October 31, 2024 • 35 mins
For the first episode of our third season, co-hosts Ted Stank and Tom Goldsby speak with Haslam College of Business lecturer Paul Fortunato and partners from his Supply Chain Project Management (SCM 430) course at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Fortunato, a former executive with Dow Chemical Company, invited Lori Maurer, director of the center for supply chain excellence, and Riley Clayton, logistics and supply chain manager, from Albemarle to talk with Ted and Tom about the corporation’s three-year involvement in his course.
UT’s top-ranked supply chain management programs are held up by their real-world relevance and the close work with corporate partners such as Albemarle, a leading provider of lithium, bromine, and other essential chemical elements.
Don’t miss this exciting discussion on talent identification, university and business collaborations, and real-world supply chain challenges addressed by UT students. To open the episode, our hosts also talk about the impact of U.S. port strikes, economic growth numbers, the upcoming presidential election, and more!
Is your company interested in partnering with the University of Tennessee? Learn more about becoming a member of our renowned Supply Chain Forum.
The episode was recorded virtually on October 28.
Related links:
- The U.S. economy remains engine of global growth in latest IMF forecasts
- Election-year effect: scenarios that could impact the supply chain
- Don Maier on understanding the impact of organized labor on the U.S. supply chain
- For the fifth year, UT ranked No. 1 in the SEC and No. 4 nationally for SCM programs by U.S. News and World Report
- Register for the Fall 2024 Supply Chain Forum, Nov. 12–14 in Knoxville
- Become a Supply Chain Forum member
- Subscribe to GSCI’s monthly newsletter
- Read the latest news and insights from GSCI
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro/Outro (00:00):
Welcome to the Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
Listen in as co-hosts Ted Stankand Tom Goldsby set sail into
the world of end-to-end supplychain management, diving deep
into today's most relevantbusiness topics.
They'll share insights inpressing industry issues and
tackle the challenges keepingsupply chain professionals up at
night.
If you're enjoying the ride,download and subscribe to
(00:22):
Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement on your favorite
podcast platform now.
Tom Goldsby (00:28):
Hello and welcome to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management, season 3, episode 1.
So excited to be bringing thisto you from Rocky Top.
I am Tom Goldsby and I'm joinedby my co-host, dr Ted Stank.
Hello, ted.
Ted Stank (00:43):
Hey Tom, How's it going?
Things are going well, hey, isit true that our writing team
has been refreshed so that wedon't go down some crazy rabbit
hole, like so many shows do intheir third season?
Tom Goldsby (00:56):
Well, you mean jumping the shark, do you think
we're?
Ted Stank (00:58):
at risk of doing that .
Yeah, yeah, yeah, those kindsof things.
Tom Goldsby (01:01):
It's entirely possible, but we spent what?
About three minutes beforelaunching the recording
rehearsing this episode, so Idon't think we're really at risk
of that.
We're going to keep it fresh.
Ted Stank (01:13):
Now you just did something that in our
pre-episode talk that we did toone of our guests, riley Clayton
, you mentioned jumping theshark.
I bet Riley has no idea whatjumping the shark is.
Tom Goldsby (01:23):
I don't know that we're at risk of doing that,
given how wild and woolly theworld of supply chain is.
Always something new and freshout there, and so why don't we
take just a few minutes beforewe bring Riley and our guests
into the conversation?
Just catch up a little bit.
Our last podcast, as we closedout season two.
Actually we had that kind ofbonus session with Kate Vytasik
(01:45):
we recorded at CSCMP.
Have you recovered from CSCMP,Ted?
Ted Stank (01:49):
Yeah, yeah, I have.
It always tires me out all thatnetworking, you know, but
everything is good now.
Tom Goldsby (01:55):
Back then we were perhaps days, or maybe even
hours away from an impendingEast Coast Gulf Coast worker
strike, and sure enough, ithappened.
What was it About?
72 hours?
Ted Stank (02:07):
Yeah, lasted about three days.
Tom Goldsby (02:09):
Pretty short lived and, that said, we're not out of
the woods yet, am I correct?
They kind of settled on wagesand maybe some benefits, but the
issue of automation is still onthe table, and that's the one
that's always been lingering outthere, and they're going to
revisit that by the middle ofJanuary.
I did hear just in the last dayor so that they're getting
(02:30):
those talks underway, so maybethey'll get that resolved, maybe
even before the end of the year.
What do you think?
Ted Stank (02:35):
Yeah, they're supposed to be going back to the
negotiating table in November.
The catch, however, is evenwith the wages 62% wage growth
over the next four years, Ibelieve, was what was agreed
upon, but that has not yet beenratified by the rank and file.
So the table is still wide openfor those negotiations.
The good news and this is kindof a precursor to something
(02:56):
we're going to talk about in alittle while is it will have
happened after the USpresidential election, so there
might be a little bit more roomfor government involvement.
Tom Goldsby (03:06):
You know it's interesting how long it's going
to take to get that thingsettled.
Ted Stank (03:10):
That's the big speculation, maybe by the middle
of January, you're right.
So, tom, some other things.
You know the other statisticsthat we kind of look at.
The US economy continues toshow pretty strong growth.
The English trade and businessjournal the Economist led with a
cover on.
The US economy is the envy ofthe world and it's interesting
(03:32):
because watching all theseelection campaign advertisements
you would think that we are inthe 1929 world depression crash.
Is how the politicians aremaking it seem.
Tom Goldsby (03:40):
Well, our very own chief economist, Marianne
Wanamaker, who a frequent gueston the show, and I think we'll
be bringing her back, I thinksoon after the election.
Ted Stank (03:50):
December, actually first week in December.
Tom Goldsby (03:52):
But she's been talking about that envy of the
world storyline for quite sometime.
In fact, I joined her onCapitol Hill back in late 22.
And it's like, hey, y'all aredoing a fine job, keep it up,
because, compared to the rest ofthe world, we're the shining
star for sure.
Ted Stank (04:10):
Yeah.
So last quarter GDP growth was3%.
Last month's inflation was 2.4%.
The labor market is softening abit, but not like 6, 9, 10%.
Actually it's at 4.2%.
Unemployment was the lastnumbers.
Consumer confidence is at about70, which is kind of right in
(04:31):
there.
Manufacturing orders were up abit over September.
They're still lower thanthey've been, but they're kind
of coming back up Right nowagain, given the amount of
uncertainty we have in theenvironment with the
presidential election things arenot looking bad and I'm going
(05:00):
to put in an editorial commenthere.
Tom Goldsby (05:03):
I'm just.
I cannot wait till the electionseason is traveling.
You're just completelyinundated.
I was in Arizona a few weeksago and there's nothing but
election ads on the airwaves andjust plastered everywhere.
Here in Tennessee.
I'm going to go ahead and putsome bets down if I could, but I
don't think they would pay outmuch, given the Vegas odds, so
(05:24):
it's not even worth the effort.
But if you are in one of thoseswing states, god bless you.
Well, hopefully those ads willcease at some point very soon.
Ted Stank (05:34):
Well, I recently learned from my TV that the
congressperson from our littledistrict here in Eastern North
Carolina is personallyresponsible for the immigration
crisis.
Fentanyl, china trade prettymuch all of that Pretty powerful
person.
I never realized thatcongressperson from Eastern
North Carolina had all thatpower.
Paul Fortunato (05:55):
That's amazing.
Ted Stank (05:56):
Hey, something else that's happened since we talked
Tom.
I think it was the weekend thatwe had our last podcast was the
weekend that Hurricane Helenehit Western North Carolina.
Since then, hurricane Miltonhit Florida.
Total devastation of thoseareas.
So clearly, from a supply chainstandpoint, it's something I
think we need to mention thatregionally we have to continue
(06:17):
to be on high alert for regionaldisruptions like
weather-induced disruptions, bigone from Hurricane Helene.
Asheville, north Carolina, is awonderful city If you haven't
been there before.
A lot of great craft breweries,but also the single Pfizer
plant for saline, and so acrossthe United States we're actually
(06:38):
holding on elective surgeriesbecause we don't have enough
saline to meet.
Tom Goldsby (06:43):
Well, and, to that point, the reason why Pfizer
probably felt fairly comfortableputting their sole saline
facility there is that WesternNorth Carolina has been
relatively free of cataclysmicstorms.
And some people thought climatechange wasn't affecting the
areas that far deep intoCarolina out of Hurricane Alley
(07:08):
and so forth, but I think that'sthe world we live in now.
There is no such thing as asafe haven from climate change.
Ted Stank (07:14):
Absolutely, and you know, I was in Knoxville on that
Friday when the storm camethrough and we expected to get
it over top of us.
Over top of us and it shiftedabout 50 miles east the day of,
and the massive destructionbecause of all those rains that
came down in the mountains ofEast Tennessee and Western North
Carolina Quite a tragedy, butyou're right, tom.
So again, I mean, if there's atheme for this boy, if you don't
(07:36):
have a dynamic risk managementstrategy in place, you need to
get one.
Tom Goldsby (07:41):
So you're absolutely right, ted, a lot of
hardship there in North Carolina, but it does occur to me that
there's a lot of great stuffhappening in Western North
Carolina, in fact, the companywe're going to feature today is
based right there.
Ted Stank (07:56):
So why do you say we transition?
Yeah, let's do that, tom.
Today we're going to feature areally interesting topic to us.
We're going to bring in a fewguests, one of them our own,
paul Fortunato, one of ourfaculty, as well as Lori Marr
and Riley Clayton with AlbemarleCorporation.
The topic is a senior levelproject management class that we
have at University of Tennesseein our undergraduate program
and Paul directs that class andworks with a number of companies
(08:19):
on student-directed projectswith industry.
Paul is not yourrun-of-the-mill faculty.
Paul, while he is on facultywith us in the University of
Tennessee Supply ChainManagement Program is a former
North American ManufacturingDirector and Knoxville Site
Leader for Dow Chemical and Ifirst met Paul in that capacity
when we would bring studentteams over to visit their
(08:41):
facilities.
Paul, welcome, great to haveyou with us, glad to be here.
Lori Marr is Director of SupplyChain Center of Excellence and
Strategic Planning for AlbemarleCorporation.
Lori, welcome, great to haveyou join us as well.
Lori Maurer (08:54):
Thank you, nice to be here.
Ted Stank (08:55):
And Riley Clayton is Logistics and Supply Chain
Manager with Albemarle, but alsoone of our wonderful University
of Tennessee Supp chainmanagement undergraduate
graduates.
So, Riley, great to have youwith us.
Thank you.
Riley Clayton (09:08):
Thank you for having me.
Ted Stank (09:09):
Hey, Paul, you want to tell us a little bit about
your background and then alittle bit about this class and
how you came to be involved withit.
Paul Fortunato (09:17):
Yeah, it's all your fault, Ted.
Actually, just so folks realize, be careful when you speak with
Ted, you don't know where it'sgoing to go.
Ted Stank (09:23):
Folks realize, be careful when you speak with Ted,
you don't know where it's goingto go.
Yeah, we have a recruitingprogram that we call the Amoeba,
where, if you shake my hand,before you know it, my arm is
around your back and then you'reworking for us.
Paul Fortunato (09:33):
Exactly what happened.
I worked for Dow Chemical, likeyou mentioned, for 36 years.
I retired 2018, I think it wasand you were speaking with my
daughter, who was in your class.
You say Fortunato.
I think I know a Fortunato.
Sure enough, there it is.
But you found out that I hadjust retired from working in the
chemical industry.
I was always in manufacturingor supply chain for my whole
(09:54):
career and I had an opportunityto often invite your classes to
my factory in Knoxville and Ialways enjoyed speaking with the
students.
So when you gave me a chance tocome, perhaps get involved, I
thought, well, I'd be a guestlecturer.
No, you sucked me into being anactual instructor for a whole
class.
I had no idea I would want todo that in retirement.
(10:17):
Well, that was six years agoand I love it.
Who knew?
I would love actually workingwith students, and usually
seniors, which is great, whichis what I'm doing this year
again.
Again, all your fault, ted.
Ted Stank (10:28):
Well, it's great to have you with us.
Paul Lori want to say hi.
Lori Maurer (10:31):
Yeah, my name is Lori Maurer.
I've been with Album Moral foralmost six years now.
Grew up in supply chain, mostlyin the S&OP world A lot of
focus on demand planning, supplyplanning, inventory management,
a little bit of warehousing, alittle bit of production
planning.
So I'm really excited to talkto you guys today.
Ted Stank (10:50):
Great, great to have you with us and Riley Clayton.
Riley Clayton (10:53):
So I started at Albemarle about a year ago, a
year and a half ago now.
I actually graduated, obviously, like we said, from the
University of Tennessee SupplyChain Department in May of 2023.
I was in Paul's first cohort ofthe class we're going to be
talking about today, where I wasfunny enough partnering up with
Album Moral and Lori, to beexact.
So obviously it went reallywell for me.
(11:14):
Happy where I am, I'm happy totalk to you guys today.
Ted Stank (11:17):
It's great to have you all with us, thank you.
So, paul, you want to tell us alittle bit about this project
course.
Paul Fortunato (11:22):
Sure, Again, I've been doing it for three
years now and it wasn't mybrainchild, that's for sure, but
I was able to take over againsome folks who put together a
really strong program, I think.
And it's not your typical class.
You said I'm not a typicalacademic.
I'm sure not.
And this is not your typicalacademic type class.
You know, my background waschemical engineering and we used
to have this senior classcalled unit ops where you got
(11:44):
involved with real pumps andreal pipes and maybe a
distillation column.
Well, that's how I kind of putthis class together.
That's how I run this class.
I let the students actuallywork on real-world projects that
we get from companies andthey're real supply chain
projects, and we set thestudents up in teams of four or
five.
And we set the students up inteams of four or five and
(12:05):
through the whole semester theywork on usually an improvement
project in the supply chainworld, Anything from the
beginning of procurement down tothat final mile delivery to a
customer, anything in between,Up to the companies.
And I guide the students.
I don't teach a whole lot, Iguide them through the process.
Ted Stank (12:30):
It's turned out to be for a lot of students, kind of
a game changing opportunity forthem.
So, Laura, you're involved fromthe Albemarle side as the
company representative.
Tell me about your experienceswith the course and what are the
kind of things that keep youcoming back.
Lori Maurer (12:36):
My experience with the course was a little hesitant
to start off, but once we gotthrough that first cohort I was
all in.
We had a great first cohort andobviously we got Riley out of
it, so I couldn't have asked fora better experience.
It's definitely not a typicalwhat I would call an intern
experience.
I would call it all hands ondeck.
I mean, the teams really takethe project that we give them
(12:57):
and they dig in hard.
It's been a really greatexperience for us.
It's helped us, it's helpedthem.
They get great exposure to alot of different areas of the
company and we get a great freshview of problems that we're
working on at the time and, aswe all know, supply chain is
just a bunch of problem solving.
So it's been a great experience.
I'm really excited about thisthird cohort.
(13:17):
We're about probably threequarters of the way through and
they are really heading in theright direction.
So it's been a great experience.
Ted Stank (13:24):
So as the leader from the company perspective, you
get to frame the project.
I'm assuming you work with Paulto try to figure out exactly
what that project is.
Lori Maurer (13:32):
Yep, we sure do.
We started off with networkoptimization and Riley can give
you a little bit more detailabout that.
Their cohort went through awhole network optimization
project.
They got to talk to people frommultiple departments.
We walked away with a solidproject that we could then take
into our own procedures andprocesses, so we got a lot out
(13:54):
of that project for them, andthen we moved.
The second cohort was a like asustainability type project, so
we had some co-products that weneeded to be able to automate
movements through the system,and that cohort really took us
outside of our normal thoughtprocess.
So their focus was thinkingoutside of the box, bringing
(14:15):
some project potential to thatand getting us sort of out of a
rut with that project.
This third project is sort of abig one for us.
We need to automate our supplyplanning process and the SNOP
process.
So right now our planners arein Excel.
Everything is manual and whilewe have a system, we're going to
be using it.
(14:36):
In the gap between now and thenwe need something that's better
for the planners.
So they've been focusing ongetting a project set up for us
where we can automate some ofthe data input and just have a
better output for us.
That's a lot faster forscenario building things like
that.
Ted Stank (14:51):
That's very exciting.
So, riley, I assume you had aninternship before you went into
this project, or did you not?
Riley Clayton (14:58):
I did, yeah, I think I'd say probably right in
the middle of it, when I startedPaul's class.
It was DeRoyal in Knoxville,there in Powell, so it was
medical supplies.
I got to work a lot in supplyplanning and kind of see how
their planners worked, and soit's been a very interesting
connect thus far.
It obviously started there,yeah, talk with Album Oral,
connect with Album Oral, andthen you know I'm very involved
(15:20):
with the S&OP team and obviouslythis project where we're
looking at kind of deep divinginto the S&OP process and
improving, you know, making itmore efficient for our planners
in general.
So it's a full circle momentfor me for sure.
Tom Goldsby (15:32):
That's really cool that you went from being the
student to now being the advisoron the company side of things.
Ted Stank (15:38):
Oh, are you the advisor this year To me?
Riley Clayton (15:39):
and Laurie's tag company side of things.
Oh, are you the advisor thisyear, timmy and Lori tag team?
It most definitely.
But I've been involved in bothof the projects that we've done
with UT since I left.
It's been probably one of themost rewarding things I could
see, because I think I do have apretty unique perspective from
the student side.
I know kind of how Paul's classis formatted as well as what we
want of them.
So hopefully you know we'redoing a good job about making it
(16:01):
manageable for them, but alsoprojects of substance and things
that are going to help them andyou know they'll carry through
for when they graduate in May.
Ted Stank (16:09):
Well, that's very cool.
So you weren't green.
At least you had experiencegetting your hands dirty in
industry.
Because I can only imagine if Iwere a senior undergrad, in
August of my senior yeargraduating in May, getting a
really complex project like thisput on my lap and being
expected to deliver value for acompany partner.
Paul Fortunato (16:29):
That's exactly what we're trying to do, though,
ted.
I try to make this class feelas close as I can to a work
environment.
So when students go to work itisn't the first time they felt
that, and for some students itis, especially when we were, I
guess, say, riley, back to yourcohort that came through a lot
of those students were on theedge of that whole COVID mess
that students went through wherethere weren't internships, so
(16:53):
that I tried to give them, insome ways, a bit of an
internship.
But this is beyond, I thinkLori mentioned.
This is more than an internship, and I try to make it that way
and we push them hard.
And for those who feel likeit's too much, I'm saying guys,
this is work, this is what it'sgoing to be like when you get
out.
So that's part of the planactually.
Ted Stank (17:12):
And Paul, you act as kind of the project advisor to
them.
Obviously, you're not workingthe projects, but you're giving
them insights on how to work theproject.
Paul Fortunato (17:19):
Yes, I like to tell especially new companies
that I recruit to bring intothis class, because I need about
12 a semester.
That's a chore for me, that'swhat I do on the off semesters,
but I tell them, folks, you dothe what with the students, I do
the how when it comes torunning a project.
So I don't do the work.
Matter of fact, I try hard notto get into doing the work.
(17:43):
I let the students do the workwith the company.
I basically show them the stepsof project management.
You can go to a whole course inproject management and get
certified in it.
Well, students aren't going tobe at that level, but I give
them those industry bestpractices on what's a project,
how do you work as a projectteam member?
What's it like to be a teammember in a working environment?
(18:06):
And for a lot of them it's thefirst time they've seen that.
Ted Stank (18:09):
You know, Paul, I'm going to sing your praises and
the praises of our otherprofessors of practice who have
come to us from a career inindustry.
I could teach that class andprobably contribute some value,
but nothing compared to the kindof value you bring to the table
with your vast industrybackground and helping people in
their early 20s understand howto manage a project and bring it
(18:31):
to completion with value add.
Paul Fortunato (18:33):
Well, I'm told that's one of the reasons why
they wanted someone like me todo this.
I didn't think it was that bigof a deal, but I could get it
now.
The other professor who teachesis Mary Long.
She has a similar kind ofbackground.
She came out of industry.
Mike Burnett, he gave birth tothis whole class.
He came out of the industryworld too.
So it does, I think, add to, Ithink, the value of the class
(18:54):
that what we do is what weprobably did when we worked.
I mean real work, not teach.
One thing I love and she'sstill doing it Riley calls me
Paul.
That's one of the things I doin class.
I tell them look, don't call meProfessor Fortunato or Dr
Fortunato.
Nothing could be further fromthe truth, dr Fortunato.
(19:14):
I roll my eyes but I say whenyou're at work you're going to
call your boss probably by theirfirst name, so call me by my
first name.
It's hard for some students,but after you get used to it,
hopefully it's what you'll getused to in the work world.
And Riley's still doing it.
It's wonderful.
I smiled when she did it.
Ted Stank (19:33):
I do the same, Paul.
I ask my students to call me bythe first name for the same
reason.
Tom Goldsby (19:37):
That gives us a sense for what, paul, you're
looking for in a project, and Iknow that scoping something that
fits inside of our 14-weeksemester is a bit of a challenge
for one thing.
But I was just curious if Lorican maybe speak a little bit
about what they're looking for.
As a corporate sponsor of theprogram and company participant,
(19:59):
how do you all decide what tobring to Paul and students?
Lori Maurer (20:03):
It really depends on what's going on at the time
within the supply chain group.
So we obviously keep a backlogor a roadmap of all the projects
that we're working on, and outof those you have some baby
projects that aren't in scope ofthe larger projects, and so we
look around at our roadmap andwe take a look at anything
that's connected to that that weneed some help on, and then we
(20:26):
narrow down after we talk to theother leaders within supply
chain.
So we typically collaborate onthat and say, hey, we're
thinking about doing XYZ project, what do you guys think?
Here's what we're thinking ofscoping.
And then, once we get agreementamongst the team, then we send
that over to Paul and he reviewsit and we talk about clarifying
expectations and we go fromthere.
Paul Fortunato (20:46):
And if I could add a little bit to that, I
often tell companies yes, I wanta real world project for the
students to work on.
And I tell them you've got toget it done in 14 weeks.
It can't carry over, so it'sgot to be the right size.
But at the same time I'll tellthem look, if there's a project
that you wish you could do butyou didn't have enough resources
to do it, throw it at us.
(21:08):
Often, if you can get it in theright size of scope, the
students will have the time andthey can dig into it.
And I said and don't besurprised, don't underestimate
how much they can do.
And I've yet to find a projectand I've done 35, 36 of them now
where the students haven't beenable to really hit the ground
(21:29):
with every one of them.
Now, some of them we had toshrink a little bit, some of
them actually I think Laurie,maybe it was last year's we
added to it halfway through thesemester- and yeah, we did.
I mean, their heads did notexplode, came close, but they
were excited to work on evenmore.
Lori Maurer (21:45):
Yeah, they knocked it out of the park and everybody
wants to work on sustainabilityright now, so it was a pretty
exciting project for them.
They did a great job.
Paul Fortunato (21:52):
Yeah, they did a great job, and there's quite a
bit of flexibility to whatthey're able to do too.
So I tell companies don't betoo worried about it, throw it
at it, I'll help you, I'll getyou through the process, and
usually after they've done thefirst one, they got a great idea
of how to carry it forward.
Ted Stank (22:07):
So there's another element to this that I want to
dive into a little bit, aboutthe fact that Riley is sitting
here now as a member of theAlbum Art team and having worked
with Lori two years ago.
Lori talk a little bit aboutthe role that these projects
play from your talentrecruitment perspective.
I mean, obviously you get achance to work with some really
sharp students for 14 weeks andget to know them better, and
(22:30):
that's obviously a lot moreeffective than a 30 minute
interview with anyone could be.
Lori Maurer (22:34):
Oh, definitely, because you can very quickly
pick out the students who areeager to try to solve the
project or solve the problem.
So you can see who are theschedulers, who are the ones
that really think through theproject and know what questions
to ask.
And one of the biggest things Ilook for is who in this group
is going to ask those pointedquestions to really get to the
root cause of the issue.
(22:55):
You know, if you don'tunderstand something, ask the
question.
There's always a couple thatstick out.
That's how we got Riley.
Riley stuck way out of thecrowd.
We were really happy to bringher on the team.
She's been a great addition.
Everybody she works with justreally loves her.
She's a hard worker.
So that's what we're lookingfor, and as a company, we have a
(23:15):
big focus on excellence inrecruiting and excellence in
supply chain.
So it's a big focus for us inthe upcoming couple of years is
to make sure we get the rightcandidates in the supply chain
roles that can bring expertise.
So Riley was a perfect exampleof that.
Ted Stank (23:31):
That's fantastic, riley, from your perspective.
Clearly, you probably hadopportunities.
Right, you said you did turnwith DeRoyal.
Our students, our best students, who have done internships and
done well in school, often havemultiple opportunities.
How did working on a projectwith Album Moral influence your
decision to go to work for AlbumMoral?
Riley Clayton (23:50):
Quite a bit actually.
I mean, obviously, lori andsomeone else in our Album Moral
team were my project managers,which, simple enough, I really
enjoyed the personality and theproject that was handed to us
most definitely.
I don't know, I think wetouched on a little bit at the
beginning, but my cohort was anetwork optimization project.
My current role is focusing onnetwork optimization and
(24:12):
inventory optimization, so myinterest was already peaked
there at the beginning when theyhanded it to us.
But I think also it was thefact that they didn't shy away
from it was a very good sizeproject for us to take on, and
especially Paul.
Correct me if I'm wrong, butthat was the first semester of
this class.
This was the first timecompanies had been partnered
with these student groups.
So they didn't shy away fromhanding us a larger project and
(24:36):
they kind of let us take it inthe way that we wanted to.
I mean, we got to exploredifferent avenues.
They helped us and guided us ina way, and as did Paul.
But we were lucky enough to behanded a large data set and said
, hey, go into this data set, gointo these files and figure out
where the problems are, whereare opportunities for
optimization and efficiency andthings like that, and I think
(24:59):
that was the thing that stoodout the most, I would say, is
they weren't afraid of askingfor those outside perspectives
and the fresh eyes and the newideas and they really took it.
And obviously, like Lori said,that was something that they
took away from that project.
Even after I finished my lastsemester of college.
They took that and brought thatto leadership.
So it was the idea thatsomething that we were doing as
(25:19):
seniors in college made adifference at a company as large
and impactful as Album Moral is.
Ted Stank (25:26):
I'm sitting here beaming OK, thinking of the
effectiveness of this programand seeing one of our recent
grads like you doing such greatthings, Paul, you get to see
this multiple times a year.
What is your perspective onwhere students go in August to
where they are in December whenthey're done?
What does the value add to themfrom a professional standpoint?
Paul Fortunato (25:47):
Well, I like how the ones who really immerse
themselves and most do you knowthe bell shaped curve.
It's in every, every part oflife.
You always see it.
But you see the bell shapedcurve in class too.
But you see the bell-shapedcurve in class too.
But by and large, you get thatteam and you show that team how
they as a group have got to besuccessful.
(26:07):
You watch them grab onto that,because a lot of the students
most of the students had workedin a team setting.
So watching them change fromindividuals to an effective team
through the course of thesemester, I think it's something
that's going to help them asthey get out.
So that's a transformation thatI see.
(26:29):
I also love to see and Riley'steam was like this, okay, and
I've had many like this too, soI guess it works.
It wasn't just a one and done,but I like when the team starts
using the terms like ourwarehouse and our customers,
when they take that kind ofownership of their project and
they start internalizing it tosaying that like we are going to
(26:52):
be successful or we are goingto drive this program and the
our company, then you knowthey've got it, which is what
you want to see from the folksyou hire and I like to see them
make that transition fromstudent to actual walk-all
worker in this process, andthat's what happens in this
class, I think.
Tom Goldsby (27:13):
That is so awesome.
And again, that all happensinside the course of one
semester.
Right and to your point, we areworking on students to make
them the best versions ofthemselves throughout this
program, but then they cometogether in a team.
That must be really rewardingto see that by the end of
semester.
Paul Fortunato (27:30):
Well, they have their struggles too.
This is not all smiles, ok, andeveryone understands the
problems of working in teams andwhat could happen and the
students come in as trueindividuals and I actually am
surprised, you know, coming intothe program Most of the
students don't know otherstudents.
They don't know their teammembers for the most part.
(27:51):
So that's part of the processin 14 weeks to knit them into a
team and understanding that'swhat it's going to be like and
the struggles you have asindividuals.
You've got to overcome those tobe a successful team.
90% of all my teams, I'd say,are really successful.
There you got the couple othersthat struggle, so we use those.
You know what could go wrong ina project team.
I'll make that the learningthat they get out of the project
(28:13):
that they worked on.
It happens.
It happens in the real world.
Ted Stank (28:16):
Yeah, Laurie.
I looked at the summaries ofthese projects and a couple of
them at least had a globalperspective to it.
What is the global implicationsof some of these projects and
the people working on the teams?
Lori Maurer (28:33):
Yeah, no, that's a great question because Riley's
team, for example they werepretty restricted in the amount
of time that they had to workwith their main contact, so she
was located in Budapest, hungary, and they're five to six hours.
Depending on daylight savingstime, they can be five to six
hours ahead of us.
So her cohort really had quitea few early mornings, which in a
couple of cases was tough aftera UT game.
So, but they pulled through,they showed up, they worked hard
and you know they got toexperience working with not only
(28:56):
different time zones but alsodifferent cultures and sometimes
that can be tough, learning howto identify what is something
that is cultural versus justpersonality.
And, like you said, paul,working in a new team is that's
getting a new job.
I mean you have to learnpeople's personalities and work
through difficult personalitiesyour entire life.
So that's being in a companylike that, and I think it's a
(29:19):
really good experience for themto learn how, not only with
different personalities but alsocultures across the globe, how
to balance that and be flexible.
Tom Goldsby (29:27):
And Riley.
Meanwhile, you were a studentin Knoxville, tennessee, and
working on one of these projectswith global implications.
What was it like for you tohave that experience of working
with a company contact on theother side of the world?
Riley Clayton (29:43):
It was obviously very different from anything
that I had ever experienced, andI think I want to speak for my
group, but I don't think any ofthem had experienced anything
like that before.
To kind of circle back to what Isaid earlier, they didn't shy
away from giving us a projectthat meant something to them and
something that they were.
You know, leadership waslooking into SNOP, was looking
into different groups withinAlbemarle, was looking into in
(30:04):
different regions as well, andso you know we had a lot of
meetings with people in Budapestas well as in, you know, our
China location, so those timezones were a bit difficult to
navigate sometimes, but it wasalso a very insightful way to
look at things, because I dothat all the time now, so I get
to work with people in differenttime zones and different
cultures, and you know tounderstand we need to balance
(30:26):
things as we go as well.
You know, like we have nightmeetings, we have morning
meetings.
You know we need to be mindfuland respectful of everyone's
time as well, as there'slanguage barriers and things
like that, so it's obstaclesthat you have to overcome in the
workplace when you leavecollege, and I think I just got
a taste of it before everyoneelse did.
Tom Goldsby (30:48):
And I think it really, really helped me in the
long run and again to then takeon full-time employment with
that project company.
You had to feel like you had acertain home court advantage,
knowing that business, itsoperations and the scope of
operations.
Riley Clayton (30:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think Lori and Kinga whois the other project manager I
think they both did a very goodjob about immersing us into the
business as a whole from thevery beginning.
So when I did go to work forthem about two weeks after
graduation it was all fresh onthe mind and I do think that
there was some sort of homefield advantage to where I had
heard a lot of the terminologybefore and I had met with a lot
(31:19):
of people.
I had heard a lot of those theterminology before and I had met
with a lot of people.
Lori was able to set up thoseinterviews when I was a student
in that group with a lot of thepeople that I work with today.
I think in terms of familiarityit was definitely an advantage
for me, for sure.
Ted Stank (31:37):
Yeah, you know, there's the old saying that you
don't work for a company, youwork for people, right, and at
the end of the day, it is aboutthe people that we spend an
awful lot of time with at work.
So, yeah, this would have togive you a great leg up on the
job and understanding your team,and Lori, as a hiring manager,
gives you a confidence level inwho you're bringing in as well.
Lori Maurer (31:53):
Yeah, definitely.
We had exposure to Riley andthe rest of the team and even
with the second cohort it wasexcellent getting to have
exposure to them andunderstanding how they could
possibly fit into the team.
It was excellent getting tohave exposure to them and
understanding how they couldpossibly fit into the team.
Personality wise, work stylewise all of those things have to
be a good fit.
So it's good to have way morethan a 30 minute interview with
someone to figure out if they'regoing to be a good fit.
So it's kind of perfect.
Paul Fortunato (32:24):
Another benefit for companies and I've seen this
a couple of times where theproject leader that the company
chooses for the students to workwith.
They may be a relatively lowlevel person Maybe they've never
been a manager before and theyget a chance to manage a group
of, I'll say, interns and tosort of learn the leadership
role in a fairly easyenvironment.
Again, I'm willing to help outthere too.
Not only do I love helping thestudents, I enjoy helping these
(32:48):
younger folks in companies okay,to gain some experience.
So I've seen a company or twodo that and I think it's worked
out well for them in that roletoo.
Ted Stank (32:54):
You know everybody, there's nothing I love better
than a virtuous cycle right whenwe've got a win for the company
, a win for the studentsinvolved and a win for our
program in terms of being ableto prepare students to really
hit the ground running when theyget into industry.
Paul, if I'm a managerlistening to this podcast and I
want to get involved, how do Igo about doing that?
Paul Fortunato (33:14):
Usually we take our members from the Institute,
our Global Supply ChainInstitute.
They're our first call outthere and we'll ask for those
who want to get involved andwhat I'll generally do is I've
got a long email list and I'llsend an email out.
Mary Long does the same thingbefore she gets ready for her
semester and we'll pull inrecruits that way.
(33:34):
That's generally what happens.
Often what I'll ask is at theend of the semester, through the
10 or 12 companies I'm workingwith hey, would you consider
doing one a second or third time?
I would like to do it again andwe'll often put them at the top
of the list, but there's alwaysan opening.
I think I had about threeopenings this year, four
openings actually this year thatwe work to recruit companies to
(33:57):
come on.
It's a chaotic time for us todo it.
There's no one set path.
But if you can let somebody atthe institute level know that
you'd like to be involved atyour member company, just let us
know and I'll be contacting you.
Ted Stank (34:10):
Fantastic.
Paul Lori Riley, thank you somuch for your time with us today
.
I think this was a really greatsession with a lot of
interesting implications for allof us in education and trying
to get value created for thosecompanies that hire our students
.
Tom, I think you probably havean email that folks that might
be interested in this projectcourse might be able to send
(34:31):
something to.
Tom Goldsby (34:32):
That's right.
As always, our listeners canreach us at gsci at utkedu, and,
as always, we welcome yourcomments and questions.
In fact, Ted, as we arelaunching our third season of
the Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement podcast, we didn't
talk about this beforehand, butwhat do you say?
We field a listener question inthe next episode.
(34:55):
What do you think?
Ted Stank (34:56):
I would love to do that.
Listeners, please send us somequestions.
Tom Goldsby (35:00):
All right, we'll take one question and, by the
way, in a couple of weeks we'regoing to be recording that next
session at the Supply ChainForum, looking forward to
entertaining some of our gueststhere.
We're going to talk aboutmaking work meaningful,
meaningful engagement at work,so it's going to be a great
topic and we look forward tobeing live next time around.
Intro/Outro (35:23):
Thanks for tuning in to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management.
If you enjoyed the episode,subscribe today on your favorite
listening platform to get allof our episodes as soon as they
drop, and don't forget to take amoment to leave us a rating.
Have any questions, thoughts orfeedback?
We'd love to hear from ourlisteners.
Email us at gsci at utkedu.
Join us next time as wecontinue pulling back the
(35:45):
curtain on the world of supplychain, educating and
entertaining you along the way.
Until then, listeners.
Welcome to the Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management podcast.
Listen in as co-hosts Ted Stankand Tom Goldsby set sail into
the world of end-to-end supplychain management, diving deep
into today's most relevantbusiness topics.
They'll share insights inpressing industry issues and
tackle the challenges keepingsupply chain professionals up at
night.
If you're enjoying the ride,download and subscribe to
(00:22):
Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement on your favorite
podcast platform now.
Tom Goldsby (00:28):
Hello and welcome to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management, season 3, episode 1.
So excited to be bringing thisto you from Rocky Top.
I am Tom Goldsby and I'm joinedby my co-host, dr Ted Stank.
Hello, ted.
Ted Stank (00:43):
Hey Tom, How's it going?
Things are going well, hey, isit true that our writing team
has been refreshed so that wedon't go down some crazy rabbit
hole, like so many shows do intheir third season?
Tom Goldsby (00:56):
Well, you mean jumping the shark, do you think
we're?
Ted Stank (00:58):
at risk of doing that .
Yeah, yeah, yeah, those kindsof things.
Tom Goldsby (01:01):
It's entirely possible, but we spent what?
About three minutes beforelaunching the recording
rehearsing this episode, so Idon't think we're really at risk
of that.
We're going to keep it fresh.
Ted Stank (01:13):
Now you just did something that in our
pre-episode talk that we did toone of our guests, riley Clayton
, you mentioned jumping theshark.
I bet Riley has no idea whatjumping the shark is.
Tom Goldsby (01:23):
I don't know that we're at risk of doing that,
given how wild and woolly theworld of supply chain is.
Always something new and freshout there, and so why don't we
take just a few minutes beforewe bring Riley and our guests
into the conversation?
Just catch up a little bit.
Our last podcast, as we closedout season two.
Actually we had that kind ofbonus session with Kate Vytasik
(01:45):
we recorded at CSCMP.
Have you recovered from CSCMP,Ted?
Ted Stank (01:49):
Yeah, yeah, I have.
It always tires me out all thatnetworking, you know, but
everything is good now.
Tom Goldsby (01:55):
Back then we were perhaps days, or maybe even
hours away from an impendingEast Coast Gulf Coast worker
strike, and sure enough, ithappened.
What was it About?
72 hours?
Ted Stank (02:07):
Yeah, lasted about three days.
Tom Goldsby (02:09):
Pretty short lived and, that said, we're not out of
the woods yet, am I correct?
They kind of settled on wagesand maybe some benefits, but the
issue of automation is still onthe table, and that's the one
that's always been lingering outthere, and they're going to
revisit that by the middle ofJanuary.
I did hear just in the last dayor so that they're getting
(02:30):
those talks underway, so maybethey'll get that resolved, maybe
even before the end of the year.
What do you think?
Ted Stank (02:35):
Yeah, they're supposed to be going back to the
negotiating table in November.
The catch, however, is evenwith the wages 62% wage growth
over the next four years, Ibelieve, was what was agreed
upon, but that has not yet beenratified by the rank and file.
So the table is still wide openfor those negotiations.
The good news and this is kindof a precursor to something
(02:56):
we're going to talk about in alittle while is it will have
happened after the USpresidential election, so there
might be a little bit more roomfor government involvement.
Tom Goldsby (03:06):
You know it's interesting how long it's going
to take to get that thingsettled.
Ted Stank (03:10):
That's the big speculation, maybe by the middle
of January, you're right.
So, tom, some other things.
You know the other statisticsthat we kind of look at.
The US economy continues toshow pretty strong growth.
The English trade and businessjournal the Economist led with a
cover on.
The US economy is the envy ofthe world and it's interesting
(03:32):
because watching all theseelection campaign advertisements
you would think that we are inthe 1929 world depression crash.
Is how the politicians aremaking it seem.
Tom Goldsby (03:40):
Well, our very own chief economist, Marianne
Wanamaker, who a frequent gueston the show, and I think we'll
be bringing her back, I thinksoon after the election.
Ted Stank (03:50):
December, actually first week in December.
Tom Goldsby (03:52):
But she's been talking about that envy of the
world storyline for quite sometime.
In fact, I joined her onCapitol Hill back in late 22.
And it's like, hey, y'all aredoing a fine job, keep it up,
because, compared to the rest ofthe world, we're the shining
star for sure.
Ted Stank (04:10):
Yeah.
So last quarter GDP growth was3%.
Last month's inflation was 2.4%.
The labor market is softening abit, but not like 6, 9, 10%.
Actually it's at 4.2%.
Unemployment was the lastnumbers.
Consumer confidence is at about70, which is kind of right in
(04:31):
there.
Manufacturing orders were up abit over September.
They're still lower thanthey've been, but they're kind
of coming back up Right nowagain, given the amount of
uncertainty we have in theenvironment with the
presidential election things arenot looking bad and I'm going
(05:00):
to put in an editorial commenthere.
Tom Goldsby (05:03):
I'm just.
I cannot wait till the electionseason is traveling.
You're just completelyinundated.
I was in Arizona a few weeksago and there's nothing but
election ads on the airwaves andjust plastered everywhere.
Here in Tennessee.
I'm going to go ahead and putsome bets down if I could, but I
don't think they would pay outmuch, given the Vegas odds, so
(05:24):
it's not even worth the effort.
But if you are in one of thoseswing states, god bless you.
Well, hopefully those ads willcease at some point very soon.
Ted Stank (05:34):
Well, I recently learned from my TV that the
congressperson from our littledistrict here in Eastern North
Carolina is personallyresponsible for the immigration
crisis.
Fentanyl, china trade prettymuch all of that Pretty powerful
person.
I never realized thatcongressperson from Eastern
North Carolina had all thatpower.
Paul Fortunato (05:55):
That's amazing.
Ted Stank (05:56):
Hey, something else that's happened since we talked
Tom.
I think it was the weekend thatwe had our last podcast was the
weekend that Hurricane Helenehit Western North Carolina.
Since then, hurricane Miltonhit Florida.
Total devastation of thoseareas.
So clearly, from a supply chainstandpoint, it's something I
think we need to mention thatregionally we have to continue
(06:17):
to be on high alert for regionaldisruptions like
weather-induced disruptions, bigone from Hurricane Helene.
Asheville, north Carolina, is awonderful city If you haven't
been there before.
A lot of great craft breweries,but also the single Pfizer
plant for saline, and so acrossthe United States we're actually
(06:38):
holding on elective surgeriesbecause we don't have enough
saline to meet.
Tom Goldsby (06:43):
Well, and, to that point, the reason why Pfizer
probably felt fairly comfortableputting their sole saline
facility there is that WesternNorth Carolina has been
relatively free of cataclysmicstorms.
And some people thought climatechange wasn't affecting the
areas that far deep intoCarolina out of Hurricane Alley
(07:08):
and so forth, but I think that'sthe world we live in now.
There is no such thing as asafe haven from climate change.
Ted Stank (07:14):
Absolutely, and you know, I was in Knoxville on that
Friday when the storm camethrough and we expected to get
it over top of us.
Over top of us and it shiftedabout 50 miles east the day of,
and the massive destructionbecause of all those rains that
came down in the mountains ofEast Tennessee and Western North
Carolina Quite a tragedy, butyou're right, tom.
So again, I mean, if there's atheme for this boy, if you don't
(07:36):
have a dynamic risk managementstrategy in place, you need to
get one.
Tom Goldsby (07:41):
So you're absolutely right, ted, a lot of
hardship there in North Carolina, but it does occur to me that
there's a lot of great stuffhappening in Western North
Carolina, in fact, the companywe're going to feature today is
based right there.
Ted Stank (07:56):
So why do you say we transition?
Yeah, let's do that, tom.
Today we're going to feature areally interesting topic to us.
We're going to bring in a fewguests, one of them our own,
paul Fortunato, one of ourfaculty, as well as Lori Marr
and Riley Clayton with AlbemarleCorporation.
The topic is a senior levelproject management class that we
have at University of Tennesseein our undergraduate program
and Paul directs that class andworks with a number of companies
(08:19):
on student-directed projectswith industry.
Paul is not yourrun-of-the-mill faculty.
Paul, while he is on facultywith us in the University of
Tennessee Supply ChainManagement Program is a former
North American ManufacturingDirector and Knoxville Site
Leader for Dow Chemical and Ifirst met Paul in that capacity
when we would bring studentteams over to visit their
(08:41):
facilities.
Paul, welcome, great to haveyou with us, glad to be here.
Lori Marr is Director of SupplyChain Center of Excellence and
Strategic Planning for AlbemarleCorporation.
Lori, welcome, great to haveyou join us as well.
Lori Maurer (08:54):
Thank you, nice to be here.
Ted Stank (08:55):
And Riley Clayton is Logistics and Supply Chain
Manager with Albemarle, but alsoone of our wonderful University
of Tennessee Supp chainmanagement undergraduate
graduates.
So, Riley, great to have youwith us.
Thank you.
Riley Clayton (09:08):
Thank you for having me.
Ted Stank (09:09):
Hey, Paul, you want to tell us a little bit about
your background and then alittle bit about this class and
how you came to be involved withit.
Paul Fortunato (09:17):
Yeah, it's all your fault, Ted.
Actually, just so folks realize, be careful when you speak with
Ted, you don't know where it'sgoing to go.
Ted Stank (09:23):
Folks realize, be careful when you speak with Ted,
you don't know where it's goingto go.
Yeah, we have a recruitingprogram that we call the Amoeba,
where, if you shake my hand,before you know it, my arm is
around your back and then you'reworking for us.
Paul Fortunato (09:33):
Exactly what happened.
I worked for Dow Chemical, likeyou mentioned, for 36 years.
I retired 2018, I think it wasand you were speaking with my
daughter, who was in your class.
You say Fortunato.
I think I know a Fortunato.
Sure enough, there it is.
But you found out that I hadjust retired from working in the
chemical industry.
I was always in manufacturingor supply chain for my whole
(09:54):
career and I had an opportunityto often invite your classes to
my factory in Knoxville and Ialways enjoyed speaking with the
students.
So when you gave me a chance tocome, perhaps get involved, I
thought, well, I'd be a guestlecturer.
No, you sucked me into being anactual instructor for a whole
class.
I had no idea I would want todo that in retirement.
(10:17):
Well, that was six years agoand I love it.
Who knew?
I would love actually workingwith students, and usually
seniors, which is great, whichis what I'm doing this year
again.
Again, all your fault, ted.
Ted Stank (10:28):
Well, it's great to have you with us.
Paul Lori want to say hi.
Lori Maurer (10:31):
Yeah, my name is Lori Maurer.
I've been with Album Moral foralmost six years now.
Grew up in supply chain, mostlyin the S&OP world A lot of
focus on demand planning, supplyplanning, inventory management,
a little bit of warehousing, alittle bit of production
planning.
So I'm really excited to talkto you guys today.
Ted Stank (10:50):
Great, great to have you with us and Riley Clayton.
Riley Clayton (10:53):
So I started at Albemarle about a year ago, a
year and a half ago now.
I actually graduated, obviously, like we said, from the
University of Tennessee SupplyChain Department in May of 2023.
I was in Paul's first cohort ofthe class we're going to be
talking about today, where I wasfunny enough partnering up with
Album Moral and Lori, to beexact.
So obviously it went reallywell for me.
(11:14):
Happy where I am, I'm happy totalk to you guys today.
Ted Stank (11:17):
It's great to have you all with us, thank you.
So, paul, you want to tell us alittle bit about this project
course.
Paul Fortunato (11:22):
Sure, Again, I've been doing it for three
years now and it wasn't mybrainchild, that's for sure, but
I was able to take over againsome folks who put together a
really strong program, I think.
And it's not your typical class.
You said I'm not a typicalacademic.
I'm sure not.
And this is not your typicalacademic type class.
You know, my background waschemical engineering and we used
to have this senior classcalled unit ops where you got
(11:44):
involved with real pumps andreal pipes and maybe a
distillation column.
Well, that's how I kind of putthis class together.
That's how I run this class.
I let the students actuallywork on real-world projects that
we get from companies andthey're real supply chain
projects, and we set thestudents up in teams of four or
five.
And we set the students up inteams of four or five and
(12:05):
through the whole semester theywork on usually an improvement
project in the supply chainworld, Anything from the
beginning of procurement down tothat final mile delivery to a
customer, anything in between,Up to the companies.
And I guide the students.
I don't teach a whole lot, Iguide them through the process.
Ted Stank (12:30):
It's turned out to be for a lot of students, kind of
a game changing opportunity forthem.
So, Laura, you're involved fromthe Albemarle side as the
company representative.
Tell me about your experienceswith the course and what are the
kind of things that keep youcoming back.
Lori Maurer (12:36):
My experience with the course was a little hesitant
to start off, but once we gotthrough that first cohort I was
all in.
We had a great first cohort andobviously we got Riley out of
it, so I couldn't have asked fora better experience.
It's definitely not a typicalwhat I would call an intern
experience.
I would call it all hands ondeck.
I mean, the teams really takethe project that we give them
(12:57):
and they dig in hard.
It's been a really greatexperience for us.
It's helped us, it's helpedthem.
They get great exposure to alot of different areas of the
company and we get a great freshview of problems that we're
working on at the time and, aswe all know, supply chain is
just a bunch of problem solving.
So it's been a great experience.
I'm really excited about thisthird cohort.
(13:17):
We're about probably threequarters of the way through and
they are really heading in theright direction.
So it's been a great experience.
Ted Stank (13:24):
So as the leader from the company perspective, you
get to frame the project.
I'm assuming you work with Paulto try to figure out exactly
what that project is.
Lori Maurer (13:32):
Yep, we sure do.
We started off with networkoptimization and Riley can give
you a little bit more detailabout that.
Their cohort went through awhole network optimization
project.
They got to talk to people frommultiple departments.
We walked away with a solidproject that we could then take
into our own procedures andprocesses, so we got a lot out
(13:54):
of that project for them, andthen we moved.
The second cohort was a like asustainability type project, so
we had some co-products that weneeded to be able to automate
movements through the system,and that cohort really took us
outside of our normal thoughtprocess.
So their focus was thinkingoutside of the box, bringing
(14:15):
some project potential to thatand getting us sort of out of a
rut with that project.
This third project is sort of abig one for us.
We need to automate our supplyplanning process and the SNOP
process.
So right now our planners arein Excel.
Everything is manual and whilewe have a system, we're going to
be using it.
(14:36):
In the gap between now and thenwe need something that's better
for the planners.
So they've been focusing ongetting a project set up for us
where we can automate some ofthe data input and just have a
better output for us.
That's a lot faster forscenario building things like
that.
Ted Stank (14:51):
That's very exciting.
So, riley, I assume you had aninternship before you went into
this project, or did you not?
Riley Clayton (14:58):
I did, yeah, I think I'd say probably right in
the middle of it, when I startedPaul's class.
It was DeRoyal in Knoxville,there in Powell, so it was
medical supplies.
I got to work a lot in supplyplanning and kind of see how
their planners worked, and soit's been a very interesting
connect thus far.
It obviously started there,yeah, talk with Album Oral,
connect with Album Oral, andthen you know I'm very involved
(15:20):
with the S&OP team and obviouslythis project where we're
looking at kind of deep divinginto the S&OP process and
improving, you know, making itmore efficient for our planners
in general.
So it's a full circle momentfor me for sure.
Tom Goldsby (15:32):
That's really cool that you went from being the
student to now being the advisoron the company side of things.
Ted Stank (15:38):
Oh, are you the advisor this year To me?
Riley Clayton (15:39):
and Laurie's tag company side of things.
Oh, are you the advisor thisyear, timmy and Lori tag team?
It most definitely.
But I've been involved in bothof the projects that we've done
with UT since I left.
It's been probably one of themost rewarding things I could
see, because I think I do have apretty unique perspective from
the student side.
I know kind of how Paul's classis formatted as well as what we
want of them.
So hopefully you know we'redoing a good job about making it
(16:01):
manageable for them, but alsoprojects of substance and things
that are going to help them andyou know they'll carry through
for when they graduate in May.
Ted Stank (16:09):
Well, that's very cool.
So you weren't green.
At least you had experiencegetting your hands dirty in
industry.
Because I can only imagine if Iwere a senior undergrad, in
August of my senior yeargraduating in May, getting a
really complex project like thisput on my lap and being
expected to deliver value for acompany partner.
Paul Fortunato (16:29):
That's exactly what we're trying to do, though,
ted.
I try to make this class feelas close as I can to a work
environment.
So when students go to work itisn't the first time they felt
that, and for some students itis, especially when we were, I
guess, say, riley, back to yourcohort that came through a lot
of those students were on theedge of that whole COVID mess
that students went through wherethere weren't internships, so
(16:53):
that I tried to give them, insome ways, a bit of an
internship.
But this is beyond, I thinkLori mentioned.
This is more than an internship, and I try to make it that way
and we push them hard.
And for those who feel likeit's too much, I'm saying guys,
this is work, this is what it'sgoing to be like when you get
out.
So that's part of the planactually.
Ted Stank (17:12):
And Paul, you act as kind of the project advisor to
them.
Obviously, you're not workingthe projects, but you're giving
them insights on how to work theproject.
Paul Fortunato (17:19):
Yes, I like to tell especially new companies
that I recruit to bring intothis class, because I need about
12 a semester.
That's a chore for me, that'swhat I do on the off semesters,
but I tell them, folks, you dothe what with the students, I do
the how when it comes torunning a project.
So I don't do the work.
Matter of fact, I try hard notto get into doing the work.
(17:43):
I let the students do the workwith the company.
I basically show them the stepsof project management.
You can go to a whole course inproject management and get
certified in it.
Well, students aren't going tobe at that level, but I give
them those industry bestpractices on what's a project,
how do you work as a projectteam member?
What's it like to be a teammember in a working environment?
(18:06):
And for a lot of them it's thefirst time they've seen that.
Ted Stank (18:09):
You know, Paul, I'm going to sing your praises and
the praises of our otherprofessors of practice who have
come to us from a career inindustry.
I could teach that class andprobably contribute some value,
but nothing compared to the kindof value you bring to the table
with your vast industrybackground and helping people in
their early 20s understand howto manage a project and bring it
(18:31):
to completion with value add.
Paul Fortunato (18:33):
Well, I'm told that's one of the reasons why
they wanted someone like me todo this.
I didn't think it was that bigof a deal, but I could get it
now.
The other professor who teachesis Mary Long.
She has a similar kind ofbackground.
She came out of industry.
Mike Burnett, he gave birth tothis whole class.
He came out of the industryworld too.
So it does, I think, add to, Ithink, the value of the class
(18:54):
that what we do is what weprobably did when we worked.
I mean real work, not teach.
One thing I love and she'sstill doing it Riley calls me
Paul.
That's one of the things I doin class.
I tell them look, don't call meProfessor Fortunato or Dr
Fortunato.
Nothing could be further fromthe truth, dr Fortunato.
(19:14):
I roll my eyes but I say whenyou're at work you're going to
call your boss probably by theirfirst name, so call me by my
first name.
It's hard for some students,but after you get used to it,
hopefully it's what you'll getused to in the work world.
And Riley's still doing it.
It's wonderful.
I smiled when she did it.
Ted Stank (19:33):
I do the same, Paul.
I ask my students to call me bythe first name for the same
reason.
Tom Goldsby (19:37):
That gives us a sense for what, paul, you're
looking for in a project, and Iknow that scoping something that
fits inside of our 14-weeksemester is a bit of a challenge
for one thing.
But I was just curious if Lorican maybe speak a little bit
about what they're looking for.
As a corporate sponsor of theprogram and company participant,
(19:59):
how do you all decide what tobring to Paul and students?
Lori Maurer (20:03):
It really depends on what's going on at the time
within the supply chain group.
So we obviously keep a backlogor a roadmap of all the projects
that we're working on, and outof those you have some baby
projects that aren't in scope ofthe larger projects, and so we
look around at our roadmap andwe take a look at anything
that's connected to that that weneed some help on, and then we
(20:26):
narrow down after we talk to theother leaders within supply
chain.
So we typically collaborate onthat and say, hey, we're
thinking about doing XYZ project, what do you guys think?
Here's what we're thinking ofscoping.
And then, once we get agreementamongst the team, then we send
that over to Paul and he reviewsit and we talk about clarifying
expectations and we go fromthere.
Paul Fortunato (20:46):
And if I could add a little bit to that, I
often tell companies yes, I wanta real world project for the
students to work on.
And I tell them you've got toget it done in 14 weeks.
It can't carry over, so it'sgot to be the right size.
But at the same time I'll tellthem look, if there's a project
that you wish you could do butyou didn't have enough resources
to do it, throw it at us.
(21:08):
Often, if you can get it in theright size of scope, the
students will have the time andthey can dig into it.
And I said and don't besurprised, don't underestimate
how much they can do.
And I've yet to find a projectand I've done 35, 36 of them now
where the students haven't beenable to really hit the ground
(21:29):
with every one of them.
Now, some of them we had toshrink a little bit, some of
them actually I think Laurie,maybe it was last year's we
added to it halfway through thesemester- and yeah, we did.
I mean, their heads did notexplode, came close, but they
were excited to work on evenmore.
Lori Maurer (21:45):
Yeah, they knocked it out of the park and everybody
wants to work on sustainabilityright now, so it was a pretty
exciting project for them.
They did a great job.
Paul Fortunato (21:52):
Yeah, they did a great job, and there's quite a
bit of flexibility to whatthey're able to do too.
So I tell companies don't betoo worried about it, throw it
at it, I'll help you, I'll getyou through the process, and
usually after they've done thefirst one, they got a great idea
of how to carry it forward.
Ted Stank (22:07):
So there's another element to this that I want to
dive into a little bit, aboutthe fact that Riley is sitting
here now as a member of theAlbum Art team and having worked
with Lori two years ago.
Lori talk a little bit aboutthe role that these projects
play from your talentrecruitment perspective.
I mean, obviously you get achance to work with some really
sharp students for 14 weeks andget to know them better, and
(22:30):
that's obviously a lot moreeffective than a 30 minute
interview with anyone could be.
Lori Maurer (22:34):
Oh, definitely, because you can very quickly
pick out the students who areeager to try to solve the
project or solve the problem.
So you can see who are theschedulers, who are the ones
that really think through theproject and know what questions
to ask.
And one of the biggest things Ilook for is who in this group
is going to ask those pointedquestions to really get to the
root cause of the issue.
(22:55):
You know, if you don'tunderstand something, ask the
question.
There's always a couple thatstick out.
That's how we got Riley.
Riley stuck way out of thecrowd.
We were really happy to bringher on the team.
She's been a great addition.
Everybody she works with justreally loves her.
She's a hard worker.
So that's what we're lookingfor, and as a company, we have a
(23:15):
big focus on excellence inrecruiting and excellence in
supply chain.
So it's a big focus for us inthe upcoming couple of years is
to make sure we get the rightcandidates in the supply chain
roles that can bring expertise.
So Riley was a perfect exampleof that.
Ted Stank (23:31):
That's fantastic, riley, from your perspective.
Clearly, you probably hadopportunities.
Right, you said you did turnwith DeRoyal.
Our students, our best students, who have done internships and
done well in school, often havemultiple opportunities.
How did working on a projectwith Album Moral influence your
decision to go to work for AlbumMoral?
Riley Clayton (23:50):
Quite a bit actually.
I mean, obviously, lori andsomeone else in our Album Moral
team were my project managers,which, simple enough, I really
enjoyed the personality and theproject that was handed to us
most definitely.
I don't know, I think wetouched on a little bit at the
beginning, but my cohort was anetwork optimization project.
My current role is focusing onnetwork optimization and
(24:12):
inventory optimization, so myinterest was already peaked
there at the beginning when theyhanded it to us.
But I think also it was thefact that they didn't shy away
from it was a very good sizeproject for us to take on, and
especially Paul.
Correct me if I'm wrong, butthat was the first semester of
this class.
This was the first timecompanies had been partnered
with these student groups.
So they didn't shy away fromhanding us a larger project and
(24:36):
they kind of let us take it inthe way that we wanted to.
I mean, we got to exploredifferent avenues.
They helped us and guided us ina way, and as did Paul.
But we were lucky enough to behanded a large data set and said
, hey, go into this data set, gointo these files and figure out
where the problems are, whereare opportunities for
optimization and efficiency andthings like that, and I think
(24:59):
that was the thing that stoodout the most, I would say, is
they weren't afraid of askingfor those outside perspectives
and the fresh eyes and the newideas and they really took it.
And obviously, like Lori said,that was something that they
took away from that project.
Even after I finished my lastsemester of college.
They took that and brought thatto leadership.
So it was the idea thatsomething that we were doing as
(25:19):
seniors in college made adifference at a company as large
and impactful as Album Moral is.
Ted Stank (25:26):
I'm sitting here beaming OK, thinking of the
effectiveness of this programand seeing one of our recent
grads like you doing such greatthings, Paul, you get to see
this multiple times a year.
What is your perspective onwhere students go in August to
where they are in December whenthey're done?
What does the value add to themfrom a professional standpoint?
Paul Fortunato (25:47):
Well, I like how the ones who really immerse
themselves and most do you knowthe bell shaped curve.
It's in every, every part oflife.
You always see it.
But you see the bell shapedcurve in class too.
But you see the bell-shapedcurve in class too.
But by and large, you get thatteam and you show that team how
they as a group have got to besuccessful.
(26:07):
You watch them grab onto that,because a lot of the students
most of the students had workedin a team setting.
So watching them change fromindividuals to an effective team
through the course of thesemester, I think it's something
that's going to help them asthey get out.
So that's a transformation thatI see.
(26:29):
I also love to see and Riley'steam was like this, okay, and
I've had many like this too, soI guess it works.
It wasn't just a one and done,but I like when the team starts
using the terms like ourwarehouse and our customers,
when they take that kind ofownership of their project and
they start internalizing it tosaying that like we are going to
(26:52):
be successful or we are goingto drive this program and the
our company, then you knowthey've got it, which is what
you want to see from the folksyou hire and I like to see them
make that transition fromstudent to actual walk-all
worker in this process, andthat's what happens in this
class, I think.
Tom Goldsby (27:13):
That is so awesome.
And again, that all happensinside the course of one
semester.
Right and to your point, we areworking on students to make
them the best versions ofthemselves throughout this
program, but then they cometogether in a team.
That must be really rewardingto see that by the end of
semester.
Paul Fortunato (27:30):
Well, they have their struggles too.
This is not all smiles, ok, andeveryone understands the
problems of working in teams andwhat could happen and the
students come in as trueindividuals and I actually am
surprised, you know, coming intothe program Most of the
students don't know otherstudents.
They don't know their teammembers for the most part.
(27:51):
So that's part of the processin 14 weeks to knit them into a
team and understanding that'swhat it's going to be like and
the struggles you have asindividuals.
You've got to overcome those tobe a successful team.
90% of all my teams, I'd say,are really successful.
There you got the couple othersthat struggle, so we use those.
You know what could go wrong ina project team.
I'll make that the learningthat they get out of the project
(28:13):
that they worked on.
It happens.
It happens in the real world.
Ted Stank (28:16):
Yeah, Laurie.
I looked at the summaries ofthese projects and a couple of
them at least had a globalperspective to it.
What is the global implicationsof some of these projects and
the people working on the teams?
Lori Maurer (28:33):
Yeah, no, that's a great question because Riley's
team, for example they werepretty restricted in the amount
of time that they had to workwith their main contact, so she
was located in Budapest, hungary, and they're five to six hours.
Depending on daylight savingstime, they can be five to six
hours ahead of us.
So her cohort really had quitea few early mornings, which in a
couple of cases was tough aftera UT game.
So, but they pulled through,they showed up, they worked hard
and you know they got toexperience working with not only
(28:56):
different time zones but alsodifferent cultures and sometimes
that can be tough, learning howto identify what is something
that is cultural versus justpersonality.
And, like you said, paul,working in a new team is that's
getting a new job.
I mean you have to learnpeople's personalities and work
through difficult personalitiesyour entire life.
So that's being in a companylike that, and I think it's a
(29:19):
really good experience for themto learn how, not only with
different personalities but alsocultures across the globe, how
to balance that and be flexible.
Tom Goldsby (29:27):
And Riley.
Meanwhile, you were a studentin Knoxville, tennessee, and
working on one of these projectswith global implications.
What was it like for you tohave that experience of working
with a company contact on theother side of the world?
Riley Clayton (29:43):
It was obviously very different from anything
that I had ever experienced, andI think I want to speak for my
group, but I don't think any ofthem had experienced anything
like that before.
To kind of circle back to what Isaid earlier, they didn't shy
away from giving us a projectthat meant something to them and
something that they were.
You know, leadership waslooking into SNOP, was looking
into different groups withinAlbemarle, was looking into in
(30:04):
different regions as well, andso you know we had a lot of
meetings with people in Budapestas well as in, you know, our
China location, so those timezones were a bit difficult to
navigate sometimes, but it wasalso a very insightful way to
look at things, because I dothat all the time now, so I get
to work with people in differenttime zones and different
cultures, and you know tounderstand we need to balance
(30:26):
things as we go as well.
You know, like we have nightmeetings, we have morning
meetings.
You know we need to be mindfuland respectful of everyone's
time as well, as there'slanguage barriers and things
like that, so it's obstaclesthat you have to overcome in the
workplace when you leavecollege, and I think I just got
a taste of it before everyoneelse did.
Tom Goldsby (30:48):
And I think it really, really helped me in the
long run and again to then takeon full-time employment with
that project company.
You had to feel like you had acertain home court advantage,
knowing that business, itsoperations and the scope of
operations.
Riley Clayton (30:58):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think Lori and Kinga whois the other project manager I
think they both did a very goodjob about immersing us into the
business as a whole from thevery beginning.
So when I did go to work forthem about two weeks after
graduation it was all fresh onthe mind and I do think that
there was some sort of homefield advantage to where I had
heard a lot of the terminologybefore and I had met with a lot
(31:19):
of people.
I had heard a lot of those theterminology before and I had met
with a lot of people.
Lori was able to set up thoseinterviews when I was a student
in that group with a lot of thepeople that I work with today.
I think in terms of familiarityit was definitely an advantage
for me, for sure.
Ted Stank (31:37):
Yeah, you know, there's the old saying that you
don't work for a company, youwork for people, right, and at
the end of the day, it is aboutthe people that we spend an
awful lot of time with at work.
So, yeah, this would have togive you a great leg up on the
job and understanding your team,and Lori, as a hiring manager,
gives you a confidence level inwho you're bringing in as well.
Lori Maurer (31:53):
Yeah, definitely.
We had exposure to Riley andthe rest of the team and even
with the second cohort it wasexcellent getting to have
exposure to them andunderstanding how they could
possibly fit into the team.
It was excellent getting tohave exposure to them and
understanding how they couldpossibly fit into the team.
Personality wise, work stylewise all of those things have to
be a good fit.
So it's good to have way morethan a 30 minute interview with
someone to figure out if they'regoing to be a good fit.
So it's kind of perfect.
Paul Fortunato (32:24):
Another benefit for companies and I've seen this
a couple of times where theproject leader that the company
chooses for the students to workwith.
They may be a relatively lowlevel person Maybe they've never
been a manager before and theyget a chance to manage a group
of, I'll say, interns and tosort of learn the leadership
role in a fairly easyenvironment.
Again, I'm willing to help outthere too.
Not only do I love helping thestudents, I enjoy helping these
(32:48):
younger folks in companies okay,to gain some experience.
So I've seen a company or twodo that and I think it's worked
out well for them in that roletoo.
Ted Stank (32:54):
You know everybody, there's nothing I love better
than a virtuous cycle right whenwe've got a win for the company
, a win for the studentsinvolved and a win for our
program in terms of being ableto prepare students to really
hit the ground running when theyget into industry.
Paul, if I'm a managerlistening to this podcast and I
want to get involved, how do Igo about doing that?
Paul Fortunato (33:14):
Usually we take our members from the Institute,
our Global Supply ChainInstitute.
They're our first call outthere and we'll ask for those
who want to get involved andwhat I'll generally do is I've
got a long email list and I'llsend an email out.
Mary Long does the same thingbefore she gets ready for her
semester and we'll pull inrecruits that way.
(33:34):
That's generally what happens.
Often what I'll ask is at theend of the semester, through the
10 or 12 companies I'm workingwith hey, would you consider
doing one a second or third time?
I would like to do it again andwe'll often put them at the top
of the list, but there's alwaysan opening.
I think I had about threeopenings this year, four
openings actually this year thatwe work to recruit companies to
(33:57):
come on.
It's a chaotic time for us todo it.
There's no one set path.
But if you can let somebody atthe institute level know that
you'd like to be involved atyour member company, just let us
know and I'll be contacting you.
Ted Stank (34:10):
Fantastic.
Paul Lori Riley, thank you somuch for your time with us today
.
I think this was a really greatsession with a lot of
interesting implications for allof us in education and trying
to get value created for thosecompanies that hire our students
.
Tom, I think you probably havean email that folks that might
be interested in this projectcourse might be able to send
(34:31):
something to.
Tom Goldsby (34:32):
That's right.
As always, our listeners canreach us at gsci at utkedu, and,
as always, we welcome yourcomments and questions.
In fact, Ted, as we arelaunching our third season of
the Tennessee on Supply ChainManagement podcast, we didn't
talk about this beforehand, butwhat do you say?
We field a listener question inthe next episode.
(34:55):
What do you think?
Ted Stank (34:56):
I would love to do that.
Listeners, please send us somequestions.
Tom Goldsby (35:00):
All right, we'll take one question and, by the
way, in a couple of weeks we'regoing to be recording that next
session at the Supply ChainForum, looking forward to
entertaining some of our gueststhere.
We're going to talk aboutmaking work meaningful,
meaningful engagement at work,so it's going to be a great
topic and we look forward tobeing live next time around.
Intro/Outro (35:23):
Thanks for tuning in to Tennessee on Supply Chain
Management.
If you enjoyed the episode,subscribe today on your favorite
listening platform to get allof our episodes as soon as they
drop, and don't forget to take amoment to leave us a rating.
Have any questions, thoughts orfeedback?
We'd love to hear from ourlisteners.
Email us at gsci at utkedu.
Join us next time as wecontinue pulling back the
(35:45):
curtain on the world of supplychain, educating and
entertaining you along the way.
Until then, listeners.
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