Intro/Outro (00:02):
Welcome to Supply Chain. Now the number one voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights, and real supply chain leadership from across the globe. One conversation at a time.
Scott Luton (00:15):
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luten and Allison Creche. Kidden right here with you on supply chain. Now welcome to today’s live stream, Alison. How you doing?
Allison Giddens (00:24):
I’m good. How are you?
Scott Luton (00:25):
I’m doing wonderful. How was your weekend? Did you actually, we all avoided the heat a little bit, right?
Allison Giddens (00:30):
We did, but you didn’t avoid a birthday. Oh,
Scott Luton (00:33):
Alison,
Allison Giddens (00:34):
You called you out.
Scott Luton (00:35):
Yes. Number 25, congratulations. Or maybe 26. We celebrated over the weekend and you know what we do, Alison, maybe the world’s most boring individual, had breakfast with my son, did a little bit of work, and then a trip to Costco and that was my birthday, Alison. How about
Allison Giddens (00:48):
That? That’s fun, but sometimes that’s what you need. That is, that’s fun.
Scott Luton (00:52):
So as Amanda says, behind the scenes the most boring birthday ever. But hey folks, this show is not boring at all. We’ve got a big show. It’s the buzz where every Monday, 12 noon eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and business news that matters is what we like to call it. We’ve got a terrific show here today beyond Alison joining us. We’ve got a big rock and roll guest star. We’re going to be talking manufacturing leadership, a manufacturing leadership pulse check at that matter. And we’re going to be taking a look at the grocery industry and some of the powerful warehouse automation and innovation that’s powering that sector and many others. We’re going to talk chocolate in my beloved Snickers bar as there are some really interesting things going on in that industry, aiming to tackle a few of its challenges, all of that and much, much more. And Alison, in about 10 minutes or so, as I mentioned, we’re going to be welcoming in a special guest today on the Buzz, Kate Peterson EP of marketing with Locus Robotics. Can’t wait to hear Kate’s take on all things warehouse automation. Alison should be a great addition of the buzz, huh?
Allison Giddens (01:51):
Definitely. Yep. A good Monday.
Scott Luton (01:53):
A good Monday. That’s about all we can ask for, right? A good Monday.
Allison Giddens (01:56):
That’s all you need. Yes,
Scott Luton (01:58):
Susan tuned in from Orlando via LinkedIn. Hey, let us know your take on some of these topics we’re talking about here today. And as Tricia likes to ask, just like Susan delivered on time in fo, Hey, welcome to the buzz. Let us know where you’re tuned in from. We love connecting the dots. Okay, Allison, let’s see here. We’ve got a few things to get into before we bring on our guests. I want to start with that said, which we released over the weekends, our almost weekly newsletter. Now in this edition we led with Lloyd Knight’s take on leadership. That’s Lloyd right there in a version of the Oval Office along with some of his classmates. If you don’t know folks, Lloyd is a United States Air Force veteran and has been a problem solver, logistics guru and business leader at UPS for years. He also hosts our incredible podcast called Tango, tango, which is focused on veterans that are out there truly changing the world.
(02:47):
Now recently, this is the where it all ties together. Alison, stay with me here. Recently, Lloyd was given the honor of being selected as a presidential scholar in the Bush Institute’s Veterans Leadership Program and in this edition, with that said, he shared a few reflections of that experience and in particular, this is my favorite part, he was talking about presence, right? The critical factor of presence as it relates to leadership. And he said quote, presence is not about commanding a room with volume or charisma, it’s about connection. I learned during this module that presence shows up in small ways looking someone in the eye, telling a story that resonates or simply listening with genuine intent to tell you it’s good stuff. Lloyd, Alison, really quick, I’m going to check in on that. How does that, I’m going to share a couple of things here in a second, but how does that perspective on presence resonate with you?
Allison Giddens (03:35):
When I read that, the first thing I thought of was somebody I really look up to in my industry. Han Cooper, she was the general manager at Lockheed Martin Marietta for many years and she ran the Marietta Plant, the Meridian Mississippi plant and the Baltimore Maryland plant. And when she came on board, she was in charge of essentially the manufacturing shop floor and her background was in hr and when she came on, she of course a lot of people thought, okay, well she’s got HR background, what the heck does she know in manufacturing, right? But the very first thing she did was talk to those that knew the manufacturing side and learned and between that willingness to know and understand what it was that she was trying to lead, that combined with her presence, she’s the kind of person when she’s in a room talking, you feel like she’s only talking to you. So
Scott Luton (04:25):
Right
Allison Giddens (04:26):
Man, even to this day when I have the opportunity to hear her speak, I’m like, sign me up. And you’re like, but Alison, it’s seven states away. You’re like, oh, it’s okay. Sign me up.
Scott Luton (04:36):
She’s legendary. Awesome. I’m so glad you mentioned Han Cooper. I had thanks to you. I think I had a great opportunity to collaborate with Shan years ago, and you are right, she is just a dynamo and she’s brilliant and I bet she’s a quick study. I bet she figured out manufacturing very, very quickly.
Allison Giddens (04:53):
Oh yeah, no doubt.
Scott Luton (04:54):
Alright, good stuff there. Lemme just give a shout out away. It’s great to have you back from Pakistan via LinkedIn. Okay, so back to with that said, really quick, just a few other quick highlights in this edition, folks, which you’ll find a link right there in the chat. We’ve got info on ames, association for Manufacturing Excellence International Conference in St. Louis. We got SC Tech 2025 powered by our friend Jorge Morales and the I-S-C-E-A and then check this out. We have gotten outstanding live show coming up on September 3rd with, I’ll tell you a bunch of rock and roll supply chain leaders, Stephanie Bial with Hasbro, Whitney Schlesinger with McCormick, Sylvia Wilkes with Lamb Weston, Liza Anova with Mars Pet Nutrition, and Tim Finky, the chief supply chain officer with Kimberly Clark, all led by the one only Korean versa. You’re not going to want to miss this live event on September 3rd. You’ll find information on that right there in. With that said, Trisha is sharing that in the chat and we’d love for you to check it out. Alright, so I mentioned a lot more stuff there, lots of events, lots of connection and networking opportunities. Alice, I know as active as you are in industry, connecting continuing dialogue is important. That’s how we get to action. Your quick thoughts, Alison, on what else you found and with that said,
Allison Giddens (06:03):
I was just amazed at, I kept scrolling and kept finding there was more and more and more and I thought, how in the world can anyone keep up with everything? There’s only so much you can pack into a day, but I feel like supply chain is really one of those things that if you don’t like a piece, if you don’t like logistics, okay, fine, then try manufacturing. If you don’t like manufacturing, then you can try this piece over here. Technology, I mean there’s so many different things. Yeah, I appreciate the width that said, because to me it’s like an RSS feed. I like it. It’s like a good summary of things that either I might’ve missed over the last week or things to look forward to over the next. So
Scott Luton (06:40):
We all appreciate that kind of feedback. And you’re right, it’s so easy to miss stuff. Even the really important stuff in this tidal wave of nonstop events and content and learning opportunities. So we try to put a few choice ones in front of our audience every week. So folks check out. With that said, you’ll find a link right there and we invite your feedback constructive or otherwise, actually keep it all constructive.
Allison Giddens (07:01):
Yeah, yeah, right.
Scott Luton (07:04):
Alright, one more thing, one more thing. Actually, we got two more things before we bring on a great guest. I want to share, speaking of choice resources, we love sharing quality resources with our global sc and fam, and here’s a great one from our friends. You can download this latest guide from EasyPost and learn why peak 2025 is not business as usual and how smart brands and savvy leaders are responding. We’re going to drop a link right there. Actually, we already have. They beat me to it. Check out that link right there to download that free resource and let us know what you’re thinking. Alison, one more nugget. We’re going to get to a manufacturing leadership pulse check in just a second. But big news, we’re delighted to announce that Easy post is going to be sponsoring the buzz throughout the month of September. Lori, Kevin and the team are on the move all powering lots and lots of innovation across industry and we welcome their efforts to power all the news that matters.
(07:49):
Folks, you can learn more about how EasyPost is making shipping a whole lot easier and more successful for companies of all sizes. Learn more@easypost.com. Okay, Alison, we’ve got a lot to get to here today and where I want to start next before we bring on an outstanding guest is a manufacturing leadership pulse check. Now, a second ago you said folks may like logistics and if not, they’ll move on. They might like manufacturing. If not, they’ll move on. If you don’t like manufacturing folks, you’re in the wrong place. Getting aside folks, it takes a village, but I love manufacturing and I appreciate what you do in the industry for years now, and when you think about this VUCA environment, Alison, that everyone’s getting through, but especially our manufacturers, what’s a priority or two that manufacturers are turning to find some calm amid all the chaos?
Allison Giddens (08:38):
Well, if you find any then let me know for sure. No, I think that there’s a lot of things that manufacturers are watching right now, particularly I’m in the small business arena, so might be different for the mediums and larges, but I have a feeling that even they are watching this because we as the smalls are part of their supply chain. So I think that they’re intimately familiar with a lot of the things that we are as well. Things like even if the tariffs are not necessarily, or the talk of tariffs, even if they don’t necessarily directly impact a manufacturer, that just the discussion, the mere discussion of them, we are noticing as manufacturing, we’re noticing that that’s impacting bills and invoices. We are getting notifications from some of our defense partners, our very large defense partners saying, by the way, if you get tariff fees flowed into your invoices, we’re not paying for them.
(09:28):
So just the heads up. So these are all things pieces of a wider dollar puzzle for months. Now I think many of us have noticed that some of our customers are starting to have some cashflow problems. So I think that there are, while manufacturing is a very, very busy place right now, which is a really good thing, whether you’re automotive, whether aerospace, whether you’re commercial construction, I think there’s a lot going on. I think there’s worse places to be in right now, but there’s also lots of things to watch out for and I think there are lots of things to prepare yourself for as well.
Scott Luton (10:01):
Well said back on the tariff discussions, we see analyst call after analyst call where companies are more and more in their leadership, whether it’s a manufacturing elsewhere, are trying to figure out how much they’re going to absorb of additional costs and how much they’re going to pass along to consumers. And we’re all hoping that we can get some more, to your point Alison, some more calm amidst all the trade chaos because all that uncertainty and all the different levels, it is fueling bigger costs for everybody, especially I think for many of our manufacturers. Now, Susan says Susan, the pride of Orlando Florida says not manufacturing, but love to learn and find it fascinating. Food and beverage is my focus in the hospitality industry. Susan Love that and I love the diversity of voices we have across the supply chain ecosystem. I call it thank you. And folks, I was only kidding if manufacturers are not your thing. I’m a big manufacturing nerd, Alice, I’m not call Allison a nerd, but she may be too.
Allison Giddens (10:56):
It’s fine. Yes,
Scott Luton (10:57):
I love the manufacturing industry, but it takes a wide and diverse collection of voices across our ecosystem that enables consumers to enjoy all the conveniences that we do. So Alison, I really appreciate that manufacturing leadership pulse check. Look forward to your continued perspective and industry leadership as you continue to shape the manufacturing industry forward. So let’s do this. We’ve got an outstanding guest here today. Join us folks. Kate Peterson brings more than a decade of leadership experience in the supply chain technology space at Locus Robotics. She shapes global product marketing strategies, leads market intelligence and drives go-to-market initiatives. Plus in her free time, which I bet she doesn’t have a ton of, we’ll see Kate hosts a great podcast called the Feminist Exec. So please join me in welcoming Kate Peterson, vice president of marketing with Locus Robotics. Hey. Hey Kate, how you doing?
Kait Peterson (11:49):
Good, how are you? Thanks for having me.
Scott Luton (11:52):
You bet. Great to you here Alison. I’m very jealous even though our temps have gotten a little bit cooler here, I’m jealous of the temps up in Minnesota right now. Kate, what’s the weather like?
Kait Peterson (12:00):
It’s like 62 and sunny. It’s so gorgeous outside. It’s amazing. My husband and I were just talking about taking a walk earlier and it’s just perfect.
Scott Luton (12:08):
Oh, I love it. Alright, Alison, the buzz next time up in Minneapolis, I’ll take the supply chain automobile up there.
Allison Giddens (12:14):
There we go.
Scott Luton (12:15):
So one more quick follow up. So here in Georgia, as I mentioned, the temps are getting cooler football’s just around the corner. In fact, we played games that counted this past weekend. Congrats to all of our Iowa State fans out there. Big win there in, I think it was Ireland they played. Kate, I’d love to find out from you, what is one thing that you’re looking forward to fall bringing to your part of the world?
Kait Peterson (12:36):
Well, I’m in Minnesota, so it’s hockey. So we’re the state of hockey and we are super excited. We just signed a really big player on our Minnesota wild team, so I’m really looking forward to going down to what used to be the Xcel Energy stadium and watching our boys play and we’ve got the world juniors next year and it’s going to be an awesome hockey season. So I’m really excited about it.
Scott Luton (12:57):
Outstanding, Alison. It makes me want our hockey team back. They stole it twice I thought not was taken from our Atlanta.
Allison Giddens (13:04):
I’m convinced that it’s coming back. I’ll do another expansion.
Scott Luton (13:10):
We’re going to hold you to that. In the meantime, the Gladiators, which is our minor league team, we’re going to have to satisfy our local hockey appetite, but Alison, you’re a fellow football fan, fellow baseball fan, but we’re not going to go there today. But what’s one thing, what’s one thing that fall weather is bringing the Giddens household that you’re looking forward to?
Allison Giddens (13:29):
I kind of like the festivals. I just like the idea of different craft booths and things like that. I don’t really know that I ever end up buying anything, but it’s always just so much fun to just walk through and know that things are, seasons are changing and I am a hot weather person. I love hot weather. I’m weird, but I do like the changing of seasons. So
Scott Luton (13:50):
Yes, I like having seasons, right? I like having
Allison Giddens (13:53):
Seasons
Scott Luton (13:54):
And I’m not complaining right now because usually late August is the heat has not, but we’re going to have a couple days this week, Kate. Now I’m not a completely weather nerd out on you, but we’re not going to hit 80 a couple of times this week. So I am excited for sure. Alright, so this LinkedIn user I think is a big Quebec fan. Lemme know who this is. Amanda, behind the scenes. Big thanks to you and Tricia, is there a friendly rivalry between Minnesota and Quebec?
Kait Peterson (14:16):
I mean Minnesota likes to think of itself as part of Canada. I mean Quebec is French speaking, so Quebec is always against, you have the Montreal Canadians, but there’s always a little bit of rivalry in hockey, right? That’s right.
Scott Luton (14:30):
And there’s always room on the bandwagon for anyone’s team. So I might have to be an honorary Minnesota wild fan and I think that’s Carrie. Carrie, big shout out to Carrie and I got to check out your Quebec. What is their Quebec? Is it the It’s not the maple leaf that’s Toronto.
Kait Peterson (14:46):
It’s the Montreal Canadians.
Scott Luton (14:48):
That’s what it’s thinking of. Okay,
Kait Peterson (14:50):
Quebec. Nordics moved into Denver and they’re now the avalanche. If you know any hockey lore,
Scott Luton (14:56):
Man, Kate, you are a super fan. We’re going to have to have a supply chain nerd talks hockey episode, but I digress. All
Kait Peterson (15:01):
My husband’s fault, he brainwashed me, but he’s also an Iowa State fan, so he was super excited this weekend.
Scott Luton (15:07):
That was a big win. It was a big win. Well, as much as I’d love to talk more about hockey and learn a lot more about what I’m lacking in my hockey expertise, I want to move along to talk news and lots of supply chain news. I want to start with this story. Something we can all relate to grocery shopping. You may be a fan, you may not be a fan. I bet most of us are not fans of having to put it all up as we bring it home. But as reported here by the Verge, more and more all that bread, milk and Oreos where they’re getting packed by robots and some of the most innovative warehouses and fulfillment centers out in the market. Now this story focuses on online grocery company rather Cato, who runs a customer fulfillment center in the city. Get this of Luten.
(15:44):
That’s right. Luten England just outside of London. Cato handles some of the online orders for Kroger here in the us, Sobeys in Canada, I think I said that right? Morrisons in the UK and many, many other grocery companies around the world. Now what isn’t new? I’ll separate what’s new probably like, and that was like so 10 years ago, but so some of this isn’t new. Robots moved around tons of stuff around the fulfillment center, moving crates or bags to be packed with groceries by humans. What is newer, and this is right, the main thrust of this article here, a lot more of those crates and bags are being packed by robotic arms with small suction cups at the end. Now at this facility, Cato has 500 bots moving crates and bags around. We said they, it’s been taking place for a long time, bringing all those groceries though to 65 robotic arms for packing. Now a Cato says that these robotic arms are packing about 40% of all the grocery orders that accompanies fulfilling right now humans, presumably they didn’t say this, but are presumably making up the other 60%. If my South Carolina math works out, however, Ocado says they expect to take that 40% up to about 80% the next two to three years. Fascinating stuff. Kate, this is part of your world. Your thoughts on what we’re seeing there in the grocery fulfillment business?
Kait Peterson (16:56):
Yeah, it’s really, really fascinating for a couple of reasons. One is, as you mentioned, Scott, we’ve been doing a SRS cube storage for a long time now. Auto store, Ocado, several others have been doing it. What’s newer is this cold storage and being able to function in the fridge and the freezer environment. So we’re seeing that on the locus side as well. We’re working with some e grocery providers, is batteries, condensation sensors. There’s all this technology that has a challenge when you’re operating in a cooler facility. So it’s really cool to see Ocado doing this with that. And from a robotic arm perspective, it’s been huge holy grail of the industry to be able to put with an automated arm. And if you think about the human hand, there’s so many complexities within the human hand to be able to pick up an egg versus an apple versus a banana or a loaf of bread is very different. And arms having to learn to distinguish the differences is one of the biggest challenges we have in the industry. So really cool to see Ocado being able to pick up the 40% and Locus. We’re on the journey of the automated picking as well, which we can talk about a little bit more later. But it’s really cool to start seeing that technology evolve to work in the multi environments and pick up the different items that go into anybody’s grocery order.
Scott Luton (18:12):
Man, it’s fascinating. We’re going to have to take up a market visit, Alison, to see closer look at Kate’s world and all innovation that they’re driving. Lemme ask you this, Alison, did you envision, as you’re reading that article from our friends at Verge, can you just see all that stuff? It’s nothing less than amazing, huh?
Allison Giddens (18:29):
Yeah, when I was reading it, I was picturing that whole how do you pick up an egg versus an apple? There is a big difference. And how do you know when the egg is broken versus I think the article said, how do you know when an orange is bruised versus, I mean those are just things that I don’t think we’re that far off from figuring it
Scott Luton (18:45):
Out, no doubt. So humans still have a leg up in many ways. We got to wait a few more weeks before AI completely takes over the world, I guess. But two quick things, Kate, you mentioned oranges and they spoke specifically about just how unique onto your point, Alison, certain products are, right? I mean we take for granted just the opposable thumb, which is so unique, but as they reported, the verge did, the machines figured out how to grab the bag of oranges by using the label, and then once one machine figured that out, it kind of ripples out across the whole fleet. And then they all know like that how to overcome that challenge next time to encounter it. That is amazing. Kate, your final comment here.
Kait Peterson (19:24):
I mean that’s the beauty of ai and as you’re building models that are continuously learning, that’s why I think Ocado is saying that they can pick more and more, and that’s why we’re on a mission at Locus to pick more and more items with our automated arms as well. So it’s that continuous learning model. AI is such a complex topic, but like you said, kind of joining that hive mind, taking those individual learnings and being able to approach problems uniquely is really powerful. That’s where we’ll start to see that curve of innovation continue.
Scott Luton (19:54):
Love it. And the whole industry benefits, right?
Kait Peterson (19:56):
Whole industry.
Scott Luton (19:57):
Whole industry does. It really does. Alright, so Allison and Kate, I want to move right along to this next story, shifting over into the beauty and cosmetics industry. They’re doing some pretty cool things here too, as reported by CIO dive. Several titans in this space are pushing forward with some really cool AI initiatives, namely Estee Lauder, is it Cody? And of course, Ulta Beauty. And we’ve been fortunate to have the fearless supply chain leaders from Estee Lauder join us a few times here on supply chain now. But back to this article, some of the key themes amongst what they are looking to do with these AI initiatives, of course cut costs, who isn’t enhancing communications to customers in various parts of the world where there should be some great nuances in the messaging, right? And of course optimizing forecasts. That’s still a bit of a tricky thing, but don’t sleep on sustainability objectives folks.
(20:45):
L’Oreal, for example, is working with IBM on an AI driven model aimed at making product formulas more earth friendly. How about that? Over at Ulta. Here’s another example. Company leadership rolled out a plan called the Ulta Beauty Unleashed. I love that. UBU one key plank of the plan was leveraging AI and machine learning capabilities to drive supply chain gains. And in recent years, Ulta leadership has found that there was a ton of opportunity to improve its data governance. And by doing so, it helped provide the critical data hygiene that fuels all sorts of optimized innovation and continuous improvement. Kate, it’s really important when we talk about data and the importance of data to drive ai, machine learning other initiatives. However, two things here. Number one, folks, if you don’t have great data, address it, you can still make gains today. And number two, Kate, and more broadly speaking, it really is amazing an industry that is really filled with all sorts of little customer differences and preferences and nuances to see some of the improvements they’re driving at scale. Your thoughts there, Kate?
Kait Peterson (21:48):
Yeah, so Ulta is really fascinating. They’re one of our Locus customers and I was actually in their facility several weeks ago in Brook in Chicago. And data, as you said, is really, really important. If you’re driving innovation, you’re driving efficiency, you’re driving traceability and driving ai, the quality of the data, as you said, going into the AI really impacts the results coming out of it. So in order to make intelligent decisions about what to do with the information that’s coming out, you have to have really good data going in. And so one of the things that Ulta is really doing is using robotics and using automation to be able to track specifically what’s going on in the warehouse, what’s the time between picks, what’s the accuracy rate of the items that are being picked, how often are people doing the free gifts with the purchase?
Scott Luton (22:38):
So
Kait Peterson (22:39):
Using all of those decisions and data to better plan where material is placed in their warehouse, how many workers they need, how many pack stations they need, what their shifts should look like. So there’s so many questions that go into optimizing and operation, leveraging data and AI that only start when the customer makes a purchase online.
Scott Luton (23:01):
So Kate, you got an up close look, up close and personal. Look at the Unleashed initiative, huh?
Kait Peterson (23:06):
I did. It’s so crazy to see all these robots running around in these facilities and the workers are so excited because they don’t have to do walking the pushing, they just go up to the robots. They know exactly what to put in the order. And for cosmetics in particular, getting the shade of lipstick is so important to the customer because you don’t want to have a return because that costs money to process that return and lost inventory. So accuracy and being able to do things quickly, but the first time is such a key thing. And seeing that happen both in the high value areas like perfume and some of those things that require serial numbers is really cool. Not to mention some of those drops that they have with special products and those just flying off the shelves
Scott Luton (23:53):
Leading to microbursts in demand. How about that Alison? Man, there’s a lot here to unpack your thoughts.
Allison Giddens (23:59):
I keep thinking about have you heard of Scent Box and Pure and things that there’s certain senses that you have that you would not think AI or you wouldn’t think that would be really conducive to finding online. You can’t really pick or you wouldn’t think you’d be able to pick your favorite scent online. How can you smell it? Almost the same thing with lipstick and almost the same thing with colors because colors on a computer screen are much different than they are in person.
Intro/Outro (24:31):
And
Allison Giddens (24:31):
So there’s all these different things that you wouldn’t necessarily think that you could do through technology that I think that we’re finding new ways to harness. And I’m fascinated watching every new iteration because I was kind of one of the first people to clamor on to one of the set boxes and one of the purists. And I’m watching kind of as these newer, oh, this new improved version comes out and I’m watching as it’s like, oh, okay, they’ve gotten better with this and they’ve gotten better at that. I call it market research. My husband doesn’t really fall for that, but that to me is just fascinating to watch all those things.
Scott Luton (25:06):
Mass customization has been at play for years, but both of you all are speaking to the complexity that I poorly worded. But I’ve learned firsthand in trying to buy cosmetics for Amanda for different gifts. And it can be so difficult to really get the right shade or the right type of product or the right type of material and to see what they’re doing at scale and again, fulfilling and doing it successfully, really successful at mass customization. It really is amazing. Now, one of the thing, you mentioned Kate, but one of my favorite topics, you brought up returns
(25:38):
And I love to see, we’ve got such Alison and Kate, as y’all both know, we’ve got such a big returns issue and it is kind of as Tony Sheroda with the Reverse Logistics Association calls, it’s the dark side of supply chain. It’s largely invisible. We’re just now starting to see some really big innovative technology enter the space and it’s really powering some big gains, but we’ve got a lot more work to do to keep products from getting returned from unforced errors. To use a tennis analogy with us open going on to keep product from going to landfills. We’ve got a massive opportunity. Your quick comment there, Kate, and then I’m going to get yours as well, Alice.
Kait Peterson (26:11):
Yeah, it’s a really, really complex problem and I know that the e-commerce culture has created this. I’m going to buy a small medium and a large just to see what fits right. You have those unavoidable situations where someone physically just doesn’t know what fits right, especially as it varies per brand, but the biggest preventer of returns is actually on the outbound. So double checking. My husband ordered a pair of shoes a few weeks ago. He got them two different sizes, so immediate return, he ended up buying from a different retailer. So not only did they have to process the return, ended up with two different shoes, but he went and switched to a different retailer. So returns are really complicated and cost company a lot of money. So making sure that you have the order the first time and have it shipped quickly and to the right place is so critical on the outbound side. That in and of itself is a huge preventer of returns.
Scott Luton (27:04):
Hey man, you’ve been there and done that. And folks, we need more information exchange just like that. And you can go to rla.org. I’ll be with the group in Dallas in a couple of weeks and you can find those great exchanges of old and new things that companies are doing to win a lot more. And gosh, take down all the landfill bound product that really is a bad outcome when we don’t get it right, inbound or outbound. Alison, your quick comments about returns and we’re going to keep moving forward.
Allison Giddens (27:30):
I don’t remember what it was recently, but I purchased something was going to return. It wasn’t expensive. I emailed them to return it and they said, well, you just keep it and we’ll give you 80% off of it or whatever it was. And I remember thinking, that is weird. I don’t want it. I don’t need it. And so it was kind of like, well now I just have more junk in my house, but now the onus is on me to throw it away. So yeah, that’s a tough one. And I’m not one to return things
Scott Luton (27:56):
Me saying,
Allison Giddens (27:57):
So I’ll figure, I’ll regift it. I don’t know. I don’t know.
Scott Luton (28:01):
Well, the cool thing, the cool thing is, is the rise of the ree economy and I love that and that’s one really important way out of many that we’re going to make more progress in the return space. So good stuff there. Kate and Alison, Hey Maria, tuned in from Madrid. Great to see you as always. Your thoughts about returns or some of the cool things, AI driven things that we’re seeing in the cosmetics industry. Okay, Kate and Allison have a little fun topic next folks stick around. We’re about to get Kate Peterson’s fearless crystal ball prognostications. I say that right?
Allison Giddens (28:33):
That’s a good word.
Scott Luton (28:34):
Where we’re going from a warehouse automation standpoint. But before we do, I want to talk chocolate. That’s right, chocolate. Before you know it, we’re going to be making our Halloween fueled candy purchases. I’ll tell you, we’ve got a whole sourcing team to tackle that in the looting household as we get ready for the holidays. So now just the other day folks, just the other day I was talking about walking through the store and finding a delicious Snickers bar that was priced at almost four bucks. Kate and Alice and my socks were blown off. That fell over. But it’s become really an annual tradition about this time to talk about candy price increases or supply concerns. Over the last few years, though we’ve discussed the chocolate industry and some of the long running challenges that it’s been faced with. This is just a few climate and drought disease, aging crops, input, price increases, you name it.
(29:18):
Now as reported here by supply chain dive, the maker of Snickers is driving some innovative work to help address some of those headwinds. Mars is working with technology from a company known as Pairwise to take a gene editing approach that sounds highfalutin, should have paid more attention to biology class, but taking a gene editing approach in order to help develop new cocoa crops and bring them to market much faster than traditional methods. That’s not where the goodness stops. The new gene edited crops are said to be more resilient to some of the overarching challenges that industry has seen including that drought and disease that I mentioned. So Kate, I got to ask you this First off, folks, if y’all see that graphic ahead of us, if you see that pricing, don’t get too excited. That’s from 20 I was just about to ask, that’s from 2014, so that’s 11 years ago. You’d get a Snickers bar for nine 9 cents. But Kate, do the story. First off, two part question. Are you a Snickers fan, number one and number two, your thoughts on this innovative gene editing approach.
Kait Peterson (30:11):
One I am, but only after Almond Joy. Those are my favorites or a heath bar, but I will do the Snickers when we’re on trade show floors and things
Intro/Outro (30:22):
Like
Kait Peterson (30:22):
That. Yes, I think it’s a really interesting approach. We’ve had a lot of debate on GMO crops lately, but if you know what’s going on in the supply chain, stuff goes bad very quickly. And especially with the long transit times and different places where things can be grown, I think it’s a great alternative to having crop that is maybe artificially substituted. You’re starting to see instead of dairy ice cream, you’re seeing dairy product instead because it doesn’t meet the legal requirements, a portion amount of cream. So I think looking at ways to naturally grow real chocolate instead of trying to create an artificial chemical is probably a good way to go. It’s going to be interesting to see what they do.
Scott Luton (31:03):
It really will. It really will. And these challenges, they’ve been persnickety, they’ve stuck around for quite some time and it’s certainly one of the reasons why we’re seeing an almost $4 Snickers. Barbara, Allison, your thoughts?
Allison Giddens (31:14):
I think the article had also said that why a lot of these candy makers have started to embrace some other popular flavors and additions. Things like peanut butter, things like I think they said noot, it was just kind of a weird word that they used or I’m like, is that a flavor? I don’t really know, but whatever it was that I think that there are certain things that people will always be fans of that if they use more of. It’s interesting too, because if you see some of the Reese’s different variations, I keep seeing advertisements where they have Reese’s now with twice as much peanut butter. Now I’m starting to wonder and now I’m like, oh, so it’s not because people really like peanut butter, you’re running out of chocolate.
Scott Luton (31:52):
It’s like so true. We can’t talk about this. Alison, good stuff there, Alison and Kate, without talking about, let’s see here. When I went to Cape Town a couple of years ago, I saw a little blurb on the local Kit Kat and it talked about sustainability as a priority in sourcing cocoa. And I was like, oh, this is neat. I hadn’t seen this in the states. I picked it up, opened it up, and when I bit into this luscious chocolate, it was a completely different experience. It blew my mind actually. I picked up 10 of those things to take them back. And long story short, there’s a lot of science and engineering and supply chain innovation behind it. But the cool lesson learned there is when you do the right thing for the right reasons, that’s good for industry and good for earth, and you communicate that to consumers, not only am I now more informed, man, the chocolate experience was a delicious one that I’ll go back and I’m sorry Snickers, but I’ll keep eating those Kit Kats and we got to get that in the states.
(32:46):
And Alison, you’re kind of laughing. I learned in that same experience that when I took it back to the conference I was at and they’re like, oh man, American chocolate’s been bad forever. You didn’t know that. You can find better chocolate elsewhere. Anyway, we’re serious about our snacks and kudos to Snickers for trying and Marge rather trying to find a new path forward. And folks, with all these articles, we’re dropping a link right there in the chat so you can go find your own take and let us know what you think. Alright, so let’s do this, Kate Peterson, while we still got you here, I want to shift gears a bit and pick your brain on a few topics given the cool things that you and the Locus Robotics team is up to. And we talked earlier in that grocery story about the current state of warehouse automation, right? What’s been around and what is newer in that world, but in your view, what can we expect on the short term horizon, say one to two years out?
Kait Peterson (33:34):
That’s a really great question. I think there’s two key things that we’re really focused on at Locus and that we see as the future of warehouse automation. The first one is what we’re calling robots to goods or R to G. So in the example that we talked about earlier with the ido, you have the robots in the arms. That’s basically robots to goods. You don’t have a human in that. So we released a product at ProMat this last year. We’re going to be unveiling it a little bit later this year. Most people have only seen a photo of it, but it’s a robot to goods solution where the items are autonomously picked without labor. And the key to that is that we’re removing the reliance on labor because people don’t want to be working in warehouses. They’re cold, they’re hot. You don’t want to be lifting, picking, doing all of that stuff. So finding a way to have the robots go to the goods rather than the goods coming to the person is a huge trend that we’re starting to see. Labor availability is just plummeted for a lot of our customers. So that’s one problem that we’re looking to solve. And as we talked about earlier, it’s a very complex problem matching a robotic arm on a moving piece of robotics as well. And I think the second key thing that enables all of that is ai. So
(34:42):
Using AI in a bunch of different applications, not just the traditional chat GPT, Hey, how do I design my warehouse type of a response. But how does AI vision identify the different items? And as Allison you said, figuring out picking it up from a tag rather than the mesh. How do you direct the labor that is in the warehouse? We all have warehouses that cannot have just robots picking kayaks or sweaters that can’t be fit into certain things. And so using AI to more intelligently direct labor using AI for vision and navigation, the ideal pick pads, using AI to say you should slot your facility in this particular way so that your order volume based off of your forecast and based on your upcoming sales is going to minimize the time to fulfillment. So I think those two things in combination, the robots to goods and the AI piece is really going to be where we’re seeing a lot of warehouse automation heading.
Scott Luton (35:40):
Good stuff there, Kate. Allison, your response to those two things that Kate pointed out to us,
Allison Giddens (35:45):
I think I agree. It really is all about that next iteration and I think 10 years ago, none of these things could have been envisioned the way that they have ended up. I don’t know that we thought things would be as detailed and well thought out as they are now. I mean, I don’t know about you, but in my head I thought, yeah, robots would be a thing, but I don’t know that I thought that they would be, I don’t know, as detailed to the point of evolving, picking up the whole tag thing and passing it on to their friends. I mean, this is why when you’re using chat gt you say please and thank you. Just
Kait Peterson (36:23):
In true Alison, just in case,
Scott Luton (36:26):
Just in case.
Kait Peterson (36:27):
I think with robotics we always had an idea of trying to put an arm on a robot. It was super cool from a tech perspective, but I think the real world use cases I think are informing us on how that’s actually happening. So it’s a holy grail and I feel like we’re finally getting there. Some of the co-founders of Locus would say, Hey, I sketched this on a napkin 10 years ago and this is what I’ve been wanting to do and now it’s real. It’s in facilities now, which is pretty cool. That’s got to feel
Scott Luton (36:56):
So good. It does, I bet. Bet. It’s really cool being on the bleeding edge there, Kate, with the Locust team is equally parts exciting and kind of scary at the same time. Is just going back to your point, Alison, years ago you didn’t, I mean it wasn’t even in anyone’s consciousness what we’d be doing here in 2025. Well, same thing applies. Can you imagine when 2035 rolls around the things that we don’t even think about right now that technology is going to be able to do to make industry better for all folks? To Kate’s point, it’s tough building workforces in a variety of environments, especially warehouses and fulfillment centers. It has been so challenging that the automation and the technology gains, it’s been required to keep up with consumer demand. We
Allison Giddens (37:37):
See, well, technology’s going to be great, but you’re going to be paying $25 for a Snickers bar.
Scott Luton (37:41):
That’s right. Maybe so. We’ll see. Not no kidding man. Well in that case Allison, I’ll have to change my tune a little bit, but don’t mess with my Snickers bars folks. Alright, so Kate and Allison, I want to talk about one more thing here before we let Kate Peterson go. A couple more things. Really flexibility, going back to Allison’s opening comments about the manufacturing industry, what we’re seeing here, and it’s really as critical as flexibility and resilience is there. It’s really everywhere in this environment we’re in right now, right? We’re all looking to successfully overcome, expected and unexpected disruption. That’s what supply chain management is. So Kate, from your view, what are two or three key tips that supply chain leaders need to keep in mind when it comes to flexibility?
Kait Peterson (38:22):
So I think with the mind of resiliency, right? So resiliency is the ultimate goal. Flexibility is the vehicle to get there. So resiliency helps cover the peaks in the valleys, the ups and downs, all the changes that we’re dealing with. You’ve been in supply chain, we have, there’s a new emergency all the time. There’s fires in facilities that are making microchips. There’s ship stuck in the Suez Canal, there’s blockages in the port of la, long Beach, et cetera. The list goes on. So the answer to resiliency is flexibility. And there’s a few key things to think about that flexibility, especially as you’re looking at warehouse automation is being able to flex your automation up and down. You don’t want to build a church for Easter Sunday and then have it sit empty 90% of the year. So you want to have flexibility that you use as it’s needed. You also don’t want to pay for it. You said $25 snicker bar, you don’t want to pay for automations and that’s just sitting there.
(39:22):
You want to make sure that you’re paying for what you use. I think there’s taglines all the time about pay for what you need. That’s really the key. And then I think the other key piece of that is different use cases, especially as you’re looking at technology, having a one particular use case is great, but it creates bottlenecks in other areas of your operation. So you have to think about if you automate one section, it’s going to change, it’s going to have a downstream and probably an upstream effect as well. And so you have to think about extending your use cases across. So not just picking but put away and packing and returns like we talked about. So there’s a bunch of different areas of flexibility, but I think flexibility is the answer to be able to ultimately be resilient, which is what every supply chain leader wants to be. Right,
Scott Luton (40:10):
Right. And good stuff there. Three quick things, Alison, that I just heard in her last response. First off, I want to build a church just for Easter Sunday. That is a great, I’m going to steal that from you, Kate,
Allison Giddens (40:21):
A bumper sticker. Yeah.
Scott Luton (40:24):
She talked about the importance of that dynamic scalability and a variety of solutions. You can find that more than ever before. And then Putaway is not just for the weekly trip to the grocery store. Of course that’s a big active part of operations everywhere and we got to change that, make that easier for the workforce and make it more successful for the organization. Alison, what’d you hear there about flexibility from one Kate Peterson?
Allison Giddens (40:45):
It’s also about, I think the business owner, we have to be willing to meet halfway on this stuff because I am sitting here listening to this and I’m thinking all of this is great. And I’m reminded a few weeks ago I went online to find I was going to enroll in a, it was sort of a chat GPT thing. It was a similar thing and it was a monthly fee. And I looked at the dollars and I was like, there’s no way that I can afford that. And so I exed out and I keep thinking about it and I’m like, okay, well but how much time is it going to save me or how much? I think that’s the kind of thing that, especially small businesses, because we are constantly thinking about, okay, if I spend these dollars, how is this helping me with money now? How is this going to help with revenue now? And so I think that that’s going to be a really big piece of a small business coming to the table for the AI and embracing some of this along the way.
Scott Luton (41:43):
Alison, good stuff. And to piggyback on your comments, I think with all the innovation we’ve kind of focused the last hour or so on kind of in the warehouse space, on the floor, in the manufacturing floors, you name it. As much as we’re reinventing work there, we’ve got to reinvent work everywhere else in the front office. So we’ve got to challenge some of the assumptions. It takes me right back, Alison and Kate, to my days in manufacturing and metal stamping when I wanted to let certain members of my very small team work remotely to tackle some family challenges, but the organization wasn’t ready for that, right? There was a little bit of a battle. We’ve got to go ahead and have those discussions and that will help when we can be more flexible for our team members. We can gain more resilience as organizations, but we got to be prepared. So you got to have those conversations now. Good stuff. Kate and Allison and no $25 Snicker Bar folks. None of that stuff going to give me this. That’s what nightmares are made of. Okay, Kate, let’s see. You’ve got some big stuff going on beyond Locus or as part of the Locus ecosystem, I call it. Let’s talk about this webinar on September 24th. Whatcha y’all going to be talking about?
Kait Peterson (42:47):
Yeah, so we’re actually going to be talking about the practical uses of ai. So there’s a lot out there about ai. There’s a lot of misconceptions. So we’ll go through what AI isn’t in the warehouse, but what it is and what you should be looking for as supply chain leaders in the industry of what should be actionable from ROI perspective. What you should hold different vendors accountable for what you need from a data perspective, as we talked about earlier, data is really, really important. And then what are the results that you need to be able to look for? What are things that AI can handle and what are things that maybe you can use AI to help inform you to make those best decisions for your facility. So we’re going to be really diving into the practical steps of AI practical uses. So it’s going to be really fascinating and informed by our entire AI and data science team and a lot of the innovations that we’ve been working on for a long time and we’re finally able to bring to the forefront for everyone.
Scott Luton (43:42):
Love. It Sounds like a practical session. Sounds like folks can get something out of that, Alison, whether they are working with Locus or not. And those are the best sessions I think. Alison, your quick comments.
Allison Giddens (43:50):
Yeah, you got it. It is. It’s all about jumping in and I think that it’s hard to be able to tell what to do when there’s no, there’s nothing to look back on as an example. And there’s nothing to say, okay, well this is what things are going to look like or this is what I want it to look like. So it’s kind of a leap of faith.
Scott Luton (44:08):
Yes, get this, do that. I need a guidebook for this supply chain journey. I’m on this shelf, step by step would be great. None of those. None those. Alright Kate, if you’re good sticking around with this for a couple more minutes, are you good with that, Kate?
Kait Peterson (44:21):
Yeah, absolutely.
Scott Luton (44:22):
Alright, so I want to hit on a couple more things. I want to talk about your podcast and then Alison, I’m going to get your key takeaway from this hour spent with Kate Peterson. And then we’re going to talk about the Dave Creche Foundation in just a second. Dave, what a great call to a big thing. So Kate, let’s do this. We’ve got a great podcast. In fact, we talked about this when you and I were at ProMat together and it sounds like you’ve got another big ProMat news coming up here in a few months. But let’s talk about the feminist exec. This is your podcast. I think we’re sharing the most recent episode where you had David Hauser on Tell us what can folks expect from this podcast?
Kait Peterson (44:55):
So thank you so much for featuring this as well. The Feminist Exec is a podcast about sharing women and also male allies, stories of their leadership and what they’ve learned. I’ve interviewed a ton of supply chain execs, David Hauser, many of you guys know was at Kerber in Fios, Oracle, several Reverse Logics Nvis. So he’s a supply chain exec. I’ve got several others coming on board and we ask the important questions about diversity, equity, inclusion, allyship, what it takes to be a modern leader and bring up women and other people that need to be included and also what men can do and what women can do to help men help us, right? So it’s about bringing everybody together as a feminist. It’s about equality for everyone. You guys don’t know, equality Day is tomorrow, August 26th. So give the podcast a listen in honor of that. But it’s really about making sure that we all have an equal seat at the table and an equal opportunity to be leaders in the industry.
Scott Luton (45:54):
Hey, I really appreciate that. Very nimble mission. Your own, Alison, your quick response to that.
Allison Giddens (45:58):
I forgot that quality day was tomorrow. I completely forgot about that you said that. And I looked at the calendar, I went, oh, that’s awesome. So I’m going to check this out for sure.
Scott Luton (46:06):
That too. And folks, of course you can find the feminist exec wherever you get your podcast. Trisha is right there sharing helpful links your one click away. So check that out. Also, it looks like we’ve shared that webinar as well, September 24th. So wonderful. They are, I tell you, they’re on it. They’re on it today. As always, Tricia and Amanda, big thanks to all that y’all do behind the scenes.
Allison Giddens (46:26):
Alright,
Scott Luton (46:26):
Let’s do this. Alison, you get the toughest question of the day. What is one of your favorite takeaways from this last hour with Kate from Lucas Robotics?
Allison Giddens (46:37):
Gosh, my favorite takeaways. Oh gosh. I think one of my favorite takeaways. Oh, you really did put me on the spot, didn’t you? Oh
Scott Luton (46:44):
Me, another question.
Allison Giddens (46:45):
My favorite. No, I think I like this one. My favorite takeaway I think is that don’t let perfection be the enemy of the good.
Scott Luton (46:55):
Yes.
Allison Giddens (46:55):
And I think that as we have dived into a lot of the robotics and we talked what the very first story was on the groceries and talking about how robots picking up versus eggs versus oranges and still kind of being challenged with some of those little things. Well, nobody sat there. The engineers for these robots did not sit there. Locus robotics is not sitting there going, oh guys, well we can’t actually put together perfectly, so let’s not do it. I think the whole idea here is making these steps bit by bit. And I think unless we’re willing to take those little steps, the big ones aren’t going to happen.
Scott Luton (47:32):
Ooh, Allison, what a great t-shirt is. I love, love that.
(47:36):
Isn’t it though? Always brings a heat. Allison Giddens. Alright, so let’s do this. Hey ud, great to see you via YouTube. Let us know your thoughts on the today’s conversation and SED via LinkedIn. I appreciate you being here. Give us your own key takeaway. Hey, it’s going to be tough to top, but folks would love to hear from you. Alright, let’s do this. Let’s make sure folks are not to connect with y’all both. But before we do, Alison, I love what the Dave Creche Foundation is doing, and y’all can see it right here if you’re watching and if you’re not watching, if you’re listening, they have helped kids from families in need play the sports they love. Almost 2000, almost 2000 kids have been able to afford the fees, the equipment, you name it, and folks in this economy or any economy that is pricey. Allison, how can folks jump in and support what you’re doing?
Allison Giddens (48:25):
Thank you so much for the shout out. Yes, and knowing you guys and you Scott and supply chain, now, you all have been such great supporters of us and Dave creche.com is how you can check us out. And if you’re in the metro Atlanta area, we’d love to see you at an event. We have. It’s a hundred percent volunteer run, so we don’t have any paid staff. All of your money goes directly to the cause. So just a really good time. And we help kids all over the place from, if you’re familiar with the area, Rome, Georgia, so that’s like northwest Georgia all the way down. I think we’ve helped as far southeast as I want to say, like Rockdale County. I mean really? Yeah. Yeah. So the circle is expanding
Scott Luton (49:02):
Well and is rubber meet the road. I mean, it’s such a practical thing. So folks, we got the link right there for this powerful nonprofit volunteer driven dave creche.com named and everything is done in memory of your incredible dad, we lost way too soon. So good stuff there, Alison Giddens. Okay, let’s do folks. Kate and Allison, they’re movers and shakers. They’ll be here, there and everywhere. Lots of events, but what we’ll make sure you can easily connect with them both. And let’s start with you, Kate Peterson with Locus Robotics. Just how easy is it for folks to connect with you?
Kait Peterson (49:34):
Yeah, so Locus robotics.com is our main website. You can also find us on LinkedIn, on YouTube. You can see our robots moving around. You can also find me on LinkedIn under Kate Peterson, IMBA, and I know they’ll put the link directly to my profile as well. So reach out, connect. I love meeting other people in the industry and I’m sure I’ll see many of you guys at upcoming events like Logistics and modex next year and log mat for those in Europe. So if you’re at one of those events, come and say hi. I’d love to see you
Scott Luton (50:05):
Definitely as Kate predicted the future a couple of times here today, but we dropped a link to her LinkedIn profile right there, so check it out. And Kate, when you come to Atlanta, you and the whole team from Modex, we’re going to be there and let’s go grab a great meal and keep talking innovation across supply chain. Alison Giddens, let’s make sure folks know how to connect with you and all the cool things you’re doing in the manufacturing space.
Allison Giddens (50:27):
Yes, best way to connect with me is on LinkedIn. I believe that they’re going to throw mine in chat as well. Alison Giddens on LinkedIn. I think I’m the only, Alison Giddens are at least probably one of the few. But yeah, definitely connect with me and if you do connect with me, definitely throw a note in there and let me know that you watch the Supply Chain Now podcast because sometimes I’ll get requests that are connection requests and I won’t always accept them if I don’t know you. So throw in a note, tell me how I know you
Scott Luton (50:54):
Don’t act like a robot. Act like a human, Alison. That’s what I think the advice you’re giving there.
Allison Giddens (50:58):
Yes.
Scott Luton (50:58):
Well folks, Alison, I really appreciate what you do. Thanks for being here. I love your perspective and expertise and one of the things you shared as your key takeaway on what Kate’s been sharing is you can’t to paraphrase a lot less eloquently than you did, we can’t wait for perfection, right? The time is urgent that we move today with what we have to find those gains and to enable our team members, our human team members, to find more success a whole bunch more easier. Alright, so big thanks to everybody, Kate Peterson with Locus. Kate, thanks so much for being here.
Kait Peterson (51:26):
Thank you so much for having me.
Scott Luton (51:27):
Thanks for being here. We look forward to seeing you Atlanta soon. Alison Giddens, always a pleasure. Thanks for being here, folks. Here’s your challenge. Here’s your homework. You got to take one thing we heard here from Kate and Alison, put it into practice. Share it with the team. Deed’s, not words. That’s how we’re going to keep transforming global supply chain. With all that said, have the whole team here, Scott Luton, challenging you to do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed, and we’ll see you next time. Right back here on Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.
Intro/Outro (51:53):
Join the supply chain now community. For more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supply chain now.com. Subscribe to Supply chain now on YouTube and follow and listen to supply chain. Now wherever you get your podcasts.
