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Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be.

Scott Luton and Kevin L.

Jackson here with you on Supply Chain now.

Welcome to today's live stream.

Hey, Kevin, how you doing today?

You know what?

March is right around the corner.

You know, I don't like winter and snow is melting.

It started about talking about more snow, but I'm done with it, man.

So what you're saying is I'll be able to drive at least in a couple of weeks in March because, folks, you don't want to see me driving in the snow or really any kind of precipitation.

So, Kevin, spring beckon soon.

Yes, yes, absolutely.

How you doing today, Scott down in Atlanta, Hotlanta.

Wonderful.

Hey, it's frigid down here, though.

It's not as frigid probably where you are or our wonderful guest is, but it's still probably a 31 when I woke up this morning.

So it's frosty.

But Kevin, what isn't frosty and what's coming in hot is the buzz, folks, where every Monday at 12 noon Eastern time, we discuss a variety of news and developments across global supply chain and business.

And Kevin, we have got some excellent topics, a great guest and a bunch of folks tuned in from Chris Wilson up in the UK Chris, hope this finds you well.

Our friend Alan Jacques up in Canada.

Hey, Alan, looking to see if those tariffs hit our podcast, our exported podcast just yet.

Gary Smith here on the Georgia coast.

Gary, great to see you, my friend.

And of course, Trisha and Amanda behind the scenes helping to make production happen where they're wishing everybody happy Buzz Day.

Kevin, we've got quite the crowd here today, huh?

Yeah, I'm glad Trisha's back there because you can't do it without her.

I'm with you.

I'm with you.

All right.

Lots of great topics, folks.

We're going to be talking about key takeaways from Davos, especially those related to manufacturing and supply chain transformation.

We're going to be talking about manufacturing leaders 2025 sustainability priorities.

We're also going to be talking about reducing cyber security risk in 2025.

What some leading organizations are doing all of that.

Plus about 12:15pm Eastern time, we've got a very special guest joining us.

Thank Vesna Del Josevic, president CEO of Reformer Group is going to be with us.

And Vesna and the team tell you What?

They've been making big sustainability gains by baking critical elements into their manufacturing operations.

More on that and a whole bunch more to come.

Should be a great show.

Kevin, big buzz teed up here today, huh?

Yeah.

Where's that bag of chips?

Didn't you miss that?

Got all that and a bag of chips.

Oh, bringing it, Kevin.

Bringing it.

Hey, two things before we get started here today.

Two things, folks.

Number one, hey, give us your take in comments.

Whether you're tuned in via LinkedIn, YouTube X Facebook, Twitch, no matter, let us know what you think.

And secondly, if you enjoy the show today, we'd love for you to share it with a friend and your network.

They'll be glad you did.

Okay, Kevin, we got a lot to get into in about 10 minutes before our guest joins us.

Are you ready to go?

Yes.

Let's go.

All right, let's go.

I want to start with talking about our.

With that said, our latest with that said, our almost weekly newsletter, which published over the weekend.

Now, we talked about in the newsletter National Supply Chain Day.

It's coming up on April 29th.

Mark your calendars.

We talked about how the White House has ordered reciprocal tariffs on all countries and they're going to be going country by country to determine what they should reciprocate.

That'll be interesting.

We mentioned Big Pharma is making big moves in China.

New Chinese medicines are coming to the US in reportedly unprecedented numbers ups.

Well, last week it announced it's cutting Amazon deliveries by more than 50% by 2020.

Oh, and finally, what are some of the key myths behind all the deep seek hype?

We get Vin Vashishta to weigh in.

Beyond all of that, as always, we include some of our upcoming events so you can check out.

With that said, we're dropping a link right there in the chat.

Kevin, did you get a chance to read the this latest edition?

Yes, I did.

You know what really got me?

What is that picture?

I love Hannah Kane.

Right?

And she's there telling you like it is, right?

That's right.

And her statement, you know, supply chain stability is dead.

You know, it's like, you know, didn't you know?

Didn't you know, Scott?

No, no, I really love that.

With that said, I'm with you.

I always learn a lot every time I meet with you, Kevin, as always.

But also every time I meet with Hannah Kane.

And it dawned on me.

And that picture is from Manifest a week or two ago, conference in Vegas.

And Kevin, it dawned on me I met Hannah Kane at the first event that I first met you at, which is Demska.

Oh, yeah, Demska.

We're down in Arizona there, near Scott's there.

I remember that.

That's when you rooked me into doing video podcasts with you.

Oh, those are the days.

Those are the days.

We'll have to reminisce on a future show.

But folks, in the meantime, check out.

With that said, Trisha and the gang have dropped a link right here.

You one click away from checking it out and subscribing if you feel so inclined.

All right, Kevin, we got one more thing we want for our guest joins us and it's this article here which focuses on the World Economic Forum which hosted Davos 2025.

It was held from January 20th to January 24th.

I'm still waiting on my invitation to that highfalutin event, which will probably never come, but the theme this year was Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.

And as the World Economic Forum reports manufacturing and supply chain standards at a pivotal moment.

So I want to get into some of these key takeaways here from Davos 2025.

Kevin, tell us more.

Well, you know, digital transformation has really reshaped how businesses operate, but we are now witnessing a convergence of sustainability imperatives and digital innovation.

And this is revolutionizing how we think about production and the creation of value.

This is a brand new industrial paradigm where sustainability, intelligence and resilience are not competing with each other.

They are mutually reinforcing strengths.

The Global Lighthouse Network, for example, they provide awards to showcase leaders in the field of technology driven industrial transformation.

And they have looked at manufacturing and the facilities that they have highlighted have achieved remarkable, remarkable productivity gains of 70% while reducing energy cost by 40% and reducing their time to market by over 40%.

This is demonstrating a new model of manufacturing excellence.

These initiatives drive resilience and productivity and naturally deliver environmental benefits.

So they shift from pure efficiency to balancing the trade offs between cost, performance, resilience and sustainability.

And one of the other challenges that they highlight is you need to develop the workforce of tomorrow where we make manufacturing careers more attractive to young talent while providing clear development paths.

So it's Davos, you know, hit it out of the park.

Yeah, I'm with you.

Maybe I'll learn firsthand one day when I'm, I don't know, 85 years old.

We'll see.

But Kevin, one of the things I want to pick back up on, which is kind of where you wrapped your analysis on, is one of those key takeaways from Davos was we got to make manufacturing Careers more attractive to young talent.

Yes, folks, what's old is new again.

That's been a problem for decades.

But that talent attraction problem just keeps getting tougher and tougher.

Now, Kevin, we've talked about this before.

I've had the extraordinary opportunity of going into schools across the state of Georgia to talk end to end supply chain with thousands of our brilliant students.

It's amazing what you learn when you do that.

But from my experience, as well as my industry experience as a practitioner and having the great fortune of talking with many manufacturing leaders across the globe for years now, I can tell you there's two things amongst other things.

But there's two things we gotta do and we'll see if Kevin, if you agree with me, number one, we have got to improve and enhance the misperceived reputation of the manufacturing job.

I bet the majority of Americans, including those highly influential parents out there, which are often called their kids.

First consultant.

Kevin, ever heard.

Ever heard that put that way.

That's a great way.

And parents need to view themselves.

Yes.

As the first consultant to their children.

Life consultant.

Right?

That's right.

That's the power they have.

But the majority of Americans, they probably have, from what I've seen, a highly negative or even a slightly negative view of manufacturing careers because they're thinking like it's 1927, you know, as Greg White used to say, dark, dirty, down in the dungeon, you know, and it's not like that.

George Orwell's 1984.

Yes, that's right.

But so many folks just aren't familiar or they don't want to be familiar with the incredible things that manufacturing can offer in 2025.

That's number one.

Number two, we've got to continue to invest in our education systems.

The trillion dollar question I would submit to you is this one, how can we effectively bake more trades and industrial education into our school systems?

And how can we address any stigma that may be associated with those programs?

So to make workforce gains and to, you know, some folks are projecting 4 million jobs in manufacturing just in the US by 2033.

I think I saw that's just one of many estimates we've got to drive gains in these two areas and many others.

Kevin, your final thought here.

Manufacturing is not, you know, iron smelting and creating steel and hot, dirty, musty factories.

Manufacturing is your iPhone.

Manufacturing is creating the hardware and software that you need for your modern life.

Manufacturing is advanced technologies, those chips that enable everything that we interact with, including my Alexa that always talks when I Don't want her to.

But it's a very broad feel and education, technology are all core ingredients of an education that focuses on manufacturing.

That's right.

And hey, folks.

Yes, the foundry environment that Kevin mentioned, of course, that still exists.

Right.

And I've written about my time almost getting scared out of my boots visiting a big steel foundry up in North Georgia.

But to Kevin's point, so much of our global manufacturing industry is so modern and high tech and that offer great jobs here in the US and elsewhere.

And we've got to address that misperception out there in the marketplace.

Okay, we've got an outstanding guest that join us here today.

Our guest has over 20 years of cosmetic industry experience and innovation, product development, formulated manufacturing with some of the top companies out there, such as Playtex, Reckitt, Ben Kaiser, and KAO brands.

Her impressive body work has included being awarded a patent with Lysol and working with some of the biggest CPG products in the market.

Now at Reformer Group, they specialize in crafting and manufacturing a wide range of products, especially in the health and skin care sector.

So with all that said, let's welcome in Vesna Del Josec, president and CEO of Reformer Group.

Hey.

Hey, Vesna.

How are you doing today?

Good, how are you?

Thank you for having me.

Nice to meet you both.

Well, hey, we've really enjoyed our pre show conversation with Vesna, didn't we, Kevin?

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And I can't wait for my telehealth session.

She's going to help me with my dry skin in the middle of the winter.

You're certainly going to try, Kevin, but you still look great.

You're glowing for sure.

Absolutely.

He always looks like a million bucks, Vesna.

But hey, let's do this.

What we found out in the pre show with this fun warm up question is you absolutely love to run and you've got a very special place up there in the beautiful state of Michigan where you love to run and get exercise.

So tell us some more about it, Vesna.

So in my spare time, like we spoke, one of my favorite things is to run.

Just to clear my mind.

The special place that I like to run at is called Kensington park.

And there's a lake in the center and it's surrounded by trees, which I am a huge believer that nature is peace.

And as I said previously, I love to put my headphones on and just forget anybody that's running along with me and I just.

The world is mine and I just run.

It's about an eight and a half mile loop.

And that's kind of how I get to just relax my brain.

And honestly, you become creative if you run.

It's called the runner's high.

You just.

When you hear me singing, if you guys are ever in the area and you run with me, you know I'm very happy and I can't sing.

I love that.

And that's quite a visual you painted for us, Vesna.

I appreciate you sharing.

Hey, Kevin, really quick.

Do you love to run and jog and you got a special place to visit, like Kensington Park?

Well, I used to run all the time.

I mean, I ran track and cross country in high school and college, and when I left in the Navy, I used to do a lot of running on top of aircraft carrier flight decks until my knees started yelling at me, so I had to shift to cycling.

So I do cycling and spinning on the stationary bike.

But I.

I get it.

I mean, you can sort of cut the world away and get into your own inner thoughts and really revive your inner self by exercise in general.

But, you know, running and spinning, I love it.

I do, too.

Nature is peace.

I love that phrase, too, Vesna.

Couple quick comments before we continue on with Vesna and Kevin.

Claudia, great to see you here today.

Claudia says the new manufacturing sector could use a new name, as manufacturing comes from the Latin words manufactum, made by hand.

That is a great remark there, Claudia, as always.

She always brings the good stuff.

Gary says, hey, Scott, here in Brunswick, we have an organization called the Gold Niles College and Career Academy, where they're bridging the gap between high schools and careers.

That is a great call out, Gary Smith.

I'm going to look that up.

And finally, Alan says I'm not going to be able to pronounce this.

Great.

Doberdan, Kapas and Vesna, that's actually Serbian.

So where that comes from is I was born in Kosovo, so I'm just going to jump in.

I was born in Kosovo and raised between Kosovo and Montenegro, so I speak Albanian fluently and also servo Croatian.

So that's where dobro caucas comes from.

It means, hi, how are you.

See, even our audience does research on our guests.

Great.

I love it.

This is awesome.

I do, too.

So it's actually quite awesome to see someone ask that, which is great.

I'm with you.

And Alan is a great individual.

You'll have to get y'all two connected.

Okay, let's do this.

Let's level set a little bit and offer some audience, some context on a little about yourself as well as your company.

That's on the mood.

Reformer Group.

So tell us more, if you would.

So a little bit about me.

Obviously you shared my background.

It's great.

Thank you for doing that.

I took a leap of faith.

I went to Rutgers and I took a summer off and I took a job as a.

Pretty much as a lab tech and I never left is what people say.

And that's how I became.

I worked for Playtex, then I worked for Rocket Bank Hazard in Keio.

And I honestly loved every single second.

The experience was phenomenal.

And I resigned from Ko in 2007 and I bought my company, Reforma Group in 2010 and never looked back.

So what Reforma Group does is we do manufacturing and consumer goods and manufacturing.

You're right, we should change the name.

It's actually a beautiful thing.

And we do a lot of great, great things.

We do everything from concept to market, from developing a formula to manufacturing, sourcing, packaging, sourcing bottles, caps, labels.

So anything from when you.

The minute that a customer comes to us, from the beginning of the stages all the way to the shelf, that's what Reforma Group does.

Anything in hair care, skincare, body care and household products.

So, yes, I'm one of those that I'm huge.

I would love, love to see manufacturing just become more upscale.

I'm with you.

The opportunities are so profound across the manufacturing industry, both here in the US and around the globe.

And as we all know, the manufacturing industry plays such a critical role in driving economic prosperity.

Right.

But Kevin, given business background, she must have had a lot of success to come in and acquire a company on the move like Reformer Group.

We're in the presence of again, folks that move mountains, huh?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

And just think about all of the people that she has to touch in delivering those personal products.

Right.

Household products that she's really affecting, you know, the daily lives of tens of millions of people.

She must really be a people person.

I definitely love people, Kevin.

And that came out in the pre show as well.

And we're probably going to touch on that before we're done here with Vesna Del Joseph here on the buzz.

But let's do this.

I want to shift gears.

Vesna, thanks again for being here.

I want to talk about one other thing we learned the pre show is how passionate you are about sustainable manufacturing practices.

I want to take a look at this article here, Vesna, which comes to us from Manufact Dive and it shares perspective on some of the manufacturing industry's sustainability priorities and considerations this year.

Here's a few thoughts from the article.

Some manufacturers aren't changing their sustainability strategy even if the regulatory pressures may ease over the next four years.

Many industry leaders are trying to find ways to safeguard their manufacturing organizations against any economic volatility.

We've seen lots of volatility and uncertainty here since beginning the year, huh?

But also when it comes to protecting sustainability gains, some are focusing more on that critical intersection of people, planet and profit.

Baking profitability into sustainability will certainly help to ensure that those gains are alive and well and are sustainable.

All right, no pun intended.

But when it comes to that critical element of leveraging data, Kevin, I bet I'm speaking your language.

I like what industry leader Jason Bell says here in this article.

Quote it is crucial to not let perfect be the enemy of the good.

Start with the data you have and identify a path for more abundant and higher quality data collection.

Now of course, improved, faster and more confident data driven decision making across any organization will help fuel success in any aspect of the business.

But to include sustainability as well.

Now Vesna, whether it's something you agree with or you may have a difference of opinion, what are your thoughts on sustainability priorities in 2025 for manufacturing leaders?

So going back to all the federal regulations and changes and things like that, to your point, the article hits the nail on the head.

I don't think from my position, my perspective and my customers, we don't change that.

Sustainability should be something that we do daily.

It's all about the consumer, consumer and what the consumer needs.

It's what the planet needs.

So it's not for us.

For example, it's more about, okay, are we looking at a plant derived surfactant or 100% natural fragrance or a PCR bottle or a bio based formula?

These things we do individually, daily.

This is a daily task and at the end of the day it's going to take all of us together to make the planet a better place.

And I'm going to be honest and transparent.

It's no matter what the government decisions are for us and me as a leader of the company.

For me, my focus is making my customer happy and the customer is looking for all of that.

The customer will pay for us for something green and clean and sustainable.

It is important we are leaving the world behind.

And as a leader, as I said previously, you look forward, you don't look right and you don't look left because then you get lost.

Right?

As a leader you lead a company, that's your job.

So my take on it is you listen to what everyone is saying, but you do the right thing.

And by doing the right thing, you will never fail.

It's important for pcr.

I mean, we're doing PCR bottles.

Nothing, honestly, Scott and Kevin, nothing.

For me, nothing will change.

I still will make sure that the ingredients are sustainable, plant the ride anywhere that I can make a difference from the formula standpoint to a packaging standpoint, to a closure, to more of maybe formulating a formula where people can use less water, I'm all for it.

So for us, that's kind of my goal for 20, 25 and beyond.

So whatever anyone makes a decision, that's a decision that I make as a leader of my company.

That's not.

I love it.

Kevin, there's a lot to comment on there.

Your thoughts?

Yeah, I know I'm a little early, but let's do a recap.

Okay.

Because Hannah Kane said supply chain stability is dead.

So what does that mean?

As the government keeps changing the rules, changing the goalposts, changing what they want you to do, you as a leader have to react, reflect, and that's dynamic.

It's a dynamic industry.

So nothing is stable.

It's always moving.

And second, what Besna was talking about was a balance.

Okay.

It's not just about efficiency or the lower cost.

You have to balance trade offs between cost, performance, resilience and sustainability.

All of these things matter.

As a leader, it's up to you to listen to inputs, look at the data, and do the right thing.

So I'm there with Vesna.

Good stuff there.

Kevin, I'm with you.

You pulled out some great highlights.

And I want to pick up with your last comment there, which Vesna shared, where doing the right thing is clearly her North Star.

We need a whole bunch more of that in industry, I think.

And then secondly, I think what's important that she mentioned, amongst other things, was that she's seeing consumers and customers actually spending money for sustainability gains.

Not talking about it, not answering polls, saying that it appeals to them.

They're actually writing the checks and sending the funds.

You know, where we see continue to see more and more of that, that will help our industry continue to find ways of finding real sustainable outcomes.

That's good news, at least to me.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, I mean, like Lighthouse said, 70% productivity with the reduction in energy costs of 40%.

That means doing the right thing also supports your bottom and top line.

Yep, Love that.

All right, Vesna And Kevin, take a couple quick comments here, starting with Gary.

Gary Smith says, hey, change is now occurring at an exponential rate.

I like how you think, Gary.

That's practically optimistic or optimistically practical or whatever version of that.

But good stuff as always.

Trisha dropped the link to that article if y'all want to check it out and let us know what you think.

Don't take our word for it.

And then finally, before we learn a little bit more, Reformer group, Alan.

Going back to Alan Jacques Vesna lived in Yugoslavia seven years.

How about that?

Yeah.

And I promise you he's got some.

Great stories we can share him.

And I lived there for 15 years.

Probably lived right around the corner from.

You didn't even know.

Right.

What, what is it called as you get older?

Six degrees of separation.

Yes.

Like Kevin Bacon.

That's right.

All right, so Vesna and Kevin Vesna, when it comes to the Reformer group, I got a two part question for you.

One, how have you managed to bake innovative and sustainable practices into manufacturing operations?

And two, what's that key element or what's one of the key elements to driving real sustainability outcomes?

So the key elements really for me and for my team and my customer is literally listening to the customer.

I think that is the most important piece that I have learned.

I think, and I may go on the limb by saying this because I've been doing this for my whole career.

I always tell people this is not a hobby, it's my life.

I love doing it.

Previously a lot of people just did things and not thinking it was more of, okay, what the company wanted, they would launch.

For example.

It's different now.

Now we have to listen to the consumer or the guest.

And the consumer and the guest is demanding that we give them more sustainability products, more things that are actually respond to them more than us.

The tables have reversed, especially with all of the information that's accessible and available out there.

I mean, you think about it, from Google to every single thing.

I mean, people can look up raw materials, people can look up who's doing what.

People know what PCR is.

If you think about it, 30 years ago, a lot of consumers didn't know this with Instagram and TikTok and all those things.

So it's, I think the tables have reversed.

The consumer is now, the consumer is in charge.

That makes sense.

And for me it's important.

It's a partnership.

It should be a partnership.

The manufacturers, the consumers and the retailers or whoever you work with or the brands.

It should be 100% partnership.

And it should always be people planet, what can we do better each and every single day?

And how are we innovating?

For us as a company, for example, really, PCR is huge for us also.

Just making sure that we're getting our raw materials, where they come from, how to source the raw materials, what part of the globe, how are they treating their workforce, where we buy the raw materials from.

Like I said, fragrance is a huge piece.

Fragrance is really not.

Fragrance is a formula in itself, like just understanding all of the ingredients that go into the fragrance.

So there's a lot of pieces that we're doing as a company to make sure that we continue with a sustainability piece.

For example, the other pieces, concentrated products, plant derived.

So just communicating to our guests and our consumers and our customers that use pieces.

And look, at the end of the day, we're not perfect.

We're not going to change the world in one day.

The Rome was not built in one day, but every single one of us just made a little bit of difference and made strides every day.

We would have been a lot further.

So I think for me, my job is whatever I can do.

No matter what I develop, no matter what I launch.

Guys, I want to add a piece of sustainability to it.

If it's 25% PCR, whatever it is.

So I hope that answers the question.

Vesna, look, good stuff.

I'm going to get Kevin's take in just a second.

But folks, really quick.

We love our acronyms all across global supply chain.

I want to make sure we don't leave anyone behind.

Pcr, post consumer recycled plastic.

I think it's what Vesna is referring to, which of course, it reduces waste greenhouse gas emissions over, you know, virgin plastics.

That's pcr.

That's what we're talking about.

Lots of opportunities there.

Kevin.

Vesna gave, I don't know, I got about 18 bullet points from her last response.

What'd you hear though?

Or what do you want to call out?

So she really took me back.

You know, as many of you know, I was in the military for quite a while and a military strategist as a profession.

And when I went to the Naval academy, we studied Carl von Clausewitz, who was anyone who's in military has heard that name because he talked about the fog and friction of war.

And one of the sayings that came from, from him is that the enemy always has a vote in your strategy.

And what Vezner is saying is that the consumer, your customer, always has a vote in your business strategy.

So don't forget that.

Don't forget that it's important to your customer to save the planet.

It's important to be sustainable.

They are willing to pay more if you care about what they care about.

And in this case, sustainability.

That's what I heard.

You know, Vesna and Kevin, on that, listening to the customer, which clearly is a big part of Vesna's MO as a lot of supply chain and manufacturing leaders subscribe to that.

As I was listening to you both talk about that, it's interesting to me because it's easier and also more difficult at the same time to listen to customers in 2025.

On one hand, we have so many technology channels and data gathering channels to gain insight on demand and preferences and all that stuff, right?

So that makes it easier.

But on the other hand, based on the wealth of what's going on and the velocity of business, there's a lot of different things that are important to customers and try to weigh through all the noise to get to the signals of what's most important to act on on behalf of our customers.

That's where I see a lot more complexity.

So it's like it's easier and tougher.

Vesna, would you agree with that?

I do.

I agree with it 100%.

Because you're dealing with different market segments, with different types of consumers.

And as a manufacturer and as a leader, anyone out there, you have to find your niche.

You have to find what group of people you want to speak with.

You can't, obviously, you can't save them all.

You know this, Kevin.

So it's just understanding.

Who do you want to go after?

The Gen Z's, the Gen X's, the baby boomers, all of those generations, they need something different.

So to your point, Scott, it's hard and it's also easy in so many ways.

But really, what I've learned in manufacturing and in formulation and in my career, simplicity, guys, it's just make it simple.

Oh, Besna, I'm with you.

I am with you.

We overcomplicate so many things, not just in supply chain, but in just this human journey we're on.

And simplicity is so underrated.

Kevin, before we move on and kind of broaden out the conversation a bit, your last thought on simplicity or how you're counting votes from the enemy and the customers, or your last comment?

Kevin, something that we talked about in pre show was the importance of the human touch.

I mean, we got into this conversation talking about AI.

I don't know, we're going to do that again.

But you know, you have to understand and how do people feel and give the people what they want and that human communications and that's important.

That's critical.

That is right.

Okay, so good stuff.

Vesna and Kevin, I wish we had a couple more hours here today, but I won't get into this next more broad topic and talk about manufacturing more in general.

There's a great read here also from Forbes that offers up a few considerations for manufacturing success in 2025.

So I'm going to summarize a couple of these things and then get Vesna and Kevin for their comments here.

First off, engage your workforce.

One survey reported that only 45% of manufacturing workers rated their morale as high in 2024, and that was a drop of about 7 points from 2023.

Modernize your processes, Kevin.

We've talked about this endlessly before.

Top talent often expects demands, you name it, companies to have 2025 technology in place, not 1985 tech.

And finally, don't implement tech just for today because you can't stop thinking about tomorrow.

I think that was a song.

Somewhere along the way we've got to evaluate what we need to achieve those 3, 5, 10 year business plans, of course, while delighting our customers all along the way.

Vesna, I'd love to get your thoughts on that or other priorities you may have at Reformer Group to drive success this year.

So as far as people is concerned, it is and as I said at the pre show, so I'm going to give you guys a little bit of kind of a pretext when I bought my company back in 2010 and I would say to people that I run a manufacturing company, they would automatically think automotive.

And I would say, no, no, no, we're a beauty company.

There's other manufacturing.

So a lot of people, a lot of the labor force really, when you think of we just lumped manufacturing all in one.

So I think it's going to take a minute for us to educate our workforce to say manufacturing is actually a beautiful thing.

So that's one piece of it.

So manufacturing is just to me, it's crucially important for everything in what we do.

And as far as morale is concerned and I love to touch on this if you would allow me to what really is important for us and I'm a leader and what I love is my people.

I always tell my team is my family.

They choose to be here five, six days, sometimes seven days a week for us, for me, for my customers.

So it's important to treat your team well.

So one of the things that I do every morning, doesn't matter what time I come in sometimes I had meetings, and if it's.

Even if it's 1:00 in the afternoon, I come in and I had all these big meetings.

I always want to go in and say good morning to each and every single one of my team members.

Crucially important, morale is not only about money, guys.

Your team is not looking for money all the time.

They're looking for validation.

They're looking for you to understand who they are.

If they have an issue, you talk to them about it.

Just human to human.

It's like, be human.

Just because you run a company, you can't be untouchable.

That is crucially important.

And I think that's how you bring morale up.

It's not just money at the end of the day.

Vezna, More folks need to hear that perspective.

Kevin, I would submit to you that those small but powerful things that we can do as leaders to not only show that we're not untouchable, right?

We're not in some ivory tower.

We're no better than anyone else.

It doesn't cost anything.

Right?

And that validation piece is so important, showing that we are listening, right?

We're listening to their ideas.

We're acting on some ideas.

We're engaging them far beyond giving them great compensation.

Kevin, what'd you hear there from Vesna?

I heard that being a servant leader delivers more value, and there's more to value than just money.

You can get increased productivity, you can get increased pleasure.

You can get increased camaraderie, morale, and also maybe more customers.

Right.

So it's all part of the entire model.

That's right.

Clearly, clearly, Russell is focused on that.

Kevin and Vesna, I want to share one last thing here.

And then we're going to make sure that folks know how to connect with Vesna and reform a group.

Vesna, when I was in manufacturing actively a couple different times, we would oftentimes use our plants as great tools for driving powerful conversations with current and future customers.

Right?

And as I think about that, whatever we do to protect morale and protect culture, you can see kind of the state of culture when you're walking through anyone's plant.

You can see how the frontline workers carry themselves.

Even on the tough days, they still believe in themselves and believe in what they're doing.

You can make all those instant reads right.

When you're touring plants.

I've been over 300 plants in my career.

And to Kevin's point, when we really protect and get that culture to where it needs to be, forward looking culture, right where we celebrate and invest in our people, using all those tips that you just shared with us, business man, that becomes a powerful tool for driving growth amongst your industry.

Vesna, your final thought.

And then we're going to make sure folks know how to connect with you.

I could not agree with you more.

It's been my pleasure.

It's been.

And Kevin, I love that you said servant because when I bought my company, my banker actually said that the only way you're going to become successful and I never forgot this, is you got to learn how to serve.

And to me, for me, that's the most important.

See, here's the thing, guys.

Without my team, I wouldn't be where I am.

Without my team, I wouldn't do what I do every day.

And it's same thing with my customers.

So it's important to involve your team.

It's important for them to realize that they are important.

They deliver things to people and it's such an important tool.

And I think a lot of us as leaders forget that.

You have to like for me, for example, if I'm needed anywhere in any part of my manufacturing, I will take my shoes off and I become part of the team.

It's really, I've seen such huge success in doing that.

And I can promise you my team will be here seven days if I ask them, just because they know that you appreciate them.

So really, that's for me, that's the take on leadership and how you make it.

It doesn't matter if it's man, manufacturing, automotive, whatever it is, it always starts from the top.

Yeah, that's right.

I love that.

I love that.

Yeah, I do too.

And you know, when you think about all the time that your team members invest and their jobs or organizations, you name it, whatever you do, whatever you do, just make sure you find a way to really appreciate them and value them and validate them and provide them with a path of continued growth and development.

Okay, a lot of good stuff here.

All right.

So Vesna, I really have enjoyed our time together here.

For folks that may want to compare notes, they may want to do some business with you, they may want to invite you in and give a keynote on some of the things you've talked about here today.

No matter what, how can folks connect with you and Reforma Group?

So we have a website, reformagroup.com and also my email is very simple.

Vesnaeformagroup.com I try to answer every single email.

It doesn't matter who contacts me, how small or how big.

It's important.

Again, as a leader, as a woman, my passion is to empower other people to follow their dreams and just whatever it is that they want to do.

If it's open up a hair salon or run a Fortune 500 company, it's doable, takes a lot of work.

It's fun and exciting.

If you love it, do it.

And just don't look back.

And that's really one of my goals in life as I continue building and growing my company.

Hopefully empower other people and other women to just follow your dream and have fun with it.

Life is too short.

Life is indeed too short.

Vesna, really appreciate you being here.

Vezna Del Josephic, president and CEO of Reforma Group.

We look forward to reconnecting here later in 2025.

Vesna, thank you so much.

Thank you, Scott.

Thank you, Kevin.

It was such a pleasure.

No, thank you.

I loved it.

We'll see you soon.

All right, Kevin, man, powerful, powerful.

I'm with you.

I am with you.

We need to have Vesna once a month.

We all get a pip in our step.

Okay, so, Kevin, we got a couple things I want to do before we wrap here today.

First off, as you survey Fesna's appearance here during that last segment, what is one of your favorite takeaways from what Vezna shared with us?

I mean, just the outpouring of care that she has.

She has care for her customers.

She has care for her employees.

She has care for the business.

And in a business that is all about self care and health and beauty, this is something that's critical.

And this is how she lives her life.

Life.

So it's just so amazing.

She is happy doing what she is doing because what she's doing is enhancing her life.

I'm with you.

And she's also passionate about driving real sustainability gains, not just at Reformer Group, but across industry, amongst many other things.

So, folks, we drop the link.

Thank you, tricia and amanda.

Reformergroup.com to learn more about what they do there.

And as Claudia says, a great point.

Svezna shared about adding sustainability anywhere you can.

Even small steps, as Claudia says, can help narrow the gap between profit and planet.

That's right.

Claudia, really appreciate you being here today.

Okay, Kevin, we've got one more article that I want to walk through on an important topic and then we're going to get a heads up on what's coming up over at Digital Transformers.

So stay tuned folks.

Let's talk about this one first though, you know we've got to keep our eye on the ball 247 when it comes to cybersecurity.

In this article via our friends over at Forbes, several thoughts are shared on creating a safer supply chain.

Here's just a few highlights.

Up first, cybersecurity is a business problem.

It's not a technical problem, it's a business problem.

A zero trust mindset where you got to assume everyone's out to get you.

There's a better way of putting it.

Nothing About Me Paranoid Zero trust mindset is what must be embraced across your supply chain ecosystem.

Now, it's important to eliminate blind spots by completely, and I mean completely mapping out the network of companies and people that make up your ecosystem.

And get this quote, cybersecurity vetting of new and existing supply chain connections is a modern equivalent of asking for a business's credit rating, an objective data point reflecting business health.

Now, despite the billions and I'm talking about billions, if not trillions of dollars going into cyber budgets everywhere, the Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024, well, that showed that more than 30% of organizations reported a decline in their ability to deal with cyber attacks.

Yikes.

One last important thought that a cyber expert shared with us last year after he had been involved, Kevin, in thousands of cyber situations over the years.

This guy was probably the most experienced true cyber expert I've ever had a chance to interview.

But as he shared with us until organizational culture everywhere is one that understands cyber bad actors go to work, work every single day to find vulnerabilities in companies around the world.

It is their job and that's how they treat it.

40 hours a week times millions of people that are involved.

Until we get that and wrap our head around that, our exposure will stay much, much riskier than it has to be.

Kevin, your thoughts?

First of all, it's about the people.

Again, 80% of your cyber issues and challenges are from the people.

But the other part of that, it's how they address their own cyber hygiene.

How do they look at, how do they manage their own data, be it personal or corporate.

So it's all about the basics of cyber hygiene.

Use strong unique passwords, enable multi factor authentication, regularly update your software, back up your data.

Be cautious.

Don't click and read, read and click.

Don't just click on everything you see.

Use antivirus software.

Secure your wi fi, secure your Bluetooth.

Okay.

And practice safe browsing already have that prophylactic over your finger before you click.

It's that basic cyber hygiene that everyone needs to practice if you're going to protect yourself and your organization against these cyber attacks.

You know that list of things you know again, one of my favorite phrases is what's old is new.

Again, because these are common, proven best practices that all of us and I'm include all of us still aren't getting.

We just aren't getting.

And it manifests itself in these major breaches and these major actions and these major ransomware, you name it.

Where so many organizations lose resources, wealth, security, you name it.

And we keep missing the basics.

Kevin, I appreciate you sharing though.

We got to keep those basics front and center for sure.

Okay, Alan says just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they are not out to get you.

Alan that's right.

And folks, check out the article we were just referencing in Forbes.

Trisha shared, you're right there.

One click away from checking that out.

Okay Kevin, as we wrap here, you've been on the move with some really cool stuff over at Digital Transformers.

Y'all had an interesting live stream just last week.

I needed to go back and check out the replay.

Tell us what's coming up next over at Digital Transformers.

Well first I want to double tap on that live stream that was our inaugural live stream on enhanced govtech or around how this new technologies are changing all of the industries.

So every month we're going to talk about emerging technologies in the government space.

So February was healthcare.

Next month we're going to talk about financial services.

We also will have our first Digital Transformers interview of the year where we will have from Oracle, Mark Rachmielovich on the show to talk about blockchain and how it has really become a force across all industries.

So Digital Transformers is staying at the leading edge to help you make the decisions you need to run your business.

Love that Kevin.

And hey, one quick follow up.

Everyone likes to point at blockchain as a technology that come was in every conversation and hasn't quite made its impact.

I would argue that we are still building up to how blockchain is going to make its biggest impact on business.

And you and I, we tackled a few recent applications.

So folks.

Kevin, you would suggest folks should be sleeping and talking bad about blockchain, would you?

Is that what, is that what you'd say?

Blockchain is already in your life, you just don't know it yet.

You'll have to tune into the Digital Transformers to learn how But I think that's a very true statement.

Okay, Kevin L.

Jackson, really enjoyed the buzz here today.

I tell you, between the topics we covered and of course, Vesna and her voice and all the great comments we had in the audience, I thought it was a great show, huh?

That was a great show.

I really loved her energy.

She really brought it.

Audience.

They know our guests.

They're doing their research.

They are.

I'll tell you, we got to give a red star to Alan.

That was good stuff there, folks.

You can use the link that Trisha just dropped here to find and subscribe Supply Chain now.

Wherever you get your podcast, you can learn a lot more about the art community there.

Big thanks to Kevin L.

Jackson.

Stay tuned.

He'll be with us the third Monday of every month.

Is that right, Kevin?

Third Monday every month.

I'm here whether you want me or not.

Our big thanks also to Vesna Del Josephic with performer group.

Big thanks to Amanda and Trisha behind the scenes helping to make production happen.

Of course, all of our guests that was able to show up and show out here today.

Most importantly, big thanks to our global audience.

Maybe listening to the replay.

Appreciate all the feedback y'all give us each, each and every single day.

But folks, here's your homework.

You got to take one thing you heard here from Vesna or Kevin and you got to share it with your team.

You got to value your team.

You got to show your team that you care.

Put all of that stuff in practice because you know it's about deeds, not words.

With that said, on behalf of the entire team here, Scott Luton, Challenge you do good, give forward.

Be the change that's needed.

And we'll see you next time right back here on Supply chain Now.

Thanks, everybody.

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