Art of Supply
Art of Supply, hosted by Kelly Barner, draws inspiration from news headlines and expert interviews to bring you insightful coverage of today’s complex supply chains.
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Examining the Practicality of the EV Truck Mandate
04/25/2024
Examining the Practicality of the EV Truck Mandate
Heavy-duty trucks include tractor-trailers, ambulances, garbage trucks, and school buses. All of these are now on an official timeline for reduced emissions, in alignment with a new Federal mandate. Manufacturers of heavy-duty vehicles must reduce their overall emissions by mandated percentages according to model year, starting with their 2028 models and extending through 2032. When the rules were released on March 29th, we heard the usual responses from the usual cast of characters. Environmental advocacy groups love it, and trucking industry associations say it is ridiculous. But will it work? In this week’s episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner investigates the details of the new rules to better understand: The requirements, operational challenges, and worthy effort to reduce fleet emissions What manufacturers of heavy duty trucks are being asked to do by when Concerns beyond the usual noise that will have to be overcome before we can reduce the emissions output of the supply chain Links:
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Playing the “China Card” in U.S. Ports
04/18/2024
Playing the “China Card” in U.S. Ports
80 percent of all ship-to-shore (S2S) cranes at ports in the United States - and 75 percent of all S2S cranes in the world - are made by just one company: ZPMC. Short for Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited, ZPMC is a Chinese state-owned manufacturing and engineering firm. It was founded in 1992 and quickly grew to become the largest S2S crane manufacturer in the world. U.S.-China relations have been on shaky footing in recent times, making concerns about these cranes, and the critical role they play in major ports, a top priority in both the private and public sectors. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks at the high stakes associated with port security and why cranes are at the center of everyone’s attention: Why the Biden Administration is concerned by the risk posed by these cranes The data management and decision-making patterns that allowed ZPMC to assume a dominant position globally What may be next… in terms of security and also in terms of new sources of supply Links:
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Net Zero in New York? JBS Accused of Greenwashing
04/11/2024
Net Zero in New York? JBS Accused of Greenwashing
On February 28, 2024, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued JBS, the largest meat company in the world, for civil fraud. James is accusing the company of ‘greenwashing’ or making statements to sound more environmentally friendly than they truly are. In 2021, JBS made a commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2040. James says this statement is “unsubstantiated” and “unachievable” without reducing production, and that their marketing campaigns “in effect, provide environmentally conscious consumers with a ‘license’ to eat beef.” What earned JBS the unwanted attention of the Attorney General’s office in New York? The company has plans to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange before the end of the year - and a vocal chorus has risen up to oppose the move. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks at this case in the context of the overall corporate sustainability movement: Reviewing the details of the complaint filed by Attorney General Letitia James Considering relevant legislation and rulings that she and her team will have to overcome And highlighting the impact that all of this may have on the push to get large companies to become more environmentally responsible Links:
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Even with +1, China is still #1
04/04/2024
Even with +1, China is still #1
“China’s supply chain has gone through significant, transformative changes in the last five years. For executives or engineers, designers or buyers, who have not been here since before COVID, they’re going to see a completely different China.” - Jeffrey Goldstein, Founder & President of Onward Global It is impossible to discuss global supply chains without being hyper aware of the role of China. Whether it is their access to critical raw materials, specialization in certain production processes, or labor advantages, relocating supply chains to other parts of the world is harder than it sounds. Even companies looking to embrace a China +1 strategy have found that few +1s are ready to come online as quickly as industries need. Jeffrey Goldstein is the Founder & President of Onward Global. Based in Shanghai, he and his team serve as the ‘boots on the ground’ for companies around the world that are sourcing in China, helping them overcome cultural and strategic obstacles to value. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner welcomes Jeffrey to share his first hand perspective on doing business with Chinese suppliers today: Where he has seen the most change in supply chains since COVID’s impact began to wind down Generational workforce trends that may be more global than they first appear Why suppliers in China are so hard to replace - and why they may be even harder to compete with Realities that any company looking to move their sourcing out of China or diversify their sources should be aware of Links:
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What You Don’t Know Can Hertz You
03/28/2024
What You Don’t Know Can Hertz You
In October of 2021, Hertz announced that they would purchase 100,000 Tesla Model 3’s for their rental fleet, followed by 175,000 from GM, and 65,000 from Polestar. The move was supposed to help them overcome shortages of conventional cars, lend the recently ex-bankrupt company a ‘cool factor,’ and lean on the sustainability trend to drive revenue. Instead, it backfired. On April 1, 2024, Hertz will get their fifth CEO in four years. How could this strategy, one that seemed to be in alignment with corporate and consumer sentiment, go so wrong? In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks at the series of events that have made it hard for a series of CEOs to lead the company successfully: The economic conditions that gave Hertz more trouble than competitors like Avis and Enterprise The choices they made in response to those conditions and how they may have tipped their hand Early signs that heavy investment in EVs may not have been the way out Hertz was looking for Links:
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Treasure Hunting with TJX
03/21/2024
Treasure Hunting with TJX
The global off-price apparel and home fashion market is estimated to be worth $900 Billion. While retailers like Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond faltered or fell over the last few years, the chains owned by TJX - notably TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods - have thrived. TJX has seized the opportunity to snatch up excess brand name inventory and sell it at a discount over the last few years, but their growth is not a COVID-related fluke. The foundation for their success was laid decades ago, and continues thanks to investments in talented buyers, strong supplier relationships, and company culture that wisely puts profits above pride. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner goes on a treasure hunt much like the TJX shopping experience to discover: How TJX operates and why it has positioned them for success in an economy that has been difficult for other retailers The competitive advantage represented by their approach to buying and the 1,300 person team that carries it out Why TJX’s success is likely to last regardless of what happens with the economy Links:
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Three Strikes for the New Baseball Uniform
03/14/2024
Three Strikes for the New Baseball Uniform
In early February, news hit that there was a problem with the new Major League Baseball uniforms. Redesigned by Nike and made by Fanatics, the new uniforms were unveiled with tremendous fanfare. They were designed to be more comfortable, cooler, and better at moisture wicking. Unfortunately, one man’s breathable is another man’s translucent. Pictures started to appear on social media that revealed far more than anyone would want. The LEAST of the players’ concerns was that tucked in jerseys were visible through the pants. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the supply chain relationships and issues at play in this year’s MLB uniform debacle: Three problems with the uniforms: fabric, fit, and design The string of business relationships required produce the uniforms and put them into play Potential ulterior motives for the players’ negative reactions The lessons everyone can learn from this embarrassing situation Links:
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Surviving the Supply Chain Arena
03/07/2024
Surviving the Supply Chain Arena
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…” - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910 The last four years of supply chain challenges have taken a toll. People are exhausted, stressed, and scarred. Unlike many areas of life that have gone back to ‘normal,’ supply chains continue to be batted about by geopolitical strife, the economy, and literal attacks. The result of all that pressure? A generation of brilliant supply chain professionals ready for anything the future might throw at them, says David Moran, a 25-year supply chain executive with experience working for companies like Procter and Gamble, Diageo, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. In this week’s Art of Supply, Kelly Barner welcomes David to share his perspective on the unique opportunity to have survived supply chain work since 2020: The operational differences between supply chain teams that were empowered to set their own priorities and teams that were handed their priorities by the business The power and value of the ‘scars’ earned by supply chain teams over the last few years (and how they should treat them) Why instinctively being able to decide what is important and what is not will be the greatest skill these professionals carry with them into the future Links:
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Time to Return to Just-in-Time?
02/29/2024
Time to Return to Just-in-Time?
“Wisdom is given equally to everybody. The point is whether one can exercise it.” - Taiichi Ohno, The “Ten Precepts” The supply chain profession has recently run the gauntlet of existential challenges. Is it possible that - given enough time - they could return to the old ways? There have recently been a number of news stories about retailers returning to just-in-time inventory management. If that is the case, and supply chains are returning to pre-pandemic practices with minimal changes, then we may be setting ourselves up to forget… and fall prey to the same failures once again. In this week’s Art of Supply, Kelly Barner starts by looking back at just how ‘out’ just-in-time inventory management was: Remembering the supply chain aftershocks of 2020, 2021, and 2022 Looking at the principled roots of just-in-time inventory management that originally allowed it to gain success And thinking seriously about what we need to do to return to just-in-time inventory management, should that be the right answer, in a responsible way Links:
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Case Dismissed: Byron Allen v. McDonald’s
02/22/2024
Case Dismissed: Byron Allen v. McDonald’s
On February 2, 2024, news broke on one of the court cases we’ve been following for a while. In May of 2023, two of the companies owned by Byron Allen, a black businessman and producer, sued McDonald’s for $100 Million in California for fraud and false promise. The suit claimed the company lied when it said it was going to spend more money with black-owned media companies. California Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana dismissed the case against McDonald’s and ordered Allen to pay their legal fees. But if you know anything about Byron Allen, you know that this is not over - not by a longshot. In this week’s episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner reviews the implications of this ruling: The background and differences between the multiple legal actions Byron Allen’s companies have brought against McDonald’s Why the case was dismissed and what the parties have now said about each other in its wake Questioning the actual objectives to determine what Byron Allen is really after, and whether that makes this a step forward or a step back Links: Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter
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Killer App: The UK Post Office Scandal
02/15/2024
Killer App: The UK Post Office Scandal
In today’s digital age, jokes are often made at technology’s expense. Computers don’t like switching from one virtual meeting platform to another. Sometimes webinar platforms insist upon seeing someone’s earbuds as a microphone rather than as a speaker. And why does software always need to update when we are already 5 minutes late for a meeting? Digital gremlins have become the tie that binds, and we are all conditioned to be patient, recognizing that nothing - least of all software - is perfect. But what if the problems with software go beyond minor inconvenience and actually disrupt people’s lives and livelihoods? What if the software creates a problem that operators are legally blamed for? What if the software provider aids in the process of convicting them rather than owning up to the bugs in their own product? If this sounds crazy, you’re not alone. You’re also probably based outside the UK where this exact story has been playing out in the news and in the courts. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the UK Post Office scandal: Based on Horizon, accounting and inventory management software designed by Fujitsu The human toll that has resulted from issues in the software not being addressed head on And the one thing that seems to be oddly missing in this case: brand damage Links:
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Savings v. Safety in Aircraft Manufacturing
02/08/2024
Savings v. Safety in Aircraft Manufacturing
On January 5th, Alaska Airlines flight 1282 left Portland, Oregon en route to Ontario, California. Just minutes into the flight, the Boeing 737 Max 9 lost a door plug, creating a gaping hole in the side of the aircraft. Fortunately, all 171 passengers and six crew members were safe, largely because the plane had only reached 16,000 feet, minimizing the amount of cabin decompression that took place. It also helped that no one was sitting in front of the plug, which was put in place to cover a spot that otherwise would have been an extra emergency exit Once the shock wore off, the questions began. How did this happen? Whose fault was it? And how can we prevent it from happening again? The answer to all three questions involves the supply chain: one specific supplier and a model of outsourcing that is common in the aerospace industry. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner considers the specific issues at play in this situation as well as in the industry as a whole: The facts about the plane leading up to the accident The weaknesses that (over?) reliance on outsourcing has created in aircraft manufacturing The role of oversight and inspection given what’s at stake from a public safety standpoint Links:
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The Drone Final Mile Becomes Reality
02/01/2024
The Drone Final Mile Becomes Reality
In 2013, then-Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos predicted that drone deliveries would be a reality in five years. More than 10 years later, they are still largely in the pilot phase, but a drone final mile is becoming a reality fast for some parts of the company. As the FAA reduces restrictions on drone deliveries in places like the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, they are kicking off a race to make drone deliveries realistic, affordable, and available to consumers, bringing small items to consumers in 30 minutes or less. Companies like Amazon and Walmart are now locked in a race to incorporate drones in their consumer delivery supply chain. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks at the current state of innovation and experimentation in drone final mile delivery: How notable retailers and small parcel delivery companies are putting drone delivery into practice The different partnership and investment models currently in place The number one roadblock preventing this futuristic delivery method from achieving scale Links:
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Weight and Value x Distance: Studying Global Supply Chain Use and Cost
01/25/2024
Weight and Value x Distance: Studying Global Supply Chain Use and Cost
In June 2023, Sharat Ganapati, an Assistant Professor of International Economics at Georgetown University and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Woan Foong Wong, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Oregon, wrote a research paper that was published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Titled How Far Goods Travel: Global Transport and Supply Chains from 1965-2020, the paper takes a new look at global transportation. Unlike traditional trade metrics, which often fail to reflect the role of distance, they examine transportation usage worldwide by weight and value as well as distance. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner takes on the rewarding challenge of digesting the key findings expressed in this highly relevant academic paper: How transport use has changed since 1965 How transport costs have changed What the combination of the two, and other associated factors, mean for the future of supply chain efficiency and resilience Links: Read:
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High Stakes in the Red Sea
01/18/2024
High Stakes in the Red Sea
On New Year’s Eve, weeks of rising tension in the Red Sea reached a boiling point. Houthi militants tried to board the Maersk Hangzhou just one day after hitting the vessel with a missile. The ship’s crew sent out a distress signal that was picked up by the USS Eisenhower and the USS Gravely, which sent helicopters to support the on-ship-security team. Three Houthi ships were destroyed and ten assailants were killed, according to the Houthi military’s own report. The crew of the Hangzhou is safe and there were no indications of fire resulting from the missile strike. That skirmish marked a new level of escalation in a string of missile strikes and drone attacks that have plagued commercial vessels traveling through the Red Sea since November. In this week’s episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner provides a supply chain point of view on a story that has been featured above the fold for weeks: An overview of the trouble that has been raging in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, targeting commercial vessels in particular Why being able to travel safely through this body of water is particularly critical to the efficiency of global supply chains And what the crews on these ships are dealing with as they attempt to do their jobs, moving goods to their intended destination Links: Watch: (WSJ)
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Introducing Art of Supply
01/11/2024
Introducing Art of Supply
Effective today, Dial P for Procurement is the Art of Supply. Rather than being a change in content, this rebrand brings the name and brand identity of the show into alignment with the content we have already been creating. Building on the strength of the category-leading Art of Procurement podcast, Art of Supply will focus on supply chain topics and news stories while advocating for the impact all supply management professionals can have on companies, industries, the environment, and people everywhere. Art of Supply will continue to provide in-depth researched coverage of trending supply chain news stories, and we will welcome thought leaders, executives, and newsmakers to the show to share their point of view in their own words. In this episode, Kelly Barner will provide a series of updates to start the new year: The larger context of the rebrand and what it means for the focus and form of our content Relevant news headlines that came (and in some cases, went) during the holidays, that supply chain professionals will want to know about An overview of the top news story listeners can expect to hear covered in more depth next week Links: Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter Art of Supply on AOP
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2023 Dial P for Procurement Year in Review
12/28/2023
2023 Dial P for Procurement Year in Review
Looking all the way back to the beginning of the year has a way of putting everything into perspective. The individual and cumulative impact of all of the events that took place in 2023 can not be understated: from legal action, to labor unions, to geopolitics. In this episode, Kelly Barner reviews the stories and topics covered on Dial P for Procurement this year - following the lead of the listening audience. She goes back to the beginning of the year to see which three Dial P for Procurement episodes had the greatest number of downloads and reveals which of the ‘honorable mention’ episodes topics the procurement social media community voted for as most representative of the general business tone in 2023. Links: Episodes and newsletters referenced:
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Troubling Times for Electric Trucking
12/21/2023
Troubling Times for Electric Trucking
With all the recent buzz about electric vehicles (EVs), not to mention the push towards sustainability and emissions reduction, it was only going to be a matter of time before electric Class 8 trucks entered the scene. Class 8s are classic semis or tractor trailers, so they are not just part of the supply chain, they have supply chains themselves. There are a number of companies in the space, some with familiar names and some that are startups. Commercial electric trucking has been in the news recently, and not for entirely good reasons. In this episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner covers two recent news stories and an emerging business model: The recent bankruptcy of Volta, a Swedish electric truck startup, and the supplier relationship that caused it This week’s breaking news about former Nikola Founder Trevor Milton being sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding investors in his company The new Trucks-as-a-Service business model that has sprung up to bring electric fleets within reach of more companies Links:
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Reading FedEx Ground the RICO Act
12/14/2023
Reading FedEx Ground the RICO Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, is usually associated with organized crime. It was used in 1992 to bring down the Gambino Crime family and sentence John Gotti to life in prison. But there is no supply chain mafia, right? A recently filed legal complaint will ask and hopefully answer that very question… On December 8th, it was disclosed that PYNQ Logistics Services had filed a lawsuit against FedEx Ground, claiming FedEx engaged in a deliberate effort to defraud them in their role as a FedEx Ground independent service provider. They claim that FedEx acted in violation of the RICO Act, that FedEx Ground’s actions are part of an ongoing criminal organization. In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner shares what she has been able to gather so far from the complaint document and a handful of news stories: Who is PYNQ Logistics Services? What are they alleging FedEx Ground did? What paths forward are available for everyone involved? Links:
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Will the world fiddle while Bangladesh burns?
12/07/2023
Will the world fiddle while Bangladesh burns?
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Southeast Asia is the second-largest exporter of ready-made garments in the world. The ready-made garment sector employs 4.4 million workers, and 65 percent of them are women. 84 percent of the country’s exports are from this one sector. The garment workers get a pay raise every five years, and the last five have not been particularly kind - with the impact of the pandemic, increased food and food and fuel prices thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and soaring inflation: 9.5% overall and over 12.5% on food alone. In late October, the workers decided they had had enough - and they pushed back in a forceful and destructive fashion. Tens of thousands of workers went on strike, factories were burned or damaged, and four people lost their lives. The country has reached an uneasy peace, but how long can it last? In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, I’ll walk you through this particular global supply chain in order to: Better understand the ready-made garment industry and where Bangladesh fits into the mix Look at the economics, including cost pressures that are rising thanks to global competition and increased automation Consider what notable retail brands are doing (and not doing) to support the workers in Bangladesh Links:
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The White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience
11/30/2023
The White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience
“Did you ever think we'd be talking this much about supply chains?” - President Biden On Monday, November 27, 2023, President Biden announced the creation of the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience. The event was big news for the administration and for supply chain professionals. Almost 30 new actions focused on strengthening economically important and national security-critical supply chains were rolled out. But the devil is always in the details. And if we are going to figure out what this announcement means for private sector professionals, we have to look past the official statements and think about what we know. In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner digs into the details of this week’s supply chain news to consider: The Biden Administration’s relationship with supply chain, dating back to the Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains issued on February 21, 2021 The news that was (and was not) made at Monday’s event The good, bad, and unknown about these developments for America's most strategic supply chains Links:
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Where are they now?
11/23/2023
Where are they now?
The stories we cover on Dial P for Procurement are pulled from the headlines, but some have more ‘legs’ than others. Just because a story, person, or company slides down in the feed, we can’t stop following it. In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner looks back at the people who played large roles in three past episodes to find out the answer to one common question: where are they now? What happened with the company that sued McDonald’s over their supplier diversity program? What about those guys who allowed 53 people to die in the back of a truck in Texas? And what became of the FedEx contractor that stood, almost completely alone, against the legal might of a supply chain giant? Links:
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Supply Chain Post Mortem: Convoy
11/16/2023
Supply Chain Post Mortem: Convoy
Convoy was a digital freight brokerage founded by former Amazon executives to digitally revolutionize a high-transaction, low-profit space. Investors included Bill Gates, former Vice President Al Gore, Bono and The Edge from U2, the investment arm of Google parent Alphabet, and Jeff Bezos. Convoy was launched in 2015, reached a $3.8 Billion valuation in early 2022, and was gone less than 18 months later. What was Convoy’s cause of death? As you might have guessed, there was more than one. In this episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner performs a supply chain post-mortem, led by a brief retelling of Convoy’s rise and fall: Tracing the company’s early successes, thanks in part to well-pedigreed executives and A-list investors Studying what Convoy was trying to achieve, and how difficult that task turned out to be Looking closely at the reasons this company failed, providing a real opportunity for the rest of us to learn by looking in the rearview mirror Links:
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Is it the most wonderful time of the supply chain year?
11/09/2023
Is it the most wonderful time of the supply chain year?
According to the National Retail Federation, 43 percent of people started doing their holiday shopping in October, leading the NRF to predict a year-over-year holiday spending increase of 3 to 4 percent. 58 percent of shoppers will buy online, and all of those gifts have to be packed and shipped… probably via small parcel channels. And yet, final mile carriers like FedEx and UPS are bracing for a weaker than usual holiday shopping season. In this week’s Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner looks at the numbers and dynamics at play in the complex small parcel market: Current pricing and peak season surcharge plans from the major carriers The market forces and pressures keeping them on their toes What anyone tasked with responsibility for a small parcel contract should take away from current conditions Links:
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Coca-Cola’s Project Last Mile
11/02/2023
Coca-Cola’s Project Last Mile
“Coke is everywhere. In fact, when I travel to the developing world, Coke feels ubiquitous. [...] If we can understand what makes something like Coca-Cola ubiquitous, we can apply those lessons then for the public good.” -Melinda Gates In Africa, nearly half of people lack access to critical medicines. The continent covers 11.7 million square miles and is divided into 54 different countries. Physical infrastructure is a huge problem, meaning that the roads themselves serve as roadblocks for critical medicines and supplies that need to reach rural locations. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, has mastered the fine art of logistics. Wendy Manning, their former VP of Customer Logistics, once said the company is able to deliver a drink from a factory to a local store within 48 hours. Is Coca-Cola’s supply chain expertise the answer to Africa’s logistics challenges? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation thought so. In this week’s Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner tells the story of Coca-Cola’s Project Last Mile, a public-private partnership that is improving healthcare supply chains in Africa: The challenges of final mile delivery in Africa and how they affect the effectiveness of healthcare on a local level Success stories that include improvements in inventory tracking, cold chain, route optimization - and even savings! How this project is evolving to meet the healthcare challenges of the post-pandemic world Links:
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The LEGO Sustainability Saga
10/26/2023
The LEGO Sustainability Saga
In 2012, LEGO made a commitment to make all of their bricks out of sustainable materials by 2030, just in time for the company’s 100th anniversary. As Tim Guy Brooks, LEGO’s head of environmental responsibility said, “We can’t say we inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow if we’re ruining the planet.” The company has been willing to invest and experiment, but a solution continues to elude them. Corn-based bricks were too soft and wheat-based ones didn’t look right. Bricks made from other materials proved too hard to pull apart or lost their grip, known as “clutch power” in the LEGO community. Partnerships with companies across industries have failed to generate viable options, and all the while LEGO has been dogged by criticism from environmental groups like Greenpeace and advocates for food production. Will LEGO achieve their sustainability objectives? In this week’s Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner traces LEGO’s push towards plant-based materials as a way of studying the challenges of finding a way even when there is a will: How their current sustainability efforts serve as a continuation of the history and overall philosophy of the company What LEGO has achieved to date, and what options have been eliminated as viable possibilities along the way The criticism and negative publicity the company has received, and how it has increased their already elevated sense of urgency Links:
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Negotiating Lessons from Hollywood Labor
10/19/2023
Negotiating Lessons from Hollywood Labor
The last two years have brought us many news stories about labor unions throwing their weight around. First there was the fear that the railway workers unions would stop freight in the lead up to Christmas, then we watched as the Teamsters negotiated with Yellow and UPS, managing to avoid a strike in both cases, the United Auto Workers union is now actively on strike, and Kaiser Permanente’s workers have a tentative deal on the table for ratification by their members in the largest healthcare labor movement in history. So why did the writers union strike take so long to resolve and why is the screen actors guild still on strike? The Hollywood labor strikes are a classic multi-party negotiation. In these scenarios, it is much harder for each party to get what they want, anticipate the other party’s motivations and objectives, or try to outmaneuver them. In this week’s Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner draws negotiations lessons from news stories about the Hollywood strikes: Who the parties in this negotiation are, whether they are officially at the negotiating table or pulling the strings from backstage Why the changing economics of the entertainment industry are raising the stakes for everyone involved How to recognize the dynamics of a multi-party negotiation are currently complicating matters for the studios and actors’ guild Links:
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Smucker’s + Hostess = Supply Chain Synergy
10/12/2023
Smucker’s + Hostess = Supply Chain Synergy
In early September, J.M. Smucker announced that they had struck a deal to acquire Hostess, the 130 year old maker of treats like Twinkies, Ho-Hos, Ding Dongs, Zingers, and Voortman cookies. Smucker agreed to pay $5.6 Billion including $900 Million in debt for the company. Most people felt the deal was overpriced, and Smucker’s stock fell 7 percent, but the two executive teams had done their homework, and they are convinced that the potential synergies between the two organizations are well worth it. Smucker’s has mastered the grocery retail space while Hostess is a convenience store superstar, and both companies have invested in data and supply chain transformation. In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner demonstrates why synergy may be a source of value for Smucker’s and Hostess, and not just a consulting buzzword: The complementary nature of their product distribution channels and where they meet consumers - grocery stores v. convenience stores What Hostess can teach Smucker’s about product shelf life, and how that can save money in distribution Why Smucker’s slow but steady growth rate may provide the stability that the Hostess team needs Links:
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Books As a Proxy for Free Thought
10/05/2023
Books As a Proxy for Free Thought
“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” ― Benjamin Franklin Banned Book Week was started in 1982 to call attention to censorship and intellectual freedom. In 2023, it runs from October 1-7, culminating with Let Freedom Read day on Saturday the 7th. This week and the many events that will fill it may be driven by librarians, but the premise behind it is one that every adult should be able to embrace. Nobody should tell you what information you can read, because no one has the right to tell you what to think. That is as true in procurement and supply chain today as it should have been when Galileo found himself under house arrest for daring to suggest that the earth rotates around the sun. In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner applies the mission and intent of Banned Books Week to the tough conversations that need to take place in procurement and the supply chain today: Why staying silent out of fear makes thorny business problems impossible to solve The importance of intellectual curiosity to innovation and problem solving Why the greatest soft skill of all may be discussing a sensitive topic with someone who thinks differently than you do Links:
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The Competitive Expectations Behind the Google Antitrust Trial
09/28/2023
The Competitive Expectations Behind the Google Antitrust Trial
Google is currently being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. Not since they went after Microsoft in 1994 has there been such a major antitrust trial with such widespread implications - and never before has U.S. antitrust law been so tested. While it is not illegal to have a monopoly, it is illegal to stifle competition in order to keep one. Google must now prove that it is the quality of their search product - not their statistically dominant position - that earns them widespread use, while the Federal government must demonstrate that Google has engaged in wilfully anticompetitive conduct. In this week’s episode of Dial P for Procurement, Kelly Barner looks at the details and competitive expectations playing out live in a Washington D.C. courtroom: Providing a high level overview of the ongoing antitrust trial against Google Contextualizing Google’s actions and the DOJ’s legal position using Michael Porter’s Five Forces model Understanding the bar set by the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 for both sides in this court case Links:
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