From Soil to Strategy: Inside The Transformation Shaping the Future of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company

00:00:09:14 - 00:00:23:00 Welcome to All Business. No Boundaries., a collection of supply chain stories by DHL Supply Chain, the North American leader in contract logistics. I'm your host, Will Heywood.

This is a place for in-depth discussions on the difference DHL makes on 00:00:23:00 - 00:00:25:04 your supply chain challenges. 00:00:25:06 - 00:00:47:09 Today's episode is from Soil to Strategy: Inside the Transformation Shaping the Future of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Let's dive in. All right, well, let's set the scene.

We're fresh off the stage at Manifest 2026. David was up there with, with us and FIGS as well. So that was fun. Good way to get the day going in Las Vegas.

00:00:47:11 - 00:00:57:00 Appreciate you both joining. We're going to start the way we always do. So I'm going to ask you to introduce yourselves. Your name, your title, who you work for, and what do you do there?

Perfect. Start with you, Logan. 00:00:57:01 - 00:01:16:07 Yeah. Awesome.

Logan Potere. I've been with Scott's now for five years as you know, stepping into a new role here recently, working with David on transformation. As we move our ERP from our standard legacy, you know, 30 year old box to our brand new cloud version that's S/4HANA. I'll be leading our procure to pay vertical so things supply chain, right?

00:01:16:07 - 00:01:35:08 Our our distribution. Supply chain manufacturing, PLN, procurement. Through our transformation, which is great. Obviously, base goal is to get from, old system to new system, but really massive goal is to lead, transformation and a lot maximum value.

So very excited to be here. 00:01:35:11 - 00:01:41:02 Well, congratulations, a big task. Obviously you've earned some trust over there. So a little bit.

All right, David, how about you? 00:01:41:02 - 00:02:02:05 Yeah. So, been with Scott's five years as well. I started, like, I don't know, maybe two weeks after Logan.

Yeah. Something along those lines. Just recently. Similar.

Right. He and I, both of me down a supply chain. Prior to that, led all of distribution, planning and customer experience. All that fun jazz, but, now leading up, you know, Head of Transformation, right.

00:02:02:05 - 00:02:20:23 And so we have, a ton of opportunity as a company to, you know, frankly, invest in technology, invest in people. And, you know, we're 156 years old, right? And, the reality is, is where we want to get is going to require a lot of change. Yeah.

And we get the opportunity to, to, to lead that. 00:02:20:23 - 00:02:36:16 So I know Logan is the one that that makes me look good on the supply chain side. So that is that is why he's got the procure to pay space. You know, he's, a strong understanding of that end-to-end.

So we're really excited about what's ahead. I mean, it's a he said it's an tall task ahead. Yeah. 00:02:36:17 - 00:02:38:03 You know, it's a great opportunity for us.

00:02:38:03 - 00:02:42:11 So. And so you both arrived about the same time. Where were you before? What were you doing, Logan?

00:02:42:13 - 00:02:43:18 Ah, we were both at Anheuser-Busch. 00:02:43:19 - 00:02:46:03 Oh. You were? Yeah.

So there's some history here. 00:02:46:03 - 00:03:00:03 That's a little bit of history, but, yeah, I was just recently at the Columbus Brewery leading their supply chain function, but I was there for a decade across sales, logistics, FB&A, supply chain. So really broad background. Background.

00:03:00:07 - 00:03:13:17 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, another not new company, Anheuser-Busch.

But what was it like going into a 156 year old company? What did you see when you got there? I think it was pandemic time or close to you. So what was that like?

00:03:13:19 - 00:03:36:14 Yeah. I mean, I will tell you this. I was at AB, it was nine years. We were like ten.

First of all, I did not realize the first class education that you were getting in a business. You know, AB is one of those companies that really is just unbelievably well ran and structured. So coming out of that into, you know, Scotts, for example, you know, there was some real quick wins, with driving structure. 00:03:36:20 - 00:03:46:03 Scotts was just coming off of COVID where, you know, everything was going gangbusters.

Right. They could not make enough volume to to keep up with demand because everybody's stuck at home. 00:03:46:04 - 00:03:46:19 Yeah. 00:03:46:21 - 00:04:03:00 And they want to be in their lawn.

They want to be outside because there's nowhere else to go. Right? So we saw that big boom happen, and we came in and frankly, like got to ride that wave a little bit, but then also had to help lean in and make some course corrections. Yeah.

Classic supply chain bullwhip. 00:04:03:04 - 00:04:04:08 Right. Right. Overall.

00:04:04:08 - 00:04:06:11 So yeah probably a big bullwhip. 00:04:06:13 - 00:04:08:02 Very very, very big one. 00:04:08:04 - 00:04:13:21 Yeah. So what were the kinds of things that you needed to do to to course correct post COVID?

00:04:13:23 - 00:04:32:17 Yeah. I mean, the first thing was get our inventory correct. Right. I mean, for us and a distribution model, we had 16 or 17 DC's, 7.

5 million square feet shipping finished goods. And that's a function of how much inventory you have to haul. Right. And so you talked about it on stage data analytics a lot of people muscle.

00:04:32:17 - 00:05:01:06 Right. To get our inventory in position. We worked obviously very well with you to get that done. But I think the biggest challenge, frankly, was the people side of it.

And I think my team, who did an amazing job getting the plans in place. Right. Opening the warehouses, closing the warehouses, the inventory plans, etc. I would hate for me to say that, but we really need to get people to believe that we can operate this model on a drastically smaller network, focused where our customers were and the right campus environments with our 3PLs to make it happen.

00:05:01:11 - 00:05:19:02 Yeah, I would say, I want to quote into that, like there were a lot of headwinds. Scotts had had a pretty expansive network for a long time. Not just not even just because of the COVID growth, but just in general, like there had been a pretty vast footprint. You know, we're very service first mindset when it comes to our retailers.

00:05:19:02 - 00:05:40:00 And so proximity helps with that. Yeah. The headwinds of really showing the data to say like, no, we can still service you know, with a high fill rate and a high on time with at a, you know, a more narrow network. That was the challenge that frankly, we had to really navigate.

I think Logan did a good job of building that case. 00:05:40:00 - 00:06:00:15 And I think the other thing that was fast and I'll never forget it, he tells the story better than I do. But, he had built this really good roadmap. That was frankly a three year journey on how do we reoptimize our network based off where we believe our inventory could go, that we were using AI technology to really remap what our inventory even looks like.

00:06:00:15 - 00:06:19:02 And he kind of, you know, layered on like, how do we reshape our network? He had this great plan built, and I was like, love this three years. Let's execute it, it naturally you know, matched up with leases, expired all of this. Well, we ran into, you know, I would say some financial headwinds and we needed to make some moves and pull some levers.

00:06:19:02 - 00:06:42:08 Yeah. Quickly. And, you know, frankly, I call Logan and I'm like, hey, you know, that three year plan? How do we do it next year?

Yeah. And and they did it. It was unbelievable. And, you know, it's funny because I'll look at it.

I'm like, wow, that was way easier than I thought. And I hate to say that, but I know, like when the Logan's team was in the thick of it, they could open and close a warehouse like you wouldn't believe now. 00:06:42:08 - 00:06:54:13 Which isn't necessarily a skill set you want to have, though. It was crazy to watch how his team just went all in on it, and it drove some significant savings for our company.

00:06:54:14 - 00:06:54:22 Yeah. 00:06:54:23 - 00:07:10:01 So, yeah, everyone remembers their anniversary, right? Or. And they're kids are born.

It was a Tuesday after Memorial Day 2023, 11:00. He calls me is like, yeah, that plan, you know, can you have it on my desk by Friday of how we can do it started in two months. I'm like you got it perfect. 00:07:10:05 - 00:07:13:04 And he said it was easy to pull off.

Was it easy for you? 00:07:13:05 - 00:07:32:10 I was again, I credit all to my team. Yeah. They probably looked like ducks or geese on water.

Very graceful, but going a million miles an hour underneath the surface. I would say no. But again, we were very transparent with I mean, you guys were our major partner in that with what we needed to achieve. 00:07:32:13 - 00:07:49:17 Yeah.

And I think our teams internally worked very well cross-functionally on how do we not affect the customer? How do we move inventory? You know, where do we already have robust distribution networks? I think the Midwest has some example.

Right. We had a great footprint there. So how do you leverage some of those. Yeah.

You know, key foundation 00:07:49:17 - 00:08:10:05 to make it happen. Yeah. So so maybe a step backwards. So you're new in the business.

You know we talk a lot about AI systems, robotics, all the sexy stuff. But it's up at the base there are people. Right. So how did you win the trust of your team to be able to execute at that level?

Because, I mean, you would have to have them on board and with you, to pull that off. 00:08:10:06 - 00:08:33:08 Yeah. I mean, I'm a huge believer in setting a Northstar, right? And being transparent.

And so we didn't shy away from the challenges that we had as a company, the role that we could play in that and having them, the I will say the, the, the key, you know, team that's actually building that plan. Yeah, right. He and I joke relevant that we live in "should be" land. It should work this way.

00:08:33:08 - 00:08:52:22 Why doesn't it work? That's right. You know that our teams are the ones that kind of keep us grounded. But they were the ones that really helped shape.

Okay, this is how our inventory will phase down at one site versus the other. This is how we'll turn on a site from a technology perspective, etc.. So you have them at the foundational layer being part of that plan. 00:08:53:00 - 00:08:56:12 With the NorthStar involved and I think they really start to believe, I don't.

00:08:56:12 - 00:09:18:19 People want direction, the right people want to know where they're going, why they're going there. And I think that that's unbelievably important to convey. And yeah, I think Logan, our whole team has done a really good job of of messaging that to ensure if you ask anybody in our team at all levels within the organization, like they know what our priorities are, they know where we're going and they know why and how they impact it. 00:09:18:19 - 00:09:24:10 And they think that really drives unbelievable buy in and outcomes when you can create that vision.

00:09:24:10 - 00:09:26:17 Yeah. The what the why is important isn't it. Yeah. 00:09:26:17 - 00:09:48:11 And I'll tell you like I think build a really good team in terms of outside experience or differing experience.

Right. And so that one way to think about it are we've always done it this way is definitely a challenged in our team. Yep. And when we challenge the status quo.

And so I feel like the change manager was really those kind of layers above us to make them believe that, yeah, this is possible. 00:09:48:11 - 00:09:52:08 Here's the data and like give us a little bit of trust. And I think we've shown that. 00:09:52:08 - 00:10:08:03 over the last year.

We've made some strategic investments in our org structure. Right. So obviously we had a network that had been the way it was for quite some time. They had an org that had been the way it was for quite some time as well.

And we kind of took that opportunity to pivot what that org structure looked like. 00:10:08:07 - 00:10:26:14 You know, we centralized a control tower. That was all, you know, out in the field. It was not a centralized effort before we were able to bring in some really strong talent there that was able to think differently.

We invested heavily in analytics, as a team. You know, I would say there was some support there, but it wasn't expansive enough. 00:10:26:16 - 00:10:33:10 And so we really took the opportunity to invest in the right org to and that propelled the team's ability. 00:10:33:12 - 00:10:54:16 Yeah.

Good, good. So one of the things that we talked about on the stage was the importance of kind of understanding your business profile. What's the products you're selling, who you're selling to, what the implications are to your supply chain overall. How much do you here you can really push the envelope in terms of innovation?

I know a lot of people are familiar with Scott's from there. 00:10:54:18 - 00:10:59:07 You know, weekend honey do list and the like. But but maybe just talk about. 00:10:59:08 - 00:11:01:06 I'm sorry, your product portfolio.

00:11:01:08 - 00:11:15:15 Yeah. You know, coming in in five years ago. What that what that meant or was that generally is, is a thinking about you as you as you knew you had a lot to do. Where did that put guardrails up or, open opportunity.

00:11:15:17 - 00:11:18:20 You like category management. You go ahead. You you hit, you hit your points here. 00:11:18:20 - 00:11:39:09 Yeah.

I mean, I think we have as as Scott, we have a, a massive opportunity to really understand how we go to market from a sales perspective and how we look at retailers, historically. And you mentioned that, right. We've been a very we are very service focused. Yeah.

I would say from retail our focus 00:11:39:09 - 00:12:07:16 to our customer focused organization, and I think what our CEO is trying to do, and he's talk a lot about it, is we need to be more consumer focused. Right. We need to focus on the guy or the woman doing our honey do, yes, right at home. And I think we have a great opportunity to kind of look at that, to get those insights and treat our customers who are our retail partners or is, the vessel for how we get our product to the end consumer?

00:12:07:18 - 00:12:26:09 And how has that changed over our last five years? I mean, you think about our ecommerce business as the example there, right? We all are buying more online, whether through Amazon, Walmart or directly from a from a retail partner. We went from what, 250,000 units in 2019 to what the well north of 4.

5 million units. Oh wow. 00:12:26:09 - 00:12:27:05 This year. Right.

00:12:27:09 - 00:12:47:13 So in in on that too. It's not just our DTC. Right. Like it's in partnership with the retailers.

Yeah. Oftentimes. Right. You know I think a lot of our you know big retailers their ecommerce is exploding.

Right. And I think you're seeing a lot of competition in that space. And, you know, we're really trying to think through how do we enable that. 00:12:47:15 - 00:12:54:10 Because again, for the end consumer in mind and our product portfolio, like those need to tie out.

Right. 00:12:54:10 - 00:13:15:21 So and the service models are very different too. Right. You think about our retail like load in strategy in those example, you know we have a very finite window that we need to exceed.

It's roughly from January through April. But you're you're loading in 60, 70% of your orders over a very short window. So you've a lot of lead time, if you will. eCommerce consumers.

00:13:15:21 - 00:13:25:12 Right? Amazon has trained us. We want it next day. You want it in two days.

Yeah. And so how do we operate within the building to to achieve those consumer service levels. Is really 00:13:25:12 - 00:13:45:01 important. Yeah.

Yeah. So you, you, you brought up seasonality. Obviously some different dynamics, but, but kind of the legacy business quite seasonal. Right.

Yeah. And what does that mean from a how does your organization sort of prepare for, for peak season. And then what do you do through it and then after it. How does that.

00:13:45:03 - 00:14:06:02 You know, cycle work. Yeah, I think I mean, frankly, it it's reason why we have good partners like you guys. Right. Like at the end of the day when you look at how our curve ramps, we have to, you know, from a distribution standpoint, we have to be in a campus environment where we can ramp labor up and then filter it down, etc.

, or counter seasonal to other businesses, which it frankly helps us. 00:14:06:02 - 00:14:34:18 Yeah. Oftentimes. So, you know, from a distribution standpoint there now I would say is our manufacturing, right.

Is is this massive ramp, you know, call it from October through April, right. And then things start to simmer down. However, on the growing media side of the house, May, June, July there make to order at that point. Right.

We don't have enough capacity to, be able to store all that we would need to be able to store for that season, right. 00:14:34:18 - 00:14:54:15 And so they they slowly dwindle that down and then they become make to order, and still service at a very high level. Right. But he comes back to, we have to have the right technologies invested in from a get a planning standpoint, a demand standpoint to be able to be out in front of that as well, because it gets very challenging towards the end of the season.

00:14:54:15 - 00:15:05:10 Right? Our growing media facilities, our teams do an incredible job of navigating that. Right. It's it's very fast pace and frankly, challenging with how much it changes day to day.

00:15:05:13 - 00:15:06:09 Yeah. Yeah. 00:15:06:09 - 00:15:08:13 Exciting right. Yeah yeah yeah.

00:15:08:16 - 00:15:30:13 Right. So okay. So last area you're both in new roles and I'm hearing the term transformation transformational and has a dictionary definition of what does it mean to you guys in your business. Why did the why did Scott's decide they needed this.

And what are your expectations going in? Like what do you need to deliver to be effective in these new roles? 00:15:30:15 - 00:15:51:02 So here's what I would say is, is we're we're operating with the Northstar. So we have a lot of projects going on.

I'll use we have, an ERP transformation coming. Right? That's a massive, undertaking. And our Northstar there is how do we drive the maximum value of that investment?

You can upgrade and just, you know, lift and shift and get no value. 00:15:51:02 - 00:16:12:15 Yeah. Or you can transform and really take a hard look at your processes. Remove the customizations that exist and drive the maximum value.

Right. There are a lot of things that we're not doing in our ERP today that we probably can and should be. How do we get those in to drive you know, maximum value, overall. So that in itself is what I would call our NorthStar.

00:16:12:16 - 00:16:33:21 Now, all of that said, nice to set it on stage today a little bit. Right. It's like 156 year old company. And the future is technology.

And it's not only a transformation of investments and systems and tech, it's also we have to lead people and have a people transformation as well. Yeah, I heard that is a common theme for a lot of folks talking today already. 00:16:34:03 - 00:16:55:04 And at the end of the day, we have to enable and equip people to be able to use the new tools of the future and really invest in our people. In that way.

I look at transformation from that sense is, you know, in three years, I hope that we're all talking about how much of a shift as a company, culturally we've made. 00:16:55:06 - 00:17:08:22 That is now this, like extremely high performing tech forward organization because we brought people along for the journey, we've invested in them, and we've got the right tools to to be able to then drive the future. 00:17:09:01 - 00:17:24:13 Yeah. So on the ERP thing specifically, can you think of an example of you're doing something a certain way in your current ERP?

You're upgrading to a new instance of it? What kind of what what kind of activity would you be looking to do differently and what's the benefit of that? 00:17:24:17 - 00:17:31:22 Yeah, I think you look across org I can name five off of that. But I mean you look at OTC, we touch upwards of.

00:17:32:00 - 00:17:32:12 OTC means. 00:17:32:12 - 00:17:53:04 Orders to cash. I'm sorry. Thank you.

So our order our where we go we get an order from our retailer. We touch over 80% of those orders manually for some reason or another. Right. You think about how we can transform that to make that a touchless order okay.

You look at PO generation, right? Companies try for now, it's, you know, 15% of those are touchless Po's. 00:17:53:06 - 00:18:09:23 You look at what we could do with an S/4HANA transformation that can be upwards of 80%. Yeah.

Do you think a product lifecycle management today a lots of, you know, stage processes that were built on a 30 year old process, there's obviously enablement there with AI to make that more streamlined and very important for us. 00:18:10:03 - 00:18:33:22 As we talk about innovation, we need to get products to consumers faster. PLM is obviously a big opportunity for us to do that. So we're really excited about what we can do.

I will say, though, you mentioned it comes back to the foundation. Master data, your data, the integrity of said data. So important because if not, one of our colleagues in house, you know says it's great. 00:18:34:00 - 00:18:44:15 You know with AI, crap in is not crap out.

It's gospel out. You know. And so we need to have the data locked in to really enable that. 00:18:44:15 - 00:19:03:16 Yeah.

Which is, which is sort of the unsexy stuff. Right. Correct. But but but obviously something you need to prioritize.

And then in the, in the wealth of other things you could be doing as leaders, like how do you how do you lay that out in a way where you can sort of evaluate? These are the things that I want to do now. 00:19:03:16 - 00:19:14:09 These are the things I want to do later. These are the things we may not want to do, get buy in for that.

I mean, it's because it's a it's a tidal wave of stuff coming at you. Right. That all individually could be good. Yeah.

00:19:14:11 - 00:19:38:22 It all comes down to prioritization. Yeah. Right. And, we're actually I mean, we're working extensively on this right now.

Yeah. We've got a ton of projects going on that. Right. Wrong.

Like, no, no harm intended. But people have gone and tried to, you know, get projects going in their silo, really, you know, drive value. When you look at it holistically, there's a lot of crossover and interdependencies that occur. 00:19:38:23 - 00:19:56:06 Yeah.

And we've got to prioritize those. Right. So with an ERP, for example, there's a lot of we touch a lot of other systems. And if you're putting in another system today and you're changing your master data, you're changing a lot of that core logic and configuration.

What does that due to the other systems and how do you unwind that. 00:19:56:06 - 00:19:58:15 Right. And so we're really doing the 00:19:58:15 - 00:19:59:00 hard. 00:19:59:05 - 00:20:18:08 We're having to say no to a lot of things.

And that may be hard in the moment. But frankly, we've heard this from other companies, when it comes to key learnings, is you have to prioritize and really keep it simple, because to your point, the amount of people change management and how their day to day process will change is significant, right? 00:20:18:08 - 00:20:36:19 When we look at just the ERP, how we're going to roll that, it's going to be a phased approach. You know, there's downside to that in the sense of like, you know, prolongs and you feel like you're constantly changing.

But at the same time you can't just fully rip the mandate, either because there's thousands of employees that are, you know, their process and what they do day to day changes. 00:20:36:19 - 00:20:39:06 So. Right. Prioritization is everything.

00:20:39:06 - 00:21:03:04 The other unintended consequences positive when you have to go down. Prioritization is it drives discipline within the org. When now we were actually going to look at what the things are that we should work on because it's high impact, high ROI versus before. We're just filling a pipeline and we're saying yes to everything right now, we're being very intentional about, the work that we're doing because we know resources are finite as we go through this transformation.

00:21:03:07 - 00:21:04:04 It's all said. 00:21:04:06 - 00:21:08:15 Okay, so maybe a very current example of what we're talking about. We're at 00:21:08:15 - 00:21:11:01 Manifest, it's three days 00:21:11:03 - 00:21:23:16 you are two people and I think you got a couple other folks from Scott there, 7,200 people here, lots of exhibits, a lot like how do you navigate your way, effective with your time and get the most out of it. 00:21:23:18 - 00:21:24:13 Go ahead.

00:21:24:15 - 00:21:25:14 I don't have a silver bullet. 00:21:25:14 - 00:21:27:06 You are ready for that one? 00:21:27:08 - 00:21:43:07 We were just talking about here, and, I mean, you joked about it on stage, and so. I'm sorry, you know, for all those that I haven't responded to.

But we're also being very intentional. Yeah. You know, there's so what I love about Manifest because that's different than other conferences is that it's oh, I think this is not negative. 00:21:43:07 - 00:22:05:06 It to me it's a little unstructured because it's all about the connections.

Right? I drive more business the business conversation here than I do and others. That may be more discipline, you know, paths focused. And so it gives me the opportunity to really talk to the people that I feel have a solution that could benefit me.

And that might not be now, but it might be 3 or 4 years. 00:22:05:06 - 00:22:25:05 So. Right. So just very intentional.

I mean, and then there's so much here. AI obviously, the robotics, analytics, orchestration, and it's, it's really trying for me to suss out what partners we have here that again could be now or could be in the future. But I think it all comes down to being intentional of who you talk to it. 00:22:25:06 - 00:22:48:17 Yeah, transparently.

For us, a lot of it is in the future. Right. Because we are right. Frankly, cats to some degree, on the amount of additional things we can take on.

Right. We've got a massive planning system, implementation that's going on. We've got our ERP, we've got, you know, TPM. So trade, you know, trade management, going on on the sales side, like we've got a lot of different things already going on.

00:22:48:17 - 00:23:04:02 And so when you think about it, we've got to be very pragmatic there. And I think John actually said it really well on stage today. Right. It's got to be the right fit.

Yeah. Right. The companies got to be the right fit. It may not be the right fit for today, but you can get a sense for if it's going to be the right fit down the road.

00:23:04:02 - 00:23:06:20 And I think those are the important things to hone in on. 00:23:06:22 - 00:23:25:03 Okay. Good. Well, you certainly spent enough time with me and us, really appreciate that.

But I'll let you get back out in, and making the connections and figuring out a way through this, this, next couple of days. But thank you very much, both for your time and partnership and, and coming on the podcast. Love it. 00:23:25:09 - 00:23:27:18 That is fantastic.

Yeah. This is great. I appreciate you guys. 00:23:27:18 - 00:23:32:19 We'll look forward to hearing how the transformation went when it's done.

Yeah. I have to come back. 00:23:32:19 - 00:23:36:10 Yeah that's right. We'll do exactly that.

There we go. Yeah. 00:23:36:12 - 00:23:57:23 Yeah. Excellent.

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