The Buzz: Automation, Tariffs, & Holiday Spending

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to Supply Chain now,the number.
One voice of supply chain.
Join us as we share criticalnews, key insights and real supply
chain leadership from acrossthe globe.
One conversation at a time.
Hey, good morning, goodafternoon, good evening wherever
you may be.
Scott Luton and Marty Parkerhere with you on Supply Chain now.
Welcome to today's live stream.

(00:22):
Hey, Marty, how you doing today?
I'm doing great, Scott.
Beautiful weather outside.
Falcons are going to win thegame tonight.
There's Georgia just won.
I couldn't be happier.
Oh, my goodness.
Well, hey, I love your outlookon life and I'd say you're right
about two out of three things.
I've got it here, man.
I've got it.
All right.
Bold prediction.

(00:43):
Falcons take tonight's game.
But folks, it is a gorgeousday in Georgia, gorgeous day in metro
Atlanta and we got a big, bigepisode of the Buzz where every Monday
at 12 noon Eastern time, wediscuss a variety of news developments
across global supply chain andbusiness news that matters is what
we like to call it.
And folks, the Buzz is poweredby our friends at autoscheduler AI

(01:03):
who's on a mission to makeyour warehouse operations smarter,
more efficient and adaptable.
You can learn more atautoschedular AI.
So, Marty, we've got anoutstanding big show teed up here
today.
We're going to be talkingabout effective leadership both on
those good days and those bad days.
We're going to be touching onbig energy concerns that are critical
to to powering supply chains everywhere.

(01:24):
We're going to get a previewof the holiday spending season as
well as sharing and talkingabout an interesting interview, a
Ford CEO Jim Farley, all thatmuch, much more.
And Marty gets even betterbecause in about 10, 12 minutes or
so we're welcoming a specialrepeat guest, great friend of the
show, Guy Katon with Texas,who's going to be sharing a variety

(01:45):
of items with us including howto optimize your approach to automation.
Marty, it should be anoutstanding show here today, huh?
Yeah, looking forward to it.
Look forward to learning a lot.
Honestly, same.
I get a certification everyMonday, folks, between my co host,
my esteemed co host and ourgreat guests and of course our audience
out there, it's a great showhere today.
So two things before we get going.
Give us your take in the comments.

(02:06):
Whether you're tuned in viaLinkedIn, YouTube X Facebook, Twitch,
no matter.
Let us know what you think.
And if you enjoy the showtoday, we'd love for you to share
it with a friend and or your network.
They'll be glad you did justlike Trisha.
Happy buzzday all.
If you comment, let us knowyou are watching and are tuned in
from.
Okay, so Marty, really quick,I got three things we're gonna knock

(02:26):
out.
Poor guy joins us.
But what's the score going tobe tonight with the Atlanta Falcons
game and I forgot who they're playing.
Buffalo.
Buffalo.
Oh my gosh.
Falcons are winning 24, 21.
Last minute field goal.
Okay, I'm writing that down.
I'm writing that down.
And if that is any work,shouldn't say that.
That'll make it like 65 to nothing.

(02:47):
I owe you a Diet Coke if it'sanywhere close to your prediction.
Okay.
All right, folks, let's knockout three things on the front end
of the buzz here today,powered by Auto Scheduler.
And I want to start with agreat addition, Marty, of our almost
weekly newsletter with thatsaid, which published over the weekend.
Now Marty, we featured yourBeen There, Done that Leadership

(03:08):
perspective in this editionand in your guest blog, I'll call
it that, we led with in this edition.
With that said, you spokeabout a few elements that are critical
to how leaders overcomesetbacks and bad days.
Marty, share a couple of keythoughts that you wrote about.
So I think the biggest thing,Scott, is that we've got to be clear
and concise as leaders in our communication.

(03:30):
We have to tell our peoplethey're doing a good job, but we
also have to give themfeedback when they're not doing such
a great job.
And I've found leaders afraidto do that.
And they'll come to me, hey, Iwant to fire this person.
And I'll say, how long has itbeen that you've been having ongoing
conversations?
Oh, we talked about it aboutthree years ago and it drives me
absolutely up a wall.

(03:51):
And I'm like, no, you, youwon't be firing somebody.
You're going to be having aperformance consequence management
conversation.
So we need both.
We need to be givingencouraging feedback.
I love handwritten thank younotes because they've got kind of
a personal touch to them.
But we also, as quickly as wecan, have to be clear and concise
with about their performanceand how they're doing.

(04:12):
Well said, Marty.
Well said.
There's a whole bunch morefolks you have to check out this
edition of.
With that said, you can learn more.
And two quick thoughts.
I love how we quoted you hereright where you shared.
When people understand thefull picture, they can help solve
it.
When they're kept in the darkthough, they just feel managed and
no one wants to really Feelmanaged, right, Marty?
Yeah, they'll, and they'llfill in the blanks, Scott.

(04:34):
They'll sit by the coffee potand make all kinds of wrong assumptions
about things.
And you, you, you want to bereally clear with that.
They understand what's reallygoing on.
That's right.
Well said.
And lean into those toughconversations which Marty was mentioning
earlier.
So folks, check out.
With that said, make sure you subscribe.
It comes out just about everysingle weekend and it's usually packed

(04:56):
full of not only actionableperspective, just like Marty walked
us through, but live events,data points, interviews, you name
it.
So check that out.
Okay, so Marty, speaking ofthings so folks can't miss with that
said, but they also can't missManifest folks.
Manifest 2026 is on your radar yet.

(05:17):
We had a terrific time at thisevent earlier this year back in,
I guess it was late January, Ithink it was.
Regardless, in a few monthswe're gonna be back with all the
movers and shakers in industryin February in Vegas.
Manifest Vegas brings togetherthe most comprehensive ecosystem
of innovation andtransformation and supply chain logistics,
delivering unmatchedopportunities to learn, connect and

(05:38):
innovate.
And if you're doing thosethree things, you're probably on
the right path.
Learning, connecting and innovating.
So join us February 9ththrough the 11th, 2026 in Las Vegas
to experience unparalleledaccess to the technologies, trends
and connections shaping theway the world moves.
It'll be here for you know itdropping a link so you can learn
more and hopefully registerright there in the comments.

(06:00):
Marty, when is the last timethat you went to Vegas?
And back when I was in thecorporate world and a fun tip, I
was a member of Gold's Gym andI went and worked out a couple of
the different gyms near there.
I tell you, the best lookingpeople on earth because they have
to be in great shape.
And so I didn't want to work out.
I just wanted to sit there andfor a look at everybody.

(06:21):
And so you know, I'm not a gambler.
I don't do a lot of the otherstuff but boy, did I have fun at
the gym.
Oh, you know what, the peoplewatching, regardless where you do
it, the people watching inVegas is the best of the best.
I was just there last week andit really, it doesn't change.
And folks, a lot of people aresaying that it's a ghost town these
days for the trade war, whichwe can touch on in a second and other

(06:41):
reasons, but it was, I saw nosigns of slowing down I didn't spend
a whole bunch of time incasinos, but everywhere else, plenty,
plenty of people.
All right, so Marty, we'reabout to bring on gun in just a second.
But before we do, I justmentioned the ongoing trade war is
the gift that unfortunatelykeeps on giving.
And as you shared andappreciated show, every time you

(07:01):
join us, Scott just has totalk about tariffs.
Well, I've got to ask you this Marty.
We all saw the news,especially the market, certainly
saw the news late late last week.
White House recently announcedan additional 100% tariffs on Chinese
imports on November 1.
As I mentioned, the marketshave been reacting wildly and I bet
that's not the only thingbouncing off the walls.
What's one quick thought youwould share with folks in light of

(07:24):
this heavy new move which ofcourse comes in response to China
announcing furtherrestrictions on rare earth exports.
Your thoughts, Marty?
Yes.
You know I haven't been onhere with you since June or early.
Yeah, I guess June.
And back then I said it wasall about uncertainty, we needed
things to stabilize andunfortunately they haven't.
One thing is set on Friday,something else is set over the weekend,

(07:46):
A third thing happens onMonday and supply chains don't work
like that.
You know, it takes hundreds ofdays to respond and react.
And so, you know, we justwhatever it's going to be, we need
it to settle down so we canmake great long term decisions.
Well said, Marnie, well said.
And folks, we're dropping alink to that.
I'm sure y' all caught it.
We have the smartest audiencein all of global supply chain so

(08:08):
they're already analyzing, I'm sure.
But if you're late to theparty, you can check out the link
that our team shared whichgoes more into depth via our friends
at Supply Chain Dive.
Now I would just add to whatMarty shared, folks.
Hopefully y' all have investedin innovative tech so you can run
millions and millions of whatif scenarios as it goes back and
forth and we're not sure driftare going to stick.
What the counter is, you name it.
Hopefully you've got plenty ofsourcing agility.

(08:30):
So you got some bad 4x4 tireson your sourcing platform and there's
many, there's a long, muchlonger list.
But you're leaning into ourecosystems and hopefully flexible,
innovative supply chainecosystems because your partners,
hopefully you trust therelationships you've been building
and investing in are going tohelp us get through even the most
uncertain of times.

(08:50):
Yeah, it's a great point.
Just to comment, we don't haveto beat the terrorists, nobody's
going to beat the tariffs.
What you have to do is beatyour competitors.
If you can be better withbetter automation, better systems
like Ghee will talk aboutlater, you can beat your competitors
because they may not be doingthe same thing.
So true, Marty.
And it reminds me of we weretalking about big bad bears in the

(09:13):
pre show and there's alwaysbeen that running joke that if you're
in a group of folks and a bearcomes chasing after you, you don't
have to be the fastest one,you just don't.
You just have to not be theslowest one.
Right.
And kidding aside, there'sopportunities in every challenging
and uncertain environment.
So lean in to your supplychain ecosystem for sure.
Okay, Marty mentioned ourspecial guest here today, great friend

(09:36):
of the show.
We've known Guy for quite some time.
He's doing big things out in industry.
We're delighted to have themhere on the Buzz, powered by our
friends at Auto Scheduler.
So Guy Katon is a seniorexecutive with over 25 years of experience
in the technology field,specializing in supply chain logistics,
retail, automation and fulfillment.
He holds a master's degree ininternational relations and get this,

(09:58):
a dual citizenship in the EUand the usa, which gives him a global
perspective and a diversenetwork of contacts and partners.
He's got his finger on thepulse, folks.
He serves on the leadershipteam with Texas, which is a leading
provider of world classsolutions for complex supply chain
challenges.
Let's welcome my friend G.Coton, Vice President of industry

(10:19):
and global alliances at Texas.
Hey.
Hey Guy.
How are you doing today?
Doing well, Scott.
Marty, good to see you guys.
It is wonderful, Marty.
I'll tell you what, he isalways one of the most dapper gentlemen
out in industry and he's notletting us down again today.
Marty looks like a billiondollars, doesn't he?
Absolutely love it.
I just love it.
Well, I was going to wear atie, but I figured that might go

(10:39):
too far.
Next time.
Oh God.
Next time.
Next time.
All kidding aside, it's greatto have you back.
We were talking in the pre show.
We first met way back at Modexin I want to say 2019.
Guy, you have not aged asingle day ever since.
I'm very jealous.
But we got a lot of good stuffto get to here today.
I want to start with a funwarm up question.
So, Marty and Guy, today herein the US Is Columbus Day.

(11:02):
It's also the birthday of theUS Navy.
How about that?
And this is where we're goingto land on here.
It's National Delivery DriverWeek this week right here in the
U.S. of course, thatcelebrates all those incredible professionals
that make things happen,deliver meals, packages, and so much
more conveniently to our frontdoor each and every day and twice

(11:26):
a day, sometimes thrice a day,thanks to somebody here at the Luton
household.
But I digress.
Here's my question for you, guy.
What is one of your favoriterecent delivery experiences?
Yeah, no, I think it's a, it'sa really interesting.
I know there's, there's a dayor a week for everything nowadays,
but this one, I think, ofcourse, for all of us in supply chain,
speaks to us.
So the one for me, and I thinkthis is one that we can talk about

(11:47):
more in terms of the concept.
But I remember a couple yearsago back when I used to order an
iPhone every time it came out.
Yes, I'm one of those people,but I remember, you know, they would
deliver it to.
At the time, I lived in acondo downtown Boston by Fenway Park.
And you know, we didn't have adoorman or anything.
We just had mailboxes and theywould just drop packages off in the
vestibule.
And of course, you know, like,some of us suffer.

(12:07):
We had porch pirates wouldcome and sometimes take your stuff.
And I remember, like, I wasgetting the new iPhone and my Delivery
person for FedEx, she was great.
And she actually called me andsaid, hey, I want to drop this off.
I'll make sure you're home.
And actually, I was actuallynot at the condo at the time.
I was actually literally downthe street.
And I just remember it was, itwas something really.
I think it was, it was a goodcustomer service because she knew

(12:29):
what the package was, right?
It was an unmarked brown box.
But we all knew the shape, thesize, the timing, there was probably
going to be somethingelectronic, probably from Apple.
And she knew that, hey, justleaving that package, you know, in
the vestibule with no onethere, I was at risk.
And she did a great job.
And she called me and Iremember being like, wow, this is
really great customer service.
And she said, listen, I'll.
I'll come back when you're home.

(12:49):
Make sure you get it.
I'll give it to you.
Make sure it gets in yourhands only.
And that's what happened.
And I think that, to me is anexample of the importance of these
last mile delivery people,because they're the ones who are
truly giving you the lastcustomer experience you're going
to have.
Right?
They might be the only peopleyou touch from the air Quote brand
you're buying from.
And I think that's somethingthat's really valuable.
It's something that as we getmore and more of these third party

(13:10):
delivery systems, it'sinteresting, like how can we replicate,
replicate that with these people?
But that was my experience.
I loved it.
I love it, Guy.
And you're so true on so manydifferent accounts.
Marty, same question to you.
What's one of your favoriterecent delivery experiences?
I'm a little embarrassedbecause these was so related to supply
chain and mine isn't.
But my students have made me aplaylist on Spotify called Marty's

(13:35):
Driving Home Rack.
Nice.
Keep me awake during my 90minute commute.
And so one of my drivers cameup playing a Drake song.
And I knew the Drake song waytoo sexy because of this playlist.
And so we were dancingtogether, you know, and I love it.

(13:55):
He high fived me and I don'teven want to say the carrier because
he might like get in troubleor something, but I've gotten in
trouble with that playlist bythe way.
But anyway, it was great.
Just like he said, we made aconnection and you know, had a great
experience because of such agreat driver and such great music.
I love that.
If only we had the doorbellcamera because I would love to see

(14:16):
that moment with Marty andthat delivery driver.
And Martin, Amanda, Trish aregetting the kick out of it behind
the scenes too.
You know, we got so much tocelebrate and be thankful for.
We really do.
And along these lines, Guy and Marty.
I saw a great read that I waswriting about on LinkedIn the other
day.
I'm see if I can pop it up here.
So I think this is from theNew York Times, I think might be
the Wall Street Journal.
Anyway, there was a phenomenontaking place across New York City

(14:37):
where there happened to be alot of Mamadou's that were delivery
drivers, especially with food delivery.
And it created a buzz andalmost a mythic superhero status
of the legendary Mamadou.
And really the cool thing hereis after folks realized that it was
not one super delivery, it wasan army.
But it really helped driverecognition and appreciation for

(15:00):
what these incredible peopledo every single hour and the risk
they pose.
I mean, they're, you know,streets traffic, unhappy consumers
at times, and they just keepdoing what they do.
And we have so much to begrateful for.
And I'm glad this is the firsttime that this week has hit my radar,
but it can never.
We should be doing this athousand years ago.
So I'm very, very appreciativeand great to have both of y' all

(15:22):
share your examples andfavorite delivery moments.
Okay, so Guy and Marty, we'vegot a lot to get into here today
on the Buzz, powered by ourfriends at Auto Scheduler.
And we're going to start with.
Yeah, more, more concerns.
There's plenty of them.
Huh?
Let's see here.
We're gonna start with energyconcerns that leaders have across
the supply chain ecosystem.

(15:42):
Now, as reported here bySupply Chain Dive, the good folks
over at Prologis surveyed over1800 global executives this past
August, right.
On a wide variety of topics.
I'm gonna cherry pick a few here.
Prologis says that supplychains are going through the biggest
reset in a generation fueledby three critical factors.
Energy reliability, AI and location.

(16:02):
Of all those industryexecutives surveyed, nine out of
10 said they experiencedenergy related disruptions in the
last year.
And 83% say that powerreliability will drive the next major
supply chain crisis.
About 75% said powerrequirements at their facilities
will increase by 10 to 50%over the next five years.

(16:23):
And you all know the likelyculprit for that, right?
It's wonderful to see thegreat, incredible things that AI
is doing out in industry, butman, it takes real power to make
it happen.
So AI, energy requirements, abig factor.
Guy, your comments on thesesurvey results.
Energy, you name it.
Yeah, not surprising, Scott,you know, you, you just, you hit

(16:44):
the nail on the head, I think,when it comes to power across the
board, let alone in supply chain.
But in everyday business,right, AI is a big culprit.
There's some interestingarticles that come out recently,
not even that recently, butfrom Alphabet, Facebook, etc, who
have basically taken all theirESG initiatives and threw them out
the window.
Why?
Because of their AI initiatives.
And AI is eating the worldfrom the perspective of power and

(17:05):
electricity.
So what I always tell peoplewhen I talk about AI too is to think
about that sort of unintendedconsequences of when you go into
ChatGPT or Cloud or whateverand you ask it, oh, like rewrite
this memo for me.
And you're like, oh, it's sogreat and such a great tool.
And it is.
But think about what are theconsequences that we're driving by
using or relying on AI at somelevel when really we should be doing

(17:27):
some of this with thesupercomputer between our ears.
And I think that's only goingto become more and more of an issue
across supply chain and our businesses.
So.
You know, in that article tooyou mentioned, Scott, like the first
two are connected power and AIand I think, you know, as we become
more and more digital as well,you know, that's requiring electricity
as we start looking to harnessand harvest more data from our supply

(17:47):
chains, that is really askingfor a digitization, which is electrical,
which means it's power, etc.
And I think that's the partthat, you know, as we move forward
with this, we really do haveto consider what is this impact going
to have on our environment, onour power grid, on our usage.
And let's face it, our powergrid was not built, you know, to
run supercomputers 24,7 tofigure out through Gronk, like how

(18:09):
to write a better memo.
So much there to comment on.
Marty, before I invite you toshare your perspective, I just want
to lay out.
That's a great final point, folks.
We already had infrastructurechallenges, including the power grid
before the golden age.
That's such a great call out.
Marty, your thoughts on thesefindings and just your thoughts in
general?
Yeah, so.
And I'd add robotics, IOT andall the other stuff that are putting

(18:33):
pressure.
I don't know, I'm optimisticfor a strange reason.
You know, there's a lot ofthat same technology that's helping
us figure out how to do better.
Nuclear power, potentiallyfusion power, all the green power,
things that are getting betterand better.
So, you know, I saw anarticle, that terrible 1972 movie

(18:53):
that terrified us all aboutnuclear power.
That movie not come out.
And we had continued on ourpath with nuclear, we probably wouldn't
be talking about climatechange challenges.
So, you know, as long as we'rethinking about the technology for
generating energy in the sameway and applying those tools to that,
better, we might catch up andfigure it out.

(19:14):
There might be a period whereit's a little scary, but I don't
know, optimistic about ourability to do that.
I like that.
I am also practically optimistic.
But it sounds like all threeof us are also grounded in the current
reality.
But Marty, you make a great comment.
Because the same technologythat's powering innovation everywhere
else that's using more energyis the same innovative technology
that energy industry will beusing to find new efficiencies and

(19:36):
hopefully infrastructure gains.
And I want to mention this.
So Jeff Bezos, his crystalball has been pretty good, huh?
He projects that in the next15 to 20 years that there will be
solar powered megawatt datacenter in low Earth orbit that will
run 24, 7, of course, poweredby the sun.
That is an intriguing thoughtthat here in the modern space age

(19:58):
that we're in Space economy.
If we could figure out theanti collision technology which we're
going to need in space beforepeople put a trillion dollar data
center up there, we can figurethat out.
I could really see major,major potential that might offload
some of the growing demand,which I believe one group, I can't
remember the name, which groupis International Energy Commission,
I think, anyway, they'reprojecting that just in the next

(20:20):
three, four years that globalelectricity demands rise 4%, which
basically is how muchelectricity Japan uses in a full
year.
So we're basically getting allof that demand onto the current global
infrastructure.
Wow.
All right, Guy and Marty, Ilike how both of y' all think very
practically and optimistically.
I'm going to take a hard leftturn here.
Y' all ready?

(20:40):
Hang on to your socks and yourhats because we're, we're talking
softer stuff here.
We're talking about theholiday season and it's tough to
believe we're in mid October.
That's crazy to me.
So how much money willAmericans be spending online for
the holiday season?
Well, as reported by cnbc,more than last year.
But the overall growth rate isgoing to decrease quite a bit.

(21:02):
Data by Adobe analytics saysthat US consumers are expected to
spend 253.4, don't forgetthat, $4 billion this year online
for the holiday season.
Now that's a jump of 5.3% overlast year's numbers, which you think
is good.
Right.
But it's considerably belowthe 8.7 jump from the previous year

(21:22):
over year.
Right.
And it's far below the 10 yearaverage of 13% growth each year.
Now in the water is wetcategory, consumers are said from
the data are said to belooking for deals.
Is that ever not the case?
Right Guy, what do you see?
What does your crystal ball see?
And will the Caton householdbe spending more than last year online?

(21:45):
I think we always do.
I think to your point, Scott,like the Kota household sometimes
gets one or two deliveries aday from our friends at Amazon or
whatever else we go to.
So maybe we're the wronghousehold to survey on this one.
But I think the numbers are interesting.
Marty mentioned it in thebeginning talking about the tariffs
where the tariffs, you know,the three of us here I think are
already confused by them andwe live in supply chain so we already

(22:05):
have an understanding of howthis impacts business the most.
Like that.
I'll pick my mother.
My mother will not understandas much and I think the majority
of those out there are goingto read headlines around tariffs
and that's going to pull backdiscretionary spending.
We're already seeing that andwe're seeing the prices or the cost
of things like eggs andgroceries have not come down as much
as we were promised they would.
So I think you combine allthose together and now all of a sudden

(22:26):
you're going to see sort of apullback and discretionary.
I think that consumers arelooking for deals.
Like you said, that's likesaying water is wet.
I think unfortunately, orfortunately or what have you, speaking
as a consumer, it's great.
But speaking from the retailperspective, right, they've kind
of harmed themselves withhaving just massive discounts and
sales on a regular basis.
I've spoken about this atlength and over the time is, you
know, in the past we alwayshad, okay, like you're going to have

(22:49):
your holiday season, then youhave your post holiday sort of sales
to flush out inventory andthen you might have a couple more
sales throughout the year.
Now it feels like every weeksomeone, some retailers having some
massive sale.
And of course it's been drivenby like Singles day in China, by
Amazon Prime Day.
I remember way back when whenOld Navy had dollar flip flop day,
which drove massive Sal Navy.
Right.

(23:09):
So this mindset for us asconsumers has been entrenched.
Unfortunately, you know, thatgenie is out of the bottle.
So retailers have sort of donethemselves a disservice and now we're
seeing in the numbers.
So you add that to the factthat I think discretionary spending
is going to be pulled back.
There's a lot of, as Martymentioned, a lot of confusion and
unknowns.
What about these tariffs?
What does that mean?
Are they on today, are theyoff tomorrow?

(23:29):
Are they at 100%?
Are they at 20%?
Are they being pulled back?
Oh, well, for these retailers are.
Okay?
So I think the confusion isgoing to create a situation where
the average consumer is goingto say, you know what?
And I think to some degree wesee this with B2B as well.
We've got money, we're goingto hold on the sidelines for a while
before we figure out what'sreally going on.
And I think we're going to seethat in this holiday season.
And unfortunately, I don't seethe end of it.

(23:50):
Right.
It's going to bleed over to20, 26 and then we're going to see
it around things likeValentine's day, Easter, right, etc.
So I think this isunfortunately the trend for the near
term.
Okay.
We need a good practical doseof pessimism as well.
But I would largely agree withyou Guy and Marty, he mentioned some
of your earlier thoughtsvarious times in his response.

(24:10):
What about you?
What are you seeing, Marty?
Talk about pessimistic.
My daughters have asked forLASIK surgery and a robotic automated
cat litter cleaner thing.
And for, you know, what weusually do is hey, we just stretch
that out over a bunch ofChristmases, which of course never
happens.
All I want is a humble Labubu.

(24:30):
That was all I want.
I did the, you know, I did thelabubu thing on UGA's channel.
Turns out it was a Levit.
I want a little, I want a realLabubu and somebody needs to find
one for me.
I'm going to send this to mykids so they know what to get.
And of course they think I'velost my mind.
You know, it's interestinggoing back to one of the points that

(24:53):
Guy made, smearing onsteroids, right?
Rather than having, you know,all the big deals and the, and a
major volume in a month or sixweeks or whatever yet smearing effect
which is just spread thosediscounts, those sales year round.
It's a great call out.
And Marty, I'm going to getyour gift wish list.
All right, next up, anotherleft hand turn.

(25:15):
We're going to be talkingautomotive now, folks.
Semaphore.
I'm not sure if it's on yourradar, but it's still relatively
new digital media platform andit's become one of my favorites in
the last year or two.
And this is a great piece thatillustrates why I think they do a
lot of great reporting,accurate reporting and interesting
and timely reporting.
So this is a great interviewwith Ford CEO Jim Farley as shared

(25:36):
by good folks over at Semaphore.
One of Farley's main messages,he's on a mission to spread that
we have really disrupted ouressential economy here in the U.S.
now he defines that economy asquote, everything we build, move
and fix.
Farley points to workforceshortages, tons of needless bureaucracy
and worsening productivity.
Now I should point out Farleyand Ford also want to sell a whole

(25:59):
bunch more trucks, vans andcommercial vehicles that the essential
economy requires.
Right?
But that disclaimer aside, JimFarley says his four dealerships
get this, they have a 6,000person shortage of technicians in
their service departments.
Wow.
That doesn't surprise me a bitthough because as it be the trades
or manufacturing orwarehousing, we've got a lot to do
in order to do a better job ofcommunicating the opportunities there.

(26:22):
And as we also all know, theworkforce challenges is what's driving
a lot of the automation.
So, guy, your thoughts on JimFarley's message?
And there's a lot more to thisinterview, folks.
Go check it out.
The essential economy and someof those challenges there.
Yeah, I'm not surprised.
You know, 6,000 technicianshortage, I think that's a massive
number.
But we see that across the board.
I mean, I think in logistics, right?
I think the last I saw around,you know, shortage for truckers is

(26:45):
in the, on the hundreds ofthousands in terms of the shortage.
And we can argue a lot ofdifferent things.
Why is that?
Is it because it's not enough labor?
Is it because some of theregulations make it harder for more
and more truckers?
So I think that's absolutely essential.
And at the end of the day, youknow, the economy is still driven
by people, still driven by labor.
Labor being there at alllevels, right from the very top,
all the way down to allthrough the organization and manufacturing,

(27:07):
distribution, etc.
So I think from thatperspective, you know, this is really
telling.
And you know, I think part ofit too, some of the actions that
are happening today witharound labor, I think puts more strain
on that with regards to wherewe find good workers, we find people
we can train.
And I will say, touching uponautomation, I think sometimes the
C suite looks at automationand robotics is sort of a panacea

(27:27):
that, oh, well, we're notgoing to be able to hire people.
Let's just go out, buy a bunchof robots, not realizing that those
robots might not necessarilyA, be able to do the job or B, might
not be able to do the jobwithout labor.
Right.
Robot's still a tool that hasto work alongside labor at some level
to accomplish the goal.
So I think those are things weneed to think about and I'll take
a positive spin on it.
I think what this shows isthat there is still a lot of jobs

(27:50):
available out there.
There's a lot of opportunity.
I think the question is from asupply chain perspective, from an
employment perspective is howdo we A, promot these opportunities
to people, then B, how do wetrain the people for the jobs and
then C, how do we ensure thosepeople have sort of a career path
within the, the chosen field?
They have to go from point Ato B to C. And I think those are
things that sometimes we fallshort on.

(28:11):
And I think that's anopportunity for us as here in North
America, to start doing abetter job with.
And I, I will also say, likeautomation is not the panacea, it's
just another tool to help, butit's not going to replace some of
this labor.
That's right, guy.
Excellent perspective as always.
The right tool at the righttime for the right problem that's
well defined, that has astrong business case.
Great point.

(28:31):
Marty, your thoughts here onthis interview with Ford CEO Jim
Farley via semaphore.
Yeah, so I see the problemshe's talking about, and one solution.
I was recently at King Swine'ssupplier summit, and we were at their
new Grillo's factory inColumbus, Ohio, with the government
officials that sort of helppave the way and coordinate all the

(28:54):
resources and so, you know,solving labor shortages.
Companies aren't going to dothat and government isn't going to
do that by itself.
So I think there's acoordination issue there.
I teach my students that, hey,I'm a capitalist, but capitalism
never built a bridge and neverbuild a road and never build a port.
And so we are going to needmore students that are going into

(29:15):
things like trade schools,which I know the Trump administration
has been emphasizing, and we're.
But it's going to need to becoordinated effort with, you know,
industry and government.
And right now it just seemslike we hate each other, you know,
and so it was really nice togo to Kings Hawaiian and meet these
officials that love a privatecompany and the private company love

(29:35):
them, and they want to sort ofwork together on these things.
Marty, good stuff there.
And by the way, King'sHawaiian Ghee, have you ever had
on those King Hawaiian rolls?
Oh, my gosh, we're gonna have to.
And Marty, how come we didn'tget any samples?
I. I was about to say, likeyou could.
I'll give you my address if,you know, you know, some.
Ship me a box of Kings Hawaiian.
I. I'll gladly take it.

(29:55):
I have some of their supersecret little bites, you know, they're
coming out with.
Do you know the ones I'mtalking about?
The little pretzel bites?
No, but it sounds delicious.
Yeah, they're King's Hawaiian.
Sweet.
But they've got littleleprechauns that glue salt on the
outside of them.
They're phenomenal.
They're hard to find.
Well, they're coming out witha new one that is a jalapeno version
and a cinnamon roll.

(30:16):
They are the bomb.
And they can't keep them in stock.
They're out of capacity.
Wow.
Okay, well, so I hope we.
I'll try to find you some.
Scott, please do indeed.
Be hard to get to Boston, butnext time I see you Scott, I'll try
to get you some.
And you know what, who knows,we may bring their fearless supply
chain leader on a future show.
We shall see.
But Marty, sounds like a greatexperience up there at Kings Hawaiian.

(30:37):
And I love any event where thesupply chain ecosystem can get together
and deepen thoserelationships, exchange, you know,
perspective and ideas, youname it.
Very valuable events.
Let's see here.
I've got a quick resource Iwant to share, but before I do, one
of our favorites is here withus, T Squared, who holds down the
fort for us on YouTube.
It's going back to thedelivery driver conversation we're

(30:58):
having.
And he says an informed andburned customer is a dangerous customer.
Reviews with facts are doing anumber on a bunch of businesses,
especially with how packagesare being delivered.
And he says hello, FedEx, UPS,USPS, T squared.
Hope finds you well up therein Baltimore and keep the good stuff
coming.
Okay, resources folks, as wemove right along.

(31:19):
You know we love sharingtrusted resources.
Big news from our friends atauto scheduler Keith Moore and the
team rolled out.
Get this, a free warehouse agent.
And it's available to any and all.
If you want help forecastinglabor against demand or analyzing
load boards and thinkingthrough labor shifts or drafting
comms for carriers orcrunching numbers, analyzing data,
all that stuff.

(31:40):
Maybe picking the Falcon scoretonight, as Marty says, it's gonna
be 24, 21 with an Atlanta win.
Whatever the case, use thewarehouse decision agent for free.
Do all of that in minutes,maybe even seconds rather than days.
You can learn more at via thatQR code there or the link we're dropping
in the comments.
Okay, guy, this next segment,I'm looking forward to picking your

(32:02):
brain and getting Marty'sthoughts on your perspective.
Here we're dialing in onmessages, ideas, innovation and perspective
you've been sharing withindustry leadership all year long.
I want to start with this.
Lots of complexity.
Oh my gosh, tons ofcomplexity, new complexity and exciting
complexity.
It comes with growth.
And then of course, a lot ofnot so much fun complexity.
It comes with some of the manyof the challenges out there across

(32:24):
global supply chain.
And sometimes it's acomplexity we create on our own.
So why and how does all thiscomplexity kill clarity, which of
course is so critical togrowth and improvement.
Your thoughts, Keith?
You know, it's a reallyinteresting question and I'm sure
Marty can speak to this.
I think we could write a PhDdissertation on this, if not more
so for the sake of time.
The complexity comes in largepart, I think, when you think about

(32:47):
Complexity, it comes from,unfortunately, from the people within
it.
And we make things morecomplex because we feel like we have
to.
And I think sometimes we makethings more complex because, well,
we have to create all kinds ofsystems, checks and balances because,
you know, part of it is a fearof what if something wrong happens
and we have no one to sort oflook at and say what happened?
I do think, and I think weonly amplify this when it comes to

(33:08):
our supply chains.
Why?
Because now you're havingmultiple systems and networks that
are tying to other networksand systems.
So it only just becomes abigger and bigger issue.
I do think from a positiveperspective where I look at complexity,
sometimes it's aboutcommunication and a lot of times
about communication, right.
If we play sort of the old,you know, beer game and supply chain,
you see the complexity arisesbecause we don't have a good clear

(33:29):
communication betweendifferent nodes.
So to me, I think as we'rebecoming more digital, as we become
more cyber, if you will, andwe exchange data in a more clear
way now, that's still longways away.
I certainly don't mean to say it's.
It's already here, right.
My goal or my belief is thatthat complexity will start to get
flushed out of the system abit because instead of playing the
telephone game or instead ofassuming something, we'll have communication

(33:51):
of visibility into the networkto understand.
You know, I asked my supplierfor 15 widgets and they only have
capacity for 10, but theypromise 15.
But I can see in the system,because I have good clean data, that
they can only provide me 10.
So instead of me having anissue after the fact when they don't
deliver, I can go to mysecondary supplier and make up that
difference.
And again, that.
Removing that, that unknown,that fog of war, if you will, which

(34:14):
then leads to complexity, inmy opinion, I think is going to help
that.
Now the personal people side,like people trying to add more layers,
that's going to be hard to break.
I think that's just humannature, unfortunately.
But again, with bettercommunication, better data, better
visibility, I think we'regoing to start to bring down some
of the complexity.
Are we going to eliminate it completely?
Absolutely not.
But it's really sort of.

(34:35):
To me, I think that's thepromising part of all this, is that
as we become more digital, aswe become more, more transparent
with one another within asystem, we'll have less complexity.
We might have other issues,but I think the complexity side,
because of visibility willstart to go away.
What's old is new.
Again, right.
Communication, Communication, communication.
And even in this golden age ofsupply chain tech is still a great

(34:57):
challenge.
Marty, your thoughts on whatwe heard there from gi?
Yeah, just to follow a littlebit of what Guy was talking about.
We get in our own way.
And so I'll go into companiesand sales and marketing hate each
other.
And sales and marketing don'tlike supply chain and operations
and accounting doesn't want topay expense reports.
And I've been in a 12 personcompany once that was siloed.

(35:19):
Those are things that we aspeople create ourselves.
So we got to get out of ourown way and not allow sort of poor
leadership practices.
I'll just give an example with Texas.
And I know a company that wasstruggling with, with the use of
it.
And it was as if theIncredible Hulk had taken all of
their materials, thrown themup in the air and then just let them

(35:43):
land randomly in the warehouse.
And it was a pick and pack.
And I'm like, are you kidding me?
I just followed a forklift anddriving miles and miles and miles
and miles every day for no reason.
That is self imposed complexity.
So a lot of times, you know,it's no knock on Jim Farley, but
we're looking outside to sortof blame other things and other people.

(36:04):
When most companies I go into,there's plenty of opportunity to
get out of Runway.
Outstanding, Marty.
And most folks don't know thatthe Hulk was a demand planner early
in his career.
And secondly, you know,there's an old phrase and it's cliche,
everybody knows it out there.
But it's so apropos with allthe complexity and all the big challenges
outside of our control.
Out in industry, we got tokeep the simple stuff simple.

(36:27):
And that's kind of one of thepoints both of you all making different
takes on.
But it's so easy.
Marty, that 12 person companywith big old silos, that is such
a great example.
And we do it to ourselves.
Stop doing that.
We gotta stop doing that.
Okay.
Sorry.
I was gonna say Scott.
One thing to Marty's point,like I've dealt with companies where
you literally have the CEO whohas to approve every PO.
It might be a $20 PO for amagazine subscription to a 2 million

(36:50):
dollar spend.
Got it.
But $20, seriously?
Or in other cases, I know aCEO when, you know, they go away
on holiday in the, on thesummer, which is great, good for
them.
But they're like, I have toprove every PO and everything else,
but I'm not going tocommunicate because I'm on vacation.
It's like, well, wait aminute, like how are you gonna have
your business run if yes, youwant that control, but then you're
not creating a system to allowthings to happen because you're on

(37:11):
holiday.
Like to your point, Marty,like a lot of this is self inflicted
and it's frustrating to seebecause you realize from the outside,
guys, guys and gals,seriously, like if you just talked,
you would figure this out intwo seconds.
What are we doing here?
That's the question we allgotta be asking, right?
In these kind of situations.
So a mantra that I have usedfor a long time that I stole, I'll
keep it real here.

(37:32):
I stole it from my dear friend Ray.
I in fact wrote that yellowbook right there.
Simplify, standardize, automate.
Simplify, standardize, automate.
It's mantra that I've used andI've tried to live and lead by for
a decade or two, right?
Not just I try to practicewhat I preach.
What's your take on thecritical things that we've got to
do?
Kind of along the lines ofthat mantra before we automate your

(37:53):
thoughts?
I think that mantra is, youknow, the two terms before automate
are spot on.
You know, I think automationat times, as I mentioned earlier,
is seen as sort of a panacea.
Like, well, let's justautomate everything.
Let's bring robots in, let's,let's bring an AI and do everything
through, you know, the ghostin the machine, so to speak.
Without realizing that, wait aminute, we've got to boil it down
to what is the fundamentalproblem we're trying to solve, right?

(38:13):
How do we simplify this?
And yes, there are bigproblems, but then there are smaller
problems that make up that big problem.
So how can we isolate thoseand figure out what are the tools
and what are the processes wecan take to solve those problems?
And I think that's the sort ofthe way we need to approach this.
I see too often, you know, ifwe look at automation and we look
at robotics in the warehouse,I've come across way too many situations

(38:35):
where I get told, well, wejust want robots.
And then I asked the secondquestion, which is, well, why?
And then you get that sort ofblank look on them and it's like,
well, everybody else is doingit, so we should do it too.
And it's like, well, that'sthe wrong answer.
You know, we need tounderstand what are you trying to
solve within your warehouse.
Is it a picking issue?
Is it a put away issue, Is ita cycle count issue?
Is it Just a point to pointmovement issue.
You know, where is thebottleneck and what's happening?
And then let's try to isolatethat, let's simplify it and let's

(38:58):
try to solve it.
And then if automation is theright answer, fantastic.
Maybe it's not.
Maybe it's just a processissue, maybe it's a personnel issue,
maybe you're sliding yourwarehouse improperly.
So I think to some degree thatmantra is spot on.
Because before you startautomating, automating is a tool,
right?
It's a tool.
It's like saying, hey, I, Ineed AI.
And it's like, well, what areyou trying to solve?
Or you know, I, I have a greatcartoon I think, Scott, that you

(39:18):
shared with me, right, whereit's like someone standing with a
hammer, it says I found thesolution to our problem, but the
problem is all a bunch of screws.
So it's like, wait a minute,like I need a screwdriver, not a
hammer.
So I think that's the sameproblem here.
The question again, the issuethough, back to what Marty said earlier,
sometimes it's self inflicted, right?
It's like we get wrappedaround the axle and I've seen this
a million times.
You know, I worked at Foresterlate 90s during the dot com boom.

(39:40):
And I remember companiescoming in saying we want a website
and do E commerce.
And I'd be like, well, why?
Well, because Amazon's doing it.
Yeah, but you sell water likeyou literally are in the water purveyor,
like you're, you're shippingbottles of water.
Ecom is not for you do.
Yeah, but we're gonna do it.
And it's like, okay, like it'syour money.
But I think that's the problem.
Sometimes we get in our ownway as opposed to having those conversations

(40:00):
about what's the problem we'retrying to solve.
Are there sub problems?
What are the solutions available?
Automation may be one of them,but maybe there's other solutions
that aren't as sexy but aregoing to get you the right place
faster and more efficiently.
And a lot of times maybe evencheaper and even cheaper and with
less, less of a friction issueor adoption issue or whatever.
Marty, I'll tell you, industryneeds to hear Guy's last response

(40:23):
to that question and embrace it.
Because we see so much of thatshiny object syndrome where business
leaders, they see AI doing allthis stuff.
We just got to have it, investit and throw it over the fence and
aggravate the heck out of your team.
And also not Getting results.
But Marty, your thoughts here?
Yeah, I go all the way back,believe it or not, to company strategy.
A lot of companies don't evenunderstand what kind of company they

(40:45):
are.
I teach a simple model.
You know, are you aninnovator, a customer centric company,
or a cost leader?
The supply chain of Spirit Airand Delta aren't the same.
The supply chain of Walmartand Lululemon aren't the same.
And so many companies don'teven understand ultimately what they're
trying to accomplish becausethey haven't gotten that out.

(41:05):
And then I use an ancienttool, Pareto, ancient.
In the lean world, I tellpeople that's the most important
tool.
Work on the things that matter.
We work on so many thingsthat, that don't matter.
And by matter, I mean win inthe marketplace, make money in the
marketplace, and they justforget that.
And so ultimately, as a coo,I'd be asking, well, how does that

(41:28):
robot help me make money?
What checks am I not going tobe cutting or how much more revenue
am I going to make?
And if you can't go back tothe strategy now, there may be a
customer centric strategy anda metric around that, but eventually
that leads to revenue.
Right.
And higher gross margins andthings like that.
So my biggest thing is evencompanies understanding what they

(41:49):
do and making sure theirpeople understand that as they're
making these kinds of decisions.
Billion dollar advice.
That's right.
And gosh, when you help yourteams see the strategies and the
bigger picture, I'll tell you,you're going to be blown away with
some of the ideas they'regoing to come back with.
But you mentioned Pareto,named after Vilfredo Pareto, the
famed Italian economist,mathematician, and many, many other

(42:11):
things.
I wonder if he knew hundredsof years ago that his name would
still be relevant and tied toa fundamental business principle
that's still very valid, youknow, generations later.
I'm kind of curious, is therea Luton Law out there that's gonna
be sticking in a few decades?
I am no mathematician, somaybe not.
But anyway.
All right, so let's do this.

(42:31):
Guy and Marty, there are quitea one, two punch here.
I feel like I'm getting atleast an associate's degree, if not
a four year degree from ourconversation here today.
But I want to shift gears hereactually before we take a peer into
the supply chain.
Dogs.
Supply chain guy, reallyquick, what are some of the cool
things that you and the teamover at Texas have been up to?
You know, there's a lot ofthings we're working on.
But I think some of the reallyexciting stuff more recently is focusing

(42:54):
on within the healthcare side.
They're like pharmacy.
And I think this is reallyinteresting supply chain challenge
because I think the pharmacysupply chain is fundamentally shifting
from what it was, you know,five, six, seven, 10 years ago.
And I think the problems, notthe problems, but the opportunities
we're seeing is to some degreepharmacy is starting to cross over
into what retail is, which iswe as consumers now expect to be

(43:15):
able to get prescriptions whenwe want, delivered to our home, fulfilled
the way we want.
And that's putting a lot ofpressure on the pharmacy supply chain
to understand how to respondto that.
So that's one area that Ithink there's a lot of really interesting
work going on that we're inthe midst of.
And I'm really excited aboutthat because it's a space where supply
chain to some degree took aback seat.
You know, supply chain wasalways, yes, from the manufacturing

(43:35):
side, important, but to thatlast mile, I mean, you mentioned
it, Scott, right.
This is, this is a last miledelivery week.
And I think that's one areawhere you're going to see a lot more
innovation, if you will, and alot of challenges because of course,
you know, shipping a T shirtto someone's home is very different
than shipping a narcotic.
But I think we're going tosolve that problem and that's, that's
something that I'm reallyexcited about as we look forward.
I am too.

(43:56):
Because we've got to aproblem, we've got to continue to
innovate for so many different reasons.
All right, so Marty and GheeMarty, we're going with you next.
And G again, thanks for being here.
Really appreciate what you andthe Texas team are up to.
Helping to make industry much,much more successful by solving a
lot of complexity out there.
But you mentioned healthcareand I gotta mention what Regine Vallee

(44:16):
shared with us a couple months back.
She is the chief supply chainofficer and much, much more at Ochsner
Health down in New Orleans.
And she's a really atrailblazer and pioneer that was
doing some really cool thingsprior to the pandemic when the world
was changing that folks didn'tthink healthcare supply chains could
do.
Fascinating individual and adear friend.
But we were asking her, youknow, as a pioneering leader, how

(44:37):
can others, how can the restof us kind of unleash our pioneer
earning leadership skills?
And one of the many things sheshared with us and maybe drop the
replay in the chat is you saidto regularly ask two questions.
Number one, every day, what if.
Fill in the blank.
Blank.
What if every day.
And number two, which I foundeven more intriguing.
Why not?
Why not me?
And that, I think, factors ona couple different levels, including

(45:00):
what we think we're capable of.
So, folks, go check out that replay.
Regine is, is a hall of fame material.
Okay, Marty, I've got a littlepicture here.
One of my favorite pictures ofMarty and just a portion of his big
ecosystem.
Look at those smiles as brightindividuals that are about to go
do big things already aredoing big things in industry.
And I'm not sure which ugg ofthis is Marty.

(45:20):
I know there's a whole lineagethere, but I felt compelled.
The Georgia Bulldog with thesupply chain dogs.
So, Marty, given all of yourwork with the NOW generation and
all these supply chain dogsand army of them, you're creating,
what's one key observation asit relates to students this academic
year, as we're about a monthand a.
Half in, so I often get thequestion about this generation, and

(45:43):
I find them extraordinary.
They have access to thingsthat Scott, you know, when we were
kids, we could only dreamabout, and they're curious.
They start businesses.
They love solving, you know,challenging problems.
And, you know, I learn a lotfrom them.
And the big one right now, ofcourse, is generative AI.
We talk about a lot.

(46:03):
I'm trying to teach themreally simple things like note taking
in meetings.
As an example.
I tell the students, look, youknow, as a coo, if people could have
cut my meetings in half, thatwould have changed my life because
I was in meetings all day long.
So I tell students, look, usethese tools, use these techniques
in terms of creating agendasand meeting minutes and those kind
of things, but they are great.

(46:24):
They're learning how to usethe latest and greatest, how to apply
it to solve great problems.
I had one that launched abusiness and it will take your syllabus.
You just take pictures of yoursyllabus and it'll create your schedule.
You don't have to think aboutit at all.
And they're just coming upwith stuff like that all the time.
And I'm, I'm just really happyand excited about what's coming.

(46:46):
I am, too.
And folks, if you're notplaying around with, with all the
various AI platforms outthere, including auto schedulers,
offer man, experiment with it,put it, get it in the skunk work,
see what breakthroughs you may unlock.
Guy, really quick, yourresponse to what you heard there
from Marty.
You know, I'm always interested.
I will unfortunately mentionMarty arrival school of yours, but

(47:06):
I remember going to Universityof Tennessee a lot and talking to
their supply chain, you know,undergrads and graduates.
And it was, you know, eye opening.
To your point, you know, ifyou ask the young GI or even the
college age gi, like what hewanted to do, I don't think Supply
chain made the top hundred.
I don't even know if I couldspell supply chain if you gave me
all the letters at the time.
So I think from thatperspective, the fact that supply
chain has become, you know, anacademic discipline, I think is fantastic.

(47:28):
I think it's absolutelynecessary in the end of the day,
when I look at the world welive in, you know, as digital as
it becomes, at the end of theday, it's still about moving physical
objects from point A to pointB, whether it's B2B or B2C.
So the more of these, youknow, younger generations that get
involved in supply chain earlyon and to your point, Marty sort
of of embrace it in thetechnologies and start doing new
interesting things.

(47:49):
I think that that's really,that's great for our, for business,
for society, for the world welive in.
Because like I said, you know,part of it too.
I kind of joke during thepandemic is the first time my mom
actually told me sheunderstood what I did because when
there was no toilet paper inthe grocery store, she was like,
oh, okay.
That's what supply chain does.
So, you know, I think the moreand more students we get involved
and that are entrepreneurialand thinking, it's, it's fantastic.

(48:11):
So the future I think is bright.
Great.
And like I mentioned, youknow, other great schools like Georgia,
University of Tennessee herein Boston, Northeastern and others
are really doing a great jobpushing this agenda and I think it's
time is due, right?
We should have done this yearsand years ago.
Gee, so true.
And along those same lines,big tip of the hat to great practitioners
like Marty that take on roleswith these schools and help the light

(48:33):
bulbs go off with theseincredibly talented, bright young
people.
So Marty really appreciatewhat you do.
And I think it's.
And you can tell that Martyloves what he does.
I mean, every time he talksabout what he does at uga, he's beaming
and I love that.
Okay, we're gonna have a fastand furious finish, folks.
Let's start Geekaton with Texas.
How can folks connect with you guy?
Absolutely.
So really easily through LinkedIn.

(48:53):
So first name, last name,pretty easy to find.
Otherwise go to our Texaswebsite Texas, not the state but
the company.
So tecsys.com and by all meansplease do reach out.
I'm pretty active on LinkedInso always happy to connect connect
with new friends.
Outstanding.
We dropped GI's LinkedIn URLright there as we try to make it
really easy.
Marty, I got a two partquestion for you.

(49:15):
First off, T squared saysyou're creating a good good monster
at the mentioning of anythingKings Hawaiian.
So T squared we're going tohave to talk a lot more about those
delicious products.
Marty, what was your one ofyour favorite things and patent key
takeaways from today'sconversation here on the Buzz Powered
by Auto Scheduler.
And secondly how can folksconnect with you?
So key takeaway to me ispretty easy.

(49:35):
There are all kinds ofheadwinds and challenges and difficulties
in supply chain these days butthe future is bright.
We have amazing tools likeAuto Scheduler AI and Generative
AI and the bright young peoplethat are curious wanting to learn
and make it better and so getout of your own way, be a great leader,
solve the problems you haveinternally before you start blaming

(49:57):
everything on the outside.
But at the end of the day Ireally think think it's a great time
for supply chain and it's gota really really bright future and
we're going to figure allthese things out.
Undoubtedly.
Marty, I love your almostdaily leadership moments that you
drop across social, especially LinkedIn.
Is that the best place forfolks to connect with you?
Yeah.
Marty Parker on LinkedIn.
Marty Parker UGA There's abunch of different ways to reach

(50:20):
me.
Outstanding folks are droppingMarty's URL right there in the chat.
Make sure you connect andfollow both Geek and Marnie.
And also hey, we try to makethings easy.
That's one of the themes here today.
You can find Texas right thereon the URL as well.
And one final plug folks.
Be sure you go check out AutoSchedulers warehouse decision agent,

(50:41):
mess around with it, give ussome feedback, let us know what it
might unlock for you.
If you got any other feedback,we'll take it.
But check that out.
Okay.
Big thanks today man.
What a great episode.
I knew it was going to be.
It surpassed all my expectations.
Guy and Marty Geek attornewith Texas Keith.
Thanks so much for being heremy friend Scott.
Appreciate it Marty, thank youso much.

(51:02):
Always enjoy these conversations.
I do too.
I look forward to seeing youat several industry events out there
as you keynote and helpeducate and inform the industry.
Big thanks to my esteemed cohost Marty Parker.
The one and only.
Marty, great to have you here today.
Thrilled to be here.
Learned so much and great tosee you be and thanks for having
me, Scott.
You bet.
And I kept looking for Micah,Freddy and even Georgia to make an

(51:25):
appearance, but all of them,all those pets were sequestered unfortunately
today.
So maybe the next episode ofthe Buzz.
Big thanks to Amanda Trishabehind the scenes and make production
happen seamlessly every single day.
And most importantly, bigthanks to our global audience for
being here.
I know we couldn't hiteverybody's comment or question,
but really appreciate thesmartest audience novel global Supply
Chain and what you do each andevery day, folks.

(51:46):
Hope you enjoyed the show today.
The challenge though, you gotto take one thing.
Ghee and Marty brought it andthen some.
Take one thing they shared.
Share it with your team.
Put into practice deeds, not words.
That's how we're going tocontinue to transform global supply
chain and leave no one behind.
With all that said, on behalfof the entire supply Chain now team
Scott Luton challenging you.
Do good, get forward.
Be the change that's needed.
We'll see you next time rightback here on Supply Chain Now.

(52:07):
Thanks everybody.
Join the Supply Chain now community.
For more supply chainperspectives, news and.
Innovation, check out supplychain now.com subscribe to Supply
Chain now on YouTube andfollow and listen to Supply Chain
Now.
Wherever you get your podcasts.

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