Supply Chain Now Radio, Episode 80
“Digital Supply Chain, Dropshipment & Food Industry Transportation”
Live from Purchasing Power HQ – Learn more here: https://corp.purchasingpower.com/
Timo Kirschner is Vice President, Supply Chain at Purchasing Power, LLC, an e-commerce voluntary benefit company offering the leading employee purchase program through the convenience of payroll deductions. In this position, Kirschner oversees all aspects of supply chain management, including vendor performance management as well as shipping and delivery operations in the multi-carrier structure.
He also is responsible for the day-to-day execution and for building and implementing the company’s long-term supply chain strategy, driving flexibility and convenience for customers, while optimizing cost and service levels. Kirschner is based in Atlanta at Purchasing Power headquarters and reports directly to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Richard Carrano. Prior to joining Purchasing Power, Kirschner served as vice president of operations at KEH Camera.
Kirschner led the logistics, B2C purchasing, customer service and sales teams, and implemented foundational improvements resulting in significant efficiency gains while setting the foundation for high double-digit growth. Kirschner previously served as the chief operations officer at brands4friends.de, a $200MM eBay subsidiary based in Berlin, Germany, where he oversaw the logistics, operational excellence and customer service teams. He helped improve the company’s profitability and scalability by redesigning business processes and improving the integration of external business partners and service providers.
Before this, Kirschner worked for UTi and DB Schenker, two of the world’s largest logistics service providers, where he oversaw large supply chain projects and optimizations serving customers in various industries in Europe, Asia, South America and North America.
Kirschner holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Bilingual in German and English, he also is Six Sigma Green Belt Certified. Purchasing Power®, LLC, one of the fastest-growing voluntary benefit companies in the industry, also provides financial tools and resources to improve employee financial wellness. Purchasing Power is available to millions of people through large companies including Fortune 500s, associations and government agencies. Purchasing Power is a Flexpoint Ford, LLC company. For more information, visit https://corp.purchasingpower.com/
Jim Becker is the CEO of Becker Logistics, LLC. Jim Becker entered the logistic world in 1991 and in 1997 from his kitchen table, Jim started what we fondly know today as Becker Logistics. He built the company on the founding core values of: Integrity, Quality, Innovation, Safety, Competitiveness, Openness, Respect, and Equal Work Life Balance.
These foundational values combined with his leadership and industry expertise, have allowed Jim to author a great story of mind-blowing growth in Becker Logistics; growing the company 10 times (1000%) since 2013. Along the way, he has learned to focus on the journey of life rather than solely on whatever goal or endpoint may serve as a destination. He has realized his passion to help the people he encounters to become a better version of themselves—to help them live life without regrets, to feel empowered, and to act with confidence.
Jim is very involved within the logistics community. He sits on the Executive Advisory Council for McLeod Software and has spoken at McLeod’s Users conference on growing a company with sales and looking at how to scale operations along with the importance of customer service within our industry. Jim is on the Board along with being on the Education Committee, and past chairman of the hazmat committee of Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA). He is also currently on the Mentor/Mentee committee. Connect with Jim Becker on LinkedIn and visit Becker Logistics’ website for more information: https://www.beckerlogistics.com/
Lance D. Roberts serves as Branch Manager at Becker Logistics – a third party logistics company based in Glendale Heights, IL. In this role, he oversees all aspects of the sales and operations for the Irving, Texas facility. At the age of 47, Roberts has been involved in every aspect of the industry. He has spent 31 of his 35 years of business experience in management and leadership positions.
A visionary entrepreneur even at a young age, Roberts found ways to make money, selling roses from his mother’s garden and going door-to-door in his Canyon Lake, California neighborhood selling candy. He also held garage sales, selling items around his parent’s house to make money. He paid cash for his first car at age 16 – a 1978 Honda Accord. Roberts spent the first ten years of his professional career at the Canyon Lake Property Owners Association in California, starting as an assistant to the golf pro, and then moving into administration where he was city maintenance manager. He later worked for Gottschalks department store in San Bernardino as a dock worker, and was promoted twice within two weeks to the role of shipping/receiving manager.
In 1997 he spent five years with Roadway Express in operations management. During his tenure at Roadway, he successfully completed his Bachelor of Science in Business Management from University of Phoenix. Roberts attributes his promotion at Roadway and successive opportunities to the bachelor’s program. Roberts ran his own company as a truck broker/agent for Freedom Express. He then joined JTS in April 2003 as an agent in the Fresno office. Bringing a small book of business to the company, he quickly developed the dairy division within two months and as a result was promoted in 2003 to Director of Sales for the Dairy division. He left JTS in 2009 as VP of Sales and Marketing and then in 2010 he Open RLS a $65M 3PL & RTC a 20-truck operation.
In 2012 Roberts sold the two companies and worked as VP of RMX then in 2016 he opened a consulting firm. Roberts successfully turned around 5 companies & a few M&A due diligence projects including a 100-unit trucking company and helped 3 start ups before joining Becker Logistics. Roberts while working at JTS, received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2007. The masters program prepared him for the working world using real life business applications of the principles taught in the classroom for courses such as business, finance, sales, and human resources – all of which contributed to the creation of the JTS, RLS, RMX and many of the turnaround strategic business plan.
Roberts resides in Fort Worth, Texas along with his wife Amy, step daughter Asha and son Logan and has one step son in college in Wisconsin. He is an ardent supporter of charitable organizations such as MDA, United Way, and Habitat for Humanity CEC and is active with his local church. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids and watching his kids hockey matches. Connect with Lance Roberts on LinkedIn and visit Becker Logistics’ website for more information: https://www.beckerlogistics.com/
Will Haraway is Founder & Lead Evangelist at Backbeat Marketing. Will has 20 years of executive experience in B2B Technology Marketing. Will is a certified analyst relations practitioner by the Knowledge Capital Group and has helped companies including Manhattan Associates, Aptos, Atlantix Global Systems, American Software and Rubicon Global improve their brand reputations with marketing results that help increase sales.
Will also serves as a member of the APICS Atlanta Executive Advisory Board. The Backbeat team includes lead generation, digital marketing, media relations and content marketing specialists with a combined 50 years of experience in their chosen disciplines. Connect with Will on LinkedIn and learn more about Backbeat Marketing here: www.backbeatmarketing.com
Scott W. Luton is the founder of Supply Chain Now Radio and also serves as Managing Partner for TalentStream. He has worked extensively in the end-to-end Supply Chain industry for more than 15 years, appearing in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Dice and Quality Progress Magazine.
Scott currently serves as Executive Vice President of APICS Atlanta, was recently named a 2019 Pro to Know in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Executive. He served on the 2018 Georgia Logistics Summit Executive Committee and currently serves as Chair of the 2019 Atlanta Supply Chain Awards Planning Committee. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and holds the APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) credential.
As a Veteran of the United States Air Force, Scott also volunteers on the Business Pillar for VETLANTA, and maintains active membership in the Georgia Manufacturing Alliance & CSCMP Atlanta Roundtable. Connect with Scott Luton on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter at @ScottWLuton. Learn more about TalentStream, a leading recruiting & staffing firm that helps companies find top talent in the Engineering, Manufacturing and Supply Chain space, by visiting their website here: www.talentstreamstaffing.com
Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode
SCNR’s Scott Luton at Verusen event on “Digital Innovation & Intelligence”: click here
SCNR Tunes, Track 1, featuring Tommy Townsend & Will Haraway: click here
APICS Atlanta CSCP and CLTD Boot Camps at Georgia Tech: click here
Learn more about Supply Chain 101: https://youtu.be/Qc6U9WWUsYo
See SCNR’s latest webinar featuring an update on Drones & IoT technologies: https://youtu.be/K21zQICAnIg
Transparency 2019: https://www.freightwaves.com/transparency19
EFT 3PL & Supply Chain Summit: click here
Gartner Supply Chain Leadership Conference in Phoenix: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/supply-chain-us