Art of Supply

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Art of Supply

Join us as we draw inspiration from news headlines and expert interviews to bring you insightful coverage of today’s complex supply chains.

Dial P for Procurement, hosted by Kelly Barner, takes a critical but unbiased look at current events, ongoing trends, and dynamics in global supply chains. Intended to make users think, each episode tells the story of a different complex issue by prioritizing reality over simplicity.

17/09/2026

A single freight load bound for an AI data center can now be worth $20 to $30 Million.
📦 https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-inside-the-rise-of-cargo-theft

That number is reshaping what cargo thieves target, according to Keith Lewis, Vice President of Operations at Verisk CargoNet.

In this episode of Art of Supply, Keith walks Kelly Barner through purchased MC numbers, misdirected loads, and why perishable and durable freight face completely different odds of recovery once stolen.

15/09/2026

At the peak of production during WWII, Ford's Willow Run plant in Michigan produced one B-24 Liberator bomber every hour.

Eighty years later, the U.S. Army is asking for a truck Detroit already builds, then handing Detroit a rulebook that changes what the truck is allowed to be made of and how they need to map their supply chains.

The truck isn't the hard part. That is what Detroit does best. The hard part is the rules Ford and GM will have to follow to build it - and fast.

In this edition of the Art of Supply newsletter, Kelly Barner looks at the contracts awarded to Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Bc Customs to build prototypes of the ISV-H in the context of an executive order restricting who they can source from and the information they will have to track about their supply chains.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/did-uncle-sam-sabotage-his-own-truck-order-kelly-barner-q0bbc

10/09/2026

On July 20th, an executive order tightened the rules on how defense contractors source critical materials. Seven days later, the U.S. Army gave Ford and GM a contract to build a military truck - but how?

🎧 https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-detroit-can-build-it-but-can-detroit-source-it

Executive Order 14415 restricts waivers for materials sourced from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. It also requires contractors to trace their supply chains back to their raw material origins. It applies directly to two companies that just won a major new defense contract.

In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner covers what the new rules require, and whether Ford Motor Company and General Motors can meet them on the U.S. Army's schedule.

08/09/2026

According to Curtis Spencer, CEO at IMS Worldwide, Inc, tariffs are slowly but surely bringing production back to the United States, but that doesn't mean the journey is the same for every company.

Trade policies can be working overall while your individual supply chain becomes "one of the bodies falling off left and right," as he puts it.

In this edition of the Art of Supply newsletter, Curtis and Kelly Barner talk about the huge growth of foreign-trade zones in the United States, the answers they offer in today's trade climate, and the number one reason companies stop short of seizing the 10-to-1 opportunity they represent.

https://lnkd.in/eeFZzCah

03/09/2026

For most of the last sixty years, the average U.S. tariff rate was two and a half percent. The floor is now around 20.

📦 https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-foreign-trade-zones-in-a-20-percent-tariff-environment

Curtis Spencer, CEO of IMS Worldwide, Inc, has worked in foreign-trade zones for more than four decades. That is long enough to watch the U.S. go from 12 zones to nearly 302.

He walks through the math that has companies revisiting a 1934 program: a multinational absorbing $20 Million in added tariff cost, $4.5 Million of it recoverable in a zone, at roughly $400,000 a year to operate.

Kelly Barner and Curtis cover FTZ economics, substantial transformation, and what "reasonable care" requires as enforcement steps up.

01/09/2026

Who is responsible when a truck driver causes a horrific accident?

Is it the driver? The carrier? The freight broker? The shipper?

As recent legal rulings show, it depends on the circumstances, but the trend seems to be towards freight brokers having more liability than they've had in the past (more than they would like).

The net effect of that could be higher costs for shippers and consumers.

In this edition of the Art of Supply newsletter, Kelly Barner looks into three recent court cases involving all of the parties listed above to see where judges and juries are drawing the line on liability.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/604-million-question-who-controls-driver-kelly-barner-zf7ae

27/08/2026

A Dallas County jury just returned the largest ever verdict against a freight broker: $604 Million

⚖️ https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-the-604-million-freight-broker-liability-verdict

The jury assigned C.H. Robinson 23% of the responsibility for a fatal highway accident, then separately found the driver to be operating as their “borrowed employee,” raising its effective exposure to roughly 68% of the award.

Analysts have warned the uncertainty could push up to 20% of carriers out of consideration for work.

In this week’s Art of Supply, Kelly Barner examines the line between the two and what increased freight broker liability might do to capacity and prices.

20/08/2026

50% of the thousands of employees TrailPath Workplace Solutions has measured are either declining or just surviving at work.

🎧 https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-what-dignity-of-work-means-for-supply-chain-operations

They are not thriving, certainly not growing, so how much can they be doing for your supply chain?

Robert O. Martichenko, board chair of TrailPath and a 30-year supply chain operations veteran, joins Kelly Barner in this episode of Art of Supply to explain what's driving that number and what it has to do with how companies source materials.

18/08/2026

Dramas, distractions, and deployments - you can't make up stories like the one behind Windrose Technology Inc.

All fast-growth companies run lean on cash and take chances; that's par for the course, but this long-haul EV truck company has had more than their fair share.

Two former employees have allegedly taken a $285K truck hostage as they work to collect $91K in back pay. Another former employee sued Windrose and was awarded $413K by a Federal court because the company failed to respond.

There are also questions about accurate VIN assignments, the risk of China's Decrees 834 and 835 looming, and interest from Nikola founder Trevor Milton... but Windrose isn't pulling back on plans for a $2 Billion IPO.

In this edition of the Art of Supply newsletter, Kelly Barner runs through these details and more.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/which-define-windrose-trucks-scandals-kelly-barner-wng6c

13/08/2026

Windrose Technology has raised $400M, built a competitive electric semi-truck, and is reportedly chasing a $2B IPO.
https://artofprocurement.com/blog/supply-the-285000-electric-truck-nobody-can-find

At the same time, they are also facing a $413K wage judgment, a missing $285K vehicle, and questions about a VIN that says a China-built truck was made in Georgia.

In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner digs into what happens when product innovation outpaces organizational discipline, and what it means for the companies vetting innovative and fast-growing (if unorthodox) electric trucking companies.

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