For links and show notes, mouse over the player and click the 
.
Transcript
Chris Grossman serves as the chief commercial officer of Spectaire. Grossman has served as chief technology officer of Spectaire since its formation in September 2022.
Prior to joining Spectaire, Grossman served as President of Quantum Fleet Technology America’s Ltd. from November 2018 through August 2022. From 2013 through October 2018, Grossman was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zovy LLC. Prior to Zovy, Grossman served in multiple roles, including Vice President of Engineering, at Rand Worldwide, Inc.
Grossman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His professional focus is in the areas of digital information analysis and more specifically, causation and correlation in statistical analytics.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 00:00
Vehicle-emission program changes in California. The growth of 3PL markets. And manufacturers adopt new technologies. Pull up a chair and join us as the editors of DC Velocity discuss these stories, as well as news and supply chain trends, on this week's Logistics Matters podcast.
Hi, I'm Dave Maloney. I'm the group editorial director at DC Velocity. Welcome.
Logistics Matters is sponsored by nVision Global. NVision Global is a leader in global freight management solutions and services, specializing in freight [audit and] payment, order management, supply management, visibility, TMS, and freight-spend analytics. Their end-to-end solutions and services enable you to manage your entire global shipment processes within the confines of a single easy-to-use platform. Interested in saving 7 to 12% or more on your freight spend? Check out nVisionGlobal.com.
As usual, our DC Velocity senior editors Ben Ames and Victoria Kickham will be along to provide their insights into the top stories of this week. But to begin today: it's often said that as California goes, so goes the nation. Often other states follow the regulations that the Golden State adopts, and recently, there was a new agreement in the emissions programs that may affect transportation nationwide. To find out the details, here has been with today's guest.
Ben.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 01:29
Thanks, Dave. Yeah, logistics providers throughout U.S. supply chains are working hard to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions. That's an important step, because some estimates say that more than a third — 37% of global emissions — come from transportation. Toward that end, a few weeks ago, truck makers and the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, agreed to a plan where California will relax its existing pollution standards, and in return, truck makers, also known as OEMs, or original equipment manufacturers, will meet the state's zero-emission targets. But it's not as easy as it sounds. That's because emissions have to be calculated, not precisely measured. So, here to talk with us today about those opportunities and the challenges is Chris Grossman. He's the chief technology officer at Spectaire, a company that's responsible for creating the first mobile mass spectrometer. Welcome, Chris.
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 02:27
Thank you.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 02:28
Appreciate your coming here. First of all, Chris, for our listeners who might not be familiar, could you describe briefly what Spectaire does and how that fits into the logistics and transportation sector?
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 02:39
Absolutely, yes. Spectaire [indistinct word] is a team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who, after a hiking trip by one of the professors, realized that, you know, collecting environmental samples and having them analyzed via mass spectrometry, which is the proper way to understand at a molecular level what is in a[n] air sample, they would often degrade by the time they got back to the lab, and so he, as most engineers do oftentimes, said "I wish I had a way to solve this problem," and he went along the process of trying to find a way to put a mass spectrometer in a backpack. Fast-forward 20 years, his son Brian had then picked up that project, with no real commercial application in mind. The aggressive movement towards emissions management and emissions targets now made a commercial application for a mobile mass spectrometer, where now we're able to measure emissions from any device anywhere in the world, essentially bringing the lab to the samples and no longer requiring us to bring samples to the lab for measuring air emissions.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 03:46
Gotcha, impressive stuff. Now, in the introduction, we had talked about how California and the truck makers recently reached an agreement about the emissions that we're talking about here. Could you summarize how that agreement works?
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 04:01
I can. So, you know, we think that the agreement itself represents the latest and what is you know, 20 years of progression towards reducing emissions in the logistics space, and specifically with heavy-duty trucks. There [are] two very important sectors at play here. One is the universal understanding of the need to reduce the harmful emissions that are being put in the environment, while at the same time respecting the necessity of trucking companies to continue their operations, as they represent over 70% of all the goods that we enjoy at our grocery stores and hospitals, and so balancing those two very important industries and getting them to come to an agreement on any steps towards progressing towards less emissions is critical to have them working together. This latest step of setting realistic targets for emissions reduction and realistic times for, timeframes for achieving them, we think is critical and a great step forward.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 05:01
Sounds encouraging, sounds great on paper, but I know that it's not as simple as it sounds. You say that, as we've mentioned up higher, those emissions have to be calculated, not measured, so it sounds like that adds another level of complication. Can you maybe walk us through who measures the emissions and why there's a difference in between the emissions levels when the companies calculate versus measure?
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 05:27
Absolutely. So the — you know, one of the things that we're very focused on in Spectaire is that they're, the trucking companies, this step that's been taken in California echoes movements that have been made globally towards mitigating emissions, and there's many, many truck companies that have been trying to move and have been moving their business more and more progressively towards lower emissions. The challenge is, is that emissions on a moving truck on a highway is very difficult to create accurate measurements for, and so that there's a necessity for estimates. These estimates are based upon the size of the vehicle, and either how many miles and kilometers, or liters and gallons of either gas or diesel are used. And exclusively utilizing those very simple calculations creates vast differences between the actual emissions that the trucks are creating and just what the calculators say that they are, and so the goal that we have with Spectaire is through accurate measurements of emissions, what we're going to do is bridge that gap between what's actually being emitted out of the tailpipes of trucks and what's calculated out of the emissions of templates of trucks, and we think that that is a tremendous benefit to the truck owners themselves.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 06:40
That makes sense. Thank you. So that, our listeners are really, you know, in the trucking and logistics industry. Can you explain the how Spectaire's mobile mass spectrometer impacts a company's emissions?
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 06:54
Absolutely. So, the way that we really impact a trucking company is quite simple, which is that we find that most trucking companies have taken steps towards reducing their emissions over the last 15 to 20 years, whether that be through the purchasing of newer-model trucks, whether that be through improved driver training, the use of different biodiesel fuels, there are steps that are taken either because of manufacturing standards, or just due to the responsibility of the trucking companies to reduce those overall emissions. However, there's no way for those trucking companies to get the benefits of those reduced emissions, because they can't quantify those reductions. We make a very simple example: If I'm a trucking company, and I have to purchase a single new truck, I have a decision that I can purchase a brand-new truck, 2022, 2023 model-year truck, or I can purchase an older used truck from the year 2000. The benefit I get purchasing an older truck is that I get, I don't have to incur the services cost that comes with emissions-mitigation technology. So, responsible truck owners oftentimes purchase newer trucks, which dramatically reduce emissions, but they do so at the result of a higher maintenance cost, as well as associated maintenance steps that have to be done to allow these emission systems to perform. So, in essence, what they're choosing is, they're choosing to reduce the overall emissions of the truck at the expense of their own cost, when not getting any benefits to those emissions reductions.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 08:28
Gotcha. So, it's, this is a really tough balancing act that you're describing here. And I appreciate you're describing some of the steps that have already been taken over time here. I know that both sides have been working hand in hand. It's a bumpy and often fractious affair to get toward these goals, but it sounds like we're making some progress. Do you have any other ideas on what else OEMs, those truck makers, or the fleets who drive the vehicles can do to keep on reaching those regulation guidelines and cutting emissions, like we're saying?
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 08:59
I do. I think — the conflict, I think, doesn't come from a disassociation of goals. I genuinely do believe that most trucking companies believe that, you know, producing cleaner air or less pollutants into the air is a good thing, and most truckers and trucking companies want newer trucks as well. The frustration comes as a result, in my opinion, of frustration we would all feel, which is not getting credit for the steps that are being taken. Again, using the example of a 2022 truck versus a 2000 model-year truck, the difference in emissions is 60 times. So by picking the 2022 model-year truck, I'm reducing my emissions 60 times over purchasing and model-2000 truck yet all the current reporting calculators do not factor that in. So you can imagine if you are taking the investments to reduce your emissions by 60 times but not getting any benefits in being able to report that reduction. My belief is, it's not the, there's not a frustration in the emissions standards themselves; it's the frustration that when I take the steps to reduce the emissions, that I can't report them properly, because I have no way to measure them.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 10:09
Really interesting stuff. I learned a lot here, and I think this will help all of our listeners as we continue down the road. Chris, I really appreciate your spending time with us on the show.
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 10:20
Thank you very much. I appreciate the time.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 10:23
Our guest today has been Chris Grossman, CCO at Spectaire. Back to you, Dave.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 10:28
Thank you, Chris and Ben. Now let's take a look at some of the other supply chain news from the week. And, Victoria, you wrote this week about some new research into the 3PL market. What can you tell us?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 10:40
Yes, that's right, Dave. So, I can tell you that demand for third-party logistics services, or 3PL services, as you noted, is on the rise, and that's due to a range of factors that we often discuss here on the podcast and in the pages of the magazine, including things like the effects of e-commerce activity and technology adoption. And this is all according to recent market research from a company called Fact.MR. They released data this week showing that the 3PL market size is expected to grow by a nearly 8% compound annual growth rate over the next several years, reaching more than $2.1 billion by 2032.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 11:20
That's impressive growth, Victoria. What specific technologies and trends are spurring that growth?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 11:25
Well, a few things. The report points to the adoption of quote "smart technologies" by 3PLs as a major contributor to the attractiveness of the market. Essentially, 3PLs are applying things like machine learning and artificial intelligence in various ways to improve their service capabilities. More broadly, the research points to e-commerce activity and its prevalence as a way of doing business; a surge in industrial activity worldwide; and demand for outsourced logistics services in general as growth drivers. A few other points I thought were interesting: by industry, manufacturing is expected to be the dominant force in driving 3PL growth, but healthcare will also stimulate demand. That's largely because of the need for medicines and vaccines worldwide, but also because of a growing emphasis on outsourcing logistics services in that industry. Regionally, the United States is expected to make the greatest contribution to developing the market, and that'll be driven by demand for cold storage, which is another topic we talk about frequently here, and write about. And Asia-Pacific is expected to see the fastest growth during the forecast period, and that forecast period, I should have said earlier, was from 2022 to 2032, so we're looking at 10 years. And the growth in Asia-Pacific during that time is supposed to be about 10%, so a bit higher than the overall expected growth trend of around 8%. So, that's what we're looking at.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 12:50
Yeah, and those are good numbers, so growth of any kind is always good news these days.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 12:54
Absolutely.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 12:55
Thanks, Victoria.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 12:56
You're welcome.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 12:57
And Ben, you wrote about some new research that shows how manufacturers are changing the way they adopt new technologies. Can you share what you learned?
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 13:07
Yeah, I'm glad to. This has to do with one of the main themes that we've been covering in recent months, which, of course, is supply chain disruptions. You know, we don't have to list the reasons — pandemic inflation, port delays, all that. One consequence of that overall trend is that the manufacturing sector is under closer scrutiny than it has been in years, whether those factories are in China, Europe, India, U.S., wherever. So, the consulting firm Forrester Research this week released a set of predictions looking into the new year about how all those factors will affect the way that so-called smart manufacturing firms deploy new technologies in 2024. The backdrop for this is that Forrester says that different regions have been using what they call lavish subsidies and political clout in a race to attract and to retain strategic manufacturing capacity. But it turns out that it's been harder than it sounds, because if you think about it, factories tend to have large, installed, expensive physical assets, and those are pretty tough to simply shift around the world.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 14:19
That's true, Ben, you just can't pick up a factory and move it easily. Did the report have specific examples of the technologies used in smart manufacturing?
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 14:30
They did. They're talking about four different, specific things here, where they see that there might be some changes in how manufacturers use them in the coming year. The first one, they were talking about the industrial metaverse. It's somewhat gratifying to say that Forrester sort of criticizing that as kind of a silly marketing term. They say that the mere phrase "industrial metaverse" was actually just kind of a buzzword for grouping together some pre-existing technologies, so as that buzz wears off, they say that companies will go back to those original ones, and those building blocks are things like augmented reality, the internet of things, and digital twins. Second, generative AI, Forrester says, will not transform the business of manufacturing in 2024. Part of that is just that manufacturers tend to be cautious, because any mistakes that get made could lead to really high costs — lost productivity or damaged machines, this kind of thing. The third one is, they say that a lot of Fortune 500 manufacturers are going to dilute their plans to bring manufacturing home again, also known as reshoring. That's related to what we said a little bit higher up. Again, some of the early movers in that space have found it harder than expected to do. And finally, fourth, they said that autonomous vehicle investors, companies that are getting into this, are looking for quicker returns. Forrester says that we're still not seeing a flood of self-driving cars on the public roads, for various reasons — technical challenges, regulatory and legislative hurdles, things like that — but Forrester points out that automated vehicles, for a couple of years now, have been successful in more controlled environments. They pointed to warehouses, factories, ports. So expect to see more of that.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:27
Those are all some very interesting technologies, and of course, we'll continue to see how they are being implemented in manufacturing operations as we move on.
Chris Grossman, Chief Commercial Officer, Spectaire 16:36
Yeah, we'll keep a close eye on it.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:37
Thank you, Ben.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 16:39
Glad to.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:40
We encourage listeners to go to DCVelocity.com for more on these and other supply chain stories. Also check out the podcast Notes section for some direct links to read more about the topics that we discussed today.
Again, our thanks to Chris Grossman of Spectaire for being our guest. We welcome your comments on this topic and our other stories. You can email us at podcast@dcvelocity.com.
We also encourage you to subscribe to Logistics Matters at your favorite podcast platform. Our new episodes are uploaded each Friday.
Speaking of subscribing, check out our sister podcast series Supply Chain in the Fast Lane. It's coproduced by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and Supply Chain Quarterly. Search "Supply Chain in the Fast Lane" wherever you get your podcasts.
Logistics Matters is sponsored by nVision Global. NVision Global is a leader in global freight management solutions and services, specializing in freight audit and payment, order management, supplier management, visibility, TMS, and freight-spend analytics. Their end-to-end solutions and services enable you to manage your entire global shipment processes within the confines of a single easy-to-use platform. Interested in saving 7 to 12% or more on your freight spend? Check out nVisionGlobal.com.
We'll be back again next week with another edition of Logistics Matters. Be sure to join us. Until then, have a great week.
Articles and resources mentioned in this episode:
- The 3PL market is poised for growth
- Forrester Research says smart manufacturing firms will slow tech rollouts in 2024
- Visit Supply Chain Quarterly
- Listen to CSCMP and Supply Chain Quarterly's Supply Chain in the Fast Lane podcast
- Listen to Supply Chain Quarterly's Top 10 Supply Chain Threats podcast
Go to main Logistics Matters archives page | 2022 archives | 2021 archives | 2020 archives
