GSCW chat: Build a trustworthy network to weather supply chain disruptions

BIO: Loupée brings over a decade of supply chain knowledge to Ben B. Schwartz and Sons, a Detroit-based cross-border wholesale distributor of fresh fruits and vegetables. Rudolph, a former freight broker, holds a master of arts from the University of Chicago.

KEY QUOTES FROM LOUPÉE

“We’ve had some waves of demand as far as the product is concerned when it’s on retail shelves. Obviously a lot of it is COVID-19-driven. There’s been some waves of panic-buying that were nonseasonal trends, then you combine that now with big volatility in the logistic space. We’re in a time when we’ve got unpredictable COVID issues. We’ve got product shortages, and we’ve got logistics capacity shortages, all rolled into one and so we’re trying to negotiate through that combination of things as best we can.”

“The value for us in a broker is to bring us a network of carriers where you have vetted their performance, where you know the guys who are going to give you true teams when they say that it’s a team, who you know have safety records that are good, who have equipment that’s good. Then give us your late-night support, those things are really what it boils down to as far as giving us value as a broker and we’re willing to pay a premium for those things.”

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