The Buzz: Trade Gaps and Supply Shortages

Summary

Supply Chain Now – "The Buzz: Trade Gaps and Supply Shortages"

Episode Date: February 6, 2026
Host: Scott Luton (A), Co-Host: Tandrea Bellamy (B), Guest: DC Sregula (C), Founder and CEO, NuGen Architects

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Overview

In this episode of "The Buzz," Scott Luton and Tandrea Bellamy are joined by DC Sregula to dive into headlines and critical issues shaping global supply chains in early 2026. The trio tackles the latest US trade deficit numbers, warehouse market dynamics, potential shortages and cost spikes in commodities and medical supplies, and organizational challenges around deploying AI at scale. The conversation is filled with real-world insights, practical lessons, and a dose of optimism about navigating supply chain uncertainty.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Celebrating the People Behind Supply Chain and National Supply Chain Day

• Recognition for Industry Professionals: Tandrea emphasizes the need to elevate the visibility and recognition of supply chain professionals, highlighting the upcoming National Supply Chain Day and encouraging listeners to spread awareness.
• Quote
  • "No country runs without the supply chain and the good people who are involved with it. It is something that really, really should get more recognition." – (B, 04:10)

2. Leadership Pitfalls in Supply Chain Organizations

• Seven Sins of CEOs & The Eighth: The hosts discuss a viral LinkedIn post detailing common leadership mistakes, with Tandrea contributing her personal "eighth sin": not listening to the team.
• Quote
  • "You need diversity of thought. You need input from other people... that's the only way that you can possibly have the highest performing, most motivated team." – (B, 05:48)

3. US Trade Deficit Headlines and Context (13:30)

• Data Deep Dive: The group examines reports showing the US trade deficit nearly doubled in November – with DC and Tandrea cautioning against relying on single-month data points for decision-making.
• Macro Perspective: Discussion highlights how the deficit reflects both macroeconomic demand and the complexities of trade policy.
• Quote
  • "You can't use one month as a data point to make any type of decision on... the 56.8 is really not an anomaly. The 29.4 is." – (B, 15:07)
  • "One month doesn't... that's not what we really look at to say, oh, this is what I'm going to use as a data point to make decisions. You really want a three month average to see what the trends are, what's causing that trade deficit." – (C, 13:45)

4. Warehouse Market Whiplash (18:30)

• Latest Trends: The world's largest industrial real estate owner reports rising warehouse demand after a downturn, but vacancy rates are still historically high; rental prices depressed and fewest new facilities added since 2018.
• Inventory Strategy Mystique: DC stresses that simply holding inventory is not a complete strategy, noting structural challenges and long timelines to add capacity.
• Quote
  • "Inventory alone is not a strategy... anything can happen to that inventory. One container falls off the ship, you get a bad quality batch of inventory and that strategy, that buffer is out the window." – (C, 22:14)

5. 2026 Shortages and Cost Surges (26:40)

• Hotspot Commodities: The team covers looming shortages and price hikes for copper, critical minerals, memory chips, medical supplies, and beef; listeners learn that “the highest bidder is where the chips will be going.”
• Strategic Sourcing Reality: Sourcing new minerals and capacity isn’t instant – requiring mines, refineries, logistics, and international partnerships.
• Quote
  • "You don't just go and say, oh, there's a mineral in this country. We'll get it from there. You have to have the mine, refinery, infrastructure... it's not something that you just say, we're gonna go get it from this other place." – (C, 28:16)
• Broader Implications: Tandrea highlights the need for organizations to build long-term strategies involving cross-functional teams and the effective use of AI and technology.

6. AI’s Promise and Pain: Scaling Advanced Tech (42:40)

• Adoption Hurdles: Despite $1.5 trillion invested in AI in 2025, most companies have not yet reaped substantial ROI or scaled implementations.
• Organizational Change is Key: Both DC and Tandrea see technology as just one piece of the puzzle; shifting mindsets, business models, and even educational paradigms are essential for real results.
• Quotes
  • "Change management is not just training of like where to click, how to use it... You have AI, you have this technology, you have this data, but how do you get out of pilot mode and one team or one department and really scale that across the business?" – (C, 43:00)
  • "With AI... there's cases where people just don't really know what the possibilities are... it'll be a learn as you go and the different discoveries are really opening the eyes to what the different possibilities can be." – (B, 45:26)

7. Reverse Logistics: The Dark Side (47:18)

• Skills Gap and Opportunity: Only two US colleges offer a reverse logistics degree—education needs to catch up to the magnitude of real-world returns management challenges.
• Resource for Listeners: Listeners are pointed to a new in-depth report at Supply Chain Now’s Resource Hub on the future of reverse logistics and returns management.

8. Leadership and Workforce Development

• LinkedIn Learning & Executive Workshops: DC shares her efforts to drive executive understanding and collaboration through workshops and accessible learning resources—a critical step in S&OP and digital transformation.
• Critical Takeaway: Effective supply chain strategies demand informed, involved leadership—“get it together, guys!” (C, 39:35)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Holistic Planning:
  • "As warehouse space is less available, inventory holding costs are going to increase... it's a lot of different things that you have to manage as a supply chain planner." – (C, 23:06)
• On Inclusion & Team Voice:
  • "If there's six of us in this meeting and we all agree, I don't need five of you." – (B, 05:50, citing former leader)
• On Leadership Accountability:
  • "Our leaders are the problem. We get directives, not guidance." – (C, 38:43, from S&OP workshop feedback)
• On Technological Change:
  • "When I started with UPS, everything was on paper... Looking back, we would have been eons behind had we not taken the first steps, even if the first steps had some uncertainty." – (B, 45:26)
• Humorous Interlude:
  • [On warehouse returns and shortages] "We're not pirates... maybe." – (A, 28:41)
  • [On ice cream flavors] "That is the most highfalutin ice cream I've heard in a long time." – (A, 11:23)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [04:06] – National Supply Chain Day and industry recognition
• [05:39] – Leadership “sins” and lessons in team management
• [13:35] – US Trade deficit headline analysis
• [18:45] – Warehouse space, market trends, and inventory strategy
• [26:34] – Supply shortages and rising costs: what’s ahead in 2026
• [42:40] – AI investments, scaling across the enterprise, and change management
• [47:18] – State of reverse logistics education and industry needs
• [33:19] – Personal feedback on DC Sregula’s new book and industry impact
• [36:53] – The role of S&OP, cross-functional collaboration, and leadership training

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Episode Tone and Style

The conversation balances critical analysis with humor and camaraderie—offering actionable insights, relatable anecdotes, and a practical outlook on ongoing industry turbulence. The overall tone is constructive, people-centric, and future-focused.

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Connect & Resources

• Guest DC Sregula:
  • LinkedIn: DC Sregula
  • Website: https://dcmanns.com
  • Book: Next Level Construction Management (Available on Amazon)
• Co-host Tandrea Bellamy:
  • LinkedIn: Tandrea Bellamy
• Resource Hub:
  • supplychainnow.com (for reports on reverse logistics and more)

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Action Items for Listeners

• Share and promote National Supply Chain Day within your organizations.
• Evaluate your own leadership approach and consider Tandrea’s “eighth sin”—are you truly listening to your teams?
• Take a holistic, multi-data-point view before making supply chain decisions.
• Invest in collaborative planning and ongoing education for supply chain and non-supply chain staff alike.
• Explore new learning resources, including DC Sregula’s book and LinkedIn Learning workshops.

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"Take one thing you heard here from DC or Tandrea. Put it into practice. Deeds, not words. Do something with it, folks." – Scott Luton (51:35)

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Transcript

[A]

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. Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be. Scott Lewton and the one and only Tandrea Bellamy here with you on Supply Chain now. Welcome to today's live stream. Tanria, how you doing today?

[B]

I'm great, Scott, and so glad to be buzzing with you again.

[A]

Yes, we gotta do this in person next time, but it's great to have you back. I know you've been busy. I was getting an update from you in the green room. We may touch on that later today. But folks, you know on today's show to Tangeria's comments, it's the Buzz where every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain, across global business. Really, News that matters is what we like to call it. The Buzz, folks, is powered by our friends at easypost who help make shipping easy. Oh, we could all use easy shipping, flexible shipping, scalable shipping. You can learn more about how you can your shipping operations and delight your [e-mail] okay, Tandrea, it is the first Monday in February. It's hard to believe super bowl is right around the corner. Yesterday, of course, and you were telling me about a special event in Atlanta. We kicked off Black History Month 2026 here in the US where there's a lot to reflect on and celebrate for sure. Tanjira, really quick, you went to a special event yesterday in the Roswell area. What was that?

[B]

Yes, Roswell Roots has been a, this is now its 25th year and there are just various activities that go on throughout the last night was a music production that was history to hip hop and it just traced a history of black music from Negro spirituals and the slave fields up to present day. And it was very well done.

[A]

I love it. And you gave me a tip. You're a big gospel music listener, amongst other things. And Jonathan McReynold was the singer you put on my radar. Is that right?

[B]

That's right. Great lyricist. I mean, his lyrics just really, really.

[A]

Touched your heart, folks. Check it out. Let us know what you think. But hey, from a business perspective here today we got a big show teed up trade deficit news that Tangriel will say and maybe D.C. will as well. It might be clickbait. Ish. We'll see a warehouse market update. We're going to take a look at a few predictive shortages and cost increases in 2026. We'll even talk about the big problem that the reverse logistics and returns management space has and that if they've got a big problem, that means we all have a big problem. All that and much, much more. And in about 12 minutes or so, we're bringing in a great guest, a longtime friend of the show, DC Traegula with architects. You're going to enjoy her perspective here today. So big sh, Tandrea, did you take your vitamins? Ready to go eat your Wheaties this morning?

[B]

Let's go, Scott.

[A]

Let's go, folks. Buckle up for a big edition of the Buzz, powered by EasyPost right here today. All right. So before we bring on dc, I want to cover three quick things, starting with our latest edition of with that Said, published right here over the weekend. Now in this edition, we've got a variety, as always, news, notes, resources, including some of our upcoming live events. Touched on a couple things here. This is a picture, Tandria, of a bunch of University of Georgia students, talented students learning about how they do operations at a big golf tournament that's hosted in Augusta. You may know the one I'm talking about. So that was really good. We shared the news on a social network platform that's been created solely for AI agents. Tandria, like my rhetorical question there, says, what could possibly go wrong, huh? And then we also touched on the American Logistics Aid Network. Our friends over there do great work, wonderful nonprofit, action oriented nonprofit. We're including some of their priority needs each week in our newsletter. And folks, if you can contribute to those needs, we publish each week, come back and reach out to us. We want to celebrate that, amplify your good deeds. And then finally, Tandria, you know you were this last year, April 29, national supply chain Day. It's that time again. Plan to join us at 12 noon Eastern Time for a virtual event that will feature a wide range of supply chain leaders, including my colleague, the fearless president here at Supply Chain now, Mary Kate Love. So, folks, all that is in the most recent edition of with that Said Now, Tanria, did you get a chance, I know you had a busy weekend. Did you get a chance to check out with that Said?

[B]

I did. But instead of going into any of the articles, we really, really have to hype and get the word out on National Supply Chain Day. This country doesn't run. No country runs without the supply chain and the good people who are involved with it. It is something that really, really should get more recognition and just more thought, put into it. There's so much that goes on under the umbrella of supply chain. And making that day just more prominent is something that all of our supply chain professionals should help us do.

[A]

Well said. Especially the people. As we both know and love and appreciate all the people that make global supply chain happen and give us all these modern conveniences. We're spoiled to death in many ways. All right, so Tandrea, Tricia, is Johnny on the spot here today. She's dropped a link to. With that said. And she's also dropped a link National Supply chain Day. Check it out and we'd love for y' all to join us. Let's see here now. You also shared, Tandria, a really interesting note on LinkedIn a week or two ago. Check this out, folks, if you're watching us here today, seven sins of CEOs. I'm going to hit these really quick because Tandria added an eighth one. Seven sins here. Micro. And this comes from Eric Partakers. I think I said that right. Founder and CEO accelerator. Number one, micromanaging your team. Number two, lack of transparency. Number three, avoiding tough decisions. Number four, neglecting toxic culture. Number five, resisting. Number six, taking on too much. Number seven, not investing in your people. So, Tandrea, you added an eighth one, though. Tell us about that one.

[B]

Not listening to your team. You assembled a team generally of talented people. Most of the time you've chosen these people. You've got to give them a voice. One of the best managers, leaders that I ever had, we were in a meeting and he said, if there's six of us in this meeting and we all agree, I don't need five of you. You need diversity of thought. You need input from other people. That's the only way that you can possibly have the highest performing, most motivated team is to allow and actually listen to the input from the team members.

[A]

Yes, well said, Tandrea. And I gotta tell you, our team members are a lot smarter than me. So if I don't listen to them, to what they do, we're really in trouble. But kidding aside, we probably all have worked with OR four folks that just don't listen. Right? And they find out the hard way a lot of times. But great list, Tandrine. Thanks so much for sharing that with your social network and with us here today. Speaking of thanks. Hey, this is Andrew. Andrew's back with us. Great to see you here today. I know you've had some big news with your business. Robert is back with us. Hey, Robert. Great to see you. Remind me what Part of the world you're in. I promise it'll stick after you share with me one more time. Maybe. Tandria, there's one more thing I want to share before we bring on D.C. spregula, and that is, folks, Manifest is back next week. Take keeps getting bigger and bigger and I'm looking forward to see everyone out in Vegas. I'll be interviewing. I've got a panel session and connecting hopefully with a bunch of folks. And perhaps if you're headed to Manifest this year, you may be feeling some of the pressure out in the market. A lot more automation solutions, which when we get more releases, more integrations, but less room for failure. But you know, the teams moving fastest are not testing more, they're testing smarter. All this is why our friends at Cycle Labs will be at Manifest 2026, which runs again from February 9th through the 11th in Vegas. It's just around the corner now. Cycle Labs will be at booth 1095, meeting with supply chain, ERP and WMS teams who all need to validate change without slowing the business down. We got no time for that. And folks, when the show floor gets too loud for you, we can probably all relate to that. The good news is that Cycle Labs is creating a space for nice, easy and real conversations. Get this, Tandrea drinks and darts, that's a dangerous combination with rebus and blue yonder. And tequila tasting, that can be dangerous too, with. I think it's slim con. No demos, folks, just real conversations with peers that are facing the same testing challenges. You can plan ahead by visiting the link in the comments to schedule time to meet with our friends at Cycle Labs. Tindrid, are you a tequila fan?

[B]

Yes. Scott?

[A]

Yes. Do you have a certain type that is your go to for special occasions or are you just kind of a generic?

[B]

I'm still a novice, so I'm in the experimental phase.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Different ones depending on if it's going to be for sipping or mixing in a margarita.

[A]

Okay. I do mainly the latter. And my margaritas, they got to be on the rocks with no salt.

[B]

No salt, definitely.

[A]

It gives more heartburn or just. I'm not a big fan of that. Hadn't even really learned the different highfalutin styles of tequila. So maybe I have to go check out this event there at Manifest. And folks, if you want to do that, any of those events or stop by the booth, you can check out the link right there. And Robert. Yes. I should have known you're from South Africa. Great to see you again. You've Shared that before. And great to have you back here on the Buzz. Powered by our friends at easypost. Okay, Tandrea. I'm delighted to have a great guest and longtime friend of the show here on the Buzz today. DC Sregala has spent years helping manufacturers, builders and public sector leaders stand up resilient operating systems. So plans connect execution and project finish on time, on budget and with less waste. We could all use more of that, huh? She is also an advisor, a trainer and the author. Where's my copy of a new book came out last year, Next Level Construction Management Leveraging Digital Supply Chain Fundamentals for Project Success. Please join me in welcoming DC Sfregula, founder and CEO of NuGen Architects. Hey. Hey, DC, how you doing? Hello.

[C]

Good afternoon. I'm doing well. Happy Monday.

[A]

Happy Monday. Great to see you. Tanja. As we were talking pre show, DC just got back from a big trip where you were in Kenya, I think in a really quick bearing back. Is that right?

[C]

Yes, 20 hours there. Was there for 40 hours, 20 hours back.

[A]

Wow, you're in demand. And folks everywhere, supply chain leaders everywhere need guidance and best practices. But we're going to talk more about your book in a second and some other things. D.C. and Tandria, this is where I want to start. Fun warm up. Question. So today's Groundhog Day. No word yet on what happened to groundhog. Groundhog. We'll see. It is California Kiwi Fruit Day. It's Grape Day. It's National Tater Tot day. Give me McDonald's french fries. I don't eat Tater Tots. And it's National Heavenly Hash Day. Now to me that is ice cream, right? Chocolate, marshmallows, almonds and other good stuff in it. So to that end, here on National Heavenly Hash Day, dc, what is one of your favorite ice creams out there and where do you go get it?

[C]

It is called Amarena.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

It's like it's a Spanish cherry that it's mixed with pur dilate, which is like Italian version of vanilla. It's a little bit different. And my favorite spot to get it used to be a cute little ice cream shop, Puerto Romana Milano in Milan. And they closed, I think just couldn't, you know, make it during COVID So now I get it around the corner from my mother in law's house.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

And I've tried to make it at home with like, how do you say, maraschino cherries. Maraschino cherries. If you could have stone bowl in the freezer and then Try to. It's not the same, but I try. I try. It gets my fix.

[A]

Man, that is the most highfalutin ice cream I've heard in a long time. And it sounds so. My stomach is now growling, tangerious. That's gonna be tough to beat. What is your go to ice cream?

[B]

I'm a chocolate almond ice cream fan and it's not in a lot of places. Bastin Robbins used to carry it, but only in the fall, so I would have to do a cold stone type of concoction in order to get it. So Maggie moves their dark chocolate with almonds in it or Cold stone creamery, their chocolate ice cream with almonds in it. But give me chocolate ice cream with nuts and I'm happy.

[A]

Okay, that sounds pretty good too. I love plain almonds, raw almonds. I eat those all the time. A good snack, healthy snack. Unfortunately, I also snack on Oreo ice cream quite a bit. The real stuff, D.C. and Tandria. I don't like generic cookies and cream. Right. It's gotta be the real deal. Oreo. And I tell you, Oreo came out with its own, like, official ice cream. That stuff is so good. DC and Tandria. All right, well, now that we are absolutely starving and I'm about to get some ice cream tonight, it's great to have you with us, D.C. it's been too long. And Tandria, it's great to have you back here on the Buzz. Let's get to work and dive into some news stories here on the Buzz, powered by easypost. And we're going to start with what Tanjria shared in the pre show. Might be a little bit of click. So I'm going to unpack this, this, this news story right quick. Then we're going to get DC and Tangerine to weigh in. So CNBC reported on new U.S. trade data last week. The U.S. trade deficit, which is the difference between our imports and exports, almost doubled in November, according to Census Bureau data. 10-20-25, the month prior was the lowest level that our trade deficit had been at in the US since 2009. But November was a good bit of a different story as the tariff turmoil has really started to. We feel it a lot more. I think we'll see where the months ahead lead us. Not only did almost double from October November, but The trade deficit was 4% higher than November 2024. So year over year, about one third of the gain was caused by trade changes with the European Union, where US exports dropped by over $11 billion from October to November. All right, so DC, I wish we could start with good news. Oh, we started the ice cream, so that's good news. But your thoughts on what we're seeing here?

[C]

D.C. well, you know, it's interesting to me how little we understand about trade if you're not really in trade. And it made me, reading this article made me think about a conference I went to in 2024 where a political scientist presented some findings about voter behavior and just the, the topics that voters really care about. And global trade was the last thing. And I thought that's so wild because it impacts us so much as consumers. And, and then when I started reading this article I was like, wait, I didn't realize the budget was that much had a deficit. And then I read more, I was like, no, no, I remember the trade deficit and the federal budget deficit are not the same. And, and then I also, as you start to read, you start to really look at, you know, what is driving that deficit. And you know, then I started to think, but doesn't this like one month doesn't like that. That's not what we, we really look at to say, oh, this is what I'm going to use as a data point to make decisions. You know, you really want a three month average to see what the trends are, what's causing that trade deficit. And it's really more of an indicator of like where we're investing, you know, what we're bringing in for imports. And you know, it's a, it's a macro mirror of like the demand and investment within the US But I'm interested to know, I didn't catch the clickbait part of it. So I'm interested to hear Tandria's perspective on the clickbait piece of it.

[A]

Same Tangeria, your thoughts here?

[B]

It's the 94%, the saying that it almost doubled. And again, like DC said, you can't use one month as a data point to make any type of decision on. So the deficit was 56.8 billion in November, 29.4 the previous month. That was a 16 year low as you said. But the three months prior to that were 48, 1, 55, 6 and 74, 4. So that 56.8 is really not an anomaly. The 29.4 is and the concentration should be on, you know, how'd you drop so much in one month and why and where there are artificial things that really push that number down. And as you look at what the average is and how the trends have been going, the 56.8. That was highlighted as this 94% increase really wasn't out of alignment with what had been happening all of the previous months of the year.

[A]

Well said, well said. And you know, we'll see. I'm really curious to see what December and January. It'll be a little while. But that three month average, that's a great point. D.C. and Tandria and I tell you, I don't know about y', all but the, the headaches and the uncertainty and the heartburn and more from the ever changing trade policies. That's no good. No bueno. All right, really quick. Hey Jeremy, maybe gaming metrics, maybe Jeremy, great to see you. And he says happy Candlemas. That's right. I think today is Candlemas. Great to see you. And also Haley from Cape Town, South Africa, great to see you here today. Love to get any of yalls thoughts on trade or any of the topics we talk about here today. One last note, because this ice cream is lingering. Amanda says I got Ninja Creamy last year for Christmas. We love making tart frozen yogurt or homemade coffee ice cream. Also love Cherry Garcia. If I'm grabbing it from the store, all that Cherry Garcia is to die for. All right, so we're going to shift over to the warehousing sector. D.C. and Tandria. The Wall Street Journal was reporting that the world's largest owner of industrial real estate says demand for warehouse space is increasing after a long period of sluggishness. Prologis shared that warehouse rental demand started out pretty soft in the first part of 2025, but improved especially in the second half of the year as it says some corporations were refocusing on longer term supply chain needs. Prologis leased 228 million square feet of warehouse space globally last year, its biggest year since 2021. Here in the U.S. cushman and Wakefield said that the average warehouse vacancy rate was at an 11 year high of 7.1% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The firm also reports that companies leased about 665 million square feet of warehouse space in the US in 2025. That's the highest total since 2022. Warehouse rents were still depressed in 2025, down 3.7% globally and 4.5% across the US get this. New warehouse completions globally are expected to bring 474 million square feet of warehouse space online in 2026. Sounds like a lot, but that would be the smallest amount of new space coming online since 2018. One final note. Tangerine DC There's a quote here in this article from Prologis CEO Daniel Letter and I really wish I felt this quote in more conversations I'm having. But this is what he said, quote, customers are making long term decisions with greater conviction, end quote. Okay. Practical optimism, perhaps. D.C. your thoughts on what we're seeing in warehousing.

[C]

It is whiplash. As a supply chain planner, you know, we were, we were up, we didn't have any space. Now, you know, then it was a surplus. Now, now we're rebounding and it's interesting, I was just talking a couple of weeks ago with, with the planning team and you know, we were talking about how we need to bring warehouse utilization metrics into our planning to really look at everything from a holistic perspective. And it's so interesting that we touch on this, you know, kind of warehouse market recovery topic after the deficit, you know, conversation because a deficit doesn't necessarily mean our economy is losing. You know, within the US it could reflect strong domestic demand, which if you look at what we're saying now with, you know, warehousing face rebounding, that could very well be the case. Which is why as supply chain planners, as demand planners, as you know, you're, you're doing your network design and you're doing your strategic procurement. It's so important to look at so many different data points and again, it's kind of like whiplash. It's hard to keep up with it. Especially you know, my focus as a strategist a lot of times is the longer term plan. If you need to increase warehouse space, if you need to increase manufacturing and production capacity, you need to find a new supplier. You don't do that overnight. You can't say, oh, I need to do this next week, I need to do this tomorrow. So you have to look at these three, four, five year plans and, and in infrastructure and you know, construction that could also look like 10 to 15 year plans. So like, what are we even doing? You know, I don't know, trying to keep up. But, but you know, when I, when I read trade deficit and then I read, you know, warehouse market recovery, I'm like, wait, what do I do? What do I do? And it's just really, you know, you really have to look at, from a holistic perspective, look at every data point, look at and you know, it's really important to also, we talk about so much technology. This is really where the decision comes from a human and you have to really understand all the different levers, your trade offs, your scenario planning and then make decisions from that way. But yeah, it's great to see those contrasting, you know, headlines.

[A]

It is. And as both you and Tanjira both have mentioned a couple times here, we gotta get past the headlines. Right? Gotta get to the real story. Tandria, I'm really curious as someone that most of our audience members may know. You had an incredible career with ups and as I like to say, we're still auditing, but you've been in and out of millions of warehouses during your career. Your thoughts on the story here?

[B]

I think some of it just has to go to what we've been talking about most of the morning. A level of uncertainty. Uncertainty with supplies, uncertainty with tariffs. Uncertainty will lead you to have larger inventory levels. Tend not to be as much on the just in time when there's a large level of uncertainty. Also, as you build up inventory levels, you probably going to see some places where they start to reduce the number of SKUs so they're not left with overstocks. But I think the uncertainty that we've talked about will definitely lead to people building up inventories, which will require more warehouse space.

[C]

And also I'd say just for the audience, you know, we're talking to supply chain practitioners, we're talking to supply chain leaders. And I say very often with, you know, my clients and different teams, inventory alone is not a strategy. Anything, you know, you're, you're looking to increase warehouse space to bring in more inventory and use it as a buffer. But anything can happen to that inventory. One container falls off the ship, you know, you get a bad quality batch of inventory and that strategy, that buffer is out the window. You can't only look at inventory as a strategy, especially in, you know, in industries where shelf life life is an issue, you know, so you bring it in and then if you don't use it well, now you're also writing off and you know, just from a sustainability, you know, holistic perspective, you're producing product that is essentially going to go to waste. So it's, it's so much to look at and to, you know, really think about. But that's what I was talking about, you know, the trade offs. And as warehouse space is less available, inventory holding costs are going to increase.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

So you're now also looking at, you know, your total landit cost increasing. So it's a lot of different things that you, you have to manage as a supply chain planner.

[A]

It ain't easy and it's not for the faint of heart. I wrote that down. DC inventory alone is Not a strategy, Tandria. I like that. It's quite a quote, huh?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah. All right, check out a couple comments here. D.C. and Tandria, I like. We can have a whole conversation around this one, I think. Not that one. Nothing wrong with selling out of an item. It kind of inspires demand. Jeremy, we gotta talk. That's an interesting perspective. I bet you have some folks that might disagree with you. Kelvin, great to see you From Zambia via LinkedIn. Let us know what you think here today. And I think this is Andrew. I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Amanda and Tricia. Andrew says I hadn't had ice cream for a year. It's called the C diet. No ice cream, no cheese, no direct cheese, no chocolate, no cider. It is the C Diet. Yes, that is, Andrew. And let's know the results. Andrew, if it's worth all of the. Because the struggle is real. It's worth all that. I love all those things. Trisha also dropped. Trisha dropped the Prologia story and she also dropped an earlier article as well. So y' all check that out. So, D.C. and Tandria, I burned my finger on some very hot chicken broth a day or two ago and it's right.

[C]

Hot chicken broth.

[A]

Oh, it was flaming. As I learned. I was getting it for the dogs and I failed miserably. It burned right on the tip. And of course, you use the same finger you use for your phone, your mouse typing. And I feel like I've got like nine fingers right now. So I'm just going to try to keep up with these comments and I hope I didn't just violate any hipaa. HIPAA laws. All right, so let's move from warehousing. And I want to talk about this story here from Supply Chain Dive. I thought this was a good one and it'll probably spur some great conversation. Here they really focus on some potential supply chain shortages and rising costs that they're tracking on their radar. So for starters, they predict that you're going to hear this. What's old is new again, they predict that here in 2026, companies will seek to strengthen relationships with their supply chain ecosystem, but particularly with those suppliers that are willing to tangibly invest in, quote, collaboration, innovation and joint problem solving. All that typically helps optimize reliability and resilience, reduce risk, and ideally get out ahead of some of the curveballs that are coming around the corner. But nevertheless, Supply Chain Dive has its eye on copper. Critical minerals, medical supplies are going to cost more. Projections from Vizient when It comes to medical supplies says inflation on medical and surgical supplies will reach 2.58% in 2026. Increase 2.58% and drug prices gonna rise another 3.35%. Man, there will be an even tighter market for memory chips with automotive manufacturers getting squeezed a bit. As I saw it quoted in here, the highest bidder is where the chips will be going. And we can't even catch a break, folks. Tangerine DC on our weekend stake. Coming on the heels of a 75 year low in cattle herds last year, cattle shortages are likely to be persistent as ranchers battle a variety of concerns from droughts to economics to screw worms, which is something new I learned here, here today in the article. So DC is a lot there, right? What are you seeing out there?

[C]

So there are, there are two things that really stand out to me here. The first, first or three, I guess. Procurement teams are up for challenges. The headline says.

[A]

That's right.

[C]

Because procurement teams normally don't have challenges. I feel like procurement teams are always in challenges. Like it's, it's the nature of procurement. I work with a lot of sourcing and procurement managers and I do not envy, I do not envy them, but that stood out to me. The other one is the pay to play dynamic and it reminds me of when we had the Panama Canal blockage and whoever could pay got their shits through. So, you know, we really get back around to cash and cash flow is king. When you're working in these scarce environments, it's kind of going to less of a disruption, whack a mole story.

[A]

Right.

[C]

More of like scarcity really, driven by structural constraints, trade policy and then the competition driven by AI materials and capacity needed for that. So we'll see how that, that unfolds in 2026. But kind of it also made me think about what Tandria said earlier about how just supply chain is really how the world goes round. I mean we're talking everything from medical, agriculture and food, you know, automotive, like supply chain really does. It's the lifeblood of everything we do. And yeah, this is just another example of that. I know that also with the copper, the US has been looking at the libido corridor as investment. And the gentleman from Zambia, I thought he was hearing a lot of that has to do with Zambia. But one of the biggest things is that these are really long term strategies.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Because where you source the minerals from as a secondary source, really trying to find somewhere different. Similar to what I see it with construction increasing capacity, you don't Just go and say, oh, there is a, there's a mineral in this country where get it from there. You have to have the mine, you have to have the refinery, you have to have the infrastructure and the energy to be able to do the processing and to move it and the port. It's not something that you just say, we're gonna go get it from this other place.

[A]

Right? We're not pirates. Well, you know, maybe. And gosh, I'm getting a, I'm getting a master class from y' all two here today. Maybe they'll take all the pennies and smelt those suckers down and we'll have a little higher, higher copper supply. I'm only kidding. I'm not sure pennies are made of copper or not. Still, Tandria. All right, so DC shared a lot of her take on this great read from Supply Chain Dive about shortages and rising costs. Your thoughts?

[B]

I think this goes also to making sure that whatever the organization is, the corporation is that they really do have a long term strategy that involves all of their different functions. If you're going to run into a situation where a primary product that you have is going to become either extremely difficult or extremely expensive to produce, it may be time to think of alternate products, alternate revenue streams, not just alternate supplies. So because as DC has said on a couple of occasions, these aren't short term decisions that are being made. Long term strategies need to be more engaging with Supply chain so that they understand what the end game is going to be in different manners than we have in the past. And now with the rise of AI and so much going on from a supercomputing standpoint, really investing in those technologies to help with long term decision making could definitely help in this arena.

[A]

Yeah, no doubt. Tangerine. A lot of good stuff there. Really quick I want to point out, Tricia drops. Don't take our word for it on any of these reads. Tricia Drops a link there so you can check it out. You're one click away if you've got a better finger than I do today. One click away. And let us know your take, Jeremy. Trust is an axiom of relationship. And trust, of course, is the foundational principle, at least one of them, of global supply chain. Good stuff there. This is Andrew. He's down £18 over a year, but he says I'm still fat. Andrew, come on, we got. You got to be more practically optimistic and confident. Eighteen pounds is terrific.

[C]

Progress over perfection. Always.

[A]

Right. That's right. And yes, it was the C diet. Andrew is the one that shared. And there was one other comment I wanted to hit, but I lost it there. I'll come back and revisit. All right. One thing that was missing in that article was energy, specifically electricity because tell you what, we've got in the States and really around the world, we've got our work cut out for us. If and it's not just data centers, but data centers have big part of it. But we've got really our work cut out for us to meet the demand, especially for electricity and I think rising costs. And who's going to pay for the infrastructure investments that we need? We're going to see. Okay, I want to share one note from our friends at EasyPost, folks. Manifest, as we've said, is just almost here. EasyPost is going to be on the ground having all sorts of real conversations. Real conversations. They're really good at keeping it real, especially about AI. We invite you to join Lori Boyer and Tom Butts session. We'll dive into how LLMs are changing the shipping game. Then you can swing by Booth 777. How about that for a booth number in Vegas? Go by booth777 to say hello and see what's new at Easy Post. I hear they're going to be giving away some really cool prizes. And when you stop by, say hello to Lori, Tom and Kevin and the gang. Maybe, who knows, maybe they'll have some ice cream. We shall see.

[C]

Booth 7, Ice Cream Booth at Manifest last year.

[A]

Really? I knew that. I knew there was a for the all day or something.

[C]

All day also Manifesto. What I really love about Manifest is that it's a big family reunion where you really get to see so many people that you connect with on LinkedIn or virtually or that you haven't seen in a long time. Yes, I did enjoy my time last year. I just can't make it out from Atlanta this year.

[A]

D.C. that's a great segue because you've been very busy. Very busy. And Tandra, we got to get you out to Vegas. When's the last time you went to Vegas? Tandria Bellamy, Two years ago. Oh, yeah. Actually, we need to do a study on the vacancy rates in the market out in Vegas. It's been interesting to see what's transpired over the last couple years, but we'll save that for another show. All right. So Tangeri and DC DC you have been busy. Which one reason why you may not be in Vegas this year. Be back next year, I bet. And congrats. As I mentioned on this new book that I've got to get signed next time we meet in person. And I got to ask you, you don't see my dog eared notes and my scribbles in here. I'll show you when we get, when we hook back up. But what's been some of your favorite feedback related to your book which came out last year, Is that right D.C.

[C]

Yes, about six months ago.

[A]

Okay. So what's been, what have you heard last year?

[C]

Well, my favorite feedback came from my dad who you know, you, you expect to be my, my biggest fan, of course, but he is not in supply chain so it was very interesting to get his perspective. And he called me when he finished it. I remember I was over near the five guys in East Cop on, on Roswell and he said I just have to say and I'm saying this like not as your father but just as a person. This is so good. It just makes so much sense and you know, it's something that you can understand. It's impacting business, not necessarily just supply chain. And I remember thinking okay, if he gets it, anyone can get it. Not a knock to my dad.

[A]

Right.

[C]

It's just not his world, you know, it's not his world. And I have a client, when I was telling her about it, she said oh, so it's a technical read. I said well no, it's not a technical read. Like it's, it's important for everyone. And she said but if someone who wasn't in your field started to read it, would they understand? I said well yeah, I don't know, you know, maybe not. So it was good to get that perspective from him.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Of really number one, understanding it, not having the supply chain or manufacturing or construction, you know, background. Because the, the title, you know, is related to the construction industry, but it's really evergreen supply chain concept and it's really my way of telling construction leaders, especially as we start to see more off site and prefab construction, that there are so many fundamentals from manufacturing supply chains, from pharmaceutical supply chains, retail supply chains that can be applied to construction. And we really have to stop just accepting that things are going to be delayed and accepting that things are going to go over budget because there are ways to plan properly and execute properly. So that's what I really like to, you know that, that feedback from my dad.

[A]

I love it. What's your dad's name?

[C]

His name is James Mans.

[A]

James. James Manns. Thanks so much James. We'll have James on maybe sometime learn more what he does in industry Folks.

[C]

Too much about it?

[A]

No. Oh, oh, okay. That's fascinating.

[C]

Yes, that makes demand. He's an engineer by education and by trade, folks.

[A]

Check out Trisha's dropped a link to acquire your own copy via Amazon. I'm sure it's available in other places. Tandrea, your thoughts? DC shared a lot there and I loved the feedback from Mr. Mans. Fathers can be our number one advocates. I don't know between fathers and mothers. I'm not sure who's a bigger advocate for us, but Tandra, your thoughts there on what we just heard from dc?

[B]

I am just looking forward to getting the book. Yes. So great advertisement. And so let's support, well, you know.

[A]

Chapter 13 on data governance. DC, I'm kind of getting above my pay grade with that chapter, but I'll come to you in case I need mentoring. We'll figure it all out really quick before we move on to a couple more. Actually, I'll touch on one more thing. D.C. before we talk AI, before we talk, reverse logistics is your LinkedIn learning. You've been doing a ton of LinkedIn learning, I think. What's next in that horizon?

[C]

D.C. on the LinkedIn front, LinkedIn learning course front, I'm not sure. We did the first initial course for the Supply Chain foundation for snop and that's gotten a lot of really good feedback as well from both supply chainers and non supply chainers alike. And I always tell people if you are not in supply chain, this is the perfect course for you. If you're in supply chain, send it to your marketing friends, your finance friends, your engineering friends, your logistics friends, anyone who may or may not know what snop, IBP and SNOE actually is, because that's, that's what it's really for. To communicate the impact that really strong collaborative processes have on the business. And it's traditionally been a process that's owned by the supply chain, but it's a process that we need all functions to be engaged in for it to actually work. It kind of goes back to Tandria's point earlier about getting everyone involved in collaboration and really bringing supply chain in as early as the idea of product design. You know, what are you thinking about making? What materials are you thinking about using and having Supply chain advise and provide and start to think about the strategies that are going to be required to source and develop the network and things like that. So that's the point of the course. And I really been trying to leverage the book and the LinkedIn learning course to design More workshops for executive leadership teams and senior leadership teams to help them understand the impact of their decisions, or lack thereof, their vision, communication, or lack thereof, their guidance, or lack thereof.

[A]

Right.

[C]

I did two SOP workshops last year and they're not recorded. They're in person, you know, small group. And people clearly felt very comfortable to say how you really feel. And you know what came out of that? A lot of it was our leaders are the problem.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

You know, we get directives, not guidance. So it's like, oh, yeah, go figure out AI. Go figure out snlp with no resourcing, with no real change to operating models, with no real change to budgets for workforce planning or reskilling and upskilling. It just doesn't work if you don't have the right executive sponsorship. So I'm looking to use all of these insights to really create a space for those executive leaders to be able to say, this is a safe space. But with that said, get it together, guys.

[A]

That's right, man.

[C]

Get it together, guys.

[A]

Come on. So Tangera, really quick, on the front end of DC's comments there, she talked about bringing supply chain in early, right?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

And how that can be a big time differentiator and it can also help avoid. Actually improve and find opportunities, but also avoid headaches. But what else did you hear there from DC Tandrea?

[B]

Again, the importance of communication. Not only avoid headaches, avoid cost overruns, avoid product shortages, there are a host of issues that can be avoided by engaging the right people at the right time in the process.

[A]

Good stuff, Tandria. Let's see here. Jeremy's on a roll. I'm going to pick one thing out. Requirements analysis. I'm not bad at it. He mentioned earlier how supply chain management is our thing, and he is. Maybe y' all know these acronyms. They didn't strike me earlier. BPR and ocm. BPR and ocm. So, Jeremy, we're gonna have to have you on and you can tell us all about it. All right, let's talk AI for a minute. Now, dc, I enjoy your regular takes on AI and some of the funny things you see out in the industry on social, especially on LinkedIn. And there's an interesting story here I thought would give us an opportunity to share some perspective. And it focuses on the topic that was news everywhere in the last week or two, Davos. I hope to make it one day to the highfalutin Davos conferences. From our friends at the World Economic Forum comes this interesting read on how hard it is to scale AI and what leaders can do about it. Now, this is a deep read. We're going to just hit high level here today, folks. Go check it out. Tricia's already dropped the link. It's been estimated by Gartner that $1.5 trillion was invested in AI alone last year in 2025. Wow. But it's safe to say all those ducats didn't deliver the expected ROI. In fact, McKinsey has a global survey about 2,000 companies and one of the big results there have found that about two thirds of those 2,000 companies have not scaled their AI projects across the enterprise. Surprise probably any of us here, some of the companies at Davos have successfully scaled their AI initiatives and they pointed to some of the key requirements, new strategies, capabilities and organizational designs. Get this Meta's Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan. I need an. I need a chief Global Affairs Officer. That's gotta be a cool role. Joel Kaplan spoke about how critical it is for leaders to think deeply about how AI will change company workflows, as well as the sheer nature of work that thinking and strategizing and preparing cannot be delayed while the work will be reimagined and redesigned. Give this Accenture's chair and CEO Julie Sweet said that we've got to keep a human touch. She said, quote, human in the lead, not human in the loop. And folks, there's also some great examples I thought of how companies are leveraging AI in a wide variety of ways. So check it out. So DC can have a conversation about talking about AI. And I wasn't there in the room at Davos, so I had to drew a lot of conclusions from this article here. But your thoughts on not just getting return on AI, but then scaling across enterprise?

[C]

For me, it's, it's same issue, different day. And actually I might venture as much to say if we, if we had the ability to quickly pull up the first time I was on supply chain now like six years ago.

[A]

Right.

[C]

I think you were saying the exact same thing about like control towers or like, you know, technology in general. And you know, we always go for the silver bullet. This is going to be the thing that changes and you have to fundamentally like change management is not just training of like where to click, how to use it, et cetera. I know plenty of people if you look and say, you know, AI adoption, sure we're using Copilot, you know, other companies are using chat, GPT, you're asking for some quick answers here and there. You have AI transcribing meetings now and you know, following up, meeting, meeting facilitator. Let me know if you have questions. But what they talked about at Davoson, what this article talks about is that the fundamental need to change the operating model of how you do business, how decisions are made. You have AI, you have this technology, you have this data, but how do you get out of pilot mode and one team or one department and really scale that across the business? And that doesn't happen just, just from doing implementation and you know, flipping the switch at go live.

[A]

Right.

[C]

You really have to look at and I, I think ocm, if Jeremy is referring to what I know, organizational change management, you know, what does the organizational structure look like? How does it change now that someone who was previously doing this piece of technology that's doing that part, what do they now have time to do? So what's changing? What is going to where we to stop doing? Because we don't have to do that anymore. And we're not looking at that perspective when we're implementing like as AI or any other technology. It's interesting to see, you know, I've read about, I've not to give away my age, but when, when email came out, when Excel came out, like how, how it really changed the way that businesses and I, I read about it, didn't experience it. But now AI is like that next big thing that everyone is, you know, really investing in.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

And I, I, it's no surprise that it hasn't picked up. I do think that it will pick up.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

It takes time. Humans are creatures of habit. Change is hard. It's good to see that there is this investment and this willingness from leadership to say yes, we want to try to figure out how to make this work. And now it's just going to take some time to figure out how to make it work.

[A]

Right.

[C]

It doesn't, it doesn't happen overnight.

[A]

It's a leadership issue, a big chunk of it in my perspective, but good stuff there. DC Tandrea, your thoughts?

[B]

I think it will pick up over time. It's like digitalization. When we first started talking about digitizing things, it's like what are we even speaking of? What difference does it make? How does that help business? I'm old, I've been around a while. When I started with ups, everything was on paper. Drivers, when they went out to deliver packages, had clipboards and carbon paper. When we were talking about digitizing everything, had no idea what the end game was going to be. Didn't know what the possibilities were going to be. But did know we had to move forward with it and it was a true learn as you go. Looking back, we would have been eons behind had we not taken the first steps, even if the first steps had some uncertainty surrounding them. So with AI, I think it's going to be the same thing. I think there's cases where people just don't really know what the possibilities are. So that overarching strategy of what the end game is going to be so you can build towards it really hasn't been laid out because they don't really know what the end game is going to be. So it will be a learn as you go and the different discoveries are really opening the eyes to what the different possibilities can be. So it's going to be interesting to watch as it just continues to unfold. That education system needs to figure out how to get on board because instead of just penalizing kids and bailing them when they're using AI, figure out ways to incorporate AI to get them to think more critically as opposed to using it to avoid work. So we need to kind of back up and go back to the foundation. So as, as AI grows, we grow with it.

[A]

It's not just about cutting corners. It is about changing business. Changing. Hate to be sound dramatic, but changing humanity. Right. Addressing challenges that we haven't been able to successfully address. We're gonna have to have this conversation on the next episode because we're running right out of time and I hate to do it because I appreciate to both of Yalls perspectives not just on AI but all the topics here today before we make sure folks know how to connect with DC and Tandri. I got to make one more quick plug folks. If you haven't checked out the Resource hub over at the new supply chain now.com do it. It's got some really good stuff including this new piece that Deborah Dole put together as she ventured up to NRF Rev, which is probably the largest gathering of reverse logistics leaders and returns management leaders. And she explored this massive challenge talking about education Tangeria, the large education gap that's in place when it comes to reverse logistics or as Tony Sheroda has called called it for decades, the dark side. Right. And as I did a quick Google this morning, I found two schools that offered a bachelor's degree in reverse logistics. Just two. We need a whole bunch more. Right. But folks, check out a lot of perspective from folks in the industry which you will find over at Resource the Resource hub at Supply Chain now. Okay. And Trisha, thank you. I'll tell you she's dropped about 27 links. You're on it on this Monday morning. Thank you so much, Tricia and Amanda and yes, Jeremy, education can break that inertia. Well said. All right, so dc, great to have you here. It can't be another six years before you come back, so we'll make a mental note to change that. But if folks want to reach out to you on anything you shared here today. Right. What's the easiest way to make that happen?

[C]

D.C. linkedIn for sure. LinkedIn is the easiest way. And then also on my website, dcmans.coM-Y-C-I-M a n n s.com there's actually a calendar link especially related to any conversations around potential training needs, workshop design and certifications. Also, we're an authorized knowledge partner for isea. So we do certified supply chain analysts list certification exam prep, which is really just your, you know, baby's first introduction to Supply chain. It's really great for students. It's really great for career changers. It's really great for again, those, those people who don't realize they're in supply chain. If you're in business and you're in supply chain, so, you know, for, for marketing resources, finance, consumer insights, commercial to really good. Not a lot of time require introductory course to understand supply chain and understand their role in supply chain.

[A]

Oh, everybody needs to go through that. Everybody needs to go through that course. Love that. DC Appreciate the great work you're doing. I continue to do out in industry and I look forward to this follow up. Every great book will have a. Well, I guess it doesn't. What do I know? I don't know anything about writing books, but I bet there's another book coming based on the success of this one. Tanria Bellamy, great to have you back. You continue to move up the charts and the appearance charts here at Supply Chain now. Love that. I bet your top five Tandrea. How can folks connect with you on anything you've shared here today?

[B]

Just like DC, LinkedIn is the easiest, quickest, most efficient way to get a hold of me.

[A]

It is just that easy. And we've dropped link. We actually dropped DCs and Tangeria's link right there. So you're one click away. We try to make things very easy and some folks are saying they've already connected or followed. Wonderful. All right. So I hate to leave it here. There's so much more we could get into. But as DC mentioned earlier, hey, we got a lot of work to do so I want to first thank everybody. D.C. sfragle, founder and CEO of NuGen Architects. D.C. thanks so much for being here today.

[C]

Thanks for having me.

[A]

You bet. Look forward to having you back soon. Tandria Bellamy, my esteemed co host, you make all these conversations a lot smarter. I need to. We just need to go all meetings together. Tandra, can we figure out a way to make that happen?

[B]

Sure, Scott, I'm extra that can call. Just let me know.

[A]

And it'd be a lot smarter conversations if we can make that happen. Anyway, Tandra, always a pleasure to connect with you and co host with you. Big thanks to our friends at easypost powering the buzz all month long. In February again, they're making shipping easier and more flexible and more scalable. Learn more easypost.com Big thanks to Amanda and Trisha behind the scenes. And most importantly, big thanks to our global audience for being here with us today. All right, so folks, you know your homework. DC and Tandria brought a lot to the table here today. A lot of actionable perspective. That's the best kind. It's only kind. Take one thing you heard here from D.C. or Tandria. Put it into practice. Deeds, not words. Do something with it, folks. And with that said, on behalf of the entire Supply Chain now team Scott Luton, Challenger, you do good. Get forward. Be the change that's needed. We'll see you next time. Right back here. Here on Supply Chain now, join the Supply Chain now community. For more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supply chain now.com subscribe to Supply Chain now on YouTube and follow and listen to Supply Chain Now. Wherever you get your podcasts.