Logistics Matters with DC VELOCITY

Our guest on this week's episode is Carrie Wilkie, senior vice president, standards and technology, at GS1 US. The humble barcode is 50 years old this month. Since the technology was created in 1973, it has revolutionized the speed of buying the products we use every day. Additionally, it has made many tasks in logistics and warehousing more efficient and accurate. Wilkie also discusses how 2...

Our guest on this week's episode is Ken Ramoutar, chief marketing officer at Lucas Systems. With advancements in technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence, we all know that work will be different in the future. Most of our future workforce will come from Generation Z, many of whom have different attitudes, values, and motivations when it comes to work compared to previous ge...

Our guest on this week's episode is Steve Smith. He is the president and CEO of Airlink, a non-profit organization that provides logistics coordination for relief organizations reaching the world's trouble spots. Airlink is offering ongoing assistance to war-torn Ukraine as well as recently coordinated transportation of people and supplies to aid victims of the last month's earthqua...

Our guest on this week's episode is Tania Seary, founder of Procurious. Procurious is an international network for procurement and supply chain professionals with more than 42,000 members. Earlier this week the world recognized International Women’s Day. Historically, supply chain management positions have been rather heavily male-dominated. But like many professions, we are seeing some stead...

Our guest on this week's episode is Ray Haight, executive performance impact coach at JLE Industries. He talks about the problems recruiting and retaining truck drivers and two new pieces of proposed legislation in Washington that will make life on the road better and possibly make driving a truck more attractive to prospective drivers. They include a bill requiring facilities to open restroo...

Our guest on this week's episode is Ramesh Murthy, chief supply chain officer and executive vice president at Bob's Discount Furniture. Finding drivers for private fleets is extremely difficult. One way Bob's Discount Furniture is filling the ranks of its fleet is by reaching out to women drivers. In order to do this, the company had to create a culture where diversity is prioritize...

Our guest on this week's episode is Alex Saric, chief marketing officer for Ivalua. Many may not be aware, but new SEC-directed climate risk disclosure rules may go into effect soon that could have some significant impacts on supply chains. The proposed rules will require publicly traded companies to report on their climate impacts as well as the impacts of their suppliers and partners furthe...

Our guest on this week's episode is Jenny Vander Zanden, chief operating officer of Breakthrough. Shippers are facing many challenges today. There is the world’s political situation for one. Another is inflation and the need to diversify. Our guest today offers some insights into the challenges of shippers and what they can be doing to mitigate their risks. The air cargo sector was one of the...

Our guest on this week's episode is Aaron Smith. It’s been difficult for many years to find supply chain workers – and in particular, the many drivers needed for our nation’s over-the-road trucks. Smith is helping formerly incarcerated individuals and others forge careers in trucking and logistics through his organization called Escaping the Odds. New trucks are hitting the market, and many o...

Our guest on this week's episode is Dwight Klappich, research vice president and Gartner Fellow in Gartner's Logistics and Customer Fulfillment team. He shares new research that Gartner has conducted into how robotics will be used in distribution centers. Within the next few years, distributors will deploy a number of different categories of robots for various warehouse tasks. These syst...

Our guest on this week's episode is Brett Williams, a retired Major General from the United States Air Force and one of the nation's leading consultants and experts on cybersecurity. Williams is the former director of operations at the United States Cyber Command, where he led a team of 400 people responsible for the global operations and protection of all Department Of Defense computer...

Our guest on this week's episode is Brandon Isner, Americans head of retail research at CBRE, the large commercial real estate firm. While the holidays are now over and most of us have taken down the tree and put the decorations away, a lot of holiday work still needs to be done for retailers. They have to deal with the $135 billion in expected returns this year. Estimates are that 13 percent...

Our guest on this week's episode is Zac Rogers, assistant professor of supply chain at Colorado State University. Rogers is one of the writers of the monthly Logistics Managers' Index. He shares about how supply chains performed during 2022 and predicts what will be ahead as the new year unfolds. Some of the successes and challenges that supply chains will experience in 2023 may be relat...

Today we're repeating our Nov. 11 episode on attracting and hiring military veterans for those who might have missed it. We'll be back next week with a new episode. ------------------------------ Our guest on this week's episode is  Todd Skiles, senior vice president of global sales and supply chain solutions at Ryder System. Today in the United States we honor military veterans for...

Our guest on this week's episode is Melinda McLaughlin, senior vice president and global head of research with industrial real estate company Prologis. 2022 marked a year of tight warehouse capacity, as distribution facilities were stacked to the rafters with inventory. Much of that inventory is now gone, but there are other factors that will limit available space. McLaughlin shares predictio...

Our guest on this week's episode is Justin Bailie, co-founder of TMS provider Rose Rocket. Good workers are always hard to find, but this year it has been difficult to find the labor needed to run our supply chains, and truck drivers in particular. What can be done to put more drivers on our nations’ roads?  Supply chain executives are focusing on reducing their material supply risks and avoi...

Our guest on this week's episode is Dan Gilmore, chief marketing officer at Softeon. Increased demand and fewer available workers during the past couple of years have combined to accelerate the adoption of automation in distribution centers- and material handling companies have responded with a wide range of systems. But what do the end-users of today’s automation think about the available te...

Our guest on this week's episode is Elie Katz, president & CEO of National Retail Solutions. The pandemic was especially hard on small  mom-and-pop grocers - the bodegas and small independent stores found on many street corners of America. Some closed for good, while others adopted new technologies to help them compete with  the bigger grocers on diverse inventory and home deliveries. We...

Our guest on this week's episode is Gregg Healy, the head of Industrial Service for North America with the commercial real estate firm Savills. Most retailers admit that this will not be the typical holiday peak season. They have lots of inventory and we are now seeing peak season stretching out well ahead of the traditional Black Friday start. What has changed this year and why?  More compan...

Our guest on this week's episode is  Todd Skiles, senior vice president of global sales and supply chain solutions at Ryder System. Today in the United States we honor military veterans for their service to our nation. Once their time in the armed forces has concluded, veterans must transition back to civilian life, including finding suitable employment. Skiles, a veteran himself, shares what...

Our guest on this week's episode is  Paul Lord, senior director, supply chain research at consultancy Gartner. Inflation has hit everyone, and the supply chain problems we have experienced the past two years are contributing factors. Higher costs for materials, fuel, transportation, and distribution not only increase prices of the products we buy, but they also lead to higher costs to deliver...

Our guest on this week's episode is  Shawn McCloud, senior vice president of operations at Coyote Logistics. While peak holiday shopping season is just getting underway for most consumers, peak season for shippers has already been going on for a couple of months. How is this peak season progressing compared to last year and what are the expectations for shippers and carriers for the time betw...

Our guest on this week's episode is  Dannie Lynn Fountain. She is the author of the new book End Checkbox Diversity: Rewriting the Story of Performative Allyship in Corporate America. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. She shares how hiring people with disabilities can enhance a workforce and bring new skills that might often be overlooked. Retailers are preparing for...

Our guest on this week's episode is  Dan Pellathy, an  assistant professor at Grand Valley State University. The past two years of pandemic and economic uncertainly revealed many weaknesses in our supply chains and pointed to the need for greater agility. But while everyone seeks supply chain agility, what is the reality in the market and are companies as diversified and resilient with their...

Our guest on this week's episode is  Kathy Fulton, executive director of the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). Hurricane Ian has brought tremendous devastation to Florida and the Southeast region. It is times like these that the logistics community can rally together to provide logistical services to assist in the recovery. Spearheading those efforts is ALAN. Fulton shares what is being...