November 20, 2025 • 42 mins
Tariffs. Talent gaps. Tech hype.
As 2026 approaches, supply chain leaders face a new wave of disruption from shifting trade policies to automation investments that don’t always deliver. The challenge is not how to avoid volatility, but how to turn it into an advantage.
In this episode, Ellen Wood talks with Steve Shebuski, Managing Director of Presales Solutions at MCA Connect, about how smart scenario planning, reshoring strategies, and AI-driven data can help organizations navigate uncertainty with confidence. Steve shares why planning small, moving fast, and investing in strong data foundations will define the leaders of the next era.
In this episode:
As 2026 approaches, supply chain leaders face a new wave of disruption from shifting trade policies to automation investments that don’t always deliver. The challenge is not how to avoid volatility, but how to turn it into an advantage.
In this episode, Ellen Wood talks with Steve Shebuski, Managing Director of Presales Solutions at MCA Connect, about how smart scenario planning, reshoring strategies, and AI-driven data can help organizations navigate uncertainty with confidence. Steve shares why planning small, moving fast, and investing in strong data foundations will define the leaders of the next era.
In this episode:
- How to reframe disruption as a competitive advantage
- Practical first steps toward reshoring and regionalization
- Why accurate data and agile planning are becoming supply chain superpowers
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
These things have to work together really well.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I think that's the hardest thing for a lot of
folks is really breaking down these silos and helping these
applications work together better, or new technologies to really sort
of bring those things together to do those types of
things as an orchestrated platform.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hello and welcome to Speaking of Supply Chain, where we
explore trends, current events, and innovations impacting the logistics and
supply chain industries. I'm your host, Ellen Wood. As we
look ahead to twenty twenty six, supply chain leaders are
navigating a world of relentless disruption, tariffs that reshape costs,
overnight rising pressures to reshore operations, and technology investments that
(00:43):
may or may not deliver on their promises. The challenge
isn't just reacting to volatility, but turning it into opportunity
through smarter planning and design. Today we're joined by Steve Shabuski,
Managing director for pre Sales Solutions at MCA Connect, to
explore how scenario planning, reshoring strategies, and AI driven inventory
(01:04):
accuracy can help organizations not just survive, but thrive in
this shifting landscape. Steve, Welcome, Thank.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You, Alan thanks to you. Thank you very much for
having me. Glad to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
It's great to have you here. Before we get into
our topic today, which is I'm sure on everyone's mind
coming into the new year, our icebreaker for today is
what is a simple holiday tradition that you enjoy?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Well?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So, Ellen, you and I got to chat a little
bit before this, and we're from the same region here,
so you may even know a little bit about this.
But Mom, so my fan. I have two boys, one
is sixteen, one is fourteen, and since they were small,
we would like to get out of the house, as
(01:49):
you might imagine, during the holidays, and so every year
we go down to and do a stay Christmas station
at the Conrad, which is always been fun and they
got the Christmas stuff going down there. We do a
little shopping, stay at the hotel and so just something
we've always done and taste a little pressure off some.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Of the holidays sometimes. So that's something we've done for
about a decade.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
That's that's a fun tradition I did that. I did
something similar it was two years ago for New Year's Eve,
where we went to a hotel and stayed up and
watched movies all night with the kids, and that was
it was a lot of fun. You got to play
in the pool, indoor pool, it was. It was just
a nice way to celebrate that holiday. Something that we did.
(02:38):
And I have boys who are similar ages. My oldest
just turned seventeen and my next one's thirteen, so very
close in age. But one tradition that we did, especially
when they were little, was we didn't put up a
Christmas tree. I mean, we celebrated Christmas, but we didn't
put up the Christmas tree. Santa brought the Christmas tree,
(03:00):
and that was something that my parents did when I
was little, and it was it was so easy to
adopt because when you're in the midst of having very
very young children, you recognize that they get into everything,
and by not having the tree up, they weren't, you know,
looking at presents, they weren't getting into the ornaments, they
(03:23):
weren't doing any of that. And then of course Christmas
came and it was this big magical thing. In fact,
I remember my oldest when he was three years old,
it was his third Christmas. I remember hearing him wake up,
and I hear his little feet down the hallway and
he gets to the corner of the hallway and he
turns the corner and the Christmas tree is like down
the hallway at the end of the of the hall
(03:45):
and in that room, and it's all lit up and
all the presents are underneath it. And I hear him
gasp and he goes, Oh, it's magic, and then he
runs into our room to wake us up. And it
was the best tradition. It was so much much fun
because it brought a little bit more of that magic
and it kept a lot of the headaches off of
mom and dad in the lead up to the Christmas season.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And zegwe like must have required some serious logistics and
storage planning.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So that it did.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It did require a lot of planning. It required In fact,
one year I think he was it was when he
was four. You know, Santa always brought a present, and
that year Santa was bringing him or going to be
bringing him a little brother. So he got bunk beds
and the bunk beds were erected while he was asleep
in the bottom bunk.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So pressure it was.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It was crazy logistical for me and my husband, but
it gave us something to do to make it fun
for the kids. For the holidays, but also it really
shortened that that season of having to have the decorations out,
so it was it was very very compact speaking of
(04:59):
some of you know, the disruptions and logistics that we're
facing today. You know, I don't have to put up
a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve anymore. Now the boys
are old enough. But you work with leaders every day
who are trying to make sense of these disruptions, figuring
out what the next few years is going to look like,
trying to plan some strategies. Before we get into specifics,
(05:23):
i'd like to get your perspective on, you know, big
picture things as we're heading into the new year. What
do you see as the major challenges that are influencing
supply chain planning at this point in time.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, I think if I was thinking about it, maybe
maybe three or four things. Obviously one of the most
obvious ones is trade volatility, and those types of things
are just you know, people and companies are really just
trying to figure out, you know, what what is the
best strategy and how do I how do I create
(05:57):
some sort of flexibility and a bildy to pivot and
be nimble in this environment? You know, without necessarily taking
big steps back. So ultimately I think that that's probably
you know, front and center for for most you know,
which I work with manufacturers and distributors that I talked
(06:18):
to on a regular basis. I think another thing is
just the the labor and the skills sort shortages again
for me in manufacturing and distribution, it's front of mind
for everyone, and how do we, you know, how do
we continue to to grow and expand with a workforce
that's becoming more expensive and you know, not necessarily with
(06:42):
the skills and experience that you know they've had in
the past. You know, we've seen a lot of of
of technology sprawl and just different types of point solutions.
And so I think just data and connectivity of your
own solutions, but also connectivity to your partners and really
(07:06):
just being you know, you know, trying to figure out
how to to incrementally knock down the silos and get
data in a place so that you can use all
this fun new technology that's that's coming to bear.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So I think those are.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
The the three or four big ones. Trade, labor, you know,
data and tech and and basically your you know, your
business applications and and silo and really bringing that stuff together.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It's what people are thinking of.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Absolutely, So let's start with the first one. And in fact,
you mentioned we've talked before, so one of the things
that that you had mentioned was using tariffs or maybe
viewing tariffs reframing them into a catalyst for competitive advantage
instead of a cost burden. How does that work?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You know, in general, I think I think of things,
and I think we you know, this is something that
we just have seen in industry is if you think
about all of the various volatilities and impacts and things
that are disrupting supply chain.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
If you reframe your mind of just trying to survive
those things versus how do I use those things to
propel the company to a competitive advantage over other folks
that made me did not plan as well?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Then you know, you start to get more excited about
attacking these problems because we know they're going to happen,
and when they do, it can create it can create
a competitive advantage for you, regardless of the financial impact
at that moment in time. So I think when we
think about tariffs and we think about trade volatility and
(08:52):
really just you know, taking a look at your supply
chain network and trying to figure out different ways to
be able to be more flexible, have better and more
diverse partnerships. Those types of things are certainly things that
people are doing. We've I've worked with a company this
(09:13):
uh this year that was in the toy industry, and
toys are one of the big things that are being
that are being marked up from from China, which we'll
all see here as we're talking about Christmas here very soon. Uh,
if things don't change, and really just being able to
to to even look at those things and be able
to bring portions of that manufacturing process, even some of
(09:35):
the assemblies to back here to the US.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
From a reshore perspective.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
You know, we've had a couple of companies be able
to really use some of their warehousing space, get creative
and come up with some of these solutions that you know,
can can be able to be flex expand and scale,
you know, and when things go back to what they
were be able to to maybe you know, be able
to roll back to how they were doing it so
(10:02):
that they have different options when these things come up.
So that's I think we're seeing a lot of folks
just thinking about how do we you know, how do
we position ourselves to jump ahead when it happens versus
survive as it happens, If that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
My follow up question to that would be, you know,
how well do you think supply chain leaders are doing
that right now? Because what we see in the news,
what we see in the headlines is tariffs and politics,
and it's putting everyone in a negative frame of mind.
And you're saying, let's flip it and try and find
a positive outcome from this. But I feel like there
(10:40):
are a lot of ingrained responses here that it's just
a knee jerk reaction to the situation and really pulling
yourself out of that rut and looking at it from
that new perspective has got to be a challenge.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
It is, right, I mean, And you know, whenever you
get you know, challenges to the way of doing things,
especially when you you know you haven't necessarily spent the
time and effort to align you know, partnerships, platforms of collaboration,
(11:17):
technology and people and process to be able to be flexible,
then then certainly you know it's going to be create
sort of some negative reactions because it's going to be
really hard, right, I think for you know, for a
lot of folks. Over the last few years, since pandemics
(11:38):
and different things, we've seen a lot of companies be
more strategic about you know this. We've seen some of
the ports shutting down, We've seen labor strikes, we've seen
other things that have you know, not maybe not to
the same degree, but like I think we have, you know,
from my perspective, seeing a shift where you know, folks
(12:00):
are really trying to figure out how to be more
collaborative people, process, then technology, last to be able to
bring some of those you know thought leadership going forward
so that you know, some of those things are possible.
So but you know, it's nature of people. So I
think you know, you're always going to have have folks.
(12:21):
It's also about having leaders and folks that that you know,
try to lead from uh, you know, being a being
in a place of looking for opportunity and turning negatives
into positives. And I think that's also an opportunity for
good leaders to emerge in these times as well.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So, oh absolutely, because you know that's when that's when
great leaders are forged. Is there in the breach? And
so I guess scenario planning is one way that leaders
can kind of mitigate some of that uncertainty. What are
some ways that, you know, how does that help them
(13:01):
get through that uncertainty faster or more confidently in a
way that you know, they're they're the leaders. They've got
to get their teams on board too, and when they're
uncertain and you know, this is this is a lot
of change, It's it's a lot happening all at once.
How are they able to make those when there's so
(13:22):
much uncertainty and make sure that their teams are also
looking towards positive outcomes?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
May answer this in a couple of different ways. I think,
you know, when you think about.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Scenario planning, and I've I've been working with companies for
a few you know, three or four years now as
this has sort of started to emerge with some of
the technology capabilities of digital twin and different things that
enable it. You know, one of the challenges with it
is the people's uh inherent sort of approach. Is it
(13:59):
you start with an idea and it starts to grow
and grow and grow and.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Turn and tell. The scenarios so complex.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That it's you know, you're you've kind of lost sight
of the objectives. So I think you know, one of
the things that you know, I've I've found in this
is is for for companies to start seeing benefit from
this this type of ways of thinking is to think
about small, very specific problems, uh and take them even
(14:26):
if there's other factors that you would need to consider
in the real world. But take those things all the way,
you know, through fruition of of of outcomes and measurement
of you know, the different scenario plans to the end
of how you would measure it and then land and
expand and how you do that because.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
You're going to learn a lot from that process.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
What happens when you try to make some of these
things so complex is you you kind of get you know,
stuck in you know, some of those complexities, and you
don't get through the problem. So I think, you know,
the the role of scenario planning is going to become
you know, more and more important as to even as
technology enables those types of things more and where to
(15:08):
do more with it. I think, you know, I think
us as humans have to get our mind or minds
around how we attack these things and you know, start small,
get organizational buy in and confidence and outcomes, and then
land and expand and add more complexity to those to
(15:29):
those plans.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
That's what I've seen to have the most success.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So, you know, aroundabout way of kind of talking through that,
But like I do think the at the end, the
role here of of those those types of tools and
that type of.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Leadership planning is going to be really key so.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That you you know, you're doing a lot of that
risk analysis, and you're making good decisions about what you're doing,
and then you know, as things happen, you're able to
quickly roll into different different outcomes.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Absolutely, Yeah, those those quick wins, the low hanging fruit,
you know, those are those are easy ways to get
your team on board. But you know, when it when
it does involve this much volatility, it's almost making the
business case that this is the right way forward, the
(16:20):
right path. It's not even so much about the low
hanging fruit. It's you know, let's let's ease into this cautiously,
is what I think I hear you're saying.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, cautiously. I mean it's it's like any of the
you know, it's like any of the different technologies and
capabilities and tools. Obviously, you know, AI being a thing
that everyone's talking about right now.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And even even even.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
When you think about some of those tools, I mean,
you know it, it becomes so complicated to get started
because you know, if you get a bunch of leaders
in the room about AI thought green, Lad, you're gonna
have one hundred and seventy eight ideas in six minutes, right,
And so where do you start and like, how do
(17:07):
we get some culture change to start using the tools
see outcomes and benefit and then you know, create some
centers of excellence to do that better versus everybody running
around trying to figure out the you know, how to
do this in in mass right, So I think whatever
the technology is like and whatever the components are to
(17:29):
getting to those end scenario planning is complicated.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You know, you start adding different factors.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
You know, you can add all kinds of things to
you to those plans of the what ifs, and you
know it, it's gonna obviously make things, you know, more accurate,
but it's going to take you longer to get to
outcomes and maybe at what benefits. So I just encourage
folks to like get started, you know, take things from
(17:56):
beginning to end. Set some basic criteria is use the
tools to help you get to the outcomes and you know,
test them and then and then repeat and continue to
grow how you do it, because you'll get better at
it well.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And the next item that you you mentioned that you
think is going to be an issue here in the
new year is reshoring regionalization of you know, some of
these supply chains and you know, bringing back some of
those components of manufacturing back to American shores. And you know,
(18:32):
what are some steps that organizations can take when they're
looking at reshoring. I know we've talked about reshoring and
near shoring on the podcast before with a number of
different guests, But but what's your take on it, you know,
executing some of that smarter supply chain designed by you know,
relocating different facilities or different aspects of the supply chain.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah, I think a lot of the same concepts here.
I think number one is is I think just looking
at you know, the landed costs modeling just not you know,
just unit costs or terrorists, but transport later maybe some
of the lead times like what what is that going
to look like? What partners can you leverage? You know,
(19:16):
those kinds of things are in what you know, you know,
their their dependency and scale, so those those kinds of
relationships will be key. So I think, you know, always
starting there. You know, I talked about digital twin tools
a couple of times. Uh, you know, there's some really
nice tools out there for just basic at least some
(19:36):
basic supply chain design tools around network scenarios and making
sure that you start to to be able to to
model some of this stuff digitally. And then I think
like starting small is smart, right, Like let's you know,
as we start to figure out as I was mentioning, uh,
you know, with one of the clients I was working
(19:56):
on that brought some of their their toy manufacturing here,
bring the entire operation, but you know, start small scale,
run some pilots before you know, making wholesale shifts you
know would be would be prudent, right in terms of
how how some of those things, and and then make
sure it's it's flexible and scalable in the way that
(20:17):
you're doing it. You know, going forward I think is important.
I don't you know, I think for most folks, I
think we're all I think it's you know, might be
somewhat obvious, but it's like you know, reach, It's not
like reshore or nothing. It's you know, it's about you know,
creating the balance, right, uh, and so doing that incrementally
(20:39):
it can help create some of that, you know, kind
of create some of that, you know, the ability to
to sort of understand how this is going to outcome,
and then you know, scale it as as prudent.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
As we're reaching the end of the year, most budgets
are already in place for twenty twenty six. But for
those who might still have a little bit of wiggle
room in what they're trying to accomplish and what they've
what they've got planned for the new year, how can
companies cut through some of some hype around the technology
(21:12):
and really focus on the investments that that are going
to deliver that ROI As you mentioned, you know, AI
is huge. There's so many tools out there, and we
could have everybody in an organization going in a different
direction and looking at different possibilities and none of them
could be wrong. They could all have some applicability to
that organization. But we can't do everything all at once.
(21:36):
We have to prioritize. So where do you see cutting
through some of that noise?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, So definitely, Number one, the tech hype is in
full effect this year for sure. And you know, like
just to name them, name some things that you know
we're seeing is obviously the AI, but led the other
one that we were seeing a lot of just automation
(22:03):
in the in the manufacturing plants, in the warehouse, robotics.
You know, these are things that are on the major
hype cycles of of like, you know, is everything going
to be run by robots by.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
The end of the year.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I think you know, you know, but you know,
it's it's important to take an approach on these things
to to really understand.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Just like we've been talking about. Let's take the Let's
take the example of automation in a warehouse, right, you know,
understanding your order profiles, your scut profiles of what you're
doing now, you know, are you shipping small orders b
to see large truckloads lt L. That mix matters in
terms of the automations that you might choose. And then
(22:49):
it's like where are we going? Where is our growth
and are we creating more channels that will create more
diversity and how that those profiles look, are we you know,
moving towards whole sale where it's going to you know,
move more sorts truckload shipping or whatever it is. Those
those answers and those scenarios change the automations that would
(23:12):
make sense and bring our OI to the building significantly. Right.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
So I think really kind of understanding like where where
you're headed from the from a data perspective, be able
to model it and then take the automation and folks
that can help you understand the value of that. Does
it reduce touches, improve accuracy, automate reduce labor at what level?
(23:35):
And how do we how are we going to make
h you know this work from from a payback perspective,
Those are really key areas.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Same same with I.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Think when we think about, you know, on the on
the flip side, we think about things like AI. I think,
you know, there's there's a lot of hype to you know,
like I think about you know, we have some some
data scientists that at MC connect that are very very smart.
They're building machine learning models for demand planning, been doing
(24:07):
it for a really long time. It's an established science.
They know all kinds of wild technology stuff that I'll
never come close to understanding. But you know, when you
think about the AI that's being presented to the everyday person,
you know, whether it's just you know, copilot helping you
summarize information, or you know, being able to have an assistant,
(24:32):
you know, be able to look at your company's data
and extract things quickly for you, or the ideas of
agents where you're doing a lot of manual tasks and
how do I automate those things and free up people's
time to make better choices. I think if you kind
of shift towards some of those more basic use cases
(24:53):
of the technology, specifically around agentic AI and some of
the larger language models, and really again focus on how
is it reducing you know, touches time, people's time. How
does it you know, help my really smart people spend
more time on making better decisions than pranking through spreadsheets
(25:14):
for instance.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Those types of use cases.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Are the ones that can bring really high value and
sort of sort of again try to start small and
then you know, evaluate the out the the the potential
outcome of that, and then you know, rinse and repeat
and make sure you have a center of excellence that's
managing managing the chaos.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So those are some of the things that come to mind.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I think I think you know, another last big one
I'll just mention is just you know, we're seeing a
lot of manufacturers and distributors really get pressured into many
more channels than they ever have. Like you know, where
I just used to as a manufacturer ship to my wholesalers,
Now I'm in you know, Amazon and other marketplace is
(26:00):
and I've i stood up a website for bwo C.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And you know, we're.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Doing other things to to to to engage the market well.
Order management and really sort of managing those those orders
and who's getting what inventory when.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
And how much does it cost to ship it?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Uh and orchestrating all those things are becoming more and
more important to our customers, and so evaluating those types
of opportunities has been a thing that we see a
lot of folks investing in, especially as the as the
holidays are coming up.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Well, and I can certainly attest to because it's it's
one of our credos as well. At Meboch you were
talking about, you know, automation and making sure that everything
you know, your people, and your processes are in place first,
because you cannot, and you should never automate a bad process.
It's not going to fix the problem. You have to
(26:54):
have the people and the processes first.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
The problem it does, it.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Just makes the problemiger and faster. I think of I
think of the old uh I Love Lucy where she's
got that automated thing and she's trying to pack the
chocolates and she just starts shoving them in her mouth
cause they come faster. I mean, that's what happens when
you automate a bad process is all of a sudden,
it gets bad fast, and that's it. But you just
touched on inventory and how that is becoming a strategic differentiator.
(27:23):
So what types of things are a I doing to
reshape that particular challenge.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Well, as we know, like inventories the heartbeat of supply chain.
It's the thing right that we're all whether we're trying
to make it, distribute it, move it, assemble it, whatever
it is. And so I think, you know, at the
end of the day, you know we've we've talked about
for years. I'm you know, born in born in the
(27:53):
warehouse and you know, moved into manufacturing over the years.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
But you know, my my.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Core is like, hey, inventory accuracy is the is the thing,
you know, But it's not about just that anymore. We
have to be better. Uh, and we're using the technology
to get better. So things like you know, let's having
having the technologies help us look at trends and detecting
anomalies uh in real time and so and to help
(28:22):
people see through the data and and really elevate those things.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
So again, your folks can make better choices.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Uh. Is a is a huge, huge thing we're seeing.
You know, we've we've seen some adoption. We put together
some of our own smart sourcing kind of agents that
are helping automate and look through processes of best vendor
for this particular shipment based on these factors. You know,
(28:51):
it takes folks a lot of time to get through
that analysis and really being able to teach the tools
to to learn the business this to make those choices
or at least those recommendations uh and save save a
lot of time.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
It's been huge. I think again, like you know, I
think about the warehouse a lot.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
We were spending a lot of time on you know,
we think we can solve a lot of issues around
what we like slotting, so the the act of putting
the right product in the right place in the warehouse.
And it's like you know, teaching the technology to understand
size of product, size of location, you know, the the
(29:35):
profile of the orders in the in the past, what
are they going to be when they're you know, in
the future. Putting all that math together and say, you know,
if my objective is to replenish less, you know, to
these forward locations, ultimately, you know, help me reslot for
the next week, the next month to to have the
(29:56):
best benefit, the most through pro the least amount of
waylabor uh to to put things in the right spot
to do fulfillment as an example. So I think there's
things like that. You know, I always think about the
you know, the age old problem of again coming up
on the holidays. It's like, you know, you're a B
two C shipper and you're shipping toys that have got
(30:17):
to be there before Christmas, and you're falling behind, and
you're got to upgrade from ground to two day to
one day, and you got human beings trying to figure
that out. I mean, these are things that the tools
can help you do now as they learn the business
to go look through, Hey, this this order has got
to you know, go five zones out the California We
(30:39):
got to either get it out today or upgrade it
to you know, a high level of service to make
sure we're meeting customer needs.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So I don't know, those are a few examples.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I think there's some just some things that that are
you know, when you think about inventory.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And and the tools and looking at.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
The trends and UH and then teaching it to do
the math that we've always done in all of our
Excel tools and just do it live and give us
the answers as we ask for it or tell us
even when we don't ask for it, I think are
huge opportunities.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
So I hear a lot of plans in what you're
talking about when we're talking about you know, whether it's
inventory or the processes of you know, getting shipments out.
So there's a lot of planning involved, clearly there has
to be. But execution is a different story entirely. So
(31:37):
where are those gaps between the planning that you're seeing
today and the execution And is there something that data
can do to close that divide?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
You know, the gaps between planning and execution in my
experience is most of the time with the company that
I work with, it it can be pinpointed to something
we talked about earlier, which is you know, these siloed
business systems.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
And you know, really integrating.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So if just as an example, if I have an
order management solution, a warehouse management solution, a transportation management solution,
I mean, those are three things that have got to
work in beautiful orchestration, right like in the in a
perfect state. You know, you're constantly evaluating your order from
an order management perspective, your transportation systems looking at what
(32:34):
orders are coming in and planning and replanning. You're you're
putting strategic things to the warehouse to ship and be
picked and staged at the right time when the appointment's coming.
So you can think about all these things like in
order to do that really really well from an execution perspective,
these things have to work together really well when right.
(32:55):
And so I think that's the I think that's been
the hardest thing for a lot of folks is really
breaking down these silos and helping these applications work together
better or you know, new technologies to to really sort
of bring those things together to do to do those
types of things as an orchestrated platform. So I think,
(33:16):
you know, and then data is the enabler you mentioned data.
You know, I've been doing this this a while. I think,
you know, one of the things I'll say in general is,
you know, data companies and their commitment to data is definitely.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Improved over the years.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
I remember doing these projects a long time ago and
trying to solve various supply chain problems, and the maturity
of data is always our hindrance.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I think data is getting better.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I think there's still you know, when you think about
siloed systems and legacy systems, and you know, obviously the
evolution of products and the innovation and products themselves constant
only changing. There's obviously lots of new complexities with data.
But data is you know, your planning system will only
(34:07):
ever be as good as the data that you have
to feed them, right there, So all.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
System is only as good as the data you put in.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
That's right, and everyone knows that.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And so you know, like I think, you know again,
leveraging some of these new technologies to bring data together.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Uh, you know, on on a on.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
A data strategy, having a data strategy in general about
how you you maintain, you centralize, UH and you improve
your data, whether it's the master data or transactional UH.
Is is a huge part of overall strategy for and
planning for any company to be able to be successful
(34:47):
because as you just mentioned, it's the foundation.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Right absolutely well. And one thing that we we haven't
touched on in a couple of minutes is the labor
portion of this. So when we're when we're looking at
some of those apps, how many of those are a
gap because of not having either enough people or the
right people or the people with the right skill set.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Well, to answer your question, I think that is a
big challenge, is being able to have you know, the
right people, the the trained people to do the jobs
that we you know, we continue to make need them
to be able to do. I think you know, when
we look at manufacturing plants, you know it's the the
(35:33):
leaders in plants are are aging and we're not seeing
you know, young folks come in and learn all the stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
You know, lots of lots of lots of manufacturing plants.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I go in today and walk through today run because
you know, Jim and Jen know exactly how everything works.
And they've been building this product for twenty five years
and every problem that has ever come up, they've they've
learned how to address and they know how to do it,
and so you know, like how do you digitize that
(36:05):
experience is a big, a big problem, right folks are
trying to solve because you can't just bring in more
people to make to to cover that sort of experience gap.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
So no, absolutely, And it's it's the same as automation.
You can't just throw more at it. It's it's not
going to help it. You have to have the right people,
not just a quantity of people, and they have to
have the right skill set. It can't just you can't
just fog a mirror, so I mean, and in a
lot of areas, yes, that is sufficient. We need a
(36:40):
warm body here to be able to you know, get
this this process to function. And that is fine because
there will always be a need for you know, every
individual's skill set level. But I was listening this morning
to something on the news and something I don't even
remember where it said that, you know, the millionaires of
our era, in the way that we had the tech
(37:02):
millionaires back in the nineties, the millionaires today are going
to be the AI, the people who get AI and
how to make it work. I hear, okay, yeah, And
I thought that was really interesting and that it's going
to come so much faster than it did back during
that boom. And I see that happening today because we've
(37:24):
got you know, AI really hit mainstream for most people
to see it. I want to say, what two three
years ago? Maybe? Maybe? And now there's an AI solution
for almost anything and everything, and even Google is using
an AI to help deliver results. So looking ahead, what
(37:46):
capabilities mindsets should leaders be prioritizing to be ready for
twenty twenty six and beyond.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, I mean one thing that I always you know,
tell leaders is that you know, being in the supply
chain and technology space, you know, trying to bring those
things together is.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Like, don't don't panic.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Uh the you know, we always see the tech hype
you know, many many years ahead of the reality of
business right and and the competitive nature of things. So
I think, you know, taking taking the time to build
a strategy and do it right is super important and
(38:30):
not think that you're you know the whatever, the fomo
or whatever effect of trying to to jump in here.
I think, but you do have to change the mindset
of like you know, digital first, Data's core, it's it
is the foundation. And if you want to leverage any
(38:51):
of these tools, you know, like and I think you
know this has been a common drum beat from most
AI folks and leaders out there, is you know it.
You can't predict things on bad data. You can't automate things,
as you said multiple times today, automate things on ad data.
(39:12):
So number one is just invest there on a data strategy,
and as you build that out, you know, so many
things will start to be become easier, especially if you
do that in a strategic way, uh, in in in
the cloud and on these various platforms. I think, you know,
(39:35):
it's one of them, one of my mantras just as
a human being, and I bring it to everything I do,
which is, you know, I try.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
To, you know, do as.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Many things as I can uh fast, fail fast, understand
where we failed, and repeat. Uh And I think you
can overthink these things to the end degree. I think
keeping it small learning uh see what see what didn't
go well, what did go well? And comparing to land
(40:06):
and expand so you know, don't have to be perfect
with all of this stuff. But you know, foundations first, agility,
uh and you know it's.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
Going to be super important. We talked about leaders in
the beginning investing great leaders and people that are going
to help you with change management and helping people. We
have a whole myself included workforce to train to do
things in a different way, and that's going to take
great leaders to help organizations adopt a digital mindset first. Uh,
(40:42):
these data platforms and these tools that we're building out
to leverage them in a way that's still human in nature.
It's going to be super important.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
And you know, I think prioritizing agility, flexibility and resilience
data with visibility is really the keys. And then really
knocking down the silos of applications and bringing them together.
Those are the key components of what you know I
would be focusing on twenty twenty six here in the
(41:14):
near future.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Absolutely well, thank you Steve so much for joining us
today and a pleasure. As Steve shared, the supply chain
challenges of twenty twenty six are already taking shape, and
the companies who act now will be the ones best
position to adapt. By embracing scenario planning, designing smarter networks,
and leveraging AI for real ROI leaders can turn today's
(41:37):
uncertainty into tomorrow's advantage. To our listeners, If you've found
today's episode valuable, be sure to hit that subscribe button
so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested
in being a guest on our show, you can reach
me at podcast at meboch dot com anytime. Thank you
for listening to Speaking of Supply Chain.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Meeboch Consulting is one of the largest and most globally
recognized supply chain consulting, engineering and advisory firms. For nearly
fifty years, we've helped clients achieve supply chain excellence and
sustainable competitive advantage across the entire spectrum of the supply
chain by delivering improvements and innovation strategically, tactically, and digitally.
(42:19):
To learn more, visit meeboch dot com. You've been listening
to Speaking of Supply Chain a meboch podcast, keep connected
with us by subscribing to the show in your favorite
podcast player. If you like what you've heard, please rate
the show that helps us to keep delivering the latest
in supply chain information. Thanks for listening. Until next time.
These things have to work together really well.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I think that's the hardest thing for a lot of
folks is really breaking down these silos and helping these
applications work together better, or new technologies to really sort
of bring those things together to do those types of
things as an orchestrated platform.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hello and welcome to Speaking of Supply Chain, where we
explore trends, current events, and innovations impacting the logistics and
supply chain industries. I'm your host, Ellen Wood. As we
look ahead to twenty twenty six, supply chain leaders are
navigating a world of relentless disruption, tariffs that reshape costs,
overnight rising pressures to reshore operations, and technology investments that
(00:43):
may or may not deliver on their promises. The challenge
isn't just reacting to volatility, but turning it into opportunity
through smarter planning and design. Today we're joined by Steve Shabuski,
Managing director for pre Sales Solutions at MCA Connect, to
explore how scenario planning, reshoring strategies, and AI driven inventory
(01:04):
accuracy can help organizations not just survive, but thrive in
this shifting landscape. Steve, Welcome, Thank.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
You, Alan thanks to you. Thank you very much for
having me. Glad to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
It's great to have you here. Before we get into
our topic today, which is I'm sure on everyone's mind
coming into the new year, our icebreaker for today is
what is a simple holiday tradition that you enjoy?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Well?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So, Ellen, you and I got to chat a little
bit before this, and we're from the same region here,
so you may even know a little bit about this.
But Mom, so my fan. I have two boys, one
is sixteen, one is fourteen, and since they were small,
we would like to get out of the house, as
(01:49):
you might imagine, during the holidays, and so every year
we go down to and do a stay Christmas station
at the Conrad, which is always been fun and they
got the Christmas stuff going down there. We do a
little shopping, stay at the hotel and so just something
we've always done and taste a little pressure off some.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Of the holidays sometimes. So that's something we've done for
about a decade.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
That's that's a fun tradition I did that. I did
something similar it was two years ago for New Year's Eve,
where we went to a hotel and stayed up and
watched movies all night with the kids, and that was
it was a lot of fun. You got to play
in the pool, indoor pool, it was. It was just
a nice way to celebrate that holiday. Something that we did.
(02:38):
And I have boys who are similar ages. My oldest
just turned seventeen and my next one's thirteen, so very
close in age. But one tradition that we did, especially
when they were little, was we didn't put up a
Christmas tree. I mean, we celebrated Christmas, but we didn't
put up the Christmas tree. Santa brought the Christmas tree,
(03:00):
and that was something that my parents did when I
was little, and it was it was so easy to
adopt because when you're in the midst of having very
very young children, you recognize that they get into everything,
and by not having the tree up, they weren't, you know,
looking at presents, they weren't getting into the ornaments, they
(03:23):
weren't doing any of that. And then of course Christmas
came and it was this big magical thing. In fact,
I remember my oldest when he was three years old,
it was his third Christmas. I remember hearing him wake up,
and I hear his little feet down the hallway and
he gets to the corner of the hallway and he
turns the corner and the Christmas tree is like down
the hallway at the end of the of the hall
(03:45):
and in that room, and it's all lit up and
all the presents are underneath it. And I hear him
gasp and he goes, Oh, it's magic, and then he
runs into our room to wake us up. And it
was the best tradition. It was so much much fun
because it brought a little bit more of that magic
and it kept a lot of the headaches off of
mom and dad in the lead up to the Christmas season.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And zegwe like must have required some serious logistics and
storage planning.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
So that it did.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It did require a lot of planning. It required In fact,
one year I think he was it was when he
was four. You know, Santa always brought a present, and
that year Santa was bringing him or going to be
bringing him a little brother. So he got bunk beds
and the bunk beds were erected while he was asleep
in the bottom bunk.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So pressure it was.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
It was crazy logistical for me and my husband, but
it gave us something to do to make it fun
for the kids. For the holidays, but also it really
shortened that that season of having to have the decorations out,
so it was it was very very compact speaking of
(04:59):
some of you know, the disruptions and logistics that we're
facing today. You know, I don't have to put up
a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve anymore. Now the boys
are old enough. But you work with leaders every day
who are trying to make sense of these disruptions, figuring
out what the next few years is going to look like,
trying to plan some strategies. Before we get into specifics,
(05:23):
i'd like to get your perspective on, you know, big
picture things as we're heading into the new year. What
do you see as the major challenges that are influencing
supply chain planning at this point in time.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, I think if I was thinking about it, maybe
maybe three or four things. Obviously one of the most
obvious ones is trade volatility, and those types of things
are just you know, people and companies are really just
trying to figure out, you know, what what is the
best strategy and how do I how do I create
(05:57):
some sort of flexibility and a bildy to pivot and
be nimble in this environment? You know, without necessarily taking
big steps back. So ultimately I think that that's probably
you know, front and center for for most you know,
which I work with manufacturers and distributors that I talked
(06:18):
to on a regular basis. I think another thing is
just the the labor and the skills sort shortages again
for me in manufacturing and distribution, it's front of mind
for everyone, and how do we, you know, how do
we continue to to grow and expand with a workforce
that's becoming more expensive and you know, not necessarily with
(06:42):
the skills and experience that you know they've had in
the past. You know, we've seen a lot of of
of technology sprawl and just different types of point solutions.
And so I think just data and connectivity of your
own solutions, but also connectivity to your partners and really
(07:06):
just being you know, you know, trying to figure out
how to to incrementally knock down the silos and get
data in a place so that you can use all
this fun new technology that's that's coming to bear.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
So I think those are.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
The the three or four big ones. Trade, labor, you know,
data and tech and and basically your you know, your
business applications and and silo and really bringing that stuff together.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It's what people are thinking of.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Absolutely, So let's start with the first one. And in fact,
you mentioned we've talked before, so one of the things
that that you had mentioned was using tariffs or maybe
viewing tariffs reframing them into a catalyst for competitive advantage
instead of a cost burden. How does that work?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
You know, in general, I think I think of things,
and I think we you know, this is something that
we just have seen in industry is if you think
about all of the various volatilities and impacts and things
that are disrupting supply chain.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
If you reframe your mind of just trying to survive
those things versus how do I use those things to
propel the company to a competitive advantage over other folks
that made me did not plan as well?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Then you know, you start to get more excited about
attacking these problems because we know they're going to happen,
and when they do, it can create it can create
a competitive advantage for you, regardless of the financial impact
at that moment in time. So I think when we
think about tariffs and we think about trade volatility and
(08:52):
really just you know, taking a look at your supply
chain network and trying to figure out different ways to
be able to be more flexible, have better and more
diverse partnerships. Those types of things are certainly things that
people are doing. We've I've worked with a company this
(09:13):
uh this year that was in the toy industry, and
toys are one of the big things that are being
that are being marked up from from China, which we'll
all see here as we're talking about Christmas here very soon. Uh,
if things don't change, and really just being able to
to to even look at those things and be able
to bring portions of that manufacturing process, even some of
(09:35):
the assemblies to back here to the US.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
From a reshore perspective.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
You know, we've had a couple of companies be able
to really use some of their warehousing space, get creative
and come up with some of these solutions that you know,
can can be able to be flex expand and scale,
you know, and when things go back to what they
were be able to to maybe you know, be able
to roll back to how they were doing it so
(10:02):
that they have different options when these things come up.
So that's I think we're seeing a lot of folks
just thinking about how do we you know, how do
we position ourselves to jump ahead when it happens versus
survive as it happens, If that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
My follow up question to that would be, you know,
how well do you think supply chain leaders are doing
that right now? Because what we see in the news,
what we see in the headlines is tariffs and politics,
and it's putting everyone in a negative frame of mind.
And you're saying, let's flip it and try and find
a positive outcome from this. But I feel like there
(10:40):
are a lot of ingrained responses here that it's just
a knee jerk reaction to the situation and really pulling
yourself out of that rut and looking at it from
that new perspective has got to be a challenge.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
It is, right, I mean, And you know, whenever you
get you know, challenges to the way of doing things,
especially when you you know you haven't necessarily spent the
time and effort to align you know, partnerships, platforms of collaboration,
(11:17):
technology and people and process to be able to be flexible,
then then certainly you know it's going to be create
sort of some negative reactions because it's going to be
really hard, right, I think for you know, for a
lot of folks. Over the last few years, since pandemics
(11:38):
and different things, we've seen a lot of companies be
more strategic about you know this. We've seen some of
the ports shutting down, We've seen labor strikes, we've seen
other things that have you know, not maybe not to
the same degree, but like I think we have, you know,
from my perspective, seeing a shift where you know, folks
(12:00):
are really trying to figure out how to be more
collaborative people, process, then technology, last to be able to
bring some of those you know thought leadership going forward
so that you know, some of those things are possible.
So but you know, it's nature of people. So I
think you know, you're always going to have have folks.
(12:21):
It's also about having leaders and folks that that you know,
try to lead from uh, you know, being a being
in a place of looking for opportunity and turning negatives
into positives. And I think that's also an opportunity for
good leaders to emerge in these times as well.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So, oh absolutely, because you know that's when that's when
great leaders are forged. Is there in the breach? And
so I guess scenario planning is one way that leaders
can kind of mitigate some of that uncertainty. What are
some ways that, you know, how does that help them
(13:01):
get through that uncertainty faster or more confidently in a
way that you know, they're they're the leaders. They've got
to get their teams on board too, and when they're
uncertain and you know, this is this is a lot
of change, It's it's a lot happening all at once.
How are they able to make those when there's so
(13:22):
much uncertainty and make sure that their teams are also
looking towards positive outcomes?
Speaker 1 (13:30):
May answer this in a couple of different ways. I think,
you know, when you think about.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Scenario planning, and I've I've been working with companies for
a few you know, three or four years now as
this has sort of started to emerge with some of
the technology capabilities of digital twin and different things that
enable it. You know, one of the challenges with it
is the people's uh inherent sort of approach. Is it
(13:59):
you start with an idea and it starts to grow
and grow and grow and.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Turn and tell. The scenarios so complex.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That it's you know, you're you've kind of lost sight
of the objectives. So I think you know, one of
the things that you know, I've I've found in this
is is for for companies to start seeing benefit from
this this type of ways of thinking is to think
about small, very specific problems, uh and take them even
(14:26):
if there's other factors that you would need to consider
in the real world. But take those things all the way,
you know, through fruition of of of outcomes and measurement
of you know, the different scenario plans to the end
of how you would measure it and then land and
expand and how you do that because.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
You're going to learn a lot from that process.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
What happens when you try to make some of these
things so complex is you you kind of get you know,
stuck in you know, some of those complexities, and you
don't get through the problem. So I think, you know,
the the role of scenario planning is going to become
you know, more and more important as to even as
technology enables those types of things more and where to
(15:08):
do more with it. I think, you know, I think
us as humans have to get our mind or minds
around how we attack these things and you know, start small,
get organizational buy in and confidence and outcomes, and then
land and expand and add more complexity to those to
(15:29):
those plans.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
That's what I've seen to have the most success.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
So, you know, aroundabout way of kind of talking through that,
But like I do think the at the end, the
role here of of those those types of tools and
that type of.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Leadership planning is going to be really key so.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That you you know, you're doing a lot of that
risk analysis, and you're making good decisions about what you're doing,
and then you know, as things happen, you're able to
quickly roll into different different outcomes.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Absolutely, Yeah, those those quick wins, the low hanging fruit,
you know, those are those are easy ways to get
your team on board. But you know, when it when
it does involve this much volatility, it's almost making the
business case that this is the right way forward, the
(16:20):
right path. It's not even so much about the low
hanging fruit. It's you know, let's let's ease into this cautiously,
is what I think I hear you're saying.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, cautiously. I mean it's it's like any of the
you know, it's like any of the different technologies and
capabilities and tools. Obviously, you know, AI being a thing
that everyone's talking about right now.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
And even even even.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
When you think about some of those tools, I mean,
you know it, it becomes so complicated to get started
because you know, if you get a bunch of leaders
in the room about AI thought green, Lad, you're gonna
have one hundred and seventy eight ideas in six minutes, right,
And so where do you start and like, how do
(17:07):
we get some culture change to start using the tools
see outcomes and benefit and then you know, create some
centers of excellence to do that better versus everybody running
around trying to figure out the you know, how to
do this in in mass right, So I think whatever
the technology is like and whatever the components are to
(17:29):
getting to those end scenario planning is complicated.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
You know, you start adding different factors.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
You know, you can add all kinds of things to
you to those plans of the what ifs, and you
know it, it's gonna obviously make things, you know, more accurate,
but it's going to take you longer to get to
outcomes and maybe at what benefits. So I just encourage
folks to like get started, you know, take things from
(17:56):
beginning to end. Set some basic criteria is use the
tools to help you get to the outcomes and you know,
test them and then and then repeat and continue to
grow how you do it, because you'll get better at
it well.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
And the next item that you you mentioned that you
think is going to be an issue here in the
new year is reshoring regionalization of you know, some of
these supply chains and you know, bringing back some of
those components of manufacturing back to American shores. And you know,
(18:32):
what are some steps that organizations can take when they're
looking at reshoring. I know we've talked about reshoring and
near shoring on the podcast before with a number of
different guests, But but what's your take on it, you know,
executing some of that smarter supply chain designed by you know,
relocating different facilities or different aspects of the supply chain.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Yeah, I think a lot of the same concepts here.
I think number one is is I think just looking
at you know, the landed costs modeling just not you know,
just unit costs or terrorists, but transport later maybe some
of the lead times like what what is that going
to look like? What partners can you leverage? You know,
(19:16):
those kinds of things are in what you know, you know,
their their dependency and scale, so those those kinds of
relationships will be key. So I think, you know, always
starting there. You know, I talked about digital twin tools
a couple of times. Uh, you know, there's some really
nice tools out there for just basic at least some
(19:36):
basic supply chain design tools around network scenarios and making
sure that you start to to be able to to
model some of this stuff digitally. And then I think
like starting small is smart, right, Like let's you know,
as we start to figure out as I was mentioning, uh,
you know, with one of the clients I was working
(19:56):
on that brought some of their their toy manufacturing here,
bring the entire operation, but you know, start small scale,
run some pilots before you know, making wholesale shifts you
know would be would be prudent, right in terms of
how how some of those things, and and then make
sure it's it's flexible and scalable in the way that
(20:17):
you're doing it. You know, going forward I think is important.
I don't you know, I think for most folks, I
think we're all I think it's you know, might be
somewhat obvious, but it's like you know, reach, It's not
like reshore or nothing. It's you know, it's about you know,
creating the balance, right, uh, and so doing that incrementally
(20:39):
it can help create some of that, you know, kind
of create some of that, you know, the ability to
to sort of understand how this is going to outcome,
and then you know, scale it as as prudent.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
As we're reaching the end of the year, most budgets
are already in place for twenty twenty six. But for
those who might still have a little bit of wiggle
room in what they're trying to accomplish and what they've
what they've got planned for the new year, how can
companies cut through some of some hype around the technology
(21:12):
and really focus on the investments that that are going
to deliver that ROI As you mentioned, you know, AI
is huge. There's so many tools out there, and we
could have everybody in an organization going in a different
direction and looking at different possibilities and none of them
could be wrong. They could all have some applicability to
that organization. But we can't do everything all at once.
(21:36):
We have to prioritize. So where do you see cutting
through some of that noise?
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, So definitely, Number one, the tech hype is in
full effect this year for sure. And you know, like
just to name them, name some things that you know
we're seeing is obviously the AI, but led the other
one that we were seeing a lot of just automation
(22:03):
in the in the manufacturing plants, in the warehouse, robotics.
You know, these are things that are on the major
hype cycles of of like, you know, is everything going
to be run by robots by.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
The end of the year.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And I think you know, you know, but you know,
it's it's important to take an approach on these things
to to really understand.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Just like we've been talking about. Let's take the Let's
take the example of automation in a warehouse, right, you know,
understanding your order profiles, your scut profiles of what you're
doing now, you know, are you shipping small orders b
to see large truckloads lt L. That mix matters in
terms of the automations that you might choose. And then
(22:49):
it's like where are we going? Where is our growth
and are we creating more channels that will create more
diversity and how that those profiles look, are we you know,
moving towards whole sale where it's going to you know,
move more sorts truckload shipping or whatever it is. Those
those answers and those scenarios change the automations that would
(23:12):
make sense and bring our OI to the building significantly. Right.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
So I think really kind of understanding like where where
you're headed from the from a data perspective, be able
to model it and then take the automation and folks
that can help you understand the value of that. Does
it reduce touches, improve accuracy, automate reduce labor at what level?
(23:35):
And how do we how are we going to make
h you know this work from from a payback perspective,
Those are really key areas.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Same same with I.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Think when we think about, you know, on the on
the flip side, we think about things like AI. I think,
you know, there's there's a lot of hype to you know,
like I think about you know, we have some some
data scientists that at MC connect that are very very smart.
They're building machine learning models for demand planning, been doing
(24:07):
it for a really long time. It's an established science.
They know all kinds of wild technology stuff that I'll
never come close to understanding. But you know, when you
think about the AI that's being presented to the everyday person,
you know, whether it's just you know, copilot helping you
summarize information, or you know, being able to have an assistant,
(24:32):
you know, be able to look at your company's data
and extract things quickly for you, or the ideas of
agents where you're doing a lot of manual tasks and
how do I automate those things and free up people's
time to make better choices. I think if you kind
of shift towards some of those more basic use cases
(24:53):
of the technology, specifically around agentic AI and some of
the larger language models, and really again focus on how
is it reducing you know, touches time, people's time. How
does it you know, help my really smart people spend
more time on making better decisions than pranking through spreadsheets
(25:14):
for instance.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
Those types of use cases.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Are the ones that can bring really high value and
sort of sort of again try to start small and
then you know, evaluate the out the the the potential
outcome of that, and then you know, rinse and repeat
and make sure you have a center of excellence that's
managing managing the chaos.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So those are some of the things that come to mind.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I think I think you know, another last big one
I'll just mention is just you know, we're seeing a
lot of manufacturers and distributors really get pressured into many
more channels than they ever have. Like you know, where
I just used to as a manufacturer ship to my wholesalers,
Now I'm in you know, Amazon and other marketplace is
(26:00):
and I've i stood up a website for bwo C.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
And you know, we're.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Doing other things to to to to engage the market well.
Order management and really sort of managing those those orders
and who's getting what inventory when.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
And how much does it cost to ship it?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Uh and orchestrating all those things are becoming more and
more important to our customers, and so evaluating those types
of opportunities has been a thing that we see a
lot of folks investing in, especially as the as the
holidays are coming up.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Well, and I can certainly attest to because it's it's
one of our credos as well. At Meboch you were
talking about, you know, automation and making sure that everything
you know, your people, and your processes are in place first,
because you cannot, and you should never automate a bad process.
It's not going to fix the problem. You have to
(26:54):
have the people and the processes first.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
The problem it does, it.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Just makes the problemiger and faster. I think of I
think of the old uh I Love Lucy where she's
got that automated thing and she's trying to pack the
chocolates and she just starts shoving them in her mouth
cause they come faster. I mean, that's what happens when
you automate a bad process is all of a sudden,
it gets bad fast, and that's it. But you just
touched on inventory and how that is becoming a strategic differentiator.
(27:23):
So what types of things are a I doing to
reshape that particular challenge.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Well, as we know, like inventories the heartbeat of supply chain.
It's the thing right that we're all whether we're trying
to make it, distribute it, move it, assemble it, whatever
it is. And so I think, you know, at the
end of the day, you know we've we've talked about
for years. I'm you know, born in born in the
(27:53):
warehouse and you know, moved into manufacturing over the years.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
But you know, my my.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Core is like, hey, inventory accuracy is the is the thing,
you know, But it's not about just that anymore. We
have to be better. Uh, and we're using the technology
to get better. So things like you know, let's having
having the technologies help us look at trends and detecting
anomalies uh in real time and so and to help
(28:22):
people see through the data and and really elevate those things.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
So again, your folks can make better choices.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Uh. Is a is a huge, huge thing we're seeing.
You know, we've we've seen some adoption. We put together
some of our own smart sourcing kind of agents that
are helping automate and look through processes of best vendor
for this particular shipment based on these factors. You know,
(28:51):
it takes folks a lot of time to get through
that analysis and really being able to teach the tools
to to learn the business this to make those choices
or at least those recommendations uh and save save a
lot of time.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
It's been huge. I think again, like you know, I
think about the warehouse a lot.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
We were spending a lot of time on you know,
we think we can solve a lot of issues around
what we like slotting, so the the act of putting
the right product in the right place in the warehouse.
And it's like you know, teaching the technology to understand
size of product, size of location, you know, the the
(29:35):
profile of the orders in the in the past, what
are they going to be when they're you know, in
the future. Putting all that math together and say, you know,
if my objective is to replenish less, you know, to
these forward locations, ultimately, you know, help me reslot for
the next week, the next month to to have the
(29:56):
best benefit, the most through pro the least amount of
waylabor uh to to put things in the right spot
to do fulfillment as an example. So I think there's
things like that. You know, I always think about the
you know, the age old problem of again coming up
on the holidays. It's like, you know, you're a B
two C shipper and you're shipping toys that have got
(30:17):
to be there before Christmas, and you're falling behind, and
you're got to upgrade from ground to two day to
one day, and you got human beings trying to figure
that out. I mean, these are things that the tools
can help you do now as they learn the business
to go look through, Hey, this this order has got
to you know, go five zones out the California We
(30:39):
got to either get it out today or upgrade it
to you know, a high level of service to make
sure we're meeting customer needs.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
So I don't know, those are a few examples.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I think there's some just some things that that are
you know, when you think about inventory.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And and the tools and looking at.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
The trends and UH and then teaching it to do
the math that we've always done in all of our
Excel tools and just do it live and give us
the answers as we ask for it or tell us
even when we don't ask for it, I think are
huge opportunities.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
So I hear a lot of plans in what you're
talking about when we're talking about you know, whether it's
inventory or the processes of you know, getting shipments out.
So there's a lot of planning involved, clearly there has
to be. But execution is a different story entirely. So
(31:37):
where are those gaps between the planning that you're seeing
today and the execution And is there something that data
can do to close that divide?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
You know, the gaps between planning and execution in my
experience is most of the time with the company that
I work with, it it can be pinpointed to something
we talked about earlier, which is you know, these siloed
business systems.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
And you know, really integrating.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So if just as an example, if I have an
order management solution, a warehouse management solution, a transportation management solution,
I mean, those are three things that have got to
work in beautiful orchestration, right like in the in a
perfect state. You know, you're constantly evaluating your order from
an order management perspective, your transportation systems looking at what
(32:34):
orders are coming in and planning and replanning. You're you're
putting strategic things to the warehouse to ship and be
picked and staged at the right time when the appointment's coming.
So you can think about all these things like in
order to do that really really well from an execution perspective,
these things have to work together really well when right.
(32:55):
And so I think that's the I think that's been
the hardest thing for a lot of folks is really
breaking down these silos and helping these applications work together
better or you know, new technologies to to really sort
of bring those things together to do to do those
types of things as an orchestrated platform. So I think,
(33:16):
you know, and then data is the enabler you mentioned data.
You know, I've been doing this this a while. I think,
you know, one of the things I'll say in general is,
you know, data companies and their commitment to data is definitely.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Improved over the years.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
I remember doing these projects a long time ago and
trying to solve various supply chain problems, and the maturity
of data is always our hindrance.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
I think data is getting better.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I think there's still you know, when you think about
siloed systems and legacy systems, and you know, obviously the
evolution of products and the innovation and products themselves constant
only changing. There's obviously lots of new complexities with data.
But data is you know, your planning system will only
(34:07):
ever be as good as the data that you have
to feed them, right there, So all.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
System is only as good as the data you put in.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
That's right, and everyone knows that.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And so you know, like I think, you know again,
leveraging some of these new technologies to bring data together.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
Uh, you know, on on a on.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
A data strategy, having a data strategy in general about
how you you maintain, you centralize, UH and you improve
your data, whether it's the master data or transactional UH.
Is is a huge part of overall strategy for and
planning for any company to be able to be successful
(34:47):
because as you just mentioned, it's the foundation.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Right absolutely well. And one thing that we we haven't
touched on in a couple of minutes is the labor
portion of this. So when we're when we're looking at
some of those apps, how many of those are a
gap because of not having either enough people or the
right people or the people with the right skill set.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
Well, to answer your question, I think that is a
big challenge, is being able to have you know, the
right people, the the trained people to do the jobs
that we you know, we continue to make need them
to be able to do. I think you know, when
we look at manufacturing plants, you know it's the the
(35:33):
leaders in plants are are aging and we're not seeing
you know, young folks come in and learn all the stuff.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
You know, lots of lots of lots of manufacturing plants.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I go in today and walk through today run because
you know, Jim and Jen know exactly how everything works.
And they've been building this product for twenty five years
and every problem that has ever come up, they've they've
learned how to address and they know how to do it,
and so you know, like how do you digitize that
(36:05):
experience is a big, a big problem, right folks are
trying to solve because you can't just bring in more
people to make to to cover that sort of experience gap.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
So no, absolutely, And it's it's the same as automation.
You can't just throw more at it. It's it's not
going to help it. You have to have the right people,
not just a quantity of people, and they have to
have the right skill set. It can't just you can't
just fog a mirror, so I mean, and in a
lot of areas, yes, that is sufficient. We need a
(36:40):
warm body here to be able to you know, get
this this process to function. And that is fine because
there will always be a need for you know, every
individual's skill set level. But I was listening this morning
to something on the news and something I don't even
remember where it said that, you know, the millionaires of
our era, in the way that we had the tech
(37:02):
millionaires back in the nineties, the millionaires today are going
to be the AI, the people who get AI and
how to make it work. I hear, okay, yeah, And
I thought that was really interesting and that it's going
to come so much faster than it did back during
that boom. And I see that happening today because we've
(37:24):
got you know, AI really hit mainstream for most people
to see it. I want to say, what two three
years ago? Maybe? Maybe? And now there's an AI solution
for almost anything and everything, and even Google is using
an AI to help deliver results. So looking ahead, what
(37:46):
capabilities mindsets should leaders be prioritizing to be ready for
twenty twenty six and beyond.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, I mean one thing that I always you know,
tell leaders is that you know, being in the supply
chain and technology space, you know, trying to bring those
things together is.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Like, don't don't panic.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Uh the you know, we always see the tech hype
you know, many many years ahead of the reality of
business right and and the competitive nature of things. So
I think, you know, taking taking the time to build
a strategy and do it right is super important and
(38:30):
not think that you're you know the whatever, the fomo
or whatever effect of trying to to jump in here.
I think, but you do have to change the mindset
of like you know, digital first, Data's core, it's it
is the foundation. And if you want to leverage any
(38:51):
of these tools, you know, like and I think you
know this has been a common drum beat from most
AI folks and leaders out there, is you know it.
You can't predict things on bad data. You can't automate things,
as you said multiple times today, automate things on ad data.
(39:12):
So number one is just invest there on a data strategy,
and as you build that out, you know, so many
things will start to be become easier, especially if you
do that in a strategic way, uh, in in in
the cloud and on these various platforms. I think, you know,
(39:35):
it's one of them, one of my mantras just as
a human being, and I bring it to everything I do,
which is, you know, I try.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
To, you know, do as.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Many things as I can uh fast, fail fast, understand
where we failed, and repeat. Uh And I think you
can overthink these things to the end degree. I think
keeping it small learning uh see what see what didn't
go well, what did go well? And comparing to land
(40:06):
and expand so you know, don't have to be perfect
with all of this stuff. But you know, foundations first, agility,
uh and you know it's.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
Going to be super important. We talked about leaders in
the beginning investing great leaders and people that are going
to help you with change management and helping people. We
have a whole myself included workforce to train to do
things in a different way, and that's going to take
great leaders to help organizations adopt a digital mindset first. Uh,
(40:42):
these data platforms and these tools that we're building out
to leverage them in a way that's still human in nature.
It's going to be super important.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
And you know, I think prioritizing agility, flexibility and resilience
data with visibility is really the keys. And then really
knocking down the silos of applications and bringing them together.
Those are the key components of what you know I
would be focusing on twenty twenty six here in the
(41:14):
near future.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Absolutely well, thank you Steve so much for joining us
today and a pleasure. As Steve shared, the supply chain
challenges of twenty twenty six are already taking shape, and
the companies who act now will be the ones best
position to adapt. By embracing scenario planning, designing smarter networks,
and leveraging AI for real ROI leaders can turn today's
(41:37):
uncertainty into tomorrow's advantage. To our listeners, If you've found
today's episode valuable, be sure to hit that subscribe button
so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested
in being a guest on our show, you can reach
me at podcast at meboch dot com anytime. Thank you
for listening to Speaking of Supply Chain.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Meeboch Consulting is one of the largest and most globally
recognized supply chain consulting, engineering and advisory firms. For nearly
fifty years, we've helped clients achieve supply chain excellence and
sustainable competitive advantage across the entire spectrum of the supply
chain by delivering improvements and innovation strategically, tactically, and digitally.
(42:19):
To learn more, visit meeboch dot com. You've been listening
to Speaking of Supply Chain a meboch podcast, keep connected
with us by subscribing to the show in your favorite
podcast player. If you like what you've heard, please rate
the show that helps us to keep delivering the latest
in supply chain information. Thanks for listening. Until next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.