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Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today's critical issues. The challenges and introduc Stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.
Hey, good morning, Scott Luton and Greg White with you here on supply chain. Now, welcome to today's live stream Gregory. How we doing?
Pretty good. Is it Monday again?
It is Monday again. Does
It seem like it was just Monday, right?
It, the world is turning faster and faster and faster. Uh, but yeah, it sounds like we, it felt like we just knocked out the bus just like yesterday afternoon. It feels like, huh?
Well, we were, uh, we were on for live streams a few days last week, so it, you know, it kind of, yeah. And I think we're gonna be, uh, we're gonna be seeing some people again a few times this week, right.
We sure are. It's gonna be, it's gonna be Groundhog day Groundhog day is gonna be our theme, uh, this week for sure. Lots and lots of, uh, conversations and action, uh, to be driving, uh, via programming here at supply chain. Now we're gonna touch on some of that momentarily, but thanks for joining us here for, for supply chain buzz, where Greg and I, uh, tackle some of the leading stories across global business every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time. Uh, all right. So Greg, uh, we've got a special guest joining us about 1225 today, Matt Fitzgerald, with six river systems, we're gonna be joining us. We're gonna be talking about a variety of things, including the highly competitive labor and market across industry. So buckle up folks, get ready. We want to hear from you too, Greg, before we hit, uh, say hello to some folks before we, we share some programming notes, I wanna know what the Hilton head global supply chain logistics, transportation scientific index is at this morning.
I love that we need to put together, uh,
Come up with that acronym acronym
For that. Not sure, not sure we wanna spell what that might spell, uh, but I can tell you what it spells today and its delay. So I've adapted the index somewhat. It was about five, it was five, uh, outside of the port of Savannah today. And it was 28 side, the port of Charleston today, which believe it or not is down. Um, and we're gonna talk about an initiative by the us government and some other, uh, some other companies that are, uh, trying to figure out how to overcome this, this delay. So it's gonna be interesting to talk about that, but, um, you know, it's, uh, it wasn't that long ago, Scott, that the ports on the east coast were bragging about their ability to throughput ships. So ships started coming to the east coast and Gulf coast ports. And what we've realized is that the volume that was being delayed on the west coast was so substantial that now it's starting to shift delays basically to virtually every report on the us coast. So,
You know, we're a Sylvia, Judy, when we need her, we're, we're gonna have to get a boots on the ground report from what's going on in Charleston. But, uh,
I'm gonna to volunteer for that boots on the ground report. Scott, as long as I get to do it in Charleston At halls, The steakhouse for dinner,
That's the in that's, that's the on ground part. So it, it comes to the territory. So let's make that happen, uh, and enjoy a good dinner afterwards. Uh, Hey, before we get started, we're gonna say hello to a few folks already, uh, join us here today, but I want to share just a couple of quick announcements. So again, the 2022 supply chain and procurement awards, Greg nominations continue to be open, uh, for about 10 more days, April 1st, when they all have to be in, uh,
We've conveniently aligned with or near the start of major league baseball season,
That was all planned. That was all planned.
I figured that's what it was.
So, uh, folks we've got eight or nine different categories. We've got, um, a variety of leadership, pour awards, digital transformation, automation, logistics, something for everybody, manufacturing, excellence, I believe. Uh, but you can learn more at supply chain, procurement awards.com and, uh, doesn't matter where you're located, doesn't matter where your operations or your people products, warehouse, you name it, where all that's located, uh, companies across the globe are all eligible. So check that out. Supply chain, be current awards.com. Uh, Greg,
I was gonna make that one qualification Scott and that is earth is preferred as a location for your company.
That that's an important distinction. Yes,
No nominations for Mars or planets beyond are
Not
Accepted.
So on that note, uh, let's talk about the globe, uh, as in the global upstate international business and foreign affairs conference, Greg, you and Kevin Jackson, but are gonna be speaking at this conference takes place March 28th through through the 31st. And registrations are also open Greg, what you looking forward to there,
Uh, really getting to see, to meet and talk about world events with people from around the world. I mean, this is not solely a us perspective or even a South Carolina perspective on, um, what's going on in, in both international political affairs and international business. We're gonna get to meet people from all over the globe, have some panels to talk about technology and supply chain in addition to geopolitical affairs and other types of international, uh, and governmental affairs. So, uh, it's gonna be very interesting talking about things like, you know, what we can expect from China in coming years from a more geopolitical perspective, rather than just a business or supply chain perspective. So that's gonna be interesting and should help shape how we approach business going forward.
Excellent. Well, we look forward to that again, March, uh, 29th through the 31st registration's open, uh, it's gonna be held in Greenville and Spartanburg. So y'all check that out. Looks like our team big, thanks to Catherine and Chantelle, uh, behind the scenes driving production have dropped blink in the chat. So y'all check that out. Uh, and then finally, uh, we have just assembled, uh, so, uh, Greg, our dear friends at vector global logistics, they're involved in a wide, uh, array of humanitarian efforts and not all, I mean, you know, it's core to who they are as a company, uh, you know, books to Africa, uh, um, uh, eyeglasses to families and kids in need. I think in south America, that's just part of what they do. So, uh, we got together and we want to lean on their expertise and facilitation relationships to help, um, Marshall resources.
Uh, so, uh, join us this Wednesday 3:00 PM, March 23rd, as we attempt to leverage the logistics within our network for Ukraine. So they're already involved in, in very specific needs and being able to get the resources to meet those needs based on their relationships and their organization and what they do. And we want to kind of have a, a clearing house. Uh, we're gonna see this is highly, uh, experimental, I guess, for lack of a better phrase, but you know, it comes Greg from a place where we wanna do something, whatever we can do, you know, you give from what you have, and we wanna do something to, to help address some of the needs and, uh, atrocities that are going on in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. Your quick take there, Greg.
Yeah, well, I mean, we, we talked to, uh, a number of people in, in the last couple weeks about what we can do. I think it's important to do something. And what we're trying to do is create an outlet where just one more place where you can find a legitimate place to get, uh, get funds or products or whatever to people in need. Right.
That's right. Uh, and this comes on the heels of, of having a wide variety of folks that are, that are in, uh, that are, uh, in Poland in Ukraine. Uh, as Greg mentioned, we've spoken to, we feature some on the shows to help get the word out about ways you can help vetted ways. So this is in that vein, uh, join us three PMs. It's open to folks that want to help regardless of what you do. Uh, if we could, uh, we did not grab that link, uh, messed my bad, uh, Catherine and Chantel, if we can drop, um, Amanda's email address in the chat, if you wanna be a part of that, shoot Amanda an email, and we'll get you a link out to sign up for that, uh, that, that call on Wednesday. Okay. So Greg, uh, on a much, much lighter note ask and he shall receive, we have Sylvia Judy with us right here.
I'm I have feelings. She's always
There.
It's not always sounding off so
Well, I'm sure she's, uh, she's working, uh, doing supply chain stuff. One question for sure.
Yeah, she's trying, she's trying to clear that backlog in Charleston is what she's doing. Probably single handedly would be my guess
Sylvia. Great to have you here. Uh, Erin Davis, uh, tuned in via LinkedIn. Great to have you here, let us know where you're, uh, dialed in from what part of the world Sheldon rose is back. We've enjoyed Sheldon's perspective, huh?
Yeah. On and off live streams. Yeah. I mean, he's making some great observations and suggestions around supply chain.
Agreed. Of course. Jose Montoya. Um, thank
Goodness. Now we know we've got SoCal on the air. That's good.
That's right. Host of logistics and coffee, which is a, a great stream takes place. Jose. Great to have you fellow kindred spirit. Hey Josh. Goody's with us tuned in again from Seattle, right? Right. Greg?
Yes. We need to know the state of Seattle this time. Is it, is it warm and sunny? Is it cold and damp? Is it rainy and dreadful, right? The rainy
Or is it Washington, but regardless, uh, let, let us, let us know how, what the weather's like up in that neck of the woods. Josh going to have you
Back. Yes.
All right. So, uh, Greg, we, before we welcome on, uh, our esteemed guest, Matt Fitzgerald, with six river systems, we've gotta, we're gonna walk through a three stories that we're tracking. Are you ready to go?
I am
Well, let's do that. Let me share this here. So the first program, uh, the first story up here in this article via supply chain dive, the white house is announced in an initiative last week. Their calling catches Greg, the, the freight logistics optimization works initiative flow for short, I, I guess, is what they're gonna be referring to that, uh, it's led by the us department of transportation is focused as Greg alluded to on the front end, uh, on developing a much more effective information sharing system across the ports, shippers carriers, three PLS, all the stakeholders, right? The pilot is limited to just 15 companies and just a few ports, including Greg. I believe I, if I read this right, the George supports authority.
That's correct. So that would include, uh, Brunswick and, and Savannah. So,
Right. So Greg, your take on this development here,
Uh, I, you, I, I remember when they first started talking about this, the fear of God was struck into me that the government might be building a technology solution. It appears now that it's more a data facilitation initiative, which is good, in my opinion, some of this data is, um, public property, not the property of, of even its originate or generators. Um, so I think that's a good thing. The, and the companies that are in it drive a ton of volume. I think it's a prudent approach to use San. I think it was San Pedro, is that the port that they used on the west coast, I believe, and the Georgia ports relatively lower volume. So you test the system be, and break it on low volume before you test the system and break it at higher volume, um, to kind of work the bug bugs and the kinks out. So that's, that's a, uh, good approach from a startup standpoint. A lot of the that are involved, have a ton of power, ch Robinson ups, FedEx, um, target. Um, I'm trying to think who else, who's another big brand there what's that that's
A list of who's who
Yeah. CMA, CGM, you know, uh, the shipping companies and that sort of thing. So, um, I think there's, you know, they've covered a lot of com and, and I think that will be helpful. So, you know, we'll have to see how this evolves. Um, but I think it's, you know, the word two words that scared me one is flow because it almost seems like as in many government initiatives, they force fit the initiative to fit the acronym. Uh, rather building an acronym around the goals of the, of the initiative, uh, and the other is voluntary, not mandatory compliance with the, the, the requests of this, um, you know, this methodology. So there's gotta be a way to make it mandatory, compulsory, whatever you wanna call it so that everyone does, has to, and does, uh, contribute data to this. Cause the goal is to PR to provide data that gives insight to the people that you will be impacting a port ahead of time, ahead of showing up, right, a, a supplier ahead of placing an order, all of those things. So, um, it it's important that companies contribute to this. Um, but Hey, it's a start.
So it is a start. It is a start. I, I, I love your take on all that, Greg, a lot of stuff, wasn't even an article. So I, I appreciate you, you got your finger on the pulse as always, and I appreciate you sharing, uh, some of your take there. Let's, uh, really quick. I think Amanda, uh, I know you're doing some major multitasking. If I can add one more task, if you don't mind, um, Amanda, we, the link for the leveraging logistics for Ukraine, if you could drop that when you get a chance, drop that in the chats. So folks can join that Wednesday call. So thanks so much, Amanda, and appreciate all that you do. Speaking of, we got Todd Craig OTC tuned in today. Todd, how are you doing? Yeah.
Tell us what you're seeing out there.
Yeah, we'd welcome it. Talk about fingers only
Seeing a beach. My guess is Certainly he wouldn't be tuning in from his kids' spring break. Would he?
I don't
Maybe a couple weeks early for that.
Well, Todd, hope to find you great to have you here. Uh, Larry, uh, Costello. Good morning. New here from Houston, Texas.
Another port. That's getting a shift of volume from the west coast as well. Right? The initial port that we first started talking about, which seems like five years ago, but it was probably about a year, year ago, right. That we started to see that shift towards Houston.
Well, Larry, great to have you here. We love Houston, uh, everything, but the Astros, uh, little friendly, little friendly vibe, uh, uh, uh, vibe there, but, uh,
You're friendly.
Aaron's from, well, a small, small world, small world. Uh, Josh has given us that, uh, weather report you asked for still raining cold kind of miss the Eastern desert near Richland.
Mm.
How about that? Uh, Sylvia teamwork.
Yeah.
Teamwork makes the dream work, uh, as always Sylvia Mohe from Greg
Wichita state go shocks.
That's right. Air capital of the world. Greg is represented today. Hey, and finally divine is, uh, is back with us, uh, divine sports and mentorship Inc. Good morning from Texas. Great to see you back here with us divine. Okay. So Greg moving right along, let's move to this new, next story here. Before we bring on again, Matt Fitzgerald with six river systems is gonna be here with us about 1225. Uh, so next up. So we all remember the ever given right, which was stuck in Sue canal really continues. You know, we're still, uh, in some cases, uh, catching up, uh, from that incident. Well it's sister ship. The ever forward has become stuck recently in the Chesapeake bay. So according to transport topics and the coast guard, the vessel has essentially gotten stuck in the mud. Um, about, for about a week, just outside Greg, what's called the Craig hill channels. That's evidently it's the deepest park of the Chesapeake bay. That's meant for, uh, container ships. Um, it's a primary lane for container ships moving in and out of the area. So Greg, what say you,
My first thought was evergreen needs to rename their, their company to ever a ground. But, uh, other than that, my guess is because this was, is just outside the channel. My guess is yet another one of their ships has broken down, lost steering or steer or, um, propulsion and drifted onto something like this. It is a, a law in this port that a foreign own ship must be piloted by a Harbor pilot who would never have gone outside the channel and run at a ground. So I can only guess that the ship must have broken though. They aren't reporting that. Um, right now they're still investigating and also trying to keep the ship from breaking up monitoring for fuel loss and that sort of thing. So, um, the reason that it could be weeks is that this went a ground at high, high tide, full moon, and the next tide probably high enough to float this ship without taking a substantial amount of cargo off of it is the next full moon or in some cases, depending on the Harbor, it could be the next new moon, which I've realized from now being so close to the coast that that's also when you get very high, high tides.
So
How about that? So, man,
It's a couple weeks to 28 days away from when this ship got grounded.
Uh, well, the thankfully, uh, and of course we hope that the, the ship stays, uh, intact, but thankfully ships are still able to navigate and around. So it's not clogging if
You got outside the channel, that's actually pretty good though. It's requiring some, you know, what they call one way, which ma basically means you gotta line up and, you know, one ship in one ship out, but that's moments of delay relative to a, to an entire, um, V uh, voyage for a ship like that.
Well, did they miss the, the, um, the crew must have missed the day that Jimmy buffet taught, uh, nav, you know, keep it within the navigational beacons, right? That's that's right. Life, life lessons. Well, thankfully
Right. Goes on the left side when you're leaving or red goes on the left side, I should say red,
Poor
Red, right return.
Yes. There you go. Um, but regardless, thankfully, no one got hurt and hopefully it gets freed, uh, no issues, uh, in the days. Weeks ahead. We'll see. Uh, gene pleasure is back with us gene of Northern Alabama, uh, supply chain practitioner. Welcome. Yeah. We never
Ask what the weather's like in Northern Alabama. So Jean let us know.
Yeah. Give us, give us that weather report. We're gonna blink and it's gonna be the weather channel. Uh, Greg, uh, everybody talks about the weather. No, we
Don't have to be right. Scott. Maybe we should think about that.
Right? Sylvia echoes your sentiment. Evergreen is Rene to ever
Love it. And Mohe is feeling the shocks this morning, shock, shock the world. He says. So again, a tip of the hat to Wichita state university. Okay. Uh, one final Greg, before we bring on our guests here today, one final story here. Starbucks is finally looking to get rid of its disposable cups. So according to the wall street journal, uh, the company is currently experimenting with a reusable cup system. Of course, as you might imagine, had to delay that a little bit in recent years due to the pandemic, but the overall initiative is driven in part by the company's efforts at cutting its waste sent to the landfill in half by 2030. So I don't know about you, Greg, but I've never liked using the cups. Uh, you get the cup, which is sturdy lid, the installation ring. It's a lot. And I hate dropping those things in a trash can. I'd like using my own cups if I can, but it seems like a good move. Your thought it's great
Greenwash. Um, that's my first thought, uh, Starbucks just got a, a new, a new CEO, which is their old CEO, their founder in the last few days. But of course I applaud this initiative. If Starbucks really wants to contribute to reducing waste, they should close their drive through forever. Shame on everyone, whoever waits in line in a drive through you are all contributing to global warming. And, um, and, and you're doing it not because it's faster. It is proven that it is much, much slower to go through a drive through you're too lazy to get out of your car, get off your butt, get on your feet, get in line inside where it's warm or cool, right, wherever you may be and help save the planet. I mean, look, let let's face it. Scott, look, all these initiatives are all about responding to consumer and, and as light lightly impacting their profits and volume and revenues as much as possible. Cause they're, they could have far more impact by simply closing the drive throughs, but they're not gonna do that cuz it's gonna impact their top line. So this is as good as they can come up with now. So I guess we have to accept it
Well.
And by the way, meant to open that statement with, I wanna apologize for my cynicism during these next few statements, but let me apologize. In retrospect, I want to apologize for my cynicism in these last past few statements.
So man, you're bring coming in hot to pay. Greg, gotta tell you what, you
Know, first of all, I am an incredibly impatient person and I hate drive throughs. I hated them first for that for having to wait in line to wait in line to you had to wait in line to order to wait in line, to pay to then wait in line to get your food. And I just never made sense to me. So I just simply parked and went inside. And then I realized it was so much faster than I saw some studies that said it is so much faster and it reduces car, the carbon footprint of any human buying, any product in any store by something like tenfold. It's ridiculous how much better it is for us. So that's the part we can all do is to get off our lazy DS and walk in the door,
Use a ch legs, right? Use a sheer legs. Oh,
I like that.
I stole that.
Hold on. I'm writing that down.
Write that down. I stole that from my dear friend Highland Wong back in the air force. So Highland hope this finds you well, wherever you are. Um, okay, so Greg, we're gonna get a few bonus minutes with our, uh, fearless friend here. That's joining us in the live stream.
Hi dog. Let's go get him.
Yeah, let's go ahead and welcome in Matt Fitzgerald, director of product management with six river systems, Matt. Good more morning. How you doing?
Doing well. Thanks. Welcome a board. How you guys doing,
Doing wonderful, doing wonderful. Uh, it great to chat with you pre show here today. Uh, and before we get started, we're gonna be talking about a couple different things with you here today. Uh, from the labor market to mod ex to some things that sixth river systems is up to, but Greg, we learned pre-show that Matt is a well, he is a big sports fan, but in particular he's a big Boston brews fan. Right. And uh, one of his favorite figures of all time is Ray Bo. Matt, you shared a little story about Ray Bo on the front end. Tell us about that trophy
Sure thing. Yeah. So I grew up, you know, watching the Bruins. I still watched it today. And Ray Bo is like a, a legend around here in Boston and he got let go by. The Bruins, went to the avalanche when I was in just starting out my career actually. Yeah. And he won the cup and it was like, the message was the Bruins, let him go because everybody loves Ray. So he can go and win the cup and being the kinda guy he is, he brought the cup back to Boston. We all went down to city hall Plaza, big open space and he brought it back and thanked the fans here just as much as I would imagine he did the Colorado fans. It was pretty moving and he's still a member of the community and does things around the Boston. So he's a, he's a great guy to continue to cheer for.
I love that, Greg. I love that story, man.
Yeah, no wonder everybody loves him. You know, the, the chiefs did a similar thing. They just made the mistake of giving Tony Gonzalez to the Atlanta Falcons in the hope that he might win the super bowl.
Ouch. So ouch
Misguided giving on four, but who, I mean, there was no reason to expect that they wouldn't accept that, you know, they're the Falcons. So, um, but I, I think that, I, I think that's a great payoff and I think it's, um, brilliant, you know, and I, I, I think another kind of tradition and I, I, I don't know if for did this, but a lot of players come back and get a one day, $1 contract with their team so that they can retire as the team that they first started with or loved the most or whatever, which a lot of players do. I think that's a great tradition. It allows them to go into the hall of fame as what if they go, of course, as whatever a team they want to. So, um, love that. Yeah. I, I, I love it when players like that love their city so much that they wanna share that with them. That's just a fantastic story gives you
It's a great one. And I think he loves the city so much that he actually gets out of his car at, uh, drive throughs too. Okay.
I've seen a few. I heard I've seen a few, uh, coal, coal, uh, smokey buildings in, in Boston.
Right. I
Mean, Austin has the disadvantage of having had that going on since like the 16 hundreds. So, um, you gotta be particularly aware of that there, right? The streets are about as wide as a horse or two
Matt.
That's true. You don't miss anything. I love that. So thank you. Uh, and also just to close loop for everybody. Matt is from Boston still makes his home in the, uh, Boston area. Um, all right, we're gonna, we're gonna shift gears, but I wanna bring this in from Josh really quick. Since Matt went there, Josh says, Josh says the world won't end. If you walk in a restaurant or coffee shop, like Greg said, it was faster for me to go into the local store versus the drive through, uh, absolutely Josh I'm with you, I'm with you. Okay. So let's shift gears for a minute. Uh, so we're gonna dive into some of the things that you're, uh, you're observing there and doing. And some of the conversations you're having, some of the folks you're all working with there at six river systems. Um, and I wanna start Matt with this interesting article via, uh, modern materials handling, right?
So, um, as we know, the labor market is extremely challenging at all levels, uh, in, in a variety of functional, uh, uh, uh, areas as well. The Peerless research group, according to this article here conducted recent market surveys and they found a couple things here. I'm gonna summarize a few things that, uh, stood out to me first, only one third supply chain professional surveyed feel that their companies are quote unquote, highly prepared to meet demand with current staff in place. Uh, secondly, two thirds of those surveyed have attempted to increase wages to keep the team members they, they currently have on the team in place, right, for, uh, retention purposes. And then I also want to, uh, share this, uh, uh, data from the survey as well. So check this out, look at some of the ways that these companies have attempted to deal with talent shortages, including at the top cross functional training, uh, and a few other things there. So with this is a backdrop mat. I wanna start with you what stands out, uh, to you, whether it relate, uh, related to the labor market, this survey, this, even this specific information here,
It's a good one. And, um, you know, these numbers seem to make sense what, from what I've gone around and walked around our customers, warehouses and things like that. I definitely see a lot of cross-functional training. They see where the is on a given day because unfortunately a lot of our customers and general folks in warehousing and, uh, fulfillment just don't have enough people. So they're constantly shifting the, the labor pool from job to job or task to task. And the other thing that jumps out to me here is the implement new technologies only down there, like 23%. And I, I really think there's an opportunity for automation to help out here. I mean, I've been in the automation space for the last, uh, decade, right? I've been in warehouses and manufacturing plants, uh, all across the world. And I really think automation, uh, can really help people out and get them, you know, to do more. And it really, it is the story of like taking things away from people it's about adding capacity and adding that flexibility and helps with that number like employee retention. Mm.
So Greg, I was, uh, kind follow up on what Matt shared there. I was kind of really surprised that new technologies was so far down in this, uh, this set of data, your thoughts, Greg.
I think it's the, uh, the main reason for that is because we're trying to solve a labor issue with typical labor solutions, the, the status quo or the legacy labor solutions that we've had, uh, all throughout our past. And, um, I, I think we need to think in new ways, look, we say this frequently, Matt, you know, and we've recognized this statistic as you probably have. And we talk about this a lot on supply chain. Now in 2019, there were 44 million supply chain professionals in, in north America alone. And 2 million open jobs in 2019. Now there are more jobs required and fewer people to do, you know, to do those jobs. So even more job openings that was nearly a 5% unemployment rate in that this industry alone. And it's much, much higher than that. And some of those jobs, I call it the 3d S dart at 30 and dangerous.
Those jobs will never be filled by the incoming generations. They were, in fact, they were left at a higher rate than expected by the people doing them, mostly baby boomers over the last two years and will likely, never be filled, I think. And I often say this a little more strongly than you, which I can, cuz I'm have to temper my statement. So I'm not trying to sound salesy, right? I mean, if you say it, you sound pitchy. If I say it, I sound like an idiot, but nonetheless I'm right. Um, and that, and that is, um, that automation and technology is not an advantage. It is the word of the day compulsory. It is absolutely necessary because some of these jobs will never, again ever be filled by human beings. And frankly, technology can do it at such an incredible rate, more effectively than human beings ever could. There's no reason not to. And as you said, I believe we are past apologizing for technology taking people's jobs. Technology will now take jobs that humans don't want anyway, and elevate humans to do those things that they do so much better than technology. So, um, it's staggering that it is so low, but at the same time, the shift of, you know, of mind space to think of it in a, in a different, I didn't say MySpace mind space
To think of things in a new way or with new solutions takes time. Right. Even in a, a, you know, the situation where we have a catastrophic disruption, like we've seen over the last couple years.
All right. So Matt, your thoughts there, uh, and we're gonna, we're gonna talk about what six river is up to, uh, in a few moments, but your thoughts of what Richard,
I totally agree. I mean, I'll tell you guys a little story. When I first started out, the first time I worked at a robot company a while back, my mother was proud of me that I got a new technology job, but angry at me because I was gonna steal people's jobs. My parents are blue collar. I grew up blue collar until I went to college, working construction and everything else. And that was like her like lecture to me, like you're stealing people's jobs. And I was like, mom, to this day, I'm not, it's, I'm helping business to survive. We want these, you know, American made companies. And we, now, we can't find enough people to enable that here, you know? Right. And so, um, with, with automation, we're really helping people do more and we're also helping people take on new jobs that they never thought of. I was at a customer last week in the Midwest and there's a guy there, his responsibilities he's in charge of our robots that wasn't in his career path. Think about that. And it's a new, exciting thing for him to do and be a part of.
Mm. All right. So Greg, we've talked a lot about that, um, here in the last couple years, right. Because that's the, that's, that's a part of the reality that automation offers, right? The, these, uh, things that were outside of, of current paths, all of a sudden folks that lean in and can, um, you know, see this as an opportunity, they're gonna get trained up and, and add more to their, um, uh, their, their tool belt, right?
Yeah. Yeah. I think they can also, they can also be elevated to jobs that are much more satisfying for human beings. Right. And, and, um, I, can you throw up those stats again, Scott? Um, because I'm curious, um, think about what the incoming generations want as, um, as a draw for a job, right? They want a sense of purpose, a higher calling, that sort of thing. None of that is in here either. So how far are we off the mark as, as management leaders, not to be acknowledging and trying to hire or redevelop the organization for that aspect as well. And again, technology, I think technology enables that it enables the human to do something that is more fulfilling, that is more purposeful and more and much, much higher purpose than, you know, making sure this, this nut is tightened to six feet, foot pounds or whatever. Right. I mean, it's, um, you know, it's just, I feel like we're still a bit off the mark, but yet another disruption, right? Next time, maybe the ship gets crossways in the canal or in the, in the, and Baltimore. And then we really start thinking about it. Mm. You know, these kind of disruptions, but
I'm gonna bring in a couple, uh, this cross-functional training got a couple, couple people's attention. So I saw that cross-functional training is the key going back 40 years in the German apprenticeship program in freight fording we had to touch on every, every aspect in the logistic supply chain. It has not changed in four decades. Says love that
That's good and bad there. I think, right. I mean that they had cross-functional training is very good that, that crossfunctional training, maybe not hasn't changed that requirement probably still still exists. Hopefully the approach has changed somewhat over the last four decades.
Right. T squared says the crossfunctional training is a must, but it's gross. Gross, gross, lack the need for upskilling. Uh, oh, it's grossly lacking without the need for upskilling, perhaps T square holding down the Fort force on YouTube. Great to see you here today. Mohe says cross-functional training increases, resource capacity and flexibility. However, it tends to reduce specialization. That's a good point. It about prioritizing the trade offs needed at the time. Um, Matt, whether it's cross-functional training or something else that comes to mind, by the way, I love the stories, uh, you know, of out in the market, kind of seeing these things play out, seeing what it means for both companies and their teams and the consumer. Uh, cause I hate to use that word. I hate whenever I say win, win, win. I feel like I'm selling something, but truly we're creating good value for, for all parties.
Uh, absolutely. And that, that's a big thing. You know what, one of the things we do here, six rivers, we, we go out and visit a lot of our customers at their peak time. So right before the holidays and we send anybody who wants to go in the company to go visit. Cause we don't wanna just be there when it's like the whole hum daily basis. We wanna see what it's like when it's really happening. And I, I did that this year for, uh, about four days and it was remarkable to see like the operations really humming and everything else. And seeing our products fly around, just have these little anecdotal chats with folks on how they're doing, what makes their lives better. And what's challenging and, and things like that.
Love going to the gemba, Matt, uh, is what you're doing for sure where the values created. Um, all right. So Matt, I wanna ask you and, and, and, and Greg, let's talk about what six river systems does for the three people that may be tuned in across the world that may not know, uh, cause y'all been on quite, um, quite the move in recent years. What does six river systems do? Matt?
Thanks for asking. Yeah, we are a solution provider and we look at it as a solution. You heard me refer to working in robotics or our robot, but it's not all about our robot. We're helping customers, whether they're three PS, three PLS e-com business to business, we've got a whole system that is optimizing the fulfillment in your warehouse. We're gonna look what you have. We're gonna integrate with the WMS and we're gonna push the orders to the robot. And the robot does sort of the three DS that Greg was talking about, the robot goes, it leads you, you where to go. It shows you what you have to pick. And then it carries all of the products for you. So you're not pushing this heavy rack around all the time. Right. And so we're all about like optimizing your warehouse and making sure if you do have those labor shortages, we're gonna make you, we're gonna increase your efficiency across the board.
And it really does, like I was talking about like, people are happy to use them too. Cause it makes their life easier. Like I was talking about, there's a picture on there, right? I was with a customer a couple months ago and he's like, Matt, you know, I can't tell you how many times with our old system, I would be the end of the day, I'm tied or cognitive recognition is out the door. Cause I've been walking around for 10 hours and I've gone to aisle one instead of I L 10, he's like, I've never made that mistake with your system. It just leads me there. So I don't have to worry. It makes my job easier at the end of the day. I mean, we've all done this, right, right. Sure. The end of the day, you trying to crank something out and you're like, oh, I just went to the wrong place. Or you know, something
It's, it's human. We all certainly have done that. And these folks are working. Harders that there's more and more demand on what they do. And one thing, and Greg, I'll get you to touch on, on this as well. But what I love you speaking to there is that employee experience, right? How can we take better care of our teams? How can we put them in better say, um, more productive, but more, also more, uh, rewarding and fulfilling that Greg has spoken to. How can we really level on them, uh, for all that they do for, for industry and our organizations, Greg, your thoughts,
Uh, immediately what came to mind was personal shopper, right? Oh, you need this, let's go over here. I'll show you where it is. Right. And then it carries it around for you. Right. While you go on the next thing, I, that could actually be a little bit of fun. I mean, I have done some picking in a warehouse and believe me, it's not the most rewarding job. Right. But man, something like that where I could go, oh, there it is.
Carry
That around for me
On, well now I gotta, I gotta circle back on something with you. Uh, Matt, maybe we're gonna have to have Ms. Fitzgerald, your mother own because if all that stuff, isn't cool. And, and isn't, isn't good for, you know, our teams, employees, folks coming into industry folks already here. I mean, you make quite a case, Sarah. She she's still what
She might now. I think she, she box at the, uh, the word robot and I think that's common for a lot of people in industry. They hear robot and they think like loss of jobs, but that's not the case. And that's why we're six river systems. We're not six river robotics because we're building a system that really optimizes the whole workflow. Robot is definitely the face where the most associates use and you're involved with that every day. But it's our whole system that we're trying to make things easier and faster for people to do their jobs.
I love that. You know, Greg, we have, uh, interviewed quite a few people from six river systems over the years, right? Yeah. Going back a couple years now, that's the first time I've heard a team member mention what Matt just did is there's a reason we're not six river robots. Oh,
Oh, oh yeah.
There's a, there's a reason we're not six river robots. We're six river systems. That's, that's an important distinction. Right?
I, I think it is because first of all, the, the precise use case Matt, you described includes a human being, right? What it, what it isn't doing is replacing the human being. What it is doing is augmenting the human being. And I, I, it creates a safety barrier, right. By not by not having them wandering around in a days, it in, in the distribution center or fulfillment center or whatever. Um, but also in carrying those objects as, as they move throughout the warehouse as well. So I think that's, I mean, that's an important thing to acknowledge your mom surely could not argue with that. Right? Yeah. And by the way, I would never encourage putting someone's on this show. Cause I have a feeling she could kick all of our butts.
Right. Well, you know what, we'll have
To, she had us all convinced. Yeah. You know what? Robot robots are a bad thing.
We'll have to pin that for later. Uh, Matt. Um, but regardless, I'm so glad you shared that. Um, I'm gonna circle back on a couple things here. See, y'all got, uh, cool events coming up. We're gonna talk about that in just a minute, Matt. Um, Mohe says, I agree with you, Greg, you can't pay these kids enough for the triple D jobs, right? Uh, dark dirty and dangerous, right? Greg.
Yep.
Robots bring in more business so that they can do more value added intellectual jobs as a human. It's a great point. Nailed that Mohe. Uh, and I wanna, uh, I completely butchered T squared's comment a second ago. He shared what that this abbreviation meant. That's
He must be gen Z and you don't speak gen Z.
Well, maybe not. I'm working on that fluency, but this is a great point. He makes, because while cross-functional is a must and it's valuable as he, as he, uh, mentions it's grossly grossly lacking with respect to the need for upskilling, right. It's not the same thing. It's two different things. Yep. Uh, we're talking about upskilling when, uh, you know, you, you've got a technology, an automation solution that gets implemented into a facility, the employees naturally don't just cross train on different things. They've gotta learn new skills and, and so be upskilled. And that's where some of the value is that we're all speaking to. So thank you T squared. Yes. W RT with respect to lesson it. Okay. So Matt,
This is like duo link go live. Right? Right. I wanna learn gen Z.
Yeah. Seriously. Um, but great point T squared. So Matt, uh, I think we've shared what six river systems does. And again, I love that. Um, your comment there, just not robotics, its systems is such an important point. Um, let's talk about mode Mox, as you know, we've been, uh, Greg numerous times. We've broadcast there. The last time they were in, in Atlanta officially in 2020. Uh it's. It's been, um,
Right before the world shut down really.
Right. Really it's been described. I can't remember who I got this from Greg and Matt, but someone shared that it was the biggest supply chain tread show in the Western hemisphere, which kind of kinda evokes circus, you know, PT Barnham in my mind. I don't know. But big show, lot of cool things going on, some of the best, um, uh, demonstration, not even boost boost of don't do it justice. There's like, they're like
Many factories and many warehouses. Yeah.
So six river systems are gonna be there. Matt, tell us about some of y'all's approach for this go round.
Yeah, absolutely. So we're, we'll be there. We're in booth 8, 8, 3, 2. Just gotta make sure my notes are right. If joting that down. I don't wanna mess that one up, but the whole system I talked about, we call it our fulfillment execution system. And we're gonna be demoing that we have a nice setup where you can walk through a hand guided tour where we're gonna show you all the things about how we can improve the efficiency work with our robot, our AMR named Chuck, and actually see it in operation and all the things we, we like to really add value to all the walls, the four walls of the, a warehouse, and we have a pack station. So we should be showing out, packing out things like the whole way we wanna add value. But one of the things I wanna highlight and I'd invite everybody to come to is we have a competition too. We have a, uh, what's called pick to win and we have two real aisles and you go head to head so we can set you up Scott and Greg, head to head, and we have a leaderboard and everything, your name goes up in lights. Love it. It's the faster picker with Chuck, you know? And that, that really draws people in, gets them excited. And it gives you rapid hands on experience with our technology. So you can try it out.
Matt, could you put two chucks together to work and compete against like two humans? It be like that John Henry thing, right?
Yeah. So to clarify again, for the three people that may not know this, but the bots at six river systems are known as Chuck, right? That, that, so when we're talking about Chuck, we're talking about, uh, the bots component of their, um, of their solution. Um, Matt, I don't know whoever came up with that, just pick the wind concept mod ex, but man love is so cool. You got that, that, that competitive, um, spirit, you know, I felt folks, whoever whoever's on top of that leaderboard, it's gonna be like watching the lead board at, at the masters coming up, uh, in what April, you know, they're gonna be protecting that leadership status, but Matt really cool. And we've gotta link by the way, we dropped the link where you can learn more about me, the six river systems team at Moak. You'll find that in the comments, Greg, um, maybe me and you can pick a time and show up and see who can, who can duke it out.
We should check that out. You know, the, that, uh, international affairs and business conference is
That,
But maybe there's a day,
Uh, pick the win man. Come off
First. It might be Monday
We'll we'll double check that.
What day does mod start? Because, um, Matt, I would do anything to go head to head with Scott Luton.
I knew you would next Monday. It starts.
Is it OK? Yeah.
Yeah.
Thursday that out and folks click on the link, uh, to learn more about not just pick the win, but everything else that, uh, Matt, the team have got going at mod ex Greg, that's not all. And the words of the infamous Ron Poe love that guy. Right? Um, Matt y'all are doing something with project vert on March 30th, a really cool tour, networking session, adult beverages, I think are involved. Tell me more about that.
Yeah. So to build off of what you talked about. So our robot is like a, it's a cart that has a scanner and a screen on and everything else. And you, you get to try during pick to win and we'll set up Greg and Scott, should they wanna compete against each other? And that's, that's, it's a trade show demo. It gets you hands on. It gets you excited about it, but we're doing a tour of one of our actual customers at Atlanta project for, and you could actually go see our product in our solution in action. Cause nothing beats it in context, right? Like, cause you're you see this world bought in a trade show booth it's compelling, but how does that work in my warehouse? How does that add value? Well, you can take us up on it and join us on March 30th and go to project vert and see it, ask questions of the folks there, ask questions of our team, meet some new peers in the industry and we're gonna have a nice like networking and happy hour after the event. So it's a really great one to put technology in context, to think about how it might add value.
I love that. And look here, Jose says I am in. I am so in Jose says I, okay, I'm gonna added the, so Greg, your thought about the project vert tour.
I love that idea. I, if I recall correctly, project vert is a, uh, e-com fulfill three PL for lack of a better term, right? Yeah. So I mean, if you wanna see how your order gets picked, when you buy it on Shopify or a website or whatever, I mean, this is a great example of how it really, really happens. So I think that would be enlightening for a lot of folks. And um, maybe Matt just saying, invite your mom.
Yeah.
Nice. Oh Ms. Fitzgerald. Hey, we're not picking on you. Uh, we love how,
I mean, I think it, it might be good because maybe so I folks in project vert can convince her if you can't, that people are not losing their jobs, right?
Yes. I love it. I, uh, uh, so Ms. Fitzgerald, wherever you are, the supply chain now team wishes you, nothing but the best. And we appreciate all that you've done, uh, raising. Yeah.
Seen the goodness in action,
Right? That's right. Um, okay. Really quick. Uh, I wanted to add T squared. He's a proud gen X. Oh, he's
One of us.
Yeah, that's right. He is a gen Xer. I wanted to make that really clear.
Well, he's a highly educated one because he also speaks gen Z.
Right? So he's,
He's multilingual like this
Sylvia is a big fan of, uh, the upskilling conversation, including what Ts scored shared. And I want to add this here from Mohe. So he's speaking right to you. Uh, Matt, he says, Matt, I want to develop a mixed integer linear programming model with my kid before she graduates high school. What are some of the thoughts, goals, objective functions, and constraints. I should pass to her so we can optimize and simulate warehouse operations. Now, Matt, I don't wanna put you on the spot. Uh, if you you're more than welcome that, that that's above my pay grade. You're more than welcome to connect with Mohe after, uh, today's session. But is there anything you'd like to share with Mohe there?
Uh, yeah, it's a, it's a great question. Um, I think some things you wanna figure out is like, what is your, your designed rates? What are you looking to get for a throughput? How big is the area that you're gonna be operating in? Are you gonna have more, how many, like in our system, how many robots we have, we have a whole solution team that goes in, it says customers like we wanna solve this problem. We wanna automate our process. And we go in and we ask all these questions and like, how big is the robot or the, um, the solution that you're coming up with in regards to the aisle widths and traffic flow and congestion. So there's a number of things there, and I'm happy to connect I'm on LinkedIn. If you wanna share some notes back and forth, I love that. You're thinking about having your child learn more about this stuff and that's, it's wonderful.
Agreed, Matt, Hey really quick, Greg, I'll throw over you for your, one of your last comments before we make sure folks not gonna connect with Matt, but, uh, what Matt's speaking to there is at least part of what I heard is it's not a, you know, unpack the solution, add the same box, same, you know, same thing, standard plugging in. And, and this is how it works. Lots of different levers, lots of things considered, or truly, you know, customize, uh, a solution that is the best fit for that specific operations part of what I heard there. But Greg, your thoughts.
Yeah. I think you, you know, you have to consider what your layout layout is. I think a lot of companies spend a lot of time focusing on the industrial engineering aspect of a manual facility, right. And then that can either be efficient or inefficient depending on how humans interact with it. When you have robotics interacting with it, it's a completely different scenario. And, and I think, you know, that's one of the things you have to think about is you can actually take robots, uh, you know, work. We, we know a lot about six river. So, uh, and I've worked with other robotics companies where you can take a sub-optimal environment and still be highly efficient with robots cuz they don't get tired. They can move fast when they know it's safe to do so that sort of thing. And um, so there's, you know, there are all kinds of, of ways to, to uh, attack this problem.
And, and I just like to say one more thing and that is I've met Mo's daughter. Um, and first of all, the whole family is full of geniuses. His wife is also a PhD candidate and his daughter is, uh, unbelievably intellectual and you can just see it in her eyes. We were having a conversation in a, um, an kind of an incubator space that had Makerspace in it and you can just see her processing, everything was, she was seeing and being said at the same time. Um, so Matt, I'm just gonna tell you, if you get in a conversation with him, be careful and bring a scientist.
I love that. Um, and I also love what going back to your fronting of your comments there, Greg it's, it's not, um, you know, you have an opportunity not only to automate, but also to optimize right. The operations and the processes and the layout as it were. So, um, all right, Matt really enjoyed your time with us here today. I, I love the stories you brought. Uh, of course we love to, um, talking, uh, about Ms. Fitzgerald, uh, and, and her take on industry who knows. Well, we, we may have to revisit that and have her own. I think that'd be really cool, but you know, I know we had a little fun with that, but I think there is there, there are a lot of folks I believe that are still kind of breaking through some of the, uh, some of the thinking that, that we've talked through and then kind of how they perceive technology, how they perceive yep. You know, the robots are coming and that kind of stuff. But, um, we're making progress uh, and I think Greg, as I, as I, as we go back mentally through all these conversations we're having, you can almost see it tangly being made, uh, out, across industry. But Matt, I know you've welcomed a post show conversations, cup of coffee and reusable cups and, and, and other things and, and no drive-throughs, but, uh, can connect with you the six river systems team, Matt.
Sure. I I'd love to, uh, out, please reach out to me on LinkedIn. Uh, you'll me there just under Fitzgerald. That's six river systems. It'll be a quick search. And then as always, you can find us all through our website and we were talking about Mox there. And if you go to our webpage, we've got a link there that you could sign up for a meeting or sign up for project Fe. So we'll see you out there in the, uh, the Internet's and then Wes see in person that mod next week.
Awesome. And Matt, just so you know, and, and, and all of our listeners know we've got those links to Mo X. We've got the links to the project vert tour. We've got the links to Matt, so you can do one click away from connecting with him out on LinkedIn, Matt, a truly a pleasure to have you with us here today. Uh, kidding aside, give your family our best regards. That's why we're here standing on the shoulders of those giants. And we look forward to connecting with, with you hopefully next week here at mod.
Be awesome. Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. This is a fun time. You
Be thanks so much, Matt.
Good Intel.
Thanks
Man. I loved it. Uh, really? Yeah. Um, good stuff there. Very Frank conversations and Mohe. I love your que I love what you're doing. I, and to echo what Matt and Greg are saying, um, you know, how you're working alongside your daughter, um, to really open, you know, continuing to open up, um, you know, areas of opportunity and ideas and passions of what maybe she wants to accomplish in her career. So I love that Mohe. Um, Greg really quick. I want to pop this back up. Um, cause I've got a link now. Uh, big thanks again to, uh, Amanda Chantel and Catherine folks who want to invite you to join us. Are this, this really open Frank, uh, facilitation, uh, session. If you care, if, if, if you wanna get involved and find a way to take action to help those in Ukraine, join us this Wednesday at 3:00 PM for our leveraging logistics for Ukraine session. And we're gonna drop that link in the chat as well. Um, but Greg, going back to Matt, the Gerald and six river systems, uh, you know, I really enjoy when you meet a new team member for an organization you're familiar with. Right. And you think, you know, 'em right. And then you learn a couple of new things. Uh, Matt brought it today, huh?
Yeah. I think you get, it's really interesting to get, uh, broad perspectives even from within an organization, right. Uh, though there are some really significant similar themes. I think Matt, um, he enunciated what their, their greater purpose is, uh, in a different way than we've heard before. And it, I'm sure it resonated with people that, you know, we haven't, or they haven't resonated with before. So, um, you know, that's a key part of having a diversity of, of people within a company. And that's why you want those different points of views and all of those different life learnings and, and, um, you know, ethnicities and genders and all of that sort of thing, because we've seen all of that here with six river, we've seen, uh, a really broad cross section of who works with that team and what they all bring to this is a singular purpose, which is clear, but different perspectives on that purpose, which I think are really, really valuable.
Agreed, agreed. Look forward to our next conversation. The big thanks to Matt Fitzgerald and the six river systems team for joining us here today, pick the win Mox. That's gonna be a lot of fun. That's gonna be a lot of fun. I can see a lot of competitive people including this guy right here, this guy, a com plenty of competitive people that I can be signing up and wanting to win and, and be at the top of that leader board. Right?
Oh, unquestionably. I have no, I have no question. You know, you and I may be close in, in score, but somebody who actually does this for a living is gonna go in there and just smoke everyone who thinks they're a supply chain guru.
Right. So I don't know if Matt can hear us since six order team can hear us, but how cool would it be to have like a championship built, like, like whole Hogan had, or Rick flair had to the winner, we'll see if can update it, but regardless, y'all check
Out. I guarantee you, they have some momentum,
They got something, they got some you're probably, you're probably not gonna win a Chuck.
I was gonna say, you could win a little bitty
Chuck.
It's like winning an Oscar each year. Right? You like me,
You really, really like, like me. Well, Hey folks, hopefully y'all have enjoyed this conversation as much as Greg and I have had here today with, uh, uh, great to have all of y'all love the, the commentary. Yep. Love the observations. Uh, of course we learned that, uh, Ts squared is a proud fellow gen Xer. Yeah. That was much more, we are clearly. Right, right. I mean, and eloquent, which is, uh, which I didn't need to know, but I appreciate, but Hey, it's about taking action. Uh, we dropped a ton of links, different ways you can get involved from events and conferences like Greg speaking at, uh, Greg and Kevin next week to Mox to the facility tours that yeah. Of friends at six river systems are hosting. That's really cool to the humanitarian stuff. Right? Cause supply chain makes it happen. We're in a unique position to really meet a very intense need.
So hopefully some folks will join us this Wednesday as we kind of just figure out how we can, where wherever we are in our walk of life, how we can help, uh, folks in need in Ukraine and elsewhere. Um, Greg, always a pleasure. Likewise, big, thanks to you joining us here today, folks, whatever you do, Hey, whatever you do, whatever you act on something maybe you heard here today, take action. You gotta do good. Give forward. Be the change that's needed. And on that note, we see next time, right back here at supply chain. Thanks everybody.
Thanks for being a part of our supply chain. Now community check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to supply chain. Now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on supply chain. Now.
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