a stat handy, but, um, in our head it’s really interesting. Uh, the females in the family have the purchasing power. Amanda’s one making all of those decisions. You know, I’ve seen some, some procurement statistics not too long ago, maybe from Kelly Barner around that, but it just kinda hit me right now, Amanda. I mean, you’re, you’re the one making a lot of the ton of whether it’s retail or other consumer decisions.
Amanda Luton (00:45:15):
Yeah. That’s, that’s for sure. Um, honestly, I don’t know why that’s not focused on more, you know, cause not only is it school supplies, but it’s, um, it’s our weekly lunches or our weekly, you know, grocery shopping. I’m the one that makes all of those purchases, any school clothes or any clothes in general, I make those, you know, I’m in services. Yeah. So yeah. Um, that’s interesting to think about, and I think there’s, um,
Greg White (00:45:43):
I think there are retailers that are aware of that, that, that you Amanda and, and other women and families typically make the plans and purchases and that sort of thing. I wonder. And I wonder if you’ve seen any of this in the, you know, some of the preparatory shopping that you’ve been doing. I wonder if you see that retailers are prepared for this early surge of shopping, which, I mean, I think you’re, you’re an exceptional planner and maybe it won’t be like a big, big impact on, you know, by consumers, but some people are gonna see this and go, Hey, I hadn’t thought of that. Right. And yeah, I wonder if you think that retailers are prepared for an early surge of shopping with, with consumers being ever more aware of, of the supply chain impact on availability and availability. Yeah.
Amanda Luton (00:46:38):
If my in store shopping experience over the summer has been any indication, they are horribly unprepared. Um, you know, we’ve, I’ve been in several stores and you know, we’ve been kind of our kids’ birthdays are during summertime. And so we’ve been shopping for clothes, you know, all throughout the summer in different things here and there. And there’s a couple of stores in particular that we go in and the shelves are just vacant and you would really, yes, it’s, it’s frustrating because I I’m trying to shop in person. I don’t want us to do all of my shopping online, especially with, like I said, um, picky, picky girls in particular, you know, looking for, for clothes and yeah, just accessories in general. But, um, there are just some empty shelves and it definitely makes me nervous and it turns me to, to e-commerce know even more.
Amanda Luton (00:47:30):
Cause I know that I can get, I can find what we’re looking for. Um, I mean this could go into a whole bunch of different directions as far as reverse logistics and returning things and all of that stuff too. But, um, it does, it makes me nervous and, and once I see empty shelves, um, I start not going back to the stores because, um, it takes a lot of my time, you know, to get the kids out, to go out to the stores where I don’t have to leave the house to shop online and I can, you know, it’s a much easier purchase for, for me for busy moms in general. But, um, man, I think, I think it’s going to be rough. I think it’s really going to be rough.
Scott Luton (00:48:07):
So let me share a tool here has a, and I think if I said it wrong, please let us know how we say it. Right. A tool says, great question on school supplies, any stats on overall uptake on costs and spend by school administration only increasing the budget to meet that uptick now really quick. I did some Googling very dangerous sometimes, but the United States census bureau released, uh, data in may that public school spending per pupil increases by the largest amount in 11 years, uh, here in the U S 11 years. So, um, there’s more information. We’ll try to drop this into the comments, but a great question. And a tool also says we see construction costs up by 30% due to commodity price and supply chain issues. Is that happening in other sectors? I would say absolutely. Greg, what are your thoughts? So,
Greg White (00:48:59):
Uh, I read a report that, that, um, lumber prices in particular specifically are back down to their normal levels maybe at, at the plant or a mill level, but I haven’t seen him quite come back to normal levels in store. Um, but I think it will start happening. So this is a dynamic we discussed earlier, earlier on the show. It seemed like now it seems like the show has been going really long, Scott, but you know, now that people, because B, because certain states are not taking the federal unemployment assistance anymore, the clock started ticking and these people will have to get back to work, which means production will come up. And, and in many, many cases, this is a strange irony here. The employed will soon be earning less than they were as the unemployed because of the, the federal unemployment assistance and their budget for spending will go down.
Greg White (00:50:05):
So I think we’ll start to see equilibrium later this month. Let me just preface this or stuff this with, with another, this statement one more time. And that is, I am not an economist, but it does seem to make sense. People are getting back to work. They have less time to spend people are, their kids are getting back to school. As those activities start there. In many cases, I cannot remember what the percentage is, but it was a huge percentage of people on pandemic, unemployment assistance. Their pay will actually go down after they’re not working or not, not working for the government. Um, so I think we’ll start to see demand start to balance out from that standpoint and bring some of the prices down on some of that, uh, incremental, uh, spending things like building houses, buying RVs boats, right. But if, as Amanda says, and I think it’s, I think it’s, you heard it here first. Just remember you heard it here. Amanda Luton shoppers are shopping earlier to get what they want so they don’t run out. I mean, think about when we have the toy of the year, right. And everyone buys it early and then start selling it on eBay this year. You’re going to have to buy it early just to be able to get it for your own kids, not even it to your arm. Right. Liquid
Scott Luton (00:51:31):
Ziggy says here, we’re talking about other costs, increases and Ziggy. Great to have you back via LinkedIn in the lubricants industry, 30% is minimum on the increases due to supply chain material challenges. Yeah. How about that? Uh, also Jenny Froome is with us. Hello, Jenny, uh, leader of say, picks says, isn’t that just supply chain though. So many different things making up the end result and Janine says, great to hear you, Amanda. So great to have you with this. Jenny and Jenny. Um, Jenny and I just knocked out an interview not too long ago, Greg and Amanda with, uh, sheesh, FA uh co-founder and CEO with a group called bank Q. Oh yeah. Wonderful. I’ll tell you what, if we hooked up a sheesh to, um, the power grid? I don’t think we would address much of our infrastructure. Uh, he’s got that much energy and just charisma and passion and the whole bank. You can’t, I won’t go into it, but the whole name came from yeah. Yeah.
Greg White (00:52:31):
I saw his story on a post from him on LinkedIn or something like that. Yeah,
Scott Luton (00:52:37):
It’s great. It came from a financial, uh, banker saying, Hey, I, I can’t allow you to have an account, but I can bank you to the point in a sheet show. Uh, so Jenny looking forward to releasing that here this week, but back to the topic at hand and Amanda, we’ll wrap you first and then we’ll wrap up the buzz here today. What’s um, what’s one other piece of advice maybe, or observation as that you would like to share as we get into while we’re in the back, back to school mode really early here in Georgia, especially compared to other parts.
Amanda Luton (00:53:13):
Um, gosh, another, another bit of advice or I’m not sure. You know, one thing I have noticed too, um, is increasing, you know, like I said, I do all of our food shopping and everything I’ve noticed increases in food prices, even at my bargain basement stores that I like to shop. I, we shop from all the, you know, I still, I, I was an Instacart, um, enthusiast before the pandemic. And matter of fact, um, I’m placing my, I was in the middle of placing my Instacart order for our, our peanut butter. Would you mind, Hey, I’m a multitasker, right. But, um, I’ve noticed prices going up. I’ve noticed lots of outages in the stores. Um, but the key to, to shopping, I think for our family is just flexibility is, is making sure that we have lots of up or making sure that everybody is open to lots of different options.
Amanda Luton (00:54:14):
Um, luckily, you know, we have lots of shopping options in our area. Instacart will pick up and deliver from just about everybody around us, but, but it’s taking, um, it’s taking extra work and it’s taking extra time, um, to plan and to think about it, you know, we meal plan all week long and, um, uh, it’s just taking a little bit extra time and, you know, I’m trying also to be really patient with those retail workers, those people that are placing deliveries, um, then, you know, giving lots of grace, um, because I know that they are working super hard. Matter of fact, uh we’ve we placed a pizza delivery order last week that they had to then call me, um, to say that, you know, they don’t have enough delivery drivers and they had to cancel our order. Um, and so I’m just, I’m trying to be very thankful and very appreciative for the people that are working right now and the people that are, you know, probably dealing with a lot of personalities and a lot of things right now,
Greg White (00:55:11):
I have a feeling you’re not getting a lot of empathy from some of our listeners viewers around the world. I mean, seriously, these are seriously, not just,
Amanda Luton (00:55:20):
Not just first world
Greg White (00:55:21):
Problems, but they are us problems. I mean, the level of service that we have come to expect in the states is unbelievable. And it is significantly compromised right now. And I, I got to tell you in the same moment that I am so irritated by the fact that it took them 10 extra minutes or five extra minutes or whatever, to get to our table at, at the restaurant, we went to Friday night, I’m like, right. We’re at a restaurant. We’re not making our own food.
Amanda Luton (00:55:49):
We’re not foraging for it. Right. I mean, yeah. And it’s one thing to expect a level of service because I think we’ve, we, you know, we’ve gotten used to a high level of customer service, but we need to appreciate it. We need to be thankful for it. And we need to be grateful to the people that are providing it, you know? So I think that’s, that’s where I’m, that’s where I am right now. I guess. No
Scott Luton (00:56:10):
Truer words have ever been spoken than what the great freight Sage
Greg White (00:56:14):
Lodge. Yeah, no kidding. So who came to visit this weekend? My brother who came to visit this weekend was quoting an article or something that said America is five missed meals away from anarchy. It’s even fewer missed pizzas,
Scott Luton (00:56:33):
But you know, Jenny also says the restaurants are open that’s to be grateful, especially
Greg White (00:56:38):
In South Africa. It is right. So,
Scott Luton (00:56:43):
Uh, all right, Amanda, we’re gonna switch you back out. Thanks so much for popping into the stream and sharing some of your POV here today. Yeah. We’ll see you here just a moment. All right. Thanks guys. All right. Hey, uh, one of the things I wanted to share with you, Greg, before we wrap, so the national retail Federation and F our friends over there, John gold and the team they estimate, according to this NPR report, that families will be spending an average of $849 on Batten to school. That’s 60 more dollars in last year. Wow. And it’s supposed to be the back to school. Shopping overall is supposed to set a record this year, uh, a whopping $37 billion. And of course the entire industry’s got their finger on the pulse of that school as an overall economic indicator. So we’ll see, we’ll see where the tallies.
Greg White (00:57:34):
Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I did a lot of business with staples back in the day, pre 2000 and back when they used to matter and not just mattered. I mean, they were the go-to place for back to school and they had an entire logistics strategy around getting back to school goods, staging them in inappropriate and economically appropriate way and being available for back to school in the various regions. And, um, it’s no small logistics challenge because the demand uplift for back to school is so dramatic, even more dramatic than, you know, the Thanksgiving, Christmas to Christmas holidays in, uh, in the states. So it was a nightmare. Um, frankly, well,
Scott Luton (00:58:24):
We’re going to have to, uh, draw some of the stories out from you in the later episode, uh, but really have enjoyed today’s buzz. I enjoyed chatting through with you these four stories then of course, surprisingly bringing on Amanda to talk about back to school and she shared some of the experiences. There it
Greg White (00:58:40):
Is. Yeah. The lesson there, everyone, everyone in supply chain needs to get the lesson there. You are not predicting the items. You are predicting Amanda Luton. And in all seriousness, I mean, in supply chain, we have to recognize that we are not predicting the items. We are predicting the consumer, right? And the consumer is going to do something and clearly is doing something different already. And that’s why we have to, we have to bridge this gap from understanding what the item is doing and instead understand what the consumer is doing and what is motivating them to buy what or return what, and that is when we will have a quantum leap in terms of effectiveness in supply chain.
Scott Luton (00:59:28):
Right? Real, real, real agility. When we get to, when we start doing that and acting on that very consistently, Hey, Kim winner, appreciate your comments here. It was his evening meal entertainment, sorry, sorry. Huge food security movement here. Uh, the UAE, uh, the government self sustainability is a target. So, um, look forward to learning more about that. You know, Kim and I were on a veteran voices episode recording last week that we look forward to releasing soon with mark. Ormrod a lot of powerful story there, but Kim hope this finds you well and great to see here today. Precious says, Hey, so a lot of, a lot of what Amanda spoke to, it’s not just a us thing. She’s experiencing some of the same in Nigeria. It’s great to hear precious. Um, okay. So I want to wrap up just one friendly reminder, uh, folks be sure to check out Omnia partners, connections 2021. As Greg said, learn network, grow Miami, September 27th to the 29th. We’ll be there in person looking forward to broadcast live on that first day. And then some subsequent followup conversations it’s free to attend if you’re a supply chain sourcing and procurement leader. So y’all check that out. The link is in the comments. Okay, Greg, I feel like you’ve shared your top thing to keep in mind from some discussion here today. Anything else that you’d like to share before we, uh,
Greg White (01:00:49):
Big thanks to Amanda for coming on, like with absolutely no notice and sharing that that was a fantastic insight. I really think that is powerful stuff. That connection to those people that are making the decisions to make the purchase is what drives supply chain. This consumer is the beginning and the end of the supply chain
Scott Luton (01:01:10):
Love that. Um, and also, uh, loved her take on, we got to hug on the retail and the service industry folks, you know, um, they’re, they’re thankfully starting here in the states, at least getting back into, uh, the ability to, to make a living and after, you know, being shut down for so long, so gotta gotta be extra considerate and patient whatnot, even if you don’t feel like it, those, uh, after the, the, um, you know, the daily commute or what have you, or the stresses of
Greg White (01:01:40):
The day, French fries show up late.
Scott Luton (01:01:43):
Right. But Hey, to all of our friends that showed up across, across the world, really from Kim and Jenny, uh, uh, is it Gras girl? Rauf Guarav. Sorry. My apologies. Um, I need another cup of coffee on that one. Gorav great to have you back feed LinkedIn. You don’t have to go back and check out some of our conversations here today. Precious really appreciate your comments from, uh, your perspective. They’re not geria and, and so many others, but heap, of course, in Wichita, the cap, the air capital of the world, always a pleasure to have Mohib join us, but folks take a page out of Amanda’s book there, and most important thing you can hear today, I think at least act on today and buy off our entire team. Hey, do good. Give forward. Be the change that’s needed. Put it in your actions, make it happen. And with that said, we’ll see you next time. Right back here. Well,
Intro/Outro (01:02:36):
Supply chain, 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.
Amanda Luton is the Vice President of Production for Supply Chain Now. Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family. Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn.
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Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kristi Porter is VP of Sales and Marketing at Vector Global Logistics, a company that is changing the world through supply chain. In her role, she oversees all marketing efforts and supports the sales team in doing what they do best. In addition to this role, she is the Chief Do-Gooder at Signify, which assists nonprofits and social impact companies through copywriting and marketing strategy consulting. She has almost 20 years of professional experience, and loves every opportunity to help people do more good.
Host
From humble beginnings working the import docks, representing Fortune 500 giants, Ford, Michelin Tire, and Black & Decker; to Amazon technology patent holder and Nordstrom Change Leader, Kimberly Reuter has designed, implemented, and optimized best-in-class, highly scalable global logistics and retail operations all over the world. Kimberly’s ability to set strategic vision supported by bomb-proof processes, built on decades of hands-on experience, has elevated her to legendary status. Sought after by her peers and executives for her intellectual capital and keen insights, Kimberly is a thought leader in the retail logistics industry.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia Rivas Herrera is a Mexican Industrial Engineer from Tecnologico de Monterrey class 2019. Upon graduation, she earned a scholarship to study MIT’s Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and graduated as one of the Top 3 performers of her class in 2020. She also has a multicultural background due to her international academic experiences at Singapore Management University and Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. Sofia self-identifies as a Supply Chain enthusiast & ambassador sharing her passion for the field in her daily life.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Demo Perez started his career in 1997 in the industry by chance when a relative asked him for help for two just weeks putting together an operation for FedEx Express at the Colon Free Zone, an area where he was never been but accepted the challenge. Worked in all roles possible from a truck driver to currier to a sales representative, helped the brand introduction, market share growth and recognition in the Colon Free Zone, at the end of 1999 had the chance to meet and have a chat with Fred Smith ( FedEx CEO), joined another company in 2018 who took over the FedEx operations as Operations and sales manager, in 2004 accepted the challenge from his company to leave the FedEx operations and business to take over the operation and business of DHL Express, his major competitor and rival so couldn’t say no, by changing completely its operation model in the Free Zone. In 2005 started his first entrepreneurial journey by quitting his job and joining two friends to start a Freight Forwarding company. After 8 months was recruited back by his company LSP with the General Manager role with the challenge of growing the company and make it fully capable warehousing 3PL. By 2009 joined CSCMP and WERC and started his journey of learning and growing his international network and high-level learning. In 2012 for the first time joined a local association ( the Panama Maritime Chamber) and worked in the country’s first Logistics Strategy plan, joined and lead other associations ending as president of the Panama Logistics Council in 2017. By finishing his professional mission at LSP with a company that was 8 times the size it was when accepted the role as GM with so many jobs generated and several young professionals coached, having great financial results, took the decision to move forward and start his own business from scratch by the end of 2019. with a friend and colleague co-founded IPL Group a company that started as a boutique 3PL and now is gearing up for the post-Covid era by moving to the big leagues.
Host, Supply Chain Now
The founder of Logistics Executive Group, Kim Winter delivers 40 years of executive leadership experience spanning Executive Search & Recruitment, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Corporate Advisory, Motivational Speaking, Trade Facilitation and across the Supply Chain, Logistics, 3PL, E-commerce, Life Science, Cold Chain, FMCG, Retail, Maritime, Defence, Aviation, Resources, and Industrial sectors. Operating from the company’s global offices, he is a regular contributor of thought leadership to industry and media, is a professional Master of Ceremonies, and is frequently invited to chair international events.
He is a Board member of over a dozen companies throughout APAC, India, and the Middle East, a New Zealand citizen, he holds formal resident status in Australia and the UAE, and is the Australia & New Zealand representative for the UAE Government-owned Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the Middle East’s largest Economic Free Zone.
A triathlete and ex-professional rugby player, Kim is a qualified (IECL Sydney) executive coach and the Founder / Chairman of the successful not for profit humanitarian organization, Oasis Africa (www. oasisafrica.org.au), which has provided freedom from poverty through education to over 8000 mainly orphaned children in East Africa’s slums. Kim holds an MBA and BA from Massey & Victoria Universities (NZ).
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Adrian Purtill serves as Business Development Manager at Vector Global Logistics, where he consults with importers and exporters in various industries to match their specific shipping requirements with the most effective supply chain solutions. Vector Global Logistics is an asset-free, multi-modal logistics company that provides exceptional sea freight, air freight, truck, rail, general logistic services and consulting for our clients. Our highly trained and professional team is committed to providing creative and effective solutions, always exceeding our customer’s expectations and fostering long-term relationships. With more than 20+ years of experience in both strategy consulting and logistics, Vector Global Logistics is your best choice to proactively minimize costs while having an exceptional service level.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Kevin Brown is the Director of Business Development for Vector Global Logistics. He has a dedicated interest in Major Account Management, Enterprise Sales, and Corporate Leadership. He offers 25 years of exceptional experience and superior performance in the sales of Logistics, Supply Chain, and Transportation Management. Kevin is a dynamic, high-impact, sales executive and corporate leader who has consistently exceeded corporate goals. He effectively coordinates multiple resources to solution sell large complex opportunities while focusing on corporate level contacts across the enterprise. His specialties include targeting and securing key accounts by analyzing customer’s current business processes and developing solutions to meet their corporate goals. Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Jose Manuel Irarrazaval es parte del equipo de Vector Global Logistics Chile. José Manuel es un gerente experimentado con experiencia en finanzas corporativas, fusiones y adquisiciones, financiamiento y reestructuración, inversión directa y financiera, tanto en Chile como en el exterior. José Manuel tiene su MBA de la Universidad de Pennsylvania- The Wharton School. Conéctese con Jose Manuel en LinkedIn.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Nick Roemer has had a very diverse and extensive career within design and sales over the last 15 years stretching from China, Dubai, Germany, Holland, UK, and the USA. In the last 5 years, Nick has developed a hawk's eye for sustainable tech and the human-centric marketing and sales procedures that come with it. With his far-reaching and strong network within the logistics industry, Nick has been able to open new avenues and routes to market within major industries in the USA and the UAE. Nick lives by the ethos, “Give more than you take." His professional mission is to make the logistics industry leaner, cleaner and greener.
Host
Allison Krache Giddens has been with Win-Tech, a veteran-owned small business and aerospace precision machine shop, for 15 years, recently buying the company from her mentor and Win-Tech’s Founder, Dennis Winslow. She and her business partner, John Hudson now serve as Co-Presidents, leading the 33-year old company through the pandemic.
She holds undergraduate degrees in psychology and criminal justice from the University of Georgia, a Masters in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University, a Masters in Manufacturing from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Finance from the University of Georgia. She also holds certificates in Google Analytics, event planning, and Cybersecurity Risk Management from Harvard online. Allison founded the Georgia Chapter of Women in Manufacturing and currently serves as Treasurer. She serves on the Chattahoochee Technical College Foundation Board as its Secretary, the liveSAFE Resources Board of Directors as Resource Development Co-Chair, and on the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association Board as Membership Chair and is also a member of Cobb Executive Women. She is on the Board for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Northwest Area Councils. Allison runs The Dave Krache Foundation, a non-profit that helps pay sports fees for local kids in need.
Host
Billy Taylor is a Proven Business Excellence Practitioner and Leadership Guru with over 25 years leading operations for a Fortune 500 company, Goodyear. He is also the CEO of LinkedXL (Excellence), a Business Operating Systems Architecting Firm dedicated to implementing sustainable operating systems that drive sustainable results. Taylor’s achievements in the industry have made him a Next Generational Lean pacesetter with significant contributions.
An American business executive, Taylor has made a name for himself as an innovative and energetic industry professional with an indispensable passion for his craft of operational excellence. His journey started many years ago and has worked with renowned corporations such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) leading multi-site operations. With over 3 decades of service leading North America operations, he is experienced in a deeply rooted process driven approach in customer service, process integrity for sustainability.
A disciple of continuous improvement, Taylor’s love for people inspires commitment to helping others achieve their full potential. He is a dynamic speaker and hosts "The Winning Link," a popular podcast centered on business and leadership excellence with the #1 rated Supply Chain Now Network. As a leadership guru, Taylor has earned several invitations to universities, international conferences, global publications, and the U.S. Army to demonstrate how to achieve and sustain effective results through cultural acceptance and employee ownership. Leveraging the wisdom of his business acumen, strong influence as a speaker and podcaster Taylor is set to release "The Winning Link" book under McGraw Hill publishing in 2022. The book is a how-to manual to help readers understand the management of business interactions while teaching them how to Deine, Align, and Execute Winning in Business.
A servant leader, Taylor, was named by The National Diversity Council as one of the Top 100 Diversity Officers in the country in 2021. He features among Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs and maintains key leadership roles with the Executive Advisory Board for The Shingo Institute "The Nobel Prize of Operations" and The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME); two world-leading organizations for operational excellence, business development, and cultural learning. He is also an Independent Director for the M-D Building Products Board, a proud American manufacturer of quality products since 1920.
Host
Tandreia Bellamy retired as the Vice President of Industrial Engineering for UPS Supply Chain Solutions which included the Global Logistics, Global Freight Forwarding and UPS Freight business units. She was responsible for operations strategy and planning, asset management, forecasting, and technology tool development to optimize sustainable efficiency while driving world class service.
Tandreia held similar positions at the business unit level for Global Logistics and Global Freight forwarding. As the leader of the Global Logistics engineering function, she directed all industrial engineering activies related to distribution, service parts logistics (post-sales support), and mail innovations (low cost, light weight shipping partnership with the USPS). Between these roles Tandreia helped to establish the Advanced Technology Group which was formed to research and develop cutting edge solutions focused on reducing reliance on manual labor.
Tandreia began her career in 1986 as a part-time hourly manual package handling employee. She spent the great majority of her career in the small package business unit which is responsible for the pick-up, sort, transport and delivery of packages domestically. She held various positions in Industrial Engineering, Marketing, Inside and On-road operations in Central Florida before transferring to Atlanta for a position in Corporate Product Development and Corporate Industrial Engineering. Tandreia later held IE leadership roles in Nebraska, Minnesota and Chicago. In her final role in small package she was an IE VP responsible for all aspects of IE, technology support and quality for the 25 states on the western half of the country.
Tandreia is currently a Director for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Foundation Board and also serves on their Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Previously Tandreia served on the Executive Advisory Board for Virginia Tech’s IE Department and the Association for Supply Chain Management. She served on the Board of Trustees for ChildServ (a Chicago child and family services non-profit) and also served on the Texas A&M and Tuskegee Engineering Advisory Boards. In 2006 she was named Business Advisor of the Year by INROADS, in 2009 she was recognized as a Technology All-Star at the Women of Color in STEM conference and in 2019 she honored as a UCF Distinguished Aluma by the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Tandreia holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management Systems from UCF. Her greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of two college students, Ruby (24) and Anthony (22).
Host
Marty Parker serves as both the CEO & Founder of Adæpt Advising and an award-winning Senior Lecturer (Teaching Professor) in Supply Chain and Operations Management at the University of Georgia. He has 30 years of experience as a COO, CMO, CSO (Chief Strategy Officer), VP of Operations, VP of Marketing and Process Engineer. He founded and leads UGA’s Supply Chain Advisory Board, serves as the Academic Director of UGA’s Leaders Academy, and serves on multiple company advisory boards including the Trucking Profitability Strategies Conference, Zion Solutions Group and Carlton Creative Company.
Marty enjoys helping people and companies be successful. Through UGA, Marty is passionate about his students, helping them network and find internships and jobs. He does this through several hundred one-on-one zoom meetings each year with his students and former students. Through Adæpt Advising, Marty has organized an excellent team of affiliates that he works with to help companies grow and succeed. He does this by helping c-suite executives improve their skills, develop better leaders, engage their workforce, improve processes, and develop strategic plans with detailed action steps and financial targets. Marty believes that excellence in supply chain management comes from the understanding the intersection of leadership, culture, and technology, working across all parts of the organization to meet customer needs, maximize profit and minimize costs.
Marketing Coordinator
Laura Lopez serves as our Supply Chain Now Marketing Coordinator. She graduated from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente in Mexico with a degree in marketing. Laura loves everything digital because she sees the potential it holds for companies in the marketing industry. Her passion for creativity and thinking outside the box led her to pursue a career in marketing. With experience in fields like accounting, digital marketing, and restaurants, she clearly enjoys taking on challenges. Laura lives the best of both worlds - you'll either catch her hanging out with her friends soaking up the sun in Mexico or flying out to visit her family in California!
Host
An acknowledged industry leader, Jake Barr now serves as CEO for BlueWorld Supply Chain Consulting, providing support to a cross section of Fortune 500 companies such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Colgate, Dow/Dupont, Firmenich, 3M, Merck, Bayer/Monsanto, Newell Brands, Kimberly Clark, Nestle, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Sanofi, Estee Lauder and Coty among others. He's also devoted time to engagements in public health sector work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. At P&G, he managed the breakthrough delivery of an E2E (End to End) Planning Transformation effort, creating control towers which now manage the daily business globally. He is recognized as the architect for P&G’s demand driven supply chain strategy – referenced as a “Consumer Driven Supply Chain” transformation. Jake began his career with P&G in Finance in Risk Analysis and then moved into Operations. He has experience in building supply network capability globally through leadership assignments in Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East. He currently serves as a Research Associate for MIT; a member of Supply Chain Industry Advisory Council; Member of Gartner’s Supply Chain Think Tank; Consumer Goods “League of Leaders“; and a recipient of the 2015 - 2021 Supply Chain “Pro’s to Know” Award. He has been recognized as a University of Kentucky Fellow.
Host
Marcia Williams, Managing Partner of USM Supply Chain, has 18 years of experience in Supply Chain, with expertise in optimizing Supply Chain-Finance Planning (S&OP/ IBP) at Large Fast-Growing CPGs for greater profitability and improved cash flows. Marcia has helped mid-sized and large companies including Lindt Chocolates, Hershey, and Coty. She holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a degree in Accounting from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (South America). Marcia is also a Forbes Council Contributor based out of New York, and author of the book series Supply Chains with Maria in storytelling style. A recent speaker’s engagement is Marcia TEDx Talk: TEDxMSU - How Supply Chain Impacts You: A Transformational Journey.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Luisa Garcia is a passionate Marketer from Lagos de Moreno based in Aguascalientes. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico. She specializes in brand development at any stage, believing that a brand is more than just a name or image—it’s an unforgettable experience. Her expertise helps brands achieve their dreams and aspirations, making a lasting impact. Currently working at Vector Global Logistics in the Marketing team and as podcast coordinator of Logistics With Purpose®. Luisa believes that purpose-driven decisions will impact results that make a difference in the world.
Host, Logistics with Purpose
Astrid Aubert was born in Guadalajara, she is 39 years old and has had the opportunity to live in many places. She studied communication and her professional career has been in Trade Marketing for global companies such as Pepsico and Mars. She currently works as Marketing Director Mexico for Vector Global Logistics. She is responsible for internal communications and marketing strategy development for the logistics industry. She is a mother of two girls, married and lives in Monterrey. She defines herself as a creative and innovative person, and enjoys traveling and cooking a lot.
Host, Supply Chain Now en Espanol
Sofia self-identifies as Supply Chain Ambassador, her mission is to advocate for the field and inspire young generations from diverse backgrounds and cultures to join the industry so that thought diversity is increased and change accelerated. Recognized as Linkedin Top Voice and Linkedin Community Top Voice in Supply Chain Management, as well as Emerging Leader in Supply Chain by CSCMP 2024, Top Women in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive 2023, and Coup de Coeur Global Women Leaders in Supply Chain by B2G Consulting in 2021.
Public speaker at multiple international events from keynotes and panels, to webinars and guest lectures for bachelor's and master's degrees, discussing topics such as sustainability, women in the industry, technology and innovation. Writer at different online magazines on logistics, supply chain and technology. Podcast host and guest on different recognized programs in the industry. Sofia has more than 5 years of experience from academic research and field studies to warehouse operations, demand planning and network design. She has worked in manufacturing, airport operations, e-commerce retail, and technology hardware across Latin America, North America and Europe.
Currently working as Supply Chain Network Design and Optimization Manager at HP within their Global Supply Chain and Logistics team.
Host
Karin Bursa is the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year and the Host of the TEKTOK Digital Supply Chain Podcast powered by Supply Chain Now. With more than 25 years of supply chain and technology expertise (and the scars to prove it), Karin has the heart of a teacher and has helped nearly 1,000 customers transform their businesses and share their success stories. Today, she helps B2B technology companies introduce new products, capture customer success and grow global revenue, market share and profitability. In addition to her recognition as the 2020 Supply Chain Pro to Know of the Year, Karin has also been recognized as a 2019 and 2018 Supply Chain Pro to Know, 2009 Technology Marketing Executive of the Year and a 2008 Women in Technology Finalist.
Host
Vin Vashishta is the author of ‘From Data To Profit’ (Wiley 2023). It’s the playbook for monetizing data and AI. Vin is the Founder of V-Squared and built the business from client 1 to one of the world’s oldest data and AI consulting firms. His background combines nearly 30 years in strategy, leadership, software engineering, and applied machine learning.
Vice President, Production
Amanda is a production and marketing veteran and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience across a variety of industries and organizations including Von Maur, Anthropologie, AmericasMart Atlanta, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Amanda currently manages, produces, and develops modern digital content for Supply Chain Now and their clients. Amanda has previously served as the VP of Information Systems and Webmaster on the Board of Directors for APICS Savannah, and founded and managed her own successful digital marketing firm, Magnolia Marketing Group. When she’s not leading the Supply Chain Now production team, you can find Amanda in the kitchen, reading, listening to podcasts, or enjoying time with family.
Founder, CEO, & Host
As the founder and CEO of Supply Chain Now, you might say Scott is the voice of supply chain – but he’s too much of a team player to ever claim such a title. One thing’s for sure: he’s a tried and true supply chain expert. With over 15 years of experience in the end-to-end supply chain, Scott’s insights have appeared in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and CNN. He has also been named a top industry influencer by Thinkers360, ISCEA and more.
From 2009-2011, Scott was president of APICS Atlanta, and he continues to lead initiatives that support both the local business community and global industry. A United States Air Force Veteran, Scott has also regularly led efforts to give back to his fellow veteran community since his departure from active duty in 2002.
Principal & Host
When rapid-growth technology companies, venture capital and private equity firms are looking for advisory, they call Greg – a founder, board director, advisor and catalyst of disruptive B2B technology and supply chain. An insightful visionary, Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams in creating breakthroughs to gain market exposure and momentum – increasing overall company esteem and valuation.
Greg is a founder himself, creating Blue Ridge Solutions, a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader in cloud-native supply chain applications, and bringing to market Curo, a field service management solution. He has also held leadership roles with Servigistics (PTC) and E3 Corporation (JDA/Blue Yonder). As a principal and host at Supply Chain Now, Greg helps guide the company’s strategic direction, hosts industry leader discussions, community livestreams, and all in addition to executive producing and hosting his original YouTube channel and podcast, TEChquila Sunrise.
Principal, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain is Boring
Talk about world-class: Chris is one of the few professionals in the world to hold CPIM-F, CLTD-F and CSCP-F designations from ASCM/APICS. He’s also the APICS coach – and our resident Supply Chain Doctor. When he’s not hosting programs with Supply Chain Now, he’s sharing supply chain knowledge on the APICS Coach Youtube channel or serving as a professional education instructor for the Georgia Tech Supply Chain & Logistic Institute’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) program and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Center for Professional Education courses.
Chris earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Bradley University, an MBA with emphasis in Industrial Psychology from the University of West Florida, and is a Doctoral in Supply Chain Management candidate.
Director of Sales
Tyler Ward serves as Supply Chain Now's Director of Sales. Born and raised in Mid-Atlantic, Tyler is a proud graduate of Shippensburg University where he earned his degree in Communications. After college, he made his way to the beautiful state of Oregon, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
With over a decade of experience in sales, Tyler has a proven track record of exceeding targets and leading high-performing teams. He credits his success to his ability to communicate effectively with customers and team members alike, as well as his strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
When he's not closing deals, you can find Tyler on the links or cheering on his favorite football and basketball teams. He also enjoys spending time with his family, playing pick-up basketball, and traveling back to Ocean City, Maryland, his favorite place!
Host of Digital Transformers
Kevin L. Jackson is a globally recognized Thought Leader, Industry Influencer and Founder/Author of the award winning “Cloud Musings” blog. He has also been recognized as a “Top 5G Influencer” (Onalytica 2019, Radar 2020), a “Top 50 Global Digital Transformation Thought Leader” (Thinkers 360 2019) and provides strategic consulting and integrated social media services to AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, Ericsson and other leading companies. Mr. Jackson’s commercial experience includes Vice President J.P. Morgan Chase, Worldwide Sales Executive for IBM and SAIC (Engility) Director Cloud Solutions. He has served on teams that have supported digital transformation projects for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US Intelligence Community. Kevin’s formal education includes a MS Computer Engineering from Naval Postgraduate School; MA National Security & Strategic Studies from Naval War College; and a BS Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy. Internationally recognizable firms that have sponsored articles authored by him include Cisco, Microsoft, Citrix and IBM. Books include “Click to Transform” (Leaders Press, 2020), “Architecting Cloud Computing Solutions” (Packt, 2018), and “Practical Cloud Security: A Cross Industry View” (Taylor & Francis, 2016). He also delivers online training through Tulane University, O’Reilly Media, LinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight. Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems Engineering, Carrier Onboard Delivery Logistics and carrier-based Airborne Early Warning and Control. While active, he also served with the National Reconnaissance Office, Operational Support Office, providing tactical support to Navy and Marine Corps forces worldwide.
Host of Logistics with Purpose and Supply Chain Now en Español
Enrique serves as Managing Director at Vector Global Logistics and believes we all have a personal responsibility to change the world. He is hard working, relationship minded and pro-active. Enrique trusts that the key to logistics is having a good and responsible team that truly partners with the clients and does whatever is necessary to see them succeed. He is a proud sponsor of Vector’s unique results-based work environment and before venturing into logistics he worked for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). During his time at BCG, he worked in different industries such as Telecommunications, Energy, Industrial Goods, Building Materials, and Private Banking. His main focus was always on the operations, sales, and supply chain processes, with case focus on, logistics, growth strategy, and cost reduction. Prior to joining BCG, Enrique worked for Grupo Vitro, a Mexican glass manufacturer, for five years holding different positions from sales and logistics manager to supply chain project leader in charge of five warehouses in Colombia.
He has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and a BS, in Mechanical Engineer from the Technologico de Monterrey in Mexico. Enrique’s passions are soccer and the ocean, and he also enjoys traveling, getting to know new people, and spending time with his wife and two kids, Emma and Enrique.
Host of Dial P for Procurement
Kelly is the Owner and Managing Director of Buyers Meeting Point and MyPurchasingCenter. She has been in procurement since 2003, starting as a practitioner and then as the Associate Director of Consulting at Emptoris. She has covered procurement news, events, publications, solutions, trends, and relevant economics at Buyers Meeting Point since 2009. Kelly is also the General Manager at Art of Procurement and Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business. Kelly has her MBA from Babson College as well as an MS in Library and Information Science from Simmons College and she has co-authored three books: ‘Supply Market Intelligence for Procurement Professionals’, ‘Procurement at a Crossroads’, and ‘Finance Unleashed’.
Host, Veteran Voices
Mary Kate Soliva is a veteran of the US Army and cofounder of the Guam Human Rights Initiative. She is currently in the Doctor of Criminal Justice program at Saint Leo University. She is passionate about combating human trafficking and has spent the last decade conducting training for military personnel and the local community.
Host
Constantine Limberakis is a thought leader in the area of procurement and supply management. He has over 20 years of international experience, playing strategic roles in a wide spectrum of organizations related to analyst advisory, consulting, product marketing, product development, and market research.
Throughout his career, he's been passionate about engaging global business leaders and the broader analyst and technology community with strategic content, speaking engagements, podcasts, research, webinars, and industry articles.
Constantine holds a BA in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Finance & Marketing / Masters in Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
Business Development Manager
Clay is passionate about two things: supply chain and the marketing that goes into it. Recently graduated with a degree in marketing at the University of Georgia, Clay got his start as a journalism major and inaugural member of the Owl’s football team at Kennesaw State University – but quickly saw tremendous opportunity in the Terry College of Business. He’s already putting his education to great use at Supply Chain Now, assisting with everything from sales and brand strategy to media production. Clay has contributed to initiatives such as our leap into video production, the guest blog series, and boosting social media presence, and after nearly two years in Supply Chain Now’s Marketing Department, Clay now heads up partnership and sales initiatives with the help of the rest of the Supply Chain Now sales team.
Administrative Assistant
Trisha is new to the supply chain industry – but not to podcasting. She’s an experienced podcast manager and virtual assistant who also happens to have 20 years of experience as an elementary school teacher. It’s safe to say, she’s passionate about helping people, and she lives out that passion every day with the Supply Chain Now team, contributing to scheduling and podcast production.
Social Media Manager
My name is Chantel King and I am the Social Media Specialist at Supply Chain Now. My job is to make sure our audience is engaged and educated on the abundant amount of information the supply chain industry has to offer.
Social Media and Communications has been my niche ever since I graduated from college at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. No, I am not a West Coast girl. I was born and raised in New Jersey, but my travel experience goes way beyond the garden state. My true passion is in creating editorial and graphic content that influences others to be great in whatever industry they are in. I’ve done this by working with lifestyle, financial, and editorial companies by providing resources to enhance their businesses.
Another passion of mine is trying new things. Whether it’s food, an activity, or a sport. I would like to say that I am an adventurous Taurus that never shies away from a new quest or challenge.
Marketing Coordinator
Lori is currently completing a degree in marketing with an emphasis in digital marketing at the University of Georgia. When she’s not supporting the marketing efforts at Supply Chain Now, you can find her at music festivals – or working toward her dream goal of a fashion career. Lori is involved in many extracurricular activities and appreciates all the learning experiences UGA has brought her.
Director, Customer Experience
Katherine is a marketing professional and MBA candidate who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.
Chief of Staff & Host
Mary Kate Love is currently the VP of marketing at Supply Chain Now focused on brand strategy and audience + revenue growth. Mary Kate’s career is a testament to her versatility and innovative spirit: she has experience in start-ups, venture capital, and building innovation initiatives from the ground up: she previously helped lead the build-out of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific and before that, MxD (Manufacturing times Digital): the Department of Defense’s digital manufacturing innovation center. Mary Kate has a passion for taking complicated ideas and turning them into reality: she was one of the first team members at MxD and the first team member at the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Georgia-Pacific.
Mary Kate dedicates her extra time to education and mentorship: she was one of the founding Board Members for Women Influence Chicago and led an initiative for a city-wide job shadow day for young women across Chicago tech companies and was previously on the Board of Directors at St. Laurence High School in Chicago, Young Irish Fellowship Board and the UN Committee for Women. Mary Kate is the founder of National Supply Chain Day and enjoys co-hosting podcasts at Supply Chain Now. Mary Kate is from the south side of Chicago, a mom of two baby boys, and an avid 16-inch softball player. She holds a BS in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Marketing Specialist
Joshua is a student from Institute of Technology and Higher Education of Monterrey Campus Guadalajara in Communication and Digital Media. His experience ranges from Plug and Play México, DearDoc, and Nissan México creating unique social media marketing campaigns and graphics design. Joshua helps to amplify the voice of supply chain here at Supply Chain Now by assisting in graphic design, content creation, asset logistics, and more. In his free time he likes to read and write short stories as well as watch movies and television series.
Director of Communications and Executive Producer
Donna Krache is a former CNN executive producer who has won several awards in journalism and communication, including three Peabodys. She has 30 years’ experience in broadcast and digital journalism. She led the first production team at CNN to convert its show to a digital platform. She has authored many articles for CNN and other media outlets. She taught digital journalism at Georgia State University and Arizona State University. Krache holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the College of William and Mary and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. She is a serious sports fan who loves the Braves. She is president of the Dave Krache Foundation. Named in honor of her late husband, this non-profit pays fees for kids who want to play sports but whose parents are facing economic challenges.
Controller
Vicki has a long history of rising to challenges and keeping things up and running. First, she supported her family’s multi-million dollar business as controller for 12 years, beginning at the age of 17. Then, she worked as an office manager and controller for a wholesale food broker. But her biggest feat? Serving as the chief executive officer of her household, while her entrepreneur husband travelled the world extensively. She fed, nurtured, chaperoned, and chauffeured three daughters all while running a newsletter publishing business and remaining active in her community as a Stephen’s Minister, Sunday school teacher, school volunteer, licensed realtor and POA Board president (a title she holds to this day). A force to be reckoned with in the office, you might think twice before you meet Vicki on the tennis court! When she’s not keeping the books balanced at Supply Chain Now or playing tennis matches, you can find Vicki spending time with her husband Greg, her 4 fur babies, gardening, cleaning (yes, she loves to clean!) and learning new things.
Creative Director, Producer, Host
Katherine Hintz, MBA is a marketing professional who strives to unite her love of people with a passion for positive experiences. Having a diverse background, which includes nonprofit work with digital marketing and start-ups, she serves as a leader who helps people live their most creative lives by cultivating community, order, collaboration, and respect. With equal parts creativity and analytics, she brings a unique skill set which fosters refining, problem solving, and connecting organizations with their true vision. In her free time, you can usually find her looking for her cup of coffee, playing with her puppy Charlie, and dreaming of her next road trip.