It's time for supply chain. Now broadcasting live from the supply chain capital of the country, Atlanta, Georgia, heard around the world. Supply chain now spotlights the best in all things. Supply chain, the people, the technologies, the best practices and the critical issues of the day. And now here are your hosts.
Hey, good afternoon, Scott Luton. Greg white with year on supply chain. Now welcome to today's live stream. It's all about supply chain buzz or Greg and I are going to be tackling some of the biggest developments and news that have taken place in recent days. Uh, Greg folks are, stay tuned as we look to increase their supply chain IQ, right?
They should. Some of these developments are in recent hours. Uh, I think moving this to noon while it's a little bit later in the day for folks, um, across the pond and around the world. Mmm. We get a lot more of the updated that released today kind of news. So stay tuned.
Agreed. And it's nice not to be able to, not to have to get up at 4:00 AM Eastern also that. But Hey to our audience, we're still experimenting with the timeframe. So feel free to submit your feedback to us and let us know what you prefer. Alright, so Greg, what we're going to do as we always do is talk about this day in history, right? Yeah. To do that. Let's bring up a little graphic here. Uh, Greg, take a wild guess. What do you think that that contraption does?
So I have a bit of an advantage here because in college one of my jobs was mowing greens at a golf course. And so that is a real type mower. Also, my great grandparents made me mow their front yard where they real type mower. That is a really fancy and advanced one.
Well, so what you're looking at, so on this date, May 18th, 1830, Edwin budding, uh, formed an agreement to have his invention. The lawnmower manufactured, uh, get this budding was an engineer from Eastern Titan Stroud and Southern England had to look that up. Uh, he got the idea for a lawnmower after touring a cloth mill, right? A manufacturing site and, and watching a series of Clippers come over the top of the cloth and kind of take some of the burrs, right? Some of the lesser quality stuff. So this first lawnmower was pushed from behind, but also if you can tell there it could be pooled. So I guess maybe if you didn't cut your lawn for a month or two and you need, you might need two folks to push it and pull it as it was doing its business, uh, grass clippings rather than grass clippings. Like most models are, would be gathered in the back. It was collected on the front end. Um, so I'll tell you what, when I read this article, and again, this is May 18th, 1830, uh, it reminded me of where I spent most of my time on this snapper rear engine rider, which in the eighties I was on that thing more off, more oftentimes on Saturdays, right. As a preteen driver, only hit six trees and took out two cats. So that wasn't too bad. Greg,
I got to tell you that, that that is a really stark realization that the real mower was invented in 1830 and my great grandparents were still using one in the 1970s
not, and not nearly this sophisticated. And they still exist. The plain old push kind still exists to this day. A really interesting, I wonder what people did to clip their lawn before that.
No idea. Goats notes maybe. Alright. So, uh, one of the, when I say low to, uh, Richard own LinkedIn is saying snapper is the pride of McDonogh Georgia. That's right. They had a big, big site there for a number of years. Wow. Um, good stuff there. All right, so let's keep driving. Um, well first off, Greg, what did you, you know, when you got your first house, what did you cut the grass with? What model? Do you remember?
First house? Yeah. Um, I borrowed my neighbor's lawn. Boy, do you remember that brand? I assume it's still out there because my, I remember feeling like we were rich when my mother finally bought a lawn boy, which is kinda like the Kirby of lawnmowers. Nice. Um, so, okay. I don't recall if we bought a lawn boy, but I remember that we borrowed one for sure.
Hey, learn something new every day. And hello? Susan Moody, who also joined us on the LinkedIn feed. Uh, all right, so on this day in history, 1953, May 18th, 1953, Jackie Cochran became the first female to break the sound barrier. So you take a wild guess, uh, in terms of miles per hour, what's the sound? What's breaking the sound barrier require Greg? 714 miles an hour. Wow, that is a great guest. So in case you're curious, the speed of sound in dry air at about 68 degrees is 767 miles per hour.
I've been missing, I've been misunderestimated it
for years. So a pioneer of women's aviation and really a great business leader. Jackie Cochran flew an F 86 saber three own loan from Canada to break the record or break the barrier. Uh, in fact, the U S government refused to lend Jackie Cochran an aircraft to do it, which I found interesting. Um, history shows, but you know, Jackie Cochran wasn't just an incredible pioneer in women's aviation. She was also an outstanding business leader. The AP Gregg named her woman of the year in business two consecutive years, 53 and 50. Wow. It's been told that whatever she, with the exception of one election for Congress, which was a nail biter, she was successful in just about anything she tried. Do we know what her business was? I'm curious, I'm really curious. From my cursory research, it was a retail and specifically I think cosmetics. She was involved in, in growing cosmetics firms.
But I think, wow, that probably doesn't do it justice. How, how w was she a military pilot? I'm curious, how do you get qualified to fly a jet if you're not a military pilot? Greg? It's the three, right? We're going to have to offer him the rest of the story. Maybe it takes however it was. You can bet in those days you had to fund that training herself. That's right. That's right. Uh, it is. And by the way, that snapshot there to the left for folks who are tuned in where they can see the live stream, that's, that's Chuck Yeager who was the first male of course, to break the sound barrier. So what a great team there. Uh, want to give a quick shout out to Kathy Maura Robertson. Hello. Kathy is tuned in I think via YouTube, I'm sure between research and other projects. Kathy hit a home run on the vet Lana breakout session that KPMG hosted last week on the future supply chain, by the way. So good stuff there Cathy. All right, so Greg, let's talk about what this day is across the world, right. May 18th, Victoria Day in Canada, right. Our friends to the North Baltic fleet day in Russia, victory day in Sri Lanka. Uh, internationally is world AIDS vaccine day and a lot, lot of May 10th was a busy busy day across the world. Yeah, no kidding.
We've got Patrick Kelly is tuned in via LinkedIn live. Hello Patrick. Looking forward to reconnecting with you and, uh, the produce podcast. I get some, some of those notifications just about every day as they release new episodes. Good stuff there. Um, alright, so, so Greg, with all that said, I want to dive into the buzz, huh? Yeah, let's do it. All right. As usual, when we dive into the buzz and we talk about supply chain, what are we going to talk about? Toilet paper is like ideas. Everybody's got some, um, and in most cases more than they need. Uh, so this is from a fortune article and I know toilet paper probably sounds like old hat to us in the supply chain trade, but some interesting, an interesting look back and an interesting perspective from some experts and observers in supply chain. So, um, and I think it also, uh, produces an interesting perspective that we as supply chain professionals need to think about. But let's talk about the story first. Mmm. On March 13th, 2020
sales were up 734% over the same day last year. Does anyone know what happened a day or two earlier? Uh, prior to March 13, 2020 I see. Who announced that Corona virus was a global pandemic and Scott, you and I and the supply chain now team, we were still at mode X, um, a trade show, the probably the last trade show, last physical trade show actually done. Um, and I recall on the drive home having the discussion should we go get stuff? Hmm. At that point. But in any case, that was a huge, uh, uplift and about, uh, according to the article, about 40% of the increase is attributable. Two additional home use. And that's relevant based on going to a point that we'll talk about here in just a few minutes. By March 23rd, 70% of us grocery stores were out of stock. Um, and the article further goes to the article author, gin [inaudible].
Um, I think you nailed it. Something like that. Yeah. So I'm sorry, Jen. Um, the perception that there is a shortage later becomes a reality and that's, that really goes to a lot of what we're experiencing. Um, some, you know, I think what we're seeing is that recovery has been slow because of the level of panic demand overall up until about may two is still 75% higher then then normal demand for the same period from March 13th to May 2nd in the past year or actually on average. So that even considered some other peaks in demand as well. The argument in the fortune article is that supply chain is broken in and it's difficult to recover and I think there are some issues of course in how to understand and communicate that demand backup stream. But I think that goes to the farther discussion, and this is switching to opinion here, but also ex also experience.
Mmm. That one people weren't running out of paper and I don't, I know a lot of people and I don't know anyone who's out of toilet paper, right. The stores are out of toilet paper. [inaudible] one of the assertions made in the article is that the demand, the demand was shifted forward by people hoarding and panic buying [inaudible] um, I think it's arguable that that's the case. Some people have argued that, um, it was because of the fact that people weren't going to work and, and um, and having, there's a really interesting euphemism that the industry uses. It's just that I want to make sure that I capture it. I'm sorry I didn't write that down, but, um,
there you go. Uh, so I think that there's a video in the article from, from fortune magazine. Yes. That's probably what we're hearing. Yeah. Okay. Everyone's got to have video these days.
That's good. If you want to hear from the author, not a supply chain expert, but if you want to hear from the, the journalist who made the article, it's in, it's in the article there. But in any case, Mmm. The uptick in demand is only attributable by about 40% to people being home instead of being in, uh, at work in restaurants or out in public elsewhere. So still the demand was significant. And I think this goes to the further point that, and this is something we need to really strongly consider as supply chain professionals and that is that the consumer is part of the supply chain. And in fact the supply chain begins and at this point ends
the consumer. So if we, as we talk about circular economy and we talk about demand, we need to think about the consumer as part of the supply chain.
[inaudible] by doing that, what we'll recognize is it goes to a further supplemental article that um, is in another, another one that I looked at this morning that says the whiplash effect is about to come home and as production catches up, there will be a glut, a surplus of toilet paper in the stores relatively shortly. Some experts, supply chain experts from Syracuse and South Florida both, um, have have stated that as well in an, in another article. So yeah, if we recognize that consumers are part of the supply chain, we recognize that while there is a shortage in the marketplace, there is not a toilet paper shortage unless some, unless there is a massive people who are not reporting their inability to have or hold toilet paper. Because I can tell you there's not a shortage in our household. I mean it's not like we're hoarding, right. But, but it is hard for the supply chain to keep up and catch up right now.
Right. Yeah. Good stuff there. Um, in fact, you know, uh, clay, the dog is one of our quarterbacks. He's behind the scenes as well as Amanda, our CMO. And, and Amanda just shared with me that, uh, while we were at mode X, she had just placed an order for TP to be delivered. So as we were driving home and thinking about supplies, fortunately our forecast at the Luton residents was dead on the money. So, and we, and we refused to hoard. In fact, uh, kidding aside, I think a mandate was a month later, maybe three weeks later, before we needed to our next order, which just enough, right? It wasn't multiple packages. We tried not to give in, um, Hey, real quick, want to say hello to a bear? 20 2014 who's tuned in via, uh, uh, Twitter, I believe also Benjamin gold claiming a regular listener here on the bus as well as one of our fierce competitors own supply chain trivia, which we'll talk about that at the end of today's show. And Muhammad Hassan is tuned in via LinkedIn's live. So great to have you. So a competitor on trivia. I think you're right. I think, I think, uh, you know, we've got a,
I know that that's happening.
We have a trial of trial of trivia super competitors for sure. Yeah. Alright, so let's keep driving here. We're going to dive into the second story. And Greg, you didn't have anything to say before we leave this first one about the Dallas Cowboys fan and the graphic. I am surprised that we didn't get a Greg white witticism on that.
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even notice that you even mentioned that pre show and I did not notice that. That was like a Dallas hat.
So I know our friend Kevin Taylor
Taylor, who we've already talked to, so we've already had the chance today to give him for, well, for being a Cowboys and an a and M Aggies fan.
That's right. That's right. All right, so we'll keep driving. Yeah, we won't, we won't step on any of Kevin's toes. Hello to Pierre and Manish, uh, who are both tuned in via LinkedIn as well. All right. So moving right along into our second story. So, um, you know, Greg of course has a lot a lot of talk around reassuring and near showing manufacturer as a result of the pandemic environment. Lot of moving pieces there. Um, you know, however, as you and I both know, a lot of folks in the supply chain industry understand that it's not quite that simple, right? Global supply chain is very complex. So this story here that comes to us from CNN business, uh, shed some light on one such complex supply chain and that is generic drugs. So check this out. So for starters, here in the U S 90% of all subs prescriptions are filled by generic drugs, right? And for good reason, the biggest reason perhaps is the average 80 to 85% price break between generic and branded drugs. Right, right. But did you know that one in three generic pills taken by Americans is produced by generic pharma manufacturers in India? Did you know that? I didn't know that. Um, you knew that Greg, Greg,
I worked with Henry shine when I started a previous company. So I'm pretty familiar with the dynamics of that supply chain. We'll get into that. Yes, I can hear
well as usual, Greg is, uh, three steps ahead of me, which, uh, I've used to by now. Alright. I'm sorry. No, no, no. So if you move, let, let's move a little bit further upstream in the generic drug supply chain, you're going to find that India gets about 68% of its raw materials in this case API APIs from China. And, and you know, if we all, there's probably a short list of acronyms that we all are learning, whether you're in supply chain or consumers through this pandemic environment and an API is on that list, right? Active pharmaceutical ingredients, essentially foundational ingredients of, of any medicine. That's right. Absolutely. Basically the raw materials used to make pharmaceuticals. So this year it's been really challenging to predict, uh, protect that flow of API, which are critical to making these drugs from China into India. Consider this. So of course in January, China entered a lockdown, uh, many Indian firms and manufacturers are really scrambling.
In fact, I saw reports where they're going into local markets and paying a huge price for a smaller batch just to keep these production lines going in March. As China opened back up, the challenge has shifted less about supply and really more about getting it through all of these local border shut downs. Right? It became more of a logistics issue. In fact, I think it's moved over land to India from China, right? It does not go on the ocean. So API imports into India from China were down some 40% in March according to Indian government officials. So the question is, and we talked about this and I think the last couple buzzes, right? As we're trying to navigate through what really should be reassured versus this mantra that may not be well grounded and well reconnected. You can't move everything back to the States. So it's a great initiative.
It really is. But we need to temperate with some reality. That's fine, frankly, tempering it with that reality will allow us to be more effective at making as much of it as we possibly can happened. Great point. You gotta be realistic about this. And, and, and you, you can't, uh, do your homework, right? But there's a lot of folks that are weighing in without perhaps, I'm not making any accusations, but perhaps don't have a full understanding of global, uh, complex supply chains and why they're overseas. And, and that's not a, that's just a very generic comment. So, so what do we do from here with all of these lessons learned and what's come to the surface? So here's two things. So in India, uh, let's see here in India, you know, back during the 2008, Beijing Olympics, you know, the Chinese government wanted, uh, to create that blue skies initiative as we had all these world visitors flock to Beijing.
So they shut down a lot of these API manufacturers and lots of other industry for three weeks. So naturally back in 2008, that Indian manufacturing firms scrambling, right? And, and there was a lot of talk at the time of creating what they called a mega pharma park, right? To help prevent these, these massive changes and really repercussions from them. Well that idea was largely shelved of lack of investment or perhaps lack of investment interest. Well, that ad is back on the table because of these recent challenges they've had and in fact, so much so that at one point $3 billion package has been introduced in, uh, via the Indian government to make this mega pharma park happen. So we don't have time to go into all the details, but it really, it'll limit their dependence on going overseas or going to other countries for the API ingredients.
Wow. So that's India, right? We'll see. We'll keep our finger on the pulse of that. We'll see how that plays out and see if, you know, ground is broken on this, this mega park here in the States. A little different. Uh, on March 19th group of members in the U S Congress introduced the quote protecting our pharmaceutical supply chain from China, act in quote, um, it calls from China. So get this and take a guess for what year. So it calls for the elimination of API and finished drug purchases from China by what year? Take a wild guess.
I just did an article around some of this. I don't recall. I don't recall the specific year, but it's really soon. Like 20, 23 or something.
Yes, you're right. The 20, 23 is less than three years from now. Now. Um, that's just about impossible. I mean, let's just face it and plus to your point that you've stated earlier shows, do you really want the government moving that fast? Because you don't, that's an excellent point. Yeah, that's right. You don't, you're not really sure of all the repercussions, but, um, let's say they're successful in 10 years. Let's, let's triple that, right? Let's say they're successful in 10 years. I got to ask what's going to replace the inexpensive drugs so many Americans were loud that are on fixed incomes and it has that been, you know, what's going to be the substitute for that? Uh, and I, I don't want to sound naive cause there's absolutely some things we can do to bring some of these, these critical, um, uh, uh, drugs back in and resource certain elements. But you know, they're one of the biggest reasons why a lot of a lot of supply chains are global in nature is because some of the price gains, right, Greg?
Indeed. I mean if you look at a couple of things, one, if, if we could do it here too cheaper, we would be. And in fact, a lot of our pharmaceutical production was done in Puerto Rico for many, many years. The big pharma companies had, um, R and D and production facilities in Puerto Rico, which stand completely idle now. So there's an opportunity potentially to bring that back. But even then in Puerto Rico must have felt like the, I know there were government incentives and things like that, but we must've felt like the labor was expensive to do that. Yeah. But yeah, it is highly, um,
cost driven. One of the other dynamics that we've got to think about is it's not just big farm of being greedy. I'm not going to forgive them. Um, but it isn't solely that. The other thing that I learned from working with Henry Schein is that the reason that goods are so a portion of the reason that goods are so expensive in the States is because we have to provide them to Africa and South America and other third world portions of, of the planet in at a price that they can afford. Because the pharma companies actually care about saving lives. And in fact, in some countries there are government regulations as to how much you can charge for these things. So we, the North America, and in particularly the United States, we are subsidizing a lot of those countries getting lifesaving drugs by paying more here.
So we've got to think about that,
right? Yep. How do we reconcile that and you know, and so we're gonna keep our finger on the ball, uh, on the pulse here. And what's interesting is our third store, which we'll touch on just a second, is, is, um, you know, we're trying to give you the whole story here, right? Not one side but, but different examples, points and counterpoints because it's just not that easy the way and it's not black and white issue. But before we move into this third story, Greg, let's give a quick shout out. We've got some folks, uh, that are pinging us. We've got Stacy alderman, uh, Adelman, right from Illinois. Hello Stacey, great to have you here. I like your new, uh, avatar on Facebook. Uh, by the way, Stacy has done some incredible graphic design for the supply chain now team. So, uh, hope you and your family are doing well.
Stacy, great to have ya. Cool. Thank you. Uh, of course, one of our favorites that we wouldn't memory of having a buzz without memory, uh, of supply chain practitioner in South Africa. Great to have you here memory. Looking forward to reconnecting with you later this week. And we had one quick comment along these lines. Uh, or two quick comments. So Gerald, uh, Jill Jackson, who's own, uh, LinkedIn, uh, here says that's just not realistic. Think about the cost, profitability and which company. Great question. Which company wants to take the margin hit? Good question there, Gerald. And one more question from our friend Claudia, who will be on the live stream tomorrow with us along with Chuck easily with Georgia tech. Uh, she says, uh, pro, uh, pro pro fall. Brett befall. Thank you very much. Uh, Amanda. So this drug supply chain, most complex example of pharma reports, Bureau of investigative journalism. So, uh, I guess it'll be interesting to see what that very complex global supply chain for propofol and, and, and, and what decisions are made with that were to change where it source, where to change, where, you know, some of it productions made, I don't know, quality. We'll see. I wish I had more answers and questions. So let's not
wrap this without a couple of points. And one is, um, and I completely agree with it was a Gerald, I agree with that. Um, if they were willing to take the hit, they would have stayed in Puerto Rico when the initiatives went away. Right. Um, but the, the thing that we have to think about is it's not just not China, it's, it may be or reassuring. It may be near shoring, multiple sourcing, multiple sourcing is, is the solution. That's right. We should never ever, regardless of what that region of the world is, we should never ever rely on one country, one region of the world, one source for supply. Even if we do 80% of the demand in yeah. Some area of the world. And then split the rest of it among a couple of others. That's just prudent supply chain management. And there've been companies that have been doing that for years.
Not always in, in pharma, but generic has long been a sort of race to the bottom. Um, it, you know, first of all, we have to understand that generic goods don't exist. Generic drugs don't exist until the 20 or 25 years after a patent is issued for a drug. Hmm. So then it's a number of somewhere between op entrepreneurial and purely opportunistic companies who go and build this stuff on the cheap and then provide it to the marketplace to undercut. It's why we have, um, all of the OTC, so many of the OTC goods on the market as well. And also some of the prescription goods that are the generic brand. And that's why there are so many generic brands of various products on the marketplace. So we have to, we have to get people who are thinking longer term in that, in that generic industry, uh, as well. And we have to consider alternative sources. Memories, message makes me think of what's the potential of Africa. The cost of labor in Africa is low. There are a multitude of countries, so you don't wind up, I'm counting on a single country. Of course there are a lot of issues with some of the governments in those countries, but you pick, you pick the, the most, um, faithful players and in that space and start there. South America or central America as well. Right.
You know, we had, we had this part of the report somewhere and maybe Malcolm can can rescue me here, but some 90% of all, um, well that, but um, the, the levels of um, um, generic like acetaminophen, uh, the amount, the sheer amount of, of uh, Chinese produced pharmaceuticals, not even talking about the India and the pastor there come direct from China. I mean we're talking 70, 80, but 90% of some of these very common drugs that we all lean on in various ways from headaches to other more serious conditions that require more, you know, regular medication. So, you know, again, it's not an easy thing. Uh, Greg, I can appreciate your, um, your medicine background here. I thought I didn't think of that when we were, we were pulling these stories together. So, um, alright, so let's keep driving and it says, Oh, hang on a sec, one more quick. Uh, so Surratt own LinkedIn says it is the best time to change the trend. Very interesting.
I was going to say, and it will happen. That's fine. It will undoubtedly happen in, in a lot of industries. But this one in particular, and as it turns out, we're about to talk about similar thing in other industries.
All right. Slow. You've got some interesting data on this, uh, manufacturing reassuring, uh, move and, and all the chatter as well as some, some really interesting survey insights related to that topic.
Right? Yeah. So a Thomas survey of 878 North American manufacturing and industrial sector pros said that 64% of manufacturers are, say, reassuring is likely after the pandemic. Mmm. Again, same type of issue, but not in a specific industry. And a lot of companies are, they recognize it, the differences in, um, some of the manufacturing and industrial industries that the, the economic dynamics that impact them are again, single sourcing, not, we're not going to belabor that point, but also the logistics, right. And the risk in the supply chain of getting goods from a single source far away where air freight is required to expedite. And ocean freight requires a larger amounts of provisional or safety stock. Um, because of the 30 to 60 day transit times from your supplier, it's a very complex supply chain. I don't know who's dealt with sourcing into China, but it's unbelievably complex and, um, you know, and it, it creates a lot of issues for those companies. So, um, a lot of companies are, are talking about moving to Mexico, but Mexico has its own difficulties because of various and sundry, arguably let's, this is the opinion of the industry mismanagement by the Mexican government between drugs and, and the, uh, epidemic or pandemic itself. Those concerns have have actually played out in the Makilah doors, which are the factories just over the border in Mexico that auto parts changed and an auto parts manufacturers have been using for years.
So, and, and, and we should probably think about when you mentioned, and, and, and greater central America and South America where they are and their efforts fighting the pandemic are a little bit different than what we're seeing in the States. I was reading an article over, um, over the weekend specifically talking about Brazil and Venezuela, uh, as well as some of the, some of the, um, measures that the Mexican government has instituted related to the automotive manufacturers and some of the parts coming into those plants and coming out to, uh, American OEM. So gosh, a lot of moving pieces. Right?
Yeah. And I think again, you have to consider near shoring as well. Um, I, I don't think that Gerald's point is any different in any industry than it is in pharmaceutical. It is that it's difficult to do this and it will take time. I mean, it took time for a lot of this production to go overseas. It seems like it happened overnight, but it didn't. Right. Um, but if we can at least get the goods nearer and in a friendlier, um, in a friendlier country, then we can certainly do it. I mean, uh, cloudy is home land. Argentina is, has a ton of really talented people. I don't just say that cause I've got family there but they've got a ton of really talented people and we already off shore or near shore, a lot of tech development to countries like Argentina and Chile. Mmm. And those are relatively stable democracies, right? Um, so and lawful society. So you, you know, you want to encourage that and enable entities like that at the same time that you also, um, create some sustainability in your supply chain. Um, I shouldn't say sustainable sourcing in your supply chain, right? You want to make sure that you've got options and that they are more reliable and friendlier options.
So, Hey, um, uh, I want to go back for a second cause memory touched on something, going back to pharmaceuticals that you agreed with where we talked about the potential of not, not reassuring that resort, not reassuring or nearshoring, but taking advantage of the great workforce in Africa and memory says that stable African countries need to be part of the solution to the production of generic drugs. Greg, your take
absolutely. I mean, what is the draw of China that the average worker makes between 10 and $14,000 a year? Right? It wouldn't even take that to sustain most countries. Now memory is in South Africa, which has a more robust economy, but, but there are other stable countries as she's talking about and there are also elements of her own population that could benefit from a wage that is much, much lower than that. And, and again, we have the opportunity on a massive continent, one of the biggest continents on the planet to, to spread the wealth and, and spread the risk across a multitude of countries. I don't know the count, but there are dozens of countries on the continent of Africa, so we wouldn't be reliant on us on just Kenya or just South Africa or Tanzania. Forgive me, whoever else exists
chimney for a lot, lot more, lot more country. This, right. Yeah. All right. So, uh, and I am trying, uh, to not bounce around too much on these comments, Greg. But it is, there's a lot of opinion and feedback on, uh, on these two stories that we're talking about. Um, before I read off a couple more comments. Greg, did you have any final remarks on story three here about, uh, the reassuring serving?
I don't think so. I think it's, you know, it's the, it's a similar story on a, on a different segment of the economy and, well, let me add this one point. I'm sorry. I am bouncing around so you don't, you don't have to take the blame. We have to figure out how to make this economical. Right? We all want change and some of us want to shout into the wind, flail it, flail at windmills like donkey healthy, um, to make change. But the truth is what we really need to be working on is what creates economical stability in terms of being able to do that. When we do that, we will solve the problem and not one moment sooner. Great point. It has to be economical all the way from the consumer all the way through the bottom line of a fortune 500 or 100 company.
Yep. All right. So, uh, you mentioned Claudia a couple of times, a regular, uh, live stream, uh, participant. She's going to be owned as a featured guest tomorrow. We really, and, and, and she's been featured, uh, in supply chain, that programming dating back to February when we were there, the reverse logistics association event in Vegas. So, uh, she weighs in on your comments there about, uh, uh, Argentina. Uh, she agrees, high level of literacy in, in the workforce there in Argentina, uh, bilingual, uh, and re bilingual. Sorry, I'm getting corrected here in studio German language. That's right. Hey, that's not, that's, that's very common, very common bilingual and reasonable time zones. And we've, what we've all known about the, when you go worldwide and global, global, how the times zones can, can be challenging to deal with. And the Claudia also agrees with memory about, we've got to make sure that the state that the specialist stable countries in Africa, uh, and we look for stability anywhere in the world, not just to pick on the ELNEC continent, but they should be part of the solution. For sure. It's a great point. Their memory and Claudia. Um, alright, so let's move ahead to, uh, Barb. Do you remember Barb? Barbara Sexton? Yep. Uh, we had a great followup conversation with Barb and she asked a good question last week. That's right. So in Greg, you may, uh, I'm not terribly familiar with, um, the tax, uh, uh, penalties that she's referring to, but she's, Barb asks, Hey, why the potential tax penalty to Apple if they move to India from China?
You know, I'm not as familiar. I'm not as familiar with that as one of the other vehicles that a lot of big tech, particularly tech companies use, which is called a double Irish Dutch sandwich. Um, for me it's very complex. The simple version is there are two companies in Ireland. One holds the IP, the other pays basically almost a hundred percent loyalty to that company, which alleviates tax two, uh, owed to the U S government. Then another company in the Netherlands is involved somehow, maybe even Bermuda is involved. And then the money comes back. There are literally trillions. Um, and just about five years ago, there were about $7 trillion waiting to be repatriated to the States. But because of our, the highest, I think, I think we're still the highest corporate tax in the world or one of the highest corporate taxes. Those companies were imploring the government to do something about it so that they, and they wanted to repatriate that money, but not at a 40% tax rate. I'm not sure if that's related to this somehow or if there's another one. Um, there's another tax. I'd have to look into that and see if India has some greater tax implications then China, maybe barbecue. Maybe we'll, maybe we should talk to Barb again this week, right.
Hey, world trade is the theme for today on the buzz. Uh, going back to, I think pharma Roche has been in Africa for a few years now as COO.
Yeah. Yeah. And that's right. I don't know who else. Um, but it's not, uh, it's, I, and maybe they're experimenting. I don't know what portion of their production is. I'd be interested to see what Kathy has to say on that. But, um, I think that's part of Roche's China plus one or China plus two, whatever strategy is to investigate that. And, and we have to do that prudently because as memory alludes to, there are stable governments in Africa and there are others that are not so stable.
Yup. All right, so as we wrap up this segment, we're going to,
but yeah, this has been a sec. We're gonna we're going to talk.
That's right. We're going to get commentary from Gerald Jackson from LinkedIn and I've got a great question from Benjamin. Greg will weigh in on that. We've, we've talked about a good bit here previously. So, so Gerald Jackson on LinkedIn says quote tech supply chains have looked at near shore options routinely to cut lead times and working capital. For example, Apple, HP, Dell, Microsoft, X-Box, constantly review options to get supply chains closer to the markets. Infrastructure seems to be a challenge. That's a great Gerald is, is bringing the heat today. Yeah, I have to get him to weigh in. It sounds like he is in the note.
Well, I'll tell you what we want to do. We want to involve him in whatever the potential solution is. So I don't know who Gerald Jackson is, but I'm telling you I want him on my team. Jackson makes it. I'm taking him first for kickball.
all right, so we're going to wrap on this question here and then we're going to move into a couple of quick observations from over the weekend. So Benjamin, our friend Bija, a clang ask will covert 19 push more robotic automation with firms that can't relocate but have to adapt with health conscious working conditions. Greg, I know you're salivating to take this. Go ahead.
I can hardly hold myself back. The answer is, um, I believe that it will and I believe that it should and I believe that if we had, have any opportunity to reassure what can be produced robotically, we need to, and we need to do it sooner than later. And that is because the largest, Mmm, they're not the largest in the workforce now, but the largest generation in the history of the planet is exiting the workforce at the pace of 10,008 actually much faster considering unemployment right now. But, um, but even just, um, organic exit. Um, if they were exiting at a relatively rapid rate and those sorts of hands on production jobs are not going to be done by the incoming generations. They want to work with technology. Furthermore, they need to be paid too much to compete with the $3 and 60 cents day, hour, hour that Chinese workers make 10,000 to $14,000 a year, as we said earlier.
So the only way for us to compete is with robotics. Wherever we can apply robotics. [inaudible] beautiful benefit of that, that I see is that that will cost not a single American job. Did we ever think we'd be saying that? No. Right. Did we ever think that audit, did we, I mean, think about how full circle we've come there. Automation is going to actually increase jobs, not decrease jobs because those jobs are going to go away. They're going to go to cheap labor markets like Africa or China or they're going to come back here as automated jobs and yeah, raise the, the wellbeing, uh, the safety as was just alluded to. And the job satisfaction of employees who will be working with monitoring, maintaining programming and, and interacting with those,
um, automation technologies
rather than doing the physical, menial, repetitive, right, dangerous work that technology will undertake in the future. Yep. All right, so shifting gears, and by the way, Gerald says, bring in the heat. He'll take it. He'll, he liked how we described he was on the money along with Kathy and Claudia, uh, and memory and you know, this is a, this is a very shrewd audience that tuned. Yeah, Benjamin. That's right. Alright, so let's shift gears as we wrap up today's edition. And we're going to do this at a higher altitude. You know, I am no secret of a fan of the wall street Journal's Saturday edition. You know, it's such a great, if you like, in the collect it mix of news from industry to, you know, living to, uh, investing to humans, human stories. It's just, it's got that, it's got something for everybody. So I look forward to getting the hard copy of this every Saturday.
So this past weekend there are three stories that got my attention, but we only have time for two. The third story was was a editorial on Michael Jordan's leadership approach, which was really a interesting story. We'll save for another time but up for, so the first story that really caught my eye and I really enjoyed reading was the end of the office. And Greg, notice there is no question at the end of that title of this article. Excellent point. So, uh, Dana, Dana Mattioli and Conrad Poots your do a remarkable job taking deep dive, you know, really across industry speaking with executives that are all determining whether and when to come back to the office, renewing really pricey office space or considering some really bold shifts into perhaps not coming back for, for example, we talked about this pre buzz Canadian it from open text plans to eliminate more than half of its 120 offices globally.
Now that's just one example that they, they spoke in this article, they spoke with manufacturers, they spoke with uh, consultants. They spoke with some of the, um, the real estate firms like the ward 10 X Richmond's of the world. Right. And it's really interesting to see a wide variety of takes. I want to get your take, but one observation and consideration that I would love to get everyone to kind of weigh in on if you're still with us, is think about let's say you're an open text manager or frontline supervisor and the world that you've lived in is, is, you know, coming into the office Monday through Friday and seeing your employees with that oddball accountability and being able to, to build that personal rapport in person in good times and in bad, all the different things that management that goes into management and then that office goes away and all of those responsibilities are still there. But you've got to do it remotely. This is going to be a fascinating time, uh, to see these organizations
that choose to take the path, the path like OpenText evidently does least according to the article and the impact on leadership and management. But Greg, what else are you seeing, William? Well, you know, in the last company that I ran, we saw a lot of the impact of this coming and so did less sores. Okay. Um, even before this timeframe, because they had a lot of what they were really concerned about what they call Phantom leases, which is properties that are still being paid for but not occupied. And one of the things we were talking about was how do we monitor inactivity in an office to know that when it, it comes to lease renewal but that's going to go on the market. And, and how do these real estate companies and developers, how do they, how do they prepare for that? So yeah, it's actually not surprising.
I think this is a gigantic catalyst in terms of, uh, expediting this Exodus from the office. But we started hearing about this as soon as the lockdowns came. That's right. Right. I mean, we heard about physical logistics firms who, you know, when asked how are you going to bring people back into the office? They said, we are not right. And I think we have to acknowledged that this was a trend that was going this way anyway. It is, as you said earlier, Scott, it does give people hours back in their day if they'll take them. One of the issues that we have found during the, the pandemic and this seismic societal disruption is that people won't stop working. Right. Some people don't stop working when, you know, when they're working until seven or eight o'clock at night. I can tell you this, and she's been a really good sport about it.
My wife has brought me dinner in the studio more than once in the last week or two. So big shout out to Vicki who Vic and the whole team, some of the pistons that keep the supply chain now team move and, and, and you know, and all types of contributions. So thanks for feeding the beast, Vicky. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. I thank her every time by the way. Yeah, that's good. But, but I think that those dynamics are important because you're also, Scott a big fan and I am too. And we've all seen the dynamic of being face to face in the office place and what you would call in the old days if anyone even knows what this is, is anymore a water cooler conversation, right? You're passing someone in the hallway, you're standing by the water cooler, your microwave and your popcorn or salmon. Mmm. And annoying the whole office. But you're, but you're having that, you're having a discussion with somebody where, and we talked with memory about this, um, and, and DC, uh, [inaudible] a couple of weeks ago about how, when those dynamics occur, the slightest comment [inaudible] generate an idea or an initiative or a solution, great point for a company. And that is going to be sorely missing, which I think goes in some case to your story. That's next.
Yes. And lots of some could say ways here. So, but before we get to the store innovation, let's, uh, Amanda ways in our CMO here at splotch and now, uh, after a show me 50 linen circle call last week, I wonder what this will mean for women who are striving to be seen and heard by their leadership teams in person. Will it mean male leaders will choose to work more closely with those they know. So the buddy system of course versus those women who attempt to increase their own visibility and influence when they can chat in the hallways and at the water cooler with higher ups. That is a, uh, outstanding observation and question, which I wish I had a more, a better answer to, but it's something you've got to consider if you do shift over two or more a more remote workplace. Right.
I think it is and I don't know the answer, but I think that that I think that the hope for women and, and divert other diversity groups, um, to gain their expertise is that, um, is that the people who are less technologically savvy to this, this, these types of platforms are exiting the workforce pretty rapidly. And they may not adapt to these types of um, of platforms as well. And you'll be able to build that influence with their influencers, if not directly with some of some of those folks. That's the only thing I think I, that's the thing that comes immediately to mind is as a possibility. The other thing is, and there are technologies that exist, I'm not going to mention them here, but there are technologies that exist that give you a virtual physical office experience and I think we'll see more of that where zoom will be just part or WebEx or go to meeting or will be just part of the solution where you hold comp, you hold conference calls and meetings and that sort of thing. But the ability to have a virtual water cooler solution, we'll come around.
Yeah, love that. Uh, Benjamin says the water cooler is replaced with chat rooms where people can share ideas. Just like this comment thread, Benjamin, I love that level of optimism and, and companies that are serious about doing that and, and free practically and successfully engaging the workforce. We'll figure out the digital water-cooler approach. And that leads us to our next question from Gerald. Gerald says, will it be a strategic advantage for companies to learn to manage remotely with video cloud metrics and applications be better able to tap into top talent from everywhere, from anywhere and everywhere for that matter. And I would say Gerald, yes, absolutely. I think, you know, we have, we have, uh, for a year, for several years now, we've all assumed what digitization means and, and, and how far that goes. I would argue that that this article and, and the discussions that it will trigger will absolutely start to expand the definition of what true, successful and, uh, innovative digital digitization means in 2020 and beyond. Because it's not just about products and services being delivered. It's not just about visibility into your operation or global enterprise. It is about how you are making sure you are an outstanding organization for folks to work in and succeed in and, and, and where they feel like they're empowered and they're engaged and they're really contributing and it's being appreciated. There's a lot to that. But that's my take Jared on your, on your question. Greg,
I love your hot take and I, I, I'm glad you got one cause usually you leave those for me. So I'm seriously, I think your insight is really, really strong there. And I would argue also to Gerald is that if you aren't already experiencing or haven't been for some years, I would say in at least the last three to four years been experiencing a work environment like we're discussing right now or even that you're engaging in right this moment, this, this type of session. You're already, your company is already behind the curve. Mmm. Tech companies and other companies who recognize the power of this and who have operated from home, they're looking at this going, what's the big deal? Yep. I mean I had a company, my last company CURO I think we had a total of 11 people and we had people all over the country.
I had vice presidents out in various States. Um, and, and we did make an effort to get physically together. Um, but we had to operate three, three and a half weeks, a month virtually. So it can be done. Um, there are some really key learnings that help facilitate it. Um, but it, it is definitely the future and it can be in my opinion, every bit as productive saving that one dynamic, that water cooler that, that you know, sort of whatever you want to call it, that catalyst right statement that you can only get physically. And that's why we made such an effort to get together physically once a week.
That's right. Alright, so clay talks more. Great point. Clay says the dog says here at supply chain now, great point. That fully integrating remote work vastly expands the talent pool and you know, it is, you got to compete for talent, you get your digitization initiative has to be holistic, which absolutely touches on talent side. So good stuff there clay. Great question. Gerald, are we going to keep driving memory? We're going to come back to memories, comment if we can here in a moment. But you know the end of the office in one article and then talking about innovation can't be forced but it can be quashed. We're not going to be able to give this second article or really fully throated discussion. But Matt Ridley, this is the author of this second article here I read over the weekend, which challenged the wildly Hill assumption that just because change is taking place at arguably a pace, never before seen a lot of folks assume that innovation and successful real innovation is as well.
Well, the article pointed out just that it's not number one. And, and the leading example that Matt really lit off with was think about your travel time. You know, if you, uh, from, from start to finish the time, if you're flying to Toronto, if you're flying to Miami, you don't get there any faster. And in fact, it could be argued, depending on the model of aircraft you take, you may get, are slower because they're flying slower to conserve fuel. Uh, the Concorde, which was the world's fastest ever, uh, aircraft has been retired. So things to think about. But I digress. Uh, the article really pointed out how uncomfortable industry and government is at experimenting. And of course, experimenting is so critical to successful innovation. I'm gonna give you an example, Greg, and I'm gonna get your take here. So, uh, Jeff Bezos, you can't get through maybe a conversation about innovation without maybe having a, the big a way in. But I like this one here. Jeff Bezos said, quote being wrong might hurt you a bit, but being slow will kill you if you can increase the number of experiments you try from a hundred to a thousand, you drummer, you dramatically increase the number of innovations you produce. And quote. Now think about Thomas Edison, he and his team of engineers when they were trying to develop the nickel iron battery, take a guess of how many experiments Greg, that their team had to take to get it right.
I can't even imagine what Thomas Edison involved. He was the great experimenter. I mean it was almost like he didn't even care about this
50,000 experiments. I would have never guessed even that high. And that is one of the things. And to your point, he was, of course he was involved in a lot of projects, but that led to his famous quote, genius is 1% inspiration and 90% perspiration. So Greg is innovation, uh, lagging behind as, as uh, as counterintuitive for many folks that would seem, what, what's your take on the state of innovation?
Uh, it's definitely lagging in large companies, the same companies that will struggle with the end, quote unquote the end of the office. Um, w we'll struggle with innovation particularly in this, in these new environments, right? Innovation is about risk as you just said. And the reason, and you know that I feel strongly about this, I'll use a stronger word disruption. The reason that I chuckle or sometimes openly laugh, um, at large companies who talk about disruption is that they can't do it. I will tip to my dying day. I will say that you are either those who are about to be disrupted or the disruptor, but you are not both a leader in the marketplace and a disruptor. It's impossible to do that because of exactly what you just talked about. You have to take risks, lots of risks, lots of risks that could impact the effectiveness of your operations, that could negatively impact your bottom line, that could negatively impact your identity or your, your image in the marketplace. All of those things are great risks. Two companies these days and they're not willing and they're not going to be willing to take it because when your stock drops 40% in a day, you change course really, really rapidly.
Excellent point. And you know, that's, uh, I love the holistic approach. Innovation is one of those warm, fuzzy conversations oftentimes that, that, uh, folks weigh in on the obvious things, but you don't always think about some of the, some of the aspects of innovation and taking risks that you just shared. And, and especially for these bigger companies, it's not as simple as, Hey, let's come up with the latest iPhone. It doesn't work like that. So, um, by the way, uh, the dog says that James Dyson created 5,126 prototypes of the cyclone vacuum in his backyard shed. The 5127th edition changed the industry that his dog in this if I've never seen it. No.
I send all 5,126 still in his
somewhere. That's right. Hey, we're gonna have to wrap up, uh, of the discussion here, but I want to go back to one more thing. Memory shared, going back to the offices, virtual offices will also help reduce the amount of paperwork generated in offices as well as prepping for those long meetings that we don't miss. Amen. To that. Raise your hand if you've ever been into a a two hour meeting when it could have been done in 10 minutes. Yeah,
I mean, you know, I've read, we've recently read articles where that's exactly the feeling that people have is that this could have been done in an email. That's right. Can I, can I pump just a few seconds on me? I will strongly encourage everyone who wants to have a meeting to state a goal, not an agenda, a specific outcome, and create accountabilities in that meeting. And if you cannot do that, do not have that meeting. I, I in my history used to, um, still do actually. But I, um, have a lot more meetings these days. In any business meeting. If you did not state a goal, have action and accountability, I would not attend. Um, you know, being in my role, that was easier to accomplish than most people. But you can tactically challenge your organization to be more effective with meetings. Nobody else is enjoying the you or
you are working on your email in a either. So, um, make that a diplomatic challenge in your, in your business. Uh, and clay says no more meetings, no more meetings. That's Clay's way. Oh, LinkedIn laugh. What's that? Oh daddy. Alright. So it Amanda over here to my right, says he deleted it really quickly cause I've got a standing Monday meeting. So we'll, we'll see how we change that internally. Career limiting moves on the air. We love our team here at supply chain now and we try to streamline it. I love the spirit. That's right. No more terrible meetings. Let's qualify it slightly, but he's dead on. And that's how people feel too. Yeah, that's a great point. Alright. So as much fun as we're having, we're at about an hour and two minutes. So we're going to wrap up here with just a couple of high fives and some quick resources.
So Greg, man, what a incredible episode. Two of our supply chain trivia challenge that we held last week. Yeah. And our new champion is Coby cannoli who got, uh, every single question. Right. Wow, that's impressive. And I'm taking that as a personal challenge. That isn't going to happen again. Kobe threw down the gauntlet. So new chat there. Congrats. Also finishing second was Antonio Rivera, part of the ELL green EAL green team quality is colleagues, so representing Yale green. Well, so congrats Antonio. Well, you know what, Antonio and, uh, hurry day, they finished tied for second. So Nickley this is a first place and to, uh, folks at Todd at second place, so Brad's pretty impressive showing. And also, uh, our previous, uh, winner Dimitrios Koolaus mr inventory finished in the top five. That's right. Dudes like this, he's like the tiger woods of supply chain.
He ain't win and he's closed. Right? Uh, and he was wearing, I'm sure his, uh, Sunday red and the red. Uh, man, what, uh, what I would pay to see some real live golf with tiger woods on Sunday these days. Hopefully we'll get into the new normal soon enough at all for um, if you can settle for Ricky Fowler by the way. He did a little, he did a little, uh, charity thing, um, the other day and I think it's, it's on YouTube or Twitter or something like that. Pretty impressive. I got to have the real stuff, man. Sunday afternoon masters going for broke but will be yours but and costing yourself a million dollars. Yeah. Alright, so our next games, if you, if you're digging our supply chain trivia, join us for the third installment. We're really pleased to be collaborating with Jenny fruit and the safe on June 3rd. We kick off 9:30 AM because this is our Eastern hemisphere edition, right? Uh, we're trying to experiment with some timeframes so that folks really globally can weigh in and enjoy it and, and take part in the friendly competition. Uh, so folks like memory don't have to stay up until all points that evening to place some of our additions that are, you know, a kickoff in the late afternoon here,
a three day, who was doing it at three o'clock in the morning.
Yes, that is right. Yeah, that's right. Uh, so kudos to our winners. Uh, and to all of our attendees, join us on on June 3rd 9:30 AM Eastern daylight time as we kick off around three and you can go to supply chain now, radio.com to learn more about that. And, uh, Greg, tell him about this webinar coming up on May 27th, uh, about, uh, 10 days from now.
Yeah. So, uh, Gartner's, uh, supply chain top 25 for 2020 is about to come out. I believe it comes out on the 18th or 19th, and they'll have a brief discussion on it. But we're meeting with the curator leader and, um, top analyst Mike Griswold on May 27th to discuss some key takeaways. So as we've been encouraging people, it matters not how big, how small, how advanced, how laggard your company is. Tuned into this. Get some of these takeaways, learn from someone who was first a PR practitioner, then an analyst and now premier industry expert on, um, supply chain. Learn what it can mean for your company. And, and this is a live stream, so you'll be able to interact with us and, and with Mike to, um, you know, get additional knowledge out of it. So first of all, this is something that happens every year. It's what, it's what the supply chain industry has waited for every year. It's a great honor for us to have Mike and Gardner, um, allow us to, to partner with them on this, this topic and, and help get the word out around the world.
Absolutely. May 27th free webinar. Come join us. There'll be takeaways and best practices regardless of your role and what size of business you're in. Uh, and Mike always delivers. You can learn more and register for this free offering at supply chain now, radio.com. Hey, uh, before we depart, uh, Greg, our friend, our buddy, our pal Fred Tolbert, said this, no more meetings because it gives more time to listen to supply chain. Now here, here Fred, we're good. We couldn't throw that up a graphic fast enough, but glad you're, you're tuned in once again. And we look forward to a couple of upcoming episodes with our friend Fred, right? Greg?
Yes sir. I do. I look, Fred comes from the planning industry, competitive company to mine, but we're friendly competitors and I'm always pulling for him because he's, he's a planning forecasting guru. Yes, he is. Yes. And it's an apex hall of fame legend facilitating youth in supply chain. So we're all about that doing good stuff. All right, so, uh, at an hour and eight minutes, we're going to wrap it up here today. We could easily go in a couple, couple more hours with some of the engaged folks. All right, so to our listeners, uh, Hey, check us out at supply chain now. radio.com a wide variety of resources and webinars and events and certainly no shortage of thought leadership via our podcast. And our live streams, of course, our webinars find us and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts from. And you know, Greg, uh, an interesting individual in case we have anyone that wants to figure out how to collaborate with us, you can shoot a note to amanda@supplychainnowraider.com, right? Yeah.
It's just that easy. She is a trained professional and she knows how to get our attention. So that wraps up today's episode of the supply chain buzz. Hey, Greg wants you to take us out. Hey, if you like this, uh, and you'd like to see some of our video blogs or listen to our podcasts, you can always come to supply chain now, radio dot calm or wherever you get your podcasts, whatever platform or YouTube, if you want to watch us on video, we're much prettier on a podcast. I tell you, um, look difficult times. I feel it. I don't know about you all, but I feel that, I feel like we're starting to come out of it. Um, we've got some good, successful and prudent initiatives to start to get back to work in a safe way. Um, keep your chin up, right? Brighter days. Do as my friend Scott always says, lie ahead and be safe. Be careful, but join us here and learn about the future and the now of supply chain. Have a great week.