Art of Supply

'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 award for courage.  In this episode of Art of Supply, the last of 2025, Kelly Barner shares her curated list of picks for the most compelling 2026 supply chain predictions, not ranked in any particular order, and with no guarantees for how likely they are to come true. These predictions suggest that: Localization, automation, and resilience will keep colliding with reality, not hype Decision-making will stay fast, data will stay late, and companies will learn to live with the gap Rising costs and tighter oversight (from freight to cyber risk to returns) will force uncomfortable tradeoffs Government influence on supply chains isn't fading, it's expanding in new and unexpected ways Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

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 production home, both to their own benefit and also to the benefit of customers and employees. But even while GE Appliances has continued to make investments and earn positive headlines for continuing their commitment to reshoring efforts and partnering with suppliers, one of their competitors isn't so sure. Whirlpool recently alleged that GE Appliances, along with two other competitors, was evading tariffs by artificially lowering the declared value of the goods they import – without passing those 'savings' along to customers. But does the data show evidence of misdeeds? In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the balance of GE Appliances's good headlines and recent allegations against them: Background on GE Appliances's efforts to reshore production and the investments that has required The additional ways they are investing in domestic supplier partnerships, through collaboration and consultation And the recent investigation into potential tariff fraud… as alleged by Whirlpool… and what might explain the discrepancies Links: Advancements & Adjustments in the GE Appliances Supply Chain Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

UPS is currently stuck between dropping parcel rates, rising union leverage, and stiff competition from their peers. Unlike their peers, UPS is unionized (part of the Teamsters), adding additional complexity and bottom-line pressure. Not one to give up after 120 years in business, UPS has been looking for creative ways to make ends meet without disappointing the public. They created a massive buyout opportunity for drivers and have been working with gig drivers to handle spikes in seasonal volume without paying expensive overtime. Both strategies are saving them money, but running afoul of the Teamsters in the process. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks at UPS's challenges and the creative options they are trying in response: Leveraging gig drivers while warning against the danger of a loosely-managed final mile Introducing automation where they can, shutting warehouses where they can't Working to maintain a premium delivery service in a world dominated by low-cost eCommerce volume Links: Negotiating the Big One: UPS and the Teamsters Labor Union Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

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 licensed drivers. These high profile incidents have caused a number of states and the Federal government to start digging into who is getting these licenses and how. Much of the current situation dates back to a regulatory change made in 2022 that allowed CDL training schools to 'self certify' that they are turning out qualified drivers. The idea was to make it easier to get more drivers on the road in response to a reported driver shortage, but we've gotten less safe roads instead. According to reporting by FreightWaves, there are approximately 100,000 truck crashes annually resulting in roughly 5,000 fatalities - a 40% increase over the last decade.  In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner digs past the recent headlines about CDL administration: Looking into the 2022 regulatory change, including the minimum federal requirements for safe commercial drivers and the system supposedly put in place to ensure training schools follow them The details behind the debate over English language proficiency and the eligibility status of non-domiciled drivers And the question that underpins it all: Is there a driver shortage?  Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

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, Stockton Rush.  There were a number of factors leading to this tragic event, including a horrible disregard of basic safety measures, a deliberate effort to work outside of regulatory and inspection protocols, and a toxic company culture.  While many of these issues were internal, OceanGate did not make the TITAN or its predecessors in-house. This means that they had suppliers, and those companies had a front row seat to what was unfolding. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the OceanGate operation from a supply chain point of view: OceanGate's evolutionary journey – first to buy and retrofit their submersibles and then to build them The different suppliers that played a role in manufacturing the TITAN, and signs that the company was looking for alternatives The challenge presented by innovation that seems to defy convention. When is an idea truly groundbreaking, and when is it just reckless? Links: Marine Board's Report Into the Implosion of the Submersible TITAN in the North Atlantic Ocean Near the Wreck Site of the RMS TITANIC Resulting in the Loss of Five Lives on June 18, 2023 Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

"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 CEO, XBE When costs are high and competition is tight, how companies think about opportunities and challenges determines how successful they will be.  They must deal with the never-ending push and pull between procurement and sales, the role of operational planning, and demand that alternates between peaks and troughs, but the big question is always the same: Is your core business as profitable as it could be? Sean Devine is the Founder and CEO of XBE, and Sean Correll is their General Manager of Heavy Logistics. XBE is an operations platform focused on heavy materials, logistics, and construction. Their customers build and maintain roads, manufacture with concrete and asphalt, and mine and transport aggregate – expensive, asset-intensive activities. Starting with the need to maximize asset utilization, and then transitioning into how the most strategic business decisions are made, this conversation applies far beyond heavy logistics. Kelly, Sean, and Sean discuss:  How to optimize owned v. hired logistics capacity The many different levers that can turn a good operation into a great one  Understanding the cost of an opportunity, as well as buy-side competition Why we all need to resist the temptation to run towards even the best answers  

"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 (1950) The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics was recently awarded to Joel Mokyr, an economic historian at Northwestern University, Philippe Aghion, who is affiliated with universities in France and the U.K., and Peter Howitt, a professor of economics at Brown University. Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt worked together for decades to develop and publish a model that makes it possible to better understand business growth - but not just any growth. The growth fueled by Creative Destruction. Creative Destruction was first described by Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 in response to ideas from Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. In fact, Marx thought, and Schumpeter agreed, that it would lead to the end of capitalism… they just didn't agree on why. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers: What Creative Destruction is, and why it is no ordinary form of growth How the idea is connected to the potential end of capitalism Why it is so fascinating that this idea is being highlighted at this moment in time, with the rise of AI right before us. Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

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 transportation combines the advantages of sea, air, and land transport to facilitate a preplanned end-to-end journey. Understanding the relative cost, security, and emissions benefits of intermodal transportation is key for companies looking for the most efficient way to move their goods. In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner is joined by Anne Reinke, the CEO and President of the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). Anne has experience lobbying for the rail industry and working at the Department of Transportation, as well as with an organization representing 3PLs. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly and Anne discuss: How the relative roles of private companies and government agencies vary by mode of transportation Which factors are most influential in driving demand for intermodal transportation How tariffs are changing shipper behavior, altering the usual seasonal patterns for transportation peaks and lows   Links: Anne Reinke on LinkedIn Intermodal Association of North America Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

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 an agricultural commodity many people don't like and won't eat: soybeans. Soybeans are a huge focus of the trade talks between the U.S. and China, and there is a lot at stake between now and the end of the year, especially for U.S. soybean farmers. China has been actively diversifying their sources of soybeans away from the United States, and they have developed at least two viable alternatives: Brazil and Argentina. The U.S. has less actively (and only lately) started diversifying their customer base for exported soybeans, leaving farmers with a bumper crop and no one to sell it to. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the soybean supply chain and its intersection with geopolitics: Starting with an overview of the global soybean market and how soybean trade is being affected by tariffs Why soybean farmers are upset with the country of Argentina - and the Federal government How the United States actually took soybean production away from China in the 1950s and 1960s, but now stands to lose their place as a prominent global source Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

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 make the whole truck autonomous, Kodiak retrofits existing equipment with their sensors and software. Also, unlike other companies in their space… they have revenue, something that is a challenge in any emerging industry. In 2024, Kodiak became the first company to announce the delivery of a driverless semi-truck to a paying customer, but I think everyone has the same question: will it work? That goes for both Kodiak's solution and their business model. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner: Reviews how the Kodiak model works and what makes it different – including how they generate revenue Explains where they already have trucks in operation and how that is going, as well as the military investment that infused them with the capital required to grow And finally, she tries to answer the question 'Will it work long term?' from an operational and investment point of view Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

In conversations about reshoring, people usually assume that it means building or retrofitting facilities for U.S. manufacturing, bringing in equipment, and hiring people to operate it.  But what if that isn't what it is going to look like at all?  The costs and uncertainty associated with tariffs may be changing attitudes about global trade enough that 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, will get its long-speculated opportunity in the spotlight.  3D printing has advantages and disadvantages, and requires a completely different supply management mindset than importing parts. There are also early signs that AI and the rise of "digital inventories" could change the paradigm yet again, giving companies a whole new set of variables to optimize.  In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner shares: How 3D printing (or additive manufacturing) is being used today, and what the benefits and risks are What we know about the domestic supply chain for 3D printers and parts How the concept of digital inventories may shift the paradigm yet again Insights from a brand new research project that seeks to calculate a more accurate cost for each 3D printed project Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

"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 States. Any claims suggesting otherwise are just false." - Werner Enterprises on X, September 9, 2025 In early September, rumors started to swirl that Werner Enterprises, a $3 Billion transportation and logistics company based in Omaha, Nebraska, was bringing people from Kenya to drive for them in the United States.  The rumors aren't completely based on speculation. Delegations from Kenya and the Nebraska Secretary of State's office have been going back and forth for over a year. Werner and their CEO have publicly denied the rumors, and the Governor of Nebraska has clarified the limitations of the Secretary of State's office, but only digging into the details can separate fact from fiction.  In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner pulls together the facts as she found them: Reviewing the timeline - a critical piece of this story Pictures that seem to have been worth more than a thousand words Who said what when, including representatives of the Federal government The lessons we can all learn from what happened Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

"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 isn't putting our core business at risk. It's simply helping us grow faster." - Brian Cornell, Target CEO, in 2019 In August, Target announced that they would be backing away from their 'stores as hubs' program. The program started in 2017 and used dedicated spaces in the backrooms of regular Target stores to fulfill the company's digital orders. The 'stores as hubs' program was rolled out with huge fanfare… and a massive $7 Billion investment… so why has Target changed their mind? Their explanation for the change is that they need to focus more on the in-store shopping experience, but it could also be that true omnichannel retail fulfillment is harder to deliver against than they thought. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner considers the roll out and then roll back of Target's 'stores as hubs' program: How the program worked, and what the incentives were to keep it going The challenges Target ran into as well as the successes they had under their omnichannel strategy What we know about how they plan to handle digital order fulfillment moving forward Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

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). Truck drivers are essential to the economy, and so having a CDL is a real asset. It offers job security and flexibility, as well as solid earnings and great benefits. In fact, CDLs are so valuable that even people who haven't earned one are willing to break the rules to get one. But having unqualified commercial drivers on the road is a danger to everyone. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the right way and the wrong way to get a CDL: Safety statistics associated with large trucks and their drivers How to get a CDL and what the pass/fail rate is Recent news stories that illustrate what can go wrong when the administration of CDLs is not handled properly or when licensed drivers aren't qualified Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

"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 final fabrication and packaging." - Sabih Khan, COO at Apple In April, President Trump said that he wants the Apple iPhone to be manufactured in the United States.  The iPhone's 2,700 components currently come from 187 suppliers in 28 countries, according to an article from the Financial Times, and less than 5 percent of the total components are manufactured domestically.  Apple ships 438 iPhones every minute, and 85 percent of them are assembled by Foxconn, with its dozens of locations in China. Can Apple reshore the iPhone? We're all watching to find out. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks into whether this lofty goal could become a reality: What incentives does Apple have to make this work, and what are the disincentives to tolerate failure? How are they investing domestically in terms of capacity, partnerships, and talent? Are they thinking big enough to address the raw materials required in their silicon and battery supply chains?  Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

The supply chain faces a lot of challenges right now: geopolitical unpredictability, tariff uncertainty, the end of de minimis exemptions, and constantly changing regulations worldwide. It doesn't need one more problem - but it has one anyway. And that's cargo theft. According to Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb), since 2021, there has been a 1,500% increase in cargo theft incidents in the U.S., costing $35 Billion annually. The Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) has reported that cargo theft grew by over 600% between November 2022 and March 2023 alone, less than 6 months.  Recent estimates say that 2,500 truckloads are stolen every year, an average of 200 truckloads per month, or 7 per day.  And who pays for all of that theft? Companies shipping goods, companies transporting goods, and you. The consumer. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks into this massive and growing problem: The different types of theft associated with the cargo crime epidemic How technology is making it easier for criminals to seize loads and making it easier for shippers to safeguard their cargo A case example involving one of the worst and fastest growing areas of cargo theft: copper Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

"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. In 1975, the United States ranked number one, and we were building more than 70 ships a year." - Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative (2021-2025) The Trump Administration is on a mission to make shipbuilding great again… a bipartisan effort that started during the Biden Administration. In the spring of 2024, the U.S. Trade Representative released the findings and recommendations of a Section 301 investigation into whether or not China is engaged in anti-competitive shipbuilding practices. This release led to the "Ships for America Act," introduced by Senator Mark Kelly, among others. When both sides of the aisle agree, the problem must be huge… and in the case of U.S. shipbuilding capabilities, it is gargantuan. There are currently about 80 U.S.-flagged ships involved in international commerce compared to over 5,500 China-flagged vessels, and the connection between military shipbuilding and commercial shipbuilding is too strong to ignore. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner: Tracks the downfall of U.S. shipbuilding from its peak in the 70s to today Examines China's strategy for combining military and commercial shipbuilding capabilities and how that has helped them build a dominant global position  Considers the many moving pieces that will have to fall into place to put the U.S. on a better path Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

"If you're as good as you say you are, you should be able to keep your cost structure down, deliver the mission and the outcome, and still make a margin." - Josh Gruenbaum, Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at the GSA The General Services Administration (GSA), responsible for Federal contracting, has been making DOGE-style headlines of their own this year. In late June, they sent a letter to a number of large consulting firms under contract, looking for opportunities to reduce spending and better understand the work that is underway. Josh Gruenbaum, who is overseeing the review, specifically requested "No consultant gobbledygook" in the responses. The GSA has signaled a mindset shift from time-and-materials to outcome based contracts, a dynamic that is likely to impact private sector consulting contracts and spending as well. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner looks into this shift and what it will require from all involved parties: How the government defines consulting services The multi-round outreach process being led by the Federal government and how firms are responding How to shift to outcome based agreements and the pressure of AI is likely to change the future of consulting Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Art of Supply on YouTube Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

"We've had this whole period of trying to manage supply chains for lowest cost, whereas I think now we're managing for resilience at a managed cost and at an acceptable cost." - Tim Richardson, Founder and CEO, Iter Consulting Supply chains aren't really chains anymore. They're complex, interconnected networks.  Supply networks are anything but predictable. What used to be straightforward relationships between suppliers and customers have become webs of interconnected partnerships, each with its own risks and opportunities. The leaders and teams who succeed in this environment understand that optimizing for resilience at a managed cost has fundamentally replaced the old paradigm of chasing the lowest cost… at any price. In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner welcomes Tim Richardson back to the podcast. Tim is the Founder and CEO of Iter Consulting, a global team of experts with supply chain and manufacturing experience that are helping companies navigate the new world order of distributed manufacturing and supply network complexity In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Tim and Kelly discuss:  Why we've moved past peak globalization and what "local for local" manufacturing means for supply network design How to balance the challenge of mapping supply network complexity against the need to understand cost and risk exposure The talent gap in supply chain leadership and why strategic thinking capabilities haven't kept pace with operational demands Links: Tim Richardson on LinkedIn Supply Chain Forecast: Volatile with Tim Richardson Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

"The way you do one thing is the way you do everything, and we found, over and over, that precision in the smallest of details translated to precision in the bigger ones." - Will Guidara, Unreasonable Hospitality There are a lot of opportunities for crossover learning between running a restaurant and working in procurement or supply chain. Both fields are highly operational and process driven, not to mention measured by known, benchmarkable performance metrics.  In the book "Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More than They Expect" by Will Guidara, we hear the story of one high-end restaurant's rise to become the best in the world, but it wasn't just about the food. They had to master and refine their systems, their approach to the guest experience, and serve amazing food all at the same time. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner shares key lessons from the book and connects them to the challenges and opportunities that procurement and supply chain leaders face today: The critical need to pair vision with operational systems that work at scale Crafting an exceptional customer experience and training a large team to preserve it How successful leaders handle difficult times and even failure Links: Unreasonable Hospitality on Amazon Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement