Our guest on this week's episode is Brett Williams, a retired Major General from the United States Air Force and one of the nation's leading consultants and experts on cybersecurity. Williams is the former director of operations at the United States Cyber Command, where he led a team of 400 people responsible for the global operations and protection of all Department Of Defense computer networks. After retiring from a 33-year military career, General Williams co-founded a business called IronNet...
Jan 20, 2023•25 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Our guest on this week's episode is Brandon Isner, Americans head of retail research at CBRE, the large commercial real estate firm. While the holidays are now over and most of us have taken down the tree and put the decorations away, a lot of holiday work still needs to be done for retailers. They have to deal with the $135 billion in expected returns this year. Estimates are that 13 percent of all online orders are being returned. That is a lot to process for any company. Isner discusses how t...
Jan 13, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Our guest on this week's episode is Zac Rogers, assistant professor of supply chain at Colorado State University. Rogers is one of the writers of the monthly Logistics Managers' Index. He shares about how supply chains performed during 2022 and predicts what will be ahead as the new year unfolds. Some of the successes and challenges that supply chains will experience in 2023 may be related to whether the industry can solve the many product shortages we had during the past two years. Today we dis...
Jan 06, 2023•23 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Today we're repeating our Nov. 11 episode on attracting and hiring military veterans for those who might have missed it. We'll be back next week with a new episode. ------------------------------ Our guest on this week's episode is Todd Skiles, senior vice president of global sales and supply chain solutions at Ryder System. Today in the United States we honor military veterans for their service to our nation. Once their time in the armed forces has concluded, veterans must transition back to ci...
Dec 30, 2022•21 min
Our guest on this week's episode is Melinda McLaughlin, senior vice president and global head of research with industrial real estate company Prologis. 2022 marked a year of tight warehouse capacity, as distribution facilities were stacked to the rafters with inventory. Much of that inventory is now gone, but there are other factors that will limit available space. McLaughlin shares predictions for the industrial real estate market for 2023, including hot locations for new construction and other...
Dec 22, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 47
Our guest on this week's episode is Justin Bailie, co-founder of TMS provider Rose Rocket. Good workers are always hard to find, but this year it has been difficult to find the labor needed to run our supply chains, and truck drivers in particular. What can be done to put more drivers on our nations’ roads? Supply chain executives are focusing on reducing their material supply risks and avoiding unplanned delays and shortages in the year ahead – not surprising, after what we’ve experienced in th...
Dec 16, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 46
Our guest on this week's episode is Dan Gilmore, chief marketing officer at Softeon. Increased demand and fewer available workers during the past couple of years have combined to accelerate the adoption of automation in distribution centers- and material handling companies have responded with a wide range of systems. But what do the end-users of today’s automation think about the available technologies? The latest numbers from the Logistics Managers' Index are in. The report reflecting November ...
Dec 09, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 45
Our guest on this week's episode is Elie Katz, president & CEO of National Retail Solutions. The pandemic was especially hard on small mom-and-pop grocers - the bodegas and small independent stores found on many street corners of America. Some closed for good, while others adopted new technologies to help them compete with the bigger grocers on diverse inventory and home deliveries. We discussed how these grocers can not just compete, but thrive. Yesterday, Congress took action to impose a c...
Dec 02, 2022•19 min•Season 3Ep. 44
Our guest on this week's episode is Gregg Healy, the head of Industrial Service for North America with the commercial real estate firm Savills. Most retailers admit that this will not be the typical holiday peak season. They have lots of inventory and we are now seeing peak season stretching out well ahead of the traditional Black Friday start. What has changed this year and why? More companies are focusing on the importance of last-mile delivery to their overall business– a factor that is givin...
Nov 18, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 43
Our guest on this week's episode is Todd Skiles, senior vice president of global sales and supply chain solutions at Ryder System. Today in the United States we honor military veterans for their service to our nation. Once their time in the armed forces has concluded, veterans must transition back to civilian life, including finding suitable employment. Skiles, a veteran himself, shares what Ryder does to help other veterans make a leap into supply chain careers. After years of experience with o...
Nov 11, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 42
Our guest on this week's episode is Paul Lord, senior director, supply chain research at consultancy Gartner. Inflation has hit everyone, and the supply chain problems we have experienced the past two years are contributing factors. Higher costs for materials, fuel, transportation, and distribution not only increase prices of the products we buy, but they also lead to higher costs to deliver those goods. How has inflation affected supply chains and what can managers and supply chain planners do ...
Nov 04, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 41
Our guest on this week's episode is Shawn McCloud, senior vice president of operations at Coyote Logistics. While peak holiday shopping season is just getting underway for most consumers, peak season for shippers has already been going on for a couple of months. How is this peak season progressing compared to last year and what are the expectations for shippers and carriers for the time between now and the end of the year? Supply chains have endured a lot in 2022. We still face many challenges, ...
Oct 28, 2022•24 min•Season 3Ep. 40
Our guest on this week's episode is Dannie Lynn Fountain. She is the author of the new book End Checkbox Diversity: Rewriting the Story of Performative Allyship in Corporate America. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. She shares how hiring people with disabilities can enhance a workforce and bring new skills that might often be overlooked. Retailers are preparing for peak season and trying to guess how consumers will respond. New research shows that consumers are concerne...
Oct 21, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 39
Our guest on this week's episode is Dan Pellathy, an assistant professor at Grand Valley State University. The past two years of pandemic and economic uncertainly revealed many weaknesses in our supply chains and pointed to the need for greater agility. But while everyone seeks supply chain agility, what is the reality in the market and are companies as diversified and resilient with their supply chains as they should be? Pellathy and a team of supply chain researchers have studied the ROI of su...
Oct 14, 2022•26 min
Our guest on this week's episode is Kathy Fulton, executive director of the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). Hurricane Ian has brought tremendous devastation to Florida and the Southeast region. It is times like these that the logistics community can rally together to provide logistical services to assist in the recovery. Spearheading those efforts is ALAN. Fulton shares what is being done and how you can help. Walmart has just bought Alert Innovation, a robotic shuttle company it has been...
Oct 07, 2022•23 min•Season 3Ep. 37
Our guest on this week's episode is Troy Basso, VP, Fleet Maintenance at Quantix. We have witnessed the spike in diesel fuel prices over the past year, and those prices and a desire to turn to more environmentally-friendly fuels have led some companies to move to electric vehicles for their fleets. What does it take to transition from diesel to electric power for a fleet’s trucks? Our guest shares what his company has done to add its first electric trucks to its current fleet. Companies continue...
Sep 30, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Our guest on this week's episode is Mark Dancer, CEO of the Network for Business Innovation. He is a speaker for two sessions at next week's CSCMP EDGE conference in Nashville. He shares some of his insights and previews his presentations, including his view that supply chains are not really broken, but are being reborn. He also discusses the need for resilient, responsive, and regenerative supply chains and what they will look like in the future. An important labor agreement was tentatively rea...
Sep 16, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 35
Our guest on this week's episode is Melissa Williams. She is an independent owner-operator truck driver. She shares why she was interested in becoming a trucker and what life on the road is like for a woman driver who owns her own rig. Peak retail season is fast approaching and retailers are trying to figure out whether shoppers will be returning to stores after two years of heavy pandemic-induced online shopping. A new survey of consumers shows that growth in both areas might lead to a successf...
Sep 09, 2022•20 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Our guest on this week's episode is Simon Geale, chief procurement officer at supply chain consultancy firm Proxima. China has been suffering under a severe heat wave and drought, with daily temperatures in many regions above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The heat has shut down factories on top of the Covid-related shutdowns that are part of China's zero-tolerance Covid policy. How will this latest blow affect production out of China and what are the short and long-term implicatio...
Sep 02, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 33
Our guest on this week's episode is Mark Ford, chief capacity officer at BlueGrace Logistics. As the trucking industry continues to ride out the uncertain economy, it puts pressures on small fleet carriers to steer carefully to adjust to the volatility. He discusses the current status of the trucking sector and the effects on small fleets and owner operators. What steps can they take to assure that they survive? Google has recently made some significant investments in logistics on the continent ...
Aug 26, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 32
Our guest on this week's episode is Dan MacGregor, co-founder of Nexxiot, a global digitalization and IoT company. As supply chains are about to enter into peak season, we ask: Are they ready for the busiest time of the year? MacGregor talks about the current state of supply chains and what technology can do to streamline operations. The FDA has announced new regulations on shipping certain categories of food. The regs will take effect in January and will require tracking and recording of every ...
Aug 19, 2022•25 min•Season 3Ep. 31
Our guest on this week's episode is Tom Nightingale, CEO at AFS Logistics. He addresses how inflation, fuel surcharges, and other economic pressures are affecting freight markets. He offers perspective on Q3 performance and what to expect for freight as we head into peak season. The recent changes at the U.S. Postal Service are reflected in its latest earnings report. One of the new changes just announced this week is a new rate increase. What do the numbers show and how do they reflect the over...
Aug 12, 2022•21 min
Our guest on this week's episode is Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at Americas Commercial Transportation Research Company - better known as ACT Research. He discusses his company's predictions of an economic recession in the first half of 2023 and how the trucking industry is already teetering on recession. What does this mean for freight markets, and what can companies do to survive and then prepare to thrive once the recession ends? Logistics firms are adopting 5G technology, but in...
Aug 05, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Our guest on this week's episode is Chris Shimoda, vice president of government affairs for the California Trucking Association. He is here to discuss California's Assembly Bill #5, better known as AB5. Until just a couple of weeks ago, the law had been tied up in appeals since it was passed in 2019, but it could soon go into enforcement. Essentially, it redefines contract workers' status in California. The problem for supply chains is that it forces many independent drivers to be considered emp...
Jul 29, 2022•26 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Our guest on this week's episode is Senthil Rajagopalan, president and COO of Profit.co. When consumer demand goes up sharply, manufacturers ramp up production to meet that demand. But it does not all happen at once. Often, they produce more than is needed and not always with the right timing. That creates a bullwhip effect for our supply chains. Rajagopalan discusses the impacts of the bullwhip effect with Senior News Editor Ben Ames. Supply chains bottlenecks have not only been created by supp...
Jul 22, 2022•25 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Our guest on this week's episode is Ian Khan, writer, futurist, and founder of The Futuracy Group consulting organization. He is also a CNN Technology Futurist, a contributor to Forbes, Business.com , Entrepreneur, and Accounting Web. The importance of supply chains has been shown during the past few months, and it really is the people behind them that make the difference. How will working in supply chains, and work in general, change to meet the challenges of technology and needs? What skills w...
Jul 15, 2022•22 min•Season 3Ep. 26
Our guest on this week's episode is Christopher Tang, the UCLA distinguished professor and Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration and also the faculty director of UCLA's Center for Global Management. We have all seen product shortages this summer, including a well-publicized shortage of infant meal formula. Professor Tang discusses what is causing shortages, both from supply chain issues and domestic supply problems, and what steps companies can take to mitigate future risks to their ...
Jul 01, 2022•25 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Our guest on this week's episode is Dimitre Kirilov, president of consumer services for Montway Auto Transport. A shortage of qualified drivers has been a reality for years in the trucking industry. With the low unemployment rate, it does not appear that the tight market for drivers will get any better. Our guest talks about what trucking firms need to do to attract new drivers and to retain the drivers they have. With rising costs for packaging supplies and the lack of availability for many pac...
Jun 24, 2022•23 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Our guest on this week's episode is Glenn Richey, the Raymond J. Harbert Eminent Scholar and chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management at Auburn University's Harbert College of Business. We have seen the huge spike in fuel prices over the past couple of months. Are these higher prices here to stay? What has caused the price surges and is there anything that can be done by government and industry to ease the pain at the pump for trucking companies and the shippers that must pay higher fu...
Jun 17, 2022•21 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Our guest on this week's episode is Jonathan Dawley, president and CEO of Kion North America, a leading manufacturer of forklifts and other material handling equipment. Dawley is also chair of this year's National Forklift Safety Day. Sponsored by the Industrial Truck Association (ITA), this is a day set aside each year to promote safe practices around forklift operations. ITA organization will be hosting a safety-focused program next Tuesday in Washington, D.C. that will also be live streamed. ...
Jun 10, 2022•25 min•Season 3Ep. 22
