Intro: You are listening to Behind the Ops presented by Tulip

Russ: I wanna believe in New Year, new me, but then I remember that months are just an arbitrary designation anyway. 

Madi: Do you have a New Year's resolution this year? 

Russ: No, I, I don't have a New Year's resolution, but we did get a swear jar in our house over winter break. So you could say that that's the resolution.

Madi: To save money. 

Russ: To save, to save my first grader from being thrown out of school. That's the resolution. And you know, collect a few bucks while we're at it. He wants to give the money to sick kids in the hospital. And I was like, that's very thoughtful of you.

Also stop swearing. 

Madi: That is thoughtful. So does the money come from you? Or if your kid swears you put money in the jar as well? 

Russ: If my, well man, that's, that's a good point. I probably should put money cuz it's my fault if he's saying bad words. 

Madi: But I feel like it should be a higher rate. Like you say a bad word, it's a dollar. Your kid says a bad word, it's $20. 

Russ: You know, on one hand that's double jeopardy, but on the other hand it's clearly my fault. He's, he's spending his tooth fairy money on the, on the swear jar, which is really sad. 

Madi: Okay, that is really sad. 

Yeah. So it's 2023 and it hasn't been 2023 long enough that we should forget about 2022.

So I was thinking 2022 superlatives.

Russ: I have a, I have another name for this. I call, I'm calling this our multiple choice best of 2022. 

Madi: I like multiple choice. 

Russ: Because I like to narrow it down. 

Madi: It's like choose your own adventure. Like there's a set amount of outcomes, but you decide where you end up.

Russ: So this is how this is gonna work. We're gonna trade off, we're gonna swap back and forth between a category and it's pre-selected nominees. And one of us will be the asker and the other one will be the chooser. And the chooser is gonna have to pick and justify the winner from the available categories.

Madi: All right. How about I start? And you can go first choosing. 

Russ: I'll be the first chooser. 

Madi: All right. So the category is unsung hero and the choices are augmentation, not automation, frontline operations, logistics, and QR codes.

Russ: All of logistics. Okay. Uh, well, I feel like QR codes are both loved and hated, but they're definitely unsung. 

Logistics, I don't feel like is unsung enough. It's pretty sung. It didn't used to be, but as of 2022 it was sung quite a lot. So I'm gonna go with it's, it's a close one here because I like augmentation as a nuanced increment from, from like the pure automation talk.

I don't wanna get rid of people, but I think frontline operations has to win. Because it's a more broad reaching category. So I'm giving, I'm giving unsung hero to frontline operations. Also given the craptacular three years that frontline operations had coming into and out of Covid. And I feel like we're just kind of the tail end of that, being less craptacular now.

Madi: So that's the unsung hero, frontline operations, unsung heroes for sure. All those folks who've been, uh, making stuff happen while the world goes crazy. 

Russ: Exactly. Uh, are you ready for yours? Your first category? 

Madi: I am, but I'm scared. 

Russ: You should be so peek behind how, how this happened. We got to these categories and the nominees by producer Jasmine and I coming up with this concept and writing all the categories.

So the only person who doesn't know all the categories and nominations is you, Madi. 

All right. With that being said, your category is best new artist. 

Madi: Okay? 

Russ: Not scary. You can handle it.

And the nominees are Dall E 2 and that's the only nominee. 

Madi: Okay. 

Russ: Do you know what this thing is? 

Madi: Is this the AI where you can do like historical portraits of yourself?

Russ: This is the AI that lets you just give a text based input and it will make art for you. 

Madi: You know, who's the unsung villain? Also Dall E 2. And also, please don't make these your profile pictures on LinkedIn. 

Russ: Why not?

Madi: I just wanna see what people actually look like. You know, I don't wanna see what you would look like as a superhero.

I wanna know what you would look like if I ran into you at a tradeshow. 

Russ: Where do you land on cartoons? You have a, you have a car, like a cartoon portrait of yourself on your LinkedIn profile? 

Madi: I... Against, like, I understand why people use avatars and I think actually they could be like really good proxies for like maintaining like anonymous identities and not getting like the baggage of your like gender or age or whatever on online communities.

Like totally supportive of that in a lot of spaces and not supportive of it on LinkedIn. 

Russ: That's fair. That's a specific space. I, so you got a twofer and I, because I'm in charge of this category, not of everything. I'm in charge of this category, so I, I added the best new villain category and gave it the award as well.

So Dall E so far, Dall E 2 is the only multiple, multiple winner. 

Madi: So next category is Augmented Lean. Three options. Hybrid remote work, outsourcing and talent strategy. 

Russ: This is tough. We covered augmentation, not automation. So obviously I'm a fan of the category. Generally. Outsourcing, I feel like is a tainted term, having grown up at the tail end of the Manufacturing, like nafta, offshoring debates.

But I think in this case, augmentation, Jasmine and I talked about this and we were talking about outsourcing as business model innovation that went with sort of the first category, the first nominee here, the hybrid remote work. So when you have software and tools and, and computers and mobile apps and all this stuff combined with internet, combined with, uh, the ability to like do remote work that didn't used to be remote all the time.

Then you have business model innovation that goes with that. And that gets you to sort of like the contract. And I, and I saw this specifically with people that were, and this is another Tulip plug here basically, but a tangential one. I saw a couple of postings this year for people that were, were hiring experts in Tulip.

Uh, not, not meaning hiring Tulip employees, but hiring independent individuals who would know how to build with Tulip. And that work was, some of these listings were contract work. Remote okay. And it was basically like we need somebody to come in and help us with our digital strategy and the implementation of this next Gen MES type of stuff.

And I think that business model innovation of the outsourcing, that's the piece that, that gets the nomination. And I'm still gonna poo poo it for the, for the win. Um, cuz I gotta give it to talent strategy.

Labor market's still strong, hard to find and retain people. So if you don't have a good talent strategy, you're gonna fail hard at Augmented lean. That's the win for me. 

Madi: I also feel like the talent strategy part, like if done well, can include components of the other two options here. So it's like, do I pick like a piece of the pie or like a very well baked pie in talent strategy.

Russ: I will always pick a pie if given the choice of a piece of pie or an entire pie.

Madi: Same. Pie over cake for sure.

Russ: Oh my. Oh, wow. So if the next category is baked desserts?

Madi: I guess I've already given away my choice. 

Russ: Well, the next category wasn't baked desserts, so we're gonna have another ad hoc award here. Okay. And while I type this up, here's your, here's your next real category. 

This one is oldies, but goodies. I think you're gonna like this one.

Okay. Continuous improvement is the first nominee. The second nominee, tribal knowledge. The third nominee is in-person events. And the final nominee in oldies, but goodies, people. 

Madi: Oh, well, I mean people, but like also continuous improvement. Like , I, I'm gonna dual award people and continuous improvement cuz continuous improvement only exists with people and you know, people I think can continue to be unsung heroes.

Russ: So continuous people is the, or is it, or is it people improvement? Which would you call it here? Am I cheating by forcing you to combine this ? 

Madi: We're trying to come up with a new definition here. I think if you look over the course of like the last year, and this is talent, industry changes, like evaluating where you actually need to invest, I think a, a clear spot that had been overshadowed in the past was definitely the importance of investing in people, supporting people, and also like enabling people to solve the problems that you're facing in this like constantly changing industry and world. And we often look for, and the royal, we often look for solutions outside of the folks that would be executing and implementing those solutions.

And so unsung hero winner of the category should definitely be people. 

Russ: We already picked frontline operations for the winner of Unsung Hero.

Madi: I know. I was bringing it back. 

Russ: It was such a good speech.

Madi: It's cuz the people are unsung heroes and that's why they need the award. 

Russ: You can't not pick people.

Madi: No, I, given the choice of all options, my bet is gonna be on people.

Russ: Okay. So we need to, we're gonna file a complaint with a nomination board for an overwhelming softball on oldies but goodies. 

Madi: I will say at the beginning of this, not knowing the categories I was like, I'm pro continuous improvement and then when putting my belief to the test, I immediately was like, I will choose something else.

So there you go. 

Russ: This is like if the nominees for best dessert were two cakes or a pie. 

Madi: The thing is, I can think of a scenario if like the pie was cherry and the cakes were like champagne and carrot, and they're like, which do you choose? I would definitely not choose the cherry pie . So that would also be like a, a back, a back slide.

All right. I have a category for you. 

Russ: All right. I just added two cakes to the nominees for best dessert, just to, for completeness sake. All right. You ready for the next one?

Madi: I am.

Russ: Your options for a category here are sustainability, or print's not dead. 

Madi: Did you say Prince not dead or Print's not dead?

Russ: Prince snot dead. I'm just kidding. There's no, there's no snot or prince. It is print. Sorry. Let me give the full form. Print is not dead. 

Madi: Let's go with that one. 

Russ: Print is not dead. Okay. The nominees for print is not dead for the 2022 best ofs, according to us, are additive Manufacturing/3D printing, vinyl records, the US Postal Service, film ,cameras and repeat nominee QR codes.

Madi: Well, first heads up to all you like additive marketers. Print's Not Dead is the brand campaign you need in 2023 for 3D printing. 

Russ: That's a freebie. We'll throw that one in. 

Madi: Yeah, and I was so distracted by the marketing distraction that I didn't hear all of the options , so what was it? 

Russ: Additive Manufacturing, vinyl records, US Postal Service, film cameras, and QR codes. 

Madi: Hmm. Here's another one where I'm really torn because I like hate to like vote against the US Postal Service like xo, xo, love you. However, I wanna say vinyl records are a big winner for 2022. I think like seeing the value in mediums that are dated and finding like new ways to enjoy them is a really cool theme.

And I think that that is basically what's happening with vinyl records like, Hear music in different dimension. People are discovering older music, um, that they wouldn't necessarily stumble upon on Spotify. And there's like something cool about listening to, like Taylor Swift Midnights on Vinyl versus Spotify.

Russ: That record is the first record to outperform CD sales since Michael Jackson. That's the, that's the vinyl factoid of the day. A tip to Producer jasmine for that one. 

Madi: We're gonna have to put the fact check there in the show notes. 

Russ: You know I heard it so it's gotta be true.

Madi: Okay, so your category is gonna be machine learning or machines learning.

Three options. You have wearables, voice assistance, and retargeting ads. 

Russ: What's the category again? 

Madi: Machines learning.

Russ: As in they're learning my whereabouts and consumption habits.

Madi: For retargeting ads, that's exactly what what they're learning. 

Russ: Yeah. wearables, voice assistance, retargeting. Retargeting ads is when you're having a conversation with your family and then all of a sudden you're getting an ad for tooth fairy shows because your home assistants heard you and your phone heard you and stuff. Is that what retargeting ads is? 

Madi: I actually have a really good story about retargeting ads. So when my then boyfriend, now husband was looking for engagement rings, he was like looking at different options and because we lived in the same place I was seeing engagement ring ads on my phone when I was like going to different websites and stuff like that, and I thought it was so weird. It wasn't weird. It was retargeting for my husband

Russ: oh man. So, so you didn't get busted.

Madi: No, because I was clueless, but the clues were there. 

Russ: People will complain. They're like, I, I didn't even say anything out loud. I just thought about it. And then I got an ad for, I'm just gonna say engagement rings again, and now we're both gonna start getting engagement ring ads. 

But I think that that's a misunderstanding of how often people just say or write on their phone exactly what's on their mind. So you thought, you only thought it, but actually your thought came out.

Madi: There's also just like marketer's perspective here, the targeting options for in market audiences or people who may be interested. I think we like to think as individuals, we're very unique from other people.

Russ: We do like to think that.

Madi: The combination of factors that make you interested in a thing are like, like other people who have historically been interested in that thing.

So once you start like feeling that way, there's other behaviors and things you're looking at that would help the data conclude that you'd be interested in it and that you can see the ad. That's not like quite retargeting, but it's like targeted ads, interest based, targeted ads. 

Russ: Madi hitting it outta the park today.

That was super intelligent and deep and thought-provoking.

Madi: You gotta get back to the Manufacturing stuff though. People our, our Manufacturing listeners don't wanna hear about ads. 

Russ: Well, I, I would argue with that a little bit. I, it was now, like probably four years ago, there were at least three competing voice control options for how to, how to control, this was CNC machine tools, but it was, there were at least three different options for how you would use voice commands with a CNC machine tool. 

And there were two camps. One was, it's error-prone and it's always listening and Big Brother complaints. There's a heavy load on server side resources that aren't necessarily available in all shops. And not to mention it's noisy and there's tons of interference. This will never work. It's a terrible idea. 

And the other camp was basically, you often need your hands in that environment, and therefore voice command is maybe not today, but it is the future at some point, and it's gonna happen. And the question is just whether the tech is actually ready for it.

Because the business, the business case is, you know, infallible and it's basically guaranteed to be a thing in the future. So, 2022 might be a little early for the wearables and voice assistance, but in an industrial space, I think that stuff is definitely, the business case is so clear that the only things left are organizational acceptance and then kind of like clearing out the last hiccups of how it really works.

But I'm not gonna give the award to retargeting ads though. I'm gonna give it to voice assistance by an edge, just barely, because I feel like it's slightly more mature in the industrial space now. So voice assistance wins the machine's learning category for me. 

Madi: Love it. Last category, and this is our cooperative discussion.

Russ: Joint category.

Madi: Is category of the year.

Russ: _Category of the year_. 

Madi: COTY! 

Russ: Ah, we found the marketer. 

Madi: Yeah. There we go. So here are the three options.

AI.

Russ: _AI_.

Madi: Automation.

Russ: _All of the automations_.

Madi: And supply chain. 

Russ: _Supply chain._

What was the category of 2022? 

Madi: It's so hard. I feel like actually there's like a clear third place here. And that's automation. 

Russ: Oh, clear loser automation. But I agree with that. 

Madi: So I feel like it's supply chain because while AI is making big moves, I think it's year is upcoming. Like I think when AI is providing like more process guidance versus just like, Regurgitating information that it's fed, that'll be its year, but it was a good year for it. It just, supply chain, I say was the, the category of the year. 

Russ: Is your rationale here that supply chain was on everybody's lips or fixed some of its problems or? I, I get the downside of, of ai. I agree with you completely. It's almost like that's, you know, up and coming for category of 2023.

Madi: I feel like supply chain has had its moment, right? Like sure, it was like on everyone's lips. We were all talking about supply chain, but I think there's also just like additional emphasis and focus and thinking about how to make those systems more resilient to change than there had been previously because of like just the major disruption of Covid and other global geopolitical events.

Russ: Yeah. If 2020 was panic over pandemic, then 2021 was panic over supply chain disruption. 2022 was the year of getting your feet back under you and sorting out where there was actual real hope there and problems persist, but the optimism came back there as opposed to the Scrambly panic. 

Madi: Exactly. I think that's right. That's a right on description. 

Russ: Settling in for the long haul of supply chain pain. 

Madi: And you know, AI definitely has some heroes and villains that we can talk about this year, but I think the real protagonist is, uh, upcoming. If this was, if, if AI was a fantasy epic, we haven't met the protagonist yet, we're just kind of getting the backstory characters. 

Russ: Well in 2023, AI front runner for a category of the year 2023. 

From the made up multiple choice best of 2023. 

Madi: Exactly. 

Russ: Brought to you by Behind the Ops, sponsored by Tulip. 

Madi: See you next time?.

Russ: See you next time. 

Outro: Behind the Ops is brought to you by Tulip. Connect the people, machines, devices, and systems used in your production and logistics processes with our frontline operations platform. Visit tulip.Co to learn more. 

This show is produced by Jasmine Chan and edited by Thom Obarski. If you enjoyed listening support the show by leaving us a quick rating or review. It really helps. If you have feedback for this or any of our other episodes, you can reach us at behindtheops@tulip.co