Art of Supply

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, the company that pioneered consumer robotics would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company that ultimately took ownership of iRobot wasn't Amazon or another Silicon Valley tech firm or even a U.S. competitor. It was the company's own overseas contract manufacturer. How does a company go from being a pioneering leader in robotics to being owned by the very supplier that once built its products? The answer is a story about regulation, supply chains, debt, competition, and unintended consequences. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers: The rise of iRobot and the creation of the Roomba line of vacuums Amazon's $1.7 Billion acquisition attempt — and why global regulators blocked it How financial pressure, debt, and supply chain decisions reshaped the company, right into the ground And how iRobot ultimately ended up owned by its largest manufacturing partner Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

"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 into U.S. systems accountable."  Most modern supply chains are complex, sprawling beasts. Their global scale is highly strategic, but it also creates opportunities for criminal organizations to threaten companies, the Federal government, warfighters, and first responders.  The Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit (GSCIU) was created as the result of a 2022 Congressional request for Homeland Security Investigations to address concerns about the risk of counterfeit components finding their way into U.S. military supply chains. Since then, they have operated as a task force, analyzing interagency information to identify and combat threats to relevant supply chains. Brian Andersen is a supervisory special agent at Homeland Security Investigations Global Trade Division, part of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, and the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit, which he had the opportunity to help build from the ground up. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Brian and Kelly Barner discuss: The priorities of the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit How they partner with other agencies and private businesses to root out risk within the supply chain and hold criminals accountable What procurement and supply chain professionals should be on the lookout for as warning signs that they have acquired or encountered counterfeit products  Links: Brian Andersen on LinkedIn National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

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 from Algorhythm Holdings, a company that started its life as a karaoke machine manufacturer, announced that its AI-enabled freight platform SemiCab could reduce empty truck miles by more than 70 percent. By midday, major logistics firms were down as much as 20 percent. C.H. Robinson, Landstar, J.B. Hunt, railroads, and airlines all felt the shockwave. If SemiCab's technology works as described, it could reduce waste, lower emissions, and save shippers billions. At the same time, it could compress margins, erode pricing power, and expose just how much excess capacity the freight market really has. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers: The sequence of events: how a small-cap AI announcement triggered a historic sell-off The claims behind SemiCab, and how Algorhythm evolved from karaoke to freight tech Why reducing empty or "deadhead" miles (which sounds like unqualified good news) could actually hurt incumbent logistics firms Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

"Shipping in 2026 is going to get darker." - Michelle Wiese Bockmann, Senior Maritime Intelligence Analyst, Windward  Right now, somewhere between 900 and 2,000 aging oil tankers are operating in the shadows. They are carrying sanctioned crude from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. This so-called "shadow fleet" often sails under false flags, spoofs its locations, turns off monitoring systems, transfers their cargo at sea, and sometimes operates without insurance. These dangerous vessels are increasingly being boarded, seized, escorted into port, and tied up in court, but enforcement at sea is messy, expensive, and legally complex.  One company… GMS… thinks they have an answer. They believe they can scrap about 100 of these seized, sanctioned ships annually - if (and it is a big IF) they are given permission by the U.S. Treasury to acquire them. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner explores three interconnected questions: What is actually being done to get shadow fleet tankers off the water? What happens to the ships — and the oil, and the crew — after they are seized? And what are the second- and third-order effects for global shipping markets, risk, and supply chains? Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

"Capacity reduction is clearly under way. Regulatory enforcement of qualifications and safety standards was arguably the most welcome development in 2025 for our industry." - Adam Miller, CEO of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings The trucking industry has been flooded with headlines about enforcement: English language proficiency checks, non-domiciled CDL restrictions, immigration raids, and court stays. On the surface, this might look like a political story or an emotional response to a few high-profile fatal crashes, but it is not primarily about either paperwork or politics. It's about freight market capacity. Who is allowed to operate? Where are they willing to operate? Can they operate profitably while following the rules? And how quickly can excess freight capacity be removed without destabilizing the whole system? In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers: Why CDL enforcement has become a de facto freight capacity lever What the data says about drivers and smaller freight companies leaving the market How localized disruption is starting to show up before national trends And what we should be watching instead of (or at least in addition to) the headlines Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

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 delays, or needing to switch carriers mid-journey. That's the promise behind the proposed merger between the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads. If the deal is approved, it will create the first single-line transcontinental railroad in U.S. history, spanning more than 50,000 miles across 43 states and nearly 100 ports. Supporters say this could make rail a more serious competitor to long-haul trucking, lowering costs and improving supply chain efficiency. Critics say it risks concentrating too much power in too few hands in an industry where four railroads already control more than 90% of U.S. freight. Earlier this month, regulators hit the reset button. The Surface Transportation Board (STB) rejected the merger application - not on its merits, but because the paperwork was incomplete. In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner covers: What Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are proposing, and why it would be historically significant The arguments for the merger, including efficiency, cost, and competition with trucking The arguments against it, from labor, shippers, competitors, and policy advocates Where the Surface Transportation Board fits in, and what the January 2026 rejection means from an approval and timeline standpoint Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

In late 2023, one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints effectively broke. After Hamas' October 7th attack on Israel, Houthi militants began targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Initially, their target was Israel-linked vessels, then they increasingly started targeting anything that passed through. What followed was a near-collapse of confidence in the Suez Canal, a route that normally handles roughly 10–12% of global seaborne trade. Ocean carriers rerouted thousands of ships around the Cape of Good Hope, adding weeks, cost, fuel burn, and complexity to global supply chains. Fast forward to late 2025 and early 2026, and something quietly significant happened: Maersk, the world's second-largest container carrier, sent ships back through the Red Sea. It wasn't a full return or a declaration of victory, but it was a meaningful test. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers:  Why Maersk's Red Sea test voyages matter more than they may appear The economic and capacity pressures pushing carriers back toward Suez Why a "safe reopening" may still create winners and losers What procurement and supply chain leaders should be watching for next Links: High Stakes in the Red Sea Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

In early December of last year, two thefts took place in Taunton, Massachusetts, that involved two usually wonderful things: lobster and logistics.  The stolen property was valued at $400,000: approximately $250,000 worth of lobster and $150,000 in crabmeat. Both thefts took place at the same warehouse. The crimes were a massive hit to all of the businesses involved at one of the most critical times of the year. Unfortunately, this kind of fraud-based theft is all too common. Even more unfortunately, the opportunity to steal this property was created by security lapses in the supply chain. Significant effort went into tricking the warehouse to hand over the seafood, but it worked. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers: The theft: who, what, where, and when How common this form of theft is, and the multi-agency law enforcement effort that is being mounted in response All of the forms of cost associated with 'fictitious pickups' Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement

"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 out how to harness those laws." - Patrick Kilbride, Policy Fellow at the Center for American Principles The rate and scale of change taking place around us are so destabilizing that it would be easy to think that 'old ideas' no longer apply. Could economic principles that were articulated in the late 1700s possibly be relevant in a global, digital economy?  Patrick Kilbride, Policy Fellow at the Center for American Principles, and principal at Kilbride Public Affairs, says yes – and he recently re-read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations to prove it to himself. Patrick is a public policy expert with experience as a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative. He has held a number of executive strategy- and policy-focused roles at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Today, he is a Policy Fellow at the Center for American Principles, a 501(c)(4) focused on personal liberties, free markets, and strong national security. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner speaks with Patrick about the wisdom Adam Smith and his contemporaries can still offer us today: Why (and which) economic principles articulated during the Enlightenment still hold true today The quality of life improvements that have been driven by productivity gains despite population growth The role that governments can play in supporting enlightened self-interest Links: Patrick Kilbride on LinkedIn The Center for American Principles Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter  Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement  

'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