Libsyn Directory

Investing in People-powered Safety in Food Manufacturing W/ Nathan Walts

Release Date: 03/13/2025

Down but Not Out: California’s Fight to Regulate Emissions

Art of Supply

There have been a number of efforts to regulate a transition to lower logistics-related emissions, and all of them involved the state of California and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). California always plays a unique role in these debates because they have the most air pollution in the country and also the toughest emissions regulations. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) predates the EPA. In the past, they have been able to make their own rules, only requiring waivers when newly proposed standards are tougher than Federal standards. On May 22, 2025, the Senate...

A Procurement Crime at Intel: Loopholes and Lessons Learned

Art of Supply

While true crime has gained traction as a genre in the literary world, it's not often we see it applied to procurement. Yet, a fascinating and unsettling procurement fraud case has recently come to light within Intel Israel's operations. Every criminal investigation seeks to uncover means, motive, and opportunity, and this case checks all three boxes, with implications that go far beyond one company. Just a few weeks ago, a story broke that uncovered an alleged scheme in which a now-former employee, Natalia Avtsin, and a component supplier, Yefim Tsibolevsky from Energy Electronics 2000,...

Prioritizing Dispute Prevention Over Problem Solving

Art of Supply

After spending years reviewing business books, Kelly Barner knows how to recognize authors who truly move the needle–and Kate Vitasek is one of them. Her latest work, Preventing the Dispute Before It Begins: Proven Mechanisms for Fostering Better Business Relationships, co-authored with James Groton, Ellen Waldman, and Allen Waxman, takes on a surprisingly neglected topic: dispute prevention. While this topic can be applied to procurement, it’s also very human, looking at business relationships from their most troubled moments and aspiring to lay out a plan as well as offering up resources...

High Velocity Lessons on Lobbying and Trade with Samir Kapadia

Art of Supply

“In this climate of being a trade professional in Washington, expect to be in an Uber for about half of the day and then the other half of it sitting in rooms making cases of why people either should be not paying tariffs or how other people should be paying tariffs.” - Samir Kapadia, Managing Principal at Vogel Group and Founder and CEO at India Index Supply chain professionals have always had to keep a close eye on trade–both the policies and the geopolitical happenings that affect it. But with tariffs launching trade-related topics to the top of the news cycle repeatedly since...

Tariffs as a Girder for Domestic Fabricated Steel W/ Stephen Capone and Hollie Noveletsky

Art of Supply

“We need to be able to tolerate this uncertainty and the fluctuations that we're undergoing right now and keep our eye on the long term goal of strengthening American manufacturing.” -Hollie Noveletsky, Owner and CEO of Novel Iron Works While many consumers and business owners feel uneasy about the Trump Administration’s use of tariffs, there is at least one group that views them as essential: steel fabricators. Hollie Noveletsky, Owner and CEO of Novel Iron Works, and Stephen Capone, President of Capone Iron, have personally felt the negative impact that foreign competition and a...

Semiconductor CHIPS, Checks, and Challenges

Art of Supply

“Even though the world’s advanced economies are largely considered post-industrial, chipmaking is an area where domestic manufacturing is now being treated as a high priority for economic and national security reasons.” Jon Martin, Writing for the ‘More than Moore’ substack The CHIPS and Science Act, which took effect in August of 2022, is an ambitious Federal program that will inject $52.7 Billion into U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, research and development, and workforce training. As we look back nearly 3 years later, there has been more talk than action, but no one party or...

How U.S. Tariffs Are Reshaping Global Freight feat. Judah Levine

Art of Supply

Global supply chain leaders and consumers alike have watched for months as the U.S. tariff rollercoaster starts and stops, impacting imported goods. While these policy changes are expected to directly impact supply chains, what about their impact on the cost and availability of freight? As companies hold their breath and wait to see if and/or when their imports will be subjected to tariffs, many have been doing their best to plan as far ahead as possible and get stock in well before seasonal demand hits. Even so, concerns still exist over tariff timelines and the availability and cost of...

Supply Chains & Second Chances: Human Trafficking Aftercare

Art of Supply

In recent years, a lot of work has been done to raise awareness about the massive problem of human trafficking as well as to start to attack that problem. In this week’s episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner interviews two women engaged in an important part of that fight through an organization called Gift of Freedom: Sharon Siar and Nicole Glenn. Sharon Siar is the Founder and President Gift of Freedom, and she is also the Vice President and CFO at Talon Freight Services Nicole Glenn, is a Board Member for Gift of Freedom, the Founder and CEO of Candor Logistics Management, and a...

Building a U.S. Solar Supply Chain

Art of Supply

“Between 2008 and 2013, China’s fledgling solar-electric panel industry dropped world prices by 80 percent, a stunning achievement in a fiercely competitive high-tech market.” - John Fialka, Scientific American In March, Corning, Suniva, and Heliene announced a partnership that will allow them to build a U.S. supply chain for solar panels, from polysilicon to wafers to cells to panels. In a global solar industry worth $100 Billion, the opportunity is massive, but so is the risk. The path to the present moment is littered with companies who failed operationally or found themselves tangled...

Manufacturing Labor Market Insights in an Uncertain World

Art of Supply

Economic commentators often look at consumer spending as a barometer for confidence and outlook - how good or bad financially do individuals and families think the broader economy is, and how profitable it will be for them? The same can perhaps be said for companies and hiring managers. How confident are they that they will be able to keep people employed in uncertain times, and what skills are they most eager to invest their scarce dollars in? In this week’s Art of Supply interview, Kelly Barner speaks with Christine Corson, Managing Director of Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Engineering...

More Episodes

“Everyone at the plant has a duty to protect the products that we're sending out to the customer. Ultimately, you really have to think about it as sort of a ‘circle of life.’ What's my responsibility with what I'm doing in this part of the process, and what’s going to happen when this product reaches the consumer?” - Nathan Walts, CEO, WorkForge

The food supply chain is uniquely complex and critical, because when something goes wrong lives are at stake.

Regulations and standards play an important role, but only if people follow them. It takes a lot of hiring, training, and retention efforts to manage the workforce, adding significantly to the cost of running a business.

Nathan Walts is the CEO of WorkForge, a learning and development solution provider focused on the food manufacturing industry. In this episode, he joins Kelly Barner to talk about the food safety objectives producers are trying to achieve, the challenges they face, and the learning and development programs that aim to address both.

Listen in as Nathan and Kelly discuss:

The current state of labor in food manufacturing
Education for safety, quality, and empowerment
Going beyond regulatory compliance to achieve continuous improvement

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