Supply Chain Now
Episode 960

When the supply chains were more stable, the idea of reducing cost by sharing non-mission critical components of your business was very, very popular. But once the supply chain was tested and unemployment got tighter and finding people to do the job and you had COVID, that exposed a lot of challenges within the airline industry [...] You have one third party, but the problem is universal to 3, 4, 5 different airlines.

-Keith Andrey

Episode Summary

Moving product is a big task in an even bigger world. Join Scott and Greg for the latest episode of The Supply Chain Buzz to take a closer look at the challenges and opportunities attached to freight forwarding with Keith Andrey, President of U.S. Freight Forwarding at UPS Supply Chain Solutions. Find out what “friend-shoring” is, whether air cargo is on its way to recovery and more.

Episode Transcript

Intro/Outro (00:03):

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

Scott Luton (00:30):

Hey, good morning, Scott Luton and Greg White with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today’s livestream. Greg, how are we doing today?

Greg White (00:38):

I think we’re doing okay. How am I doing? I feel like I may be laggy a little.

Scott Luton (00:43):

Well, you know, we’re working through some challenges as we work on all things digital improvement around here. I think you look great, man. You look like a million dollars.

Greg White (00:51):

Thanks, man. Look, I think as Katherine said the internet just needs to warm up a little bit and I believe that actually happens.

Scott Luton (01:01):

I should say $2 million, you know, inflation and all. But you look great. You look great. And looking forward to a big conversation today. Greg, as you know, it is the Supply Chain Buzz every Monday at 12 noon Eastern Time where we share some of the leading stories, some of the big movers and shakers across global business. Today, we’re going to be discussing a variety of topics. And talk about movers and shakers, we have a big special guest joining us around 12:25, Keith Andrey with UPS, Greg.

Greg White (01:30):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:32):

A titan, huh?

Greg White (01:33):

Yeah. Well president of one of the divisions at UPS. So, yes, we better be on our best behavior.

Scott Luton (01:42):

Right.

Greg White (01:43):

Mostly I better.

Scott Luton (01:45):

Well, you know, we got a lot. We’ll be talking air cargo. We’ll be talking friend-shoring and a lot more. So don’t miss this. If you – you’ve got one eye on email and one eye on the news but make sure you’re bringing both back here at 12:25 as we bring on our special guest around that. And, hey, as always, Greg, we want to hear from folks in the cheap seats, in the sky boxes, whatever we want to call it here today, maybe the7-55 club [inaudible] start calling.

Greg White (02:14):

[Inaudible] level. Yes, the club level.

Scott Luton (02:17):

So, folks, drop in your comments throughout the next hour and we’re going to share as many of those as we can get to. Okay. And we’re going to give a few shoutouts in just a minute. But, Greg, first I want to hit a couple of quick events and then we’re going to keep driving. How’s that sound?

Greg White (02:32):

Sounds good. We need Clay to continue his greeting. Welcome all.

Scott Luton (02:36):

Yes.

Greg White (02:38):

What day is it, Clay? Come on.

Scott Luton (02:40):

Right? Clay’s like a deacon today. Huh? He’s doing a lot of greeting and showing people where they’re sitting and all stuff.

Greg White (02:45):

That’s right.

Scott Luton (02:47):

Okay. But, hey, kidding aside, folks, one of our honorable initiatives around here that we’re very passionate about is supporting this initiative here, leveraging logistics for Ukraine. Greg, and the numbers we got last week, these collective efforts with Vector Global Logistics and a variety of partners have sent £325,000 of humanitarian aid to folks in need, this vetted aid. I mean, they told us exactly what they need and working with a collection of folks to get it where it needs to go. The next planning session is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 9th, 11:00 AM, Eastern Time. We’d love for you to come. You don’t – no obligation to do anything other than just sit in and listen as coordination continues. So y’all check that out tomorrow, August 9th, 11:00 AM. And, Greg, we’ve got an upcoming webinar this week, too, August 10th, Sustainability and Profitability: The Ripple Effect of Shipping Less Air. So y’all join us for that with our friends, Paccurate and stored, August 10th, that is Thursday. No check that. That’s Wednesday, Wednesday, August 10th. We’re talking August. Someone changed the dates on August, Greg? No. They’ve always been since the beginning of time, August 10th, Wednesday at 12 noon Eastern Time.

Greg White (04:07):

Air, the most expensive commodity in supply chain.

Scott Luton (04:11):

Right.

Greg White (04:12):

Worth nothing.

Scott Luton (04:12):

No.

Greg White (04:13):

Right? It still takes up space.

Scott Luton (04:16):

Oh, no kidding. No kidding.

Greg White (04:17):

Can’t even see it. Doesn’t make a noise when it hits the floor.

Scott Luton (04:23):

But we love shipping it. Okay. Well, let’s say hello to a few folks, and then we’re going to dive into a couple of stories before we welcome in our special guest. Stay tuned for this next hour. We’re going to – it’s going to be fast moving and a lot of heavy hitting perspective. So I want to say hello to – Jonathan’s back with us, the super planner from Louisiana. Greg, I bet he had a great weekend. What’d you think?

Greg White (04:46):

Well, unquestionably, yeah. I hope so. Let’s find out.

Scott Luton (04:51):

Jonathan, let us know how your weekend was. Of course, Josh Goodey holds down the west coast for us, from beautiful Seattle. Josh, how you doing today? Speaking of that upper northwest, sorry. I had to get my geographical bearings. Kyle Garcia is with us and I believe he’s still up in the Oregon area. Kyle, help me out here. Let us know where you’re tuned in from and great to see you here via LinkedIn. Greg, we mentioned the deacon or the diesel, whatever you want to call or refer to Clay here today, making it happen. He’s brokenhearted with me after the Braves dropped four of five games to the Mets. That was painful.

Greg White (05:33):

Not a good weekend. Yeah. What are they? Six and a half back now, right?

Scott Luton (05:38):

Yes. Yes. We’re closer to the Phillies in third place than we are to Mets in first, but, hey, optimism’s still abounds. We’ll see how the rest of the season.

Greg White (05:48):

Scherzer was awesome. Gosh.

Scott Luton (05:50):

Oh. You know, the Mets clearly –

Greg White (05:51):

Also, he’s one of the pitchers that get strikes that aren’t strikes, you know?

Scott Luton (05:55):

Yes.

Greg White (05:56):

Like Tom Garvin.

Scott Luton (05:59):

Yeah. No comment. I can’t complain as Braves’ fan, we can’t complain.

Greg White (06:02):

You can’t complain, but the guy never threw a strike in his career.

Scott Luton (06:05):

Katherine, great to have you here. “Happy Monday from my warmed up internet.” Greg, how about that?

Greg White (06:12):

Thank you. Thanks for keeping ours warmed up as well.

Scott Luton (06:15):

Gary Smith, the legend. We’re all members of the Gary Smith fan club here in Atlanta. Hello, everyone –

Greg White (06:23):

Soon to be from the Golden Isles.

Scott Luton (06:24):

That’s right. That’s right. You know, it’s been a little while since I connected with Gary, but he is a Georgia tech grad, been doing big things in supply chain for a number of years, been up in New York for quite some time. And it’s good to see he’s going to be headed back south to St. Simons Island soon.

Greg White (06:42):

I’m sure. You know, just port research, he’s not retiring or, you know, dialing it back or anything like that. Port research.

Scott Luton (06:49):

Port research. I love it. Helmut. Well, I missed one. Shelly, great to have you back. I’ve really enjoyed all of your contributions during these livestreams. Good morning, she says, from the home of Coors beer, Colorado, of course, via LinkedIn. I look forward to your perspective today. Greg? Yes. The banquet beer. Yes. Nice, nice.

Greg White (07:11):

Whatever that means.

Scott Luton (07:25):

Right. Helmut, great to have you here. I’ve enjoyed your social contributions and of course what you share here ready for a new episode. I’m trying to sound out his –

Greg White (07:25):

Dagadagada.

Scott Luton (07:27):

Yes.

Greg White (07:27):

Dagadagada.

Scott Luton (07:28):

There you go. It almost sounds like Buck Rogers there. But, Helmut, great to have you back. Looking forward to your contributions. Let’s see here. Gene Pledger, old GP, from North Alabama is back with us. Good morning to you. I never get this right.

Greg White (07:45):

Come on, come on, Doc Holliday.

Scott Luton (07:47):

The Doc Holliday of supply chain, Fred Tolbert is here.

Greg White (07:50):

He’s your Huckleberry.

Scott Luton (07:51):

It’s a hot, hot August day, which means it’s a great day to be in supply chain. Fred, great to see you via LinkedIn and appreciate all the good work you’re doing, mentoring the now generation in supply chain. TSquared, holding down the fort for us on YouTube says, “Good Monday folks! Bring on the supply chain management nourishment. And hopefully UPS will have some WorldPort and ATL superhub on this one.” TSquared dropping the insider knowledge. We’ll see. We’ll see if Keith wants to weigh in on some of these things. Great to see you though. “Portland.” Kyle Garcia from Portland. I knew that, Kyle.

Greg White (08:28):

The ‘90s are alive and well in Portland.

Scott Luton (08:32):

Great to see you here. Rahil, from Barcelona, via LinkedIn, hello, hello. Shinto, via LinkedIn, let us know where you’re tuned in from. Great to have you here. Hey, Joey’s back from Minnesota. Great to see you via LinkedIn, Joey. Have really enjoyed your sense of humor and contributions. Man, we got a full house today. James Walker from Sierra Leone. “So excited to be part of this thrilling session.” Greg, have you ever been accused of being thrilling?

Greg White (09:00):

Never.

Scott Luton (09:01):

James.

Greg White (09:03):

I’ve been accused of a lot of things, but never thrilling.

Scott Luton (09:06):

James, look forward to hearing from you as we work through our topics here today. Okay. Well, Greg, with no further ado, I want to jump into the first topic. How’s that sound?

Greg White (09:19):

Yeah, that sounds great. I’ve been doing a little research while we’ve been greeting everyone here, so hopefully I can get –

Scott Luton (09:24):

That’s good.

Greg White (09:25):

The camera to focus on it. I’ll show everybody.

Scott Luton (09:28):

You’re always – you can do about nine things at once. I’ve always been very impressed. But, hey, today I want to start with –

Greg White (09:36):

[Inaudible] mediocrity, Scott. That’s –

Scott Luton (09:38):

I want to start today’s discussion with a trend that, Greg, we’ve been talking about for quite some time, right? More freight coming into east coast ports here in the U.S. So as reported here by CNBC, shippers continue to shift freight to the east coast and away from the west coast for a variety of reasons. But chief amongst them are labor concerns. Of course, with the shift in freight patterns, come new challenges. In Savannah, for instance, which is just down the road from Greg, waiting times are up from one day in May to 13 days plus presently. How about that?

Greg White (10:14):

Wow.

Scott Luton (10:15):

And, Greg, get this. Due to automation and other factors, a container ship in China will be offloaded in less than a day, but here in the U.S. ports it can take four to six days. And, of course, automation’s a hot topic in the ports right this moment. But, Greg, your take on these freight patterns.

Greg White (10:35):

Well, let’s see if I can give everybody a visual on –

Scott Luton (10:40):

Nice.

Greg White (10:40):

Sorry for the – that is what it looks like. The green little dots, those are ships. The red ones are oil tankers, and the kind of pink ones, those are yachts. So those people are having fun, but notice there are a lot more people waiting for 13 days than having fun. So, just to give you an idea, that is what it looks like out there off of the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. So, you know, it’s been a challenge, right, as more and more ships have moved to Houston and Jacksonville and Savannah and Charleston and I think even to the New York and New Jersey ports. It’s become a challenge for everyone. And then, a report we got from Savannah sometime back was that they had a lift down, one of their entire areas, I think, where they offload ships had gone down. So that had really slowed them and started this back up. It went from kind of maybe three to five ships to that’s about 37 ships waiting offshore of Savannah right now over the horizon so they don’t bother anyone’s view on the beach, but they are out there and you can see the lights at night for sure.

Scott Luton (11:58):

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Well, you know, it’ll be interesting to see moving forward in weeks and months ahead to see how the east coast and the east coast ports continue to make adjustments ‘cause, you know, they’re happy. They want to keep winning more and more freight. Right? But the [inaudible] always been some challenges.

Greg White (12:16):

[Inaudible] are going to help them do that. I mean, right. We can’t solve one set of backups with a whole bunch of others. And I think the California ports are Long Beach and LA, they’re starting to come back around, right, so, you know –

Scott Luton (12:31):

Excellent point.

Greg White (12:31):

Maybe what we start to do is spread out the deliveries across the states. Now, it’s best to be able to provision for that because you also want your chassis inland and, you know, the ability to get to inland ports to consolidate and deconsolidation and all of that. So, there’s probably some change to come, but this may be a good thing that has us kind of smear demand across more ports.

Scott Luton (13:00):

Right. Yep. We’ll keep our finger on the pulse as things continue to evolve in the macro and micro or maybe vice versa, but what have you.

Greg White (13:09):

Well, I think hopefully we rise to the challenge of being able to offload these ships much, much more quickly. Right? We use a ton of labor to do it today. Labor in that particular area of the supply chain is very difficult to come by. I actually commented on an article today about that.

Scott Luton (13:30):

And, gosh, labor, whether it’s ports or fulfillment centers across global supply chain, maybe global business.

Greg White (13:36):

Transportation. Yeah.

Scott Luton (13:37):

Yeah. Transportation. It’s all a challenging time right now. But I want to shift gears, no pun intended, although it would be very apropos. So, Greg, bringing this back into picture, and by the way, you know, despite some of the challenges we’re going to talk about, that’s a good-looking truck.

Greg White (13:55):

It is good looking ride, isn’t it? Yeah.

Scott Luton (13:58):

So, Greg, a lot of folks enjoyed – so you do a supply chain summary commentary on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on LinkedIn and, man, what you dropped last week, I think it was last Wednesday, on what’s going on at Rivian caught a lot of folks, a lot of comments, a lot of views, you name it. So, for the second time today, give us a Reader’s Digest version of your take here.

Greg White (14:23):

Well, the Reader’s Digest version is that $11 billion were invested in Rivian before it went public. And its valuation is $28 billion, which is about three-fifths of the valuation of Ford and they’ve produced 9000 vehicles. So, that is the Reader’s Digest. And for those of you not born in 1950, that means a very condensed version of the story.

Scott Luton (14:51):

I got to update my analogies, don’t I, Greg?

Greg White (14:54):

But what is there? I mean, even UST – you could say the UST, USA today version, which was like three bullet points, even that’s gone. So, how do you condense things these days? The Twitter version? That’s a little bit too condensed and too angry.

Scott Luton (15:09):

Ah, yes. But, you know, Rivian continues, you know, the supply chain issues that they and many others are facing continue to persist and you know, Greg, we’re both based – I’ve got roots at least in Georgia and, you know, here it hits home because Rivian and the state of Georgia had a deal in place, have a deal in place. I don’t know. I’m not sure exactly where it stands today. But a $5 billion plant to open near Covington, Georgia, which was set to create some 7500 jobs. And as you and I have chatted about, you know, there’s a good bit of local opposition in terms of where they’re going to put that plant and how –

Greg White (15:54):

I did not know that. Is that? Isn’t that right?

Scott Luton (15:55):

In fact, if I’m not mistaken, last week, could have been a week before last week, but as you might imagine, there’s lots of lawsuits percolating and one judge at least paused some of the actions as he or she was hearing some of the complaints of some of the local contingent. So, hey, you know, rarely do you get everybody, you know, a hundred percent support of a lot of these developments. But anything else you want to add about Rivian valuation, the operational issues, you name it? I mean, what’s your thoughts? You think the plants, we’re going to see that in the next couple years? Is it going to come to fruition?

Greg White (16:35):

Well, you know, they announced some layoffs recently about 6% of their sales force. I think they announced that over the weekend, but just since that article last Monday, their market cap is up – please hold – approximately $4 billion, which would just about pay for that plant if people want the work in Georgia. So, you know, I think it’s a very fluid situation. Look, the point of that article really was we keep throwing money at companies that don’t seem to have their act together. I mean, this is a company that had a configurator on their website that, for instance, allowed you to customize the vehicle and this is really what got my ire up. It allowed you to customize the vehicle, but it didn’t limit the customizations based on what they could actually deliver. You could actually order a car, have 10 customizations, and nine of them could not have been provided, yet they still showed them to you.

Greg White (17:42):

And that seemed like a big miss to me for any level of company. But certainly for one that had $11 billion in capital before they were even public. So, I think that as much of the story is that we need to help these visionaries who are usually the people that start companies like Rivian to have some greater operational gifts. And, I think investors, like Ford, need to get more involved. They could have said, “Hey, you know, we stopped mass customization in the ‘70s, by the way.” But if you do have customization, at least make sure you have the stuff on hand that people are ordering.

Scott Luton (18:23):

Right. Right. And that always reminds me of that rumored response that Henry Ford gave way back in the day when he was being asked what color can we get our Model T in?

Greg White (18:35):

Any color.

Scott Luton (18:35):

Anything you want, as long as it’s black. Color of the Model T.

Greg White (18:40):

Right. And let’s think about what an innovation, the horseless carriage was. What did people want? I mean, this is what visionaries do, though, right? What did people ask Henry Ford for?

Scott Luton (18:50):

A faster horse.

Greg White (18:51):

A faster horse, right? What he did was he tucked a bunch of horsepower into this little metal thing and then put it in a cart and there it came the horseless carriage with 25 horsepower. Right?

Scott Luton (19:04):

Well, Greg, I am so proud of you. As Shelly says you did give us TikTok version of the Rivian [inaudible].

Greg White (19:09):

There it is. TikTok could do it. Yes.

Scott Luton (19:13):

Absolutely.

Greg White (19:15):

Scott, you need to be a TikTok star.

Scott Luton (19:16):

No. As our team, we want to give you, I’ll make sure everyone knows we dropped the link to Greg’s take, fuller take, on Rivian in the comments, his LinkedIn, that’s where you’ll find his supply chain summaries every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We’d love for y’all to jump on there and give us your take in particular. You’ll see a lot of takes and observations on the Rivian story. By the way, hello, Byron. Great to see you here. Great to have you back. Enjoyed your contributions, especially last week with Mike Griswold and Gartner. You had some elegant takes on Bill Russell as we were looking back on his legendary career and journey. And, Josh, we’ll put this out to folks. Josh says, “Had a question for the semi and train rail folks. Have there been any major infrastructure updates to support the increase of flow from east to west?” So, we’ll see. I think he’s talking about the flow of the freight from the east ports out to all points west, rather than the flow of the freight patterns, you know, if going from – calling on west ports, west coast ports to east coast ports. So, it’s a great question. Put that out there, and we’d welcome everyone’s observations. Okay. I want to give a quick signal, Greg, we’re going to have a couple of bonus minutes with our guests today. We got through both of those stories. Greg, I had you allocated about 25 minutes on the Rivian story. We got through it so efficiently.

Greg White (20:50):

I got more to say, if you want to – I’m just kidding.

Scott Luton (20:52):

Well, I tell you what, I want encourage people –

Greg White (20:55):

I think we covered the top points.

Scott Luton (20:57):

Yes. That’s right. And again, I want to encourage people to have your say, you know, bring your voice, drop it on that LinkedIn post, and we’d love to get your take. You know, maybe next week we can review some of those responses. We got a lot of – and a lot of sharp people. I think we got the sharpest audience in the world here at Supply Chain Now. Okay. So, Greg, are we ready to bring in our guest today? I’m excited to talk with Keith. Are you ready to go, Greg?

Greg White (21:26):

Yeah, let’s do it.

Scott Luton (21:27):

Ready to do it?

Greg White (21:28):

Yeah.

Scott Luton (21:28):

All right. So formally, I want to welcome in Keith Andrey, President of UPS, U.S. Operations and Freight Forwarding. Hey, hey, Keith, how we doing?

Keith Andrey (21:41):

Good. How are you doing there, Scott, Greg?

Scott Luton (21:44):

Doing wonderful.

Greg White (21:44):

Welcome aboard.

Scott Luton (21:45):

Great to see you. Enjoyed – I didn’t get a chance to enjoy one of the pre-show conversations as much, had a little digital connection problem. But, Greg, we found out a couple things about Keith in the pre-show here today, including something that we might can touch on about, y’all’s mutual love for motorcycles, huh?

Greg White (22:05):

Yeah. And he’s got a pretty sweet ride. I was not familiar with the Triumph 3, but that is a beautiful bike. A buddy of mine had I think the precursor to that bike, and wow what a beautiful ride that is. Yes.

Scott Luton (22:22):

I’m so jealous.

Greg White (22:23):

Sorry. So Keith is a motorcycle enthusiast.

Scott Luton (22:29):

And Keith was describing his weekend exploits and, Keith, you got some [inaudible] that last weekend, right?

Keith Andrey (22:35):

Yeah, I did. So I went up to the Georgia mountains. So, I have a Triumph Rocket 3 R Black, the second generation, so a little lighter than the old one, a lot faster, very enjoyable ride.

Scott Luton (22:49):

Man, I’m jealous, Keith. And it was a gorgeous – a little bit, I would say my wife, I think Amanda might disagree with me. Saturday morning at least, we got a little brief respite, if I said that right, from the humidity. It was a little less humid at least where we were in Athens at the farmer’s market. So, Keith, I bet it was a gorgeous day to ride.

Keith Andrey (23:10):

Yeah. Fantastic up in Northern Georgia when it’s not raining and it’s not 100 degrees, so it was a fun time.

Greg White (23:19):

‘Cause you are sitting on a heater when you’re on your – when you’re going around.

Keith Andrey (23:25):

Yeah. That’s 2500 cc’s in that motorcycle so it’s not a lot of heat.

Scott Luton (23:31):

Man. All right. Well, one other thing, before we start to talk air cargo and other things with you here today, Keith. One other fun question I want to pose to you ‘cause it’s Elvis week. It’s Elvis week around the globe. We have a full week dedicated to his legendary status. So, two-part questionnaire, Keith, have you seen the big movie that that’s winning accolades from around the world focusing on Elvis and secondly, your favorite Elvis tune? So, Keith.

Keith Andrey (24:04):

The answer is no, I’ve not seen the movie, but I’m more of a Led Zeppelin fan than I am an Elvis fan. So now that –

Greg White (24:14):

[Inaudible] like Elvis on certain tours.

Keith Andrey (24:16):

You know, and, Scott, I’m waiting for that week. I’m waiting for the Led Zeppelin week to come up –

Greg White (24:20):

Lep Zep week.

Keith Andrey (24:20):

And I’ll be all over that. I think I do have a couple songs in in my library. I think Heartbreak Hotel.

Scott Luton (24:32):

Yep.

Keith Andrey (24:32):

In The Ghetto, Jailhouse Rock, and I think Are You Lonesome Tonight.

Greg White (24:37):

Oh, those are great ones.

Scott Luton (24:39):

So do you sing those, Keith? Any chance we get you to sing one today?

Keith Andrey (24:44):

No. You’ll lose all your attendees [inaudible]. So that’ll be it for Supply Chain Now. That will be the end.

Scott Luton (24:53):

It’ll all be just supply chain then, huh? All right. So, Greg, I’ll tell you. He has a nice collection of tunes. And I bet we could have a full Led Zep conversation with Keith. But, Greg, have you seen the movie and what’s your favorite tune?

Greg White (25:06):

Have seen the movie. Austin Butler, I think is his name, absolute genius. I mean, I actually have seen so many of the videos. My mother was a huge Elvis fan and I’ve seen so many of the videos of him performing in Vegas and elsewhere. And I mean, there was a scene in the movie where I had to do a double take and go, is that actually Elvis or is that the actor doing it? I mean, it was that good. And also, if you didn’t hate Colonel Parker, complete scam artist, by the way, if you didn’t hate him before, you definitely will after this movie and the hatred is well earned. So, my favorite Elvis song is A Little Less Conversation, a little more action.

Scott Luton (25:50):

Oh, that’s a good one. That’s a good one. That’s a great one, Greg. All right. Let me hit a couple quick comments and then, Keith, we’re going to dive in, me and Greg are going to dive in with you on air cargo and a couple other things going on across global business. Manjunathaiah, I believe is how we pronounce that. If I got it wrong, I apologize. Let us know when. We want to get everybody’s names right. Says “Cargo exports supply chain manage booming right now.” Trade is certainly – trade is certainly booming across the supply chain world. Kyle, thank you. Appreciate that. Always – you’re too kind, Kyle, too kind. And Sayantan, Sayantan, “Thanks for giving me an opportunity to participate as a viewer here.” Hey, we want to hear from you, be more than a viewer, love for you to weigh in on what you hear today and give us your take.

Scott Luton (26:41):

Speaking of, Greg and Keith, speaking of takes, I want to get into one of your areas of expertise, Keith, air cargo, right? Air cargo world has been really experiencing quite a market the last couple years. And I want to lay out a couple of quick facts to share with folks as we kind of table set a bit. Sixty-six million metric tons being shipped through the air in 2021. That number’s expected to crest over 69 million metric tons in 2022. But, Keith, for some of our listeners, and we’ll get to this article in just a second. For some of our listeners, they may not have as much direct experience. You know, I work in the air cargo. I told you and Greg pre-show, all of my little bit of experience came in the Air Force in the military, right, loading refuelers where they carry some of the cargo not in the belly but in wherever they call the –

Greg White (27:36):

Cabin.

Scott Luton (27:36):

The passenger section. Cabin. Thank you, Greg. Technical term there. But, Keith, you know, what’s one thing that might surprise folks that aren’t, don’t know as much about the air cargo world?

Keith Andrey (27:48):

Yeah. I think the first thing I can think of is the third parties. There are more third parties executing the move on behalf of the forwarder and the airline. And as a result of that, there’s third parties who give things to other third parties who give things to other third parties. And I think most people think it’s just the forwarder and the airline and it’s the forwarder or the airline and all the airline partners and all the forwarder partners that make up a very, very complicated supply chain. So I think that’s one of the things people don’t realize. And even when customers were concerned about what was happening during COVID, you know, where you had CFS operations that were understaffed and they would say, “Hey, just change the airline.” But the problem is, both airlines are sharing the same CFS, you know, operator in the whatever airport that that is. So I think it’s that education is probably something that’s not well understood. And that’s been happening over the last decade. You know, when like you made the reference to the Air Force, the Air Force back when you were in it was doing everything soup to nuts, but over time, even the military, as well as in the forwarding and in the airlines, that’s all gone to components of it being more and more outsourced.

Scott Luton (29:05):

Interesting. Interesting. Greg, what I hear, some of what I hear there from Keith, I learned a couple new things there just in the last couple minutes. But every return complexity, complexity, complexity. Greg, we can’t get a break, can we?

Greg White (29:19):

Yeah. I’m curious. Is that – I mean, this is more question than answer, Keith. That complexity, is that legacy process or is that completely necessary? I mean, is there a way to streamline that in some way?

Keith Andrey (29:33):

Yeah. I think when the supply chains were more stable, the idea of reducing cost by sharing non-mission critical components of your business was very, very popular. But once the supply chain was tested and unemployment got tighter and finding people to do the jobs and you had COVID, that exposed a lot of challenges within the airline industry. So just the sheer amount of cancellations, additions, short notice additions, to the schedules stress those groups pretty significantly. And that example that I used, you know, you have one third party, but the problem is universal to three, four, five different airlines. And that complexity of it, I think, is legacy to efficiency that impacted once the supply chain became more volatile and less predictable.

Scott Luton (30:32):

If that’s your last phrase there, volatility and unpredictability, goodness gracious, we’ve been living it and breathing it. All right. But, hey, folks, Greg and Keith, and to all of our dear listeners and viewers, there’s some good news. And I want to bring up this article here from Air Cargo News. So according to Air Cargo News, a survey of industry practitioners and air forward and the Airforwarders Association members say that 2023 is looking like a great year. Well, at least the first half of 2023. So hopefully, Keith we’re getting, you know, maybe being able to take a breath second half of this year, maybe moving into next year, your thoughts on what this survey is projecting.

Keith Andrey (31:18):

Yeah. I tend to be a little bit more pessimistic, I think, than the article. I think historically, you know, whenever there’s been an increase of inflation, you’ve really seen a reduction in spending and a reduction in associated demand. I think the wild card though is you have low unemployment. You have, you know, accumulated spending power of the consumer due to COVID. So there’s a lot of wildcards that change that equation a little bit. But historically when you’ve seen rise of inflation, there was always a period of spending and less demand during that time period. So, I’m expecting in my own view 2023 is probably more realistic, maybe early 2024 that you’ll really see some strong recovery from where we’re at.

Scott Luton (32:13):

Okay. It’s good. It’s good, Greg, to be conservative and a bit pessimistic about these, by any economic or industry projection. Your thoughts, Greg.

Greg White (32:25):

Well, Keith has nothing to gain by overshooting, right? I mean, truthfully, he’s doing it. He’s doing it day to day, right? Whereas, you know, you look at things like the Airforwarders Association kind of like the real estate associations. Of course, they’re optimistic because they’re hopeful, right? They’re hopeful for their constituency. They’re hopeful for their members, you know, and they try to believe beyond belief that everything will continue to go up. And they’re all kinds of indicators to the [inaudible] Keith [inaudible]. So, I think it’s great to be able to have these perspectives, not just from associations and government agencies and things like that, but from the people who are actually living it every day. I wonder if there’s anybody in the air freight industry out there on the show today that could give us their take on it. It’d be really interesting to hear that, wouldn’t it, guys?

Scott Luton (33:23):

Great call out. Folks, less than what you’re seeing, especially when it comes to air cargo. And if you want to be bold, then offer up a prediction, projection for the next couple years. That would be wonderful. I think we dropped the link to the Air Cargo News article in the comments. So, folks, y’all can check that out on your own. Hey, Keith, before we move over to this notion of friend-shoring, any final thoughts with what, you know, of this interesting unique time we’ve been going through as global supply chains maybe specifically about air cargo or where we’re headed. Any final thoughts, Keith?

Keith Andrey (33:59):

Yeah, sure. I think I’ll talk and Greg can probably weigh into this too, but the forwarders tend to do really well when there’s supply chain destruction. That’s when the value of the forwarder really shines and it’s where the customers value who they’re dealing with the most. And then, so if you look at the results of a lot of the freight forwarders coming in right now, they’ve all been really, really well during this period of time. And that’s a move to value during a crisis. And that’s where, you know, we do well. When it’s very sustainable and consistent and predictable, that’s when the procurement side of the organizations we do business with kick in, and that’s when the dollars start getting squeezed out of the supply chain. So right now, it’s like, hey, do whatever it takes to get my product on the shelf or do whatever it takes to get the raw material to the factory. That’s going to shift when demand shifts, and it’s going to go back to, hey, let’s have the most efficient, predictable supply chain we can have, and that evolution’s going to happen like it has for the last, you know, four or five decades. So, we’re going to see that. But I think, you know, [inaudible] is more volatility it has, the forwarders tend to do better. And, you know, once that’s gets to be normalized then that’s when it tightens up and that shifts.

Scott Luton (35:19):

Well said. Well said. Appreciate that clarification, those thoughts. Greg, your final thoughts here.

Greg White (35:25):

Yeah. Well, it’s coming, isn’t it? I just recently read an article that said, okay, this is not a leading indicator or anything, but it is indicative. Chipotle is seeing more wealthy people buying food at Chipotle as they issue going to luxury restaurants and go instead to Chipotle. And they’re seeing more of their mid-level folks, right, kind of fall out of buying Chipotle, maybe cooking at home or –

Scott Luton (35:56):

Interesting.

Greg White (35:56):

God forbid, Taco Bell. But we’re starting to see those shifts. I’m curious. I mean, I don’t know what you guys are seeing, but I’m pulling back big time, you know, and I think a lot of people are.

Scott Luton (36:13):

Yeah. Let me – so I’ve never been confused for an economist, and, Keith, you should know that too, ‘cause Greg already knows that. But I mentioned the farmer’s market. You know, we went to a different farmer – you know, usually you can find us in Monroe, beautiful downtown Monroe at the farmer’s market – went to a different one over the weekend. And the very first thing that got my attention from the breakfast biscuit I got one of my kids to perusing all the – man, the prices across the board, the prices. And, you know, a lot of times at farmer’s market, you can get bargains galore. But, man, that was across the board and, Greg, that probably parallels nicely with what you just shared. And, Keith, whether we like it or not, challenging pricing environment out there, huh?

Keith Andrey (37:02):

Yeah, definitely. I think in my own experience, in my own household, my partner is out in the back doing the farm routine, you know, so those are going to be 20 less squashes she’s not going to buy at the market. Right? So, I mean –

Scott Luton (37:18):

I love it.

Keith Andrey (37:18):

It’s all going on everywhere.

Scott Luton (37:20):

Man, Keith, we got to work with a little deal, a little squash supply chain.

Keith Andrey (37:27):

Sure. I like that. There might be a bucket coming your way ‘cause it’s a big plot of land out there.

Scott Luton (37:32):

Awesome. Well, hey, really enjoying conversation. We’re going to take a little bit of a right turn here in just a moment. But, Greg and Keith, y’all make quite a nice one-two punch. You know, maybe we can tee up the next episode. It’ll be like the supply chain version to CHiPs and we have both of y’all on your motorcycles talking supply chain. We’ll see if the production team can – Keith, would you be game for that?

Keith Andrey (37:56):

I sure would. You want to set that up.

Greg White (37:59):

Do you want to be Erik Estrada or, I forget – I only know the character’s name, John.

Keith Andrey (38:05):

Ponch and John.

Greg White (38:06):

Ponch and John.

Scott Luton (38:07):

Ponch and John.

Greg White (38:08):

You want to be Ponch or John?

Keith Andrey (38:10):

Classic. I think I’m probably more Ponch like.

Greg White (38:13):

Okay.

Keith Andrey (38:14):

So John is actually the more reasonable guy for [inaudible].

Greg White (38:17):

Oh, man, that means – yeah, I have to be the reasonable one. Okay, fine.

Keith Andrey (38:21):

We can reverse it.

Scott Luton (38:21):

All right. So coming to –

Greg White (38:24):

It’ll be good. It’ll be –

Scott Luton (38:24):

Coming to a livestream –

Greg White (38:27):

It’ll be a good –

Scott Luton (38:28):

Coming to a livestream [inaudible], supply chain version of ChiPs, going mobile. Okay. And, Rahil, we’ll see if we can get to your question here in a moment. But first we want to tackle this notion that we heard about here in the last few weeks, friend-shoring. Friend-shoring. So as we were talking pre-show that name sounds a bit hokey, but the concept behind it is something that I bet a lot of folks can get around. So this term friend-shoring was used in a mid-July speech in South Korea made by a U.S. treasury secretary, Janet Yellen. Basically, it’s a play on onshoring, nearshoring, you know, but calls for supply chain collaboration really focused on allied countries, right? Friends. So, Keith, this notion of friend-shoring, your thoughts.

Keith Andrey (39:22):

Yeah. I mean friend-shoring, nearshoring, offshoring, reshoring, I think the end, once you take the politics out of it, it’s the same for the buyer, buyers looking for a predictable supply chain at the lowest cost. And so, every one of those terms has happened. Even global, you know, going offshore has been an issue of trying to look for stability in the supply chain at the lowest cost in order to attest the increase of cost of the product sitting on the shelves. And so, I don’t – and then the names are always dressed up a little bit for politic reasons, but the reality is kind of the same in all those efforts. Every good buyer, every good supply chain manager is looking for ways to get stability and get lower cost in their supply chain and that can be anywhere in the world. And that’s why that quest has always been there. It’s been there for at least the last 20 years. And I think that’s going to kind of continue.

Keith Andrey (40:20):

I do think it’s a good warning that, you know, policies are going to start getting harder with nations that don’t exactly follow the same path that we want to follow. And as a result of that, once you had it start with the prior administration, it’s being continued with this administration, that means it becomes a policy that transcends politics around party affiliation. And that’s a warning that we have to, as supply chain managers, we have to be able to adjust to new sourcing patterns and new changes within the supply chain that are coming. And I actually think it was a good morning. I’m with you, near-sourcing, you know, whatever you want to call it, friend-sourcing. But it’s a shift to say to us in supply chain, hey, for the long term, you better start planning for change from where you’ve historically sourced from. And that’s kind of how we’re taking it.

Scott Luton (41:16):

You know, Keith, and, Greg, coming to you next, we’ll get your thoughts here. But, you know, we’ve seen in recent years more and more – you know, countries probably since the beginning of time have leveraged, I won’t say weaponized, raw goods and global supply chains. But, man, we sure are seeing a lot more of that in recent years, some with national security implications for sure. But, Greg, your thoughts on this notion of friend-shoring and what Keith has shared there.

Greg White (41:44):

Keith might want to turn his camera off so he doesn’t make a reaction. It’s going to get him trouble with the bosses. Are you kidding me? Of course, of course, people started with friend-shoring. This is to echo what Keith said, it’s a signal of a policy change. Nobody went first to the Russians and Chinese and said, hey, you, despites, you want to make this stuff for us? Of course, we exhausted every the – we exhausted the capacity of every one of our allies before we went to the enemy, frankly. So I think, you know, it’s political grandstanding. You know, it’s popular speak. It’s a way to seem relevant, but no one chose China for any reason other than price and because capacity literally cannot be accumulated among dozens of other countries. And at the time that everyone went to China, India’s infrastructure was even less established than it is now. So we couldn’t really go to anyone who was remotely friendly.

Greg White (42:50):

So, I think what we have to understand here is this is a lot of politics. It is policy signaling, and it’s good that Keith and others hear that so that they can respond to that. But this isn’t news to anyone, and it’s cute and pollyannish and all of that, but it’s unattainable. I mean, if it were attainable, we’d already be doing it. Right? So, you know, we know the BRIC countries are not the ideal business partners, but what choice do we have at this point? So, I think it’s great to talk about. My concern is that the policy does more damage than good ‘cause policy often means things like tariffs and whatever else, but my concern is that it could really do more harm than good. And when it – anyway, we don’t know what direction policy is going to take, but we know that it’s going to be incomplete whenever produced by politicians and that there will be a slew of unintended consequences coming out of it. So watch your back, Keith, that’s what I’m going to say.

Scott Luton (43:59):

Well, great take. And as always, Greg does not – he tells it like it is. I appreciate that, Greg. And, Keith, I appreciate your perspective as well. We’re talking about this notion of friend-shoring that Secretary Yellen included in her speech. Gary says, “Friend-shoring is becoming more important, especially as U.S. – China relations develop.” And that’s putting it kindly, Gary. I appreciate –

Greg White (44:22):

Yeah. I think he meant to type devolve there, not develop.

Scott Luton (44:27):

Right. No kidding.

Greg White (44:28):

But, you know, I mean there are lots of ways we could. I would consider the U.S. a friend to the U.S., wouldn’t you, Scott?

Scott Luton (44:37):

Yeah. Absolutely.

Greg White (44:38):

And yet we’re overseas begging one of the most despotic, despicable and dangerous dictatorships on the planet for oil. And at the same time, by the way, we’re – I love the irony of this – at the same time, we’re decrying the move of a few golfers from the PGA to this Saudi Arabian tour as well. Right?

Scott Luton (45:06):

We’ll have to cover.

Greg White (45:07):

I dig the irony of politics, man.

Scott Luton (45:09):

Right. Golf. Gosh, interesting. We’ll have to save that for another show. But, Keith, I want to circle back moving on to a couple resources that we’ve got and, by the way, Nasrin, I meant to say, hello, greetings. Great to have you back. I think you joined us for a livestream not too long ago, from Iran, via LinkedIn. Great to have you here today. I look forward to your perspective. A couple of resources that I want to make sure that we got from the UPS team, we’re going to put out there. And, Keith, we’ll have a couple of final questions and observations for you. But first off, I want to share this UPS Supply Chain Insights that we’ve got. I want to invite our listeners to check out this resource center, events, offers, perspectives, you know, actionable perspectives. Check this out. You can subscribe. You can check it out. You can also opt into the emails which offers a lot of these delivered on time and in full to your email inbox every morning. So, Keith, you and your team work overdrive beyond the – you like that, Greg?

Greg White (46:24):

I love on time [inaudible].

Scott Luton (46:25):

Beyond the – good old OTIF. Beyond the course –

Greg White (46:28):

The real online people.

Scott Luton (46:28):

Yes. Not this late Johnny [inaudible] version. But, Keith, your team works overdrive beyond your core services that you offer and creating these other value added ways to, you know, better inform your customers and buyers and the whole nine yards. That’s really an important aspect of y’all’s approach to business. Huh?

Keith Andrey (46:53):

Yeah. I think, you know, over the last 20 years, we’ve kind of like built this really comprehensive portfolio products and we’re best when we bundle the two together. So, really good brokerage connectivity with transportation provides a really good service for the customers. There’s other ones too. Preferred LCL is another example. We take LCL into the country and then we do my domestic air freight operation, connects, picks it up at the port and then accelerates the final mile. So, you know, one of the comments was east coast to west coast. There’s a solution. You know, if you get it out of the hands of the rail and get it out of the hands of trucking and put it into the domestic air freight business market that we have, and then it moves as a priority three days from the port out to a point in the U.S. So we like to bundle those services together. You know, obviously it’s an advantage for us ‘cause we have this portfolio to do that. But we’re moving more and more into trying to look for opportunities to take the parts of the good of the whole, combine it together, and build something better for customers on a solution-by-solution basis. And I think that’s where we’re at, especially when it’s volatile and unpredictable. You have to come up with those kind of new opportunities solutions for customers.

Scott Luton (48:13):

Keith, I’m glad you shared that ‘cause, Greg, as sometimes I have a habit of doing, I jumped over a couple of questions I had for Keith and one of them was better understanding what UPS does when it comes to the freight forwarding space. And, Keith, you were just speaking to that a bit. And, you know, goodness, when we were sitting here talking with Keith, quite an SME and a guru here when it comes to getting stuff where it needs to be. But, Keith, what else would you add? You know, folks that may be new to that aspect of UPS. You know, not too many folks that are new to UPS. But that component of what you do, what else would you add to that, Keith?

Keith Andrey (48:52):

Yeah. I mean, we continually invest in industry segments. We just announced this morning we’re purchasing a company in Europe, Bomi. I think it is international and the Bomi Group and that is for our healthcare logistics build op that we’ve been doing over the last couple years within our products or within our company. That’s an additional access, 14 countries, 350 vehicles, 3000 employees, that we’re going to be adding in, really to support healthcare and specific healthcare supply chain logistics. So, you’re going to see more of that from us going forward. Well, you know, how do we build out really important industry segments as we really want to move what matters to our customers and, you know, that becomes areas like healthcare and some of the other businesses we do and support that. So, those are areas we’re going to be investing in going forward as a complement.

Scott Luton (49:53):

Keith, congrats, congrats on the deal this morning. You’re talking Greg’s language when it comes to that, for sure. And, Greg, we were part of a fascinating – speaking of healthcare – healthcare discussion with the UPS team as they were kind of in the thick of the noble mission of getting the –

Greg White (50:13):

Vaccine out.

Keith Andrey (50:15):

Vaccines.

Scott Luton (50:15):

Yeah. Thank you. Vaccine out globally. That was a really neat conversation. But, Greg, what else, based on what Keith shared there and kind of where the UPS team’s going, what they’re investing in or what they do when it comes to freight forwarding, your thoughts, Greg.

Greg White (50:32):

Yeah. Well, I mean, that is a great awakening because I honestly hadn’t really thought of transferring into an aircraft. I know that sounds dumb. I don’t do this every day, Keith. You might not have noticed that. But, I mean, it makes perfect sense if you need to get it from east to west and you need to do so rapidly instead of putting it on a truck, put it on an aircraft. I’m curious, Keith, how are you fixed for air ports near the Georgia Inland Port? Or do you guys use that port?

Keith Andrey (51:07):

Yeah. So, what we’ll do is, we bring it in LCL container. We’ll break it down, split out the standard LCL from the preferred LCL. The preferred LCL will get recovered, brought into the closest hub we have. And then, from there it’ll be entered into our air freight network. Some of it rides in the air, some of it’ll ride in the dedicated truck system we have for our deferred product. And that’s kind of how the product moves within our network itself. So, you know, our air freight or our deferred network, which is like a three-day network, rides on the road. So the majority of it’ll end up there. Every once in a while, we’ll actually put it on a plane itself.

Greg White (51:51):

Very cool.

Scott Luton (51:51):

Interesting. We got to get a tour of some of these facilities, especially related to air cargo, Keith. We have to make that happen at a later date. But –

Greg White (52:01):

I got a tour of the parcel, of a couple of parcel facilities when some buddies of mine in college we’re working there and making a bundle by the way. I mean, you know, tough hours, Keith. I’m sure you’ve seen it if not done it. It’s hard work, but, man, and this was frankly in the ‘80s and the efficiency for the timeframe was incredible. So, it’s amazing what these facilities can do these days.

Keith Andrey (52:32):

Yeah. I think hub Worldport is a fantastic opportunity to see it. You know, the planes start lining up at, you know, 10, 11 o’clock at night and they all land and take off by three. It’s a crazy period of five hours we’re seeing if you get an opportunity to see how freight moves [inaudible].

Greg White (52:50):

It’s got to be a YouTube channel for it, don’t you think?

Keith Andrey (52:53):

There’s probably something you could search and find in there.

Greg White (52:56):

Don’t you think? I mean, there’s got to be. There’s one for everything. Yeah.

Scott Luton (52:59):

Yeah. Supply chain symphony undoubtedly, supply chain symphony. Folks, we did drop the links to the resources that me and Keith touched on earlier, UPS Supply Chain News and Insights. So y’all check that out. And we also dropped, for the email subscription, if you want to sign up to that. So it’s delivered to your inbox. All right. So, Keith, as we start to wrap up your time here today, really have enjoyed it. We kind of had a wide, a broad conversation from, you know, air cargo, of course, to international policy making and trade, and even a dose, a little touch of the economic conditions. But if folks want to get involved in the squash supply chain since that’s also an area that you’re getting into, kidding aside, if folks want to, you know, compare notes with you, connect with you, connect with your team, how would you suggest that happens?

Keith Andrey (53:55):

Yeah. I think the best thing to do is probably hit my LinkedIn. It’s the best way to do it if they want to connect and then there’s a group that’s on there that shares regularly, obviously looking for content [inaudible] a lot of sales, but, you know, [inaudible] through that when it happens. But that’s one way to reach out, connect and then start there.

Scott Luton (54:18):

So that you said it very nicely, Keith. You said it really nicely. Greg, give us a straight, if you’re trying to sell something, don’t send one of those LinkedIn emails. Is that right, Greg?

Greg White (54:30):

Right in the garbage.

Scott Luton (54:32):

Right in the garbage. That’s right. But Keith, I’m sure, and his team clearly are well connected, making it happen every day, do welcome industry conversations I imagine. Okay. Keith, had a pleasure chatting with you today. Me and Greg had a blast. One final question and then we’re going to bid you ado. What’s the next, as you break your bike out, ‘cause it’s, you know, it’ll be nice, crisp, you know, I’m wishful thinking, but it’s going to be nice, crisp early fall weather soon, very wishful thinking. What’s one of the next trips you’ve got for the bike, thinking about?

Keith Andrey (55:09):

Well, unfortunately the bike can go for eight hours but me on the bike can only go for about two hours. So, if you plow up the distance from my house to the closest drinking establishment with two hours out, that’s about as far as that radius goes, you know, around that.

Scott Luton (55:24):

Hey, keeping at home in a backyard. I love that.

Greg White (55:28):

Really good barbecue in a two hour, right, or whatever. Yeah.

Scott Luton (55:33):

Barbecue at the farmer’s market and a quick adult beverage and call it a day, Keith. Well, Keith, always a pleasure. We look forward to having you back and enjoyed talking with a lot of members of the UPS team just about on monthly basis here at Supply Chain Now. But big thanks to Keith Andrey, President of UPS, U.S. Operations and Freight Forwarding. Keith, we’ll see you again soon.

Greg White (55:55):

Yeah. Thanks, Keith.

Keith Andrey (55:57):

Thanks guys. Thanks, Greg, Scott.

Scott Luton (55:58):

You bet. All right, Greg, man, it was certainly a wide range in conversation with Keith. I think he could weigh in and inform us on a wide variety of topics. Huh?

Greg White (56:13):

Well, he’s doing the doing, not just for UPS, but think about how many companies UPS interacts with. So, yeah, of course, he sees what’s operating every day and clearly is keeping it, I mean, as president, he’s keeping abreast of what’s going on in the macro environment, in the political environment, in the international environment that can impact that. I think that’s really important. Look, I think we, as supply chain practitioners globally, have become aware of all these influences because of one predominant influence and the subsequent shock and aftershocks that have been placed on the supply chain and now we have this incredible visibility. We cannot hide anymore. Right?

Scott Luton (56:56):

That’s right.

Greg White (56:57):

I think we may have gotten a little more visibility than we were ready for, really, really fast. But, look, people in supply chain are resilient and Keith shows that. He’s got a broad range perspective, but he’s getting the getting done every single day as well.

Scott Luton (57:14):

Well said, Greg. Steven, yes, the replay will be available across social in just an hour or two. And then, we’ll drop the podcast, the audio replay on our global podcast, RSS feed. So, Steven, you will be able to engage in the full conversation there for sure.

Greg White (57:30):

And you can ask the questions. If you do it in LinkedIn, you can ask the questions in the commentary for the video, right?

Scott Luton (57:38):

Well said.

Greg White (57:39):

We’re on YouTube. Yeah.

Scott Luton (57:41):

And, Steven, since you’re asking, you may have missed the resources so check out the links in the chat. We’re mainly focused on – let’s see, I want to get this name right. It’s UPS Supply Chain Insights. So it’s a broad range of different resources to help keep customers and prospective customers alike informed and in the note. Okay. So, Greg, always a pleasure. Keith hit a home run like we knew he would here today. I have enjoyed his perspective and him weighing in on things. Enjoy having these conversations with you. We should say big thanks to the production team, Amanda, Clay, Chantel, Katherine, you name it. They all help us make today’s show, shows like today, happen. Big thanks to everyone that showed up in the comments. Big thanks to our guest, Keith and the whole UPS team. Greg, but if our listeners take anything away, hey, it’s time to act. Deeds not words. Acting on the information. You heard Keith drop here and all the folks on the comments. On behalf of our entire team, Scott Luton signing off for now, challenging you, all of our listeners, to do good, to give forward, and to be the change. And with that said, we’ll see next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody.

Intro/Outro (58:51):

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Featured Guests

Keith Andrey has 30 years of experience in the international transportation, customs brokerage and distribution industry starting with Fritz Companies in 1990. Keith has held various operations management positions in the US. Special projects and strategy positions at our UPS Corporate location. He has responsibility for the US Freight Forwarding and CSI operations including support for US customers that enjoy our IAF, Ocean, Domestic Air Freight and Ground products. Keith was born in Chicago, but current resides in Atlanta, GA. Married and has four adult children. He is fascinated by fast motorcycles, hockey, soccer, historical non-fiction books and experiential learning. Keith holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from University of Georgia in Athens. Executive leadership certificates from Emory and Georgia State University. Connect with Keith on LinkedIn.

Hosts

Scott W. Luton

Founder, CEO, & Host

Greg White

Principal & Host

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Demo Perez

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.

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Mary Kate Love

VP, Marketing

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.

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Joshua Miranda

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.

Donna Krache

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.

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Vicki White

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.

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Ben Harris

Host

Ben Harris is the Director of Supply Chain Ecosystem Expansion for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Ben comes to the Metro Atlanta Chamber after serving as Senior Manager, Market Development for Manhattan Associates. There, Ben was responsible for developing Manhattan’s sales pipeline and overall Americas supply chain marketing strategy. Ben oversaw market positioning, messaging and campaign execution to build awareness and drive new pipeline growth. Prior to joining Manhattan, Ben spent four years with the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Center of Innovation for Logistics where he played a key role in establishing the Center as a go-to industry resource for information, support, partnership building, and investment development. Additionally, he became a key SME for all logistics and supply chain-focused projects. Ben began his career at Page International, Inc. where he drove continuous improvement in complex global supply chain operations for a wide variety of businesses and Fortune 500 companies. An APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), Ben holds an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration (EMBA) and bachelor’s degree in International Business (BBA) from the Terry College at the University of Georgia.

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Page Siplon

Host, The Freight Insider

Prior to joining TeamOne Logistics, Page Siplon served as the Executive Director of the Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics, the State’s leading consulting resource for fueling logistics industry growth and global competitiveness. For over a decade, he directly assisted hundreds of companies to overcome challenges and capitalize on opportunities related to the movement of freight. During this time, Siplon was also appointed to concurrently serve the State of Georgia as Director of the larger Centers of Innovation Program, in which he provided executive leadership and vision for all six strategic industry-focused Centers. As a frequently requested keynote speaker, Siplon is called upon to address a range of audiences on unique aspects of technology, workforce, and logistics. This often includes topics of global and domestic logistics trends, supply chain visibility, collaboration, and strategic planning. He has also been quoted as an industry expert in publications such as Forbes, Journal of Commerce, Fortune, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, American Express, DC Velocity, Area Development Magazine, Site Selection Magazine, Inbound Logistics, Modern Material Handling, and is frequently a live special guest on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Radio Show. Siplon is an active industry participant, recognized by DC Velocity Magazine as a “2012 Logistics Rainmaker” which annually identifies the top-ten logistics professionals in the Nation; and named a “Pro to Know” by Supply & Demand Executive Magazine in 2014. Siplon was also selected by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Georgians” for 2013, 2014, and 2015. He also serves various industry leadership roles at both the State and Federal level. Governor Nathan Deal nominated Siplon to represent Georgia on a National Supply Chain Competitiveness Advisory Committee, where he was appointed to a two-year term by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and was then appointed to serve as its vice-chairman. At the State level, he was selected by then-Governor Sonny Perdue to serve as lead consultant on the Commission for New Georgia’s Freight and Logistics Task Force. In this effort, Siplon led a Private Sector Advisory Committee with invited executives from a range of private sector stakeholders including UPS, Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, Delta Airlines, Georgia Pacific, CSX, and Norfolk Southern. Siplon honorably served a combined 12 years in the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force. During this time, he led the integration of encryption techniques and deployed cryptographic devices for tactically secure voice and data platforms in critical ground-to-air communication systems. This service included support for all branches of the Department of Defense, multiple federal security agencies, and aiding NASA with multiple Space Shuttle launches. Originally from New York, Siplon received both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering with a focus on digital signal processing from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned an associate’s degree in advanced electronic systems from the Air Force College and completed multiple military leadership academies in both the Marines and Air Force. Siplon currently lives in Cumming, Georgia (north of Atlanta), with his wife Jan, and two children Thomas (19) and Lily (15).

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Kristi Porter

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.

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Sofia Rivas Herrera

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.

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Katherine Hintz

Sales and Marketing Coordinator

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.

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Kim Winter

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).

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Adrian Purtill

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.

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Kevin Brown

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.

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Jose Miguel Irarrazaval

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.

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Nick Roemer

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.

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Allison Giddens

Host, Logistics with Purpose

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.

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Billy Taylor

Host of Dial P for Procurement

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.

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Lori Sofian

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.

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Chantel King

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.

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Trisha Cordes

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.

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Clay Phillips

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.

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Amanda Luton

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.

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Constantine Limberakis

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.

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Mary Kate Soliva

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.

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Kelly Barner

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’.

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Enrique Alvarez

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.

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Kevin L. Jackson

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 CiscoMicrosoft, 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 UniversityO’Reilly MediaLinkedIn Learning, and Pluralsight.  Mr. Jackson retired from the U.S. Navy in 1994, earning specialties in Space Systems EngineeringCarrier 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.

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Tyler Ward

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!

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Chris Barnes

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.

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Greg White

Principal & CMO, Supply Chain Now
Host of Supply Chain Now and TECHquila Sunrise

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.

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Scott W. Luton

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.

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