Robert Gotsch-Legacy of Logistics

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Transcript

1:30

Well, hello everybody again. This is Jeff Davis with Chain Reaction Tales from the Supply Chain Front Lines. And today we are going to be just behind the front lines. We're gonna be talking about data. We're gonna be talking about data in trucking, and three pls. We're gonna be talking about how it used to be the Dirty Dozen with my good friend Robert Grouch, and did I say that? Got you. Got it. Gotcha. Edit that. We're gonna be talking about data in its role in the three PL industry with Robert Gotch. So to kick us off, Robert, please introduce yourself. Sure. My name is Robert Gotch. I am the Senior Vice President for Vision, direct and Supply Chain Logistics Global Group. We are a multi face. Organization that provides end-to-end solutions in three pls, freight forwarding yard management, fleet management, and all modes of transportation. I oversee six locations, four here in the continental us, and one in Canada, and one in the uk. And we're going to be hopefully closing on some more partnerships in the Asian and Indian. And I've been in the industry for over 25 years and just be it, I'm just very happy to be here to bring some really great context to this great topic. So tell me about how you got into this. I mean, 25 years ago probably technology was not quite what it is now. Where, what, what did you start at 25 years? Well, actually it started earlier than that. My grandfather came in. He was a first first generation Italian immigrant here in my family and he started a small transportation and logistics company which he ran and he owned and ran for over 25, a 75 years, and it was called Galen Sun. And I learned early on what it really meant to supply solutions. Customers. And his model was, if a customer needed it, we can provide it. And he did that for 75 years. He started out with two warehouses that were 25,000 square feet, three trucks. He ended his career 75 years later with over 3 million square feet of warehouse in, we had freight brokerage, we had Freight forwarding, we were the first ones to actually bring in flatbeds into the ports because my grandfather figured out very early is we can bring the flatbeds in, put the containers on, on the flatbeds, drop'em off, and then use that flatbed again to bring back other freight. And that's why I learned how, how this business operates, how to manage. All the services that the three PL has. And also I met a gentleman named Anthony Reid. And Anthony Reid was the very, very first before the Mercury gates, before everyone else, before the Manhattans. His name was Anthony Reed and he ran Reid Logistics. He was a pioneer in transportation management services. Now it is not near as robust as it was. I mean, as it is now, because we were still using spreadsheets and data. Was extremely limited, but I got to work on the feet or by the feet of Lions, 75 years. And then, you know, my father was in the industry for a number of years working with Panasonic. He was the senior vice president for Panasonic when the Japanese bought it out and. he provided supply chain and logistics information to Panasonic One. It was growing and that's where I really started out. And then once I got the Marine Corps I was part of a forward reconnaissance and basically bringing in all the logistics for ammunition Marines, equipment, all parts of the world. So I've been doing it for a really long. I was on mute. I was, I was saying you were born into this, so you, you didn't have a chance? No, no sir. I sure didn't. So I'm curious was all that in the Atlanta, in the southeast region or was that up in different port cities? No, sir. That, that was all New Jersey really. My grandfather started in Newark, New Jersey. Wow. And is that company still around or is that, is that your No, actually after my grandfather's passing, his brother took it over and then he passed and then the company was bought out by another company and they took on all the warehouse space in it's called the Farmer's Market in Newark New. Wow, that's impressive. Yep. Yeah. So you've really got some incredible lineage in the business. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. He, so he really pioneered the street turn on the flatbeds. Yeah, he really did. He really did. The, these solutions that we're gonna talk about today is something that my grandfather was. years and years ago, and now they call him value added solutions, He was doing it because of the fu because the customers needed it. This is what they required. Yeah. Can you do this? Of course you can do this. You're never gonna say no to a customer. It's just in three pl. You make it happen. That's it. Yes. Yeah, that's it. And that's, you know, and that's one of the things that make a, makes three pl. Different from any other organization. We provide the infrastructure, we provide the transportation, we provide the warehousing, and we provide the processes and the people to deliver a 360 degree solution to customers around the world. You know, you and I were talking a little bit before we jumped on, tell me how the three PL industry has changed. Oh, in five years. Oh my goodness. Well as we were talking, Jeff the three pls when I first started, people looked upon us as these filthy, dirty dozen, that we would take your money and we would not have any kind of customer support, no services that is relevant to the customer. But here we are. 25 years later showing the world that three pls have always been a great value added partnership. Because we can provide warehousing, we can, we provide warehousing, then we provide transportation then, and what the, and how this, how this success continues to happen. Everyone out there. By partnerships, you cannot survive in this industry without partnerships. If you're not partnered with another company, you're not going to be successful. You're not gonna invent an another wheel. You're gonna invent the spokes to the wheel to be, to bring in that it, to bring in that software, to bring in that platform that makes things. and that's what three PL has, has done and has evolved into a great value added service that a lot of providers now are saving 30 to 40% because of the fact that they don't have to invest so much into a process that's already there. Yeah. So you mentioned you're, you're forming partnerships all over the world, which is exciting. Yes, sir. Right? You're, you're growing. Yep. What are these partnerships gonna do? You're, you're, Mentioning the importance of partnerships. What are your partnerships in the uk? I think you mentioned Singapore. What are they going to do for you and your clients? Well, first of all they are going to add more expansion in some of these ports. Give us more presence and also provide us transportation to these ports like rxo. I used, I was a former employee of XPO for a number of years before it split. RXO now is out there, or Gxo Gxo is out there in RXO. Rxo is out there in the uk. And what it allows us to do is, is expand our transportation out there, give us more visibility and more transparency and, and have connectivity all around the world because of the. Just because we have a container in Singapore doesn't mean we have the visibility and the transparency to see that container and those processes. We have people on the ground that can actually see and tell us if there is a delay and allow us to, can be connected through. All these different software platforms such as, you know, you have your E two opens and your planning softwares that allow us to see visibility and you know, there's a company that we, we partner with is magia, and Magia is a freight forwarding company that provides us. A connectivity through our TMS and our w and and through our wms that provides a global connection with all these, in all these different partnerships. I wrote a thesis back in grad school when I went to University of South Carolina, which is number one in you know, women's basketball, number one. And and. I wrote it, you know, back in 96 and now it's, now it's coming to prevent now it's coming into, into Focus. It was business Beyond, beyond Borders, and now we're seeing it every day that we are getting e-commerce from all over the world, from all different kind of platforms. Next day or two days through different partner. Nice. Yes, sir. And so changing gears right now we're, we're talking about customers, we're talking about the, the differences of customers, then. it's been pretty volatile, right? I've been in front of clients a lot here the past, really the past three months because they're really feeling whiplash, is what I'm seeing. What are, what are you seeing from your clientele? What are the current challenges that they're facing? What are the different sectors that you work in? What is, what is it? You think is gonna be the next, and I know I'm hitting you with three questions at once, but, okay. what, what is kind of the verbiage you're hearing from, from your customer base right now? Well you know, I ha I have a lot of notes, ladies, gentlemen. So I wanna make sure that we are getting the context that we need. So one of the biggest things is the unpredictability of demand surgeons. We can, we can have all this over here, but we're not able to get it into the ports because of the fact that the ports are so jammed up and we're having all these different supply chain issues. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's not because of the supply chain, it's because of the fact that we don't have the manpower or womanpower or whatever you wanna call it. We don't have the power to move these containers from port to port, and we're losing. That's one of the biggest problems. We can't even get a, we have trucks. I, I, I manage a feed of trucks of 60 trucks and 35 of them are sitting on a, on a, on the side of the road because I don't have droppers. Last mile logistics, you know, we're talking about getting the products to the end because, As I talked to you, Jeff, about Highlander Tech, they were talking about bringing in a platform that allows the address to be visible. Are we gonna be able to get in with a big truck? Are we gonna get in with a sprinter van? Do we need a lift gate? Are we going to need white glove experience where we're actually taking the item and bringing it up the stairs to an. How is that working? Warehousing challenges? Warehousing challenges, even though they're building warehouses. After warehouses, after warehouses, we're going back to, okay, now instead of six or$7 a pallet, it's like 10 or$15 a pound no matter where you go. But once again, we don't have the the people to move. those processes through the warehouse and then back to labor. Yeah, back to labor. And, and one of the other things is, and I'll give you, I'll, I'll give you a I'll give you a a percentage that I just found out today. The pandemic. The pandemic sparked a rise of e-commerce sales. Today, a record of 31.6% of all retail sales are taking place online, indicating a 77.6 increase compared to February, 2000. The, the agility for three pls to continue with that, with that kind of surge is very challenging because of the fact that now three pls have to increase their, their software, their processes to compete in this overcrowded market. And that's one of the biggest challenges. Oh, and I forgot one of the, one of the biggest concerns now is security of data. Do you have, we have all this great software, but that data sometimes is leaked out well, and we have to have, you have to have a firewall and you have to have the services to protect that data because with you're looking at a hundred to 500 transactions a second, imagining that data. All the customers addressed, all the customers credit cards and everything else, and it, it gets out and you're in e-commerce, that's, that's death. So you have to have the data security and the ability to filter and ingest those, that data in a secure manner. So and to double down on your comment. E-commerce, the big players, the big retailers, the big carriers, they're, they're investing money, hard dollars on those statistics. Right? You've seen, I don't know if you've seen it, but Costco. Target, JB Hunt, they are investing in, in their infrastructure to ensure that they're prepared for growth. and the next two quarters for more, for a more robust online experience for e-commerce and next day delivery, because they foresee that, well, and of course, target and Costco, they want to compete with Amazon. But, you know the big L t l providers, they, they wanna be ready because they see a rebound in, in the next two quarters from the sluggish sales right now, which goes to your. Three PL providers need to be ready. Right. I'm curious about the data. You know, I mean, it's, it's said that that's more precious than, than oil. It's more expensive than oil, right? Oh yeah. Absolutely. So what's your solution to, I want, I do, I do wanna, do I wanna, I wanna bridge on what you just said. There's a company that I want to really put out there. I was just talking to them and Wow, what a, what a. What a revolutionary platform. Got to speak with a gentleman from Delivery Solutions. Delivery Solutions is a platform, an omnichannel e-commerce orchestration. It basically brings in all the, the retail e-commerce, the, the, the shipping platforms, the touches on a mobile. Platform bringing all this in together. And, and, and one thing cool about this is the fact that you can change your times. You can get it next day. And they're, and they're connected with U p s, FedEx drones, warehouses throughout the country. They are part and u p s just bought'em out last year. They also, and if you looked at it, u p s also bought where to go, and I believe, and I talked to this gentleman and I said, you know, where to go is a platform, a digital platform that provides warehousing anywhere in the United States, short term or long term. People are doubling down on these kind of platforms to bring a more robust. System to our demands because we don't wanna wait a week. We think that's too long. We wanted, next day, we wanted two days. And systems like this, delivery solutions, everyone take a look at it. I wanna make a big plug without that because it really, really interesting and it really is revolutionary. And I didn't wanna cut you off, Jeff, what was your next question? Outta labor? I'm sorry. Yeah, I'll have to get in touch with them. I gotta bring'em. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So the, you talked about data and the security, the importance of it. I agree. right? We're all making orders online. Let's not be silly. So if, if we're making an order with one vendor and then they're transferring specific information, it's gotta be transferred to the end user, the carrier that's delivering it. It's all gotta be secure. So, so how does vision Direct and, you know, what, what is your solution to your customer? Well, we have we have layers of software that protect us. We have a company called visionary that is we have so we have a hard firewall. We have a hardware firewall, not software, but we actually have a block in, in our, in our network, in our servers that is a firewall. And also we have this company called Visionary that is also a software company that helps us with monitoring our servers on and offsite because you need rep reputa you need repetitiveness in your security to provide the data vault. and not be siloed. So a com, a individual or an organization can hack into your network. So without having redundancy, and this is my little nerdiness in your servers, data is exposed. But if you have hardware, hardware, firewalls, and software firewall, This systems are protected. And that's what we do at Vision Direct, is protect our customers and protect their data duty systems. Very nice. What other honorable mentions, what, what other things did you want to discuss today? I, I know that we talked about some of the challenges clients are facing. A lot of it has to do with the demand of. What I call the demand of the US consumer, thanks to the phone ordering system, right? Yeah. Right. I mean it's, it's the, now, now, now I, I know I have kids who don't know that we could not just look things up on Google on our phone. They don't know about that. Right. Let alone order stuff online on your phone. It's, it's just different. So, and, and the retailers and the logistics providers, we have. we have to account for that. Right. And, and one of the b one of the things that I would like to speak about is basically what three pls are also challenged with now is the fact that we have now fuel costs recruiting now that we have these platforms in place and some of these platforms are purchased but are not functional, functional, the functionality, ease to work. Or ease to operate'em is, is, is a challenge. So we have to have people that are able to be analytic and also a little bit techy. And that's a challenge. And also, you know, it's a surprise to me that there is still a lack of collaboration in this industry. One of the biggest problems. That this industry has faced over the last 50 years is its fragmentation. People have turned a blind eye. And up until the, the covid situation, people were like, oh, well this is just the way it is. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's not the way. It's there is, you do not have, just, like I said in in the previous part of this conversation, you do not have to do this alone. Success is not a individual. it is a team sport. And if you are not partnered with a Mercury Gate, which is, which has the best t m s system, I think out there, they've been doing it for over 25 years. You have Manhattan Associates, you have SAPs, and you have the Oracles. These individual, these companies are putting together systems E two Open, which, which is a, has a phenomenal platform. And, and we have Flexport, which has really come, come, come around. Offering flexi, offering visibility and transparency and visibility. Jeff is not the same thing as transparency. Visibility is a communication between those hubs. Transparency is a scene and the end. I like that. That's, I never thought about that, but you're right. Yeah. Yes, sir. And, and one of the biggest things is in, in the envi environmental concerns, we have all these, all these trucks that are driving around now, we want to try to bring in the. Electric, the EVs for semis. Well, that's, that's a great idea. But what about the batteries that, you know, these trucks are gonna burn so fast and these just an, just a battery alone for a car is$25,000 a replace? I can't imagine what it is for, for a car. You know, I, I I have partnered with Laser Spot. Laser Spot is a great guard management company, ladies and gentlemen. They have. They have yard Imagine software that uses rdi, R D I F, which is a label that they put on the trailer once it's come in and they have these K key kiosks that once a driver comes in and they go in and you can actually see where it is on the. On the screen exactly where it is. There is no more hide and seek for trailers. You can see using their third partner is P I N C P I N C and it's yard management software. And it allows you to see exactly the pool of trailers where they are, the processes of unloading, are they in a door where they are, and you can understand the capacity of each. and these systems are in place to, and they're not very expensive, to make your lives more efficient and more productive and get rid of the manual processes instead of that yard dog, which is a small tractor, just pulling trailers and putting'em into different pools. You know, when I worked for Amazon at xpo, we were part of that. We could not find the trailer. We actually had a look for the numbers. Now with this yard management software, you are able to see exactly where that trailer is, what's going on, and understand the capacity in that yard and going back and forth on the shelve. And that's one, and that's one. Another thing you can use, you know, you can use EVs because Orange, which is a company that is putting electric. Trucks in these different facilities to help move these trailers around. And one thing cool about this is the fact that electric motors do not break down as much as diesel. So the maintenance goes down. The emissions goes down. But the problem with this is the fact that once you start putting'em on the road, the capacity to move heavier freight is still a concern. Yeah. And you know, I could have a whole, and I probably will, I have a whole thing about the ev. I mean, where are they getting the mineral? Where are they getting those minerals from and, and how hard is that and what kind of labor are they using for that? And they're very third world countries typically. And it's and then what happens, you mentioned this, what happens when the battery dies? what are you gonna do with it? Cuz that's some nasty stuff in there and Right. And it's, and it's terrible. And the batteries are actually terrible for the environment, if you guys Right. That's my point. Right. It's nasty stuff. So, and if you go to a, you go to a place that actually manufactures batteries for these, these cars, you'll see that they are not vented properly and they're going into the environment. And, and if you look. Chile and Peru where all these materials are coming from. They are, it's awful. It's, it's like hell on Earth is. Yeah. Well that's my point about the labor. Like what kind of labor conditions is it? So why is that okay. And you know, we probably could not get approval for a, that type of facility in the usa. So again, that's a whole other, that's a whole other. Podcast. Yes sir, it is, right? I mean, it's great that I, I get the sentiment, but to pay three times as much for half the output, I'm in Houston, man. We're oil and gas baby. That's right, that's right. But, but the big biggest thing is the infrastructure. How all of a sudden, like you're like, you're in Texas, you guys went, you went, guys went black. How are you gonna power cars? You know, how are you gonna power cars in California? You know, you have all these visibil, you have all this software, all. Technology to improve collaboration. You have all this different stuff. If we're not going to use it properly, this 3 trillion industry is going to seize up again and we're going to see another problem and. And customers just really don't need to see that because of the fact that as a three PL provider, I am a customer of three pls because my job is to actually expand on partnerships. That's how I make my money, is if I don't have a T M S in this location, I'm gonna bring a partner to do it. Or I don't have a warehouse in, in Chicago. I'm gonna find a three three PL to help. Solidify that solution. That's what three pls do. Yeah. Is find a solution for customers challenges. Yes. Yeah, that's it. So we talked about the here and now. What do you foresee is a problem or a solution in three? What? What do you foresee in three to five? Well next three to five years is more automation. There's gonna be less labor intensive jobs, which is not, which is a bad, which is a bad and good thing. There'll be more processes that are gonna be quicker and the more accurate, because in fact, that as humans we, you know, we get tired and, and lose our accuracy, but there is already robots that are unloading trucks. you know, I have a facility that actually, there's a robot that actually goes in and gets a pallet, gets two or three pallets and brings it out, and then there's, then we can actually bring it to the location, drop it off, and we have robots in other facilities that change the, the fluidness of a w. What's going to change in the next couple years is more ai, more automation in the warehouse, and more ability to become more accurate and more efficient over the next couple years. Right. Final question, final question. Final question. I don't think you're ready for this, Robert. Okay. I'm ready. You can go back to your 16 year old self He's working on the. He's loading grandpa gotcha's, flatbed trailers for a street turn and you can be stow on him. All this knowledge that you've learned over these past 10 years, cuz you're 26 now what would you tell your 16 year old self. Hold on tight because it's gonna be a ride. because, you know, I've been in this industry for over 30 years and I've done it in all parts of the world. So it's been very, very good to me. But you know, be a sponge, be willing to learn and willing to, you know, because at, you know, I'm 56. I remember sitting there as a teenager, Gring and, and, and, you know, and sweating in a van trailer or sweating on a forklift or doing whatever and hating this and not really getting paid for it because I was family. So, but it has been very it's been, I, it is been my passion and it's been something that I've loved to do and always I, I'll always be a part. Even when I, even if I, with child never retired, my grandfather never retired. He was 86 years old, and I don't think I'll be retiring anytime soon. That's fun. All right. Yeah, that's, yeah. So Robert, thanks so much, man. When, when we have some, some three pls, some partners that want to get in touch with you, how can they do so? Sure. My My email address where yeah, have we have a website. It's vision Direct vi, it's vision direct.org. And we are located in crown Point in Atlanta, Georgia. But you can contact me on my email at r dot g o t s c h, at Vision Direct Group org. And if you're looking to looking for a partner that is willing to work with you and grow with you, I am here and I have I am willing to learn more about your business and want you to succeed. So please gimme a call and contact me directly. Awesome, Robert. Thanks so much, man. I feel like I learned a ton. I. Quite confident that everybody else who listens has learned a ton. Thank you. Appreciate your service in the Marines. Thanks. Yes, sir. And that's, that is always an honor to talk with a Marine. And thank you for everybody else. See you later. Please tune back in. Please be sure to share, like, and subscribe to our podcast and see you next time. Bye. Take.