Supply Chain Now Episode 284

Live Interview from the RLA Conference & Expo 

Prefer to watch the podcast in action rather than just listen?  Watch Scott and Greg as they welcome Eric Moriarty with B-Stock from the Supply Chain Now booth at the RLA Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, NV.

“Ultimately, there is an economic model where a certain level of service is something that you can offer while still making money. Our role in that is to provide an avenue so that when a company does get returns, they’re getting as much value out of those customer returns as possible when they liquidate them. And that allows them to offer that higher level of service.”

– Eric Moriarty, Vice President at B-Stock Solutions

 

As companies alter their business and cost models to accommodate the growing consumer affinity for online shopping, both shipping and returns become a critical factor. Both represent a level of cost that has to be optimized, and both play an important role in determining the level of customer satisfaction with the buying experience.

To get more color on this issue, Supply Chain Now Co-hosts Greg White and Scott Luton sat down with Eric Moriarty, Vice President at B-Stock Solutions, live at the Reverse Logistics Association Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

In addition to discussing how companies can leverage the sustainability principles of the circular economy to reduce their costs and increase customer loyalty, Eric offered up the following information:

  • The average customer return rate for e-commerce purchases is approximately 30%, much higher than the rate of returns brick and mortar transactions, which average 8-10%.
  • In 2019, companies in the B-Stock Solutions network sold about 400 million pounds of inventory, product that would have been disposed of, sold for pennies on the dollar, or written off as lost value.
  • Category managers and supply chain professionals have officially reached the point where they are seeking out far more scientific solutions for their reverse logistics challenges.

[00:00:05] It’s time for Supply Chain Now Radio Broadcasting live from the Supply chain capital of the country, Atlanta, Georgia. Supply Chain Now Radio spotlights the best in all things supply chain the people, the technology, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

 

[00:00:29] Hey, good afternoon, Scott Luton with Supply chain. Now welcome back to the show. We are broadcasting here today not from Atlanta, Georgia, where we typically are, but we’re in Las Vegas, Nevada, home of the reverse Logistics Association Conference and Expo, a chilly Las Vegas, Nevada, with temperatures in the 40 degrees with 80 mile per hour gale.

 

[00:00:51] That’s only a mild exaggeration.

 

[00:00:54] So for the next couple of days, this here conference here in the city is a center of universe for all things returns and reverse Logistics. A ton of supply chain thought leaders offering best practices, insights and Know-How on how to tackle what’s really becoming one of the most important components of the End to end Supply chain and the circular economy. Today’s episode is brought to you by Cap Gemini, global leader in consulting, technology, services and digital transformation. You can learn more at Cap Gemini dot com. Quick programing note. You can check out our podcast where we get your podcast from Spotify, Apple podcasts, YouTube. But be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss anything. You may have already heard him chime in 17 times as I just get through to pre-roll. But I’m joined here once again by Mr. Greg White, a serial supply chain technology entrepreneur, trusted advisor, Supply chain adjutant. Is that one?

 

[00:01:53] That’s a good one. I like that. Yeah, well, great troublemakers. Basically what you’re saying. How you doing? I’m doing great.

 

[00:01:59] We’ve we’re off to a fast start. You know, we get, I think, 15 or 16 interviews over the next two and half days as our team here. That’s a ton of work. But we love it because we get to sit beside people like our guests on this episode and hear from folks in the trenches making it happen in the reverse Logistics.

 

[00:02:18] And in return space for anyone who’s ever listened to us knows I’m a fan of two things. Las Vegas and Tony Sciarrotta.

 

[00:02:27] Yes. No, seriously. Yeah. Yeah. Curious what what number to be? No.

 

[00:02:33] I think, you know, I’m a particular fan of the way Tony approaches reverse Logistics in trying to prevent returns in instead of just trying to figure out what to do with returns. And he’s got a long history of that. So, by the way, we’ve done some interviews with Tony, if you want some foundation of what RLA and Tony is all about. There’s some episodes out there, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today. Right. Right.

 

[00:02:58] Today, we are chatting with our featured guest, Eric Moriarity with De-stock. Eric, how you doing? Good. How are you? Great to have you here. Have you felt like you’ve been stalked a bit? No, not at all. We’ve been tracking Bienstock a little bit in the last couple of months, especially as we’ve made the connection to when your company and their support and sponsorship of the conference.

 

[00:03:20] So I ask your social marketing people if they feel strong. Yeah. Right. Right.

 

[00:03:25] So how long have you been plugging? How long have you been here and how long you been plugged in? RLA.

 

[00:03:31] So, you know, I’ve known Tony Shahadah for for a while now and I kind of heard he was gonna get involved with getting the show going again.

 

[00:03:40] Yes. And so as soon as I heard that, were you radiantly all an offer to support because he’s one of the titans of the reverse Logistics. We agree with you.

 

[00:03:53] Yeah, we’ve been yeah. We’ve been running with a reverse Logistics series on Supply chain now probably going back four or five months. And the feedback we’ve gotten even with the content and felt leadership that groups like early are putting out. Companies in Supply chain leaders just can’t get enough. Yeah, yeah. All right. Let’s switch gears for a minute. We’re all members of the Tony Sciarrotta Fan Club. His New Year’s Eve party burning of right slap off. Let’s talk about where, Eric. Before we talk shop and we talk about what B stock is doing in India. Let’s talk about where you’re from. And you’ve got to give us the goods on your own. Own your upbringing.

 

[00:04:31] Ok.

 

[00:04:33] So so my whole career, actually, I’ve been involved in a marketplace business model. ACCENT grew up in a family business where OK. My family runs an outdoor antiques and collectibles show. What part of country? In a small town called Brimfield, Massachusetts. OK. About 3000 people.

 

[00:04:52] And that’s where you were born? Raised. Yeah. So I was raised Brimfield, Massachusetts.

 

[00:04:56] So the use of the Oxford comma is important there. Is it an outdoor show or is it outdoor antiques?

 

[00:05:05] Yes, it’s a outdoor show. And the buyers and sellers are buying and selling antiques in class.

 

[00:05:11] So lots of lots of vendors come in to sell.

 

[00:05:14] There were thousands. Yeah. And there’s different you know, the town is, uh, it’s this one stretch of road where there’s different show promoters on all along the strip. And my family’s one of them. And we run one of the show. Wow. It’s not 20 different shows. And altogether, it’s one big show.

 

[00:05:29] You were literally brought up in the circular economy. Yeah. If you think about it.

 

[00:05:33] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So. So growing up in Brimfield, Massachusetts, you know, what’s one memory that when you think about your childhood, Imedi comes mom.

 

[00:05:47] So, you know, as it pertains to my career or just personal family business, yeah, food don’t make and where you live is his Radio Flyer ranking or something like that’s occurred to us. Yeah. Well, really, it’s your career then. Yeah.

 

[00:06:02] No, I mean, you know, kind of growing up in it in this in the family business, it was really interesting and a great foundation for, you know, what I did later in life. So, you know, I’ve been involved in many online marketplaces in my career. And what I found to be really interesting is that the underlying fundamentals, whether it’s an offline marketplace of antiques and collectibles or the online marketplace like eBay or or B stock, they’re they’re the same.

 

[00:06:32] It’s the same. It’s math, economics. And actually a lot of psychology.

 

[00:06:36] It’s never been building and growing. The digital twin. Yeah. Your your family business. That’s right. That is really cool. Yeah. All right.

 

[00:06:43] So let’s before we dove into Bienstock and Greg has some questions for you there. Let’s talk about your professional journey. You kind of give us a Reader’s Digest version of that first role in the industry. You know, in kind of into your curveball.

 

[00:06:56] Yeah. So, you know, interestingly, interestingly enough, my growing up in my my parents business, I’m just lucky enough to happen to know Meg Whitman personally. OK. And she joined eBay in 1998 for at 98. And at the time they were struggling to get into the antiques business. And I was graduating business school in 1998.

 

[00:07:21] Mba Social real quick. Yeah. Meg Whitman, for some of our listeners that may not make the connection.

 

[00:07:27] Is the ex-CEO of eBay, right? Yeah.

 

[00:07:30] Yeah. She took them through their best growth phase.

 

[00:07:33] That’s right. That’s correct. That’s right. And so she called me up.

 

[00:07:38] She knew I was graduating. And I you know, my parent’s background must be kind of kind of cool.

 

[00:07:43] Yeah. Meg Whitman. Yeah. Yeah.

 

[00:07:47] And and asked me to join the company. And so that’s what I I did for four years at eBay was I. You know, we called it the category manager position. And I focused on, you know, antiques category sports, pottery, glass with, you know, a wide variety of categories. And then I’ve been involved in several other marketplaces since eBay. And then fast forward to be stock in 2010. I joined stock and I’m doing a lot of the same things that I’ve been doing my whole life, which is really kind of bringing together buyers and sellers to to transact with one another. Love it. That is very cool.

 

[00:08:23] I mean, that that history is amazing. I can’t imagine. Well, it’s probably nothing for you, family friend or whatever.

 

[00:08:30] But but it’s not like a matter of getting the call.

 

[00:08:34] Hey, we could really use you here. That’s that’s an impressive story. I love stories like that. Well, okay. So. So you get into the industry, you land at B stock. So tell us a little bit about B stock. So a little bit about what they do. Okay. And I think as important is if I’m stumbling down the hall at my business, what are the words other than profanity coming out of my mouth that indicate the B stock is the solution to the problem that I have or the pain that I feel?

 

[00:09:03] Right. So what we do is we help companies make more money or get higher prices for their excess inventory. Okay. So things like customer returns, overstock damaged goods. Okay. This is inventory that our clients used to put on a pallet or a truckload and sell off to a large liquidator or a job or a broker. Right. Maybe a discounter. And when they do it that way, they were getting, you know, very low prices, pennies on the dollar. And so it actually made companies not want to liquidate. Yeah. Such a bad experience. Right. So what we do is we provide a solution. We build an online auction marketplace. It’s B2B where the buyers are businesses. Yeah. And we drive tons of buyer business buyers to our clients marketplaces. And ultimately those buyers compete. And it makes prices go higher and our clients make more money over how they used to do it.

 

[00:09:59] So Tony told us about this whole group of people on YouTube. Tony Shroder told us, okay, where they are receiving pallets on their YouTube channel. And they are. Displaying they’re doing an unboxing of whatever they got on their pallet. Are those are some of those people, could they be using your platform to acquire those goods?

 

[00:10:21] Yeah, sure, that they would be the buyers. Right. And so these are, you know, small to medium sized businesses. But there are very ACSI, large companies that are buyers as well. Right. And, you know, that’s the other side of the coin. So on the seller side, it’s helping them make more money. On the buyer side, it’s actually giving a lot of small to medium sized businesses access to inventory right. Directly from the source that they previously did not have access to. Yeah. So it’s really kind of enabling entrepreneurship that’s also out there. There are lots of buyers that tell us that they started their business because of the solution, that we’ve we’ve tried it, too.

 

[00:10:59] Does it does the do the goods tend to stay where they were originally? Do they get transported long distance? I mean, could it get sold from a company in the states and wind up in Africa or South America or Europe or Asia?

 

[00:11:13] Yeah, and that’s another aspect of the way our solution works, is when when we build these marketplaces, we’re not asking a company to sell in our marketplace. We’re actually building them. They’re marketplace. So they all do business differently from one another. And so each marketplace that we operate for, for the client, they’re setting the terms and conditions that govern the transaction. So as an example, some clients require all inventory to be exported. Okay. That’s because that’s that particular. Otherwise it’s competitive to them maybe. Yeah, whatever. Others know that. Yeah, some companies require it only to be sold in the United States. So it’s just it’s really customized to the specific company of how they do business.

 

[00:11:54] Is it a single. I mean is it a single marketplace for the buyers? I mean, am I am I going to whatever marshall’s and getting there? overstock’s and then going to a separate marketplace to get T.J., Max or whatever? Or is is it sort of an all in one view for me if I’m a buyer or the answer is it’s both.

 

[00:12:16] So there within each marketplace is all the inventory of that particular client. And you know, when you think about what a marketplaces is, though, it’s a website site, right? Yeah. Well, we also promote that inventory in other locations. Right. Where we’re kind of aggregating them all and really leveraging the power of the network effect. Yeah.

 

[00:12:38] Love it. So we just interviewed. Sorry. I’m just thinking about Sean. We just interviewed Sean McCann from Sims Recycling Solutions. Okay. So you you are creating creating yet another opportunity for these goods to go forward through commerce before they go back. I mean, before they’re obsolete or destroyed or done away with in some other fashion.

 

[00:13:03] Yeah, there’s. You know, that’s something that we’re opening our eyes up to more and more, which is there’s a whole sustainability. Yes. Piece of that. Absolutely. And, you know, resale and reuse is a big aspect of, you know, what’s the manner in which we’re helping our clients. And as you know, you know, the younger generation, that particular they’re they’re buying with a purpose. So. Right. They’re making their buying decisions based on their sustainability practices. You know, of the particular company. Yeah. So that’s great.

 

[00:13:34] So your role. Yeah. Where do you spend your time? What was your role in the company?

 

[00:13:39] So, you know, I’ve been with the company pretty much since the beginning. So I’ve kind of worn many hats.

 

[00:13:45] You know, I’ve been involved with operating marketplaces in the in the earlier days today where I tend to spend my time is really evangelizing the solution and helping onboard new clients in into our platform.

 

[00:14:02] So you’re a preacher. Is that right? Yeah, that’s it. So a lot of a lot of travel will be stopped. This is a global. Yeah. Provider. Yeah, right. So you travel quite a bit.

 

[00:14:13] Yeah. Yeah. Quite a bit actually. So I just go into shows like this. You know, one of the great things about a show like this is you’re really, you know, kind of networking face to face with other companies in the space, whether it’s peers or potential clients, and hearing about, you know, the new trends that they’re facing as well. But yeah, it’s I’m on the road a bit.

 

[00:14:35] You’re you’re giving it given us great Segway. So thank you for that. Yeah. Yeah. So speaking of trends, we’re going to a broader. All right. So beyond be stock, beyond the reverse, just space. When you think of the global end to end supply chain, the circular economy that that is is really taking root from a conceptual standpoint in industry. What what’s one or two things? Trends, topics, developments, you name it, that are on your radar more than others right now.

 

[00:15:02] So there’s a couple of things that we see that are sort of macro economic macro trends in retail and struggled in micro macro econ.

 

[00:15:12] Yes, sir.

 

[00:15:13] Keep it Lehmann’s just macro trends.

 

[00:15:17] So, you know, the first and foremost is just the trends towards e-commerce. So more and more transactions are taking place online. Right. And within e-commerce, there is a much higher customer return ring. So typically the customer return rate for e-commerce is right around 30 percent, whereas with brick and mortar transactions, it’s in the neighborhood of 8 to 10 percent. So as more and more transactions are taking place online, what’s happening is more more returns are coming back. Right. And so when you think about the impact that that has on all the Logistics, but more importantly, what do you do with that inventory? Right. Positive correlation. Exactly right. Yeah. And so, you know, that’s one of the things that we’re seeing, which is why, you know, our clients are, you know, finding value in our service because they’re not getting killed on price. It’s actually driving prices higher. On the other one is. It’s really Amazon. They’re kind of setting the bar for it’s OK to say. Yeah, Amazon. There’s no way to talk retail. Yeah. Yeah. So they’re really setting the bar for a level of customer service. Yeah. And where that is kind of manifesting itself in our world is it’s a lot very lax or customer friendly returns policy. Right. And so companies are having to offer it’s almost a cost of doing business now. They’re having to offer a really lax customer return policy to capture the loyalty of the customer. Yeah. And in doing so, again, that’s driving returns. You go back and drive returns higher. So those are, I would say, some of the two two of the things that we’re seeing right now that are really driving behaviors of companies in our space.

 

[00:17:03] Let’s dove into latter. But real quick, that’s. This is Scott Luton and Greg White at Supply chain. Now we’re at the reverse just association and conference. We’re talking with Erik Maureen already with BBY stock. And you might hear a lot of things still getting set up as exhibition hall is close to being completed.

 

[00:17:20] And that’s really encouraging from our point of view, don’t you think? Yeah, Eric, I mean, that particular developments that are occurring there. Yes, they are. Firstly, our proxies. Yes, exactly.

 

[00:17:30] So let’s talk about it kind of through these first couple of interviews here in day zero. I think it’s called RLA. The consumer just Bacall’s were able to ask consumers to buy five pairs of shoes. Return for. Right. We’re really it’s convenient as that is creating a huge challenge for industry and for returns teams and reverse Logistics. How are we going to move the needle in this regard? Yeah.

 

[00:18:02] So I think it’s, you know, water finds a level, right? I think I think it’s a pendulum that will probably start to swing back a little bit. And ultimately, there is an economic model where a certain level of service is something that you can offer and still make money. You know, our our role in that is to provide an avenue so that when a company does get returns back there, you’re getting as much value out of those customer returns as possible when they liquidate it. And that allows them to offer that higher level of service. But at the end of the day. Right. The math has to work in terms of an income statement. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right.

 

[00:18:45] You know, what I like is just as we know that consumers like we talked about last conversation, consumers want more transparency and want to see more sustainability in the products and services of the companies that they’re buying. Clearly, I think one other encouraging sign is this niche just growing niche that B stock is in that’s enabling recycling and enabling us to re-use instead of destroy. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a space. There’s a ton of activity and growth in that. That’s a that’s a great sign.

 

[00:19:19] Yeah, I agree.

 

[00:19:20] You know, I think in our network last year, about 400 million pounds of inventory, what was sold. Right. So not to say that the companies were throwing it away before. But I think chunking that probably, you know, I don’t know. I don’t know, actually. So I will just say that we know now that they’re reselling it and it’s a good thing. And that’s a good thing. There’s there again, that the transparency that you talked about, they can try to look everyone in the eye and say, yep, we’re we’re handling this inventory in a sustainable way. And there’s, you know, it’s all online. Right. So you can kind of audit fingertips. That’s right. Usability.

 

[00:19:58] Yeah, I think it’s I think it’s changing the way. Companies bring inventory in as well, Yeah, they’re getting more mathematical and less artistic. More scientific and less artistic. Right. Because a lot of what must come to you is because of the inherent inefficiencies built into retail. Old-Time Retailers. Sure. Where you plan for markdowns. Right. You plan to have too much of certain things to make sure you have enough. Yeah. And and it’s become a bit of a crutch where plan is usually in little letters, not big letters. And companies are starting to plan in big letters now. And and that plan is much, much more precise and produces less overstock, less excess, less waste in the in the supply chain. Come on, come coming back. At least I know that there are more companies conscious of it.

 

[00:20:47] Now, I don’t know if you’ve seen that in industry yet, but I absolutely think everyone’s, you know, constantly trying to make things more efficient. Yeah. And so, you know, I think from our you know, this from our perspective, um, with with the secondary market and the transparency, the transparency that we’re we’re creating for them and the higher recovery, that math, that data. Right. Can be translated back into things like, well, accruals and the accounting system. Right. Right. And so, you know, the the transparency of the pricing in the secondary market is actually helping them make primary market decisions. Right. Right. Right. Yeah.

 

[00:21:27] Because if you Miura category manager. Right. So you may have at one time you contributed slightly. I know I have contributed slightly to this problem and I always found it difficult to reconcile in my head. I’m buying stuff I know we’re not going to sell. Right. Right. Yeah. Um. And and now with the wealth of data that’s available in the marketplace and technology advancing as quickly as it has, we can preempt that that aspect of the problem in a much greater measure than we could before.

 

[00:21:57] Yeah. And it makes it less risky. Right. So if you know that you’re not going to get killed in the liquidation price right then. Overbuying a little bit or whatever is not as much of a penalty you would if you were just getting pennies on the dollar. Yeah. All right.

 

[00:22:13] Okay. So shifting gears here, we’ve already established that we’re big fans that turn and she wrote a bit. But speak more to what is in this digital age. We live in the age of texting, instant mass messages, Facebook. We communicate more digitally than than in-person these days. Yeah, but yet trade shows such as the big show in our big show Mode X, the RLA Conference Expo Sunday shows have really tapped into, um, the sea. What’s what’s so important coming out and sitting down and having these Face-To-Face conversations and benchmarking conversations? What’s that? Yeah. You there? Well, I met you within the body.

 

[00:23:00] The question is the age or from my perspective.

 

[00:23:02] So, you know, the face to face interactions that you’re you’re getting with people and in talking to them about, you know, what they’re seeing in their world and kind of coming together and, you know, as a group collaborating line, some of the bigger issues and sharing ideas and sort of maybe collectively kind of moving the ball forward on on some of the challenges that face all that we all face.

 

[00:23:26] Right. And it’s why I travel so much, because I really think that a face to face interaction is is far more valuable than any anything over the phone or online video chat.

 

[00:23:38] It’s like, yeah. It’s amazing what you can do over a discussion by the WaterCooler. That’s right. It takes 40 emails otherwise. Totally.

 

[00:23:47] All right. So let’s make sure our listeners know how to get in touch with B stock if they need it. I’m sure as much as we’ve enjoyed hearing what you had to say on the on today’s episode. How can they finally stop? Yeah.

 

[00:24:00] So we’re obviously going to be Starcom. And there’s information there about what we do. And, you know, if you want to reach out to us, there’s there’s avenues on that site, too, to to do so. You come by our booth here, right? Right. Fifteen. And then, you know. So social media. Right. You know, there’s LinkedIn posts that we’re doing where we’re talking about upcoming shows that we’re gonna be on as well. Yeah.

 

[00:24:25] All right. Love it. Um, and are you are you speaking at the conference this week?

 

[00:24:30] No. Uh, we are speaking, but someone else is already on the panel because you’ve got to get on a plane and fly somewhere, right?

 

[00:24:37] That’s right.

 

[00:24:40] I’m so glad we had a chance as busy schedules to sit down. Yeah. As I mentioned, we’ve been we’ve been tracking B stock a little bit since A they hit our early radar. And I love the work that your company and in similar companies are doing to tackle some of these challenges is only gonna probably get tougher before we really.

 

[00:25:00] You know, ask or I haven’t reached the point yet, have we? Right. Yeah. OK. We’ve been talking with Eric Moriarity with beast. Vise President B Stock The Pride of Bramford, Massachusetts, Brimfield, Brimfield, Massachusetts and close. Sorry about that. Can I ask one more question, please? That gives me a chance to get the town, right? Yeah, that’s right.

 

[00:25:20] Get the town right. That’s right. Tom Brady.

 

[00:25:24] Yeah, we’re 30000000. Yeah, absolutely. Don’t you think? I mean, I feel I feel guilty. Doesn’t even answer. And I’m proud of.

 

[00:25:33] So we’ve been we’ve had a few down moments here and I’ve watched the Super Bowl literally watch this year’s Super Bowl four times since the game ended just to make sure we still won.

 

[00:25:43] Yeah, but now they’re talking about off season things and this is a big a big item. Personally, I don’t think you can give Tom Brady too much. Yeah. Whether the Patriot Way allows you to do that. I’d say give him a quarter of the team. If he if you can’t give him money, give him the team because they are who they are. Because he is who he is. It’s just my opinion. Well, we’re pretty biased, but you guys got a great, great. Well, we’re hope. Well, the future. I think he might well, we might be setting the bar. The Hunt family might actually keep Patrick Mahomes a piece of the team. But anyway, I was just curious where you came down on that, because a lot of people think it’s too late to pay him the money they should have already been making anyway. And he gave it up for the team. Yes. He gave up money so that he could have better players around him.

 

[00:26:27] It’s time for Tom Brady to get paid. A lot. A lot of be said. The loyalty. Yes, right. I can see that. I agree. Okay. Good stuff. We’ve enjoyed a conversation with Eric and we’re already vise president B stock the product. Brimfield, Massachusetts gave me a second shot. Yes. Thank you very much, Scott. So don’t go anywhere just yet. We’ll wrap up on an expedited event schedule we’ve got coming up. We always like to invite our listeners to come out, check us out in person lot, much like we’re here today at the reverse Logistics Association conference and expo. Correct? That is what we’re in the expo. So we bet we’d better say that. That’s a good point. Good point. Brought to you by our friends at Cap Gemini. You should have that as well. Yeah, but we’re like.

 

[00:27:10] What’s the next event on the calendar? Yeah. So the next event is motets, right? In March 9th through the 12th in Atlanta. That is at the Georgia World Congress Center and amazingly huge facility. It better be for thirty five thousand thirty five thousand of your closest friends and small warehouse distribution product materials handling facilities built in the in the show floor. So it is an amazing spectacle to watch. And of course, during that time on day 2, um, March 10th, the 2020 Atlanta Supply chain Awards.

 

[00:27:46] So if you have a bosun’s, the 2020 Atlanta Supply chain of war. Don’t say we’re we’re proud to be bringing that to the market once again. Yeah.

 

[00:27:56] You’re too. We’ve got about 60 companies have been nominated. Nominations are still open. We’re not sure when this is going to publish, but nominations close February 15th. The big requirement that we’ve got probably 12 14 award different awards ranging from Technology Impact Day and Build Award to culture, actress excellence or Class Culture Award. But regardless, all the big requirement is you have to have some company has some kind of presence or operation in the metro Atlanta area, which is how many counties? Twenty nine. Beautiful counties, very large. You could be globally headquartered in Massachusetts or Canada or Kingsport, Jamaica. As long as you have some kind of operation, though. But look, look for that. From more informational mode X, by the way, it’s free to attend mode X show dot com for more information lately. UPS Supply chain Awards. You can go to Atlanta supply chain awards dot com. That complicated. Where we get the idea for that.

 

[00:28:53] Uria For I don’t know. It was here when I got here.

 

[00:28:55] So beyond that, we are proud to be partnering with the Automotive Industry Action Group for two upcoming events, right? The first one is the Corporate Responsibility Summit in Michigan, April twenty eight and twenty nine. And the second one, Greg, is yeah, that’s so there.

 

[00:29:11] So that’s their Supply chain summit, June 9th. And that is around the Detroit Auto Show. So I will get to phone and talk about a spectacle. Yeah, we’ve been we’ve been prodding Jim Liegghio to help us get tickets to the auto shows, maybe talk to some of our favorite people. They might be named Ford or Ferrari.

 

[00:29:34] We shall see. They, too. Yeah.

 

[00:29:36] And, uh, they A-G events are saying watching the Association for Manufacturing Atlanta 20:20 Lehne Summit, which comes to Atlanta May 4th through the 7th. We’ll be there on first day about conducting Ryder interviews with folks that love manufacturing and love continuous improvement. Okay. What do we miss?

 

[00:29:55] I can’t imagine that we missed the thing. Love Bienstock. Yeah, I love what they’re doing. Yeah. It’s. A really cool concept. Well, yeah, it is. It is got to be. And love manufacturers. Let three people, all the different players that are in and in Supply chain.

 

[00:30:09] But you’ve got a noble mission kind of baked into your business model. Yeah, that’s gonna be a very rewarding, gratifying.

 

[00:30:16] Yeah, it really is. It’s great to see you. Particuarly from the buyer side. To be honest with you. Lots of sprites. Moebs size business is flourishing, as we all know.

 

[00:30:25] I mean, you’ve made a career that really I mean, the buyers at your family’s antique shows were probably taken it back to their shop. That’s correct. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool, though. B stock that can talk about circular, right? Yeah.

 

[00:30:37] B, that can’t be stock that com to our listeners. Thanks for joining us once again. You can find our old podcast, older episodes, the all the events we talked about, other plenty other resources at supply chain now radio dot com. Check us out wherever you’re podcast from from Google podcast to Spotify to Apple podcasts or even YouTube. But be sure to subscribe. So messy thing. So on behalf of Greg White Scott Luton, stay tuned. As the Supply chain Now team continues its live coverage of the reverse Logistics Association conference next season.

Eric Moriarty serves as Vice President of B-Stock Solutions. Eric joined B-Stock in 2010 and has since grown the company’s client base by over 500%. He’s responsible for establishing and overseeing partnerships with some of B-Stock’s largest clients including Amazon, Whirlpool, Wayfair, Sears Holdings, and Lowe’s. Eric has decades of experience building successful B2B and B2C online marketplaces. Before B-Stock, Eric served as eBay’s first category manager and was a key contributor in developing and implementing category strategies, including writing the original business plan for category management. He later launched eBay’s New Business Group, incubating categories including Baby, Health & Beauty, Food & Wine, Gift Certificates and Aviation. He is responsible for some of the most expensive items ever sold on eBay, including Mark McGwire’s 70th Home Run baseball that sold for $3M, and a $4.9M business jet. After eBay, Eric founded an Internet retailing business in 2003 selling excess inventory from manufacturers on eBay and other Internet channels. In 2009, he became the CEO for Datalette, an online marketplace for data. He was a part of the founding team that launched the site, and signed up the company’s first 10 data partners; the company was sold to Bloomberg in 2010. Eric has an MBA from Babson College and a BA from Bowdoin College.

Greg White serves as Principle & Host at Supply Chain Now Radio. Greg is a founder, CEO, board director and advisor in B2B technology with multiple successful exits. He recently joined Trefoil Advisory as a Partner to further their vision of stronger companies by delivering practical solutions to the highest-stakes challenges. Prior to Trefoil, Greg served as CEO at Curo, a field service management solution most notably used by Amazon to direct their fulfillment center deployment workforce. Greg is most known for founding Blue Ridge Solutions and served as President & CEO for the Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader of cloud-native supply chain applications that balance inventory with customer demand. Greg has also held leadership roles with Servigistics, and E3 Corporation, where he pioneered their cloud supply chain offering in 1998. In addition to his work at Supply Chain Now Radio and Trefoil, rapidly-growing companies leverage Greg as an independent board director and advisor for his experience building disruptive B2B technology and supply chain companies widely recognized as industry leaders. He’s an insightful visionary who helps companies rapidly align vision, team, market, messaging, product, and intellectual property to accelerate value creation. Greg guides founders, investors and leadership teams to create breakthroughs that gain market exposure and momentum, and increase company esteem and valuation. Learn more about Trefoil Advisory: www.trefoiladvisory.com

 

Scott W. Luton is the founder & CEO of Supply Chain Now Radio. He has worked extensively in the end-to-end Supply Chain industry for more than 15 years, appearing in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Dice and Quality Progress Magazine. Scott was named a 2019 Pro to Know in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive and a 2019 “Top 15 Supply Chain & Logistics Experts to Follow” by RateLinx. He founded the 2019 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards and also served on the 2018 Georgia Logistics Summit Executive Committee. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and holds the APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) credential. A Veteran of the United States Air Force, Scott volunteers on the Business Pillar for VETLANTA and has served on the boards for APICS Atlanta and the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance. He also serves as an advisor with TalentStream, a leading recruiting & staffing firm based in the Southeast. Follow Scott Luton on Twitter at @ScottWLuton and learn more about SCNR here: https://supplychainnowradio.com/

 

Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode

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