Art of Supply

When something goes wrong in the supply chain, it is never good news. It always leads to disruption, often costs a lot of money, and sometimes people get hurt - or worse.

In July of 2024, the USDA suspended production at a Boar’s Head processing plant in Jarratt, Virginia. A listeria outbreak, the worst such outbreak in over a decade, had started in the plant. The facility has been closed indefinitely, leading to over 500 layoffs of union employees, but that wasn’t the worst of the fallout.

Before the outbreak was over, over 7 million pounds of meat were recalled, 59 people were hospitalized, and 10 people lost their lives.

How could production have gone so wrong, especially in such a heavily inspected industry? Unfortunately, as the details emerged, it became clear that this was an easily preventable situation allowed to happen by multiple layers of mismanagement.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:

• The details behind the outbreak: Where did it start and how did it spread?
• An odd family squabble that may or may not have contributed to the problem but which certainly didn’t help
• Problems associated with inspections: How were they conducted and why did they fail to protect consumers?
• And what we can expect to happen next

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“Humans are so much more effective in processing something visually than, let's say, a table or two pieces of text next to each other. If you see it on a map, you can say, okay, this line goes like this, the other goes like this. I can make the connection in my head very easily that, okay, this is what changes. And it also makes it very easy to sort of have an opinion on it, because it clicks in your head quite easily.” - Ruud van Dijk, Commercial Director, Routescanner

We routinely talk about the complexity of global supply chains - here on Art of Supply and in the wider business community. Moving our focus from talk to action requires one key thing: data. But even with good data, these are highly complex decisions. They are often made without certainty, on a compressed time frame, and with a lot of money on the line. 

Setting up human beings for successful decision making under those circumstances requires more than data. The data needs to be standardized and presented in a way that matches how people process information and compare the likely outcome of multiple scenarios.

In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner welcomes Ruud van Dijk. Ruud is the Commercial Director at Routescanner, a platform designed to improve transparency in container shipping and help companies optimize routes while lowering CO2 emissions and costs.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly and Ruud discuss:

• How data needs to be presented in an accessible format for decision makers to put it into practice
• The change effort associated with moving from a suboptimal but familiar approach to one that is far more effective
• Empowering supply chain teams to lead cross functional conversations about operationally minimizing both costs and environmental impact

Links:

• Ruud van Dijk on LinkedIn
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

The United States Postal Service occupies a unique spot in the supply chain. 

On the one hand, it is a federal agency, tasked with delivering mail to every home, business, and P.O. box 6 (and sometimes 7) days per week. On the other hand, it does not “generally” receive taxpayer funding; it must meet its mission by selling postage and services.

Thanks to this middle space between the worlds of public service and private industry, transformation is a massive challenge - even when successfully driving financial and operational change is a matter of long term survival.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the current status of Delivering for America, the USPS’s 10-year transformational plan:

• The complexity of the U.S. post office’s operational and financial status quo
• The multiple roles that package volume will play in determining USPS success
• The slowdowns and questions that have plagued that transformation

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“Most fundamentally, strategy is about asking good questions, creating alternatives, and then making decisions about how to allocate scarce resources. [...] It's a place where you have a 360-degree view of a business.” - Ashley Hubka, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Walmart Business

Corporate and consumer buying started and developed on separate tracks, and while there are some things that procurement has learned from and embedded in the B2B experience, others will always be beyond reach. 

What would happen if you took a consumer shopping experience and expanded it to support institutional customers as well? Walmart Business is in the process of finding out.

Ashley Hubka is the Senior Vice President and General Manager at Walmart Business. She has held a number of consulting and strategy positions during her career and holds a degree in Philosophy from Harvard University.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner sits down with Ashley to learn:

• Why Walmart decided to offer a distinct experience for organizational and commercial customers
• How that experience is different than the consumer Walmart experience (and when it is the same)
• Areas of strategic B2B focus over the next 12-24 months

Links:

• Ashley Hubka on LinkedIn
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

In the final part of this four-part special series, we compare and contrast the actual policy positions of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Candidate Former President Donald J. Trump. 

With less than two weeks until election day, procurement and supply chain professionals must have plans in place for the eventuality of either candidate being voted into office, focusing on the areas where they agree as much as where they differ.

Listen in as Kelly Barner describes where the two major party candidates actually differ (and where they have a lot in common) based on their own campaign websites, policy platforms, and statements from publicly available interviews:

• The differences we can expect when supply chain policy is focused on critical industries versus an emphasis on keeping production domestic
• Looking at a diverse range of energy sources as well as the overall cost and supply of available energy
• Corporate tax rates that may go up or down
• And one thing both candidates agree upon: China

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

In part three of this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Republican Candidate former President Donald Trump. 

Former President Donald Trump is 78 Years old, and a former businessman/real estate developer as well as the former host of The Apprentice. He became the nominee on July 18, 2024 when he accepted the nomination at the Republican National Convention

Listen in as Kelly Barner explores his policy positions and platform:

• Detailed positions on global trade and China
• The lack of detail regarding his position on emissions and the environment
• Strong statements about both the cost and availability of energy, and the importance of emphasizing domestic production over imports from other parts of the world 

Links:

• Donald J. Trump for President website
• Transcript of the September 10, 2024 Presidential Debate on ABC
• Transcript of the June 27, 2024 Presidential Debate on CNN
• Republican Party 2024 Platform Document
• Donald Trump Republican National Convention Speech Transcript
• Transcript of Donald Trump’s interview with Time Magazine
• Video of Bloomberg interview from October 15, 2024
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

In part two of this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Vice President Kamala is 60 Years old and a former Senator and Attorney General from the State of California. She became the presumptive Democratic nominee on July 21, 2024 when President Biden suspended his campaign for re-election, and the official nominee on August 22 when she accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention.

Listen in as Kelly Barner explores her policy positions and platform:

• Detailed plans for renewable energy and the environment
• The lack of detail regarding her position on trade and tariffs
• Strong statements about China, specifically around the race to dominate AI, domestic labor protections, and intellectual property concerns 

Links:

• Kamala Harris for President website
• A New Way Forward for the Middle Class
• Transcript of the September 10, 2024 Presidential Debate on ABC
• Kamala Harris Democratic National Convention Speech Transcript
• Democratic Party 2024 Platform Document
• 60 Minutes Interview with Bill Whitaker
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

There are two weeks to go until the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Interest, speculation, and tension have been building all year.

Most news coverage of the election is intended to sway voters, hyperbolic to a fault, and not tailored to the specific information needs of procurement and supply chain professionals. What we really need to know is what each major party candidate has said and what likely outcomes that would lead to.

In this four-part special series, we will cover the policies and plans of Democratic Candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Candidate Former President Donald J. Trump as well as how they compare.

Listen in as Kelly Barner kicks off the series by explaining:

• Why all procurement and supply chain professionals need to be prepared for either candidate to win
• The impact of tariffs, China, energy, and environmental policy on corporate strategy
• The rules of engagement and discussion that will apply in this series and the discussions that result

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

‘Brave New World’ was published by Aldous Huxley in 1932, right between two World Wars and during a time of accelerated scientific discovery. It comes as no surprise, then, that this fictional dystopian society 600 years in the future had adopted Henry Ford as their spiritual leader.

92 years later, we find ourselves in another time of rapid technological advancement, innovation that often seems to be on a collision course with the most fundamental structures of society.

What can re-reading ‘Brave New World’ today teach us about change, innovation, chaos, and opportunity? More than you might expect.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner shares her own observations:

• How the advancements of science often get ahead of society’s readiness to understand them
• The level of discomfort and even frustration we must be willing to accept if we want to  experience triumph 
• Survival tips that procurement and supply chain professionals can use to succeed in our own ‘Brave New World’

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

“Let me be clear: we don’t want any form of semi-automation or full automation. We want our jobs—the jobs we have historically done for over 132 years.” -Harold Daggett, President of the International Longshoremen’s Association 

In April of 2024, most ‘experts’ felt that a strike of unionized workers at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts was unlikely. The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) was firm about not working beyond September 30th without a signed agreement. 

After 6 months of disagreement and an automated gate at the port in Mobile, Alabama that brought talks to a halt, the ILA was true to their word. They went on strike at the stroke of midnight on September 30, 2024.

Just 3 days later however, a surprise announcement revealed that the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance had reached a temporary agreement: a $4 per hour rise annually for the next 6 years and a 90 day temporary halt to the strike.

But this story - and negotiation - is not over. Not by a long shot. 

In this week’s episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:

• The major issues on the table in the strike, as well as what remains to be settled before January 
• The outside forces that played a role in bringing the strike to such an abrupt end
• Whether the union has won the battle but lost the war by separation pay from automation in the negotiation.

Links:

• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement