Welcome to On Time in Full, a podcast from Design Conveyor Systems. Hello, everyone. My name is Gabrielle. And on this episode of on time in full, we are thrilled to have Jeff Waller, president and CEO of Waller and Associates, and Kurt Kinkade, EVP of solutions and growth at Design Conveyor Systems, join us here today. We're gonna be discussing the recent acquisition of Waller and Associates by DCS and its industry impact, exploring how this acquisition combines strategic consulting with robust material handling solutions, which ultimately benefits clients across commercial and government sectors. They're gonna be sharing their insights on supply chain management evolution, strategic decisions behind the acquisition, and the anticipated industry. So go ahead and join us for today's episode. It's gonna be exciting. Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. So to start off, let's get straight into the conversation. I mean, what inspired you, to found Waller and Associates in two thousand nine? And just how has the company evolved over the years? So if you could start us. Well yeah. So thanks, Gabriel. Appreciate, appreciate that. It's great to be here today. Thinking back to two thousand nine, to be completely honest with you, you know, the the market was was in tough shape. The economy was in tough shape in two thousand eight, two thousand nine, and it was probably the wrong time to start a consulting business. So, it it was difficult then. We, one of the things that helped us, to to start in business was, we immediately became a government subcontractor. So we worked with government entities like General Dynamics and s I SAIC and Leidos to to work in the government sector because at the time, the commercial sector was was in difficult shape. So, I had previously worked with, with Ernst and Young. I had I was their business risk services lead leader globally for five years and had worked, on the consulting side at Manhattan Associates, which is a supply chain software solutions company, prior to opening my own firm. And in two thousand nine, two other gentlemen that I had worked with in the past and I started business, And and that's really what what got us rolling. Again, you know, the the government sector really helped us take off, and the evolution from there included much more, on the commercial side as the economy got better. And we are probably seventy five percent commercial now and twenty five percent government, but we still have, some really good government clients. Let's also, describe your firm's philosophy towards supply chain management. And just also, ultimately, what sets Waller and Associates apart from other consulting firms? So we we feel like we're significantly different different from other consulting firms. First of all, we have been an independent consulting firm for for the in the, entire fifteen years that we were in business. We were not associated with any software solution providers or anything like that, which a lot of consulting companies are. The other thing that that really sets us apart is the the management of Waller and Associates really comes from a operational background. Myself, I have two managing directors, Dan Denton and Al Ritchie, who who work with me. We're all thirty plus year guys in the industry, and we lead every single one of our projects. So it's not like when you come to Waller and Associates, you're gonna get, you know, a person right out of school, you know, running your project. You're gonna have, a one you know, a very senior person who has a lot of diverse supply chain experience working on your project and leading your project. Well, let's also turn it over to you, Kurt. I mean, what prompted the acquisition by Design Conveyor Systems, and how was the partnership formed initially? Yeah. We started the path of consulting here at DCS about four or five years ago. And we continuously grew our portfolio of values, added services that we provided our clients, as a system integrator, which was really focused on the four walls, where we had a lot of opportunities that we were actually partnering with Waller owned because we did not have the skill sets or the service offerings that Waller, has in his portfolio of service offerings. So when we kept partnering with them over a a a duration of a few years, we figured out that this marriage between the two companies really benefited each other because they had service offers we didn't, and we had service offers that they didn't. So it, plus the culture of the two companies, just meshed very well, and it just worked as a really nice marriage for the two companies. So that's what drew us to them. Well, what exactly meshed well? I mean, let's discuss the synergies between Waller and Associates and DCS. So how do these synergies have so far benefited your clients? How do you see them, in the future benefiting your clients? What are some of those synergies? Yeah. I mean, the way they approach their processes of evaluating being an operational driven, data driven solution provider, understanding how every decision that is made will affect the operation and the end user. If you look at the way Waller approaches their stuff, it's very similar to the way Design Conveyor Systems approaches our solutions. Now we never did the network analysis. We're not into spec ing out, the w WMSs. Those type of service offerings are all four wall, offerings that we really needed to continue to add value, and we could have grown those, organically, but it would have taken us longer to go to market. So adding Waller expedited our offerings to our clients and gave us immediate service offerings that just would have taken a lot of time to build. Jeff, do you wanna add on to that? Yeah. Absolutely. And and it really complemented, Waller and Associates as well. So as Kurt mentioned, you know, we had been partners for several years prior to the acquisition, and it's because DCS offers, solutions that that we didn't. Right? So as a consulting company, we didn't offer equipment. We didn't offer software. We didn't offer the solutions that DCS has. One of the one of the great, pieces of this that's different from acquisitions of of other companies, consulting companies by integration companies, is that we are remaining independent. So, you know, we the the our clients certainly have the opportunity to take advantage of of DCS's solutions, but they're not obligated to. And, and so that's that's the unique piece of it that that people need to understand is that when when Kurt and and the ownership of DCS and I were having discussions, it was important to everyone that we stay independent. So, that is a unique feature of this relationship and one of the key reasons it works for clients. So now, a the client that hires Waller and Associates to do some front end consulting, some strategic consulting upfront, has the ability to to use, DCS's solutions for a a full implementation of of their solution. Whereas prior, we would have to to turn that over to to DCS, as a partner, a suggested partner, a trusted partner to do that work. So, it really benefited Waller and Associates clients as well because now, they have a one stop shop for for their hardware software solutions, that that we will, that will spec for them. And let's look a little bit to the future as well. I mean, what are some of the key areas and trends that y'all are gonna be focusing on to drive growth and innovation in the market over the few years? Yeah. So one of the one of the big benefits for Waller and Associates is there's a lot of synergies between DCS and Waller and Associates, which is why we we work together in the past. So they the DCS brings, a great group of people, with a a diverse set of skills that we can now call on. So as we go to market and as we expand our services that that we're that we were already working on and and building those services, it really is gonna benefit our client because we can do more now. We can do more with internal resources where in the past, sometimes we had to to to go out and sub sub some things out. So there's a lot more potential to to really service our clients better by offering them more. And the plan is to continue growing Waller and Associates, and and really be a a even a stronger player than we already are in the market. Yeah. And and I would even take it a step further a little bit. I mean, we have been, over the last few years, developing products of our own. One of our biggest products is Datum. It's a software that we've developed as a WES. And by bolting on Waller onto the DCS portfolio of companies, they bring an operational expertise to our company, which is very important when we're dealing with our WES because they're advising, hey. This is something that y'all need, to be more effective for your end users. So it's allowing us to have that expertise to continue building a product that we see as the the next generation of WESs in the market that's gonna help us go to market and continue growing and saturating the market, with our brand and our products there. Let's talk challenges too. I mean, what are some of the biggest challenges currently facing the supply chain industry, and how is Waller and Associates addressing these challenges? Yeah. So, obviously, COVID, identified a lot of challenges to our clients that they may or may not have been aware of. There has been you know, since since COVID and and going back to work post COVID, there's significant in issues in workforce, whether it's retaining workers or obtaining workers. It's a huge challenge. Companies are looking at their end to end supply chains more carefully now. Where are things made? What is the extended supply chain? Is it the right supply chain? We have done more, logistics network analysis since COVID, you know, than we did, you know, the the probably the five years combined prior to that because people are are looking at their entire end to end supply chain strategy and their distribution network, especially within North America to support that. So what does that mean? That means with workforce issues, people are considering automation more. They're trying to, streamline their operations, both from a a process perspective, and a number of of facilities that support their customers. They're they're combining facilities to to make their distribution, network more efficient, more effective, and they're looking at how they're gonna service their customer, in a new environment post COVID. Well, also, I mean, technology is evolving so rapidly, so often. With all these advancements happening in addition to just changing global dynamics constantly, where do you see the future of supply chain consulting heading? Yeah. That's a great question. So supply chain has changed technology has changed more in the last five years than I saw it in the twenty five years prior. Robotics, the the ability to have, you know, goods to person systems. There's so many new solutions out there that are more cost effective, that are, more productive, and have the ability to to change what a workforce looks like. And so, as consultants, we need to be on the leading edge of that. We what our role is is to go to our clients and give them solutions that work for them, that have the ROI that they're looking for and the time period they're looking for, the right solution for their business, whether they're a a big box retailer or, you know, a food wholesaler. So and everything in between. So, it it's an exciting time to be in supply chain consulting because so much is changing so quickly, And most of those changes have a very positive impact on our clientele. Well, based on both of y'all's extensive experience, I mean, what advice would you give to businesses ultimately looking to optimize their supply chain operations in the environment that we have today? Yeah. So I I think my the biggest advice that I can give them or that I feel like the best advice that I could give them is supply change is is changing so rapidly. I I like to tell our clients, we're nothing but tour guides. Right? We we are just tour guides. We help them find the right solution without, without making mistakes along the way that that maybe myself or my my leadership team, has made in their careers. So, don't be afraid to go out and get that tour guide. Don't be afraid to get some help to go and look at this, Whether it's a third party consulting company, or a company like DCS that that has, hardware software solutions, find that tour guide that you trust, and and walk that path with them because it's gonna be a much easier path, and you're gonna have many more options to choose from, to get you to the right solution. Yeah. I was gonna say, well, Kurt, where would they find that tour guide? Yeah. And, I mean, Jeff and his team do a great job of very up to date on what technology are out there. And that would be my challenge to anybody who is looking at their supply chain to say things that you have looked at in the past now might be valuable because the market has changed so much. Technology is more affordable now than it's ever been. So it allows you to look at things that you looked at in the past, and it just didn't have that ROI. Well, now it is having that ROI because labor is different now. Technology, the the introduction of AI into the industry has making flexibility of the automation even more effective in the market. So don't be scared to take a step back and say, I've I've looked at this in the past. It never worked, but now it doesn't work. Right. So just taking that step back from what you've known in the past would be important. The climate is changing rapidly. Right? So, you know, just because something didn't work a couple years ago doesn't mean it's not gonna work now, And it's probably less expensive than it was a couple years ago. For sure. Well, that wraps up the conversation for today. So thank you to Jeff and Kurt for joining us on today's episode to discuss the future of supply chain consulting. It was a pleasure to have you both on the podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Of course. And as always, if you wanna learn more, please visit design conveyor dot com and look for this podcast wherever it is you get your podcast at. I've been your host, Gabrielle. Thanks for tuning in.
