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Breaking R&S Logistics and UT News! · Champions of Life

welcome to the champions of life podcast where 3 orangeblooded Tennessee alums discuss how there's always next year Hey y'all.
Welcome back.
Champions of Live podcast.
We're getting ourselves together here.
Okay, first, Bobby, it's been a minute since we have talked sports, since we've had a podcast.
We need to know what the latest is and then Joe is gonna fill us in on some really important breaking news sports talk.
I love.
Liberty Mutual commercials.
I think they have a great ring to 'em.
That emu just cracks me up and sitting in seven rows from the top of Nissan Stadium, watching Tennessee have their death march by the, fighting a lion eye was just a great end cap to the season.
The EMU was everywhere.
They had a mascot of Doug and I, I really, I was.
The top was getting closer.
I was making eye contact with the airplanes and I was like, there's gotta be a better way.
This is not where we wanna be.
Did they do the thing in the commercial where he runs out on the field and they tack the security guys tackle? Yeah, they did that.
It was like a big, like a dog catcher's net.
I still don't understand.
They really did it in case you were wondering, they sponsored the Music City, the illustrious.
Music City Bowl.
Okay.
We've gotten way off, but it's become our ball.
I did not know that.
Yeah, it's, it is a fitting into the Tennessee football season, watching a fake IMU be scooped up by Doug.
It was bad.
It was probably more entertaining.
Than watching Tennessee lose.
It is.
But the Pavlovian thing that it did to my brain, where if I'm in the house just doing chores and I hear Liberty, Liberty, I'm back in that stands and it's just, I'm freezing and we stink.
It's just a bad combination.
Bad trip Football ended poorly.
Basketball.
Hey, it's January.
We're good.
Uh, but we're not, I don't think our team's great.
Bobby, let me commend you for being a true champion of life because you went to the game, it was cold.
I can't remember what your prediction was, but you went and you supported us.
Mm-hmm.
So good for you.
Thank you.
I was dumb enough to do it.
Yeah.
They needed one more voice there.
Did you go thinking we were gonna win? That's my question.
No, I went because a great friend asked me to go and it was an opportunity to spend some windshield time together and just relax and eat good food, which we did.
And we had a great time at the game.
Um, he looked over at me maybe seconds after our kickoff return for a touchdown.
'cause our offense.
Horrible struggling.
The game's over and we, our guy drops the kickoff.
I don't even know who the guy is.
Welcome to bowl season.
We don't even know who these players are.
The guy drops the kickoff, picks it up and houses it.
And we, yes.
And we're like, what? Yep.
No way.
We got this.
My buddy looks at me and goes, we're gonna lose on the last second field goal.
Just embrace it.
And I was like, you're right.
That's exactly what's gonna happen.
And then it was, the same old stuff.
It was undisciplined football, jumping off sides, penalties, can't stop the run.
Yeah, we, and then mismanagement, we mismanaged the clock.
It was, uh hmm.
It need, I'll say this, as you're walking through downtown Nashville, fellow Tennessee fans are like, Hey.
What are we doing here? Why are we here? We shouldn't be here in Illinois.
They were like, I can't believe we get to be here.
This is awesome.
I can't wait to go beat an SEC team.
Yes.
In SEC country, they wanted it.
Yep.
We didn't.
They probably spent the rest of the night doing karaoke.
Yeah.
So the sad thing was it was the second time Illinois came into Tennessee and beat us in Nashville.
Within what? In Nashville? Within a couple weeks, right? They're the new Purdue.
It's been rough.
Ugh, gross.
Why would you bring that up? The second coming of Purdue.
That's right.
Okay.
We gotta move on.
We have some breaking news.
That involves ut, right? Joe, can you let us know what's happening? Yes.
We, at r and s are going partnering with UT to teach, supply chain four 13 class to seniors.
And the, it's already a class at UT where they learn about, distribution, supply chain, three pls, trucking everything and where it fits in.
They want to give the students a more hands-on experience.
And so they're gonna come into our warehouse two or three days a week starting next week.
And, we're excited 'cause we're also partnering with, uh, Bush Beans, Denzo, cherry distributing some other industry.
That uses distribution, uses automo automation technology.
And, the students will get exposure to that to learn what it's like to do distribution, many different ways from retail, to food, to automotive.
And we're really excited.
The students will get, will come outta ut a much better, more valuable, to their their first employer.
And so we get to teach it.
Bobby gets to teach some, I don't know, what are you teaching, Bobby? Transportation.
Yeah.
Transportation, whatever you need me to.
Yeah.
That's what I'm teaching.
We're very excited.
So Bobby? Mm-hmm.
You were once at ut? Mm-hmm.
Right? Not that long ago.
Not really.
Yeah.
That feels like a lie.
That is a lie.
Okay.
Sorry for lying.
How would something like this have helped you? Mm-hmm.
In your experience at ut, well, first of all, I thought the breaking news was gonna be Joe was entering the transfer portal.
Mm.
He was gonna come back for one year of quarterback.
I don't know.
No.
Maybe there's still time.
Um, no.
Our version would be like FedEx or UPS or Amazon trying to come after.
This would've been such a great class.
I really enjoyed my time at ut.
It was a rich experience and I a lot of really great classes over the years.
But one thing that was lacking was it was, if you're listening, professor Reinhardt, shout out, if you're in that class, you know what I'm talking about.
But we had to build our own warehouse on Excel.
And as a student, as a 20-year-old, 21-year-old, you've never really.
Gotten your hands dirty when it comes to like, maybe you're working.
The docs at UPS maybe did like me and was running package deliveries.
But anyways, it forced us to get out of the classroom, go to a facility.
We had to set it up.
We had to, get our own, appointment put in and request to go and see how it's laid out.
And so had we had something where.
You could actually know and understand what's a standard pallet, what's a racking system look like? What kind of different lifts are there? Cubing it out, process flow for inbounds and outbound.
I mean, all of that is great to learn about, but going to a facility and seeing it lived out, would've been such a huge part of my experience.
So I'm jealous for for these folks.
Well, the good news is you can show up to class whenever you want for this, right? Yeah.
They'll love me.
That's, so there's gonna be courses taught at ut.
There'll be courses taught at one of our Knoxville warehouses, and then some tours that you mentioned.
How long is the course? It's gonna be seven weeks, five days a week for seven weeks, and then I think it ends right before spring break.
Right? For the first week.
The first week of March.
Okay.
Do students get any, obviously they get a ton of hands-on experience.
Are there any certification processes that they're going through? Great question.
We're gonna get them a yellow belt and lean six Sigma and forklift certified as well.
That's the exciting part.
A lot of different forklifts stand up, sit down, narrow aisle.
Combi lift can go sideways work side to show 'em all those.
Put that on your LinkedIn profile.
Certified combi lift operator.
Certain that, not a lot of undergrads coming out with that.
Nope.
It should be exciting.
They'll come out, I view it as like the elite, but that's what they're gonna come out as.
Like the Navy seals of supply chain.
Wow.
Yeah.
We need, that's gotta be a T-shirt.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And bright orange.
Okay.
So for people who.
I did exercise science at UT and I don't have a lot of experience in this industry.
So when you say certifications like Six Sigma and Lean, what are you talking about? There's a mindset of operating a business, cutting out waste, cutting out, footsteps is one thing.
Cutting out time.
Putting high moving products closer to the door and slower moving further away.
The route that you pick, making sure it's the most efficient, so you're not wasting time.
Communication, automation, all those is a way of thinking, noticing the waste, identifying it, and cutting it out.
With process improvements and people too is, so if you free up five minutes a day, I don't know compounding interest, but what that equals in a month.
But that's the idea.
And, without, giving up accuracy and safety.
But that's the quick version of it.
So were those opportunities that you all had when you were students to get those types of certifications? No, not for me.
No.
Mm-hmm.
I would've, like Bobby said, I would've loved a class like this, anything to get me outta the classroom and actually do, that's how I learn.
Mm-hmm.
Tell me once, but then let me go figure out the wrong way to do it, and then kind of coach me as I go.
But yeah, that's the way we're trying to build it is what we would've benefited from.
Mm-hmm.
In the industry.
So this could be a class where certainly somebody who comes in as a freshman, sophomore, maybe they don't know about it, but they could get into it their junior year.
Is that when I think they offer it to seniors first.
Okay.
And if it doesn't fill up, I think some juniors can take it and maybe they start it off with a year or two when they came in.
So there are some juniors that are technically seniors, credit wise.
So yeah, junior and seniors can take it.
And UT is one of the top supply chain schools.
Yep.
Who do we compete with? Penn State is one.
Michigan State.
Michigan State's a big one every year.
Yep.
They're Tennessee and Michigan State are always one, two.
Yeah.
In the top five for sure.
At least.
We just got Penn State's defensive coordinator.
That's right.
That's right.
We one of them there.
There's hope.
There's always next year.
There's always next year.
So do they have anything like this? You may not know.
No, they don't.
So this should get ut.
Keep us at number one for a while.
Yeah.
So ideally, upcoming students, it would be great for them to know that this is an option to take down the road.
Yes.
It might lead 'em to ut Yes.
Is there anything else about the course that you wanna discuss? I think just the excitement of getting, starting it off and then kind of what you're hinting at promoting it to other UT students.
It's, it's so brand new getting them exposed to the benefits of it and having students who have gone through, like after this first time around, having them talk about it at ut, I think is gonna be beneficial.
And, yeah, just excited to get going and starting it.
I think r and s will be able to glean feedback from the students as far as.
Them coming in with fresh eyes, being able to see processes and the systems that we have in place.
And just by nature of asking good questions and seeking to understand, I think RNS will reap the benefits of that too, of, having good insight.
Yep.
Yeah.
And so the next episode that we do, we're gonna bring in a current UT student who's been working at one of our warehouses, just to talk about his experience and then how he sees it, benefiting UT students as well.
So, Bobby, you said you're going to the game tonight? I am.
Okay.
Who do we play? I don't even know.
I've already given up.
Is that bad? Yeah, I had to look it up.
It's Texas a and m.
Ugh.
Well, are you wearing like a vest in honor of their coach that always wears a vest? I would be wearing a suit and tie.
Um, maybe a, a bowler hat.
Okay.
Is that what those are called? Is it Buzz? Is that his name? I think it was at one point.
Oh Buzz Peterson.
No, no.
Yeah.
Buzz Williams, I believe.
Buzz Williams.
That's right.
Buzz Williams.
Okay.
Good team.
We're keeping our streak alive.
I don't know if you guys are keeping up with that of most.
Weeks in a ranked position, top 25, we snuck in.
We shouldn't be, but we are after we got Uhhuh smashed, we're 24.
Get out.
Okay.
So we're keeping our street, it's like 90 something weeks or, I don't know what it is.
Wow.
Is the longest.
It's like, I don't know if it's the longest, but it's one of the longest one's.
The longest ones currently for us, for like teams.
What, so like in the top 25, I think we're like 97 consecutive weeks or whatever.
You can look it up.
It's great after.
So we're keeping the streak alive.
We play great at home.
Hoping for another good win.
Yeah, I don't know.
I don't know.
There's a lot that is left to be desired.
You hit your free throws, season looks different.
Control and take care of the ba telling you gotta take care of the basketball.
Yep.
We have not done that.
That's Barnes is like number one.
Don't turn it over.
Well, defense rebounding those two.
I think we've got a good team, good skills, good talent.
It's just we haven't been able to put it together so there's time.
There's time to fix it, right? Yeah.
Your best basketball should be in March.
Yep.
So plenty of time.
But you got, right now we're probably somewhere around an eight to 10 seed is my guess.
So you gotta make it to.
The tournament and probably drop from here a couple more.
Mm, yeah.
You keep losing.
The SE C's so tough.
It's, it was a top heavy league.
Now everybody is good.
Everybody's got a competitive team.
If you look at the standings right now, I don't know where everybody's at, but I think most teams are four to six losses already within the SEC.
And part of that is.
The cannibalism of this league, but also the SEC teams are pushing themselves.
They're playing in the preseason tournaments and playing neutral site games like we have.
But yeah, I think it's a toss up for who walks away with an SEC championship this year too.
But we are making it right.
We're gonna make the tournament.
We're making the tournament.
Yeah.
It's not that far gone.
I don't think we're that far gone.
Yes, I do think we will make the tournament.
However, when March comes, we will be talking about our exit from the tournament and not making free throws is gonna be the massive mm-hmm.
Issue that we just can't fix.
The other thing is, which Tennessee is gonna show up.
Mm-hmm.
It's like one week we look great.
The next week we lose by 20 or 30.
It's, this is the same thing every year.
Yeah.
I shouldn't say that.
There's hope.
There's hope for this year.
There's hope.
This is the Champions of Alive podcast.
There's always hope.
Catch us next time.