The Logistics Tribe – Details, episodes & analysis

Today we are talking about supply chain challenges in the automotive industry. Our guest is Robert Cameron who heads up the production, logistics and aftermarket department at the VDA, the German Automotive Industry Association. Our host, Marco Prüglmeier, sat down with Robert at the recent Trends in Automotive Logistics (TAL) Conference in Pilsen, Czech Republic and talked about the following topics: - Biggest challenges that are facing the automotive industry and automotive supply chains - Why electrification of vehicles will dramatically increase the need for semiconductors - Why large node size semiconductors are critical for electric vehicles - The relevance of the Fit for 55 EU-legislation - The European Chips Act - The development of Autonomous Driving - Interoperability of AMRs and AGVs and the VDA 5050 as an open-source standard - The vision and development of VDA 6000 - The importance of moving from relations management with direct suppliers only to holistically managing the entire supply chain end-to-end - Geopolitical factors and the transitions to e-mobility. Selective global sourcing and selective local sourcing. - Demographic and workforce developments and the impact on automotive manufacturing and supply chains - AI and the impact on the future of automotive manufacturing and supply chains Helpful Links: The VDA: https://www.vda.de/en Robert Cameron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugh-robert-cameron-61a37430/ Marco Prüglmeier on LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/prueglmeier/en

In today's episode we explore the possibility to increase truck driver satisfaction and boost truck utilization with better planning tools and smarter algorithms. Our guest today is Mark Farkas, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of AI Fleet, a vertically integrated technology enabled trucking company that was founded in Austin, TX in 2020. Together with our host Jonah McIntire, Mark discusses the following topics: - Mark's background and track record as a successful logistics tech founder - What inspired Mark and his co-founder to build AI Fleet - What's wrong with the business model of traditional trucking companies and why technology hasn't made more of an impact over the years - What the levers to pull are to make trucking more profitable - What Mark means when he says AI Fleet wants to "humanize trucking" - The importance of truck utilization as a metric and how improving truck utilization benefits drivers - How "real" the truck driver shortage actually is and whether it can be solved by better truck utilization - How truck drivers could benefit financially from a better trucking business model and better technology - The growth and growth plans of AI Fleet - Comments on the current trucking market conditions in the US - Why so many investments in technology and software haven't paid off - Views on the truck brokerage space - Why it's so hard to profitably scale trucking businesses - The path to autonomous trucking - and much more Helpful Links: AI Fleet: https://aifleet.com/ Mark on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-farkas-337a33127/ Jonah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonahmcintire/

Today we have a very special episode for you. It’s different because we typically bring you conversations between a host and one, sometimes two guests that are 45 minutes or so in length. Today’s episode is a deep dive into one very specific topic with two people who have very deep domain expertise in this field. And this episode is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. The idea here is to really take the time to tackle one very specific topic and go super deep on it. The two experts are Jonah McIntire, who has been a regular contributor to The Logistics Tribe, both as a host and a guest. And Märten Veskimäe, who’s currently a product strategist at Transporeon. Both are super deep thinkers on this topic. They look at examples of businesses that are platforms vs. businesses that aren’t, what the defining attributes of platforms are, what areas of logistics and supply chain platforms are suitable for, what successful platforms do differently, how they compete against other platforms and much more. Here is a LinkedIn post that Jonah has prepared that will accompany this podcast episode: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jonahmcintire_hey-linkedin-network-today-i-released-activity-6980135736381480960-grEl? Please visit the post and contribute to the discussion. You can also let us know there, how you like the content of this episode. We really appreciate your feedback on this. Today's topic breakdown: - Examples of businesses that are platforms vs. businesses that look like platforms but aren't really platforms. - Platforms in the real world and platforms in the digital space - The defining attributes of platforms and what makes platforms different - In which areas of logistics and supply chain management are platforms suitable and useful - Are forwarders platforms? Are Uber or Uber Freight actually a platform? - Are there differences between companies with network effects and platforms? - The role of platforms in standardization, particularly in logistics - How do you measure and assess platform businesses vs non-platform businesses? - The cold start problem and how platforms can get off the ground in logistics - What successful platforms do differently. What are the critical success factors to succeed in attracting and keeping users? - Success factors for logistics platforms to compete against other logistics platforms - Notable platforms in logistics by segment - Future outlook on platforms in logistics and supply chain - Takeaways Please visit Jonah's LinkedIn post on this episode: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jonahmcintire_hey-linkedin-network-today-i-released-activity-6980135736381480960-grEl?

Today's guest on The Logistics Tribe is Ajesh Kapoor. Ajesh is the founder and CEO of SemiCab. Semicab is a US-based logtech startup that is bringing multi-enterprise collaboration to the world of truck transportation. Semicab offers tech-enabled services and connects shippers and carriers on a collaborative transportation platform. Ajesh took our host Boris Felgendreher on a deep dive tour on how the idea for SemiCab emerged, how he started the company, why SemiCab is so unique in its approach, what value the platform creates for shippers and carriers what the company’s growth plans look like and much more. Helpful Links: SemiCab: https://www.semicab.com/ Ajesh Kapoor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajesh-kapoor-a6555b/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/ Our supporters, GreyOrange: https://www.greyorange.com/ The LOGTECHIES Job Board - The Coolest Jobs in Logtech, curated by Boris Felgendreher: http://www.logtechies.com/

Today we will take a look at what Google, in particular Google Cloud, is up to when it comes to Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Google Cloud has been active in this space for a couple of years now and it’s starting to become clear now why it may actually be a great match. Our guest today is Hans Thalbauer who has a rich history in Supply Chain tech, and is now the Managing Director of Google Cloud’s Supply Chain and Manufacturing capabilities. Together with our host Marco Prüglmeier, Hans covers the following topics: - Hans’ path from Austria to Silicon Valley - What prompted Google to enter the field of Supply Chain? - Google's Supply Chain Twin - The different data segments that can be leveraged for Supply Chain Management: Private segment (e.g. ERP data), community Segment (e.g. orders, tracking data), public data segment (e.g. weather, traffic, health data) - Google's Supply Chain Pulse - How Artificial Intelligence can be applied to SC data - Why Google is not creating applications, but is partnering with SCM solution providers instead - How to make it easier for companies to connect and exchange data: EDI, API, Google’s Data Warehouse (BigQuery), even GMail. - Google’s flexible Data Model - Last-Mile Solutions - Google Cloud Fleet Routing - An example of how weather and climate data can be combined with agricultural satellite data to predict impacts harvests - Dynamic ETAs for truck transports leveraging real-time Google Maps data - Sustainability KPIs and Scope 3 data - How to measure the impacts of your sustainability efforts. - On a 10-year time frame: What does the future of supply chain and logistics operations look like? - Hans’ prediction of the “post outsourcing” world - and much more

In today's episode we discuss a timely topic that is on the minds of many of our listeners: Is now actually the right time to start working for a logistics tech startup? Our guests today are Frederic Krahforst and Jonah McIntire. Frederic is the Co-Founder and CEO of the logtech startup TradeLink and Jonah has founded and successfully sold two logtech startups and is currently working for Transporeon, an established logtech company. Regardless of whether you are a seasoned professional with more of a corporate background, whether you have some experience in startup environments, or whether you are starting fresh out of university, startups, especially in the supply chain and logistics area, can be a very attractive career opportunity. But with all the uncertainty around the economy, an increasingly difficult startup funding environment, etc. there are a lot of things to consider. So today’s episode is a very valuable resource for all of you. Another helpful resource and tool is the new The LogTechies Job Board. LogTechies is the first hand-curated job board for the field of Logistics Technology. That’s were, Boris Felgendreher, founder and host of The Logistics Tribe and other logistics podcasts, posts the coolest logtech jobs at those companies that he currently finds the most interesting. Right now, the board features really cool logtech jobs at Sennder, Flaschenpost, Fernride, TradeLink, Noyes Technologies. And there are many more to come. You can find the LOGTECHIES Job Board at www.logtechies.com

We invited two prominent journalists back onto the show who cover the exciting fields of logistics, supply chain, logtech and e-commerce. Emma Cosgrove writes about logistics with a focus on e-commerce for Business Insider and Eric Johnson is Senior Editor for Technology at The Journal of Commerce where he leads coverage and analysis of technology's impact on global logistics and trade. Our host Boris Felgendreher wanted to know what stories from the recent weeks and months Emma and Eric thought were the most interesting and deserved to be discussed in more detail. So the three ended up diving into the impact that the economic downturn is having on the logtech startup ecosystem, the appointment of Amazon Executive Dave Clark to the role of CEO at Flexport and they also talked quite a bit about how journalist like Emma and Eric go about their jobs covering the industry and what you the audience can do to show up on their radar and get a chance of getting coverage. So there is some real actionable advice here as well that we hope you will find useful. Helpful links: Journal of Commerce: https://www.joc.com/technology/logistics-technology-providers/money-still-flowing-complex-logistics-tech-market_20220708.html Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-insiders-say-dave-clarks-an-awkward-fit-for-flexport-2022-6 Eric Johnson's Substack: https://ericjohnson.substack.com/ The LogTechies Job Board (The coolest Jobs in Logistics Technology - Personally curated for You): www.logtechies.com Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/ Eric Johnson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ejohnson3242/ Emma Cosgrove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmacosgrove/

Modern Supply Chain Management would be impossible without the powerful technologies that enable it. Our guest on today's episode of The Logistics Tribe is John Atherton, Global Lead for Supply Chain & Operations at the Accenture Amazon Web Services Business Group, a joint venture between Accenture and AWS. Together with our host Boris Felgendreher, John talks about the following topics: - John and Boris' joint history at GT Nexus, the first cloud-based global supply chain platform - The evolution of cloud technology as the key enabler for modern supply chain management - Why just about any company with a global supply chain still has major gaps in their supply chain visibility - The IT infrastructures that global organizations rely on to manage their global operations and supply chain management - What advancements that have been made to improve the quality of supply chain data. What role Machine Learning and AI can play - The advent of a new breed of digital freight forwarders and if their technology stacks enjoy an advantage - How the upcoming downturn will effect funding opportunities for logtech startups - Amazon Web Services plans and ambitions in the area of logistics and supply chain management - How Accenture and AWS are partnering up to drive supply chain technology into global organizations - and much more Helpful links: The Accenture AWS Business Group: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/services/cloud/aws-business-group John Atherton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnatherton-accenture/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/ Our supporters GreyOrange: www.greyorange.com

What are the downstream consequences of the lockdowns in China for global logistics and supply chain management? That's what we discuss in this episode of The Logistics Tribe with Bjorn Vang Jensen. Bjorn is a well-known industry figure and a veteran of the global logistics business. He has seen the world of supply chains from many different angles. From the ocean carrier perspective, from the 3PL perspective, from the perspective of a manufacturing brand with a global footprint and now as an advisor at the consulting firm Sea Intelligence. In this episode Bjorn talks to our host Boris Felgendreher about the perfect storm of transportation and supply chain disruption that is brewing on the horizon as a result of the Lockdowns in China. Bjorn offers some very keen observations and assessments about how that crisis situation there will inevitably spill over and cause all kinds of first, second and third order effects across global logistics and supply chains. Helpful links: Bjorn Vang Jensen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjornvangjensen/ Sea Intelligence: https://www.sea-intelligence.com/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/ Our supporters GreyOrange: www.greyorange.com

The demand for logistics robots is exploding and so are the choices of different types of robots from different vendors. In this episode of The Logistics Tribe we discuss how to choose the right robots for your specific needs and how to get them up in running in your logistics operations quickly. Our guest today is Victor Splittgerber, the founder and CEO of WAKU Robotics. Victor and his team have set up a platform called Lots of Bots that makes that helps companies to select and implement the right logistics robots. Whether you need robots for transport, picking, commissioning, even cleaning, Lots of Bots offers robots from over 150 different vendors. This episode is hosted by Marco Prüglmeier. Helpful links: WAKU Robotics: https://www.waku-robotics.com/en Victor Splittgerber on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-splittgerber-93547290/ Marco Prüglmeier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prueglmeier/ Our supporters GreyOrange: https://www.greyorange.com/