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- [00:00]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
We may have this amazing technology, but we're still going to have to develop those skills. And the other one that kind of went along with that a little bit for me sitting in. And as an educator at the university level is we're constantly evaluating how are we training the next generation.
- [00:19]
Supply Chain Now Intro
Welcome to Supply Chain now the number one voice of Supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights and real supply chain leadership from across the globe, one conversation at a time.
- [00:32]
Scott Lewton
Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Lewton and Mary Kate Love with you here on Supply Chain now. Hey, Mary Kate, how you doing?
- [00:40]
Mary Kate Love
Hi there. Happy National Supply Chain Day.
- [00:43]
Scott Lewton
You beat me to it. Happy National.
- [00:47]
Billy Ray Taylor
You let the cat out of the bag.
- [00:48]
Scott Lewton
But hey, everyone knows. Everyone knows April 29 is the day set aside to celebrate this incredible global supply chain industry we all love so much. And as I like to say, Mary Kate, don't let the name fool you because we believe that every country out there needs to be celebrating National Supply Chain Day just like we're. Every nation needs a national Supply Chain day. Is that right, Mary Kate?
- [01:13]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Totally agree.
- [01:14]
Mary Kate Love
It's really the industry that is the most connected. Right? It connects our entire world.
- [01:19]
Scott Lewton
It is. It is. And today, folks, we got a big show. The one and only Billy Ray Taylor is joining us. Got a lot to get to. We, we got awards, you name it. And Mary Kate, when you think of the lineup we've got, and we're also going to kind of tip the hat to where we've been and maybe where we're going. But hey, is there any better of a way to celebrate this industry we all know and love?
- [01:41]
Mary Kate Love
No, I love this. Like you said, global team sport. And really the whole idea behind this day is to celebrate the people of Supply Chain and you can do that through storytelling. Right. So we're going to be telling lots of stories about the people in Supply Chain today.
- [01:56]
Scott Lewton
Let's level set on this mission of National Supply Chain Day. You created this day when you're back at Georgia Pacific.
- [02:04]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah. In 2020. So.
- [02:06]
Scott Lewton
Right. And you know what? I jumped in the wayback Machine and I found a pick from the very first national supply chain.
- [02:12]
Mary Kate Love
Oh, my God, look at that. That's me in my apartment in Atlanta swelling a lamp forward because I had no.
- [02:21]
Scott Lewton
You're innovating.
- [02:22]
Mary Kate Love
And of course, so awesome.
- [02:24]
Scott Lewton
Our dear friend Greg White is with us.
- [02:26]
Mary Kate Love
There is handwritten.
- [02:27]
Scott Lewton
I love it, love it. And it gets better. We even captured a social graphic from six years ago where you're celebrating the first Ever National Supply Chain Day. And I think I made a comment there. Look at those graphics. It only took over 240 years in this country but we've got a National Supply Chain Day so. And as you mentioned, man, we've come a long way folks. That was when a lot of us were locked down and not having much fun. But you know what, what hasn't changed I don't think. And we're going to check in with Mary Kate to find out the mission, the mission major, take that first step years ago into what we do today here in 2026.
- [03:03]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Yep.
- [03:03]
Scott Lewton
I think it's mainly just gained more momentum and ambassadors. But Mary Kate, tell us more.
- [03:07]
Mary Kate Love
Exactly. Yeah. The overall mission, right. Is to propel our industry forward. So you know taking supply chain from almost a background operational thought to more of a forward, hey this connects everything, this runs everything. We need to spend more time and attention on supply chain. So of course naturally supply chain has really come forward as of interest to everyone just given kind of the state of our world. But we need to continue to tell the stories of supply chain so we can keep pushing it forward like any
- [03:40]
Scott Lewton
industry out there and perhaps more so it's a very living and breathing industry that changes sometimes by the hour. It's really important that we do it that way because consumer expectations continue to change by the by the minute too. Is that right Mary Kate?
- [03:55]
Mary Kate Love
That's a fact. Right. I mean I get about six text messages now every time I order something online about where it is when it's coming to me it's almost too much visibility. Dare I say in that moment.
- [04:05]
Scott Lewton
Dare you say that?
- [04:07]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah.
- [04:07]
Scott Lewton
Give me some of that visibility.
- [04:09]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah.
- [04:09]
Scott Lewton
But anyway we have got, we're going to keep truck, we're going to be fast moving here today just like our industry over the next hour. And up next Mary Kate now that we've level set on the mission and again I really appreciate your leadership, your innovative leadership. I'll tell you, you don't give yourself enough credit because you're helping our industry continue to change. You're helping what we do here to continue to change. And we all, it all is highly noticed.
- [04:34]
Mary Kate Love
There's now in person events happening too. New gen architects is having a few in person events. You can see more on our webpage if you visit supplychain now.com NSCD but that is so exciting. We love seeing that.
- [04:47]
Scott Lewton
This next segment, I tell you what, we are very fortunate to have a world class keynote. Join us here on National Supply Chain Day. So the last few years I've thoroughly enjoyed learning from and collaborating with the Billy Ray Taylor. If he doesn't have the in his name, he should have the in his name. He's the one and only. So Billy, I've got his book here. We'll talk touch on just a second. Billy's got deep roots in industry, especially the manufacturing industry, where he served in leadership roles that absolutely transformed factories and invigorated the workforce. The word bestseller, Mary Kate is thrown around a lot these days.
- [05:20]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [05:21]
Scott Lewton
But the winning link, which he wrote a few years back, has flown off shelves. I think they're moving into its next printing. And one of the reasons it is because he tells stories like you were saying, and shares tools. Been there, done that, perspective, that works. And look at the line of folks signing his, getting his autograph.
- [05:42]
Mary Kate Love
Look at this. That's awesome.
- [05:43]
Scott Lewton
I am impressed. But he's not one to sit on, sit on laurels. I think that's how the phrase goes. He serves as CEO and President of LinkedExcel, a global consulting firm focused on on helping organizations design and implement high performance operating and management systems. His mission to change the world just does not stop. So I want to hear from our special keynote speaker, the Billy Ray Taylor, right here on National Supply Chain Day.
- [06:12]
Billy Ray Taylor
Hello and welcome to National Supply Chain Day with Supply Chain Now. I am Billy Ray Taylor, founder and and CEO of LinkedExcel. I'm excited to be here with you today. I work with companies all over the world on how to win. And often when I walk into companies, I ask leaders, are you winning? And they often say, yes. But as I go deep into their organization and talk to operators, supervisors, I ask that same question, or are you winning? In most cases, they have no idea. See, what I want to talk to you about today is how you win. How you define, align and execute winning so that you can win every day in the supply chain. But before we get started, I want you to write this down. You can't manage a secret. See, in most companies I go into, the strategy is a secret, the standards are secret. And even if you're winning a secret, as you go deep down into the organization. See, what's important about winning is extreme ownership. So those three things I talked about with you, how to have deliberate clarity on what winning is, deliberate ownership, where people know what they own in your strategy and deliberate practice. What's your routine to win every single day in the supply chain. So let's get started. Let's talk about deliberate clarity. See, starting with the standard on how you win Is the most critical thing you can do often. Follow a gentleman by the name of John Scalinas. John was one of the greatest leaders and coaches in history. Some of the great follow him. Remember what I said, you can manage a secret. See, John was doing his last keynote and he walked on the stage and he had a baseball plate around his neck. And see that baseball plate he put around his neck and he says, if you're ever going to win, you must start and hold to the standard. He said this baseball plate is 17 inches. See, if you play little league baseball, home plate, 17 inches. High school baseball, home plates, 17 inches. If you play college baseball and happen to make it to the majors, home plate is 17 inches. See, it's the standard. Players may change, age differences happen. That means the plates a lot closer. But. But what never changes is the standard. It's 17 inches. See, most companies and leaders, they want to widen the plate. You can't widen the plate in business. And here's why. See, write this down. What you accept, you cannot change. See, if you have a standard around safety, your operating procedures, your people, quality, that's the standard. But a standard isn't what you write down is what you walk by. Let me bring that into perspective. See, if you have a 16 year old daughter or a son and you say the curfew is at 11:30 and that child comes in at 1:30am and you say nothing and they do that two weekends in a row, what's the new standard? It's 1:30. Who set the standard? It's not the child, it is you. Because see, you accepted that new standard. The child tested your standard. Remember what you accept, you cannot change. So that's what I mean. You, your standards can't be a secret. What you expect cannot be a secret. And so your strategy cannot be a secret. See, most companies don't fail because of bad strategies. They fail because they don't know how to execute. And that's what I'm moving to the next section. How do you execute these next two topics I'm going to talk about is around deliberate ownership and deliberate practice. But let's get into deliberate ownership. See, the strategy for execution is this strategy plus execution equals results. Well, if it was that simple, why do so many companies struggle with it? It's the plus strategy, plus who owns what. In my strategy, I allows me to execute. See, most companies fail to attach ownership to their strategy. It's not clear who owns what. And I have a saying. When two people own feeding the dog, the dog dies. Why I thought you fed the dog. No, I thought you fed the dog. Well, no one feeds the dog and then the dog dies. See, you have to have that deliberate ownership because you have to drive that ownership to the lowest level of the organization. I've been walking to companies and everybody's calm while they're building the strategy. And so we have a goal to make $8 million. And everybody sits at the table, very calm. But at the end of the month, we make $7 million. Companies often panic and go into blame mode because it is not clear who owns what in that strategy. Have you ever heard this saying, oh, we missed by 1 million. Stop traveling, no catering, pause on hiring. We even get, I'm telling you, outside of the box, stop, Stop spending. Get your ink pens out of a hotel room. We don't know who owns what. So we take this scattered approach to winning. Great companies drive ownership to the source because most leaders confuse working in the business with working on the business. And so that's why we move to the next portion of this keynote. It's called Deliberate practice. Your daily management and operating system. It's the routine on how to win and what I often see companies are very good at zeroing in on what are the KPIs. And you've heard Measure what matters. So we get so connected to the KPI that we never focus on the KPA and see the KPI or the key performance indicators. The KPAs are the key performance actions, the things that we have to do to achieve the indicator. Let me give you a practical example. See, if I want to lose weight, I stand on the scale. That's called the KPI. It tells me my current state, but I have to focus on the KPA. Did I work out? Meaning did I take 10,000 steps today? Did I eat 3,000 calories today? Did I work out five days in a week? And at the end of the week, if the scale didn't move, then I go back and analyze my KPAs. Well, how many calories did I eat? Oh, I ate 4,000. Well, how many steps did I take? Well, I took 10,000. How many days did I work out? Four days out of five days. So I know specifically why the skill isn't moving or it tells me if I'm focusing on the right things or not. And so good companies build their systems around KPAs that drive the KPIs. And you must know the score. See, when you go to a football game, the first thing you do is look at the score. We rally around winning. Imagine going bowling and you bowl the ball down the alley, but then halfway down the alley, there's a curtain came down and you didn't know how many pins you knocked down. So what's your next move? What's your strategy? It's hard to create a strategy because your performance is a secret. And remember what I said, you can't manage a secret. So you must have that deliberate practice. And the next thing is, the last thing I want to point out is earning the right to win, earning the right to change. See, there's two rights, the cultural right and the technical right. The technical right, we seem to always get that right. I have a title. I make enough money, I'm in charge. I've given you tools. But when tools lead, failure follows. Now, the next thing I want to talk about was really critical is the cultural right. The cultural right is that respect, that trust. Why would I follow you? My mother would often ask me that question, but she would say to me, do people trust you? My favorite quote is, if a bird lands on the branch, does the bird trust the branch or does it trust its wings? My mother would often say, I've seen many birds land on branches, but what I've never seen is a branch break and a bird fall and die. She would say, trust your wings. What I will tell you is people will trust you if you have their respect. See, behaviors you can see Mindsets you can't. Trust influences the mindset. See, people have four basic needs that need to be heard. They need to be understood. The need to matter, and a need to be free to be who they are. See, and that's how you win in the supply chain. Because, see, it's all around value. People will migrate to value. And what drives that value is this. How do you define winning? How do you align yourself to win? And how do you have an execute so that you can win? It's your daily practice. And in the end, how do you foster an environment of trust? I thank you for having me today on this special day with Supply Chain now and National Supply Chain Day. Have a great day and enjoy Supply Chain Day, the National Day. Billy Ray Taylor signing out.
- [17:50]
Scott Lewton
I love it, love that I could. You know, it is so motivational. But I think what takes it a step further is, and a lot of folks may not know, some folks may not know Billy Ray's background, but. But he established an incredible track record going into plants and turning them around, empowering the workforce, invigorating the workforce. And what he espouses, he knows because he's done it so Folks, I want to make sure. Check out his book. I've got it. I've read it twice. What's some of your favorites, Mary Kate?
- [18:24]
Mary Kate Love
Okay, first of all, lifelong softball player had no idea that the standard plate size is 17 inches and it never changes. So that's just a little side fun note. But I had no idea. I'm sure, sure other people didn't either. But true takeaways is. I love the saying, you cannot manage a secret. I think that's huge. Right. I've always thought you cannot, you know, measure anything that you don't know about either. Right. So you can't keep track of something that you're not aware of. That made me think about innovation and supply chain in general and how whenever we were doing an innovation project or going to solve a problem, we were very focused on making sure that the people that we were helping could define their problem first. So I know that sounds a little bit silly, but if you're not able to define the problem. Right. And you know, there's no element of secret there, you got to be able to define the problem. If you're not able to say exactly what the problem is, the impact it has, and who owns the problem, which is another point Billy Ray made. It's probably not worth solving or you're not ready to solve it, which means you're not ready to innovate there. So I love, love, love that I wrote that down about you cannot manage a secret.
- [19:38]
Scott Lewton
A couple things I want to pull out, though, beyond what you shared. First off, he mentioned his mother, Ms. Vera.
- [19:45]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Yeah.
- [19:45]
Scott Lewton
And she's got some of the best takes on business and life that really drove his performance and his success. You have to get the book to read them out, check them out. Working, of course, working in the business versus on the business. It's so easy to work in the business. We got to help ourselves and our people to work on the business, own the business. And then I could go on and on. But clarity, deliberate clarity, folks. This world, our industry, our supply chain, ecosystems, does not have enough clarity. We focus a lot on visibility. Whole different thing than clarity. I know they're close. And it reminds me of that moment from A Few Good Men, Mary Kate, when Jack Nicholson, the colonel.
- [20:26]
Mary Kate Love
Yes.
- [20:27]
Scott Lewton
Is like, are we clear?
- [20:29]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Yeah.
- [20:29]
Scott Lewton
Tom Cruz says crystal.
- [20:31]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah.
- [20:31]
Scott Lewton
But there's a big gulf between visibility and clarity. And if we're not being intentionally clear.
- [20:38]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah.
- [20:39]
Scott Lewton
With our team members, then we're not doing what we should be doing. So one last thing. And then we're going to get to a couple of great awards. And folks, if you liked what you heard there, come join us May 15th as we welcome in two hall of Famers, not only Billy Ray Taylor, but Regime Vale. And we're going to be focused on how there's really no finish line in leadership. We're going to offer up. Been there, done that. Tips on not just strategy, but something else you heard there from Billy, how to execute. So Mary Kate, do you feel that? I feel that that is the pressure that is on this industry each and every day. Sometimes every day, every time, sometimes. It's overwhelming. 2026 has delivered no shortage of challenges in global supply chain.
- [21:23]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, it's much more. Right. I mean I was reading something about weather related challenges being five times more prevalent in the last few years than it has in the past. So just, you know, natural disasters and things like that which obviously very much affect the supply chain.
- [21:40]
Scott Lewton
That's interesting because that's what I have been reading as well. If you look at research from EY McKinsey and other prestigious organizations, it shows that large scale macro disruptions have accelerated dramatically.
- [21:53]
Billy Ray Taylor
Wow.
- [21:53]
Scott Lewton
100 years ago, such disruptions occurred every five to ten years.
- [21:57]
Mary Kate Love
Yep.
- [21:58]
Scott Lewton
Fast forward to today. They happen three to five times per year. So a couple words to give out. We'd be here all day acknowledging and celebrating innovators across global supply chain. But our team did want to create an award that shines a spotlight on innovative leadership that's truly changing our industry. And so today I'm very proud to announce. Are you ready Mary Kate? Are you ready?
- [22:19]
Mary Kate Love
I'm ready. I'm excited.
- [22:21]
Scott Lewton
I am proud to announce our first innovative leadership award on National Supply Chain Day. And that is Keith Moore, CEO at Auto Scheduler AI. Now Mary, some of you out there know that I've spent some time with Keith and customers and team members going back the last couple of years. The Auto Scheduler team, I'm going to tell you, Mary Kate, is transforming how warehouses are managed and run. In fact, they're helping companies of all sizes confidently answer the question, do you know what's happening in your warehouse right this very minute? And then Auto Scheduler is helping those same organizations and their teams implement what should be happening, especially from a smart orchestration standpoint that optimizes automation systems, real time decision making, workforce management, overall performance and a whole bunch more. Now we've, as I mentioned, we've spent time with a few of Auto Scheduler customers who have shared the transformative effect that it has had, the team has had on their Operations and outcomes. And Mary Kate, this is my favorite part. And if anyone's ever listened to any single podcast I've ever been on, I bet this is like me beating a dead horse. But I can't help it. It's genuine.
- [23:31]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah.
- [23:32]
Scott Lewton
What Auto Scheduler has done, what Keith and team have done, have made the workday get a lot easier. For the incredibly talented, dedicated and hardworking human element that want to show up and deliver. The onus is on US industry leadership to help eliminate as many of their headaches and obstacles as we can. So congrats to Keith Moore, CEO and co founder of Auto Scheduler AI and we're going to hear from him in this brief message coming up.
- [24:00]
Keith Moore
Keith, I'm Keith Moore, CEO of Auto Scheduler AI. I've been a supply chain technologist my whole life and what excites me the most about the future of the supply chain is that we're finally leaving the era of the point solution. So technology is kind of finally catching up with the people and processes that we've always needed. You think? You know, for decades, every new problem in a warehouse meant there was another system. You'd put in another integration, another six month IT project. Teams always had to bend their operations to the software instead of the other way around. If you've done a WMS implementation, you know what I'm talking about. So we're moving away from that. And the future that I see is a supply chain that doesn't run on spreadsheets, whiteboards or tribal knowledge. It's where planning and execution work together and actually talk to each other. Where people can teach software how to make decisions so they can focus on the most important parts of their operations. We're quickly moving into that age of AI and supply chain and I'm excited that Auto Scheduler and our team is helping to shape what that looks like with our innovative partners. Thanks to Scott and the Supply Chain now team and happy National Supply Chain Day.
- [25:07]
Scott Lewton
We like to keep it real around here folks and we kick the tires hard before we we give especially formal recognition. And it really is incredible to see what Keith and the gang are doing. But Mary Kate, equally as incredible is celebrating folks that have been doing big things in industry for years upon years. And we've got to very special second award, right?
- [25:30]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah. So next up we have our lifetime achievement award. So I'm really excited to give this award to Jim Apoca, recently retired from fema. So really this award is honoring an individual, Jim, whose career has left an enduring mark on the supply Chain industry. So perfect timing as Jim just retired this year. His extraordinary career has been dedicated to to public service and emergency response with fema. So as you can imagine, Jim is perhaps the person who feels supply chain challenges and pressures. Right. Probably the most out of all of us. And I've been able to see him navigate those challenges and really, you know, a job like that requires you. And you'll hear from Jim too. I don't want to take away, but he's spent four decades really being there for people on the worst day of their lives. Right. And making sure the people, the government, the cities, first responders have the right resources and plan that they need. So really unique role where you need to see big picture and little picture at the same time, which I think a lot of us feel in our supply chain careers. So you're going to hear from Jim in a little bit more about his role but really excited to be giving this lifetime achievement award to Jim Apoca from fema.
- [26:46]
Jim Apoca
Hi, my name is Jim Apoca and I'm recently retired after nearly 38 years with the Federal Emergency Management Agency Agency or FEMA. As a resource recovery branch chief and a response operations section chief, I worked many, many national floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and our national COVID pandemic logistics and supply chain management. In any response and recovery operation, we are constantly juggling critical resources to meet the needs of individuals and governments on one of the worst days of their lives. Following an event, I'm very excited to see the advances in technology and the increased communication and collaboration amongst supply chain professionals that allows us to respond better and faster to resource shortfalls in any event. And that ability makes us all stronger as a nation. Happy National Supply Chain Day. Thank you.
- [27:59]
Scott Lewton
That's terrific. It's great to recognize good innovative leaders that truly have a far reaching impact and in Jim's case, a far reaching legacy. And Mary Kate, as you mentioned, that space, at least in my opinion. Yeah, a whole disaster recovery in the FEMA space, you know, helping people in their worst day. Not only the individuals, the professionals in that space I think are way too under recognized, but the supply chain orchestration, it needs to get a whole bunch more, a much bigger spotlight. Right?
- [28:32]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah. I envision a time where there could be innovations that support those type of rapid relief efforts. You know, there already are, but I imagine there are more opportunities because it's just, you know, a job where you'd have to be solving so many problems every single day. And it's ever changing too.
- [28:51]
Scott Lewton
That is right. So congrats on Behalf of all of us here, congrats to both of our award winners, both Keith Moore moving mountains out there across industry and Mr. Jim Apolka who has established an incredible track record of helping so many and doing so much for communities out there. One last thing and we're running along folks, if I could run along with any day of the year, please let me run along on National Supply Chain Day, okay? I want to celebrate because this book is live today and this is a wonderful member of our family, Asean Global Fam. And this is Will Quinn who published Modern Warehouse Management today on National Supply chain naked. Go check that out folks. All right.
- [29:38]
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- [30:14]
Scott Lewton
we got more good news Mary Kate, I teased a special second guest here today right? Earlier, right?
- [30:20]
Mary Kate Love
Yes you did.
- [30:21]
Scott Lewton
So we are delighted to welcome in a very good friend, a titan industry, a very special guest who is also moving mountains out in industry. Dr. Stephanie Thomas serves as an associate professor of practice at what some may say is the top supply chain management program in the country, the University of Arkansas. She also has a very deep practitioner background in supply chain having worked at companies such as Lowe's and even IBM. But perhaps my favorite, she has founded and currently leads an incredible organization that is engaging bright student minds on all things supply chain leadership. That organization is wise and it's got several dozen universities and colleges as members. And folks if your school is not part of wise, let's fix that today. So I want to bring in our dear friend, Dr. Stephanie Thomas. Hey. Hey Stephanie, how you doing today?
- [31:15]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
I'm glad to be back again.
- [31:17]
Scott Lewton
Hey, really quick as we move ahead I want to share. I was honored to be a part of the last WISE Leadership symposium which this was a picture from September last year is one of my favorite events of the entire year. And Stephanie, we're going to talk about WISE and how folks can connect. But what's your favorite thing about getting all these incredibly intelligent bright folks together once a year?
- [31:40]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Seeing the enthusiasm and excitement of this upcoming generation for for the field and just they are ready to to tackle and take on the world. And you know, some of us as we get older, can get a little cynical about things. And to see that there's, you know, you know, this passion and enthusiasm out there is just invigorating. And you're like, you know what? Everything's gonna be okay.
- [32:02]
Scott Lewton
And Mary Kate, the thing, the cool thing about that is one, one of the intriguing things about that is, you know, Stephanie right now and the whole wise organization, all the wonderful people engaging these bright minds. There are more Keith's and Jim's and Mary Kate's and Stephanie's out there that is gonna graduate and go change the world.
- [32:21]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah.
- [32:22]
Scott Lewton
And it's a critical role. It's a critical mission. Your quick thoughts?
- [32:24]
Mary Kate Love
MARY Kate yeah, I totally agree. And I, you know, that's the whole point of this day, right. Is to not only celebrate people that are already doing it, but hopefully inspire the next young generation to see supply chain as an industry that they want to spend time with and get passionate about. So that is the perfect kind of connection with National Supply Chain Days, connecting that, the new generation.
- [32:47]
Scott Lewton
That's a great segue for this next segment because, you know, this industry, we love focusing National Supply Chain Day around the people, the people. Even in this golden age of supply chain tech, it's the people that often are taken for granted. So what we want to do, Stephanie and Mary Kate, is celebrate a couple roles or positions that make global supply chain happen each and every day. And Stephanie, I'm going to give you, you're going to be the leadoff hitter here. What are a couple roles that come to mind?
- [33:15]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
I was trying to think who are some of the behind the scenes people? And a couple that came to mind were those that are out there ensuring that every time we need medical care, whether it's an ER or a surgery or a test or even pharmaceuticals, those that work in health care, that manage the sourcing and inventory of the things that we need so that we can get the care that we need. That's one that I think a lot of times we just don't think about how much has to go on behind the scenes for that. And then another one, which is through some work that I've been doing more recently, is really thinking about the people that work in supply chain, in nonprofits, because they are a lot of times doing a whole lot and supporting really important missions on very little. They're unsung heroes.
- [34:03]
Scott Lewton
Yep, I'm with you, Stephanie. And again, they're way too invisible for the work, the incredible work they do. Mary Kate, before you share yours, respond to Stephanie's.
- [34:13]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, Actually, my response is building on one of those too because I actually also is one of my roles to highlight and I love the behind the scenes of the behind the scenes. Right. Because even though supply chain is becoming more forefront, there are still these behind the scenes kind of players. I had the inventory demand planning kind of group is someone that I was thinking about because just with how volatile the world has been and increased natural disasters, I think every single industry is affected by inventory and demand planning. And it is the number one job that people have this major, major expectation of and can see when something goes wrong. Right. Even you could be super predictive in this role. You can use every tool and there can be something that you can't predict that happen and you run out of toilet paper or something, you know, whatever it is. So I thought that that was a great role to highlight because it's just a huge role that really it starts the entire supply chain. So huge role to highlight. And my second role is kind of building off Jim Apoca's role in thinking about these disaster and relief roles, you know, and their role with the supply chain. I know just being an industry, when I see news coverage of a disaster relief and you already see like, wow, there's a tent set up with resources within an hour or whatever it is, you know, it's just amazing to see. And I can't even begin to think about how they orchestrate all the behind the scenes and even physically get people there so quickly. So that group I think is such a cool group to think about today.
- [35:47]
Scott Lewton
I'm with you on your first one. Inventory specialist, inventory managers planning, inventory forecasting, you name it. You know, I spent some time. Stephanie and Mary Kate, thanks to my dear friend Kim Humphrey with the association for Manufacturing Excellence, spent time with Rami Goldratt a couple days ago, who is the son of Ellie Goldratt, who wrote the Goal. Right. The famous publication. And Rami, I never heard his father speak in person, who unfortunately passed away, you know, about 15 years ago. But Rami is as captivating probably as his father. But one of his father, one of Ellie Go Rat's sayings that you reminded me of, Mary Kate is the forecast is wrong the very minute you finish it. You know, and we don't like to set that. Yeah, there's a little perfectionist in probably every supply chain practitioner out there.
- [36:37]
Mary Kate Love
Sure.
- [36:37]
Scott Lewton
It's so true. And those, and those talented people you mentioned are the ones that know it, they embrace it and they, they put a plan in place to overcome the gaps that every Plan has Stephanie react to Mary Kate's roles she chose?
- [36:53]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
She and I were aligned, I think, on several things of what we were thinking and more now that we're thinking. I'm going through so many other roles that we have highlighted, and in my mind, I'm going, like, think about the people at zoos that keep the animals alive, the many different things that. Where we have people doing very interesting, amazing things in supply chains, making concerts happen and things like that, that there's. There's a lot more than just getting my shampoo on, on the shelf, which is important. But it also shows that this field, there's infinite possibilities of what you can do in it.
- [37:28]
Scott Lewton
No doubt. And it also says, be very appreciative to all the folks you run into, because that's your opportunity to make them not feel invisible and not feel underappreciated. Now, one of my highlights, probably of at least the modern era, at least in my life, but in recent years for sure, is I was able to venture back to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, where Mary Kate spent some time. And I met with alumni and current maintainers that have taken care of our air refueling. It's. It's the largest air refueling base in the entire Air Force. That's the new Pegasus that's replacing the longtime air refuelers that we're still using. 40, 50, 60 years old. This is new Pegasus. But anyway, the highlight of this trip was sitting down and meeting these incredibly. Talk about problem solvers. And it's not just problem solvers. Think of all the preventative maintenance that goes into keeping our fleets, our factories, our offices, you name it, running, right? So one last note. McConnell in Wichita, Kansas, started a program called knuckle busters some 50 years ago. And it all celebrates. At least once a year. It's a big banquet that gives out awards to all of our maintainers. Now, Stephanie, Mary Kate, I would propose. We got to have more knuckle busters in every sector, at every plant, at least once a year. Would y' all do. I can get a second. Can we pass that by? Majority?
- [38:56]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Yes.
- [38:57]
Scott Lewton
Okay.
- [38:57]
Mary Kate Love
Amen. Yeah.
- [38:58]
Scott Lewton
All right, so we're gonna do it. But, folks, it's a great practical idea. Go out and take care of your maintainers. Give them some recognition. It's amazing what they do. And then, secondly, I wish I had some graphics. I wish I had pictures of my time and metal stamping most days. But I want to celebrate. I want to celebrate designers, right? Such as mechanical design engineers or electrical CAD designers. You know, computer aided design, AutoCAD, you may have heard that term. On my journey, it was the designers and estimators that helped our team create new parts in the metal stamping world.
- [39:31]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Right.
- [39:31]
Scott Lewton
They created the blueprints that helped bring new programs, new products, really new everything helps them all come to fruition. Now I miss a lot of those wonderful people. Bart, Samantha, Clay, Arnold, many, many others. I don't miss the red mark them up meetings. That gave me a lot of bad days. But it goes with it. But you know, tip of that to all our designers, estimators, the folks in that part of industry, across sectors. But it's important to note, you know, AI is disrupting this area of industry. I don't see the incredible human skill sets going away. I imagine the, the human designers are going to be becoming more and more of like AI supervisors in the months and years ahead. That's my prediction. So yeah, Mary Kate, maintainers, designers are two. I called out your reaction.
- [40:27]
Mary Kate Love
I think it's just giving this bigger picture too, of how many different roles. Stephanie, you said it too, right? How many different roles there are in supply chain. And I hadn't even thought about those two roles, Scott. And when you said them, I'm nodding along because I'm like, geez, how did I not even think of that? Those are huge, huge roles that keep everything moving along for us. So I love that we did this section to think about all these different types of people in supply chain.
- [40:52]
Scott Lewton
That's right. And Stephanie, before I get your comments, next time folks are going through the airport. I know we all travel so much and we take that for granted these days, but when you sit down and wait on your flight, look out the window on the tarmac and just watch all the different work that's going on from refueling to, you know, getting the cargo and all the freight up there. So many things.
- [41:13]
Mary Kate Love
That's the joy of having young kids, the toddlers, the boys. Watch every worker out there and ask exactly what they're doing. And it's really makes you think like, wow, they're here at this time, they move here, they're following this. It is really cool to see.
- [41:28]
Scott Lewton
Love it. And Stephanie, you ever appear out, you strike me, Stephanie, as someone that I bet is fascinated with what's going on out there on the tarmac. Is that right?
- [41:37]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Absolutely. And I can't go to a beach and not find like a port and see some big boats and trains. I'm counting cars.
- [41:46]
Mary Kate Love
Yes.
- [41:47]
Scott Lewton
Supply chain field trips. We got to take more of them.
- [41:50]
Billy Ray Taylor
Yeah.
- [41:51]
Scott Lewton
All right. So the other thing I wanted to talk about, and again, big thank you to all the folks around the world that make our industry happen every single day. So I want to ask Stephanie and Mary Kate some of your favorite supply chain themes or trends or eureka moments from your conversations and programs in recent months. We're going to lean into recency bias. Stephanie, what comes to mind?
- [42:17]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
So a couple that I was thinking about is recently at a couple conferences or shows or events that I've been at, I would say six to 12 months ago, everybody was talking about AI and that was the dominant theme. But I want to kind of say I've noticed the shift back of not that people aren't still talking about AI, but there's this whole shift towards the focus on people skills and the soft skills and stuff and the realization that those are very important and we may have this amazing technology, but we're still going to have to develop those skills. And the other one that kind of went along with that a little bit for me, setting in and as an educator at the university level is we are constantly evaluating how are we training the next generation. And AI is definitely changing a lot of those conversations and stuff. But one of the things that hit me recently, and I talked about this a little bit at Modax on a panel that I was on, as educators, we have spent decades trying to get students to learn to embrace tools like Excel. And we have made them do work and we have given them projects and stuff. And until they go out in the workforce, they fight it tooth and nail. AI is completely different because they are bought in. And I think that a lot of these young professionals are going to have better AI skills, have embraced it in ways that a lot of the more senior people in organization aren't. So when you talk about that, like things like reverse mentoring and stuff, I can see some upskilling of AI from these students and soon to be professionals because they're in on this. And I feel like that is a very different dynamic than most other tools and technologies that we've had out there. And I'm very interested to see how this all plays out.
- [44:13]
Scott Lewton
I, unfortunately, am buried in spreadsheets. It's a secret weakness of mine. I've been doing better and better, but the catalyst that's making me do better and better is that person right there. Mary Kate is all about, oh, shoot,
- [44:28]
Mary Kate Love
I was on the other side.
- [44:32]
Scott Lewton
Mary Kate is kind of what you're talking about. Stephanie, it's so interesting. How we train is such an intriguing question. Mary Kate, respond to what we heard there from Stephanie.
- [44:41]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, I am like so aligned. And actually one of my themes that I noticed that I was going to bring up, so my number one I'll go with, is that people still matter the most. And so just like Stephanie is talking about, you know, it's AI, AI, AI. And now the conversation is still AI, AI, AI. It's also a lot about. I mean, I feel like I see something every day. I just saw something that we now say less words a day than we ever have. And that's not a good thing. Right? That's not good for everyone, anyone. And whereas six months ago, I was challenging myself every day, use AI this way, this way. Check it this way. And sometimes now I say I need to challenge myself not to use AI today. Seriously. Because, you know, we're getting to a point of relying on it so much that it's removing, you know, what makes me, me and my brain power on something. So I totally believe that AI is going to be harnessed by people and people need to learn how to use AI and they're obviously very excited to use it. But no matter what, you cannot convince me otherwise that people still matter the most in supply chain and everywhere. But that is a theme I think, Scott, we've seen in our conversations and keep coming around these news articles, like I said, about us speaking less and pregnant pauses and no one knows how to order a coffee anymore and things like that. Crazy.
- [46:02]
Scott Lewton
We live in amazing times. That's all I can say. And, you know, I hope with my two observations I'm going to share here. I hope you won't break my leg for sharing these because it's kind of run. It's going to kind of run counter a little bit to what you just shared.
- [46:13]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, no, it's good to have that. Yeah.
- [46:15]
Scott Lewton
But, you know, what do you normally say, Stephanie? Mary Kate normally says two things can be right at the same time.
- [46:21]
Mary Kate Love
Yes.
- [46:22]
Scott Lewton
And we don't oftentimes embrace that. Stephanie, have you heard that?
- [46:26]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Yep. No, I. And I, I agree in decision making in business, two things can be right. But sometimes you've got to pick one. It doesn't mean the other was wrong. It's just what you need to do at that point.
- [46:36]
Mary Kate Love
You need to try.
- [46:37]
Scott Lewton
Yeah, so true. All right, so. So this, it's really unfair question. Right. Because we have tons and tons of conversations. So it's really unfair. And a pick two is even more unfair if I said that. Right. But anyway, the first one I'm going to share, Stephanie, Mary Kate, you know you can't let a good crisis go to waste. I'm not sure if Winston Churchill or Rahm Emanuel or whoever should get credit for that, but it's so perfectly relevant in global supply chain management. For example, we're all tired of hearing the phrase straight of Hormuze, right? But what's taking place there, and hopefully we get this resolved really soon, it continues to create ripple effects, some that we're seeing now, some is going to be visible in the weeks to come. So get ready. Supply and pricing perspective. But our industry's dogged innovation from the pandemic I'll use as an example is precisely why we're in a better position. It may not feel like it sometimes, but we're as a whole, we're in a better position to navigate this current major disruption. Now, does it mean that it's easy? Of course not. Is innovation that we've been talking about for the last hour perfect and able to account for all challenges, old and new? Heck no. Not at all. Right. However, the leaders and organizations that truly don't let any crisis or disruption go to waste and they see it as an opportunity to transform how they do things, they're rewarded. And that is a whole bunch of good news in a very tough world, at least in my eyes. Stephanie, you agree, disagree. Your quick thoughts?
- [48:03]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
No, I agree. And in fact, if you'd given me three, four or five, one of my next ones was going to be the fact that supply chain leaders are having to be well versed in geopolitical national security conversations and stuff that we didn't used to have to worry about as much. But now that we're more part of everyday conversations than we ever were pre Covid, the expectations have changed and the spotlight has changed. So the behind the scenes is not so behind the scenes.
- [48:32]
Scott Lewton
So true. And Mary Kate, your quick reaction?
- [48:35]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, actually my second theme was kind of on this, which is I think that we've seen that more people are focusing on resiliency in supply chain versus efficiency. So it used to be just like cut costs any way you can, make it efficient, fast, cheap. And now that's not so much the most important thing. Right. Because of everything that we have going on.
- [48:58]
Scott Lewton
So you're back on your first one. This is where this next one I'm going to share here. Mary Kate, this may run a little bit counter, but again, two things can be right at the same time. So I was in an event earlier this week, right. One of I think a dozen we're going to be at this year yeah, and I heard Sarah Verkammon, I think that's her name. I hope I'm not butchering that last name. But anyway, she was a brilliant presenter. She's a senior supply chain practitioner with GE Healthcare and she's spoken some cool things that they're doing. And she wrapped Stephanie and Mary Kate with this terrific nugget from history. You know, I'm a history nerd. She was talking about electricity. Around the turn of the century when the light bulb came out and when electricity first began being baked into our country's infrastructure, one of the first places that folks were trying to ramp up productivity was in our factories, right? Because imagine working with a bunch of candles, you got a safety issue, you got productivity, you got limit, all kinds of limitations. Well, yeah, unfortunately the masses didn't trust electricity, right? They didn't trust the switches, they didn't trust the bulbs. It was brand new to them. Imagine how scary that would be for humanity at that point in time. So they were still using all these candles, all these candles until as Sarah made such a great point, leadership stepped in and they helped these folks see the light pun a little bit intended. And they helped the transformation start and the adoption and they helped communicate the why and, you know, what's in it for them, all of that and much, much more. But it took leadership to step in in order to make things better, not just for the workforce, but capture the immense productivity gains so that could be had. And of course, electricity has continued to deliver. So, Stephanie, Mary Kate, why does this matter? Well, I believe that one anecdote that Sarah so wonderfully closed out her presentation with, it really captures that so much in this world. It really boils down to leadership and the leadership challenges, whether it's technology related, whether it is geopolitical related, whatever impacts our day to day. So are we going to talk about it or are we going to roll up our sleeves as leaders and make things happen? Right. It's a daily question, it's a daily test, it's a daily challenge. And the billion dollar question is, will you accept said challenge? So, Stephanie Thomas, you are certainly accepting the said challenge. Your quick reaction.
- [51:24]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
So I think this goes in with what some of the stuff Billy Ray was talking about of you can't manage a secret that you need key performance actions and as a leader, like your people can't do what they're supposed to do if you haven't let them in on the secrets and if you haven't told them how to get there and just said, hey, here's the number to hit that. I think you're spot on that so much comes down to strong leaders. And I think being a leader in organizations now is harder than it ever has been or has some unique challenges, especially as the world continues to change. But those that rise to the challenge and figure it out are going to be the most successful.
- [52:06]
Scott Lewton
That's right. Mary Kate, your quick comments.
- [52:10]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, agree with everything you both said. I even think, you know, sometimes we think leaders is just the head of the company where, you know, I think about your colleagues and coworkers as leaders too in certain ways. So I start to, you know, if someone is adopting a new process or a way they work, I kind of take notice and I might do the same thing. And I think that it goes back to Billy Ray's talk too about ownership. And it is leadership's job to give everyone their areas that they own. And they know, they know the goals, but they own it and they can do their own process however they want.
- [52:46]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Right.
- [52:46]
Mary Kate Love
And I think that that ownership piece, it's actually something I've become obsessed with lately, is so important so that people really feel like they own something and they're part of the bigger and then everyone's a leader in their, in their own way.
- [53:00]
Scott Lewton
You can't let anyone define if you're a leader or not. You define that you send your power. It's within your control. And that is the choice we have every day. Okay. Well, speaking of making connections and that's just one of the many things you're doing. Stephanie Thomas at wise and I'll drop this thing here. This is a landing page for folks can go learn more about wise. Maybe we can drop this in the links. But Stephanie, I got two final questions for you.
- [53:26]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Sure.
- [53:26]
Scott Lewton
Number one, how can folks come be a part of wise? Whether you know, colleges, universities, individuals, you name it. And then how can folks connect with you?
- [53:38]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Sure. I can be found on LinkedIn under Stephanie Thomas. I'm also on the University of Arkansas supply chain faculty department web pages that has my email address as well. We're looking for more universities to be involved in the annual WISE Future Leaders symposium. It will be in October this year. And we're also looking for individuals or organizations that would like to partner with and support. Sponsorship opportunities are available and it's a great time to meet a lot of young professionals, very enthusiastic young professionals from a lot of different universities and programs and they're looking for exciting roles to go into for internships and full time opportunities when they graduate.
- [54:23]
Scott Lewton
That's right. That is right. And if you curious about the acronym We Impact Supply Chain Excellence altogether We impact Supply Chain Excellence, go check it out. Stephanie mentioned the WISE Future Leaders Symposium. That was the event I was at last September. It was a. I'm telling you a, your supply chain is serious about getting top talent and you're not engaged with wise. You're messing up. I'm just going to put it that bluntly so Stephanie, folks can connect with you on LinkedIn, is that right?
- [54:52]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Yes, sir. And thank you for the support, Scott.
- [54:55]
Scott Lewton
You bet. Happy to be involved. I learned and benefited so much. So Dr. Stephanie Thomas with the University of Arkansas and the founder executive director with wise, thank you so much for spending a portion of your National Supply Chain Day with us.
- [55:08]
Dr. Stephanie Thomas
Thank you for having me. Thanks, Scott. Thanks, Mary Kate.
- [55:11]
Scott Lewton
See you soon. All right. So, Mary Kate, that brings us to our final question of the day, kind of final two questions of the day. First one is what is your final thought as the who started all this back in the day at Georgia Pacific? What's your final thought for folks today, including any challenge you want to put out there to our industry?
- [55:34]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah, I think the challenge would be find a way to tell your supply chain story. So whether that's through mentoring someone, sponsoring something like wise, starting an internship at your company, finding a way to share your story with the next generation and provide some mentorship, I think is key to the industry continuing to attract the level of talent that's needed for the coming years.
- [56:03]
Scott Lewton
Yep, that is a good one, Mary Kay. It's a great challenge if you will accept it. And I would just add to that. You we were talking about the leadership challenge that we're posed to every day. Yeah, that's a daily choice we have. Do we want to put on our our big boy big girl britches and do something about the challenges in our industry or the challenges in our teams or in our communities, or do we want to sit back and let other folks do it? We all have that option. And Mary Kate, the other thing is if folks want to get involved in national Supply Chain Day programming, if they want to bring you in or to speak or you name it, how can folks connect with the one and only Mary Kate Love?
- [56:43]
Mary Kate Love
Yeah. So very easy. Just find me on LinkedIn. Mary Kate Love. Easy to find. And yes, National Supply Chain Day is growing. As we said in the beginning of the program, there's now on site events that, you know, you can see on our websites. So if you have an idea, you want to partner with us or you just want Our support just let us know and we'd be happy to promote whatever you're doing.
- [57:07]
Scott Lewton
It's been a pleasure to follow Mary Kate's leadership here and be a part of this vehicle that really uplifts global supply chain. So I appreciate that. Mary Kate, love, Big thanks to all that you do.
- [57:19]
Mary Kate Love
Thank you too, Scott. This has been, this is always a really fun, fun day for us I think because we get to celebrate people.
- [57:26]
Scott Lewton
It is. And you know, I think other, the, the other distinction and you kind of alluded to this, there's so much to celebrate out there and there's so many wonderful people that are celebrating our industry out there. So we're, we're delighted to be part of it and to help hopefully create opportunities for folks to jump on and connect and, and share their views and, and help appreciate the industry. So with all that said, I want to congratulate again Keith Moore and the Auto Scheduler AI team. Really appreciate what they're doing. I want to congratulate Jim Apolka hall of Famer with our lifetime achievement award. Well done, Jim. High five. Big thanks. Also Billy Ray Taylor knocked it out of the park.
- [58:05]
Mary Kate Love
It was great.
- [58:06]
Scott Lewton
You know, Mary Kate, one of the things we wanted to do today is to make it practical and actionable, not just have the conversation and you know, celebrate different parts. We wanted to give a actual message to the industry and Billy Ray Taylor nailed it.
- [58:21]
Mary Kate Love
Yes, he did.
- [58:21]
Scott Lewton
He nailed it again. You can check out his book. Actually I got two books here I want to make sure mention again if they'll come to me. We got Billy Ray Taylor's the winning link. You're going to love this. You're going to love Ms. Vera's stories. Very actionable stories. And then we've got Will Quinn's new book just published today, Modern Warehouse Management. Congratulations to Will and all the the first time publishers out there, Dr. Stephanie Thomas with WISE knocked it out of the park. Folks, if you're not part of Wise, you're messing up. Reach out to Stephanie, Amanda and Joshua and Trisha and Laura. All the folks behind the scenes that you may not see appreciate all they do. I mean we stand on their shoulders. They knock out our production. They're big part of the supply chain now. Supply chain. And we're very grateful for all they do. And Mary Kate, love again appreciate your leadership.
- [59:17]
Mary Kate Love
Thanks so much, Scott. This is a great one.
- [59:19]
Scott Lewton
Most importantly, all the folks tuned in our SCN Global fam. We're very grateful for what you do. We're grateful for this industry that the world depends on. And especially as many of you, we're grateful for the people that this industry depends on, that this world depends on. Right? Everything's interconnected. Goodness. So, folks, hopefully enjoyed the conversation as much as I have. But the homework is simple, especially on this day of all days. Take one thing you heard from today's conversation from Billy and Mary Kate, Stephanie, you know, Keith and Jim, you name it, pick one, do something with it, share it with your team. Make something happen. It's all about deeds, not words. And with that said, on behalf of Mary Kate and our whole Supply Chain now team, right here on national Supply Chain Day, Scott Luton, challenging you. Do good, give forward, be the changes needed. Be the Keiths and the gyms and the Mary Kate's. The world and we'll all be better off. And we'll see you next time right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.
- [60:18]
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