Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY

Our guest on this week's episode is Mark Baxa, president & CEO of The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, also known as CSCMP. Earlier this week the supply chain industry lost an icon. Fred Smith was the founder of FedEx – a company that has literally revolutionized the delivery business. Our guest discusses how Fred Smith’s vision and business savvy has left lasting impacts on the supply chain industry.  

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Our guest on this week's episode is Jorge Gonzalez Henrichsen, co-CEO of The Nearshore Company. It’s now been five years since the USMCA trade agreement was negotiated between the Mexico, Canada, and the United States, replacing NAFTA. In this current time of trade friction, including new tariffs on both Mexico and Canada, what’s still working with USMCA and what’s next for the trade alliance? Our guest offers some insights.

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Our guest on this week's episode is Brett Wood, Chair this year of the Industrial Truck Association (better known as the ITA). In his daytime job, Brett is the President and CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America. This past Tuesday, the material handling industry recognized the 12th annual National Forklift Safety Day. Sponsored by ITA, the highlight of the day was a series of presentations on safety held at the Nationa...

Our guest on this week's episode is Michael Needham, principal procurement & supply chain at Efficio Consulting. Among the flurry of executive orders issued recently by the White House is one aimed at restoring pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities here in the U.S. Currently most drugs and ingredients are manufactured in China and India. How will such a move affect supply chains? Our guest offers his views on what can ...

Our guest on this week's episode is Ian Williams, Technical Services Manager at Orkin. He helps us to understand a subject that few people want to talk about –  the pests that often overrun facilities. We are talking mice, rats, bugs, and other critters that get in and destroy products, contaminate areas, and just cause a general nuisance. Williams has some great ideas on how to keep them out of our buildings – and if they get...

Our guest on this week's episode is John Lash, group vice president of strategy at e2open. We now have a pause in tariffs with China – or at least a sizable reduction in the amount of those tariffs compared to what was in place two weeks ago in the ongoing tariff wars. How are supply chains reacting and where do we go from here? Will we see another surge in imports during the 90 day pause and how do companies prepare for back-...

Our guest on this week's episode is Hamilton Galloway, head of U.S. consultancy at Oxford Economics. Many of our listeners use forklifts in their supply chain operations every day. They really are the workhorses for moving products within facilities. But you might be surprised at the impact that the forklift industry makes on the overall U.S. economy. Recently the Industrial Truck Association, the industry organization that re...

Our guest on this week's episode is Keith Peterson, director of operations at The National Motor Freight Traffic Association. For many years, less-than-truckload motor freight has been classified by a complex and rather outdated system. That is about to change – starting in July the industry will begin listing freight commodities in a system that is more condensed and modernized. But, what will this new freight classification ...

Our guest on this week's episode is Ram Ben Tzion, the founder and CEO of Publican. Today marks the end of the De Minimus tax exemption for many imported goods. If you are not familiar with that exemption, it was designed to reduce the import paper work and tax duty collecting for low-value goods. But as a result, there were claims of abuse, unfair competition, and that the exemption allowed drug traffickers to easily import i...

Our guest on this week's episode is Matthew Haber, the CEO and co-founder of Cofactr. Recent surveys show that both consumers and business leaders don’t think tariffs are a good thing. In both cases they feel this economic policy is leading us to higher prices and a recession. Manufacturers in particular are trying to figure out what to do next. And our guest today looks at the impacts of the changing U.S. trade policies on ma...

Our guest on this week's episode is Ken Ramoutar, Chief Marketing Officer at Lucas Systems.  As supply chains adjust to changing conditions, they will continue to need tools to increase flexibility, speed, and productivity. That’s where technology can come to the rescue. Our guest offers insights into how new technologies can help operators address the many challenges they face today.

Most economists are predicting that an unce...

Our guest on this week's episode is Will Eadie, chief strategy officer at WorkJam. As the United States works to ramp up its manufacturing base, one area remains a problem – and that is finding good workers to provide the needed manufacturing labor. What are the challenges in hiring for manufacturing and how do companies retain good workers? Our guest offers his insight and potential strategies.

Warehouses can often be dangerou...

Our guest on this week's episode is Dr. Robert Sroufe, professor of sustainability at the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Supply chains are among the largest users of our world’s energy. Yet our industry is one of the most advanced in advocating for sustainability. But as political winds shift dramatically in Washington, many environmental policies may be on the chopping blo...

Our guest on this week's episode is Danny Ramon, director of intelligence and response at Overhaul Risk Advisory Services. Cargo theft continues to be a problem for transportation companies. Sophisticated organized thieves target goods in transit – from high valued electronics to even a recent shipment of eggs. How can shipping companies prevent and discourage theft of their goods? Our guest discusses the growing incidents of ...

Our guest on this week's episode is Andrei Quinn-Barabanov, Supply Chain Industry Practice Lead and Senior Director with Moody’s. It was five years ago this month that our world was rocked with the Covid-19 virus. That is when businesses and schools closed and we were all stuck at home waiting for things to get better. All the while, supply chains kept us fed and happy at home, for the most part. Our supply chains had to adjus...

Our guest on this week's episode is Erin Mittlestaedt, the CEO of the FruitGuys. The world continues to react to the trade disruptions caused by the Trump administration’s new tariffs. Of course, tariffs don’t only mean that we pay more for imports, it also affects exports because of the retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries that we trade with. Farmers will be among those hit the hardest by retaliatory tariffs. They m...

Our guest on this week's episode is Rosemary Coates, executive director of the Reshoring Institute. We’ve seen a roller coaster week involving tariffs. First they are on, then exceptions, then some reprieve. It makes one dizzy. But one of the stated aims of the new administration for establishing all of these tariffs is to force more manufacturing to return to domestic shores. Is that a workable strategy? Our guest offers some...

Our guest on this week's episode is Brian Lynch, EY Americas Transportation Sector Leader and an Executive Director in the Transaction Strategy and Execution practice at EY-Parthenon. With the ratification earlier this week of the new 6-year agreement between dock workers and ports on the East and Gulf Coasts, it seems like we will have some labor peace that will last a while. Our guest discusses what that bit of certainty mea...

Our guest on this week's episode is Matt Wicks, senior director of robotics automation at Zebra Technologies. Robotics are rapidly gaining acceptance in distribution operations. They can work 24/7 with a high degree of uptime and accuracy. Our guest shares in which areas of warehouse operations robotics are proving to be the most useful, trends that are leading to their adoption, and what might be hindering robotic deployments...