Latest / Speaking of Supply Chain / Two Miebach Chiefs Read Between Gartner's Lines

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Two Miebach Chiefs Read Between Gartner's Lines · Speaking of Supply Chain

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Speaker 1: Nowadays, there are so many choices, yeah, for implementation partners
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Speaker 1: for different technologies. I mean our role really is to
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Speaker 1: understand what's there, what's best, and really to support our customers.
0:11
Speaker 1: But from the customer point of view, to select the
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Speaker 1: best implementation partner, the best technology, et cetera. I would
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Speaker 1: put it like this is you go to a big
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Speaker 1: department store or big hypermarket. Yeah, you need to cook
0:21
Speaker 1: a meal today, Yeah, and there's so many choices. Yeah,
0:24
Speaker 1: you have to have break here what you want to cook? Yeah,
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Speaker 1: and really get the right ingredients. This is basically what
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Speaker 1: we do.
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Speaker 2: Welcome to speaking of supply chain. I'm Christine Barnhardt, head
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Speaker 2: of Industry Engagement and Alliances meedback. This is where we
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Speaker 2: go beyond the buzzwords to unpack what actually drives supply
0:44
Speaker 2: chain performance. Today we're discussing the Gartner inaugural Magic Quadrant
0:50
Speaker 2: for Specialist Supply Chain Strategy, Planning and Operations Consulting. Well,
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Speaker 2: many people focus on the recognitions themselves. I think what's
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Speaker 2: equally interesting is what this new Magic Quadrant tells us
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Speaker 2: about the evolution of the supply chain consulting market. Organizations
1:10
Speaker 2: today are under pressure to improve service resilience, agility, and cost,
1:15
Speaker 2: all simultaneously. As those expectations have evolved, so too have
1:21
Speaker 2: expectations for consulting partners. So I am super excited because
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Speaker 2: I have two Mebok legends joining me today. Gentlemen, welcome.
1:33
Speaker 2: Let's take just a few minutes and let you introduce
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Speaker 2: yourself to the audience.
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Speaker 3: Thanks Christine, Nick Bonach, I'm a partner and I serve
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Speaker 3: as the chief revenue officer for Mebox operations in US
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Speaker 3: and Canada. Been with a firm for fifteen years. Prior
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Speaker 3: to this role, I led the strategy practice for the
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Speaker 3: region Core.
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Speaker 1: Thank you Christine. Thank you Nick. Here. So my name
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Speaker 1: is Orchemoche. I'm a chief growth officer for for the
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Speaker 1: Meeba Group and been working for the company since thirty
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Speaker 1: five years. By now, thank you.
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Speaker 2: I love it. Welcome, gentlemen, Super super excited to have you.
2:08
Speaker 2: I know you guys are both super busy. So for years,
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Speaker 2: Gartner covered this market through a market guide in which
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Speaker 2: Mebach was recognized. Now they have moved to a magic
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Speaker 2: quadrant focused specifically on specialist supply chain strategy planning and
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Speaker 2: operations consulting. So what, in your opinion does this tell
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Speaker 2: us about where the market is today, and in your opinion,
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Speaker 2: you know why the change, and I honestly, whoever is
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Speaker 2: feeling passionate, you can go first.
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Speaker 3: All right, I'll take that nice easy question first. You know,
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Speaker 3: I think the consulting space is dramatically evolving. Part of
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Speaker 3: that brought on just with the importance of supply chain
3:02
Speaker 3: after the pandemic. You know, it used to be I
3:04
Speaker 3: had to explain to friends and family what the heck
3:06
Speaker 3: supply chain was, and then all of a sudden, the
3:09
Speaker 3: pandemic happens, and it's on the word. It's that word
3:12
Speaker 3: is on the mouth of every board member and every politician.
3:15
Speaker 3: And with that, we saw a space that got was
3:19
Speaker 3: already crowded, got much more crowded. You had system integrators
3:22
Speaker 3: offering consulting, you had suppliers of software and hardware offering consulting.
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Speaker 4: And we saw.
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Speaker 3: The strategic blue sky management consultancies also come into the
3:32
Speaker 3: space quite dramatically. So I do think it was time
3:37
Speaker 3: for a third party to give some clarity in this space,
3:41
Speaker 3: because what is consulting? Who are consultants? Where is this
3:46
Speaker 3: space going? It's definitely become much much more complex than
3:50
Speaker 3: you know when I started with the firm, you know,
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Speaker 3: over a decade and a half ago.
3:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would like to add to what you have said, Nick,
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Speaker 1: Also is that there a supply chain becomes more element
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Speaker 1: for the sea level and strategic decisions that needs to
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Speaker 1: be taken. A global partner becomes also very important. Yan.
4:09
Speaker 1: So I think with the magic quadrant then you can
4:12
Speaker 1: really see the market from the global perspective. Is perciically
4:16
Speaker 1: one of our main goals yet to be able to
4:19
Speaker 1: serve our customers worldwide. Yeah, And I think this a
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Speaker 1: magic quident owners this capability.
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Speaker 2: I think part of it is also the evolution beyond
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Speaker 2: individual functional projects because I don't think that specialization means
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Speaker 2: like functional nuance. I think it means supply chain kind
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Speaker 2: of holistically. Any thoughts on that, Nick.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think our things since our founding five and
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Speaker 3: a half decades ago was we only do supply chain.
4:51
Speaker 3: Right now, only doing supply chain that only kind of
4:54
Speaker 3: needs some quotations around it, because it's not just yeah
4:58
Speaker 3: we can help with transportation, or yeah this distribution center
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Speaker 3: needs turned around. It's it's really you know, we like
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Speaker 3: to talk about it that we work to end in
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Speaker 3: two axes. One is kind of the width across the
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Speaker 3: score model. But the other is the depth that we
5:14
Speaker 3: don't just produce beautiful slides. We do do that, don't
5:17
Speaker 3: get me wrong, but it's more than that, right, and
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Speaker 3: we can really partner with our clients all the way
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Speaker 3: from concept ideation, strategy development through you know, putting on
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Speaker 3: the steel toes and the hard hats to actually drive
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Speaker 3: those results and you know, improve the p and l
5:36
Speaker 3: uplift the customer service metrics. So I do think and
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Speaker 3: again this is where this complexity goes into, which is
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Speaker 3: why I appreciate Gartner moving to this magic quadrant, because
5:46
Speaker 3: what do you do in supply chain? I mean, supply
5:49
Speaker 3: chain is complex. Find a business, a part of the
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Speaker 3: enterprise that has more systems, more functions, more silos, you know,
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Speaker 3: a bulk of the costs of an ESG of of
6:00
Speaker 3: any company. It gets tricky then on you know, are
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Speaker 3: you a hero and one thing or the other or
6:06
Speaker 3: how wide encompassing and deep does your portfolio go?
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Speaker 4: Right?
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Speaker 2: Okay, So I want to segue just a little bit
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Speaker 2: because I think one of the things that's really important
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Speaker 2: here is that you know, what supply chain leaders today
6:21
Speaker 2: are dealing with is a very different environment than where
6:25
Speaker 2: they were even just five years ago, ten years ago
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Speaker 2: for sure. So what are clients asking for today that
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Speaker 2: they weren't asking for before?
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Speaker 1: Orge, I mean you you made the statement in the
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Speaker 1: introduction they wanted all. Yes. In the past, everybody understood
6:46
Speaker 1: that you could sacrifice service to improve cost or agility,
6:53
Speaker 1: also came at the cost a certain redundancy, et cetera. Nowadays,
6:58
Speaker 1: the ambition is you want to have it all. Yeah,
7:01
Speaker 1: you need to be efficient in cause, but you have
7:03
Speaker 1: to be a child and obviously service levels should be
7:06
Speaker 1: best in class. Yeah, and it is true that they're
7:10
Speaker 1: mainly based on the integration of the functions across the
7:15
Speaker 1: the the enterprise, but also view of fans to new technologies.
7:19
Speaker 1: In some cases this is possible, but the challenge is
7:22
Speaker 1: still there. Yeah. And the many times supply chaines is
7:26
Speaker 1: about the compromises. Yeah, you can have it all. Sometimes
7:30
Speaker 1: sometimes you really have to make a compromise. Yeah, and
7:32
Speaker 1: focus and really focus on one of the culture.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: I think you know, with this collect flooding of the market,
7:40
Speaker 3: with everybody saying they do consulting in the supply chain space,
7:45
Speaker 3: we've seen a real appreciation for our customers for the
7:48
Speaker 3: fact that our business model is that, you know, we
7:52
Speaker 3: don't provide any sort of system integration, We don't provide
7:56
Speaker 3: for party services, we don't provide third party services. We
7:59
Speaker 3: are a a pure play advisory firm. And there's a
8:05
Speaker 3: lot of firms out there that you're consulting that also
8:07
Speaker 3: will do the system integration. And I think that's where
8:11
Speaker 3: I want to be careful with my words here. Maybe
8:13
Speaker 3: not a conflict of interest is too strong, But if
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Speaker 3: the company that's advising you on your planning or warehouse
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Speaker 3: management system transformation also has a different level of engagement
8:24
Speaker 3: and potentially a revenue stream with different technology providers as
8:28
Speaker 3: they're making those transformational recommendations, what's behind it? And I
8:33
Speaker 3: think there's been this renewed appreciation with the crowding of
8:36
Speaker 3: the market and the fact that yes, we can advise
8:38
Speaker 3: you on your APS system, or your WS system, or
8:41
Speaker 3: your TMS system or your entire digital AI strategy, but
8:45
Speaker 3: we're not going to be the ones integrating one system
8:49
Speaker 3: or the other. We're always going to be on our
8:51
Speaker 3: client side of the table, overseeing the system integrator, overseeing
8:55
Speaker 3: the technologists, overseeing the hardware providers. As if We're just
8:59
Speaker 3: an extension of their team. And I think that's a
9:01
Speaker 3: big reason why we see our MPs scores when we
9:04
Speaker 3: have third party benchmarket or when you look at the
9:06
Speaker 3: Gartner Peer Insights is we always go to work every day.
9:10
Speaker 3: Yes we work for Mebach, but yes I also work for.
9:13
Speaker 4: Client X Y.
9:14
Speaker 3: I am part of their team. I'm integrated into their leadership.
9:17
Speaker 3: I am part of their culture because we want to
9:21
Speaker 3: be temporary partners, but stewards and partners of their p
9:26
Speaker 3: and L, their capital, their processes, their governance as if
9:29
Speaker 3: we were in a direct reporting line part of that organization.
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Speaker 3: And I do feel this renewed sense of appreciation for
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Speaker 3: that that was maybe lost ten twelve years ago, where
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Speaker 3: it was like I just need somebody to do this,
9:42
Speaker 3: just get it done. With supply chain being elevated at
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Speaker 3: the decision making table, that aspect of what we bring
9:48
Speaker 3: to the table, it feels or what we hear, has
9:51
Speaker 3: a greater importance.
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Speaker 2: I want to summarize just a little bit because what
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Speaker 2: I heard was speed of value realization is important. There's
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Speaker 2: this simultaneous focus right now on cost, service, resilience ability.
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Speaker 2: They want faster decision making, and yes, implementation support is important,
10:15
Speaker 2: but it needs to be some type of agnostic relationship.
10:20
Speaker 2: From a software selection tool vendor selection standpoint, I might
10:26
Speaker 2: be a little bit more pragmatic, and I think part
10:29
Speaker 2: of the shift is that customers are no longer looking
10:33
Speaker 2: for recommendations. They're looking for results.
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Speaker 1: Right.
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Speaker 2: I don't care how pretty it is. I don't care,
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Speaker 2: you know, if it's the most sophisticated presentation. I want
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Speaker 2: to understand that you're actually going to help drive a
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Speaker 2: positive business outcome. Is that fair?
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Speaker 1: Yes, it is. But this has been in our DNA
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Speaker 1: since ever. Yeah, so Ordi ende we are really full
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Speaker 1: implementation for us and driven. I think what Necks explain
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Speaker 1: is that we are the clients advocacy, so we always
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Speaker 1: sit on the side of the table, let's say, controlling
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Speaker 1: whoever comes and implement. Yeah. And then nowadays there are
11:12
Speaker 1: so many choices yeah, for implementation partners for different technologies.
11:16
Speaker 1: I mean, our our role really is to understand what's there,
11:20
Speaker 1: what's best, yeah, and really to support our customers. But
11:23
Speaker 1: from the customer point of view, to select the best
11:26
Speaker 1: implementation partner, the best technology, et cetera. I would put
11:29
Speaker 1: it like this, is you go to a big department
11:31
Speaker 1: store or big hypermarket. Yeah. You need to cook a
11:34
Speaker 1: meal today, Yeah, and there's so many choices. Yeah, you
11:37
Speaker 1: have to have very clear what you want to cook. Yeah,
11:39
Speaker 1: and really get the right ingredients. Yeah. And this is
11:43
Speaker 1: basically what we do. Yeah. But the key difference is
11:45
Speaker 1: at the end there is a contract that we help
11:48
Speaker 1: drafted between our customer and the basically the technology partner,
11:52
Speaker 1: the system implementation partner, and therefore we always somehow defending
11:55
Speaker 1: the interest of our customers. At the end, we are
11:59
Speaker 1: our partners and everybody is sitting on the same table
12:01
Speaker 1: trying to drive the whole. But at the end, the
12:04
Speaker 1: reality is that everybody has its own interest. Yeah, and
12:07
Speaker 1: we are always defending the interest of our customs.
12:10
Speaker 2: Okay, I love it, thank you so much. I think
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Speaker 2: the other thing that struck me as I was reading
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Speaker 2: the market overview was this phrase that kept they kept
12:21
Speaker 2: peppering in that it needs to be integrated and outcome
12:27
Speaker 2: oriented consulting. And I think it's a phrase that could
12:31
Speaker 2: be quite frankly misinterpreted. So from your perspective or hey,
12:37
Speaker 2: what do you think this means? This integrated and outcome
12:40
Speaker 2: oriented consulting And how does niebak Fit.
12:44
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, this is a specialized magic quadron.
12:48
Speaker 1: But for us, specialization is our world. We are supply
12:51
Speaker 1: chained and therefore, okay, we feel very comfortable comfortable in
12:55
Speaker 1: this specialized area because obviously we're not generalist. We know
12:59
Speaker 1: about supply thin So and for me, integration is that
13:03
Speaker 1: we really look at the end to end supply chain.
13:06
Speaker 1: Basically at the end we have to have a holistic
13:09
Speaker 1: view and also not basically go beyond the silos, go
13:13
Speaker 1: beyond the narrow minded and yeah, step wise implementation and
13:18
Speaker 1: really look for for what's best for the whole company. Yeah,
13:21
Speaker 1: and outcome driven. Again, this is our DNA. I mean,
13:26
Speaker 1: we sit together with our customers until things get live. Yeah.
13:30
Speaker 1: Making visions our reality. This has been our motto since years. Yeah.
13:33
Speaker 1: So we draft visions on a piece of paper on
13:36
Speaker 1: a power point Fine, fine, but at the end we
13:40
Speaker 1: make it live. Yeah. We really bring ideas into into
13:44
Speaker 1: practice and that's our focus, and there is where we
13:47
Speaker 1: feel most comfortable. Yeah, when the ideas that we drafted
13:50
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of a journey became become a reality.
13:54
Speaker 3: I think is first point to me is one of
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Speaker 3: the biggest right because we are focused on our on
14:00
Speaker 3: supply chain. Our people are hyper focused in a certain area,
14:04
Speaker 3: but that's still one team integrated together. I mean, just
14:07
Speaker 3: think on the client side. How many times are you
14:09
Speaker 3: interviewing for a VP of transportation or planning or you know,
14:12
Speaker 3: whatever it might be, and you interview a cannon You're like, ah, yeah,
14:15
Speaker 3: this person's more of a planning person.
14:16
Speaker 4: I don't know if we can have them in transportation
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Speaker 4: or vice versa.
14:19
Speaker 3: Right, are you doing that with your consulting firm or
14:23
Speaker 3: are you getting generalists that move from a WMS implementation
14:26
Speaker 3: to a planning implementation to an OPS excellence thing. The
14:29
Speaker 3: hyper focus of our people working under our integrated methodology
14:33
Speaker 3: and banner allows us to deliver these holistic programs when
14:39
Speaker 3: needed or to go super deep on one aspect or
14:42
Speaker 3: the other. But we don't because we're coming in under
14:45
Speaker 3: this integrated umbrella. We are very cognizant of the fact
14:49
Speaker 3: of hey, look, let's go something as simple how to
14:52
Speaker 3: retail client. Recently, we were talking about number of docks
14:55
Speaker 3: they needed at their DC and it was free X
14:59
Speaker 3: industry benchmark, and the OPS team is saying, yeah, but
15:02
Speaker 3: it takes us this long to move the trucks. There's
15:04
Speaker 3: many trucks a day. It's simple math, and we're saying, yes,
15:08
Speaker 3: you have a bigger issue upstream, and that's where the
15:10
Speaker 3: opportunity is. The material from your manufacturers, co manufacturer, private
15:15
Speaker 3: labelers need to come in a way that you can't
15:17
Speaker 3: turn that truck every forty five minutes. An hour and
15:19
Speaker 3: a half is crazy. Well, we're having to scan everything.
15:22
Speaker 3: We don't know what's in the truck. All right, we
15:23
Speaker 3: have an EDI topic we need to talk about. We
15:25
Speaker 3: have supplier management topics we need.
15:27
Speaker 4: To talk about.
15:27
Speaker 3: So our work, while it may be focused on one aspect,
15:32
Speaker 3: supply chain is so interconnected that you change one lever,
15:35
Speaker 3: you need to be aware of the upstream, downstream effects
15:38
Speaker 3: but also the real root cause of the problem. I'm
15:40
Speaker 3: a big believer in the five whys until you get
15:42
Speaker 3: to the how you fix something. All Right, we need
15:44
Speaker 3: more dock space?
15:45
Speaker 1: Why?
15:45
Speaker 3: All right, let's start digging into that. And I think
15:48
Speaker 3: too often, at least what we hear is, yeah, this
15:52
Speaker 3: other firm came in.
15:53
Speaker 4: We told them to do X. They listened to the
15:54
Speaker 4: group that owns X.
15:56
Speaker 3: We optimized X, but then it created issues up and
15:59
Speaker 3: down and I think.
16:01
Speaker 4: That's the why.
16:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's where you got to ask the why
16:05
Speaker 3: is that's part of that integrated approach of hey, look,
16:08
Speaker 3: this is one value chain. We got to optimize for
16:12
Speaker 3: the all and not optimize a piece to sup optimize
16:15
Speaker 3: the system. And that is just very tricky unless you're
16:19
Speaker 3: used to and having been part of these transformation projects
16:22
Speaker 3: to see as something is how number of docs you
16:26
Speaker 3: have and plan time for DOC turnaround can affect the
16:29
Speaker 3: whole supplier management and upstream.
16:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:31
Speaker 2: I think the one thing that concern me about the
16:34
Speaker 2: wording in the magic quadrant was that somebody could interpret
16:38
Speaker 2: it not to mean integrated across supply chain, but integrated
16:44
Speaker 2: across supply chain and finance and accounting and treasury. And
16:49
Speaker 2: we're like, no, no, no, no, that's not really what they're defining.
16:54
Speaker 2: They're basically saying, you know, we want to break down
16:58
Speaker 2: the silos across the supply chain, and that you really
17:01
Speaker 2: need somebody that has both strategy and planning and deep
17:07
Speaker 2: operational experience to really do that so that you're not
17:13
Speaker 2: optimizing a silo at the expense of the whole.
17:16
Speaker 1: At the end, and if you look at the supply
17:20
Speaker 1: chain director, a full fledged supply chain director with what
17:24
Speaker 1: we understands the full breadth of responsibilities, yeah, the most advanced. Yeah,
17:29
Speaker 1: and our value proposition is to solve any pain point
17:33
Speaker 1: or challenge from a supply chain director. And the supply
17:35
Speaker 1: chain director basically is like Miva miva on the customer side. Obviously,
17:39
Speaker 1: the supply chain director has a different experts in planning,
17:44
Speaker 1: in in warehouse and logistics, in transportation, procurement, sourcing, et cetera.
17:48
Speaker 1: This is what we have also as capabilities. But at
17:51
Speaker 1: the end, our role, as the role of the supply
17:54
Speaker 1: chain director is to find the best for the whole organization. Yeah.
17:57
Speaker 1: On top of that, this is with all supply chain
18:00
Speaker 1: related functions. But because supply chain is cross functional to
18:04
Speaker 1: the enterprise, then obviously we need to understand what sales
18:07
Speaker 1: is requiring, what the customers are needing, what finance is expecting. Yeah,
18:11
Speaker 1: but this is also the role of the supply chain director.
18:13
Speaker 1: So at the end our role we are the best
18:16
Speaker 1: part of our supply chain director because we can't help
18:19
Speaker 1: him out in any of his responsibilities. Yeah. But also
18:22
Speaker 1: with the same holistic view that we have to optimize everything,
18:26
Speaker 1: not the inside.
18:27
Speaker 2: Yet I love it. No, I mean I think for me,
18:30
Speaker 2: the most successful transformations connect the end the end supply
18:34
Speaker 2: chain and really deliver, you know, operational outcomes that are
18:40
Speaker 2: needed for the business. And so I think that that's
18:43
Speaker 2: that's what I'm hearing from you. I hope that's what
18:45
Speaker 2: the audience interprets as well. I would love to dig
18:50
Speaker 2: in just a little bit more to what you talked
18:54
Speaker 2: about in terms of vendor independence and part of the
18:58
Speaker 2: reason that I feel GUARD highlights the growing importance of technology,
19:03
Speaker 2: advanced analytics, digital capabilities, increasingly sophisticated consulting models that are
19:11
Speaker 2: grounded in some type of a tool or technology or
19:16
Speaker 2: you know, proprietary to technique. So how is Kneebock balancing
19:22
Speaker 2: the need for technology and understanding technology and independence in
19:29
Speaker 2: shaping how how you actually service clients and customers.
19:34
Speaker 1: We believe that our independency is part of our value
19:37
Speaker 1: proposition to the market. At the end of the day,
19:40
Speaker 1: we need to give the best advice to our customers.
19:43
Speaker 1: Is it the right level of automation, Is it the
19:45
Speaker 1: right vendor for automation, is it the right digital let's say,
19:49
Speaker 1: a tool, suite or technology, and the right and not
19:55
Speaker 1: only vendor, but also implementation partners. So at the end,
19:59
Speaker 1: and we need to be on the top in terms
20:04
Speaker 1: of understanding all the technology is available. And this is
20:06
Speaker 1: already a challenge. I mean, the market is moving so
20:11
Speaker 1: fast that we have to be on top. Yeah, and
20:13
Speaker 1: we also need to be aware of who are the
20:15
Speaker 1: best implementation partners. But at the end, focusing on only
20:20
Speaker 1: one technology would narrow down our our basically value proposition
20:26
Speaker 1: that we will help our customers to select the best,
20:29
Speaker 1: the best and to take the best decisions. Yeah. And
20:32
Speaker 1: this is technology agnostic, not technolog I mean there are
20:35
Speaker 1: there are. I mean there is a wide to a
20:37
Speaker 1: variety of technologies that can be implemented for the different
20:41
Speaker 1: functions and obviously we are aware of them and they
20:44
Speaker 1: are let's say rankings, et cetera. But at the end day,
20:47
Speaker 1: its customer has a different need, has a legacy system
20:50
Speaker 1: that needs to be integrated, is operating in a country
20:53
Speaker 1: where support could be better, or wards, et cetera. And
20:55
Speaker 1: this is really what we need to take care of them.
20:58
Speaker 2: Nick, what would you add to that?
21:00
Speaker 3: So I think, like a lot of times and again
21:03
Speaker 3: sit there and think about technology, and again it could
21:06
Speaker 3: be software, It could be hardware. Think about technology and
21:11
Speaker 3: implementations that went wrong. It probably wasn't you picked the
21:16
Speaker 3: wrong vendor, because that's a false binary right we should
21:20
Speaker 3: have picked under ex versus why it would have gone better.
21:22
Speaker 3: Maybe don't know when you peel back and again start
21:25
Speaker 3: going through those five whys where your business process is
21:29
Speaker 3: clearly defined. Did you have functional requirements and user stories
21:34
Speaker 3: ready before you selected the vendor. Did you base that
21:37
Speaker 3: selection user requirements, functional requirements, business process requirements. Did you
21:43
Speaker 3: have that cleared out and it was that how you
21:44
Speaker 3: led to your technologists selection. Did you clarify how much
21:49
Speaker 3: you were willing to give on your core business process
21:51
Speaker 3: versus configuration that needed to be done in the system.
21:54
Speaker 3: Were you over reliant on a system integrator that just
21:57
Speaker 3: wanted to get in and out and didn't want to
21:58
Speaker 3: do configuration? Where you too rely on a system integrator
22:02
Speaker 3: that customized everything perfectly to the letter of the functional requirement,
22:07
Speaker 3: and then you weren't able to upgrade the system without
22:09
Speaker 3: having to do.
22:10
Speaker 4: A whole redeployment.
22:11
Speaker 3: Again, these are the areas where that independence comes in
22:16
Speaker 3: because you need to look to make sure the system
22:19
Speaker 3: or the hardware is going to meet your business requirements.
22:23
Speaker 3: The configuration is going to be done in a way
22:25
Speaker 3: that extrapolates the most value out of the system with
22:29
Speaker 3: not over complexifying the system to make it a nightmare
22:32
Speaker 3: for maintenance and service.
22:33
Speaker 4: I think especially as you're seeing.
22:35
Speaker 3: The the upgrades and the redeployment moving, you know, heck
22:40
Speaker 3: finds an execution system, planning system that's not moving to
22:43
Speaker 3: the cloud that's going to enable more releases quickly releases,
22:47
Speaker 3: especially as these companies try to stay up on the
22:49
Speaker 3: AI curve. You really have to be very determined and
22:55
Speaker 3: disciplined as you go through this that you're still protecting
22:58
Speaker 3: the business needs and not overly depliant, overly reliant, or
23:03
Speaker 3: overly going in with clouded judgment on what new release
23:08
Speaker 3: schedules mean, What does it mean when how they're going
23:10
Speaker 3: to integrate this into your data, like what does this mean?
23:13
Speaker 3: This is where having folks that know enough about each
23:17
Speaker 3: system and again with this hyper focus, we have people
23:19
Speaker 3: that are specialized in different systems so that way we
23:23
Speaker 3: can stand eye to eye. Do you have all that
23:27
Speaker 3: expertise on your bench? And if you don't, and you're
23:29
Speaker 3: just relying on the people that are making money off
23:31
Speaker 3: of you for how many licenses are going to sell,
23:35
Speaker 3: how many tokens you're going to use, how big the
23:37
Speaker 3: maintenance and service contract is. That's where we feel you
23:41
Speaker 3: have this competing best interest and that's where we think
23:45
Speaker 3: our significant value add is because again, our only revenue
23:48
Speaker 3: stream is from our clients that hopefully think they get
23:51
Speaker 3: a ton of value.
23:52
Speaker 4: For the money they spend with us.
23:54
Speaker 2: And I do think though it's important to dive into
23:57
Speaker 2: the nuance and I say this with a little bit
23:59
Speaker 2: of a buy because I lead Partnerships for North America,
24:03
Speaker 2: is we can partner, we can collaborate. Quite frankly, we
24:06
Speaker 2: should partner. We should collaborate. It's what allows us to
24:10
Speaker 2: get to know these different vendors and tool providers. It
24:14
Speaker 2: gives us access to their product management, their product development.
24:20
Speaker 2: It allows us to influence them in terms of where
24:24
Speaker 2: they're taking their technology, especially given our deep expertise on
24:30
Speaker 2: the operational side. So I think that that our need
24:34
Speaker 2: for deep expertise, our ability to collaborate and partner is important,
24:40
Speaker 2: but only to the point that it doesn't bias our recommendations,
24:45
Speaker 2: which is why we don't have a profit incentive, a
24:49
Speaker 2: revenue incentive with the vendors that we're working with today,
24:55
Speaker 2: and so I think that that's important. And I don't
24:58
Speaker 2: know Nick if or Jarde if you WI want to
25:00
Speaker 2: add anything to that. Obviously you've worked for me Bach
25:04
Speaker 2: a lot longer.
25:04
Speaker 1: Than I have.
25:05
Speaker 3: I mean I've done a lot of time and pre
25:08
Speaker 3: impost M and A activities for us. And for sure
25:13
Speaker 3: there's always a strategy firm, one of the mbbs or
25:18
Speaker 3: acronym firms that are leading that overall enterprise wide, and
25:23
Speaker 3: we have had successful So this independence works both directions. Right,
25:29
Speaker 3: of the more famous consultancies, the ones that can sponsor
25:34
Speaker 3: US opens and things like that, we've worked with all
25:39
Speaker 3: of them successfully. And I think this is where just
25:42
Speaker 3: because the field is more complex doesn't mean there isn't a.
25:45
Speaker 4: Role for everyone to play.
25:47
Speaker 3: Right, we are not the firm for Blue Ocean corporate
25:51
Speaker 3: turnaround for all of it. Now, have we had carve
25:55
Speaker 3: outs where we handled all of the supply chain, the
25:57
Speaker 3: production strategy, the distribution strategy part of that and work
26:00
Speaker 3: with firm x Y.
26:02
Speaker 1: Yes.
26:03
Speaker 3: So that's where I think this independence also works both ways.
26:07
Speaker 4: Where we we I don't.
26:10
Speaker 3: Think we have an overly self sense of worth or
26:14
Speaker 3: entitlement of of who we are and the value we bring.
26:17
Speaker 4: We want to be a good team.
26:19
Speaker 3: Player on whatever resources you need on your transformational plan,
26:24
Speaker 3: and we will find where we can add value and
26:27
Speaker 3: where we'll be honest with you where either we don't
26:30
Speaker 3: think we're the right partner or we know there's a
26:32
Speaker 3: better partner out there. Uh, Because at the end of
26:34
Speaker 3: the day, we're also not going to get over our
26:35
Speaker 3: skis and over promise or get outside that core mission
26:39
Speaker 3: that we feel that we have.
26:41
Speaker 1: At the end, we started saying we are basically on
26:44
Speaker 1: the side of the customer bench. So but this means
26:48
Speaker 1: that everything that we are basically checking out and and
26:52
Speaker 1: and and making proof of is what the NIKA explained. Yeah,
26:55
Speaker 1: do you have really the right level of detail? Have
26:58
Speaker 1: you detailed things correctly? Is this harmonized enough to scale
27:02
Speaker 1: it up? Yeah? Or is it just two detailed and
27:05
Speaker 1: configured et cetera, et cetera. Having said this, this doesn't
27:09
Speaker 1: mean that if the customer wants to, we can definitely
27:12
Speaker 1: partner with some system integrators and have a one stop
27:15
Speaker 1: shopping where our value on top of the system integrating value.
27:20
Speaker 1: But working for the interest of our customers, we put
27:23
Speaker 1: it all together. Yeah, at the end, our role is
27:26
Speaker 1: probably quite similar. Yes, Okay, now there is there is
27:30
Speaker 1: one single contract in which the system integrator works alongside
27:34
Speaker 1: with us, But at the end, the essence is not
27:37
Speaker 1: much more different. Yeah, we play a different role from
27:40
Speaker 1: the as the system integrator. We can partner with them,
27:44
Speaker 1: we can have a one stop shopping for our customers
27:45
Speaker 1: for sure, but our role is is really to advise
27:49
Speaker 1: our customers. Yeah. Right.
27:51
Speaker 2: I often tell people were business integrators were pis, We're
27:54
Speaker 2: not SIS. The one thing we haven't really talked about
27:58
Speaker 2: in this context was the Gartner use of the term
28:03
Speaker 2: asset enabled capability, and I feel they were really blurring
28:08
Speaker 2: the lines between tools, methodologies, frameworks. It's kind of like
28:14
Speaker 2: the secret sauce, right, like this is the way Kneeboch
28:18
Speaker 2: works and this is that the capability that we're bringing.
28:22
Speaker 2: But they really carved this out. Do either of you
28:25
Speaker 2: want to talk just a little bit about from a
28:29
Speaker 2: meebox perspective, what does asset enabled capability mean and how
28:33
Speaker 2: do we support that?
28:34
Speaker 4: Yeah?
28:35
Speaker 3: I mean it's Gartner. It's a complex space, right. Are
28:38
Speaker 3: we using AI?
28:39
Speaker 4: Absolutely?
28:41
Speaker 3: How we developed proprietary tools more and more every day
28:44
Speaker 3: I was. I mean we were all in Germany together
28:46
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks ago getting the latest and greatest tools.
28:49
Speaker 4: And yeah, there's some slick.
28:50
Speaker 3: Things we've done with our IP and made it democratized
28:53
Speaker 3: so more of the firm has accessed to all that
28:55
Speaker 3: and we can bring greater speed to value. So, yes,
29:01
Speaker 3: we do have assets. Yes, we also use tools that
29:04
Speaker 3: are off the market to do some of the work
29:06
Speaker 3: we do, whether it's network design, whether it's you know,
29:08
Speaker 3: some of the stuff we're doing with digital twins and simulations,
29:13
Speaker 3: you know, even getting things into NA Video's omniverse. Yes,
29:16
Speaker 3: we're also using tools as part of our deployment. We're
29:19
Speaker 3: not a bunch of eighty year old men with pen
29:20
Speaker 3: and paper, you know, looking at a crystal ball to advise.
29:26
Speaker 3: That being said, the tools we have built are for
29:30
Speaker 3: people that have been doing supply chain consulting year in
29:33
Speaker 3: and year out. They're they're very unconstrained. You can do
29:36
Speaker 3: a lot with it. You just hand that over to
29:38
Speaker 3: a customer. You can break a lot of thanks, I
29:41
Speaker 3: break a lot of things when I tried.
29:43
Speaker 4: Testing them out. Whether they don't have me test the
29:45
Speaker 4: things out anymore, So it's.
29:49
Speaker 3: Yes, do we use Have we found ways to digitize
29:52
Speaker 3: our intellectual property and use those in projects?
29:55
Speaker 4: Absolutely?
29:56
Speaker 3: Who's not you have to You've got to again speed
30:00
Speaker 3: value saying you need.
30:02
Speaker 2: To look for that. If if a consultancy isn't doing that,
30:06
Speaker 2: there's a problem.
30:07
Speaker 4: Right.
30:08
Speaker 3: Look, there's a certain amount of time and engagement needs
30:11
Speaker 3: to be done in and there's a certain amount of
30:13
Speaker 3: money it needs to be done in.
30:14
Speaker 4: Do you want to pay your partner to.
30:17
Speaker 3: Be on the phone and sending emails across you know,
30:20
Speaker 3: a ten thousand person organization which we're not ten thousand
30:24
Speaker 3: proudly trying to figure out, Hey, when's the last time
30:28
Speaker 3: we did this? What are the benchmarks for that? As
30:29
Speaker 3: anybody worked with the competitor, what are your findings? Because
30:33
Speaker 3: every day they spend on trying to understand what the
30:36
Speaker 3: firm already knows is a day less they're spending on
30:39
Speaker 3: going deeper in solutioning, looking out alternative concepts, doing sensitivity tests,
30:44
Speaker 3: gaining shit, stakeholder alignment, executing the change management to get
30:48
Speaker 3: the organization bought in. So we believe it's more valuable
30:52
Speaker 3: if we're spending our time on those other things rather
30:56
Speaker 3: than digging through old project files, to find out the
30:59
Speaker 3: last time we did, you know, transportation bid in southeast
31:02
Speaker 3: United States or northern Spain, to look at what the
31:06
Speaker 3: new rates would be if, hypothetically you put a new
31:09
Speaker 3: plan or DC somewhere. We think there's more value the
31:13
Speaker 3: more time we're actually spending on the problem, statement the solution,
31:16
Speaker 3: and getting everyone bought into it. I think those are
31:19
Speaker 3: super important questions to ask, because yes, everyone may say
31:23
Speaker 3: they can do this in six weeks, eight weeks, what
31:26
Speaker 3: are they spending their time?
31:28
Speaker 4: Right?
31:29
Speaker 2: How are the hours being consumed? Is it in solving
31:32
Speaker 2: the problem or is it in understanding what the problem
31:37
Speaker 2: is and what work has been done by you as
31:40
Speaker 2: a firm previously? Right? And I think and I think
31:44
Speaker 2: that's not any different though than the problems that our
31:48
Speaker 2: customers are trying to solve in their day to day.
31:50
Speaker 1: Right.
31:50
Speaker 2: They want to apply tools, technology, methodologies, frameworks to make
31:55
Speaker 2: better decisions faster. Right. They want us to do the
31:59
Speaker 2: same thing. They want us to make better recommendations faster.
32:03
Speaker 4: Right.
32:04
Speaker 2: And I think what you're telling me is that me
32:06
Speaker 2: Bak absolutely is utilizing two off the shelf tools, but
32:12
Speaker 2: also Meebach produced tools, IP methodologies, frameworks, best practices to
32:21
Speaker 2: the benefit of our customers.
32:23
Speaker 1: And maybe just to actually this the fact that we
32:26
Speaker 1: are specialized. The consultancy dismissed that we are in size
32:33
Speaker 1: somehow reachable. I mean, historically we as Mibak have been collaborating.
32:38
Speaker 1: There is a very strong corporation spread across the world.
32:41
Speaker 1: So what Nick has described has always happened with or
32:44
Speaker 1: without technology, with or without assets. But obviously we've learned
32:48
Speaker 1: to share our knowledge. We've understood how valuable this is
32:51
Speaker 1: for our customers, and we have built the IP tools
32:54
Speaker 1: around it to make this knowledge accessible and repeatable. Yeah.
32:59
Speaker 1: And and this I think a key success factors have
33:02
Speaker 1: been the fact that we as Mibak has been always
33:05
Speaker 1: working together as a one team across the world, with
33:09
Speaker 1: one voice to the customer. Yeah. And leveraging technology has
33:13
Speaker 1: only been basically the subsequent the next step to making
33:19
Speaker 1: this more available. Yeah. But this has always been there.
33:23
Speaker 2: Perfect perfect. So it's interesting because one of our rallying cries,
33:28
Speaker 2: if you will, this year, has been decisions only matter
33:32
Speaker 2: if they hold up in the real world. And I
33:34
Speaker 2: find it so interesting. I guess it's either kismet or
33:38
Speaker 2: like we really have our finger on the pulls of
33:41
Speaker 2: the industry, because once the Magic Quadrant came out, what
33:46
Speaker 2: we really saw from Gardner was kind of hammering that
33:50
Speaker 2: home right, Like, strategy is great. You know, you want
33:54
Speaker 2: to you want to make investments in planning, but if
33:57
Speaker 2: quite frankly, if it's not executable and it's not giving
34:00
Speaker 2: you the business outcome that you need, like you need
34:03
Speaker 2: to blow it up and look at it again. So
34:05
Speaker 2: I would love to get each of your take on
34:09
Speaker 2: what does the phrase mean to you in the context
34:12
Speaker 2: of supply chain in the real world when we're talking about,
34:16
Speaker 2: you know, kind of these tangible results.
34:19
Speaker 1: I mean, historically we have been implementation focused in the
34:23
Speaker 1: sense that we don't only produce a nice analysis. We
34:28
Speaker 1: really help our customers to make these ideas visions into
34:32
Speaker 1: a reality, and we are very proud of that. Yeah,
34:35
Speaker 1: and we have an extremely good number of happy customers
34:40
Speaker 1: because really what they value is our experience of making
34:43
Speaker 1: things work to the real life. And this is definitely
34:47
Speaker 1: a part of our DNA. This has always been there,
34:50
Speaker 1: This has always been our focus. So for me, it's
34:53
Speaker 1: basically the reality. This is who we are and this
34:57
Speaker 1: is our main focus. Yeah, we work basically see see
35:01
Speaker 1: things happening to see things working. Yeah, and there is
35:05
Speaker 1: no more joy or pride when you really have designed
35:09
Speaker 1: something and three years later then you you go live
35:12
Speaker 1: with a huge, big, highly or low automated warehouse working
35:17
Speaker 1: us for what you have designed it. Yeah. This really
35:19
Speaker 1: creates a lot of pride and joy for us. Yeah.
35:22
Speaker 1: Or a big transformation project or technology implementation. Yeah, this
35:26
Speaker 1: is what we work for. Yeah.
35:28
Speaker 3: I think anytime you develop a strategy, a vision, a mission,
35:30
Speaker 3: there's always assumptions. And there's that famous saying about assumptions, right, So,
35:35
Speaker 3: I mean you can spend years coming up with the
35:37
Speaker 3: most you can come up with the most beautiful battle plan,
35:41
Speaker 3: but like the Colin palk I think it's Colin Palal.
35:44
Speaker 3: You know, no good battle plan survives first contact with
35:46
Speaker 3: the enemy. I mean, yeah, you could have the most
35:48
Speaker 3: perfect bid document, the most perfect tender, just like the
35:52
Speaker 3: most perfect three PL. But then if that three PL
35:55
Speaker 3: has a bunch of knucklehead show up and hypothetically or
35:58
Speaker 3: maybe I'm talking about a special retail a parel client
36:02
Speaker 3: we have right now, if a bunch of knuckleheads show
36:05
Speaker 3: up to run the operations and they don't do the
36:08
Speaker 3: right things with connectivity and master data and connecting the
36:11
Speaker 3: client system to their WMS and the reporting that the
36:15
Speaker 3: line leaders have from the WMSs and if they don't
36:17
Speaker 3: do good operational excellence business practices daily with the group
36:22
Speaker 3: and there's too much turnover with the employees at the
36:24
Speaker 3: three pl Again, we've been doing a lot of root
36:27
Speaker 3: causal analysis on this with the five whys. You're gonna
36:30
Speaker 3: struggle getting product out the door, You're gonna have chargebacks
36:33
Speaker 3: go out the wazoo. So I think having a firm
36:36
Speaker 3: one that has is living these types of problems and
36:40
Speaker 3: solving them. Also in the upfront work on how you
36:43
Speaker 3: protect yourself when you're coming up with the strategy. Like again,
36:48
Speaker 3: anytime there's assumptions, highlight those because assume they're going to
36:51
Speaker 3: be wrong, and then how good's the plan? And I think, again,
36:55
Speaker 3: we don't just hire MBAs from those prestigious Ivy League schools.
37:02
Speaker 3: We hire a lot of former operators. We hire a
37:04
Speaker 3: lot of former practitioners that have been there. Now I'm
37:07
Speaker 3: poking myself in the eye as.
37:08
Speaker 4: A career consultant, but I can Yeah, it's a mix right,
37:14
Speaker 4: absolute mags.
37:15
Speaker 3: And again it goes back to this whole diversity in
37:19
Speaker 3: different viewpoints brings out a better product at the end.
37:22
Speaker 4: You know, you you lock someone like.
37:24
Speaker 3: Jre or myself in a room with someone on our
37:27
Speaker 3: team that's had twenty five years of ops excellence experience
37:30
Speaker 3: run three PL's been there, we're gonna be able to
37:32
Speaker 3: cut through the noise. I believe in a lot of
37:34
Speaker 3: our clients will attest to this to go to fix
37:36
Speaker 3: the solution in a much quicker way than either one
37:39
Speaker 3: of us without the other. And I think you know one,
37:43
Speaker 3: it's the makeup of our teams. It's the makeup of
37:45
Speaker 3: our people. They've been there, they've lived it. Even our
37:49
Speaker 3: career consultants, all the new hires, which we have a
37:51
Speaker 3: ton showing up today, one of their first projects they
37:54
Speaker 3: go do is something out in that real world. It's
37:57
Speaker 3: not just strategic work. We send them out there to
37:59
Speaker 3: go to AVE to be part of a three PL
38:01
Speaker 3: turnaround exercise. So that way they know have lived in operations,
38:06
Speaker 3: They've seen operations, they know what happens on third shift
38:08
Speaker 3: versus first shift and what that can mean. And you
38:12
Speaker 3: have to have this experience of having lived it. I'm
38:14
Speaker 3: a firm believer to be able to go back and
38:17
Speaker 3: take a step back and recommend the concepts, the strategies
38:20
Speaker 3: and things to go with that.
38:22
Speaker 2: I think it's multifaceted, Nick. I think for me, part
38:25
Speaker 2: of what has I have loved about me back because
38:28
Speaker 2: I am one of those people, right, you took a
38:30
Speaker 2: chance on me. I had twenty plus twenty five years
38:33
Speaker 2: of experience in supply chain, in manufacturing. Is it's that
38:39
Speaker 2: balance between yes, I can bring the battle scars right,
38:43
Speaker 2: and I have empathy and I can help us understand.
38:46
Speaker 2: But then there's somebody sitting across the table that has
38:49
Speaker 2: really deep expertise in another area. And to your point,
38:54
Speaker 2: maybe they are a lifelong consultant, but we haven't put
38:58
Speaker 2: them in an ivory tower. You have sent them out
39:02
Speaker 2: into you know, a distribution center, into a warehouse. And
39:07
Speaker 2: I think if you haven't been in that environment where
39:10
Speaker 2: you know, like you're building a new building, like it's hot,
39:14
Speaker 2: it's dirty, You're dealing with electricians and mill wrights and plumbers, right,
39:19
Speaker 2: you don't understand how stressful that is and how you know,
39:23
Speaker 2: very small decisions that you're making kind of in the
39:26
Speaker 2: overall strategy can have a really you know, negative impact
39:31
Speaker 2: on how things are brought to fruition. So it is
39:35
Speaker 2: one of the things that I think is very unique
39:38
Speaker 2: about me back. I've been really happy to see that
39:41
Speaker 2: since I've been here. And I think you know the
39:44
Speaker 2: other part of it is, I think you were telling
39:46
Speaker 2: me the story about a manufacturer that had explosive growth
39:52
Speaker 2: and they were going to make investments in operations to
39:56
Speaker 2: increase their manufacturing capacity, but nobody had thought about the
40:00
Speaker 2: fact that their distribution capacity couldn't support. Right. You have
40:05
Speaker 2: to understand those connections, right.
40:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I mean, yeah, it's my second engagement with
40:12
Speaker 3: the company. I was sixteen months overseeing a chemical plant
40:18
Speaker 3: get built, and you know, it is a different level
40:22
Speaker 3: of real realism and decision making when you know the
40:25
Speaker 3: construction company digs out.
40:27
Speaker 1: At the end. We are supply chain consulting firm, but
40:32
Speaker 1: with a number of engineers working for the company, the
40:34
Speaker 1: ones who really engineer solutions together with the vendors, the
40:38
Speaker 1: ones who go to the shop raw who can do
40:41
Speaker 1: operational excellence, etcetera. I think this is a key and
40:46
Speaker 1: defrasiienting factor. Yeah, we are proud to be a consultancy
40:51
Speaker 1: firm but also an engineering firm. Yeah, and there is
40:56
Speaker 1: where both worlds meet together. Yeah, and there is where
40:59
Speaker 1: it's unique advantage. We always say there are consultants, there
41:02
Speaker 1: are engineers. We are both. Yeah, we serve supply chain
41:06
Speaker 1: and we serve supply chain with the capabilities that are needed.
41:10
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of infrastructure assets, equipment in
41:16
Speaker 1: factories and warehouse that requires engineering skills and there we
41:20
Speaker 1: definitely have them.
41:21
Speaker 2: Yet we're almost out of time. But before we lead today,
41:25
Speaker 2: I want to give you the opportunity to give one
41:29
Speaker 2: recommendation for a capability or a mindset that supply chain
41:34
Speaker 2: leaders should prioritize over the next two to three years.
41:38
Speaker 2: So really brief thirty seconds is the speed round. So hey,
41:42
Speaker 2: let's start with you.
41:45
Speaker 1: Well, obviously everybody should have AI in the as a
41:50
Speaker 1: priority agenda, but we shouldn't also understand that there are
41:54
Speaker 1: people that have to orchestrate and manage AI. So I think, yeah,
41:58
Speaker 1: technology and AI is a must, but also at the end,
42:04
Speaker 1: we will still have teams of people that needs to
42:07
Speaker 1: leverage AI and orchestrate the technology. And at the end,
42:11
Speaker 1: there are trucks, there are warehouses, they are assets that
42:14
Speaker 1: need to be managed. Yes, so everybody should really step
42:18
Speaker 1: forward in terms of AI deployment, technology deployment and obviously
42:22
Speaker 1: understand it, but we should not under estimate the importance
42:27
Speaker 1: and the relevance of people and change management. Yeah, because
42:29
Speaker 1: adoption is also a key aspect.
42:31
Speaker 2: Perfect Nick, what's your one recommendation?
42:35
Speaker 4: I can't just say hire me back. Can get out
42:37
Speaker 4: of this? I mean, I mean Horace took the easy
42:44
Speaker 4: one with AI.
42:46
Speaker 3: No, But I think the biggest aspect of this is
42:50
Speaker 3: just analyzing where you're getting your information from. Right, is
42:55
Speaker 3: it GPD? Is it folks that have been there and lived?
43:00
Speaker 3: You know, where is your advice coming from? And is
43:05
Speaker 3: it coming I think as the speed of decision making quickens,
43:10
Speaker 3: as the needs for results quickened, as the speed of
43:13
Speaker 3: available information quickens, this is where you really need expertise,
43:19
Speaker 3: and very focused expertise in these different areas because AI hallucinations,
43:24
Speaker 3: real conflicts of interests are real. People falsely inflating their
43:29
Speaker 3: past has been as real since the beginning of time.
43:33
Speaker 3: And I think really understanding where you're getting your information from,
43:37
Speaker 3: what's the background of that group, what are the assumptions
43:41
Speaker 3: being made? Because again, when you go into execution, forget
43:44
Speaker 3: all the assumptions and being able to take a step
43:48
Speaker 3: back to make sure you have the right team assimilated together,
43:51
Speaker 3: whether that's from integrators, from management consultancies, from in house expertise.
43:57
Speaker 3: I'm a big believer in this team of teams concepts.
44:00
Speaker 3: Making sure that as everything compresses, as it continues to
44:04
Speaker 3: do in this world, you still have the right players
44:06
Speaker 3: at the table is going to be critical for success
44:09
Speaker 3: moving before.
44:10
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it.
44:11
Speaker 4: You know.
44:11
Speaker 2: Here's what I would say is I think you can
44:14
Speaker 2: teach an old dog new tricks, as evidenced by the
44:17
Speaker 2: fact that my one hundred and thirty pound great Dane
44:20
Speaker 2: just let himself into my office, which he has never
44:23
Speaker 2: done before. Right, So if he can do that, I think,
44:27
Speaker 2: you know, people in industry and business we can definitely
44:30
Speaker 2: learn new things. We can adopt ai to make better
44:36
Speaker 2: decisions faster, which is really the goal.
44:38
Speaker 1: Right. I may have another concept. Yeah, as we discussed,
44:42
Speaker 1: the time seems to have compressed heavily. Yeah, but the
44:46
Speaker 1: reality is there are you have to have a strategic
44:49
Speaker 1: direction that should be somehow fundamentally right. Yeah, and this
44:53
Speaker 1: says strategic direction may take months and years still, Yeah,
44:58
Speaker 1: I mean there are things that cannot be comp rest Yeah,
45:01
Speaker 1: and on the other hand, there are new technologies and
45:04
Speaker 1: things that could be done much quicker. So somehow we
45:08
Speaker 1: have now to live with two time frames. Yeah, the
45:12
Speaker 1: one which is a much medium longer term and we
45:15
Speaker 1: have really to work on the medium long term because
45:17
Speaker 1: factories take some time to be built and warehouses and
45:20
Speaker 1: things like that. Yeah. On the other hand, there are
45:23
Speaker 1: new technologies that can be implemented quite quickly, and also
45:26
Speaker 1: it can be pilot or tested quickly. Yeah, So we
45:30
Speaker 1: now have to live with two worlds. Yeah, let's say
45:32
Speaker 1: medium long term that you have to have a plan
45:34
Speaker 1: and you have to go for it. On the other hand,
45:36
Speaker 1: there are a lot of things that you could be testing,
45:39
Speaker 1: piloting and scaling up quite quickly. Yeah. But at the
45:43
Speaker 1: end day, we should not forget on the medium longer
45:46
Speaker 1: term plan because there are still things that require some
45:49
Speaker 1: time to be implemented yet.
45:50
Speaker 2: Right, So what I'm hearing is competitive advantage increasingly comes
45:55
Speaker 2: from the quality of the decision, the speed. Sometimes the
46:00
Speaker 2: speed should be relatively short, sometimes it can be you know,
46:04
Speaker 2: much longer, based on the situation, and then the ability
46:07
Speaker 2: to execute consistently.
46:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, And everybody is afraid of thinking long term now, Yeah,
46:13
Speaker 1: short term periods, but you have to think think long
46:17
Speaker 1: term because certain investments, certain decisions take time. Yeah. The
46:21
Speaker 1: only thing that might have changed is that whatever you
46:23
Speaker 1: implement should be flexible enough in the future because you
46:26
Speaker 1: plan it today and you implement it in a few
46:29
Speaker 1: years time. Okay, you have to have certain flexibility on
46:33
Speaker 1: the design because the world may change. But at the end,
46:36
Speaker 1: and there are two speeds. Yeah, the short term quick win,
46:40
Speaker 1: quick deployment, testing and scaling up. Yeah, but the longer
46:45
Speaker 1: term infrastructure or structural decisions that they still take time,
46:49
Speaker 1: and for that you just need the flexibility to really
46:53
Speaker 1: readapt in the future. Yeah. If really the business has
46:57
Speaker 1: changed dramatically, No, I love it.
46:59
Speaker 2: I think this is a I mean, I'm going to
47:01
Speaker 2: be honest. I feel like I could have you guys
47:03
Speaker 2: on the podcast like at least once a quarter and
47:06
Speaker 2: we could dive into all of the various things. But
47:10
Speaker 2: unfortunately we are out of time for today. So I'm
47:14
Speaker 2: I'm gonna speak for you just a little bit, Nick
47:16
Speaker 2: and Jorge. My assumption is LinkedIn is the best way
47:21
Speaker 2: for listeners to get in touch with you if they
47:24
Speaker 2: want to continue the conversation or have questions, is that true?
47:28
Speaker 1: Cool?
47:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be true for me as well. I
47:31
Speaker 2: think LinkedIn is probably easier for most of the listeners.
47:35
Speaker 2: And before we wrap, I want to acknowledge Meeboch as
47:38
Speaker 2: the sponsor for Speaking of Supply Chain in case you
47:42
Speaker 2: didn't catch it earlier in the episode. Meebok is a
47:45
Speaker 2: global supply chain consulting and engineering firm focused exclusively on
47:50
Speaker 2: helping organizations improve service, optimize working capital, strengthen their resilience,
47:56
Speaker 2: and drive measurable business outcomes across us the end to
48:00
Speaker 2: end supply chain. From strategy and planning transformation through manufacturing, warehousing,
48:07
Speaker 2: transportation and distribution operations, Kneebox helps customers turn supply chain
48:13
Speaker 2: decisions into real world performance. Thanks again for joining us
48:19
Speaker 2: and we will see you next time on Speaking of
48:22
Speaker 2: Supply Chain.
48:23
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Christine.
48:24
Speaker 4: Thank you.
48:29
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48:33
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Speaker 5: next time,