Billy Malady has been a leader in distribution operations for over 15 years and at all levels; from the boardroom to the warehouse break room.  Always cool to chat with folks who have that full end to end perspective. 

He's "fixed" a lot of operations but not in the ways you may think. 

Check out his new book today "Nobody Told Me It Would Be Like This: 100 Stories from the Frontline of Operations & Customer Care."

-Why is there such a perceived gap between where execs think their ops teams should be vs. where the ops team sees themselves?

-In articles you've been in you state "the foundation and the fixes to problems in distribution are always the same."  Why is this?

Lots of Shop Talk in this episode about operations!

Janielle Myers has done (and is doing) a lot in the supply chain space. A great example and mentor for the new generation of leaders!

- Should supply chain leaders embrace "wearing many hats" or should they silo and specialize?

- What about Burn Out?  Real or not?  How to mitigate.

- Starting with motorcycles but now at a Space Company, Loft Orbital, and why something about space makes it one of most rewarding and inspiring things she's ever done.

- What she REALLY thinks about Sales, Inventory and Operational Planning (SIOP).

- How she uses skin moisturizers as an alert system to warn her, she's not setting proper boundaries (just listen; we'll explain it!)

Work in distribution? Then you know Raymond products. But I had the chance for a second time to learn so much more about them chatting with Derrick Miller, Senior Sales Manager.  Amazing episode to learn not just about the value they bring, but how they think like, connect with, and understand the operational realities of distribution!

-What is the feedback Raymond receives from ops leaders everywhere about what they REALLY want/need?

-How have you become so deeply engrained in ops everywhere and what solutions and services have you molded to provide the best for ops leaders?

-What do you do with the surge of data you're now able to put at the fingertips of ops leaders?

-Should everyone jump on the "robots train"?

Hilla Herzog Manor is the VP Strategy @ Zimark | Smart Pallet Tracking for Warehouses & 3PLs. And they have built and are building some amazingly valuable warehouse tools for operators.

Cameras on forklifts tracking movement into bins and in the facility? Yes please. Shipping control cameras at the dock compiling proof of loads. Yup. Vision to one day rid all operations of manual scanning? YES PLEASE! This is just scratching the surface too. Great episode to listen to and find out more!

These guys are inside the warehouses building their solutions from real feedback from real people working there. Because they know the truth: The best feature in the world is worthless if the forklift operator ignores it.

Sarit Tamir is Founder & CEO at Seeteria, which I must say, is a very cool start up with a great solution for a problem in large distribution centers: it's hard to see everything at once!

But if your site has cameras already inside and Wi-Fi, they have all they need to start working the magic! They're eliminating the invisible middle in warehouse operations by providing real time visibility right to your phone with alerts and all the data you could want to your computer.

The platform translates video into live operational signals such as dwell time, congestion, dock activity, and workflow delays without requiring WMS integration.

Check them out today and see the whole flow clearly!

Leroy Pinckney Jr. has seen it all. Raised in Harlem. Deployed to Iraq in the Army. A distribution career in multiple organizations (including Amazon.)

He was recently laid off and is now navigating the world of networking, job applications, interviews and ultimately continually putting himself out there to find the new right spot for him. And it can be tough out there.

BUT he's all over it (see his most recent viral LinkedIn posts.) We talk about his background and more:

What it really means to lead people when the stakes are high and the margin for error is zero. He sees himself as a lion.

What happens when the lion gets laid off? No quit. Just finds a new hunt. 🦁

If you're in the same boat, Leroy can be an inspiration and guide for you!

I must say, there are some exciting, buzz worthy, and extremely positive stuff going on at Knight-Swift Supply Chain! They allowed me a chance to record this amazing podcast episode to chat with and highlight SEVEN of their stellar ops employees.

These folks are a mix of salaried and hourly.

They chatted with me during a break in operations and they were GREAT!

It really comes through the positivity they feel, and they embody and embrace the company core values. Hear from some unheralded folks who are the REAL folks getting the J.O.B. done daily.

Anupam Bandyopadhyay, Supply Chain Design Leader, has been leading high level projects in supply chain for almost 20 years including robotics integrations, WMS implementations, AI initiatives and more.

He's currently the Senior Manager / Design Lead for Manhattan Associates and is VP/Mentor with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP Atlanta Round Table) and a new Advisory Board Member with the International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA).

It was a pleasure talking with him about the future of operations as he sees them from the technology side!

Technology integration, robotics, change management, labor orchestration.... it's all here and more!

Do you see a problem here? Overfilled warehouses from excess and dead stock? Common problem! But Amrita Bhasin the CEO at Sotira has created a big time way out of this.

Reverse logistics rarely gets as much hype as mainline distribution operations do. But that doesn't mean it isn't an area begging for solutions. And at Sotira, they are helping companies discreetly monetize and donate surplus inventory.

I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with her to learn more about just how this works for customers, how it came to be, and why it's quickly being adopted as a go-to tool for so many operations across the country.

But I also loved her opinions on how supply chain as an industry is perceived by youth today and much more. Listen for yourself and see why Sotira is growing so fast, why she has become such a sought-after speaker in this arena, and why she has been featured on so many different network broadcasts speaking on the subject!

Dario De Stasio checking in to the podcast all the way from Italy!

He is an emerging logistics ecosystem architect in his own words, and it was such a treat to chat with him about logistics in general but much more.

- The gray areas organizations often have when it comes to decision making.

- Mental automation before technological automation importance.

- Cultural differences between European operations and those in the United States.

- The geostrategic advantages Italy has as a logistics hub in the Mediterranean.

And much more!

This was a very direct and unfiltered exchange! Check it out.