The Logistics Tribe

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/

Countless attempts have been made in the last decade to leverage cutting edge technology to give companies the transportation and supply chain visibility that they need to anticipate disruptions, proactively manage risks and boost supply chain resilience. Literally hundreds of millions of funding has been poured into tech stacks that promised to finally deliver the visibility and control that every globally operating company is craving for. Yet, the end result of all these efforts has been quite sobering, to say the least. So our host Boris Felgendreher invited a representative from one of the key players in the real-time-transportation visibility space onto the show to discuss what’s going on. The guest is Anand Medepalli, the Chief Product Officer of Shippeo. Shippeo is based in Paris, France and is considered a global leader in real-time multimodal transportation visibility, helping major shippers and logistics service providers to operate more resilient, sustainable, and customer-centric supply chains. The company just launched an ambitious new offering that it calls Transportation Process Automation. It’s already used by Renault, a long-time key customer of Shippeo’s and is supported by an interesting group of launch partners such as Google Cloud, E2Open and 4Flow. Enough reason for us to take a close look under the hood to explore if what Shippeo is building here is indeed the Future of Transportation Visibility. Enjoy! Helpful Links: Shippeo: https://www.shippeo.com/ Anand Medepalli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amedepalli/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/

Tom Bianculli, Chief Technology Officer of Zebra Tecnologies sat down with our host Marco Prüglmeier at the recent Trends in Automotive Logistics Conference (TAL) in Pilsen, Czech Republic to discuss the following topics: - Zebra Technologies' journey beyond the scope of scanning devices - Why the company has completed 8 acquisitions in the last 4 years - Zebra's venture investments - The synergies between automation, analytics and AI - How AI is opening up new possibilities for data analytics - New and upcoming technologies: AI from an automation perspective, assistive AI - Why Augmented Reality (AR) has "come back down to earth" and how the technology will evolve from here - Why Tom believes that only a small percentage of jobs will actually be completely be eliminated by robots, automation and AI Helpful Links: Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-bianculli-9053892 Zebra Technologies: https://www.zebra.com/us/en.html Marco on LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/prueglmeier/en

It's hard to find Shippers that didn't get burnt by skyrocketing freight rates in the last 3 years. And high freight rate volatility is likely here to stay. The US-based startup ZenHedge is working on a fintech-based insurance solution that promises to offer peace of mind by protecting shippers from the financial impact of tender rejection, freight rate volatility, and other supply chain disruptions - risks that were once hard to “hedge" against. Our host Jonah McIntire sat down with Krishnan Kandasamy, CEO and Founder of ZenHedge, to dig deep into the world of risk management for the transportation industry. A lot to learn here. Enjoy! Helpful Links: ZenHedge: https://www.zenhedge.com/ Krishnan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishnankandasamy/ Jonah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonahmcintire/

Today's guest on The Logistics Tribe is Roman Žák. Roman is one of the founders of Aimtec. Aimtec helps companies on their digital transformation journeys. They combine a very deep consulting expertise in manufacturing and logistics with a unique approach to implementing software solutions. And what’s fascinating about Aimtec is that they have been around since 1996. A time when digital transformation was even a thing yet. And today, the company is very highly regarded, particularly in the automotive industry. They are based in Pilsen, in the Czech Republic, but are operating globally. Roman and our host Boris Felgendreher talked about the various issues and challenges that his customers in the automotive sector are facing these days and how digital strategies and tools can help them. Quite an interesting discussion, that you don’t want to miss. Helpful Links: Roman Žák on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/romanzak/ Aimtec: https://www.aimtecglobal.com/en/ The Trends in Automotive Logistics (TAL) Conference 2023. May 16th in Pilsen, CZ: https://www.talconference.com/en/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/

Radu Palamariu from Alcott Global and Knut Alicke from McKinsey are two influential thinkers on the topic of supply chain leadership. In this episode of The Logistics Tribe, Radu, Knut and our host Boris Felgendreher explore how the last few years in particular have elevated the function of supply chain inside many organizations around the world. But how can supply chain leaders actually capitalize on this development and permanently secure supply chain management's seat in the boardroom as well as paving their own potential career path into the CEO role? This episode of The Logistics Tribe is a "must-listen-to" for any ambitious supply chain leader. Radu and Knut also recently published a book on the topic called "From Source To Sold". It features stories of leadership in supply chain and is a highly recommended read. Helpful links: From Source To Sold: https://sourcetosold.com/ Radu Palamariu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radupalamariu/ Knut Alicke on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/knut-alicke/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/

Today's guest on The Logistics Tribe is Ken Adamo, Chief of Analytics at DAT. DAT operates the largest truckload freight marketplace in North America. Ken is responsible for DAT iQ, DATs data science team and its pricing database for shippers, 3PLs, trucking operators and freight brokers. Ken is one of the leading experts in data analytics in the logistics industry, so we had to pair him up with our host Jonah McIntire. This turned out to be a wide-ranging conversation about the business of freight data and analytics, and also a view into Ken’s career in the industry. Helpful Links: DAT: https://www.dat.com/ Ken Adamo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-adamo-8481611a/ Jonah McIntire on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonahmcintire/ Boris Felgendreher (founder of The Logistics Tribe) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/

Today’s guest on The Logistics Tribe Podcast is Prof. Roland Siegwart. Roland is director of the Autonomous Systems Lab in Switzerland, director of the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich and a world-renown robotics expert. He is one of the pioneers in the field of autonomous mobile robots, which are quickly spreading throughout warehouses and logistics operations around the world. Our host Marco Prüglmeier talked to Roland about the following topics: - Roland's work with AMRs dating back 30 years - His first book on the topic - How he got into the topic of AMRs - His early foray into mail delivery robots, 30 years ago - The history and evolution of AMRs - The main differences between AMRs and AGVs - The challenges of AMRs in logistics operations - Why AMRs will replace AGVs over time - The current state of robot technology, laser technology, camera technology, SLAM and what Roland and his teams are working on - Good and bad use cases of drones - The roles of robots on last mile delivery - Roland’s vision for the logistics of the future and the prospects of autonomous driving - Will robots eliminate logistics jobs - and more Helpful links: Prof. Roland Siegwart on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roland-siegwart-85466912/ Marco Prüglmeier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prueglmeier/ Our supporters GreyOrange: https://www.greyorange.com/

Hermann Ude is the former CEO of DHL Freight and DHL Global Forwarding, a former corporate board member of Deutsche Post and now sits on a number of supervisory boards, including his role as chairman of the supervisory board at Transporeon. Hermann has a strong interested in the impact the logistics industry has on the environment and on climate change in particular. He holds many key insights into how the industry has to evolve and what role technology can play to drive down the environmental impact of the logistics sector. This episode is hosted by Jonah McIntire. Helpful links: Hermann Ude on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermann-ude/ Prof. Alan McKinnon, a resource Hermann recommends on the topic: https://www.alanmckinnon.co.uk/ Jonah McIntire on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonahmcintire/ Tracks, a digital platform mentioned on the podcast: https://www.tracks.eco/ Transporeon: https://www.transporeon.com/en Our supporters GreyOrange: www.greyorange.com

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/

Today we have Joachim Schaut from DB Schenker on the program to talk about how the logistics provider is helping to digitally transform the supply chains of its customers. Joachim leads the company’s Intercontinental Supply Chain Solutions. That’s an area where DB Schenker is making some big technology plays and where they have built partnerships with some state-of-the-art technology vendors to transform the way global logistics and supply chains are managed. Together with our host Boris Felgendreher, Joachim discusses the key technologies that enable the digital transformation of global supply chains, the role of cloud platforms, end-to-end visibility, data quality and much more. Helpful links: DB Schenker's Intercontinental Supply Chain Solutions: https://www.dbschenker.com/de-en/products/ocean-freight/intercontinental-supply-chain-solutions Joachim Schaut on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-schaut-a8a00a171/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/ Our supporters GreyOrange: https://www.greyorange.com/

The Logistics Tribe met Steffen Bersch, the CEO of SSI Schäfer, at the recent International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year (IFOY) Test Days. SSI Schäfer is a big global player in the area of modular warehousing and logistics solutions. The company was founded in Germany in 1937 and today operates across six continents with more than 10,500 employees. Steffen was also recently elected as the new Chairman of the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association, which has more than 240 member companies. Together with our host Marco Prüglmeier, Steffen discusses the current state and future of standards for operating autonomous mobile robots in intralogistics operations, how technology is revolutionizing warehousing and manufacturing operations, what the future holds for the industry and much more. Helpful links: Our supporters GreyOrange: https://www.greyorange.com/ SSI Schäfer: https://www.ssi-schaefer.com/en-at The IFOY Awards: https://ifoy.org/en/ Marco Prüglmeier on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prueglmeier/ Boris Felgendreher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borisfelgendreher/