Shows / Art of Supply
Art of Supply
Art of Supply, hosted by Kelly Barner, draws inspiration from news headlines and expert interviews to bring you insightful coverage of today's complex supply chains.
Episodes
- Art of Supply
Inside the FedEx Panda Express and the Logistics Behind It
On Sunday, September 27, the most-tracked flight in the world wasn't carrying a single traditional passenger. FedEx flight FX9756 left Chengdu, China, with two…
- Art of Supply
How Physical AI Is Bringing Robots Into Real-World Warehouses W/ Çetin Meriçli
"When you call it a pilot, we realized that it basically puts a label on it so that it's not on the critical path. It's not actually real work." - Çetin…
- Art of Supply
Why Volvo Can Keep Selling Cars in the U.S. and Polestar Can't
"Decisions regarding specific authorizations will not be made publicly available." — U.S. Commerce Department, Connected Vehicle Rule Two cars come off the…
- Art of Supply
When Agents Make Bad Supply Chain Decisions at Machine Speed W/ Russell Halper
"Am I just making worse decisions way more quickly than I ever would before, and they're compounding and driving me down the wrong path?" – Russell Halper…
- Art of Supply
Who Moved My Beer? Inside the Pabst Blue Ribbon Cargo Theft
"We are working this case, but no trucks were stolen. Just the cargo." — Montclair, California Police Department On August 17th, someone with fake paperwork…
- Art of Supply
Sledgehammers, Crowbars, and the Future of U.S. Trade Policy W/ Jeff Rittener
"IEEPA, in many ways, I called it the sledgehammer. It was like everything, everywhere, all at once." - Jeff Rittener, International Trade and Compliance…
- Art of Supply
Inside the Rise of Cargo Theft W/ Keith Lewis
"I want your phone numbers, I want your internet domain, I want everything, your PO box, everything. Now I've become you." - Keith Lewis, Vice President of…
- Art of Supply
Detroit can build it, but can Detroit source it?
"We are on borrowed time." - Army Major General John Ferrari On July 20th, President Trump signed an executive order making it dramatically harder for defense…
- Art of Supply
Foreign-Trade Zones in a 20 Percent Tariff Environment
"When the government starts collecting money as a tax, they don't normally give it back." — Curtis Spencer, CEO, IMS Worldwide For most of the last sixty…
- Art of Supply
The $604 Million Freight Broker Liability Verdict
"C.H. Robinson does not employ drivers." - C.H. Robinson Chief Legal Officer Dorothy Capers This May, two courts drew a new line for freight brokerage…
- Art of Supply
What "Dignity of Work" Means for Supply Chain Operations W/ Robert Martichenko
"You know, Robert, I have no expectation to ever be happy at work. I just hope to be a little less miserable." That's the line from a restaurant server that…
- Art of Supply
The $285,000 Electric Truck Nobody Can Find
In December of 2025, a $285,000 Windrose Technology electric semi-truck went missing. It still has not been found. Reportedly, two mechanics who kept it…
- Art of Supply
CMA CGM and FedEx Supply Chain: The Deal Behind the Deal
"FedEx is not simply selling an asset, it is trading a warehousing unit for a deeper transportation relationship with one of the world's largest container…
- Art of Supply
Checkbox Supply Chain Compliance Just Got a Lot More Expensive
"AI will never replace that human judgment. And the number one reason for that is responsibility." — Elisar Nurmagambet, Co-Founder and CEO, Tesari AI When…
- Art of Supply
All Forecasts Are Wrong W/ Michael Murray
"Just-in-time inventory is great when it's working, but when it stops working, it's a huge disaster because you don't have material staged and you don't have…
- Art of Supply
182,000 Pounds of Nectarines Too Valuable to Sell
Earlier this month, thousands of people descended on a small orchard in California's Central Valley to receive free nectarines. The crowds became so large that…
- Art of Supply
The Ships Are Lying About Where They Are
Imagine seeing one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world almost empty, before realizing that it isn't empty at all. The ships are still there, but the…
- Art of Supply
Stablecoins Have Their Moment in the Real Economy W/ Tanner Taddeo
Cross-border payments have long been a game of advantages. Large enterprises get fast settlement, cheap foreign exchange rates, and sophisticated treasury…
- Art of Supply
3 Questions We Can't Answer About Amazon LTL
On Wednesday, June 10th, Amazon announced that they will now offer full LTL services to anyone. Before that, LTL was available "inbound only," meaning from…
- Art of Supply
The Supply Planning Paradox: Why Bigger Budgets Don't Buy Better Outcomes
"Demand planning is the thing which everybody seems to focus on, because it's kind of theoretical. You come up with a forecast and it doesn't really influence…
- Art of Supply
Too big to merge? Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern Try Again
Can a mega merger of peers increase competition in their market? Case in point: the proposed rail merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. Both are…
- Art of Supply
FedEx Freight's Independence Day
On Monday, June 1st, FedEx Freight CEO John Smith rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the fact that the company is now operating…
- Art of Supply
Red Lobster's Comeback Gamble
Endless Shrimp is BACK at Red Lobster… a headline few people in the business world would have predicted. The promotion played an over-hyped role in the…
- Art of Supply
Why is nobody talking about China's new supply chain regulations?
China's new supply chain regulations may be one of the biggest global trade and sourcing stories that almost nobody is talking about. Decree 834 and 835…
- Art of Supply
Consumption Challenges at Boston Beer Company
During the pandemic, some buyers and suppliers made aggressive bets about the future. Demand was surging, capacity was constrained, and everyone worried more…
- Art of Supply
Social Value as Strategy in Public Sector Procurement W/ Guy Battle
"We have seen a transformation between the public sector and the private sector in terms of their relationship. We've seen enormous change in this country." -…
- Art of Supply
Pricing the Last Mile: Amazon, USPS, and the Fight for Profitability
Amazon packages represent 15% of the United States Postal Service's package volume, but about 7.5% of their revenue. Amazon is USPS's biggest customer, even…
- Art of Supply
UPS Picks Profitability Over Volume, and The Teamsters Push Back
"This was a company that was once all about volume, was all about customer service, was all about growth, was all about sales, was all about creating jobs." -…
- Art of Supply
Everyone Has a Role in Growing the Value Chain W/ Andrew Quincey
"If you focus too much on efficiency, you might get something cheap – but it doesn't deliver what you want. If you focus too much on effectiveness, you might…
- Art of Supply
From Ports to Geopolitics: Protecting U.S. Cargo Worldwide with Chairman Laura DiBella
"What happens clear across the world has a very, very big impact, potentially, to U.S. cargo. We've had to take a wider lens look at all of the risks." - FMC…
- Art of Supply
Building Ethical Leaders in Freight: Inside TIA's Freight Leadership Lab
"If you don't figure out a way to treat your carriers ethically and help them make money, you're not going to have them." - Michael Riccio, former TIA Chairman…
- Art of Supply
Foreign-trade Zones Explained & Applied
"With tariffs in the news again and the trade policy environment shifting, folks are back to wanting to relearn about the [foreign-trade zone] program."…
- Art of Supply
Brewing Uncertainty: The Coffee Supply Chain Shock
Coffee is one of those products people think of as routine, almost automatic. It is part of the morning, part of the commute, part of the office, part of the…
- Art of Supply
The Panama Canal Power Struggle
The ports of Balboa and Cristóbal bookend the Panama canal. They don't control the canal, and they have been privately operated by CK Hutchison's Panama Ports…
- Art of Supply
How iRobot's Supply Chain Became Its Last Resort
At its peak, iRobot generated nearly $1.6 Billion in annual revenue, and by 2022 Amazon believed the company was worth $1.7 Billion. By just a few years later…
- Art of Supply
National Security Starts in the Supply Chain
"There are a lot of different ways to hold all of the conspirators who are involved in the effort to intentionally smuggle counterfeit goods into the U.S. and…
- Art of Supply
How a $3M Company Destroyed $17B in Freight Market Value
How could a company worth about $3 Million wipe out more than $17 Billion in transportation market value in a single day? On February 12th, a press release…
- Art of Supply
Sanctioned at Sea: Addressing the Shadow Fleet
"Shipping in 2026 is going to get darker." - Michelle Wiese Bockmann, Senior Maritime Intelligence Analyst, Windward Right now, somewhere between 900 and 2,000…
- Art of Supply
Freight Capacity v. Paperwork & Politics
"Capacity reduction is clearly under way. Regulatory enforcement of qualifications and safety standards was arguably the most welcome development in 2025 for…
- Art of Supply
One Railroad to Rule Them All? Inside the Union Pacific–Norfolk Southern Merger
Imagine a single railroad company that could move freight seamlessly from the ports of Los Angeles to the ports of New York without handoffs, interchange…
- Art of Supply
Cautious Optimism in the Suez Canal
In late 2023, one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints effectively broke. After Hamas' October 7th attack on Israel, Houthi militants began…
- Art of Supply
Tracking the Logistics of a $400K Lobster Heist
In early December of last year, two thefts took place in Taunton, Massachusetts, that involved two usually wonderful things: lobster and logistics. The stolen…
- Art of Supply
Enlightenment Thinking in an Age of Disruption
"When the Wright brothers got their airplane up in the air for the first time, it wasn't because they overcame the laws of physics, it was because they figured…
- Art of Supply
Incoming! 10 Supply Chain Predictions for 2026
'Tis the season… for making supply chain predictions. Given how volatile 2025 was, anyone willing to share their opinions about the coming year deserves an…
- Art of Supply
Reshoring Success at GE Appliances Shaded by Tariff Fraud Allegations
GE Appliances has been making news for years for the success of their reshoring program. It is a great story: a well-known consumer brand that is bringing…
- Art of Supply
UPS Gambles on Gig Workers
UPS is currently stuck between dropping parcel rates, rising union leverage, and stiff competition from their peers. Unlike their peers, UPS is unionized (part…
- Art of Supply
Rubber Stamped CDL Regulations
Commercial Driver's Licenses have been in the news a lot lately, and not for good reasons. A number of fatal accidents have been caused by questionably…
- Art of Supply
OceanGate and the Limits of Supply Base Innovation
On June 18, 2023, the OceanGate TITAN, a submersible on its way to the Titanic wreck site, imploded, killing all five passengers, including OceanGate CEO…
- Art of Supply
Asset Optimization Isn't a Destination – It's a Discipline
"No trucking company in the history of trucking companies has ever made money if their wheels aren't moving basically all the time." - Sean Devine, Founder and…
- Art of Supply
Inside the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics: Harnessing Creative Destruction
"Capitalism, then, is by nature a form or method of economic change and not only never is but never can be stationary." - Austrian Economist Joseph Schumpeter…
- Art of Supply
Intermodal by Design: How Coordination Drives Efficiency W/ Anne Reinke
When it comes to moving freight long distances, you can go from ship to drayage to rail to over-the-road trucking… or you can go intermodal. Intermodal freight…
- Art of Supply
The Soybean Economy: What's at Stake in the U.S.–China Trade Talks
Global trading of steel, lumber, and rare earth minerals makes our companies and industries and economies work. And yet, right up there with those examples is…
- Art of Supply
Kodiak's Road to IPO: AI, Defense Contracts, and the Future of Autonomous Trucking
On September 25, 2025, Kodiak, an autonomous truck software company founded in 2018, went public with a $2.5 Billion valuation. Unlike other companies that…
- Art of Supply
Reimagining Reshoring With the Help of 3D Printing
In conversations about reshoring, people usually assume that it means building or retrofitting facilities for U.S. manufacturing, bringing in equipment, and…
- Art of Supply
Truck Drivers, Trade Deals, and Denials: Sorting Fact from Fiction in Nebraska
"Werner Enterprises wishes to clarify that we are not involved in any agreements of discussions regarding the recruitment of Kenyan truck drivers to the United…
- Art of Supply
Target Steps Back from 'Stores as Hubs' Digital Fulfillment
"It's also important to note that while our stores are fulfilling more digital orders it's not coming at the cost of in-store sales…our stores as hubs strategy…
- Art of Supply
Honk If You're Qualified: Understanding CDL Safety
If you want to operate a truck over 26,000 pounds, earn money for doing it, and cross state lines… then you need to have a Commercial Driver's License (CDL)…
- Art of Supply
Can Apple Reshore the iPhone?
"We're committed to supporting U.S. suppliers involved in every key stage of the chip-making process — from the earliest stages of research and development, to…
- Art of Supply
Shipments Under Siege: The Growing Problem of Cargo Theft
The supply chain faces a lot of challenges right now: geopolitical unpredictability, tariff uncertainty, the end of de minimis exemptions, and constantly…
- Art of Supply
Lost at Sea: Can the U.S. regain maritime dominance?
"Today, the U.S. ranks 19th in the world in commercial shipbuilding, and we build less than 5 ships each year, while the PRC is building more than 1,700 ships…