New Florence. New Renaissance.

A celebration of trade jobs

Mike Rowe talks about his new show "How America Works"

"This is us taking a single topic like logging and saying, "Okay, maybe you've heard some things about logging. Maybe you have formed some opinions about it." Rather than telling you how to think about the industry, we just introduce you to the regular people who put bread on the table by getting us the lumber we need to build the desk you're sitting at right now and the one underneath this glass, right? We just make it as personal as we can. We do the same thing with energy. We do the same thing with electricity. We go to the Hoover Dam and we just spend a day with people who are trying to repair and maintain the turbines, which provide electricity for about a sixth of the country. We do the same thing with waste management, just by hanging out with some garbage people for the better part of a day.

And people will be surprised by the degree of sophistication that informs all of these vocations. They'll be surprised by the passion that these workers feel for their jobs.

People are very confused about energy in general. And look, this is headline news, right? And the show doesn't try to be political or polemic, but you can't help but make the point: When it comes to energy, a lot of people think about electricity as being fundamentally clean, whereas maybe coal or oil they might think of as fundamentally dirty. What most people don't really understand though, is that their Tesla or their Prius that they plug in and feel great about plugging in, uses electricity and that electricity doesn't come from the electricity tree. It comes from a turbine and that turbine is spinning, and in the vast majority of cases, the energy that's being used to spin that turbine is being provided by natural gas or oil. And so what I hope we learn from the series is the way that we all are truly interconnected. You can't just arbitrage the part of the workforce that makes you uncomfortable in the equation."

Here is an excerpt from his episode on loggers

goTRG's dominance of reverse retail logistics

“Reverse logistics”—the process of handling returned merchandise—has become increasingly complex. Retailers have to determine whether each returned item is fit to go back on shelves, can be refurbished, or must be scrapped. Stores have used disparate technologies and even manual systems to do this, to little effect: Some 5 billion pounds of merchandise go to waste annually. goTRG oversees more than 45 million returned items per year for Amazon, Home Depot, Walmart, and others, using sophisticated software and a fleet of massive warehouses. After integrating specifics about each retailer’s catalogs, goTRG’s artificial intelligence determines the most profitable outcome for every item. Products may be refurbished, donated, recycled, or used for parts—all within goTRG facilities. “Our goal,” says cofounder and CEO Sender Shamiss, “is to convince retailers to give products a second life.”

FastCompany

 

Lennar: reimagining residential real estate

"These days Miller oversees LenX which amounts to a private equity arm within Lennar that makes investments in real estate tech. The I.ennar-backed platform Opendoor—which uses AI to value and make almost instantaneous often on any home—went public in December bringing Lennar a $470 million gain in its first quarter. Other LenX startups provide fully digital insurance underwriting for most Lennar buyers, are developing a digital title insurance and escrow platform; and are honing technology that conserves water and channels the earth’s energy to heat and cool homes."

What's interesting is its not just about fancy smart homes. The pandemic has changed what people want from a home.

"For him, as for tens of millions of Americans, the home of the future isn’t filled with futuristic gadgets, it’s a principal workplace, a gym, a homeschooling center, an entertainment hub, and refuge where everything from pandemic-ready leisure wardrobes to gourmet cuisine can be delivered to their doorstep while they spend quality time bonding instead of fighting traffic and roaming stores, “The pandemic’s rewired the way people think about their homes,” says Miller, “As a result, they’re rethinking the amount of their paycheck to spend on housing. We have a front—row seat seeing in real time the enthusiasm for the home growing.”"

Fortune (sub required)

 

Amazon Brick and Mortar

WSJ report

"The plan to launch large stores will mark a new expansion for the online-shopping pioneer into bricks-and-mortar retail, an area Amazon has long disrupted.

Some of the first Amazon department stores are expected to be located in Ohio and California, the people said. The new retail spaces will be around 30,000 square feet, smaller than most department stores, which typically occupy about 100,000 square feet, and will offer items from top consumer brands. The Amazon stores will dwarf many of the company’s other physical retail spaces and will have a footprint similar to scaled-down formats that Bloomingdale’s Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and other department-store chains have begun opening, the people said."

 

Amazon Fulfillment Center Tour 2.0

Exactly two years ago, I had an opportunity to visit the 855,000 sq ft, 4 level N. Jacksonville Amazon fulfillment center (JAX2). I wrote about my experience here. 

Due to the pandemic, Amazon had stopped doing those tours. However, it has restarted them in virtual mode (you can register here) , and I attended one today. I asked for a recording, and they sent me one from a few days ago, which covered similar ground.

In many ways, the virtual tour is better than going to one in person. They did not allow me to take any photos when I visited. The tour today profiled 4 US centers, and a new one outside of Venice, Italy.  Mine obviously only covered one. Today's tour took us into many corners of the center like the shipping dock which I did not see during my visit. I learned new stuff like the sensor filled vest Amazon employees wear when they have to go into the path of one of the robots. They also provided updates on Amazon's COVID related investments and their growing Prime transportation fleet including big plans for their EV trucks.

Very nicely done. Highly recommend you spend an hour and see the amazing blend of man and machine. Kiva robots, miles of conveyor belts, and thousands of scanners, cameras, printers that allow a couple of thousand Amazon employees at each center to process a million packages a day.

20 from 20: No industry untouched

This is the 19th post in a series of 20 highlights from the Acrobatics during the crisis, Analyst Cam, Burning Platform  and other series I ran last year.

2020 turned most industries upside down. I posted earlier about conversations in four industries here and another four here 

Here's another dozen. 

Jason Blessing, President and CEO of Model N, describes the intensity when 24 out of 25 of his largest customers like Stryker and Gilead have worked on some life-saving COVID-19 related products or services. The longer interview is here 

At 2.52 is Mark Galloway, Chief Commercial Officer at GrandPad which offers a simple and secure tablet computer that digitally connects a senior to their family and friends. Mark describes the speed at which they rolled out the device to nursing homes and elderly care facilities. The average user is 82 years old and technology which most readers of this blog use on a daily basis is a big challenge for these seniors. The longer interview is here 

At 5.54 Phiroz Darukhanavala, who goes as "Daru" is the ex-CTO of BP and points out the oil and gas industry has faced other "shocks" before, usually on the supply side. The sector in the past has bounced back and has been more efficient each time. The longer interview where he discusses industry changes is here 

At 9.48 is Bill Berutti, CEO of Plex talks about the auto industry. He and CTO Jerry Foster cover global manufacturing trends and the effect of COVID lockdowns in the longer interview here. 

At 12.99 is M.R. Rangaswami of Sand Hill Group. He talks about sustainability efforts at the members in the Corporate Eco Forum he runs. He also points how the definition has extended beyond renewables and climate issues to also cover diversity and inclusion. The longer interview including coverage of other communities he runs is here 

At 16.00 is Associate Dean Bill Moncrief at the Neeley School of Business at TCU. He describes the complexities of moving from campus to on-line education in under 2 weeks and the challenges of teaching in hybrid mode - some students in-class and some on-line. I am on the school's advisory board and the longer presentation to the board is here 

At 19:33 is Bob Ferrari of Supply Chain Matters. He describes how supply chains - PPE, global, food etc - came under a lot of pressure but responded amazingly. In the longer interview here, he talks about adjustments most industries are making to their supply chains. 

The sports world had never seen this much disruption since WWII. Yet, it bravely kept us entertained with its bubbles, empty stadiums and shortened seasons, At 22.06, you get a glimpse at the maneuvering from Max Mueller, CEO and Christian Nilson, COO of Daimani, a unique marketplace for VIP experiences in sports, rock concerts and other events. The full interview is here 

At 25.52 Vittorio Viarengo of VMware shares how he brought to life COO Sanjay Poonen's desire to record a rendition of "This little light of mine" using a group of musically talented employees around the world. These are amateurs and the result is amazing - you can see how Taylor Swift and others in the music world managed to do even more with their virtual productions. The longer session with Vittorio is here 

At 31.21 is Rod Johnson, President of Infor. He points out how the TV and entertainment industry has an opportunity to help refine tech and other events in a virtual format.  The longer conversation is here.

Apple, in reverse, promises to reshape physical events and the TV and movie industries with its iPhone 12. At 32.56 is an excerpt of the stunning imagery recorded from the back of a truck and from a drone. The longer coverage of the launch of that device is here.

Sector after sector saw massive changes. Yes, Toto we are not in Kansas anymore. 

 

20 from 20: More for "Vinnie Vertical"

Another post in a series of 20 highlights from the Acrobatics during the crisis, Analyst Cam, Burning Platform and other series I launched last year.

I have been called "Vinnie Vertical" because I am constantly asking vendors about industry specific capabilities. In 2020, countless businesses asked them the same question as vertical edge applications from telemedicine to distance learning to eCommerce/automated fulfillment allowed many companies to survive or even thrive. I posted last week about changes in 4 industries.  Here are four more.

Bob Stutz of SAP kicks it off with commentary on grocery stores and related eCommerce. What used to be a routine, boring shopping experience has become a lifeline for people. He points out how much volume has moved to eCommerce - "every day has been like Black Friday" (SAP's commerce engine handles 561 GMV - Gross Merchandise Volume - that's larger than at Amazon and other online retailers). We talk plenty of other CRM in the fuller session here. 

At 2.41 it is Marty Groover, Partner, C5MI. C5 in the company name comes from his background in the Navy. He also spent years at Caterpillar and is now a big advocate for Industrie 4.0 - digital factories and the industrial Internet of Things. The fuller interview is here 

At 5.35, it is David Watson, an Executive in Residence at Health2047, the innovation and venture arm of the American Medical Association. He describes the explosion in telemedicine after being "in experimental mode" for two decades. During this crisis, the UC San Francisco health system saw 50% of outpatient visits move to telemedicine. It was 2% prior to that. The fuller interview on other big changes in US healthcare are here 

At 7.30 it is Sarvesh Mahesh of Tavant. He talks about seismic changes in real estate as the market moves to virtual home tours, and the mortgage process becomes increasingly digitized. The full session is here

 

20 from 20: Not your Dad's verticals

This is the fifth post in a series of 20 highlights from the Acrobatics during the crisis, Analyst Cam, Burning Platform and other series I launched last year.

I have been called "Vinnie Vertical" because I am constantly asking vendors about industry capabilities. Well, in 2020 countless businesses asked them the same questions as vertical edge applications from telemedicine to distance learning to eCommerce/automated fulfillment allowed many companies to survive or even thrive as consumers did everything from home, as the SBA issued 5 million emergency PPP loans to small businesses and so many industries got disrupted during the pandemic. And these projects needed to be done quickly, not over multiple years and done with a light SI footprint.

I have been impressed with the growing number of industries Salesforce and its Force partners have targeted with point solutions. In the excerpt below, Neeracha Taychakhoonavudh, EVP, Industries talks about how they helped community banks, in particular with PPP loan processing and several manufacturers as they pivoted to making PPE, sanitizers and other COVID-19 related products. In the longer interview here, she covers many more sectors. 

At 3.22, Ed Abbo, President and CTO of C3.ai describes their work at asset intensive companies like oil and gas, utilities and manufacturers. They apply ML and other digital tech to specific pain points - hundreds of bite size but highback areas without the pain and cost of replacing existing applications. Longer session here. 

Even in the more traditional ERP space we are seeing differentiating wrinkles

At 6.19, Mike Ettling, CEO of Unit4 talks about his people v product centric ERP processes with examples from higher education and nonprofits. The longer interview is here. 

At 8.11, Mark Brewer of IFS does not talk as much about core ERP but more of his field service, asset management, maintenance and support for outcome based pricing at their customers. More of the presentation here and a demo here 

More verticals to come in a later episode.

McKinsey's State of AI Survey

Overall, half of respondents say their organizations have adopted AI in at least one function.   And while AI adoption was about equal across regions last year, this year’s respondents working for companies with headquarters in Latin American countries and in other developing countries are much less likely than those elsewhere to report that their companies have embedded AI into a process or product in at least one function or business unit. By industry, respondents in the high-tech and telecom sectors    are again the most likely to report AI adoption, with the automotive and assembly sector falling just behind them (down from sharing the lead last year).

The business functions in which organizations adopt AI remain largely unchanged from the 2019 survey, with service operations, product or service development, and marketing and sales again taking the top spots.

McKinsey

 

ML and Auto Insurance Claims

The algorithms are trained in image classification, and they identify damage and hand off the claims to companies like Mitchell International, based in San Diego, that price out parts and calculate labor costs. The best algorithms already provide estimates in a few seconds that are as accurate as those produced by experienced human estimators. The pandemic has made A.I.-powered estimating even more attractive because the technology reduces or even eliminates the need for face-to-face interaction between drivers and insurance adjusters.

One of the leaders in this “insuretech” market is Tractable, a company based in London that was founded in 2014 by the entrepreneur Adrien Cohen and two computer vision experts, Alex Dalyac and Razvan Ranca. Since then, Tractable has received more than $50 million in venture capital funding and grown to over 100 employees in London, New York and Tokyo. Major insurers in Europe and Asia have used Tractable’s A.I. to settle more than $1 billion in claims.

NY Times