Boy, I Outsourced My Manufacturing to Vietnam

Each month, Tony Uphoff, visionary CEO of Thomasnet.com, joins
Cloud Wars Live for a recurring segment. “Uphoff on Industry”
will explore the innovations, upheavals, and breakthroughs
reshaping the the world of manufacturing and industrial markets.
Join Tony and me as we discuss disruptive new trends in the
digital-industrial world. These include how we design, source and
manufacture products. And also the new ways in which industrial
companies are getting up to speed on marketing, sales and
customer experience.


Episode 8


In this episode, Tony and I begin with his podcasts, which are
available at the Thomas Industry Update and on every major
platform such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. Karen Norheim was
on Episode 3. She is president and COO of American Crane &
Equipment Corporation and Tony said she is doing some really
innovative things.


He says tariffs are constantly in the headlines, and you can’t
predict the impact – we don’t know what’s going to happen. He
suggests that companies are identifying localized supply chains
as their backup – if not their primary.


Tony says upwards of 75% of trading relationships are paid via a
traditional purchase order or traditional check, rather than
e-invoicing or electronic payments – which seems astounding to
him.


He goes on to say that, “Boy I outsourced my manufacturing to
Vietnam.” If you own the supply chain, he says, you know how long
it takes to ship it back – and the loss or breakage along the
way.


Tony says companies now have dashboards up in a centralized
service area, and they will have a physical camera showing all
the different components of their supply chain – so if anything
were to happen, they can move in real-time.


Tony says he gets several emails every day saying, “I stumbled
across your profile, and I thought we should connect.” He
imagines that if you’re an industry tradeshow and you see the CEO
of a customer company and walk over and go, “Hey I just happened
to stumble upon you.”


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