Jim Perry, Commercial Business Director at Warehouse on Wheels, joined me today! I always enjoy chatting with anyone from this company because I'm such a huge fan of how they operate and the solutions + service they provide to many distribution leaders.

I'm talking about the leaders suffering through the heartache of running out of space in their facility! I know what this is like first-hand. Chatting with Jim, it's apparent that they are well intertwined with their customers.

They understand fully their pain, and they are constantly refining where they can best come in in to reduce it.

Don't accept a jam-packed facility as a reality of your operation. No. Let WOW be your side storage solution while you go back to focusing on mainline operations!

Great show with Lee Rector CEO of LaborAI! Lee has over 30 years working with businesses of all sizes across multiple countries, has been a featured speaker at countless industry-leading events across the globe, and is the author of a globally recognized warehousing resource book Warehousing 101: A Reference Guide.

Now, with LaborAI he is transforming warehouse operations with tools geared to help solve the ever-evolving challenge of labor. LaborAI, a highly cost-effective labor planning tool, leverages order file data to accurately determine labor needs.

No guesswork. No retro-active averages. No estimates.

Just PRESCRIPTIVE analytics to arrive at the truth data much faster! Sign me up for this yesterday!

The rather epic Sam Goodman joined in to talk all things safety. But....this isn't your grandpa's safety.

Sam has a very fresh slant on it that he has molded after MANY years in the field. He is Founder, Human and Organizational Performance practitioner, and safety consultant at The HOP Nerd LLC.

Not only this but is also an accomplished consultant, coach, author, and speaker specializing in bringing HOP to life within organizations. He builds high-impact learning teams & fosters work environments of curiosity, improvement, and innovation.

It was awesome chatting with him and hearing all of his fresh takes on many topics which have shaken up the industry to some degree!

(Yes, Darrell The Safety Man joined on the show too but stay tuned for a special BONUS FOOTAGE episode for that!)

Dana Harris, a 15-year veteran in the industry and now the General Manager of a large site in the mid-west USA, dropped by for a chat as part of our "Manager Methods" Series. It's great to shine a spotlight on ACTUAL managers in the facilities on the front lines getting it done!

He's doing such a great job with his teams inside the 4 walls of the facility but follow him on LinkedIn and you'll see that he has opened a window for all to see the TRUTH about what is going on there.

He doesn't hesitate to reveal the wins, the losses, the triumphs, the challenges and how they overcome them (which anyone who works in operations will tell you is much more the reality of life inside a DC.)

Oh, be sure to listen until the end for some "Prime Time Points"

Will Quinn, aka The Distribution Guy, joined me for this episode to talk all things warehousing, distribution, AI, career growth and much more! Such great insights on this episode from Will!

The contributions he has made to the world of distribution are immense including 25+ years leading at all levels of well-known companies, operating his own consulting firm, publishing nearly 100 articles, speaking at many distribution events both in person and online, and now working as a professor sharing wisdom to the next wave of leaders.

I could have gone on for hours chatting with him. If you are an up-and-coming leader in the industry this is the show for you and if you are not following Will or reaching out to him as a resource somehow you are missing out!

Zack Napolitano, Founder of the TAC Group, dropped by for a great discussion about optimizing operations inside warehouses, distribution, and fulfillment centers.

I also got a chance to get his views on what he's seen from the vantage point of his consulting firm traveling around the country and having supported many well-known companies and their operations.

The main tagline for The TAC Group is: "An operation that is fundamentally optimized can hold up to the pressure of an ever-changing market and allow for ROI realization for new technology and automation in your operations. A strategy that incorporates new Processes, with engaged People always ends in enhanced Profits."  

Spot on, Zack!

I've been trying to get this guy on the podcast for a while now. The one and only Tyrell A. Morris joined me for this episode.

If you follow him on LinkedIn like I do, you will see a steady stream of incredible insightful and heartfelt content, and it's all genuine.

Not only is he a Senior Operations Manager at Maersk but he is also a published author (his book is still selling copies 5 years later) and he is starting up his own consulting firm. Why? People from all walks of life are constantly coming to him looking for mentorship; he's just one of those people that attracts that.

Listen to the episode to hear his takes on leadership, mentorship, connecting with and getting the most out of employees, inspirational moments from his past life, and oh also some of his rules of thumb for running effective operations. Great stuff here!

Michael Pierce is a new shipping manager who came up through the ranks starting as an associate.

He contacted me saying he was a fan of the podcast and wanted to come on & talk about his journey from associate to manager, lessons he's learned along the way, challenges he faced in a new manager role, & what he was doing to tackle them.

I immediately said yes & was thrilled to talk about some of the REAL stuff that happens in the world of managing a warehouse.

Online today it often seems as if warehousing posts are either 1) grainy video of a forklift accident 2) a burger burn or some other type of morale event in a warehouse or 3) (Distant third) a choreographed dance with the warehouse employees. All good, but it was nice to have a chat about the real stuff that's 99% of a warehouse leader's time!

I love highlighting new and exciting startups on the podcast! Spurthi Venkatesh Prasad is the Founder of HudQu which is "Bridging non-tech jobs and talent, one scroll at a time."

She joins me for a chat about her innovative and exciting new company that is modernizing and simplifying the world of staffing and recruitment for warehouse jobs (and many other industries).

Job seeking sucks ok, we can all agree. But with HudQu, it can actually be.... dare I say.... fun for BOTH sides of the fence.

Check the podcast out to learn more about how they can help you in your search as a candidate, and how as a company, you can swipe through daily to see what new "potential all-stars" are available before the temp agencies ever get their hands on them!

The 3PL world is huge. There are thousands....10s of thousands of them around the globe and trying to learn which one might be the best for brands is a challenge. What separates the good from the bad? What is life like inside one?

Nish George, the CEO of Fetch Fulfillment, was my guest for this episode! We pull back the curtain on how Fetch operates, what are some of the missteps and oversights brand owners often make when deciding on 3PLs, and how Fetch is able to achieve some of their stellar performance metrics.

He also walks me through exactly what happens when customers start partnering with him and the nuts and bolts that go into achieving success for both sides.

Oh, Nish drops some amazing stories (of some ridiculous situations) from his former life before Fetch!