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

This week’s edition of The Buzz featured co-hosts Scott Luton and Greg White. In addition to covering top supply chain news stories from around the world, they celebrated team member Donna Krache’s 50 years in the workforce. An article full of the lessons she has learned was featured in the most recent edition of “With That Said,” Supply Chain Now’s LinkedIn newsletter.

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

• Bed Bath & Beyond joining the long list of large format retailers that have declared bankruptcy in the last few years

• Amazon’s decision to slow capital investment in 2023 as it looks to optimize its recently overhauled fulfillment operations

• Three hot areas for tech investment according to a report from the Wall Street Journal: supply chain visibility and management, robotics, and 3D printing

Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:31):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are, Scott Luton and Greg White here with you on Supply Chain. Now, welcome to today’s livestream, Gregory. How are we doing?

Greg White (00:40):

Quite well, Scott, how are you? How was your weekend?

Scott Luton (00:43):

It was wonderful. Got lots of family time in. Got lots of gardening in right. Got outside, had a little flower contest with two of my kids. That’d be fun to see how it turns out. You mean

Greg White (00:53):

Like baking flowers or growing flowers?

Scott Luton (00:55):

Oh, no. Gar uh, growing flowers. Got it. There’s a hundred bucks on who? Between Gracie and Ben, who can <laugh> raise the, the most beautiful raised flower garden.

Greg White (01:07):

Wow. I mean, that’s better than you get at a flower show. That’s pretty good. <laugh> having a good year, aren’t you?

Scott Luton (01:13):

Hey, we don’t mess around <laugh>. What’d you do?

Greg White (01:16):

So I celebrated National Supply Chain Day. I feel like Scott, there ought to be, there ought to be a determination that we celebrated on Friday or Monday when it’s on the weekend, but as this is the very first time that National Supply Chain Day has been on the weekend, I understand that the, the administration has not stepped in to define the policy, right, <laugh>. But I feel like we should, we should appeal to them to do so.

Scott Luton (01:41):

I completely agree. Completely agree. And a big shout out folks. Uh, we, we celebrate, we all celebrate over the weekend, uh, to Mary Kate, love, who is the official founder. A lot of folks will claim this, that, and the other. But Greg and I were with Mary Kate Love when she filed all the necessary stuff back in, uh, 2020, Greg,

Greg White (01:58):

I think it was. Yeah. You, that’s, I mean, officially filed with the US government. It’s officially National Supply Chain Day.

Scott Luton (02:06):

And I wish there was a, there was a gentleman on our, on our comments that said every day is supply chain down. And we, we subscribe to that too. But having one day out of the year, we really celebrate the workforce and all the things that make, uh, the supply chain ecosystem happen, uh, here in the States and really globally. Uh, that’s, uh, that’s, that’s good stuff. Yeah.

Greg White (02:26):

And it’s good thing it was on Saturday too. Have people going to the beach and drinking beer all day if a national supply chain day is during the week. Right?

Scott Luton (02:35):

Right. That is right. I love how you think.

Greg White (02:39):

Hilarious supply chain took that day off <laugh>.

Scott Luton (02:45):

All right. Uh, I want to, so folks today, if you’re tuned in, as you may know, it’s the supply chain buzz, a live show that comes at you every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time. As always, Greg and I, we’re gonna be discussing a variety of news and developments really across global business, but a ton of supply chain baked in as y’all know. And we wanna hear from you. So give us your take into comments. We see some folks already weighing in. Uh, we’re gonna recognize a few of those folks. And Greg, if folks are listening to the podcast, replay what alt they might do,

Greg White (03:14):

They might do

Scott Luton (03:15):

Poor English. That

Greg White (03:16):

Was, that was like a, I think there was an extra word in there, but I can’t figure out which one they might. Well, what they ought to do, they ought to go to YouTube there. You get to also watch, and this is a thing, you know, Scott and I, folks, if you haven’t, uh, haven’t noticed this, probably many of you have, but it’s become quite the thing that we’ve been doing now for four years, for people to allow you to watch them do what is effectively a podcast. Now, we do it live, some do it live, some don’t. Um, and almost nobody involves their audience the way Scott, Luke, ah,

Scott Luton (03:53):

Thank you for that, Greg. It’s

Greg White (03:54):

Become quite the thing on YouTube. Uh, I’d have to double check the numbers with Catherine. Um, our beloved and, uh, very bold producer who told us something like 70% of podcasts are consumed on YouTube, and based on the numbers that we’re getting, what did we have? Like 169,000 views in a month or something like that, or a week? I don’t.

Scott Luton (04:17):

Well, as a, so I think you’re right, man. You got, you got a mine for the number, I think as a channel. But what I’ve seen here recently as, as, as you know, we continue credit code and reach more folks, is I looked at, I think six of our most popular episodes in the last 30 days or so. And Greg, we were averaging 7,000 views on each of those shows. Uh, and that still might be conservative too. So Greg, to your point, come check us out on YouTube, right?

Greg White (04:43):

Oh Lord, the word world has found us. So now we have to act like aright, citizens

Scott Luton (04:48):

<laugh>. But you always

Greg White (04:50):

That’s right. We’re good

Scott Luton (04:51):

Up. We

Greg White (04:52):

Might have to, we might have to cancel a few of our own old episodes.

Scott Luton (04:55):

<laugh> na

Greg White (04:57):

Stopped,

Scott Luton (04:58):

<laugh> na. But hey, if you’re listening to the audio podcast, replay of today’s supply chain buzz, come check us out live show. We’d love to incorporate you into the conversation, just like we’re about to do. Um, all right, so Greg, before I get into some of the program notes, to your point, let’s say hello to a few folks that are tuned in from Saad. Uh, I wonder where he is tuned in from. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. We’d love to connect those dots there. Uh, NIO, Dr. Actually, actually, I should say Dr. Velasco. Say that right, Greg?

Greg White (05:28):

Yeah. Sounds right. From

Scott Luton (05:30):

Boston. Uh, hey, you’re Cel. If you’re an NBA fan, your Celtics, just put it on our Atlanta Hawks. Then Celtics are gonna be a tough team to beat in the NBA championships, ain’t they, Greg?

Greg White (05:42):

Sure. That’s not much of an nba. <laugh>,

Scott Luton (05:47):

Our dear friend Josh goody tuned in from the West Coast, uh, from Seattle, of course, he’s our Seattle correspondent. He says he is recovering from an 80 degree weekend, Greg. Wow. Is that uncommon out there?

Greg White (05:58):

Yeah, this time of year definitely is. Uh, it happens occasionally. Well, the question is, Josh, did the sun come out and did you get to see how beautifully green the entire area is, ah, is out there, which seems to be rare. Um, it’s just an, a beautiful scene.

Scott Luton (06:15):

Josh. We, we gotta have pictures. We gotta have pictures, and we’re gonna share ’em on the bus. So give us pictures of the scene out there, especially in the pretty days. Uh, Michael, good morning from Southern California. Michael, great to see you here. Uh, Angela from North Kaki. Angela, I hope you just find you. Well, I think of barbecue, Greg. When I think of North Carolina, my mind great goes straight to barbecue. You ever had a good barbecue in North Carolina?

Greg White (06:38):

No. East side <laugh> Mustardy in North Carolina, from east to west. Can’t remember which is which. But I, and it’s not that it’s bad, it’s just doesn’t fit my taste. I’m from the Midwest. I’m used to not having sauce. Now. Now we are allowed to have sauce, but you got your hand slapped if you wanted sauce when I was a kid. <laugh>, that’s a rub. No need sauce.

Scott Luton (07:07):

<laugh>. So, Angela, weigh in. If you’re a bar, if you’re a fellow barbecue. Uh, kinda.

Greg White (07:13):

Yeah. Let’s know which way it go. Which, what’s the type on the east and what’s the type on the west?

Scott Luton (07:17):

<laugh>. That’s right. Uh, Muhammad is tuning in from Egypt land of vegetables and fruits. I love that picture. You’re painting Muhammad. Uh, and let us know where in Egypt, what city that you’re in. My

Greg White (07:26):

Youngest daughter was just in Egypt. That’s right.

Scott Luton (07:29):

Uh, I think Vicky was telling me about all of her travels. All the countries.

Greg White (07:33):

Yeah. Went to Egypt and Turkey for spring break. Cause she’s gonna school in Switzerland. Man.

Scott Luton (07:38):

Ogen. Tayo, great to see you here via LinkedIn from Toronto. Uh, and I love those. Y you are highly credentialed. Uh, my friend. Love to know what you’re up to up there in Toronto. Uh, Francisco says in Brazil, it’s also supply chain day. Here we go, Francisco, let us know if it’s a, if it’s a true holiday or if you’re referring to how it’s supply chain day every day. And let us know where in Brazil you’re, you’re tuning from.

Greg White (08:03):

Yeah. Yeah. What city? Right.

Scott Luton (08:05):

Uh, our good friend Jose Montoya, who does great work, um, he’s based out there in California, but hosts an international show, a global show with, with co-hosts around the world. Great to see you, Jose.

Greg White (08:17):

Never have to ask him what the weather is. Cause it’s always same except in June when it’s foggy, noon from Marine.

Scott Luton (08:25):

Ah, Jose. Phyllis in Phyllis in

Greg White (08:27):

Meteorologist in San Diego has gotta be the easiest job on the planet.

Scott Luton (08:32):

<laugh>, uh, <laugh>

Greg White (08:34):

73 and Sunny

Scott Luton (08:36):

Fauna. <laugh> Fauna is tuned in. What up? What up? He says from South Africa. Uh, headed your way in June. Uh, fauna. So great to have you here, Melanie. Tuned in from New Hampshire. Uh, let’s see here. Um, Mohamed is, is Mak close? That’s the city in, in Egypt. He’s

Greg White (08:54):

In. Okay. I’m not that familiar, so, well,

Scott Luton (08:56):

Great. Uh, great to have you tuned in. I’ll

Greg White (08:59):

Ask Ashlyn. She can tell us.

Scott Luton (09:00):

Yeah, that’s right.

Greg White (09:01):

She said everybody was super friendly there. Really walk down the street and say, welcome

Scott Luton (09:07):

Man. Uh, well, I wanna get out there soon. And then finally, Bruce Taylor, who’s a little bit closer to us, uh, coming in, uh, tuning from Savannah. What a gorgeous city in Savannah. G eight.

Greg White (09:18):

Just over my shoulder over here. That’s

Scott Luton (09:21):

Right. <laugh>. We gotta get that index. Uh, I said finally T squared coming in right under the gun. Good mayday folks. He says, bring on that nourishment and t-shirts on this S cn Monday. Great to see T squared. All right. So Greg, we, uh, got a ton of good stuff to get into. Let me pull up, uh, our first graphic. Yeah. Before we do. Mm-hmm. We wanna share a few learning opportunities for folks out there, right? So if you enjoy what we do here on the buzz, you’re gonna love our webinars and some other live streams. So, coming up tomorrow, Greg, we talk, we were talking about this pre show. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we are gonna dive deep into the domestic freight market, right? As we cover US Banks freight payment index for first quarter 2023. So, and so you see there, if you’re viewing us, you got Bobby Holland who’s gonna bring really the data side, right? He’s with US Bank. He compiles the reports, but then we love marrying up his perspective. Greg, with Michelle Moore, who leads supply chain with G A F, right? So she, she’s out and, and who, or her and her team are out in the markets. And we’re gonna get her with, we’re

Greg White (10:28):

Using this thing and Yeah,

Scott Luton (10:30):

That’s right. Finding

Greg White (10:31):

Out what they can find out.

Scott Luton (10:32):

Yes. And we’re gonna see what she agrees with and what she’s seeing, what she maybe disagrees with as well. So join us tomorrow at 12 noon Eastern time as we talk freight, freight freight. Greg, your thoughts here? I

Greg White (10:42):

Love the new format. I mean, the way that we’re doing it now really lets you explore how Michelle and her team are using it. What they’re seeing on the ground. We get through the, Hey, why is the data, you know, valid for those that are new, watching the show really quick and Yep. Get into why the data is what it is, which Bobby can help us with a lot. And then what to do with and about that.

Scott Luton (11:06):

That’s right. That is right. Uh, so join us tomorrow at 12 noon Eastern time. It’s a quarterly show we have, and I’ll tell you, it creeps up on us each time. It’s time just flying past, right? Yeah.

Greg White (11:18):

Like, it happens. It’s every three months.

Scott Luton (11:20):

Uh, it’s like that old saying, uh, that gets me sentimental sometimes. The days are long, but the years are short. If you’re a parent, you can relate. Right? Um, all right, Francisco, uh, to close that loop there, he’s in. Yeah, he’s in Sao Pa. Uh, and it’s the Labor Day holiday there in Brazil, but he, that the supply chain day, as he calls I with Francisco.

Greg White (11:41):

I like that. Call it whatever

Scott Luton (11:43):

You, uh, Angela <laugh>. Angela’s waiting in the barbecue. Uh, she says Eastern style versus Kentucky style. Eastern. I

Greg White (11:50):

Said, oil. It’s vinegar based, right?

Scott Luton (11:52):

Yes. Eastern is vinegar based while Kentucky or the Western style is more sweet and tomato flavored. Hey, sign me up for all of it, Angela, sign me up for all of it. Uh, and and finally, we’re talking weather in Seattle. Josh says, summer here is about two and a half months of combined sunshine. But he thought the apocalypse had come when the temperature popped a hundred for a week straight last year. <laugh>, as long as there’s no zombies, right? Yeah, that’s right. <laugh>. All right, back to back to programming. So, uh, so again, joining tomorrow folks. And then, uh, so over the weekend we dropped the latest, uh, edition of, with that said, and this is one of my recent favorites. We, uh, dove into a couple things near and dear to our heart. Number one, Donna Creche, who celebrated 50 years in the workforce, including a couple decades at cnn. We shared some of her good stuff. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then we also tackled some of our favorite episodes related to our supply chain leadership across Africa series that we do with Jenny Fr and our friends there. So, uh, Greg, did you get a chance to dive into the latest edition

Greg White (12:53):

Dive? No, I kinda skimmed the surface of it. <laugh>

Scott Luton (12:57):

Ok. Didn’t

Greg White (12:58):

Lop. So that’s good

Scott Luton (12:59):

<laugh>. And we’re trying, you know, so Donna, well, big shout out to Catherine and Amanda behind the scenes helping to make things happen. And Chantel uh, Donna is one of our, um, executive producers here, right? They’re really leveraging all that experience in the, in the broadcast industry. And she shared, she celebrated 50 years in the workforce this week, and she did a great writeup last week of our her critical Lessons learned. And we’re trying to get her on a show, too. Aren’t MCG Gregg? Yeah. Get her a shared direct, right? Yeah,

Greg White (13:25):

No doubt. No doubt. Hopefully this Wednesday with, uh, the great Mike Griswold from Gartner.

Scott Luton (13:32):

Fingers crossed.

Greg White (13:34):

Hey, I have a question. How can people sign up for that?

Scott Luton (13:36):

I love that question, Greg. It’s as simple as clicking on this link that we just dropped in the, uh, chat. And if y’all are familiar with LinkedIn newsletters, there’s a little subscribe button up at the top, one click, and you get it whether you like it or not. <laugh>, every week, every Saturday, as I understand it, both to your LinkedIn profile, but also it hits your email in case that’s where you prefer to get your newsletters. So y’all check that out. Um, all right. So Greg, one other thing, one quick thing. Yeah. Uh, we put in the newsletter. So my dear friend, Chuck Baker, Chuck Baker, fellow veteran, although he spent I think 20 with the Army I’ve known him for, for probably 15 years. He’s very passionate about developing, spreading awareness for business and leadership and supply chain. And he’s been doing a lot of that work in middle school and high schools, and South Carolina, Greg, with something that they call the cell phone game.

Scott Luton (14:30):

And he is ready to expand it and help other folks. You get into their schools and talk supply chains. So if you’re interested in that, and he’s one heck of a guy, salt to the earth, if you’re interested, reach out to our team here and we’ll make that connection with Chuck. I, I can personally vouch for his great work, uh, as a practitioner. He spent a lot of, a lot of time in the, um, tire industry, I believe Greg. But anyway, Chuck Baker’s a good person. Greg, you and I have done a little bit of that before too.

Greg White (14:54):

Yeah, that was fun. Um, we did that. You, you set that up and I think, I think somebody from South Carolina adopted it also. And they, they did it. I don’t know if they’re still doing it, but they did it for a while. But it was a great program. Honestly, I think those of us who are practitioners think of this thing as so complex as to be impossible to explain, but when you have to explain it to people with no context, not only of supply chain, but business Yep. It really forces you to think about what’s important about what we do, which is mostly getting stuff to another place for the person who wants it.

Scott Luton (15:31):

Right? So true. That’s right.

Greg White (15:33):

Um, it’s a, I mean, it really is as simple as that. And didn’t we discover a young man who discovered that his dad was in supply chain by explaining that? Yeah. Uh, that was at school in East Cobb. I remember, I cannot remember the kid’s name, but I remember his face, <laugh>. He was a fireball. Right? I’m like, we need more of that kid. And

Scott Luton (15:53):

You’re so right. And the man to see these light bulbs go off, and folks, uh, these kids, they don’t need three hours of explaining. They get it like that to Greg’s point. And they had eureka moments, and they’re connecting the dots. I mean, it’s amazing. You’ll feel a lot better if you get in your schools and talk supply chain, uh, or, or really just engage students and share anything. Yeah. You’ll see what we’re talking about. We’ll feel really good about the future.

Greg White (16:15):

Yeah, that’s exactly right.

Scott Luton (16:17):

So let’s get into, speaking of supply chain. We got, uh, three or four stories here today. Hmm. Our dear friend Mark, moving stuff to where it needs to be. Sounds simple. Greg always makes things sound simple and, um, melodic. Yeah,

Greg White (16:31):

There’s 1100 steps in there, but <laugh>, you know, explain what it’s, you don’t need to know all that.

Scott Luton (16:37):

That’s right. That is right. All right. So we’re gonna dive Greg into our first story here today. So I’m gonna get into an update on the ongoing bed, bath and beyond, story, saga, whatever you call it. Um, so as reported here by C N B C, the retailer officially declared bankruptcy on Sunday, April 23rd. We all knew it was coming. Uh, hundreds of Bed, bath and Beyond. Stores are expected to be closed, uh, closing, uh, across the country, as pointed out here in the article, just like Kmart and Sears did in recent years. And then how it created, uh, some vacant, uh, footprint and, and stores and space offering that valuable real estate for other retailers that actually are growing in need more space. Greg, we’re talking 500 locations. If you include the buy, buy baby footprint, uh, into the overall number, 500 stores gonna be open.

Scott Luton (17:29):

Um, now demand for retail space is high. As many folks here in our audience knows for a variety of reasons. A lot of retailers are flushed with cash due to all that spending. We all did during the pandemic. Physical stores are also serving as fulfillment centers, which we’ve touched on thousands and thousands of times. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and Hybrid Works popularity. I, I gotta admit, I didn’t think about this one. Uh, with hybrid work and, and how popular it is now, folks aren’t going to stores, you know, first thing in the morning, and when they get off at five 30, they’re in stores really all the time. So, Greg would love to get your thoughts here on what we’re seeing, uh, with this Bed Bath and Beyond story and the opportunities that exist. Yeah.

Greg White (18:06):

Well, one, it took unbelievably inept management to destroy this company. Mm. And even then, it took them years to do so. They, they didn’t realize that they had a business that was being disintermediated by e-commerce, and they never got into e-commerce with any level of seriousness. And it just, that is what killed the company. And then they did stupid, stupid things like, like announced their problems to their vendors and then proceed to lose the trust of those vendors in a multitude of ways over a number of years. They changed management a couple different times, and, and no one ever really saw what the core problem was, which was we should close all these stores or many of these stores, and we should be an e-commerce business. Kinda like Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble almost 30 years ago, should have looked at Amazon and go, wow, they’re making a pile. Maybe we should do that.

Scott Luton (19:04):

<laugh>, right?

Greg White (19:06):

Sorry, Mr. Barnes <laugh>. I didn’t get a company he was trying to start after that. Uh, anyway, um, but, um, this is an incredible opportunity. I think it’s inopportune timing, however, because if you look at what many of the pundits are saying, they’re expecting a commercial real estate collapse in any time this year. Yep. Probably in the second half, third or fourth quarter. And retail is not above that. They’re concerned about commercial buildings, you know, business high rises. They’re concerned about strip malls. And if there are any actual real malls, whatever you call it, just malls, um, you know, obviously there’s concern has been concern there for over a decade. So I don’t know what it means for that. It, it will probably mean that someone will get a bargain by subletting from the, from whoever winds up owning all this stuff, or the, the liquidator or whomever. Yep. I am encouraged that Bed Bath and Beyond filed chapter 11, I’m not certain with all of the, you know, um, capital and overhead that they’ve got, that they won’t wind up shutting down completely. I don’t know. It’s, it’s tough because they have incredibly terrible management. And it, I feel at, at once. I feel, uh, sorry for, and like, hopefully they’ve learned a great lesson for all these, uh, apes, the hos that tried to prop this up during Covid, like they did a M C and, and whatever, the gaming company, both of which, oh,

Scott Luton (20:40):

GameStop,

Greg White (20:41):

GameStop, right? Another company that should have gone completely online a decade ago. But those people will have lost all their money by now. Cause the stock is absolutely worthless at this point. So, man, you know, these are the lessons that we need from time to time. And, and it is, um, I think it’s comforting in this fact, Scott, you know, even though this has happened, and this will happen more, there are probably 15 other retailers teetering on the edge. It took unbelievably inept management over the series of almost half a decade to destroy this company. So that should tell you right, how much leeway you have as an operating manager of a retail enterprise, even with the tight margins that retail has, how much you can mess up, uh, mess with one before you find

Scott Luton (21:29):

Out pu politely.

Greg White (21:30):

Yeah. Uh, so, you know, there’s usually, and there has been frequently hope there and there obviously is for other enterprises here. But Best Buy was at once, at one time, bankrupt. And they came outta, it just unbelievably transformed and became the, the source for electronics. And then they got hammered by the e-commerce space and they adapted to that rapidly. Right? So if you have competent management, you can get through these things. Situations don’t kill companies. Management kills companies.

Scott Luton (22:04):

Excellent. I appreciate your perspective there. Uh, two quick thoughts on the Best Buy thing. I’m not sure when the timing of this, but from what I’ve seen every time in the Best Buy, the line for Geek Squad is out the door. So when they pick that up and included that as part of the value prop, the drive foot traffic. Yeah, I can only imagine what that did. Uh, and then secondly, going back to what you said on the front end of your commentary there, supplier trust, man, if you’re not working Yeah. To, uh, invest in increase, retain, build, um, build trust with your suppliers as you, as you try to get through these tough times, you’re missed now and you’re creating risk, more risk. Uh, it’s a lot of good stuff there. Greg White. Um, all right. And Josh says, I’m part of that group for GameStop Apes, <laugh> Apes Strong together, Greg to the moon. Okay. Uh, and Jose, Josh,

Greg White (22:57):

I just hope it was just only a tiny fraction of your portfolio.

Scott Luton (23:00):

That’s right. Uh, Jose, hey, give up, mark a ring. Uh, we’re certainly happy to talk with him, uh, and great to have you here today, as always, Jose. Um, okay. So Greg, for the sake of time, we’re gonna dive into this next, uh, story here. And this is an interesting one on a variety of levels. Um, so one company probably probably not buying former Bed Bath and Beyond stores, but who knows? Well, that would be Amazon. So as reported here by one of the best of business supply chain dive, Amazon is slowing it’s capital investment spend in 2023. Not stopping it, just slowing it folks. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, as a company, the big A looks to optimize its recently overhauled Fulfillment Operations. So here, this is interesting, great opportunity we have here. So, Greg, some of our listeners, well most of ’em probably do, but some are listeners may not know that you’ve worked closely with Amazon and some of your previous leadership roles. Yeah. I’d love to hear your thoughts here.

Greg White (23:55):

Yeah. So to give some context, I ran a company owned by another company that, uh, provided an application to the, um, teams that either refitted distribution centers and fulfillment centers to simplify the terminology. Cause I’ve got like five terms for it, <laugh> for, for Amazon when they were either being built or, or being refitted. So, so I have some insight here, and they have ebbed and flowed in terms of how much they’ve done over the years. You know, Scott, it seems like we had this discussion a year or so ago that they were gonna slow down and even then they built facilities. Good point. Um, so I think slowing is relative when you talk about Amazon, but they obviously have recognized that people are going into stores more. Um, and, you know, and, and that they, you know, they don’t need the fulfillment space. Um, what they have are called delivery stations that might be a good fit for some of these locations. It’s been more typical for Amazon to build or to embed those into an industrial real estate complex. But if retail real estate space becomes more affordable, just imagine the leverage that Amazon could put on a space like that by making it effectively a store. You know, they have a completely no touch store system where basically you go through this matrix of cameras and you tap your card on the way in, you know, they identify what you’ve taken from the shelf and you just walk out with it. And you’ve paid,

Scott Luton (25:35):

Man,

Greg White (25:36):

They’ve had that for probably six or seven years. And it, I saw a YouTube video about it. It’s become so much more refined, obviously in that time.

Scott Luton (25:45):

Very interesting simplicity there. The simplicity that you just paint that picture that is, uh, you know, we can’t keep everything simple, but we can keep a lot of these things simple. Well,

Greg White (25:54):

But you know, and I’m not sure that Amazon would do that, but it would be an interesting transition for them because they know what the hot products are in kinda a circular service area around their delivery stations, and that’s why they keep those products there. Yep. So imagine if instead of them shipping it to you, you could go pick it up and maybe they give you a better price for it that way. Yep. Right. Who knows? And, and it would be a logical transition because I think we’re going back to more in-store, uh, experiences.

Scott Luton (26:24):

Yes. Oh, no doubt. Completely agree with you. And, uh, and I’m, I sure thankful as I shared last week, I think I’ll never take for granted the ability to get out and shop or break bread or travel or whatever else. Yeah. With friends old and new. But speaking of, so as a Amazon customer, which I’m sure you, I’m sure you are as well, we’ve talked about this, I’m also a new Costco customer now. Vicki White is out there listening. If Vicki White, uh, Greg, I, I’ve <laugh>, Vicki could be an onboarding consultant. Uh, I’ve met few people that know all the ins and outs like Vicki does about Costco. But no joke. It’s really interesting. Cause as we’ve pushed some of our spin to Costco, we’ve really enjoyed that. Uh, saved a ton of money. I think for the most part we’re still doing the analysis, but Amazon, as as, as I have stopped purchasing some of those things, right. And try to cut down on boxes and wet mm-hmm. <affirmative> for a variety of reasons. It’s interesting to see Amazon’s response as it sends me, Hey, have you forgotten about this? And forgotten about that, man. It really just re emphasizes to me for the thou million time, man, how well they know. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they know their consumers and know their preferences. And if you, if you doubt that for a second, stop buying a few items that you normally do with Amazon and just observe Greg, isn’t that, it’s remarkable. Really. It

Greg White (27:43):

Really is. I, I mean, to me it seemed like such common sense, like even just the buy now button, which they patented, right. Basically away from anyone to have ability know. It’s one of those, duh, why didn’t I think of that? Things they, you know, they have, I don’t know, 10 hunt tens, hundreds of thousands of people they’re constantly working on, on innovation. Right. One of, you know, their core, their core values are to break everything all the time. Right. Um, and also be Right a lot. That’s key

Scott Luton (28:18):

<laugh>. I like that one. Greg.

Greg White (28:20):

Lots of companies disrupt themselves a lot. They don’t remember to be right when they do it. They’re about, uh, Amazon. What is their superpower? Is that ability really commitment to do it. And they’re blessed regardless of what you think about Jeff Bezos personally. Um, and if you have any questions, ask his ex

Scott Luton (28:44):

Boy, they’re

Greg White (28:46):

Blessed when he was CEO with a, with a leader who was incredibly finance focused. He put the core metrics that the, that investors and good practitioners of business Yep. Require he put those practices, those financial practices in place. He used the metrics, um, and extended those metrics. You know, what cash flow ought to be, you know, working capital, et cetera, et cetera. Profit margins, all that sort of thing. He put those into place and even while they were growing at an incredibly rapid pace, he insisted on those things. That doesn’t mean they invest, invested, didn’t invest in innovation as, you know, they weren’t profitable for almost 20 years. Right. But they still had a lot of the core metrics in place so that when they reached a certain level of volume, they were super efficient. And that super efficiency is what has allowed them to accumulate the billions and billion tens, almost a hundred billion in cash that allows them to do anything.

Scott Luton (29:44):

Yes. You just gave us like an NBA lesson in two minutes there, Greg. Uh, I would just add, you know, Greg and I sat down with, uh, one of the big a’s big competitors that’s making some gains. Uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that’s Walmart. And we sat down with Jennifer McKen, we’ve talked mentioning here a couple times. We published it last week. If we can drop that link in the chat. Uh, it’s, it’s really, it’s cool to see Walmart pick up some of the, um, make some the gains it’s been making here in, in recent months and in last year or two. Still

Greg White (30:13):

Though, the largest company in the entire world, Walmart. But isn’t it funny how people have shifted to kind of pulling for Walmart, right.

Scott Luton (30:22):

<laugh>

Greg White (30:22):

Against Amazon. Right?

Scott Luton (30:23):

Right. But

Greg White (30:25):

They’re the, that’s wherever be, I mean, that is also an enormously efficiently operated organization. Yes. And it ain’t the Walmart, it used to be intentionally. Right. <laugh>, you know, it’s not just people coming down from the hills to buy sacks of sugar to make their shine. It, it’s that still in some places. But it, I mean, also some of these stores are in incredibly posh areas, right? I mean, that’s right. You see some of these Walmarts with parking lots full of Mercedes,

Scott Luton (30:57):

Man,

Greg White (30:58):

Not around my house, but <laugh>

Scott Luton (31:00):

I was about to say, uh, unfortunately I can’t add to its Mercedes count in the, uh, the parking lot yet. So, but anyway, uh, hey, we just published, uh, we just dropped a link to the audio version of the interview. It’s a quick, easy listen, uh, y’all check that out. Um, let’s see here. Uh, Rami, great to see you here. Let us know where you’re tuned in from there via LinkedIn. Uh, and Josh says, back to Amazon, Josh says, Amazon paid three x a market evaluation or evaluation for the company that pioneered that deals of the day. Greg, do you know that?

Greg White (31:31):

Yeah. They, they aren’t afraid to pay. They aren’t afraid, afraid to pay a premium. Because companies like that, that acquire companies at a high premium, they al they know already where the opportunities are to squeeze more outta that company. And if you doubt that, if you’d like to see that dramatized watch succession sometimes

Scott Luton (31:49):

Yes. That’s, man, folks, little quick aside, check out succession or you’re, you are missing out. It’s one of the best shows on tv. No

Greg White (31:57):

Spoilers. I’m two episodes behind Scott, so be careful.

Scott Luton (32:00):

<laugh>, I ain’t can say a word. In fact, I missed last night cause Amanda was, uh, she was at a concert with our daughters, which we’ll touch on that later on maybe. Um, okay. So, uh, let’s see where we we’re moving into the next story. Greg. Let, let’s do that. Talk about, on a related note, this is a really interesting, uh, report here. So, uh, I wanna talk about, uh, our friends, what at the Wall Street Journal and what they are reporting on here. Cause investors are still pouring lots of money into logistics, tech, startups, ventures, you name it. Uh, and Greg, three hot areas that are attracting investments, again, should be no surprise, you know, for anyone in our audience. Cause these are things we, we’ve been talking about. I don’t know, it feels like three decades. Uh, three of them though. Supply chain visibility management, duh, robotics, duh, and 3D printing.

Scott Luton (32:51):

Now that’s kind of an interesting one, right? Cause we’ve been talking about 3D printing as well for feels like since, uh, the gold rush of 49. But don’t roll your eyes on when you hear 3D printing. Uh, cause I believe it’s poised to make perhaps its biggest impact yet, in fact, in this article, 3D printing applications that make computer chip manufacturing easier, more reliable, as mentioned now that given wherever, you know, everything’s that chips are going into these days mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that would be a coup. It’d be a home run. I ain’t care in home run. Um, Greg, I’m dying to know you as an investor. You know, so you see that side as a supply chain practitioner, uh, just being the Greg White that I know and love your thoughts here on, uh, the investment trends in this space.

Greg White (33:37):

Yeah. Well, uh, I’ll tell you, I don’t roll my eyes at 3D printing. Where I roll my eyes is that supply chain visibility, it means nothing anymore. Absolutely nothing. I mean, some of these companies are, they’re just reporting houses. That aspect of, of the industry. We either need to find a new name or description for it or something. Because companies that just provide you visibility to your supply chain, that’s not new. It’s not helpful. They’re huge players in the market already who do that. Um, and supply chain visibility usually only means, at least this has been my experience in evaluating hundreds of companies over the last few years, it usually only means, um, your goods in motion. Is it on a truck? Is it on boat? Is it on plane? Right? Is the bottom of the C <laugh>? Right? Is it on the dock? Did it get lost?

Greg White (34:33):

Right? Um, that kinda thing. So one, we need supply chain visibility throughout the supply chain. We need start looking in enterprise. Look at yes, where, where’s raw materials providers are manufacturers are, or even, um, interim warehouse facilities. And, you know, and, and, uh, and when I think of visibility, I think like the, you know, we talk to chief supply chain officers all the time, Scott and I think about what they’re really concerned about is not just, or even necessarily how are my goods in motion? You know, what’s the state of them, but also what is the state of my supply chain? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, everyone knows their supply chain is fragile, but they don’t know where. So they know that the next black swan event or disruption or whether happening or geopolitical conflict is gonna impact their supply chain. They know where, and they know to what measure’s really important spot for virtually every chief supply chain officer out there.

Greg White (35:40):

Cause so many solutions are segmented into various parts of the supply chain. And mostly we focus on logistics in motion. Yeah. So I, I think there’s a lot of opportunities. 3D printing is one. I I think, um, when you think about where investment is going, what we’re looking for is something that is breakthrough. You know, something that is truly breakthrough. We, when you’re in investment, you get presented me toos or also rans all the time. Hmm. Cause the founders are new to the business, are naive, or sometimes their practitioners new to technology. They dunno what it takes. I’m not pointing at anybody here, but it happens frequently when people who are practitioners in an industry and not technic technologists in the industry come into the business. They have a very narrow perspective. So I think though that this recent kind of economic upheaval with the banks has sort of filtered out the mediocre to poorly conceived companies. And we’re starting to see more and more quality come to the top. But yeah, I, I think it’s a great time to be investing in supply chain, logistics, whatever you wanna call it, the commerce ecosystem as I call it. Um, where, where you’re starting to connect enterprises and more than just tell them their supply chain is up, but tell them what they can do to fix it. Right?

Scott Luton (37:10):

Yes. And Greg said, fouled up in case y’all didn’t hear that fouled up. Did

Greg White (37:14):

My mic cut out?

Scott Luton (37:15):

<laugh>?

Greg White (37:16):

Thank God for that five second play.

Scott Luton (37:18):

I love that. I love hearing that you’re, you know, since you are an investor and you’ve been there and done that kinda on both sides of the table. I, I guess I’ll put it more simply, all

Greg White (37:26):

Three sides of the table. All three sides, that’s right. Service provider, a practitioner, and an investor. And having all three of those perspectives is frankly a blessing and a curse.

Scott Luton (37:36):

<laugh>. I think it, well, I’ll tell you, uh, it’s a blessing to be collaborating and, and partnering with you here at Supply chain now. Cause we benefit from it all the time. Uh, so Greg, I love that you are able to share with our global audience here, some of what maybe, um, you know, they don’t always get, uh, from you here. And that’s the, in the investor side and what you’ve seen and do in that space.

Greg White (37:58):

Yeah. I would say if you’re starting a technology company now, don’t call it supply chain visibility. <laugh>.

Scott Luton (38:04):

That’s golden vice. Call it

Greg White (38:06):

The problem that it solves, right? Because I think what we need more is more prescriptive analytics, right? And not, not, not, uh, vis visibility analytics. Don’t just tell me that the supply chain is messed up. Tell me where, why, and how to fix it.

Scott Luton (38:26):

Love it. Uh, Greg, we’re gonna, we’re gonna, you know what? We’re gonna have to crank back up on tequila sunrise. Cause that’s, that’s what reminds me of some of those conversations you had there that were so popular and well received. But we’ll save that for another day. That’s so much

Greg White (38:37):

Work, Scott.

Scott Luton (38:38):

I know, I know. We’re, we’re gonna make it easier. But folks, that reminds me, kidding aside, if you, if you love hearing from Greg on, uh, some of those investment stories, some of those startup stories, uh, and a lot more all innovation technology, you can still find all the episodes, tequila, sunrise, wherever you get your podcast from.

Greg White (38:56):

Well, some of that stuff is still pretty really relevant. I mean, you know, some of the guidance was how to pitch your company some relation to what the environment is like, what investors are looking for. Yep. What they know that you don’t know, that they know that you should not try to trick them because they know when you’re trick them or, you know, give ’em a snow job or whatever. Right. You know, and, and all kind of that is, is really true. And that comes from being on both sides of that investment table too. Having pitched investors and being now constantly pitched,

Scott Luton (39:30):

I bet

Greg White (39:31):

60 home a day on LinkedIn. And, um, and, you know, and, and also reviewing, uh, pitch materials as well.

Scott Luton (39:39):

Yep. All right. So go back on 3D printing. I’m gonna, I’m gonna share Josh’s comment. Yeah, man. Uh, he says, uh, there was a large push. This is Josh again for 3D printers from four home use during covid home-based businesses. Even labs are using it for small gadgets. Robotics also made a huge push in the biotech during covid. And people are happily looking around and realizing they can reorganize operations. Yes. Not only can they, but they must, given what we’re seeing, uh, really across the workforce. The cool thing about 3D printing that we, we shared during the height of the pandemic, uh, the Veterans Administration, and I wanna be kind here as a veteran. Uh, there’s lots of concerns about the Veterans Administration. I think that’s pretty fair. But they were really on the forefront of, of, uh, putting innovation into practice with using 3D printing in it, in its, uh, operational footprint and printing masks that were needed for their facilities. Hey, that’s, that’s, that’s a great win. Yeah. Greg, you were about to talk about I think robotics workforce,

Greg White (40:38):

Uh, well, well, and 3D printing. I mean, I think there are some amazing, um, applications that should give us an idea. For, one example is printing prosthetics. So if you can get a cad drawing of a prosthetic, you can print it right in the office, right? Yeah. Rather than have to have it made and molded. And sh so many of them are manually like shaped and that sort of thing. And the other is, um, and this is near and dear to my heart for vintage cars. Yeah. They’re now printing the parts rather than trying to find them. Because if you go far enough back, you can’t find, you can’t find the oil pump for a model A or a model team.

Scott Luton (41:17):

Right.

Greg White (41:19):

Actually, you probably can for some of those cars, you know, it, it becomes exceedingly difficult to do. So they’re printing those kinda things and, and you know, just think about those things that are hard to get. Yep. Um, or maybe you only need one off. Uh, and you would rather have it printed than wait or search the entire planet to try and find it in a junkyard.

Scott Luton (41:43):

Yes. You know, it’s, it’s really interesting about spare parts. Uh, we, we just knocked out a lot. Great live stream last, uh, week or so about spare parts and modern approaches. Y’all check that out. But to your point, Greg, and you are a course, uh, a true auto enthusiast. I’m a a casual observer. I know nothing about cars, but we all have repaired our vehicles and we all know this, the, the spare part shortages that I’ve added to, um, uh, waiting times and lead times of getting your cars fixed. And those are really po those are really widespread models that, that everyone has. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> to Greg’s point, going back to a, a classic car where there might be just a couple thousand on the highways and byways, man, you might be s searching junkyards near and far dealer networks forever to find certain parts. So to, so to your point, they have a 3D printer that you can load in some blueprints from, from the days gone by and have it sped out what you need. Man, that would be pretty cool.

Greg White (42:38):

Yeah. And, and there are all kinds of applic, other applications that make sense for that. Yes. That application. Right. I

Scott Luton (42:45):

Think going back to, and, and, and I am not an engineer and I’m certainly not a computer chip engineer. Y’all check out this, uh, we dropped a link to this story that, that started this whole conversation. Y’all checked that out. Cause a big chunk of that is talking about 3D printings application in the semiconductor industry. In fact, Intel made, uh, is made a, a sizable investment in a, in a startup. So y’all check that out.

Greg White (43:08):

I can’t wait till robots are using AI to run 3D printing machine to make stuff <laugh>. Right. Can we just sit around and wait for Amazon or Walmart or Shopify to deliver?

Scott Luton (43:21):

Yeah. Maybe we’ll get that website. Uh, that what that was promised, uh, by our federal government for so long ago, you know, that that’s part of the, the supply chain Act.

Greg White (43:31):

I’ve forgotten about that.

Scott Luton (43:33):

My hunch is we haven’t, that hasn’t been stood up yet, but I’ll save that for another time. Um, okay. As we wrap here today on the bus, and thanks all the, well, I know we couldn’t get it. Everybody’s comments here today. I wanna do, give a quick shout out to Kelvin, tune in from Zambia via LinkedIn. Great to see you, Kelvin. Um, I want to talk about the railroad industry. Um, so, you know, the railroad industry has been in, in the, um, news, Greg, for a variety of reasons. Of course, a lot of it hasn’t been good stuff. Um, but I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at maybe railroad’s biggest players globally now. So for a little context there, Greg. Couple facts that our audience should know, may already know. I don’t know. Of course here in the US the railroad industry focuses more on freight, not passengers as opposed to the rest of the world where passenger travel is big. And I’m not gonna, we’re not gonna touch on Amtrak here today. Of course, Amtrak is kind of a bit of a unique, uh, unique player. Um, the railroad industry is growing so globally it was valued at 660 million in 2018. Greg Billion.

Greg White (44:37):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (44:38):

Uh, million. No, I’m sorry. Billion. My bad billion. And it’s expected. Good catch. Kind of a, kind of a big difference there. Uh, it’s expected to reach 890 billion by 2025. Mm-hmm. How about that? So thanks to our friends at Biz Vibe. What we did is we pulled together, uh, the largest railroad companies in the world by revenue. Not market cap. Market cap look a lot different. Uh, y’all can check that out, but by revenue. So Greg, how would you pronounce the top one there? It’s based in Germany, deu, deu, Chaban, German

Greg White (45:11):

Railroad. That’s what that means.

Scott Luton (45:12):

That’s right. And if I’m not mistaken, the Federal Republic of Germany is the largest shareholder, I think the only one in that business. So a little, little context there. Uh, it’s number one railroad company in the world of revenue. Indian railways, east Japan, railway company companies. Number three, union Pacific. Finally, uh, a US um, uh, railroad is ranked, of course, that’s based in, you know, where Greg? Oh, union Pacific.

Greg White (45:36):

I don’t know where it’s based. No,

Scott Luton (45:38):

Nebraska. Really. I was kinda surprised with that. Yeah. Nebraska. So that’s number four. Central Japan railway company is number five. Csx transportation based in Jacksonville, if I’m mistaken. Comes number six. Norfolk Southern Railway based here in Atlanta in number.

Greg White (45:56):

Neither nor, well, I guess technically from South say no. Right.

Scott Luton (46:04):

Good point. Good point. Uh, and then to round out the list, Canadian National railway, number seven, Canadian Pacific Railway, uh, number nine. And Mt. R. So M t r, mass transit railway serving Hong Kong. So that comes in number 10. So Greg in

Greg White (46:22):

Revenue. That’s in revenue.

Scott Luton (46:23):

Yeah. In revenue. Not market cap, but in revenue. Look

Greg White (46:25):

At the German railway. Yes. They’re percent higher than, no, not 40%. They’re like higher. The next largest company cruising.

Scott Luton (46:38):

And to your point there, it’s, that’s why it’s, it’s kind of tough to really stack these up in like a perfect oranges or apples. Apples, oranges, oranges comparison, right? Yeah. Cause it’s, it, uh, railroading the approach kind of varies a little bit. Well, a lot from region to region, but even from country to country, you know? Uh, but it, I thought that it was really fascinating to kind of put this into perspective. Um, you know, cause I don’t know about you. I’ve never conducted or engineered a train, Greg. And, and of course smart railroading has been a fascinating thing to watch in recent years. And of course the growth and the reliance, um, that, you know, global supply chain has on railroading. Um, but Greg, get any, any other thoughts, observations? Have you ever engineered a train down the tracks?

Greg White (47:25):

Uh, I have not, but, uh, my uncle worked for, uh, Santa Fe before it was Burlington Northern Santa Fe, way back when I was a kid. And so I gotta go on a caboose when they still had caboose. I didn’t get to do it while it was rolling. But I’m just absolutely obsessed with trains. I’m one of the few people on the who get stopped at railroad crossing. Doesn’t curse that they’re gonna be late somewhere, like counting cars and Right. <laugh>, you know, I had a buddy in college, my college roommate could identify every engine. Really? Really? That’s gm, that’s diesel. And he’d, because it’s got two smoke stacks in the front and one in the back or something like, I dunno

Scott Luton (48:09):

Man,

Greg White (48:10):

But, uh, which I wish I had a, had that skill, but yes. Um, it’s a fascinating means of transport.

Scott Luton (48:18):

Yes. It’s,

Greg White (48:19):

Um, you know, it’s different. I mean, and I don’t think people in Europe understand why we don’t use trains more here in the States, but it’s, cause you know, we fit a hundred, couple hundred million more people in a space that is bigger than the entire continent of Europe. Right? Yep. Yep. Closer to Australia. So, and, and you know, we have so many cities spread around is why we use it for, uh, you know, for goods transport, right. Rather than people transport. But I think, I think we’re coming around to it. If you drive in Atlanta much,

Scott Luton (48:54):

Right. <laugh>. Um,

Greg White (48:55):

Right.

Scott Luton (48:56):

That’s so true.

Greg White (48:57):

A train is starting to make more, uh, more and more sense. It’s just that the cities are so vastly separated here. And of course here we’re in the Piedmont of, of the Appalachian Mountains. So I, I just would hate to see someone try to even build rail between here and say, oh

Scott Luton (49:18):

Gosh,

Greg White (49:19):

Knoxville. Right. Or something like that. I mean, I don’t know how you do it.

Scott Luton (49:24):

Me neither. Um, but, you know, you’re, you’re talking about, uh, the training conductor and all that stuff. Uh, I always think, whenever I think of the word conductor, and I picture something in my mind, my buddy Chuck, who I went to school with, uh, Chuck, if you’re listening, big old shout out to you. Uh, uh, he told me one time we, so where we stayed, where one of our apartments was, we had active rail lines just outside the back window. And Chuck said he was studying one day. It has windows open. It was a nice fall day, maybe in South Carolina. And he saw the train come real slow and the conductor was out the window. So chuck waves at him Nice. Suddenly thing to do. And the guy responds with the finger <laugh>. So he was having a rough day maybe. Yeah. But, uh, that, that visual always comes to my mind. Maybe

Greg White (50:08):

Cause they, they were being forced to go slow. You just never know. Right. Never

Scott Luton (50:11):

Know. You never know. Uh, hey, moms is here today. Yeah,

Greg White (50:15):

I saw that. She sounded off about her uncle who

Scott Luton (50:18):

Yes. Uh, Leah Luton says, my uncle was a train engineer way back. We’re gonna have to get some stories there, mom. You’re holding out on us. Holding out on us.

Greg White (50:27):

It was my uncle who, who worked for Santa Fe. And uh, it was fun. We did this, we would do this like five times a, a summer. We would go visit my aunt and she would drive him to work and we’d go every time he went to work, which was like four in the morning at the latest. But then you’d get to stand around the train yard and see it all happen. And it’s just fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.

Scott Luton (50:54):

It really is. It really is. Um, alright. So Greg, man, we’ve had a wide ranging show here today. Uh, folks, we want to encourage you once again to come check out our livestream tomorrow, all about the freight market, uh, in, uh, across from coast to coast here in the States. Bobby Holland with US Bank, Michelle Moore with G a f that kicks off at 12 noon eastern time. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, Greg, as we wrap here today, what was once, so you shared a lot of great perspective and expertise, especially for founders startup, of course, we’re supply chain practitioners, but if there’s one thing that you wanna encourage people to take home, put into action, write in their diaries, if that’s still a thing, what would that one thing be, Greg? Yeah.

Greg White (51:40):

Um, it would be to look up that, that would be, I mean, if you’re reading the news or you’re following pundits or whatever, there’s all kinds of things happening. There’s all kinds of current and potential struggles out there with the economy, with, well, mostly the economy right now. I mean, some of these things have kind of settled in even the geopolitical disruptions, which is what we have to call wars now. Things like that, um, have kinda settled in, and that’s a travesty. But it is not, it is not at least right now, a major disruption to most of the world. But there are lots of things that, that are pending. Right. The, the consumer sentiment is way down. Um, inflation is slowing, which doesn’t mean it’s low, it just means it’s not 11% anymore. At least in the States. Um, there, you know, there’s talk of recession all over the world and I really feel for Japan, who it feels like has been in recession for almost 30 years now. Mm-hmm. But my suggestion is, look up through all this, look up, there’s opportunity. All of this has happened before. You know, I say this a lot. All of this has happened before and many, many people have come out better. The more conservative you are through these kinda times keep cash. I don’t mean under your mattress, it’s available

Scott Luton (53:03):

<laugh>,

Greg White (53:04):

But in small chunks in, in several banks. So if the bank goes belly up, you’re not affected. You know, keep cash, uh, watch your spending. Um, you know, do what you have to and do, spend some time to have some fun Yeah. Throughout these times. And, um, it’ll feel kind of like you’ve earned that fun as, as the economy slows and as other impacts recession, you know, commercial real estate struggles, all of that starts to happen. Um, but yeah, I mean, there’s, there’s a way to both survive and even benefit in these times if you’re really, really prudent and conservative with your capital.

Scott Luton (53:43):

Completely agree. What a great message.

Greg White (53:45):

I dunno why that hit me today. I think, you know, no, I do know why it hit me. It’s because, um, uh, they were talking to, um, Charlie Munger, who is, is Buffet’s Warren Buffet’s business partner, and he said that commercial real estate is on the verge of collapse. So, I mean, he’s a mean old geezer

Scott Luton (54:06):

<laugh>,

Greg White (54:08):

But that doesn’t make him wrong.

Scott Luton (54:10):

Right, right, right.

Greg White (54:11):

He has, it’s nine years and still as lucid has been. And anyone, anyone went to the, uh, Berkshire Hathaway, um, shareholders meeting, which many people who aren’t shareholders go to. Uh, it’s kinda the Super Bowl of finance. Uh mm-hmm. <affirmative>, can you say Super Bowl on here? Super Bowl,

Scott Luton (54:31):

Uh, you just did, right?

Greg White (54:33):

Um,

Scott Luton (54:34):

Jeanie’s outta the bottle, right?

Greg White (54:36):

Uh, he is a, he is a very, both practical, knowledgeable, still lucid and, um, what do I wanna say, Sage member of the finance community. So when he says it, uh, there’s good reason to put credence behind it.

Scott Luton (54:51):

Love it. Love it. Uh, what a great message. Wrap on here today and look here. Oh, Kim Winter is with us here. Great to see you, Kim. Always good. He says to listen over dinner here in Dubai.

Greg White (55:01):

That’s interesting how the time zones work, right? It’s lunch here. It’s dinner there. Yeah,

Scott Luton (55:05):

That is right, Kim. I, man, Kim’s got a, um, uh, incredible travel and event schedule coming up. Great to see you. Yeah,

Greg White (55:13):

I just ask quick question offline, Kim, between say the middle of June and or middle of May, and the middle of June, lemme know if you’re gonna be on the European economy.

Scott Luton (55:24):

I get y’all hooked up, man, in our, uh, wonder Twin powers activate. Um, okay folks, uh, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this last hour as much as I have. Uh, appreciate all the great comments, uh, all the, the, the takes. Uh, you’ve, we’ve made. I, I’ve been hungry since we’re talking about barbecue on the very front end. So Angela, I’m gonna to, uh, check out some of your expertise you dropped there, but Greg, always a pleasure to knock out the buzz with you. Yeah,

Greg White (55:49):

Likewise

Scott Luton (55:49):

Folks. You can come join us on the buzz every Monday, 12 noon Eastern time. You can always check out the replay on supply chain now, wherever you get your podcast from. So with all of that said, Hey, take at least one of the many real car loads of nuggets that Greg, there you go. Dropped here today and put it into action, right? Deeds, not words. Right? Take action. With that said, Scott Luton challenging you to do good, to give forward and to be the change, and we’ll see you next time, right back here at Pacha now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (56:22):

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.