Latest / Bloomberg Intelligence / Technology, Travel, And The Supply Chain
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney alongside
- 0:04Speaker 1: my co host Matt Miller. Every business day, we bring
- 0:06Speaker 1: you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, along
- 0:11Speaker 1: with essential market moving news. Find the Bloomberg Markets Podcast
- 0:15Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, and
- 0:18Speaker 1: at Bloomberg dot com Slash podcast. All right, Hinali Tech
- 0:23Speaker 1: Media Telecommunications. That's t MT to the cool kids. Um,
- 0:29Speaker 1: I love this part of the market because it's changing. Boy,
- 0:32Speaker 1: it seems not just on a daily basis, but maybe
- 0:34Speaker 1: an hourly basis. You really got to stay on your toes.
- 0:37Speaker 1: Mark Gibson. I know Mark Gibson absolutely is on top
- 0:41Speaker 1: of this space. Mark Gibson's a u S Tech Media
- 0:43Speaker 1: Telecommunications leader for KPMG. Mark, There's a lot to talk
- 0:46Speaker 1: about when we talk about tech and tech trends. I
- 0:49Speaker 1: want to start with cybersecurity because this is something that
- 0:52Speaker 1: we hear companies talk about ramping up their spending to
- 0:55Speaker 1: protect their networks every single year, yet we still see
- 1:00Speaker 1: hacks and ransomware. How do you think about this space?
- 1:03Speaker 1: What are you telling your clients, what are you hearing
- 1:05Speaker 1: from your clients. Yeah, Paul, thanks for the chance to
- 1:09Speaker 1: be with you today. Great to be here. And cybersecurity
- 1:13Speaker 1: is certainly an emerging risk that is accelerated up the
- 1:17Speaker 1: up the risk factors for tech companies, no doubt. Um,
- 1:20Speaker 1: it's interesting we have We've been surveying and talking with
- 1:23Speaker 1: execs that our clients in the tech sector for years
- 1:26Speaker 1: and its cybersecurity has always been in the top list
- 1:28Speaker 1: of risk, but you know, somewhere near somewhere near the bottom,
- 1:32Speaker 1: and it's just sort of sat there and through the pandemic,
- 1:34Speaker 1: and I think through the last eighteen months or so,
- 1:37Speaker 1: we've really seen and accelerate to the top where most
- 1:40Speaker 1: of the exacts we're speaking to in the tech sector
- 1:42Speaker 1: are viewing that as one of the top business risks.
- 1:45Speaker 1: And I think it's unique to tech because like all sectors,
- 1:48Speaker 1: all of the companies in the tech sector have to
- 1:51Speaker 1: worry about attacks within their own walls and within their
- 1:54Speaker 1: own data. But it's also a reputational thing for tech
- 1:58Speaker 1: companies because they're responsible for a lot of the products
- 2:01Speaker 1: and solutions that are out being sold out in the
- 2:03Speaker 1: market that are other companies are relying on to to
- 2:07Speaker 1: protect against these cyber attacks. So it really is both
- 2:10Speaker 1: a business and a reputational risk for a lot of
- 2:13Speaker 1: a lot of the tech companies. Technology is such a
- 2:15Speaker 1: broad term and when you speak to any investment bank
- 2:18Speaker 1: around Wall Street, they say all their clients are transforming
- 2:22Speaker 1: to digital economy. And what does that even mean? I mean,
- 2:27Speaker 1: to be relevant in this new economy? What technologies do
- 2:31Speaker 1: you think are really going to move the needle for
- 2:33Speaker 1: the big corporations? Yeah, Shivani, it's a great question because
- 2:38Speaker 1: you know, the disphrase digital transformation has been out there
- 2:40Speaker 1: everywhere and it means a lot of things to a
- 2:43Speaker 1: lot of people. And we we surveyed some tech exacts globally.
- 2:47Speaker 1: We do that quite often, and we abolutely really interesting
- 2:50Speaker 1: results this year where UM most of the responses of
- 2:54Speaker 1: what are the transformational technologies that are going to drive
- 2:58Speaker 1: the sector going forward? They were new things at the
- 3:00Speaker 1: top of that list. It was things like artificial intelligence
- 3:03Speaker 1: and IoT and robotic process automation. And it was much
- 3:08Speaker 1: different from what we've seen in the past around transformation.
- 3:11Speaker 1: And I think what it tells us is UM, before
- 3:14Speaker 1: the pandemic, most companies view digital transformation as a way
- 3:18Speaker 1: to drive costs out of their business you know, sort
- 3:20Speaker 1: of grow the bottom line, update their processes, get their
- 3:23Speaker 1: get their systems into the cloud, things like that, take
- 3:26Speaker 1: back in cost out. But what we're seeing now through
- 3:29Speaker 1: the reasults of these type of technologies are really focused
- 3:32Speaker 1: on growing market share in the top line and enhancing
- 3:35Speaker 1: customer loyalty and things like that that are much more
- 3:38Speaker 1: competitive advantages. And so I think a lot of the
- 3:42Speaker 1: tech companies are viewing these, uh, these newer emerging transformational
- 3:46Speaker 1: technologies as a way to really generate new insights, attack
- 3:51Speaker 1: the data security issue that we talked about previously, and
- 3:54Speaker 1: really drive you know, competitive advantage in the market to
- 3:58Speaker 1: be a winner going forward. So it is really emerging,
- 4:00Speaker 1: but it's a great, uh, it's a great emerging question.
- 4:04Speaker 1: So one of the technologies that seems to have just
- 4:07Speaker 1: exploded this year and maybe even just in the last
- 4:11Speaker 1: six months is crypto, and it just seems like that's
- 4:16Speaker 1: where all the cool kids are going now, to bitcoin,
- 4:19Speaker 1: to crypto. They're not going on to the trading desk
- 4:21Speaker 1: Morgan Stanley to trade the long bond, They're going out
- 4:24Speaker 1: and doing crypto stuff. What do you tell clients about that? Yeah,
- 4:29Speaker 1: I think everybody's looking at that it's certainly become something
- 4:33Speaker 1: that seemed to be UM out of the mainstream for
- 4:37Speaker 1: a number of years, and a lot of clients were
- 4:39Speaker 1: we're we're looking at that, but viewing it as something
- 4:42Speaker 1: they deal with in the future. And I think it
- 4:44Speaker 1: has made its way onto the agenda now for discussion UM.
- 4:48Speaker 1: You know, blockchain is certainly an important topic for the
- 4:52Speaker 1: tech sector UM and that's uh integrated some way with
- 4:56Speaker 1: crypto UM and I think we're seeing more and more
- 4:58Speaker 1: companies investigating how do you lean into that, how do
- 5:02Speaker 1: you accept payment? How do you transact business using those
- 5:07Speaker 1: alternative payment means? And so it's got it's made its
- 5:10Speaker 1: way onto the agenda, I think for the clients that
- 5:12Speaker 1: we talked to you, and I think the we still
- 5:15Speaker 1: maybe we'll wait to see exactly how how it's you
- 5:18Speaker 1: buy a lot going forward? All right, Mark, we'll talk
- 5:21Speaker 1: about that one in the future because it's here to stay.
- 5:23Speaker 1: It seems like Mark Gibson, u S t MT leader
- 5:25Speaker 1: for KPMG giving us the latest on trends in all
- 5:30Speaker 1: things text well, all reports that we're hearing over the
- 5:37Speaker 1: past few days is despite the only cron variant and
- 5:41Speaker 1: the challenges there people are traveling. You know, it's Christmas
- 5:44Speaker 1: and people are heading out and getting on planes and
- 5:46Speaker 1: driving and going back and forth for the holidays. Let's
- 5:50Speaker 1: chick in what's really going on with the airlines with
- 5:52Speaker 1: that whole industry. Peter McNally, Global lead for Industrials, Materials
- 5:56Speaker 1: and Energy at Third Bridge. Peter, what do you think
- 6:00Speaker 1: holiday travel is gonna look like for these airlines? Uh,
- 6:03Speaker 1: it seems like people are heading to the airports and
- 6:07Speaker 1: flying out. Yeah. Well, good to be with you. The
- 6:12Speaker 1: You know, it's undeniable that people do want to travel,
- 6:15Speaker 1: and we've seen it, you know this year, as people
- 6:18Speaker 1: got vaccinated, they booked flights and they wanted to travel,
- 6:22Speaker 1: the airlines themselves ran into some trouble and dealing with
- 6:26Speaker 1: the demand because it was less predictable than in the past. Um,
- 6:31Speaker 1: people are booking much closer to their travel dates than
- 6:36Speaker 1: in the past. But the difference we've seen Thanksgiving and
- 6:39Speaker 1: now coming into Christmas is that the airlines know when
- 6:43Speaker 1: those dates are UM and they can staff and get
- 6:48Speaker 1: the aircraft in the right places at the right time.
- 6:51Speaker 1: Whereas you know, through the summer in the fall, as
- 6:54Speaker 1: like the delta variant emerged and then receded. It was
- 6:58Speaker 1: a lot harder for the airline to do planning. So
- 7:01Speaker 1: over the last few weeks, you know, we've seen better
- 7:04Speaker 1: performance out of the airlines and demand is on the rise,
- 7:08Speaker 1: you know. And first of all, I must say I
- 7:10Speaker 1: was also a buck Now graduate too, so you know,
- 7:14Speaker 1: you must really know what you're talking about. So you know,
- 7:21Speaker 1: here's the thing. A lot of things are being canceled
- 7:24Speaker 1: that would have spurred a lot of global travel. That is,
- 7:27Speaker 1: things like Davos or things. I guess there's a lot
- 7:30Speaker 1: of private planes, but but still it bought a lot
- 7:33Speaker 1: of people flying around the world. The JP Morgan conference
- 7:36Speaker 1: events are being canceled. How does that shape what the
- 7:40Speaker 1: beginning of the next year starts to look like. Sure, well,
- 7:44Speaker 1: the way we're looking at it at third bridges to markets,
- 7:48Speaker 1: we've got the domestic market which is basically in a
- 7:51Speaker 1: full recovery, but the international market, even by midsummer next year,
- 7:57Speaker 1: we still expected to be off. It's off levels like
- 8:01Speaker 1: it's not going to be until in all likelihood that
- 8:07Speaker 1: UH international air travel does make that full recovery, whereas
- 8:11Speaker 1: the domestic market a lot more leisure domestic business is
- 8:15Speaker 1: still different. UH, leisure, domestic travel has come back and
- 8:20Speaker 1: has come back strong, and things like delaying returned to
- 8:24Speaker 1: office or conferences being canceled. That's more impacting the business market.
- 8:30Speaker 1: So um, you know, it is really important to segment
- 8:35Speaker 1: um the different types of travelers that that you're seeing
- 8:39Speaker 1: when looking at the airlines. All right, A car larry
- 8:41Speaker 1: to kind of the airline industry is the oil business. Energy.
- 8:46Speaker 1: It's a big cost for these airlines. We've seen oil here.
- 8:49Speaker 1: We've got w t a Coude oil and fifty cents.
- 8:52Speaker 1: I mean, this seems to be supply seems to be
- 8:55Speaker 1: fixed and oil seems to be moving simply on where
- 8:58Speaker 1: demand or perceived demand is going to be. How are
- 9:01Speaker 1: you thinking about that? And when you look at your companies, Well,
- 9:05Speaker 1: the first thing to think about, you know, oil, is
- 9:07Speaker 1: that inventories are extremely low. We've really flipped the script
- 9:12Speaker 1: from where we were eighteen months ago. And this really
- 9:15Speaker 1: has to do with OPEC, and OPEC has managed supply
- 9:19Speaker 1: lower um and inventories have come down, so that has
- 9:22Speaker 1: led to this recovery in the oil price. That said,
- 9:25Speaker 1: for the first time in a year and a half.
- 9:28Speaker 1: When we look ahead to the first quarter, we actually
- 9:31Speaker 1: see inventories rising for you for crude oil, and to
- 9:35Speaker 1: US that's likely to cap prices. UM. There is a
- 9:39Speaker 1: significant amount of under investment that has gone it, you know,
- 9:43Speaker 1: gone on over the last few years in the sector
- 9:46Speaker 1: that will have long term implications. But over the next
- 9:49Speaker 1: six months for US, it's kind of hard to see
- 9:52Speaker 1: oil prices running away with inventories on on the rise.
- 9:56Speaker 1: And this has to do with OPEC has steadily been
- 9:59Speaker 1: in greasing production UM and the US has also increased.
- 10:04Speaker 1: But we think that in particular is a lot of
- 10:07Speaker 1: low hanging fruit in terms of supply. At the same time,
- 10:10Speaker 1: you know, look, the demand recovery is underway. Jet fuel
- 10:14Speaker 1: is still off, but diesel has been very strong. Gasoline
- 10:19Speaker 1: is picked up. So that's that's the dynamic we've seen
- 10:22Speaker 1: it in oil prices. But regardless, you know, the cost
- 10:26Speaker 1: of oil for airlines is definitely higher than it was
- 10:28Speaker 1: a year ago UM, and this is leading to a
- 10:31Speaker 1: situation while revenues we think in do recover higher fuel costs.
- 10:39Speaker 1: Is one of the reasons why profitability won't get back
- 10:42Speaker 1: to twenty nineteen levels just yet for the year. Now,
- 10:45Speaker 1: what does this all mean for the consumer at the end.
- 10:47Speaker 1: If you want a flight apparently to the UK near term,
- 10:50Speaker 1: you're paying a thousand bucks. You know, you're it's expensive
- 10:54Speaker 1: to fly right now. So what is the direction of
- 10:57Speaker 1: travel so to speak here for for pricing. Well, there's
- 11:02Speaker 1: there's limited capacity right now going you know, to the
- 11:06Speaker 1: to the international destinations. Right. It was only November eight
- 11:09Speaker 1: when the US opened up to thirty three uh countries
- 11:13Speaker 1: that had been had been closed before, and the airlines
- 11:17Speaker 1: are just moving capacity into you know, serving those markets.
- 11:22Speaker 1: Whereas like if you want to go to Florida, right,
- 11:24Speaker 1: this is where all the airlines have been competing to
- 11:28Speaker 1: get that leisure traveler. Um. So it's a lot more
- 11:31Speaker 1: seven thirty seven but three twenties and three that are
- 11:35Speaker 1: targeted of that, but there's fewer seven and eight three
- 11:40Speaker 1: fifties in position to carry people to these international markets.
- 11:43Speaker 1: And that's why you're seeing this dispersion in what it
- 11:47Speaker 1: costs to travel. Hey, Peter, thanks so much for the update.
- 11:50Speaker 1: Really appreciate you taking the time. Peter McNally, he's a
- 11:53Speaker 1: global lead for industrials, Materials and Energy and the firm's
- 11:57Speaker 1: name is Third Bridge. So getting an update there on
- 12:00Speaker 1: some some airlines and some travel and some energy there. Well,
- 12:06Speaker 1: I have to admit that when I was getting my
- 12:08Speaker 1: MBA at Duke University's Fucal School of Business, where are
- 12:11Speaker 1: um our next guest actually had some studies there, I
- 12:14Speaker 1: have to admit I didn't pay much attention to the operations,
- 12:18Speaker 1: management and logistics classes I know, and that was a mistake,
- 12:22Speaker 1: because those are the folks that are, uh, you know,
- 12:25Speaker 1: really at the center of attention right here. Mike Powa,
- 12:28Speaker 1: CEO of DHL Express America's joint US Mike supply Chain,
- 12:33Speaker 1: I'd probably say a three or four times a day.
- 12:36Speaker 1: It's an excuse for basically everything UH in my world.
- 12:40Speaker 1: Give us a sense of kind of where we are
- 12:43Speaker 1: right now and managing these challenges with the supply chain,
- 12:47Speaker 1: and kind of how do you think it's going to
- 12:48Speaker 1: play out over the coming six months. Day. Thank you
- 12:51Speaker 1: Paul and Chanelli, thanks for having us, and by the way,
- 12:54Speaker 1: go Blue Devils as you know UM and hopefully we
- 12:58Speaker 1: can do something nice for Coach k on his way out. UH.
- 13:02Speaker 1: But back to supply chain first and foremost, I'd have
- 13:06Speaker 1: to say that we are really pleased with where we're at.
- 13:10Speaker 1: UH as we kind of start to wrap up this
- 13:13Speaker 1: peak season. UM. And I don't know what you call
- 13:16Speaker 1: peak season these days, because we've been in peak season
- 13:18Speaker 1: since last May. But we've had a strong peak season.
- 13:22Speaker 1: Our volumes have been up. We started planning for what
- 13:28Speaker 1: we call the super Bowl of peak season back in
- 13:30Speaker 1: June of this year, going out and hiring two thousand
- 13:34Speaker 1: two additional UH individuals just alone here in the US. UM.
- 13:40Speaker 1: But so far, knock on wood and we're in the
- 13:42Speaker 1: last what we would call the last week, last couple
- 13:44Speaker 1: of days of the hurdle. We've performed quite well and
- 13:48Speaker 1: I can speak to that as we go through this.
- 13:51Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting. We've been talking to retailer after retailer,
- 13:54Speaker 1: and the ones that are winning say they have just
- 13:57Speaker 1: gotten their inventory management right. But I want to be
- 14:01Speaker 1: also clear because you have someone like Cathy Wood who
- 14:04Speaker 1: says the biggest risk to businesses are the fact that
- 14:07Speaker 1: people have over ordered and that's going to come to
- 14:10Speaker 1: bite them next year. I'm wondering, what is a delicate
- 14:14Speaker 1: balance here at this very tricky time when it comes
- 14:18Speaker 1: to the world of managing your supply chains. Yeah, well
- 14:23Speaker 1: that's that's a good concept. That's UH. I talked about
- 14:25Speaker 1: this about nine months ago and I called it four
- 14:28Speaker 1: oh fear of running out UM, and a lot of retailers,
- 14:32Speaker 1: a lot of our customers went from just in time
- 14:34Speaker 1: to just in case. So it speaks exactly to the
- 14:37Speaker 1: point you're referencing to. But we've also seen a big
- 14:41Speaker 1: shift UH in supply chain. So a lot of what
- 14:45Speaker 1: used to go maritime or ocean, or a lot of
- 14:47Speaker 1: what used to go freight forwarding has moved over into
- 14:50Speaker 1: our space of time definite international. And that's because we
- 14:54Speaker 1: have a fixed air network and you know, we're not
- 14:58Speaker 1: unique in that sense. Our competitors are there. Some of
- 15:01Speaker 1: us planned ahead of others and created that capacity from
- 15:06Speaker 1: that perspective, So yes, I would say there is a
- 15:10Speaker 1: bit of that that is going on UM, and it
- 15:13Speaker 1: may not be too bad, to be honest with you,
- 15:16Speaker 1: because I think they will have the inventory that's appropriate
- 15:18Speaker 1: and needed as you moved into the next peak season,
- 15:22Speaker 1: which will be the run up to Chinese New Year,
- 15:25Speaker 1: which is you know, late January of next year. Mike,
- 15:29Speaker 1: when you I guess, just based on your internal analysis
- 15:31Speaker 1: and your discussion with your customers, what's your best estimate
- 15:35Speaker 1: of when the global supply chain will. I'm not sure
- 15:37Speaker 1: what the right term is, but but just normalize a
- 15:40Speaker 1: little bit more, UM, because it's been you know, a
- 15:42Speaker 1: good twelve plus months here. Absolutely, everything that we are seeing,
- 15:48Speaker 1: every analysis we've done, every conversation we've had, every session
- 15:52Speaker 1: we've attended, indicates late or even early. Absolutely, so we
- 16:00Speaker 1: don't see any change in twenty two. Uh. And especially
- 16:05Speaker 1: with the variant and the explosiveness that we have seen
- 16:08Speaker 1: and you've seen it. I'm living here in South Florida
- 16:11Speaker 1: right now. We're up to a hundred and eight thousand
- 16:14Speaker 1: new cases just Monday alone of this week in South Florida.
- 16:20Speaker 1: All the testing sites are up. We are out of
- 16:24Speaker 1: at home testing kits at least here in South Florida.
- 16:27Speaker 1: That's what I can speak to, UM. And I don't
- 16:31Speaker 1: see this changing in twenty two. So we're headed for
- 16:34Speaker 1: another uh, you know, pandemic year in twenty two where
- 16:39Speaker 1: we thought it would be an endemic. Hopefully at some
- 16:41Speaker 1: point it will change. But again, no change in capacity
- 16:45Speaker 1: in twenty two uh. And we think we're well positioned.
- 16:48Speaker 1: We went ahead in twenty nineteen and purchased fourteen triple
- 16:52Speaker 1: seven YE bodies from Boeing. We then put in another
- 16:55Speaker 1: order for eight uh and we continue and we added
- 16:58Speaker 1: one new aircraft every week from June of this year
- 17:03Speaker 1: to the end of the year. I'm curious, and we
- 17:05Speaker 1: only really have thirty seconds year. Can you do this
- 17:08Speaker 1: in a way that's greener. We are working on that
- 17:12Speaker 1: through sustainable aviation fuel, which we started in Europe and
- 17:15Speaker 1: in the United States. We kicked it off in San Francisco,
- 17:19Speaker 1: uh and now we're looking to kick it off in
- 17:20Speaker 1: other markets, but absolutely from that perspective, and we will
- 17:25Speaker 1: launch the first twelve fixed wing electric aircraft in the
- 17:30Speaker 1: United States through a partnership with Aviation at a Western Washington.
- 17:34Speaker 1: So stay tuned for that. All right, Hey, Mike, thanks
- 17:37Speaker 1: so much for joining us. Really appreciated getting the update
- 17:39Speaker 1: on the supply chain. I didn't necessarily like the timing
- 17:42Speaker 1: that Michael suggesting. Late Mike Para, CEO for DHL Express
- 17:46Speaker 1: America's um again talking about supply chain challenges remaining uh
- 17:51Speaker 1: well into tree. So again we'll have to see how
- 17:55Speaker 1: that plays out going forward. Certainly a challenge for the
- 17:58Speaker 1: global economy. All right, So infrastructure, we got that infrastructure
- 18:06Speaker 1: built through bridges, tunnels, all that kind of stuff. The
- 18:10Speaker 1: Gateway project, for example, new train tracks underneath the Hudson River,
- 18:15Speaker 1: which we so desperately need, which has been my pet project.
- 18:17Speaker 1: Looks like that's even gonna get funded. So this is
- 18:20Speaker 1: a great time to talk to our next guest and
- 18:21Speaker 1: Fan Dazi, chief executive officer for Richie Brothers. Richie Brothers
- 18:25Speaker 1: trades on the n y S E r b A.
- 18:27Speaker 1: It's a global asset management company that sells industrial equipment
- 18:32Speaker 1: and trucks through live and online auctions and distributes through
- 18:35Speaker 1: other channels as well. So a really cool company. I
- 18:37Speaker 1: didn't even know this existed until we spoke earlier. Um,
- 18:41Speaker 1: and thanks towards for joining us here. It looks like
- 18:44Speaker 1: we're gonna get a lot of infrastructure. What's it like
- 18:47Speaker 1: out there in the used equipment business? Are people scrambling
- 18:50Speaker 1: trying to get stuff to build stuff with? Yeah, Paul,
- 18:55Speaker 1: so they're trying, but the supply chain it doesn't seem
- 19:00Speaker 1: to be cooperating with us. So the way that used
- 19:04Speaker 1: equipment works, uh, is that you know, people replace used
- 19:09Speaker 1: equipment typically with new equipment, and if there's a lag
- 19:12Speaker 1: and new equipment, they can't dispose of their used equipment.
- 19:16Speaker 1: So what's happening is very little supply in the uthed
- 19:20Speaker 1: equipment market. It is, however, resulting in an incredible price
- 19:25Speaker 1: environment for sellers. Oftentimes these days, because people are scrambling,
- 19:30Speaker 1: as you said, for the infrastructure bill, they're busier than
- 19:34Speaker 1: they've ever been before. Some used assets are actually selling
- 19:37Speaker 1: above their original acquisition costs, unheard of unprecedents that has
- 19:42Speaker 1: never happened before. You know, I'm kind of wondering here
- 19:45Speaker 1: how long this lasts for and the investments that people
- 19:49Speaker 1: are going to need to make to get through all
- 19:51Speaker 1: of this uncertainty. Yeah, so that that is the question.
- 19:56Speaker 1: That is the question, how long does it last? You know?
- 19:58Speaker 1: When this started UH, So I joined Richie Brothers January
- 20:02Speaker 1: of UH. Similarly, when I started looking at the company,
- 20:07Speaker 1: hadn't heard of it. It's incredible, UH, an incredible marketplace
- 20:11Speaker 1: for global use industrial equipment UM around the globe. So
- 20:16Speaker 1: I started in UH. And you know, the first inkling
- 20:21Speaker 1: we had that there was going to be a supply
- 20:22Speaker 1: chain issue kind of came towards the end of the
- 20:24Speaker 1: year from the O E. M S. And originally it
- 20:27Speaker 1: manifested like a chip shortage. You know, hey, chip shortages
- 20:32Speaker 1: UH and then it went to containers and shipping containers
- 20:35Speaker 1: and labor and gluts and you know, uh and and
- 20:38Speaker 1: the question on everybody's minds is when does it end?
- 20:42Speaker 1: And so we know it's not now, if anything, is
- 20:45Speaker 1: getting worse now because the supply chain still remains difficult,
- 20:51Speaker 1: and the demand because of the infrastructure bill and just
- 20:55Speaker 1: making people busier than they've ever been before. We're anticipating
- 21:00Speaker 1: on time this year, but looking like towards the back end, uh,
- 21:03Speaker 1: not the first half for sure, So give us a sense.
- 21:07Speaker 1: And I mean, you know, it's all tied together the
- 21:09Speaker 1: new equipment that used equipment market. What are the caterpillars
- 21:12Speaker 1: and the deers and all those other manufacturers. What are
- 21:16Speaker 1: they saying about their production schedules and how they'll be
- 21:19Speaker 1: able to supply the market. Yeah, we're watching those very
- 21:23Speaker 1: very closely, and they are experiencing the very the very
- 21:28Speaker 1: problems that I alluded to. So we're kind of listening
- 21:30Speaker 1: to their public filings, obviously meeting with dealers as well
- 21:34Speaker 1: as corporate players in the space to understand what folks
- 21:38Speaker 1: are feeling. And the reality is that, uh, you know,
- 21:41Speaker 1: the demand from their dealers are higher than anything the
- 21:45Speaker 1: companies can supply how they've chosen to kind of balance
- 21:49Speaker 1: that is more fulfilled the demand on the retail side,
- 21:53Speaker 1: so for retail sales and kind of uh you know,
- 21:56Speaker 1: where they're feeling the brunt of the pause is on
- 21:58Speaker 1: their rental fleets, which are aging. Uh and uh don't
- 22:04Speaker 1: have a replacement cycle that's coming up. The nice thing
- 22:07Speaker 1: for Richie Brothers with that is, uh, you know, as
- 22:10Speaker 1: equipment continues to age, it for sure he'll need to
- 22:13Speaker 1: be disposed of. Uh. And you know that's where we
- 22:16Speaker 1: come in. The question is not if, it is when
- 22:19Speaker 1: and we are waiting patiently for that day. You know,
- 22:22Speaker 1: this idea that equipment demand is really being driven by
- 22:25Speaker 1: infrastructure projects, how does that play out on the ground.
- 22:29Speaker 1: What does it look like? Oh yeah, exactly. So the
- 22:33Speaker 1: interesting thing is was how busy everybody has been the
- 22:37Speaker 1: infrastructure money hasn't actually started to blow. So I think
- 22:40Speaker 1: we're seeing the tip of the iceberg here. I think
- 22:43Speaker 1: do covid um Infrastructure construction has been being an essential service,
- 22:49Speaker 1: so we've kind of seen that steadily rise. Obviously people
- 22:52Speaker 1: working from home, uh, so kind of construction on the rise,
- 22:56Speaker 1: and and you know home improvement, those types of things. Uh.
- 22:59Speaker 1: And now how right on the heels of that is
- 23:02Speaker 1: going to be this infrastructure of money that's going to
- 23:04Speaker 1: be desperately needed flooding in um and the supply chain
- 23:09Speaker 1: will for sure catch up. The question is when what
- 23:12Speaker 1: piece of equipment or or type of equipment is most
- 23:15Speaker 1: in demand or which one is experiencing that, you know,
- 23:18Speaker 1: supply demand mismatcher, you're really having some problems, picket. And
- 23:22Speaker 1: it's there anything transportation to construction, to crane to mining, right,
- 23:28Speaker 1: It's it's actually interesting. So I'm you know, I I've
- 23:31Speaker 1: seen from the car space over a decade between Ford
- 23:35Speaker 1: Motor Company and Chrysler uh and so kind of Uh.
- 23:39Speaker 1: You know, in this industry about two years, we've never
- 23:42Speaker 1: seen anything like this before. That across the board. The manufacturers,
- 23:46Speaker 1: we see it with the car manufacturers as well, are
- 23:50Speaker 1: just experiencing, you know, never before seeing disruptions and their
- 23:55Speaker 1: supply chain. You know, we're hearing from some manufacturers that
- 23:59Speaker 1: at this point there only taking orders for they will
- 24:03Speaker 1: not be able to fulfill anything else. In Again, what
- 24:06Speaker 1: that means for sellers is incredible time for to sell.
- 24:09Speaker 1: The prices are sky highs. So you know, our last
- 24:12Speaker 1: guest was a duke grad. But Anne is uh War
- 24:15Speaker 1: an m b A and systems engineering, and I'm wondering
- 24:19Speaker 1: and how important is this for the future, for more
- 24:23Speaker 1: people to be building in operations and engineering skills into
- 24:28Speaker 1: their own work. Yeah, you know, thank you for that question.
- 24:33Speaker 1: I am a huge STEM fan, so uh as you
- 24:37Speaker 1: As you noted, I have a Masters and engineer, bachelor's
- 24:39Speaker 1: and engineering and Masters and engineering before my m b A.
- 24:43Speaker 1: Uh you know, I firmly believe that every company today
- 24:46Speaker 1: is in fact the technology company, and for the leaders
- 24:50Speaker 1: of tomorrow to be fluent in the language of technology
- 24:54Speaker 1: is just invaluable, even if you're not coding. Uh you know, uh,
- 24:59Speaker 1: heaven forbid eye code off my coding skills from two
- 25:03Speaker 1: decades back. But the fact that I can speak that
- 25:06Speaker 1: language just is such an incredible skill set and a
- 25:10Speaker 1: shortcut actually for the organization so that you know, they
- 25:13Speaker 1: don't constantly have to wait for me to catch up.
- 25:15Speaker 1: So for anybody listening, I believe STEM is the future.
- 25:19Speaker 1: I have um two children, a boy and a girl.
- 25:23Speaker 1: He is actually majoring in engineering right now, which she's
- 25:26Speaker 1: thinking something in STEM, either science or engineering, and I
- 25:29Speaker 1: couldn't be happier yep. Likewise, all right, and thank you
- 25:32Speaker 1: so much for joining us. Always love chatting with you
- 25:35Speaker 1: and getting your perspective really interesting and Fan Dazzi, chief
- 25:38Speaker 1: executive officer of Richie Brothers. Thanks for listening to the
- 25:43Speaker 1: Bloomberg Markets podcast. You can subscribe and listen to interviews
- 25:47Speaker 1: with Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast platform you prefer. I'm
- 25:51Speaker 1: Matt Miller. I'm on Twitter at Matt Miller three. On
- 25:56Speaker 1: Fall Sweeney, I'm on Twitter at pt Sweeney Before the podcast,
- 25:59Speaker 1: you can always hatches worldwide at Bloomberg Gradient