Intro – Amanda Luton (00:00:05):

It’s time for supply chain. Now broadcasting live from the supply chain capital of the country. Atlanta, Georgia heard around the world. Supply chain. Now spotlights the best in all things. Supply chain, the people, the technologies, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.

Scott Luton (00:00:29):

Hey, good afternoon, Scott Luton and Greg white with you here on supply chain. Now welcome back to the show. Welcome to today’s live stream, Greg, how are you doing? I’m doing great, but I bet I’m not doing as great as you are live from st. Augustine it’s got in everybody. That’s right. We did take a show on the road as a one side of my family takes it’s vacation, isolated vacation down here at the beach, upon the Phedre. And, uh, but there’s no shortage of things to talk about. And the world of supply chain, which stops for no, no one, right? Greg? No doubt. So today we go in and keeps on changing. That’s right. And so today we continue our supply chain buzz series here on supply chain. Now you can find that every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, and it’s all about the, some of the latest developments and some quick takes on why they’re important and what to look for.

Scott Luton (00:01:23):

And we’ll continue that here today, as our aim is to help increase your supply chain. Aww, cute. Right? That a boy, even from the beach, you are straight on it. Hey, we’re working hard for our, our audience here, whether we’re on vacation, not so a quick programming before we get started with here today, if you like our live stream, check out our podcasts. I last week we launched our newest series feature. None other than Gregory Scott, white and tequila, sunrise, a tequila with a T E C H and Greg. You’ve gotten, you’ve heard all around the world from that first series. Yeah, it’s been a pretty, pretty impressive return. I mean, in like three days we had 600 listens as a podcast and of course we’re publishing it to other channels and that sort of thing. So got some great feedback. You’re going to see the result of your feedback, particularly Martin Olin from high looms.

Scott Luton (00:02:20):

Thank you. I’m going to see the results of your feedback in this next episode. So awesome. But I’m still busting out the smooth jazz voice because I am legitimately doing this at an unholy hour of the day. So that’s all the energy that I’ve got. Well, it came off well, well received. I certainly enjoyed it. The whole team enjoyed it. We’re hearing from a lot of folks and it’s different. It really stands out. It’s really dedicated to supply chain tech and a lot of cool and belt developments and it really taps into Greg’s expertise and experience. So great show, check it out wherever you get your podcasts from. And also today we published the latest installment of this week in business. It’s not as cool as tequila, sunrise, but

Greg White (00:03:01):

Caring, informative really. It’s a history lesson in business, and I think it’s good. It’s a good, gives a good perspective to folks as to where all this stuff came from. You started with a really exciting topic, the UPC symbol and this week, what are we talking about? We’re talking about

Scott Luton (00:03:21):

It was published today, all about the birth of the U S interstate highway system. You know, it’d be tough to have a $700 billion trucking industry, take her, leave a dollar without the interstate system, which really revolutionized a supply chain here in our country. Um, so, and of course we borrowed heavily from Germany.

Greg White (00:03:42):

Right? Right.

Scott Luton (00:03:44):

There’s a lot more of that story, uh, on this week in business history and to check that out and all of our shows wherever you get your podcasts from. Yep. Okay. So moving right along real quick, before we talk about one interesting note from June 29th, from the past, we want to say hello to a few folks. Stephan is back with us. Cigar is with us here on LinkedIn from India. Hello. Uh, let’s see. Uh, and he, uh, cigar you ask about supply the difference between supply chain analyst and supply chain management. We’ll see if we can circle back on that note at the end of today’s, uh, buzz. That’s a great question. And Hey, Felicia with reverse logistics association is with us, so great to see you.

Greg White (00:04:32):

Yeah, sure. Felicia

Scott Luton (00:04:34):

For you and Tony and the whole team are doing well. We look forward to reconnecting soon and finally the mountain man himself, Don long who journeys up the side of stone mountain seems like every Sunday now is tuned in as well. So hello, Don. Um, okay, so Greg, let’s take a look back. So today. Yeah. I can’t use my prop because I’m using it as part of this, on the road version of the bus bus.

Greg White (00:05:01):

I’ll use mine, please do.

Scott Luton (00:05:03):

All right. So, uh, you see the iPhone and Greg’s left-hand I believe, uh, on this day, say June 29th, 2011, Apple releases its first mobile phone. So let’s, let’s shed a little light on the background of that. So as much as the telephone, the automotive, the PC, numerous other inventions changed the world. The iPhone certainly changed the world when it was released in 2007 on June 29th, 2007. So at the time Apple’s only other handheld device was none other than the iPad. Do you remember those grades?

Greg White (00:05:40):

I do. In fact, I’ll tell you a little story about how I came to be an iPhone user, but go ahead, finish your thought. Okay. So, um, I’m a pair of fi

Scott Luton (00:05:50):

I’ve got a quote there from Steve jobs and the infamous rollout where he was sharing, you know, with, with Apple shareholders and teammates and the whole thing. And he talked about how that one device was going to pull together the phone, the iPod, and an internet connection, a internet browser. And he kept saying, do you get it? Do you get it? And it was just, you know, Steve jobs being Steve jobs made such a big impact. But back then in 2006. So the year before the dominant smartphone device manufacturers were Nokia research in motion that’s right. The folks behind the CrackBerry, which was the Blackberry was referred to at the time, Motorola and get this one, Greg, I’d forgotten about this one,

Greg White (00:06:37):

Palm. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:06:38):

All that. Those were big players in 2000.

Greg White (00:06:41):

I have one of those laying around also what were those things called? A PD PDA personal digital, digital assistant. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:06:55):

All right. So of course, any new venture, any new initiative has plenty of skeptics and there were two big notable skeptics related to the iPhone. Then Microsoft CEO, Steve Balmer told USA today in April, 2007, quote, there’s no chance that the app phone is going to get any significant market share.

Greg White (00:07:21):

Are the visionaries, the book Jim Palmer should say, thank you to bill Gates.

Scott Luton (00:07:29):

That is right. Uh, Jim Balsillie co CEO of research in motion at the time and Oh seven reportedly told the wall street journal quote. It’s okay. We’ll be fine in quote. Okay. So Hey, not those donors, anybody. We all, you know, we all have to wait into and make predictions from time to time. Um, the iPhone got the last laugh. It’s sold 6 million units in its first year, which is remarkable. Of course it turned the whole industry on its head, right. Especially in it’s all touchscreen screen. If you remember back in Oh six, most of the leading smartphone devices had a screen at the top and physical buttons at the bottom, right? The iPhone changed all that. Um, and it would be just as world changing for the market. It was world changing for Apple because it’s become essentially, maybe arguably the flagship product and very impactful to the bottom line and, and something they’ve been able to launch and go in different areas based on the success of so big date in history, June 29, 2007, the iPhone is launched. So Greg, you’re going to tell a little anecdote about how you

Greg White (00:08:38):

Yeah. So think what you will about Steve jobs as a person, arguably a terrible person, but a brilliant visionary, um, in 2005 or so I recall having a Blackberry because you had real time email on the device, which meant you weren’t tethered to a laptop. I had, um, an MP3, probably an iPad iPod. I don’t even remember. Yeah. I did have an iPod and um, and of course I had a phone. Right. Um, and then when, when Blackberry became a phone and a mobile device, I determined that I was never a phone and email. I determined that I wasn’t getting another new device until it was all in one. And just two years later here, it was so his ability to understand the latent, the latent need of the consumer and, and cure that and fix that and solve that problem is brilliant. He did likewise with even the Mac Macintosh back in the eighties.

Greg White (00:09:39):

Um, so it, and, and you can see exactly why Steve and Jim both didn’t get it. It wasn’t necessarily that they didn’t get it. I poke a little fun at Steve bomber, but, um, it was that they didn’t want to get it. And you also see how the big companies, um, established leaders in the industry. This is why they can’t disrupt. You got to remember that that jobs had come back to Apple and had reinvigorated their research and development and visionary capabilities. And frankly, when he was gone, they’ve never had the same capabilities since right there. They are now a biggest ag Bush company making incremental gains, not disrupting an industry. So the brilliance there is amazing, again, the ability. And I bet a lot of people felt the same way I did. I’m tired of having three devices. I’m not doing this again until somebody does something right. Oh, and enormous. And here it is. So, yeah.

Scott Luton (00:10:44):

And it continues, uh, uh, you’ve put it well, you put it well, it, it, it continues in its 13th, 14th year. And, uh, we’ll see what the next big, bold product, uh, out of Apple or other smart device players will maybe turn instruments head in the next few years. But, uh, I phone definitely did that 13 years ago as it was, it was launched on June 29th, 2007. Okay. Before we scanned the headlines, we’ve got a slew of folks that are weighing in. I think folks must be chomping at the bit talk supply chain, which we love. Uh, we have Javeed from Pakistan. Hope this finds you. Well, I think he’s tuned in via LinkedIn. Uh, hello. Javeed we have memory of course, memory tuned in from Johannesburg, South Africa. Hope you’re doing well watching practitioner there, uh, Derek Martin, Derek, and Murphy’s borough, Tennessee, where I believe clay. I’m not sure how close Murphysboro is to Maggie Valley, but we’ve got a team member headed that way. Uh, so hello, Derek, uh, on LinkedIn

Greg White (00:11:50):

Close closer to Nashville, right? South and East of Nashville.

Scott Luton (00:11:55):

I will trust your geography. Yeah,

Greg White (00:11:58):

Because I have dropped off my daughter at a birthday party there. Okay. There you go.

Scott Luton (00:12:06):

Alright. Thomas B. Thomas says, greetings, enjoy your program. He’s relocating from middle Tennessee to upstate South Carolina, and he’s looking for next, his next supply chain opportunity. So great to have you here on the program with this Thomas via LinkedIn and, uh, best of luck to, uh, via your move. And I’m sure you’ll find no shortage of opportunities in the upstate of South Carolina.

Greg White (00:12:33):

That’s a great stretch of road to drive. You’re looking for a supply chain gig. Absolutely.

Scott Luton (00:12:39):

Let’s see here. Von Donna is tuned in via LinkedIn from India, so great to have you here as well. Mmm Hmm. Gosh, we’ve got a, so I’m just gonna read these off real quick. I think clay is sharing the graphics behind the scenes, but just real quick, uh, welcome Pierre, uh, via LinkedIn, Rob via YouTube, uh, comma jello, uh, from YouTube and South Africa, uh, Joseph Valentine, Hey related maybe a third cousin, Tom Valentine is via LinkedIn. And I know that Joseph Valentine is a reverse logistics, uh, aficionados. So stick around Joseph for a story we’re going to cover.

Greg White (00:13:20):

So he worked in with my friends at, um, clarity capital partners. He’s doing an internship this summer with Steve Keaveny, who some of you might know has done some finance shows with us as well. Well, keep up the good work, Joe,

Scott Luton (00:13:35):

Keep up the good work small world and great to have you here. Finally, uh, Sylvia, Judy, a regular here on the bus, uh, greetings from Charleston, working on South Carolina, peach jam love

Greg White (00:13:49):

Sylvia she’s she must be, she must be producing that for the whole world. She was doing that last week too.

Scott Luton (00:13:56):

Okay. So let’s so welcome, everybody really appreciate the comments and the participation. That’s all about our audience and we appreciate all the, all the engagement. Um, so let’s kick off. So we’re going to scan a couple of headlights, a headline John’s on the front end here. We’re going to take a deep dive. Greg’s gonna lead us through a big story in the middle of the show. And then we’ll, we’re going to cover a couple of quick, uh, quick hitters from a headline standpoint, towards the end of the show, and then that’s going to be the buzz today. So today though kicks off a really big chapter for a really big company, really important program to get back up and running, even though the, the, the, the, the, uh, sluggish demand given the overall environment. What we’re talking about here is the seven 37 max and Boeing.

Scott Luton (00:14:43):

So in this story from Reuters, a Boeing seven 37 max or certification flights are reportedly to begin. So, as we all know, the seven 37 max, uh, has, um, that crisis has been made a lot worse due to the pandemic, but arguably even worse due to one of the big, um, um, developments brought around, uh, by the pandemic, which is hardly any air travel air travel, huge. And so naturally for if you’re an aerospace and aviation folks don’t need nearly if any of your products, um, and what also learned quick sidebar, Greg, over the weekend, do a little bit of research, um, is that it’s easier for Airbus Boeing’s main competitor to make sure companies take their orders, even if they don’t need them. And Boeing has a lot less leverage so that the hundreds of jets on order, we’ll see what happens with those, but I’m getting ahead of myself a little bit here.

Scott Luton (00:15:47):

So this particular aircraft and the massive supply chain behind it, it’s been grounded since March, 2019, which came on the heels of two deadly crashes, uh, that, that killed 346 people. Um, so the certification, the flight tests have been a long time coming, right? FAA, the federal aviation administration is making sure that Boeing’s fixes really gonna solve the problem and won’t lead to some of those deadly events again. So the certification flight tests will be focused on assessing and approving Boeing’s proposed changes to this automated flight control system. So as part of the testing, the test screw, which is actually made up of Fae administrators, and I think pilots and experts, and of course, Boeing team members, they’re going to intentionally trigger the reprogram stall prevention software, which is one of the key root causes. And I’m no pilot, but what I read a lot, and as, as, as we were uncovering the story and kind of the, the main causes behind these crashes is you had the software that w was telling that the plane was doing one thing, and the pilots were trying to over basically circumvent the software and fighting it.

Scott Luton (00:17:07):

And through the struggle we had these two deadly crashes. So, you know, big, important piece, this, uh, aviation, um, system to get fixed. So Greg get this, even if the seven 37 max passes, this week’s test the path ahead. There’s a ton, a lot or obstacles before they get that, that final green light. Right? So, but Greg, if let’s say the Greenlight happens, let’s, let’s, let’s, let’s wipe all that timeframe out. Let’s say the Greenlight happens this week. Even. It’s probably not going to happen before September, from what I understand, if everything goes well, but let’s say it happens this week. What happens? What does Boeing do?

Greg White (00:17:52):

Well, I mean, what better time though, to be testing aircraft than right now, it’s not unlike the fact that people are buying technology to fix the problems they’ve had caused in their supply chain right now they’re buying and implementing it because they have the time on their hands. And certainly Boeing has made good use of that, of this sort of downtime, but you’re right. It’s not, first of all, many of the orders have already been canceled. Um, airline flight is not, it’s down 92%, which is, I mean, virtually a hundred, right.

Scott Luton (00:18:28):

And it’s not going to get better. So get this, Greg you’re, you’re referring to current air travel and just how it’s fallen off a cliff, the international air transport association, which I believe one of my buddies told me is referred to as I ADA or I on one of the other, I’m sure I’ll get, I’ll get, I’ll get an email about that. Um, it estimates that global passenger traffic air traffic in 2021 is going to be down 25% are, uh, you know, 2019. If we use that as a baseline, right before the pandemic they’re projecting 2021 is going to be 25% down what 2019 was. So not just we see a heavy fall off now of air traffic, but we’re projecting that to stick around for quite some time. And what does that mean for Boeing and Airbus and, and, and everyone else involved in aerospace? Well, not only is there not a big demand for new aircraft, but it’s been said that the current inventory that these airlines already have, they get too much, too many aircraft and their current inventory. Yeah. So, um,

Greg White (00:19:41):

You know, yeah. Cause orders were canceled while product was in production, which apparently in some contracts you have the right to do, and there’s sort of a buyout of the contract for doing so.

Scott Luton (00:19:54):

And this is, you know, for those that, that may, um, you know, they, they may be hitting the supply chain buzz and the be, well, why, why are we tackling aviation? Well, this is really important. Uh, Boeing and these new programs are hugely important to the U S to the us economy. I would say the global economy based on just how everything’s connected these days. Um, and, you know, as we tackled a couple of months back, Greg, a lot of economic analysts were projecting GDP growth or lack thereof. Uh, one of the main factors was if this program, if phone was going to get things back moving again, because of these massive global supply chain, all the, all the thousands of suppliers and this, these are really important programs.

Greg White (00:20:37):

So, uh, hopefully

Scott Luton (00:20:40):

We all hope that Boeing gets good news this week. Most importantly, PR to protect, you know, the passengers, but certainly for some economic reasons as well. Right?

Greg White (00:20:50):

Look, the lesson here is do it right the first time. I mean, based on the reports that I’ve read, they cut corners on this technology. And that was a, that was one of the impacts to it. I’d love to hear from somebody if they know more details, but, but you can see when you go back through the analysis of this process, that they clearly didn’t put enough diligence into it, right. Regardless of whether they quote unquote cut corners, if they had put enough diligence into it, there wouldn’t have been the problems that they had. And they wouldn’t been wouldn’t have been as pervasive as they could be. This is a great lesson to anyone in any business, but certainly in supply chain is think about the worst case scenario. I want to do this as well.

Scott Luton (00:21:39):

My apologies. I think I’ve got a little bit of lag on my end, Greg. Sorry. I didn’t mean to step on your toes there. Um, the all got you. You’ve got me good. Yeah, we’re good. Okay. Alright.

Greg White (00:21:51):

Um, Hey, real quick. And I hear in the background by the way. Oh boy. If it didn’t look and see this little, this, this contraption I’ve got set up for this last year,

Scott Luton (00:22:00):

It may be funny, but Hey, real quick play. If we could share, I want to share Stevens and peer’s comments here. Uh, Steven makes a great point, Stephen. Sorry, if you could share Stephan’s point about investing in a time of turmoil will certainly have a positive effect on Boeing, even though the reputation recovery will take significantly longer. That’s a great point. Great point. Uh, so thanks for, for, uh, contributing to that. And of course, thanks for being here. Also Pierre shares contractually, it will be interesting to know how many, seven 37 max airplanes are obligated versus new orders.

Greg White (00:22:39):

That’s another great, great question. I wish I had the answer for that, for sure. I’m sure there is something out there that addresses that because I know that months and months ago the initial discussion was around the cancellation of a lot of those orders. Yep.

Scott Luton (00:22:55):

Um, and let’s also share hope, hope white is with us here today. I hope white via LinkedIn hope. Uh, I might get, might get this wrong, but I believe you and Greg were part of the procurement Foundry, uh, events last week. So I missed your session, but great to have you here

Greg White (00:23:10):

On our, on the buzz on LinkedIn CEO. So approves, we can pull the heavy hitters, right. That is right. Everybody, of course. But yeah, it was great. That was a great session. Um, by the way, if you’re in procurement, the, the, um, sessions were recorded. So you can go back to the Slack channel, uh, and, and check that out a lot. Actually, a lot of the people that we see here in the feed, where were there

Scott Luton (00:23:39):

Outstanding, and Greg hit a home run as usual from what I have heard, and I wouldn’t expect anything less, Greg, your sessile filter.

Greg White (00:23:48):

I was simply a moderator and Joe main from Papa John’s and Paul Emmer from edible arrangements talked a lot about last mile delivery and who has been doing last mile delivery longer than pizza, if you think about it. Right. I mean, in Joe, Joe started out with pizza huts, so he’s been doing it a long time even by pizza standards. So there’s a lot of really valuable information there. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:24:17):

Okay. So moving right along our second quick headline, we’re going to hit before we take a deep dive on retail. Uh, let’s talk about Fox con, uh, and some of the sorts of moves that have already been in motion. They’re just going to be amplified a bit. So, as we all know, tit tensions continue to simmer between the U S and China on a number of fronts, certainly to include trade and, and technology concerns. Foxconn is the world’s largest contract manufacturer. It’s actually based in Taiwan. And it’s looking for ways to mitigate the risk that these tensions pose to it. Supply chain, as, as a lot of companies are trying to figure that out, right, while investing in growth opportunities. So protect current business while continuing to invest in what’s going to make them money down the road. Uh, the company is going to be investing more and more into the company’s footprint in particular in India and Taiwan. And this story comes from the Nikkei Asian review. Um, Foxconn has, they kind of saw some of these things coming. They’ve been re relocating capacity from China since 2018. Of course, one of the biggest reasons is they want to shield their products from us tariffs,

Greg White (00:25:26):

Right? Um,

Scott Luton (00:25:28):

Beyond Taiwan and India, which are going to, or getting some of these investments now. And some of the investments that come Vietnam has also been the beneficiary of Foxconn investment, where they’ve put in about 203, you a 200, 3 million us dollars into its footprint than Vietnam, but beyond tariff concerns. Another reason why a Foxconn is moving some of these operations around in particular, some of the operations come back to TA, um, uh, Taiwan is due to some of its American clients and their concerns, their cyber security concerns. So lots of movement here for a couple of big reasons beyond investing in its current supply chain for current products and re and mitigating that risk with these moves. A lot of their new investments are tech or are focused on electric vehicles, robotics of course, and products related to smart medical devices. So fi interesting moves to see, uh, what Fox Foxconn has been up to Greg, as well as where they’re going from here.

Greg White (00:26:34):

Well, I got to tell you any, the government of Taiwan has to be relishing this move because relationships between and China have long been Rocky to say the least China actively trying to keep Taiwan out of prominent international organizations. That battle has been going on forever. There have to be some smiling faces in Taiwan. And I have to say, I’m smiling right along with them. Um, they, uh, honestly I personally, this, this is personal opinion. We’re supposed to announce that right. Personal opinion. I feel like Taiwan has been treated incredibly unfairly by the international community and largely at the hand of China. So this is a pleasing development from a lot of standpoints, but not the least of which it limits our exposure to someone we know is a hostile, a trade partner, not even just trade partner, right. I mean, the cybersecurity issues are not really around trade they’re around IP compromise, they’re around, um, you know, defense, it compromise Walway’s, uh, issues are well-documented. So, um, it’s been a long time coming. It’s good to see. It’s good for the economies of companies that have good relationships and, um, with the United States. So it’s pretty pleasing to see from my standpoint.

Scott Luton (00:28:02):

Yeah. And you know, um, this, these developments are very, to, to your point about the relationship between mainland China and Taiwan and these developments, especially as they get more press certainly are not going to help some of the tensions, but you know, Foxconn’s doing what any other, uh, supply chain, uh, company leadership will be doing and that’s know, protecting the products, protecting the customers, protecting the shareholders. And, uh, we’ll see how, you know, where we, where it goes from here. So, uh, moving right along, uh, Greg, or in our next story, we are going to shift gears and we’re going to take a deep dive into a story coming to us from the great folks over at supply chain die, right?

Greg White (00:28:47):

Yes. Matt Leonard, who also, you know, usually we talk about Emma cause Grove, but Matt has done some great articles again, by the way, this is an unpaid endorsement. I can’t say enough about the quality of reporting, uh, and, and the, um, great communication capability that you get from the folks at supply chain dive anyway, that’s enough, Sarah. And they have, they have, um, they have publications in a number of industries, but yes, let’s talk about the impact that coronavirus and this seismic societal disruption that we, um, inflicted on ourselves in response to it has had. And as you can see here in sale in April sales dropped plummeted 14%, right from March from the previous month and 18 4% from April 19. So this is from a, um, uh, manufacturing and trade inventory and sales report from the us census Bureau, uh, for the month of April.

Greg White (00:29:55):

And, um, at the same time in the inventory to sales ratio, for those of us who are actually in manufacturing or distribution or retail, we call it inventory turns or inventory turnover, the inventory, turn it. So I’m going to use that term going forward. The inventory turnover rate went from 1.3900000000000001 in April of 2019 to 1.69 in April of 2020. Now there’s a lot of speculation on why that occurred with sales dropping so dramatically, again, opinion, but for the, for it to tick up so much in such a short period of time, literally one month, what I believe has happened though, neither of these are articles or, or reports say, so what I believe has happened is that while sales went down, the, the imports or the, the delivery of goods also went down due to the stoppage of, of commerce. Um, and that allowed inventories to tick down just slightly zero, uh, sorry, 1.3% inventories were down 1.3%. So, um, so, um, you know, the spike, I think is largely an anomaly. It’s not an indication that companies are managing their inventories that much more effectively, and certainly you wouldn’t have ever seen a spike in normal conditions where sales dropped 18% and inventory turns actually went up.

Greg White (00:31:32):

Just wanted to pause there for a minute so that everyone in retail, manufacturing and distribution could chuckle a little bit, because I know they’re going. Yeah, of course. Um, but, um, John gold, who Scott, we interviewed in Vegas right at the RLA, um, gathering event in February, which seems like a decade ago now, which was the premier place to be, uh, for the entire world of reverse logistics, the center of the universe. And it’ll be coming up again in February. That’s right. We met some great folks who are dealing with circular economy and reverse logistics and sustainability there. But, um, John Gold’s said, uh, he, one of his insights was, he said, it all comes down to the impact from the Corona virus. But this, this I found, um, particularly interesting from Moody’s all department stores are already saddled with spring inventory purchased before the shutdown that they cannot sell through their brick and mortar stores.

Greg White (00:32:34):

John gold goes on to say that many of those goods will be shelled and offered next, um, next spring. So, and we’d heard about that, right? This is something we had reported on some months ago with, I think LVMH and some other brands shelving their goods, even before they sent them to retailers or claiming them backs or encouraging the retailers to rebox them and save them to till next year. So we won’t really know what color is the new black this year, because it could be saved until next year. So if orange is in fact the new black, it will be the new color for 2021. So, um, but there’s, there’s a lot of, um, concern around stale inventory and things like that. And re and recognize that a lot of what we’re talking about is not perishable or grocery goods here because the sales work we’re actually trending the opposite direction, but think hard goods, hardware, um, soft goods, clothing shoes, that sort of thing. A lot of those fast moving or in sometimes just non fast moving consumer goods, those have been heavily impacted. That’s right.

Scott Luton (00:33:54):

Hey, today, I want to share a couple of comments. One comment, one question from the audience here. So clay, if we could share a T squared a comment via YouTube, it sounds like he says shortage gaming in the making, um, interesting perspective there. And then Pierre Greg, if you’re ready, pier has got a great question for you. Yep. Peer says, Hey, would the length of the global supply chain drive the short term inventory increase as the sales drop was real time and the inventory kept coming? Any comments or,

Greg White (00:34:28):

Well, so actually the inventory dropped 1.3%. Um, so I think, I think the length of the supply chain had the impact that you’re thinking of Pierre, but consider this a lot of the goods we’re talking about came from China. So the stoppage of commerce in China was before many of the stoppage in many other countries, but yes, the length of the global supply chain did drive that short term inventory decrease. And we’re starting to see that come back, right, because China also recovered allegedly from the pandemic and started shipping and producing earlier than other countries came out of lockdown. I think Pierre, what we’ll see is we’ll start to see as T squared, that person gave us their name before, and I can’t remember it, but, um, the T squared was talking about where the goods that had been held will start to be released or have been released.

Greg White (00:35:32):

And they will start to show up on shores and shelves in the very near future. We’ve seen recovery of the supply chain with a vengeance, the bullwhip starting to crack, right. Uh, for domestic goods. And I think we will continue to see that, um, for imported goods, for sure. Yeah. Great, great perspective there, Greg. Great question pier. That is a great question. And to square, appreciate your commentary there. I think the point to that is by the way, just really quick, the point to that is, um, the effect of this will be longer lasting. And we’ve again, we talked about this, but Scott, it seems like we talked about this ages ago too. So it’s worth reiterating the effect of this whiplash effect will be, um, bullwhip effect is going to feel like whiplash, um, because of the length of supply chains. And we’ll be seeing this for some months to come.

Greg White (00:36:31):

I think one other thing that’s worth noting is that Moody’s, uh, the, the, uh, research organization. Moody’s also said that margins will take a major hit as department store retailers, try to figure out how to, how to get rid of the success of inventory as it does continue to come in, or as it has already arrived and starts to go out of season it’s summer, by the way, in, in the Northern hemisphere. So the impact is already being felt it’s frankly too late for spring goods jackets. Although, um, I see jackets in the few places that I shop, my fashion consultant is Costco and they had a, they had a number of jackets, uh, which in the South, it is way too light for, it’s going to be 90 degrees Fahrenheit here today and 90, approximately 90% humidity. So no jacket required. That’s right. Good stuff.

Greg White (00:37:29):

They’re moving right along from the deep dive article here today. And to, we’re going to scan a couple of headlines here real quick for dive into this headline, uh, just want to recognize [inaudible] I may be mispronouncing your name and I apologize, please shoot me a note and let me know, uh, so I can get it right. But she was asking about, um, uh, going back to the FOS con story was asking about, Hey, are they going to be, is Fox Foxconn going to be reducing the footprint in China as they start moving out in the year? That, that when you, when you take capacity out of, you know, plants and one country, and you add it to other plants or other facilities, you’re, you’re essentially reducing your footprint. However, Stephan, uh, shared a great comment on the heels where he kind of talks to her question that, you know, uh, and if we can share Stephen’s, uh, comment here, uh, the Foxconn is, is they’re kind of hedging cause they want to protect, uh, the infrastructure they have and, and protect their footprint in the Chinese market. Because look we’ve said this, if we’ve said it, once we said it a thousand and, and

Scott Luton (00:38:36):

You know, China is not just going away, right. A major player, major manufacturing player, major economy, uh, as Greg talked about the advantages and some of the resources you have in China are, are tough to find impossible, fine, certainly here in the States. So, you know, we’re seeing as everyone expected, some changes, some, some, uh, chips being moved to the, on the proverbial table, but China’s still gonna be a major player. And the go ahead.

Greg White (00:39:04):

Um, well, okay. Let me finish this thought real quick though. Um, the, the reality is that if you want to sell in China, you pretty much have to produce in China. Um, they, they, they allow imports, but they heavily, as we know, they heavily tariff those imports and they give preference to anyone doing business with a company in China. So

Scott Luton (00:39:26):

Point, and, and further that point is you got to play by their rules and in a way that exists in very few countries. I mean, they’ve got, they’ve got all the power, um, and I don’t want to elaborate too much on that, but it’s, it’s just, it’s a different landscape that you’ll find even with all the regulation we have here in the States and other countries, it’s a whole different ball game in China, but, um, they still are going to be a major player. All right. So let’s dive into headline number three and, and appreciate the questions in the comments there in, in the, um, uh, it looks like in the LinkedIn channel on today,

Greg White (00:40:05):

I gave you a smiley face. So I think you got her name, correct?

Scott Luton (00:40:09):

Well, that that’d be a first, I, I appreciate that. Appreciate it. All right. And I promise you not from any short of, uh, any, a dearth of effort. Um, so y’all, y’all keep the feedback coming. Alright. So in this third headline, we’re going to be talking about also coming to us from, from the great folks over at supply chain, dive Jen Miller. In this case, we are talking about the coming title wave of return. So, uh, this is a really neat story. According to a survey conducted by Optoro, which is, is a, um, a dominant name in the returns and reverse logistics space. And as reported by supply chain, dive consumers have been sitting on a stock pile of products that they plan to return. I can almost picture that in my mind, Greg,

Greg White (00:40:55):

You’re adding here, you can’t return toilet paper, toilet paper, and paper towels is what I imagine. People holding

Scott Luton (00:41:05):

Toro Optoro conducted a poll of more than 2000 us residents in may, more than a third of those poll that participated said, they’re holding at least one return. My hunch is that they’re holding one there’s, there’s probably several.

Greg White (00:41:20):

Yeah, yeah, right.

Scott Luton (00:41:23):

While stores were closed. So they’re holding them because they can’t walk back into these stores and, and, and, uh, get their refund that way. Nate Barrett with Epic server makes a great point in this article. You know, the tidal wave of returns is not unique. It takes place every year. Anyway, it’s just, it’s happening at a different point in time. Think about what takes place in January. You know, we’ve had great folks from ups. Come on and talk about it. Now that, you know, December everybody’s taking a deep breath after the holidays, a lot of their, a lot of their work is just starting to kick off as it, as it comes back. The other way, busiest shopping day of the year is December 26th, right. Returns. So it’s not, so it’s not like, um, retailers aren’t prepared. It’s just a different time. And, and, and, and of course the pandemic environment, which is the other big thing here.

Scott Luton (00:42:15):

So in the months ahead, companies are gonna have to handle the big returns while protecting the workforce. Right? And, and, and there’s a lot of challenges that go into, you know, ensuring physical distancing and other precautions at these sites. So that, that is, that is different. That’s a definitely a different dynamic, but, but, you know, companies are going to do, they’re going to lean heavily on technology. The savviest organizations are going to really use technology to quickly assess what’s coming expedite, uh, the decision and reconciling so that, you know, it doesn’t linger on shelves and take up highly valuable warehouse space for months on end, which some of that’s going to happen in industry. Anyway, unfortunately, um, one last key point in this story and Greg, we were talking about in recent weeks, um, as consumer buying patterns, which many folks thought were temporary, there’s more and more evidence and data that shows that’s going to be longer term that these, these changes in how we purchase things and why, and when and what that there’s going to be some longer term ramifications.

Scott Luton (00:43:23):

And we’re seeing supply chains go ahead and make bets based on these changes. Well, as you might expect, how we return things, there’s been some differences in the data thus far, and we’re gonna, it’s gonna be a lot of eyes on coming back the other way that reverse supply chain to see if some of these preferences are short term versus we need to make some, some longer term adjustments. So no shortage of homework and due diligence we’ll be done. But, uh, Hey, I hope we do see stores opening in, in the weeks and months ahead because we’re getting a lot of good news from the, how the, the curve remains flattened, not disappeared as Greg likes to talk about, but, uh, we’re all looking for some good news, but Greg weigh in on this flood of returns and how it’s kind of coming in in this second peak season essentially, was what we’ve been seeing here in recent months. Yeah, well, I think a great example is Coles who many have probably forgotten, had an agreement with Amazon to take their returns in their stores. And I just read an article recently, they’re prepared that they are prepared for this, um, huge spike

Greg White (00:44:32):

In returns, Michelle gas, their CEO, very forward thinking. They’re starting to ramp up their eCommerce capabilities, which, uh, is, uh, interesting. That’s an interesting take because by the way, they were already in the top 10 in terms of eCommerce sites, uh, to begin with, but they’ve also reconfigured the stores during this downtime. So that taking returns from Amazon are not as cumbersome, burdensome, and also enable a distancing. Um, so they’ve got a segment of the store that’s dedicated to that. So there are retailers that are ready for it. There are retailers that were, um, struggling to begin with that. Aren’t ready for it. I would argue some of these ones that have been circling drain Macy’s, uh, GNC, just, just declared bankruptcy. A number of retailers are circling the drain or else have already declared bankruptcy or liquidation. Um, those are going to be difficult and I would encourage you to know the status, the health of your retailer before, and to determine when you make those returns, because if peer one is out of business, they can’t take your returns.

Scott Luton (00:45:49):

Yeah. Yep. That’s true. That is a very true point there. Greg loved it.

Greg White (00:45:57):

Well, it’s, I mean,

Scott Luton (00:45:59):

Share Joseph Valentine right on Tom. Uh, he’s got a comment here. Of course, this is his, this is his, his love in life. So, uh, clay, if you could share that comment from Joseph. All right. So just a Valentine writes great point with having a return season and that we have experienced this before, but warehouse space will be an issue. The influx of new inventory backlog and warehouses not working at max capacity may be the biggest issue. Great point, Joseph

Greg White (00:46:30):

Greg tell he’s related to Tom Valentine. Is it a, that’s a great insight, probably learned over the dinner table would be my guest. So great. That’s a great study, Joseph. Um, and I think also store capacity is a concern as well. The store capacity for some of these returns will be significant because, uh, companies have been continuing to fill their stores, though. I have to say again, I was at Costco yesterday. I’ve never seen a Costco store as low on inventory as it was, and yet not out of stock. So my speculation, this is my speculation as a retailer, a demand planning person, supply chain inventory planning expert is that they are keeping inventory. Low inventory is low to maximize cash flow while demand remains relatively low.

Scott Luton (00:47:24):

All right. Okay. Every day is Valentine’s day. So a good point there, Josie, we’re going keep on driving to buzz headline. Number four, it’s gonna be a little different than other stories here. Um, you know, we enjoy monthly collaboration with Mike Griswold over at Gardner is one of the w w one of the gurus and, and easy to listen to various, very practical, um, analyst owned global supply chain, especially in retail. Um, Gardner releases, 2020 supply chain, university rankings here a few weeks back. These rankings now are evaluated. We’re going to focus on the undergrad that they did evaluate graduate programs, but for the sake of this little blurb here, we’re going to focus on the undergrad side. So they ranked all these programs in three key areas, program scope, industry value, which includes diversity of faculty and student classes and program size, right? Those are the three main criteria.

Scott Luton (00:48:20):

I’m sure there’s others, but those are the dominant areas. And we’ve got a new number one. So congrats to the university of Arkansas. I think they say they’re in Arkansas. Woo pig, suey. Greg. I don’t know if you ever heard of that. Something like that. I stole that from my, my, um, brother-in-law so he, yeah, he’s a, he’s a UGA fan, but so I’m going to trust what Ramsey told me. We will pig suey. Nevertheless, nevertheless, congrats to Arkansas. The number one ranked, according to gardener, number one, ranked a supply chain under undergraduate program for 2020. Now to round out the top 10, we couldn’t go that we can’t go through everything, but ran out of top 10 Rutgers number two, Penn state of course, number three, Texas. Number four, South Carolina, number five, Tennessee, number six, Auburn, number seven, North Eastern university, number eight, Michigan state venerable number nine.

Scott Luton (00:49:16):

And of course, Georgia tech also venerable, uh, coming in number 10. Here’s one other cool thing. Um, we have Morgan state university represented by T squared on this livestream, right? A HBU, a Howard university, also an HBU. This is the first year they’ve made the rankings. What guess what? They came in at 13. Yeah. What a splash when you’re going to participate in, in this program for the first year. So congrats to Howard that came in at number 13 in their first year. Well, Hey, one more, one more shout out because while not, not a supply chain, undergrad graduated from North Carolina, a and T also an HBCU and they moved up pretty significantly. And I think another point to make here is that some of the stalwarts, first of all, it’s hard to overestimate someone moving above Penn state as, as the number one supply chain undergraduate program that you can’t, you cannot overstate that shift. And I have to tell you, I read the article about it

Greg White (00:50:28):

From, um, university of Arkansas before I saw the report. And I was stunned. I literally had to, I literally had to go back to Gartner and say, okay, where is everyone else in this thing? Because of course from the university of Arkansas, they really only talked about them. Penn state falling, uh, Tennessee, Auburn, Michigan state, and Georgia tech, all falling in the ranking and some new, um, your Alma mater, university of South Carolina, moving up, Marquette Howard, as you said, moving up NCA and T and a number of others moving up. So the, um, the field is changing, right? Uh, so that’s, that is significant to, to think about

Scott Luton (00:51:15):

Agreed, Hey, T squared, correct to me. Cause I think it’s something wrong here. It is HBC historically black college and or university. So my apologies, HBC U that’s important. Um, alright, so I should, I should add also and memory says, Hey, great point about taking note of the status. Uh, let’s see here.

Greg White (00:51:37):

Hmm. Well, I got it. Yeah.

Scott Luton (00:51:40):

In preparation for returns at my apologies, I thought memory was weighing in on, on the supply chain programs member, hope you’re doing well. Um, let’s talk about some of the key findings from this exhaustive research that Gardner puts in to each of these, uh, these lists and my phone was not cooperating. So I had to adjust to hear Greg. So bear with me here.

Greg White (00:52:06):

You need a sec.

Scott Luton (00:52:07):

I’m good. Three key trends. Yep. So number one, there is a ton of curriculum expansion taking place on this. Doesn’t this shouldn’t surprise anyone, right? Because just like the definition of supply chain has completely moved in the last 10 years, all everything that you’ve got to prepare supply chain leaders for with any reputable program, it is not going to be just a couple of classes. So no worry, no surprises that the curriculum is expanding. Number two more schools, according to the research are really ramping up their usage of polling industry, which I love right to make sure they know they’ve got our finger on the pulse of what companies are doing, what supply chain leaders doing that are out there in the real real world, so to speak. So I love that. And then thirdly, which I probably love the most programs are forks focusing more on, on diversity and con and inclusive inclusion as a true differentiator though, not just lip service and baking that into in the, and of course, gardeners measuring. Uh, that’s one of the big components as a measure of the rankings here. So now Greg, now that I think I’ve gotten all that, all that out after my 18th cup of coffee, please weigh in. And, and what else do you think this is telling us? Well, I think

Greg White (00:53:26):

It’s telling us that the field is changing. I think it also tells us, and I think Barb Sexton just brought this up in the feed. It’s also telling us that there are lots of ways to evaluate programs. Um, and that’s a pretty significant conflict between the U S news and world report, which is widely regarded as the ranking of colleges and universities. Um, because Arizona state is 15th on this list and two on the U S news and world report list. At the same time, Gardner has such an incredible depth of expertise in supply chain. I will actually go take a look at us news and world report. I will, because I think that it’s probably worth reconciling their methodologies there, but I tend to put a lot of faith in wa and while I’m a huge Arizona state fan, by the way, um, I tend to put a lot of, of credit, a lot of credibility into anything Gartner does because they have such an incredible research organization and they go to painstaking depths to ensure that their analysis is, is a valid way. Uh, you know,

Scott Luton (00:54:35):

We will try w w we’ll see how this plays out. We’ll try to cover the, the us news rankings and Barb. Great to have you as always, uh, Arizona state program. Undoubtedly is a fine program. One of the best. Okay.

Greg White (00:54:49):

Yeah. We’ve uh, interviewed one of their professors. Yep. Chatter Betty, dr. Charter, Betty. That’s right. Yeah. What a dynamic instructor that cat is, if you, if you can only do it online, I would suggest you take a class from him. Absolutely.

Scott Luton (00:55:06):

Hey, uh, let’s re let’s recognize a few of the comments here. Um, memory, uh, does weigh in. I think she tuned into the gardener webinar that released these rankings, and she says the Gardner webinar was very informative. It was interesting to note how project management skills ranked amongst the must have skills. That’s an excellent point. You know, companies certainly in supply chain otherwise are leaning heavily on proven project management skills to digest this change, which is only getting faster and faster. Uh, Alfredo, uh, Freightos tuned in via LinkedIn from Tijuana, Mexico. So Alfredo hope this finds you well there. Appreciate you joining us on LinkedIn. Uh, Fred Tolbert says team supply chain will crack top 10 soon. Now Fred mentors, the team supply chain at the university of Georgia. That’s their supply chain management. Um, uh, programming has gotten stronger and stronger in recent years. Uh, let’s see here, let’s say, uh, Stephan, if we could share a Stephan’s point there, he says, nice. I’m hoping to get a voluntary position at my local apex chapter, hoping to further supply chain education at universities. What makes the biggest impact?

Greg White (00:56:20):

Last thing I’ll share a quick one. Cause we’re, we’re,

Scott Luton (00:56:24):

We’re, um, you know, we’re going to be at our hour that we try to target on the outset here, but really quick. It’s about allowing undergraduates, see how it goes. It takes place in the real world. And, and, and we’re, we’re seeing a lot of schools here locally in the Metro Atlanta area from Georgia tech back to UGA, to Kennesaw state, to Clayton state. We’re seeing them bring in a lot of supply chain leaders and having them speak to or better yet. We’re seeing them take students out on plant tours. And the UGA program took big team out to the local Caterpillar plant, um, on a tour. I was part of, um, I don’t know, it’s been a little while, but that real world immersion is so important. It really marries well with, you know, teaching them the best practices and the curriculum and, and, and, you know, the core skills you’ve got to learn.

Scott Luton (00:57:14):

But marrying that with the outside influence, Greg, what would be your one, uh, big impact? Well, I think getting involved with the students is, is really important. Um, you know, as I think about Stephan, I feel like we know him now, right. Um, we know that he lost his negotiation for dog versus cat with his wife prudent to do that also by the way. But, um, we, um, I think the impact and we’ve seen it with Latiya Thomas and our, our own intern, Noah, Noah, and at Morgan state, the, the thing where you can have the place where you can have the most impact, Fred Tolbert does it at university of Georgia as well is to get engaged with the students. So an apex chapter, um, then I would suggest find one at a university nearby and get engaged with that somehow and help those students learn what you know, or what you hope to learn, learn it together.

Scott Luton (00:58:14):

Great point, uh, score. I want to share T squared, first comment there on YouTube. He says the industry is getting more notice at the undergrad level. He got a bit by the bug at the grad level. So thanks for sharing that, you know, that’s that, um, that’s a great comment because I think until we you’ve seen the proliferation of the supply chain programs at two, two year schools at four year schools at the undergrad level, I think a lot of folks were getting a finding out about how they can, they can, uh, uh, obtain supply chain credentials after they’ve already been out in the workforce. That’s a great point in love to see these undergrad programs get stronger and stronger. And then Claudia also shares on LinkedIn and thank goodness Claudia. I hope this finds you well, wonderful episode a few weeks back, Claudia says the proof of any of these programs is in the employment rate of their graduates.

Scott Luton (00:59:06):

It used to be graduation rate, but now it should be gainful employment. Well said, well said, I love that. Alright, so we got to wrap up this segment, Greg, we’re going to kind of move into wrap up mode here. We enjoyed you. And I both enjoy the SAP Sapphire. Now programming that wrapped up about, uh, we can some change. Did you go, I love how they had a, an artist come in and for each of the different, um, practices, so to speak each different channels for us, we focus most of our time on the procurement channel and they, and, and this artist, this clearly very talented artists kind of put together if some of the key points made now, I love this, but I think it’s missing one key point. We made Greg that I really loved that Chris Hayden shared, do you know which one that was?

Greg White (00:59:58):

You want me to say it? Or do you want me that’s smashing the silos, right, right. Yes. It’s not a big old sledgehammer smashing silos. You’re right.

Scott Luton (01:00:10):

I love that for a variety of reasons. We all know, um, uh, S uh, silos and, and that kind of that principle or that vehicle for conveying how you’ve got islands of excellence or in some cases sounds of lack of excellence and how folks don’t talk to each other, not communicate at management leadership levels and otherwise, but I believe in this day and age, there is that smashing silos goes much further than just supply chain. And it is about, you know, there’s all, it’s not just unique to supply chain. It goes to business, the greater business world and how we’ve got to bring people together, get them talking, talk, and get them talking about uncomfortable things. And, and it’s going to further the industry. It’s going to further our ability to lead, navigate

Greg White (01:00:55):

Through some change supply chain related supply chain related or otherwise. When you talk about things, they cease to be uncomfortable because you come to a common understanding, right? You come to an understanding of this is what supply chain needs for merchandising and vice versa. So, or, or pick a department, pick an organization, pick a group of peoples. If you discuss it and you come to a common understanding, then it ceases to be, it just becomes a conversation. And it becomes very, very productive. Yep.

Scott Luton (01:01:27):

Stephan you’re right. It is surprisingly different Colt to smash silent. Any means whether you’re talking about, you know, any factor implant, when, when, when you want to really act on affective SNOP planning. So you’re trying to bring the sales team together with the production team, uh, or if you’re talking about and, and other different areas. And especially in the, in the broader sense, it’s gotta get, it’s gotta be done. That’d be done, especially for enterprise success. And for that matter, just for us to address some of the, uh, the issues of the day. Okay. So the good news is all the, uh, procurement channel via Sapphire. Now all the replays of the key notes discussions are available. Leave clay. We’ve included that link in the show notes of today’s buzz. Uh, so yeah, you can check out that programming for yourself. Hey Greg, before we move to our next event, we’re going to share with folks any last words about SAP Sapphire now,

Greg White (01:02:25):

Uh, it was an incredible amount of free learning, right? From some of the best companies in the world, Porsche and, and is, is the one that comes to top of mind to me, of course, and the car guy. Um, but there, there was a tremendous amount of learning there. And I just think it’s, um, it was a big step. Let’s put it this way. It was a big step for a company like SAP to take a, an event from which they made enormous revenue last year, and completely flip it on its head and then give it away. That was a huge step. And we’re seeing that over and over again, it started with AIG the automotive industry action group, right after mode X. Um, and we’re seeing companies finally get the value of what it is. We do sharing community information, sharing community education to the community for free, right. And I think that is a, that’s a really powerful awakening. And I think it will increase the rapidity with which silos are smashed and supply chain grows.

Scott Luton (01:03:40):

Love that. I couldn’t say it any better. I appreciate you sharing Greg and appreciate all the comments there. Okay. So speaking of smashing silos, and speaking of talking about subjects, that can be uncomfortable, but we’ve got to talk about them. We invite each of you to join us for a special event on July 15th, where we’re simply trying to help facilitate a discussion and conversations, and really just continue the dialogue, right? We’re not going to solve all the world’s ills and 92nd webinar. And trust me, that’s not lost on us. However, if we don’t continue to work to try to just help learnings and Frank conversation take place, then you know, we’re not doing enough to help us tackle and digest. Some of the change has got to take place. So July 15th, we’ve got an outstanding panel with Tandra David and DC, and also we have our audience and just like in today’s buzz, Greg, our audience is going to bring their perspective, their questions, their experiences, their insights, this whole standup and sound off platform is built for that. Right? We want you to be the voice of, and for you to lead the discussion. Greg and I are going to be there just to kind of keep it between the posts and keep things moving and, and help facilitate it. Right. Questions and answers and whatnot. But please join us July 15th. We’re very pleased also to be sponsored the session, be sponsored by our friends over at source connect. Um, and, and that has allowed us, Greg, I think we can let the cat out of the bag one. Why don’t you

Greg White (01:05:11):

Sure. Um, well, source connect has, has given us some sponsorship dollars and we decided we would that on to the apex chapter at Morgan state university, where Genoa again, one of our interns. And let’s see at one of our favorite, um, one of our favorite guests of all time hashtag higher Latiya and you better do it fast cause somebody somebody’s gonna pick her up. Um, but anyways, some, some funds that allows them to, uh, facilitate and I think increase some of their programs. I can only guess by how happy was happy to know it was when we finally told her after we told her father first, uh, that it, it must be something that is really groundbreaking for them in terms of, of being able to facilitate some programs there. Yeah.

Scott Luton (01:06:02):

And now we’re our, our thrust here, especially with this vehicle is the dialogue. So given that there was interest in sponsorship, like Greg said, for us as a pastor, Hey, what can we do with this? Cause this, this is what we’re after with this July 15th event. So to be able to, you know, invest it in a great program, a great university and great people that are all highly interested in supply chain. That’s a great win-win. So, um, all right. So B come join us. It’s all about the discussion and the dialogue and the sharing of views and experiences. July 15th, you can go to supply chain that radio.com to sign up. And if you have any questions about that, she just snowed. We’re really looking forward. I mean, frankly, very selfishly I’m looking forward to learning and, and, and hearing folks weigh in on the tack on the subject of race and industry that I bet I haven’t heard some of our regular participants weigh in yet on, so selfishly I’m looking forward to them, the lesson learned. All right. So Greg, we are going to wrap up with a URL that we’re only going to have for a little bit longer, right.

Greg White (01:07:13):

Are you going to let that cat out of the bag? Go again?

Scott Luton (01:07:17):

So, um, for any of our folks have been following along with us for years, you know, supply chain now radio was our, uh, name we’ve had since the beginning. And then we’ve been rebranding in the last year as radio a N not throwing any stones. I love sports talk radio, but the word itself can be very kind of rear view mirror ish, if that’s a word. So here that’s right. It is now. So we’re in the process of moving everything over to a new URL, new brand, uh, excited about the growth, excited about where we go from here. But in the meantime, in the meantime, for any of our podcasts, any of our webinars, any of our, uh, blogs, you name it, anything we talked about here today, you can find that supply chain now radio.com. And if you can’t find it, shoot Amanda [email protected] and we’re here to serve as a resource for you. So Greg, last word, before I wrap up,

Greg White (01:08:17):

Uh, well, it’s funny because we thought we might only have like 40 minutes of content, right? And, and I’d like to point out to everyone who’s watching. Scott has sacrificed beach time to be here with us, um, and, and has tortured himself by looking out the plate glass door right in front of him at the ocean the entire time. So Scott, thank you, by the way, for doing this on vacation time, we’re going to try and take a little bit of downtime this week. We’ve got still got episodes that we’re going to publish this week, but this should be the only time you hear us live this week. Many people might consider a blessing. So first of all, enjoy your vacation. Really do get some downtime. You’ve done. You deserve it, you’ve earned it. All these people know it. I know it. Everyone at supply chain now knows it, and we want you to have it.

Greg White (01:09:09):

And, uh, look, thanks for everyone for showing up for supporting us for continuing to ask great questions, offer great insights and, and allowing us to share our thoughts, some news and our opinions with you. Um, and look, we’ll see you next week. That’s right, Greg, we’ll put, we’re very grateful. It’s all about the audience. It’s all about, um, you know, the value y’all bring to the table, what you’re after, what content you’re after. So I couldn’t say that better as usual, Greg. Um, but in the meantime, the challenge remains the same and it’s, it’s us challenging ourselves with this. As much as our audience, Hey, do good get forward, but be the change that needs to take place. And on that note, we’ll see you next time here on supply chain out and thanks for body, right?