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Host Sean Frost is joined by experts in the manufacturing industry to discuss bringing big ideas to life. Join us every episode for a deep dive into manufacturing trends, processes, innovation, and how to be successful in the ever-changing world of manufacturing.
Ep04_JenniferFennell_full
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[00:00:00]
Sean Frost: All right. Welcome back to Inspiring Innovation for our fourth episode here. We really appreciate you, you coming out to hear the latest trends in manufacturing and, and hopefully we're providing some value to you and in your roles, whether that's global sourcing product engineers or buyers in the industry.
We are trying to find things that are important to you. And today we're bringing on an expert who is been in supply chain for a very long time, and [00:01:00] we've got some exciting topics to dive into. So, please subscribe to our podcast and leave reviews. We'd love to hear more about what we can do to bring more value to you and your, your team.
So, we appreciate you tuning in today. And my guest today is Jennifer Fennel. She is the uh, director of supply chain for. Polo Custom Products and we're excited to have her here. She recently moved to Canada, and I wanted to start this off with something that we might have to edit out completely, which is my one terrible joke.
I'm not a joke guy, but it's a Canada joke, so
Jennifer Fennell: let's hear it. Let's hear it.
Sean Frost: Okay. All right. So. The joke is how did Canada come up with its name?
Jennifer Fennell: Oh, I have a feeling. I know, but I'm gonna let you, I probably told you this stupid joke before you may have.
Sean Frost: Yeah. So, so they pulled letters out of a hat, okay? And they said C A N A D A.
Jennifer Fennell: Okay,
Sean Frost: so that's
Jennifer Fennell: Sean I [00:02:00] have some strong opinions.
Because that interjection and conversation is really meaningful. Eh, like it's, it's honestly a very valuable piece of language I feel like maybe America could consider.
Sean Frost: You know, it's got, it's effective. So that, that was my opening question. I wanted to ask you what things have different about Canada.
What things kind of caught you off guard? What, what are you liking up there?
Jennifer Fennell: Sure. So I don't know if you are old enough to remember the Seinfeld episode where there were the two universes for Elaine where she had her usual friends and then the, the alternate friends. And that's kind of how I think of this move to Canada because everything's the same but just a little bit different.
I can see that. Yeah. Yeah. It's I'm fortunate to have really supportive friends and family neighbors, and the sense of community is very strong. So that's been incredibly helpful.
but yeah, there have been things to get used to. The banking system is different. You have to sort and [00:03:00] clean your trash just.
Things that are not bad things, but adjustments for sure.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm. Well, I was glad that you were the person moving to Canada out of anyone in our company because the logistics, even to move up there sounded like a lot of work listing off things and all that fun stuff.
Jennifer Fennell: They, they don't make it easy, which I'm sure is not by accident.
Right. there were a lot of boxes to check. But again, a lot of supportive family and, and friends who helped with that. And at the end of the day, we, we just celebrated a year there actually last week.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: And it's kind of fun to look back over the last year and think about how much we've accomplished and how much has changed.
And it's been an interesting and, and exciting year. A lot of learning.
Sean Frost: Yeah. Yeah. That's when, how long has it been?
Jennifer Fennell: Yeah, so we left. Kansas, May 26th. Okay. Of last year. So just, we're just outta year. Yeah. Crazy.
Sean Frost: That is crazy. It really is. Yeah. Can't believe it's been that long already. Well, so let's [00:04:00] talk about you and, and Polo Custom Products and how you got your start here.
Cause you've been with the company for over 20 years and Sure. Been in different roles within the company. So where did you start at Polo and, and where are you now? Tell us a little bit about that.
Jennifer Fennell: That's a great question, Sean. And it's, And it's a story I love to tell new hires to my team as well, or, or interviewees.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: I came to Polo over 20 years ago as a, a newly divorced single mom with a background, I, I came from the East coast and my background was in traffic or what we call logistics now. And that's kind of how I wormed my way in the door. I came on as an assistant to Darla Gifford, who was our traffic manager at the time, and with a two year old at home and needing support. My parents were very helpful and within the first few months of working there my daughter, Rachel, was sick. And Darla overheard me on the phone, you know, checking in how she's doing, and she, well, she's sick. What are you doing [00:05:00] here? Go home. Yeah. You know? But of course with a new job, I was terrified to call in and, and I didn't wanna set precedent.
That story is one of my favorites to tell because it really embodies the core of Polo's culture.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: In my mind our customers are obviously our first priority, but within our office we are a tribe, we are a family. And so earlier when I said I had a lot of supportive friends and family with our move, our family, relocation, some of those I'm referencing our, our, my Polo family as well.
It's been, it's been. Fantastic ride with this organization. And I, I think it says a lot that I am not the only person at Polo who's been there for more than 20 years. That's really unique in today's age. So after I came on with the organization again, one of the second core tenants of Polo's culture is continuous learning and continuous continuous education.
And [00:06:00] my experience over the years included many opportunities to stretch my limits and lean in and learn more. Those resources were, were not just approved for me at my request, but encouraged and offered to me because we recognized as an organization we're only as good as our, as our team members.
And if our team members are stagnant in their learning and their education. That, that's not gonna pay the dividends we're after.
Sean Frost: I saw a quote what if we train our people and they leave? And the the flip side of that is, what if we don't train our people and they stay?
You know, that's,
Jennifer Fennell: that's an excellent Yes. I love that. That that is so true. And it's really something that should give managers generally speaking, pause.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: You know, I know that sometimes those resources, the spend, the time away from the office, whatever that might look like, can seem daunting in the moment, but the long term gains [00:07:00] are critical.
So, yeah, over the years I was just given various opportunities and mentored strongly to, to continue to grow and have the opportunity now to, to lead a team that I cannot speak. Enough kind words about.
Sean Frost: That's awesome. Yeah. That's cool to hear your journey. And I couldn't agree more with the, the culture that we have at Polo and you know, we'll get into this topic here in a second, but this has been one of the most disruptive times ever.
And so to have that personal support and flexibility and to be able to lean on other members of your team, when. When you've got something going on. Absolutely. You know, I can't tell you how many times daycare was shut down for different people on, on the team that that I work with where it was like two, three weeks at a time, someone would test positive and then, or, and then their daycare would be shut down too.
And so it was [00:08:00] like two, three weeks at a time working at home or, you know, in and out and the way things were for, for everyone. But that had some huge ramifications in terms of the, the global supply chain, so
Jennifer Fennell: Sure.
Sean Frost: Can you talk to the disruptions that you and your team and the industry have faced over the last three, four years or three years now?
Jennifer Fennell: Sure. And I, you know, I won't beat a dead horse here because I think everybody knows Right? The, you know, the high level indicators or, or leaders in that regard. The pandemic obviously started the ball rolling with that disruption. Not to be seconded though by the, the freeze in Texas that created force majeure in the thermoplastics industries, the, the resins, so on and so forth, which has a huge trickle down effect.
And then we have Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And then we have today President Xi in China, you know, signaling, he might be looking [00:09:00] at an invasion of Taiwan that the geopolitical. Changes that have occurred since the pandemic, just carry that on. And, and so the pandemic started all of that, but we have learned so much about where our gaps are, where are yeah.
And how we can better manage those, which is the win of looking over the last few years. Absolutely.
Sean Frost: Yeah. And you've got. A great team that's delivered in the face of enormous challenges over and over again. And, and I mean, we had a customer tell us recently that we asked you to do the impossible and you rose to the occasion.
Oh, and yeah, it was, it was, it was really probably the highest compliment I've, I've seen in my time here, but, I think a lot of that is because of what you and your team have done. I know it's a collaborative effort of our organization, but what are some [00:10:00] of the solutions that you all have put in place and processes and things like that that sure, that you've used to manage you know, a resin change or are some of these crazy crazy things we've encountered.
Jennifer Fennell: Those are really generous compliments, Sean and, and I, I just wanna. Say again. Thank you. Our team does a great job. Absolutely. But it is, it truly is a team and that includes our IT team. We have a fantastic E R P system and an IT team in-house who is able to quickly and efficiently make changes to our E R P system updates, enhancements that we have leveraged over the last few years.
So, you know, there are a number of pieces that we put into place. We've always done a good job of staying on top of on time deliveries. We, you know, obviously a base KPI for supply chain, something we've always tracked, but in today's world, the volatility and lack of predictability or [00:11:00] reduced predictability necessitates us to stay ahead of that even further.
So our team over the past few years, You know, our e r P system uses those lead times for raws to create those tent poles, and they don't give visibility to the demand typically until you hit that lead time tent pole. Well, those tent poles, I mean, take them out in the backyard and burn them down there, they're meaningless, let's be honest.
Changed by the day. Yes. Yeah, exactly. So, rather than running our e r P system in, in that capacity, we run it wide open. So as soon as a customer places an order with polo, Our team has visibility to those raw material demands. We're placing the, those orders well ahead of time, giving our suppliers more time to, to make sure that they can perform the way we need them to, to satisfy our customers.
And again, back to our IT team. We've they, I say we, that's, that's really generous. They Brooke and Rob [00:12:00] have really stepped up and helped us set up a supplier portal so when we issue a purchase order, our suppliers have to respond with an acknowledgement. Within 24 hours, they receive automated reminders and then, Those few that still require some follow up are prompting someone within our team to make a manual follow up and make sure that that purchase order is in hand being actioned as we need it to.
It has also set up new reports for us, so again, we're managing the exceptions, not the every day. Looking at lead time changes for our sales team so that you can notify our customers when lead times are changing. Pricing changes, which again have been a major. A consideration over the last few years.
Also creating automation within our system to prompt our suppliers. They get a reminder several weeks before their shipment is due to go just quick email, Hey, you know, this, this is what's coming up. Please let us know if there are any changes we need to be [00:13:00] aware of. And then again, automated reminders once that due date passes asking for the tracking number if they haven't put it into the portal.
And again, prompting a manual human follow up if that isn't received.
Sean Frost: So we talked about the globalization, or we touched on that a little bit and there's so much in terms of what is going on in the world, potential invasions. Current invasions and a ever-changing landscape. So how has your team managed their efforts with those considerations? Look to mitigate risks and, and how are, how are you guys looking at those different challenges to, to ensure that our customers get what they need?
Jennifer Fennell: I think that that is probably top of mind for every supply chain professional right now. How do we stay ahead of whatever might be coming next? So many things have happened in the past few years that I don't think anyone could have predicted that that's the [00:14:00] lesson here. Be ready for anything. So, yeah, you know, for us, We are looking ahead at dual sourcing, which again, a, a, a basic principle for supply chain, but now, rather than dual sourcing at two separate facilities, maybe one in South Carolina and one in Rhode Island, we're looking at, we need multiple continents.
We need different geopolitical locations to ensure that our customers needs are met regardless of what could be happening globally at any given moment. And that can be a challenge. Our, our customers are highly technical, often medical or fire and safety driven. Our products truly are saving lives. And so creating a dual source is no easy task.
It's not a cheap task, and it's not a quick task. So again, we've had to give priority to, to those raw materials that are at the greatest risk and ensure that our customer has every option available to them. Hopefully. [00:15:00] That they'll never have to execute, but that they're aware that they have available if that need were to arise.
Sean Frost: So we touched on this a little bit already, but you, you mentioned the importance of diversification of our supply chain. And maybe another angle we can discuss in that realm is, How often do you evaluate the performance of our suppliers and, and their on-time delivery and their quality?
Jennifer Fennell: Absolutely. A very important piece for our team. We have what we call a certified supplier program. Those are our key suppliers who comprise roughly 80% of our spend. They're roughly 20% of our supplier base. Every six months, those suppliers receive an evaluation, a written evaluation that includes their on-time delivery performance as well as their quality performance.
And so they get that, that macro view of their performance at a, in a [00:16:00] total score, but they also get the micro details. What shipment was late? Maybe your CFC wasn't written the way it's required to be, and so we had to quarantine a product waiting for that correction. All of those little disruptions. Can create significant consequence to our customer's delivery dates.
So those suppliers are required to maintain an overall score of 90 or greater out of a hundred. Anyone who falls below that gets a personal phone call from me. And, you know, every supplier, especially in the last few years, everyone's trying to do all of the right things. And so we've given a little extra grace in certain situations.
But at the end of the day, the understanding is. You need to do better, and we're happy to support you and partner with you to figure out what that might look like, including, you know, one of my first questions is, what can Polo do differently or better to be a better customer to help you do your job better?
So those are the conversations we're having to, to ensure, again, [00:17:00] those, those key raw materials, those key inputs are coming in as needed on time and, and the quality that our customers require.
Sean Frost: It sounds like a good opportunity for relationship building.
Jennifer Fennell: Well, it's, yeah. Yeah. And, and you know, Sean, I may be unique again in this perspective as well in supply chain.
I know I am. Over the years, the automotive industry has greatly influenced the buyer's per, you know, mentality and how we approach customers. I am not a big fan of beta supplier up until they're blue in the face. There's, there's, there's no value in that to me. It, it, it is a true partnership and collaboration is what has made Polo so successful over the course of this pandemic, in my opinion, our supply chain.
We do have some suppliers where we are a big player, but because we're a custom manufacturer with many custom inputs, we're managing well over 10,000 SKUs, [00:18:00] well over 600 active suppliers in any one year. Oftentimes, we are not a big player to these suppliers. But we are a great customer and we truly wanna partner.
We want our suppliers to succeed as well. You know, their success is our success. So we have always taken the tact that we are here to work with you, not against you when pricing changes, I don't want anyone to misunderstand that they are not challenged to justify a price increase and reduce it or contain cost when it isn't justified.
But it is a conversation when we take that automotive approach where we're beating a supplier up over every penny demanding, decreases year over year. We've seen the outcome of that. Those suppliers go out of business and I'm here and Polo was here for the long game. And that collaboration is where we've been able to call in some favors over the past few years that [00:19:00] other customers, so I'm told, and maybe maybe I'm.
Yeah. Exaggerated or being, you know, being told exaggerated stories, I don't know. But other customers aren't getting the same favors because we are a partner.
Sean Frost: Sure. No, I believe that genuinely. In the time that I've been at Polo at trade shows, I have people coming up and telling me stories about working with you.
So I mean, they, oh, they go outta their way to say, oh, polo Custom products, we love Jen. And then they'll go into anecdotal story that I won't repeat on this podcast, but. No, they're all, they're all fun fun work stories. So
Jennifer Fennell: I'll, I'll pay you off for that later, Sean. No worries. Thank you.
Sean Frost: We've got a question about best practices for focusing on partnerships with our suppliers. So what would you say, maybe if there's other things that you didn't touch on in those comments that. Other people can implement with their suppliers and, and work together in terms of finding good ways to collaborate.
Jennifer Fennell: [00:20:00] So good supply chain best practices are the same as any other business principle. Set your expectations and then hold people accountable. People want to perform, suppliers want to perform, but they need to understand what you want them to do. And that's different for every customer. So when we're sending a purchase order through, it is very clear what we need, what we want.
There is no ambiguity on the ship date required. The, the pricing that's been agreed to, the terms and conditions, the regulations tied to it, all of that data, and then all of those, again, now these automated reminders that have put in have been put in, take the place of picking up the phone and making those follow-ups.
But the expectations haven't changed. Hey, Friendly reminder, you've got a shipment due in two weeks. You've gotta hit the target. And when a supplier doesn't perform or doesn't do what we're asking, that's when the accountability comes into play. And that's where, again, talking about collaboration and relationship building, it's not picking [00:21:00] up the phone and just screaming, which I think a lot of buyers have that reputation.
It's what's going on. Let me help you. Help me. What, help me understand what the constraint is. Let's work this through together because I've got a customer to satisfy and I need to, I need this to be successful. Absolutely.
Sean Frost: Yeah. That's a great approach. And, and yeah, the alternative doesn't, doesn't yield the results that you, you and your team have been able to achieve.
Which makes us happy because then we get to share good news with the customer. So, you know, you mentioned a couple of things. I, and I'm, I'm already blanking on the numbers, but, 6,000 different raws or thousands of SKUs, lots of suppliers. You know, we've talked about all the risks and, and supply chain being basically a profession of, of managing risks and, and mitigating risks.
And how does your team approach that from a process standpoint? What do you guys have in place [00:22:00] from a process side of the house that helps you identify those things early so that you can collaborate with with the appropriate teams?
Jennifer Fennell: So, so again, I'm gonna give a lot of credit to our IT department. Our team has the opportunity with our E r P system and the reporting mechanisms in place and the dashboards in place to manage the exceptions, those processes are so important. It's, it's a passion of mine, truly because it, it comes down in my mind to the communication aspect and when we're all working to.
Retain talent. I need my team to be locked in and engaged and not frustrated. Trying to figure out what their next step should be to be able to make the decision that ultimately is what's needing to happen. So I'd like to look at, at that from a standpoint of what's the problem statement and then let's back up and figure out is the process that we have in place [00:23:00] now meeting the need or maybe we scrap it all together and start over.
And, and so that's been during the last few years as well, a big focus for our team to regularly look at even an everyday process. You know, I've, I've got a pretty good team now who's, who's well vetted and they understand the processes, but we're still going through regularly how to cut a purchase order in our system.
Something as simple and basic as that. How can we eliminate steps out of that or automate pieces or. Whatever the case may be to make it easier, faster, smoother, for everybody involved.
Sean Frost: And I can verify that you've got a very talented team and and they all really speak highly, I think, of your leadership and in being able to vet those processes, voicing concern leaning on you when they can, but feeling empowered to go after the solutions that you're talking about and get it right.
Jennifer Fennell: I, I appreciate that. I [00:24:00] will tell you what's working to my benefit now is supply chain is cool for the first time in the history of supply chain. Rewind to 2019, right? Yeah, exactly. 2019. If I told somebody I was in supply chain, I could literally watch their eyes glaze over as they moved on to whatever the next topic might be.
And now, People here, I'm in supply chain and they seek me out because they want to hear more people have recognized the value of this piece to every business structure to, to the point that even universities are allowing or have created, I should say supply chain degrees.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: One high school in Olathe is teaching a supply chain course, a high school course in supply chain for a whole semester, which is just phenomenal because.
Our seat at the table is there now. And in the past that's always, that's been an ongoing challenge that's been discussed in supply chain panels. For time at Memorium, it's not a concern anymore. Now the question is what do we do with that seat at the table [00:25:00] and how do we leverage it to make sure that we're supporting a healthy business?
Sean Frost: You know, it's an interesting trend. I feel like I've heard from some of our reps that work with different customers across the different industries that. A lot of companies are looking at layoffs right now. And who are they maintaining? They're, they're maintaining their, their buyers, their supply chain management people.
They, they know that there's, you need that continuity in that area to continue to keep the milk on the shelf essentially. And so, so yeah, your, your seat at the table is a very important one, and it sounds like you're, You're getting the credit that, that you're finally due, you know, you just, you're not the, the people in the back room that make it all happen uh, but aren't front and center and, and not that that's, you know, necessarily what you've been after, but it probably is a good, good thing for talent retention and, and for your space in the industry at large.
So that's, that's cool to hear.
Jennifer Fennell: We're [00:26:00] attracting some, some different talent too. A lot of people in the past have fallen into supply chain kind of like I did accidentally. Really.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: And, and been groomed into it over time and learned about it on the, on the street as you know, the cool supply chain back alleys.
Now people are focusing on it and. People, again, are recognizing that it's an exciting, it really is an exciting piece of business to be in. It's an exciting career. Every day is a different challenge, and if you crave challenge and like to solve problems and really contribute to the bottom line of your organization by supporting your customers and your manufacturing teams, it, it's the place to be really.
Sean Frost: Yeah. And Polo Custom Products is where you can get your supply chain street cred up.
Jennifer Fennell: That's right. Yes, we, we will give you so much street cred.
Sean Frost: All right, so we're keeping bad jokes [00:27:00] going on.
We've talked about things transforming at a rapid pace and there's a ton of emerging technologies in the world. Internet of things, ai blockchain. How are these transforming operations in our sector? And, and how are you guys looking at some of those emerging trends?
Jennifer Fennell: That is a really exciting conversation that I know you and I personally had.
AI specifically is, is one of those new tools we have in our toolbox that we're kind of trying to figure out. I think with, you know, blockchain and the internet of things, those were all so very exciting. And I, I look back and I kind of see it as we all got some really cool new hammers and we were all looking for the nail, you know, that we could use it on.
And I think AI is kind of in that same space right now. We're trying to figure out how do we, again, best leverage the tools in our toolbox. What I've seen [00:28:00] with blockchain specifically, Or the new technologies, whatever they might be, they come into play for polo on, on, typically on an outside scale.
So, you know, looking at our logistics as an example, logistics carriers have taken blockchain and run with it. I can see with, with some new software that we're launching soon. Thanks to our logistics manager, Danielle. We'll be able to see live where all of our pro product is. At any given moment, we'll have access to these dashboards that, again, give you the opportunity to see what issues may be rising to the top in the future.
Not, not, I'm not even talking about having the opportunity to react quickly and fix a problem. You're able to predict what's coming down the pipe and get ahead of it and give, again, give your customer options if that's, Where we have to be or give my manufacturing team options if we're gonna have to try to expedite and compress to support a customer demand.[00:29:00]
If it wasn't for those technologies and those interfaces with our system, we wouldn't, we wouldn't be able to have that same foresight to be able to get ahead of issues. AI, I think could be a little bit different, maybe. I don't know. It's a little scary. I'm still trying to figure it out. But the key to success from what I'm learning about AI is there's a learning curve, not just for the user, but there's a lot of data required to get the best out of an AI software platform.
Chat, G P T, whatever you might be using, and there's going to be some error there. So personally, I'm kind of playing with it, toying with it cautiously.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: And figuring out what the best use case could be. For polo, but I'm also waiting for how that's going to integrate into others' technology, where that's their core capability and how those new software advancements will then interface with [00:30:00] our software.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: So again, adding to the predictability. The foresight, and giving our customers more visibility to manage, hopefully not exposure, but I mean, again, just that risk management to know what's coming down the pipe.
Sean Frost: Yeah. That's great. And Just one anecdotal point from what you're talking about there, is that from a sales and marketing side of the house, we've looked at it a little bit and our content manager has, she took a training with chat gtp and the majority of the training really was about the prompts that you put into it and honing those in a way so that you can get the most useful information.
That you need to do whatever you're trying to accomplish out of that system, out of chat gtp. And so definitely fascinating to see the possibilities of how that can be used and to see how those things might be integrated in the software that affects the industry as a whole. So.
Jennifer Fennell: I, I heard somebody [00:31:00] liken it the other day to raising a child. You've got this. Kind of a blank slate that you, you are teaching how to interpret the data, how to gather the data, and how to spit it back out.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: And so we've got to be very aware of that and cognizant of what we're teaching.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: This AI platform, whatever platform that might be that we choose. Sure. Yeah. and how we can best, again, how we can best leverage that for our use case. Absolutely. Whatever that might be.
Sean Frost: Yeah. Yeah. Ever evolving factors that, that are, are fascinating and scary and everything in between, so, right.
So another kind of area that we look at today in terms of the industry and, and have to balances cost optimization versus. Ethical practices of our suppliers and, and social responsibility and things like that, that I know they're not always a this or that, but, but how [00:32:00] do you, how does your team look at that?
What, what type of information or vetting do you do when we're looking at potential new supplier?
Jennifer Fennell: It's such an important topic, Sean, so I'm glad you brought that up in today's conversation. Again, in my mind, this comes down to balancing risk. Historically, supply chain procurement has focused on cost, and we have recognized that we have to be multidimensional.
It has to be cost versus service versus ethics versus your position in the, the world, and so on and so forth. There, there's just more to it than a, than a number on a, on a purchase order in supply chain today, there's no hiding. With social media and a really well-educated, savvy, and quick global community, you there [00:33:00] Again, there, there's no hiding.
If, if you are using a supplier who is not doing the right things, it will come to the surface. So for polo, we take that very seriously and again. Culturally, our business has always taken this approach. This isn't new for Polo. We have always worked with that. We've been in Southeast Asia for over 40 years, I think.
And that was one of the first considerations we made. Are we working before? It was cool. Before it was. We are trendsetters. I mean, really that's, that's what you should take away from this podcast today. We, you know, we're a privately owned company. By a family who takes those things very seriously and always has, and that's how that culture has been built into our business.
So 40 years ago, we started working with one supplier in China, who we vetted on the ground, became very good [00:34:00] friends with the owner. We saw the facilities. We, we knew that the employees were treated well, paid well. This wasn't, you know, there was nothing nefarious going on. And that has evolved into a more streamlined and well-documented approach now, obviously, because we, our supply chain has expanded beyond just the, you know, one supplier.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: Thankfully.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm.
Jennifer Fennell: So we, we do make that part of the. Contracts we sign with any new supplier. There are human trafficking laws in there, anti-slavery laws in there referenced that the supplier is agreeing to comply with regardless of where they are in the world. And again, that's part of our you know, legal terms and conditions with every single purchase order we share.
We are also fortunate enough to have an Asia business manager who lives in Shenzhen, and he is visiting our suppliers in Southeast Asia on a regular basis. We are not blindly doing [00:35:00] business with anyone. We are physically looking at auditing, reviewing, and and, and managing our suppliers to ensure that not only are we getting good product on time at a good cost, but the supplier is contributing to their community.
In a favorable way, that they are looking at the environmental impact of their business that they are ensuring their employees are, are taken care of and not abused doing the right thing at the end of the day.
Sean Frost: Yeah, that's really important. And one of the things that you mentioned is our streamlined process for that.
And the thing, I mean, it's interesting because, you know, a lot of people think about. Imported manufacturing and think, oh yeah, set an order and it, it comes back. And we've had dedicated teams doing that vetting for years and long-term partnerships and lots of volume that [00:36:00] we do with these partners. And so it's, it's really, it's a lot of work and it's a lot of value that we bring to our customers at the end of the day.
And it, it did not come without a lot of a lot of groundwork over the years.
Jennifer Fennell: Absolutely. You know, Brian Weber, our COO, did a lot of that groundwork. I don't know at this point how many times he has been out of the country on polo's behalf, but I do know on a recent trip we planned to take, he had to get a new passport cuz it was all full of stamps.
It was too, you know, so, yeah, that, that on, on the ground boots, on the ground type mentality again, always has been important for polo and will continue to be.
Sean Frost: Okay, this this last question is one that's a little over my head, so if you've got a good answer for it, great. If not we can scrap it. So,
Jennifer Fennell: okay. Well, let's see where we're going here. I'm curious now.
Sean Frost: Yeah, so there's some emerging trends I haven't heard of in supply chain. A quick Google search gave me these, and so, it's talking [00:37:00] about.
Circular economy principles, reverse logistics renewable energy adoption, and how can, how can supply chain, how can manufacturing as a whole align with some of these trends that are in the space?
Jennifer Fennell: So I appreciate the way you frame that, because I learned that a couple of these from my daughter's economics class since she, she schooled me quickly on this.
You might wanna cut that out. I know if.
At the end of the day in my, again, in my mind, my simplification, maybe oversimplification. These are fancy terms for what we always should have been doing all along, and some of us were. So, our resources are finite. And in the past, many customers have acted in a way that haven't taken that into consideration.
And I'm not just talking about, you know, magnets. For a bag. I'm talking about labor. I mean, labor in my mind is the biggest looming [00:38:00] issue for manufacturing and supply chain. We saw the great resignation, what some people now are calling the great retirement because I think we've recognized all these baby boomers left the workforce and those Gen X, y and Zs coming in.
Do you not want to be in hands-on manufacturing? They, they just don't. So that, you know, that automation, all those things will support. Those labor constraints and improving that in the future. But because labor, even as a finite resource, people are recognizing where we can reuse. We should our there's no sense in filling a landfill unnecessarily if it can be put back into the economy in a different way.
And we've seen this in a lot of different forms. Our carriers are. Moving to, you know, electric vehicles instead of combustion engines. Our carriers are trying to find more efficient routes to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. We are seeing that in our [00:39:00] industry, the inputs to our customers and products where, you know, there's a, a really neat new material on the market in the last couple of years called Reprieve.
And it's recycled plastics from Ocean Cot. Water bottles, trash, things that would otherwise just be out there forever. They are pulling that in, recycling it, and putting it into your everyday fabrics. I, I just a couple of weeks ago, saw a pair of jeans at the mall with the reprieve logo on. I mean, it's so cool to see that happening because the more it happens, the more cost effective it's going to be, the more accessible it's going to be to everyone in the world.
We're also seeing. Because of some of the labor constraints and what we've learned with the disruptions over the last few years, that this reverse logistics concept has more value. So, you know, for example, if you put a garment out into the world, maybe we bring it back and revamp it and sell it again.
It's, there's [00:40:00] revenue to be had there, so it's, it's a win-win. For all involved. Mm-hmm.
Sean Frost: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's good management of, of the limited resources that we have. But that's excellent points. And, So one last curve ball question for you. Okay. There, I, I think there was something that I heard about you meeting with senior advisors to a certain politician named John McCain.
Yes. Can you tell us a little bit about that experience?
Jennifer Fennell: Absolutely. That was a really exciting day for me personally and organizationally. So I am fortunate enough to be able to serve with the ata, the Advanced Textiles Association, which is the, the largest industry specific organization for, for our products.
The ATA is heavily involved in. Lobbying in DC and on Capitol Hill to support the American manufacturer. So they are there [00:41:00] regularly and consistently to lobby for protection and enhancements for the Bay Amendment, for the by American Act to try to keep manufacturing domestic whenever possible for our war fighters specifically, but it has other trickle down effects for the American manufacturer.
So several years ago, just before the pandemic, I had the opportunity to participate in one of those lobby days with the ATA and sit down in the you know, the war room for the now I've lost the name of the committee, but the, the defense committee essentially that John McCain participated on before he passed.
And this was when he just had publicly announced he was very sick. But we got, you know, so we get to sit in this beautiful historical, I, I, I just, my mind was just racing that day with what conversations have been had in this room, you know? And John McCain was kind enough, generous enough to send his senior advisor, one of the senior advisors to [00:42:00] hear our position and why this is important and how they could support the American manufacturer.
Got to see Leslie Graham in the little hallways underneath, like it was, it was just such a neat day. Yeah. And I got to contribute to the industry in a way that no one person or any one organization would have the opportunity to do. But, but got exposure to the other side of, of that law making and, and policy side of the country that, that kind of dictates how we navigate every day.
It was a, it was an honor for sure.
Sean Frost: Yeah. Well that's that's an incredible experience and. Appreciate you sharing it with us today and having some fun on the podcast. I'm gonna rank this as the top fun podcast we've had so far. So,
Jennifer Fennell: okay. It was the bad Jokes, I think that's what it was.
Sean Frost: Yeah. I'm gonna add this to the list of things you should not do on a podcast. I.
Jennifer Fennell: At Raising the Roof. Yeah. Right. For people who are listening to the podcast, you know, they're not gonna kick her.
Sean Frost: Oh, true, true. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you [00:43:00] for adding that.
Jennifer Fennell: Well, we'll articulate it though, raising the roof, if that makes it cooler.
Sean Frost: The roof was raised on this podcast so that's where some of this laughter may have spawned from for our audio audience here. So thank you. Thank you, Jen. This is really a lot of fun and hopefully beneficial to our audience.
Jennifer Fennell: It was my pleasure, Sean. I appreciate the time and, and again, your team's focus to hopefully, again, be able to contribute to our customers in a, in a different and, and meaningful way.
Sean Frost: Yeah. Thank you. Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks, Jen.
Well, thank you so much for tuning in and listening all the way to this point. We really appreciate you. Joining in to the Inspiring Innovation Podcast. We are gonna do this every second Tuesday of the month. So mark your calendars, subscribe, write a review. We hope that you're finding a lot of value in this and that it's conversation that could help.
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