Smart Supply Chain Podcast · 2026-06-01 · 35 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
50 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
ALOM, founded by Hannah Kain in 1997 during the web boom, deliberately positioned itself in Silicon Valley to prioritize technology and engineering over traditional approaches. Brandon Marugg, who joined in 2001 as an IT leader, explains how the company's "technology first" philosophy - treating IT as a strategic department reporting to the CEO rather than a cost center - differentiated it from competitors. This mindset, influenced by Silicon Valley's innovation culture, led to early wins including building a customer extranet portal in 1998 and developing elegant, scalable solutions for iconic clients like Intuit and Lexar. The approach emphasized solving problems through thoughtful engineering that improves user experience rather than simply throwing resources at challenges. Marugg's background in astrophysics reinforced his belief in data-driven, pragmatic engineering that avoids over-engineering while creating maintainable, easy-to-use systems. This episode resonates with supply chain leaders seeking to understand how organizational culture, technology strategy, and geographic influence shape competitive advantage.
ALOM built one of the first customer extranets or web-based portals in 1998, making it an early adopter of digital customer interfaces during the early days of the web boom.
Scaling the fulfillment operation for a major tax software company that was shipping physical software products (on floppy disks and CDs) to retail stores before tax season, with trucks lined up to meet demand.
Handling Lexar's inventory and compliance reporting requirements for their 2004-2005 public offering was ALOM's first major foray into regulatory and high-accuracy inventory management for public company reporting.
Operations should run so smoothly and reliably that customers don't need to pay attention to them; if customers are monitoring your operations closely, something is probably going wrong.
His science background drives a preference for data-driven, elegant solutions without over-engineering - finding simple, easy-to-understand systems that are easy to support and scale.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode covers ALOM's company history and philosophy with anecdotes about specific customers (23andMe, Lexar, tax software company), but much of the content is narrative-driven storytelling and corporate positioning rather than substantive lessons about supply chain operations. While there are some concrete insights about technology-first approaches and serial control, long stretches consist of throat-clearing about Bay Area culture and mutual appreciation between host and guest.
we really grew from like a pretty basic packaging and fulfillment company and really changed into much more of a supply chain strategic partner
we changed the filming model entirely over essentially a weekend to really accelerate their fulfillment speed
The core message - that technology should be central to supply chain operations and that a Bay Area innovation mindset matters - is neither novel nor contrarian. The AI discussion covers mainstream territory (EDI integration, human-in-the-loop decisions). The serialization work on 23andMe kits is specific but treated more as a war story than a framework others could learn from. Most claims about innovation and continuous improvement are platitudes.
putting technology first, solved problems via engineering
it's never OK to sit pat with what you're doing
Brandon Marugg is a legitimate operator with 25 years at ALOM (since 2001) and direct involvement in major customer engagements and technical scaling challenges. He has concrete operational credibility. However, he is an internal guest (COO of the podcast's own parent company ALOM), which limits independence and external perspective. The host's familiarity with him creates a friendly but somewhat incestuous dynamic.
I came around in 2001 just to let you know a little bit about me. So it's 25 years this year coming up in in August.
building the company from a technology first perspective has been obviously my entire careers work essentially
The episode includes specific customer names and anecdotes (23andMe beating sales forecast by 7X in Q4, Lexar IPO around 2004-2005, tax software on floppy disks), but most details serve narrative color rather than actionable insight. The 23andMe serialization story has some specificity (2-3 million kits shipped, zero cross-contamination), but concrete metrics and timelines are sparse. The EDI/AI integration example lacks specifics about implementation, timeline, or measurable outcomes. Most claims lack quantified evidence.
they beat their sales forecast in in Q4 by 7X, which is you know, I'm not not 7%, right, 700 percent! 7 times
we probably shipped 2 or 3 million kits that quarter and we didn't have one cross contamination situation happening
The host asks softball questions and allows long, meandering answers without pushback or challenge. Follow-ups are minimal and rarely probe deeper into claims. Questions are often supportive affirmations ('That's a great point') rather than genuine inquiry. The dynamic reads as a friendly conversation between colleagues rather than rigorous journalistic dialogue. No one is challenged on vague statements, timeline inconsistencies, or unsubstantiated claims about competitive advantage.
That's a great point
I mean, that's that's a great point in that article with Fiona was really good
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
ALOM Chief Operating Officer Brandon Marugg discusses how Silicon Valley's culture of innovation has shaped ALOM's evolution from a startup founded in 1997 into a global technology-driven supply chain service provider. Drawing on his 25 years of experience with ALOM, Brandon recounts stories of supporting fast-growing technology innovators, developing early customer-facing supply chain technology, rapidly scaling operations and applying data, automation, and serialization to solve complex supply chain challenges. The conversation also explores how ALOM's Silicon Valley roots continue to influence its approach to regulated industry compliance, scalability and resilience, and why organizations that embrace technology-driven innovation will be best positioned for the future.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
9aebea67-763f-4329-974f-7d25d57c949d-0 Welcome to Smart Supply Chain. 8b347250-2916-4cd5-96f6-64c1369db0db-0 It's a podcast for supply chain professionals who think and work smarter. 6dac1b90-5b6c-4315-8bcd-649af420be68-0 I'm your host, Shireen Garrison, and I am thrilled to be joined today by 6dac1b90-5b6c-4315-8bcd-649af420be68-1 our very own Brandon Marugg. f5ca37f5-21a7-4553-b144-ae8ae5084d26-0 He is our Chief Operating Officer at ALOM.
f00a3a00-ba46-45da-b144-b6c29927ee7b-0 Welcome, Brandon. 2065d7cb-7313-431f-8af8-f64861fd7c79-0 Hey, it's great to be here, Shireen. e0e6324e-bd00-49d6-a89b-8f9e3e33ad5d-0 I think it's been a while since we've done one of these. 7067fbdb-63df-4eed-8e89-1abe28a17fbd-0 It has been a while.
ebd2f32c-c4d4-48df-ab62-a55f14647080-0 You know, I like to get you on as often as I can, ebd2f32c-c4d4-48df-ab62-a55f14647080-1 but, you know, you're so busy these days. d073ac2a-d443-495d-9841-84d864e7cbab-0 Yeah, Yeah, I know. 158933d9-8d0e-4f57-8f6c-87d8b2842270-0 I'm trying to be a podcast star at the same time. 9b37af61-d169-40ea-9aca-f98c58190744-0 And it's, it's tough.
a7298da6-32f1-4971-b8fc-978441d74130-0 It's I know you have a busy, a busy life that you can't get that a7298da6-32f1-4971-b8fc-978441d74130-1 podcast to the top of your agenda list. 501078d2-9302-48df-8353-0c4c2f21f9cb-0 I get it. 041bdfb7-a56c-4b84-af91-2f1f3dc16124-0 Well, I'm here now. 6beb3aa8-3d6d-4d60-8d3d-19a1f5a537bc-0 All right, Well, good.
c0cb80f1-6b0e-435b-b3cd-782374c62f58-0 Well, today I thought we could talk a little c0cb80f1-6b0e-435b-b3cd-782374c62f58-1 bit about ALOM's journey. 05c883a7-3124-497f-997d-07d6ee7b0377-0 And for me, ALOM's journey and your journey are very 05c883a7-3124-497f-997d-07d6ee7b0377-1 much connected because you've been with ALOM since the early 2000s and it's been 05c883a7-3124-497f-997d-07d6ee7b0377-2 nearly 30 years since Hannah started ALOM. 273015a6-aadb-4cc8-acba-b48cf272bd68-0 It started in 1997.
9d12f81c-4dfe-443b-8bb6-07d9bb70d194-0 So we really grew from like a pretty basic packaging and fulfillment company 9d12f81c-4dfe-443b-8bb6-07d9bb70d194-1 and really changed into much more of a supply chain strategic partner. e72e532a-d207-495b-9aea-2792f1a2e6ed-0 And I feel like a lot of that change was influenced by the area that we started in, e72e532a-d207-495b-9aea-2792f1a2e6ed-1 which is in California, specifically the Bay Area. 275b8964-a236-45d9-a4b6-df7d519593fd-0 And it was really focused on innovation.
a746e96c-2072-4349-9888-7c73db78399f-0 And I think that has influenced the way that ALOM has kind of grown up and turned a746e96c-2072-4349-9888-7c73db78399f-1 into a supply chain partner that is very much focused on technology and innovation. ba407ca8-804e-40b6-af87-767c26098d0b-0 And a lot of the clients that we've partnered with and specifically you as ba407ca8-804e-40b6-af87-767c26098d0b-1 well, you grew up in the Bay Area. 7f4ebf24-f6cc-4fa4-afda-b88e10ee5aa0-0 So you've seen a lot of changes and shifts over your whole growing up and 7f4ebf24-f6cc-4fa4-afda-b88e10ee5aa0-1 going into ALOM in the early 2000s.
649cf9e3-f570-4be9-8b4b-fc2703947d13-0 So I'm just wondering how much of the evolution of the Bay Area and innovation 649cf9e3-f570-4be9-8b4b-fc2703947d13-1 and then specifically you being a part of growing into ALOM as well. 7e972778-a046-404f-8d97-21a1d54f59b2-0 How much do you think that is really influencing how ALOM operates today? 7d9a80b9-482f-459c-8971-85353bbfa7ff-0 Yeah, I think it influences it tremendously 7d9a80b9-482f-459c-8971-85353bbfa7ff-1 even, you know, not even consciously, but I think to give credit where credit 7d9a80b9-482f-459c-8971-85353bbfa7ff-2 is due was very conscious decision by Hannah, Hannah Kain, 7d9a80b9-482f-459c-8971-85353bbfa7ff-3 CEO and founder back in 1997 that she opened in the Silicon Valley right at 7d9a80b9-482f-459c-8971-85353bbfa7ff-4 the kind of beginning of the web boom right in 1997.
0f8db0e4-bb94-4d88-86bd-6eff04c4ba55-0 And, and she did that because she wanted to 0f8db0e4-bb94-4d88-86bd-6eff04c4ba55-1 have a company that was focused on innovation, 0f8db0e4-bb94-4d88-86bd-6eff04c4ba55-2 that put technology first, solved problems via engineering. ea168887-c5a9-40ab-a7ff-a95f24d1fef9-0 She wanted to find the smartest people that were available in the world. f99c87c6-8094-467a-af85-9caa94fba529-0 And she felt that the Silicon Valley made sense there. c950582a-1ae7-4182-83d8-838c493a90d3-0 And you know, in, in those days, the Silicon Valley was growing up and c950582a-1ae7-4182-83d8-838c493a90d3-1 becoming a hub of innovation as the Internet c950582a-1ae7-4182-83d8-838c493a90d3-2 was, was, was exploding and, and Hannah really thought what we needed c950582a-1ae7-4182-83d8-838c493a90d3-3 to, we need to put technology first.
186d149d-d541-4e92-b00e-aeeef5df154b-0 It's a lot of it, like a lot of these technology 186d149d-d541-4e92-b00e-aeeef5df154b-1 companies in the, in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley are 186d149d-d541-4e92-b00e-aeeef5df154b-2 dealing. c1e970a5-d5dd-4443-a57f-9c95a6f7c925-0 So we were one of the first companies to have a, c1e970a5-d5dd-4443-a57f-9c95a6f7c925-1 and what we called an extranet at the time or a customer portal on the web in c1e970a5-d5dd-4443-a57f-9c95a6f7c925-2 1998.
8f54c27e-9e30-4613-845b-afa50133aa28-0 That was pretty exotic. b9001081-774f-4d93-9074-fe664dc17264-0 She also made a conscious decision to make IT a strategic department and not a b9001081-774f-4d93-9074-fe664dc17264-1 cost department. 3db8a762-d210-49f3-84bd-f1576aa5848d-0 And frankly, that's something that is still a little 3db8a762-d210-49f3-84bd-f1576aa5848d-1 unusual today where most of a lot of our competitors will treat IT just like they 3db8a762-d210-49f3-84bd-f1576aa5848d-2 would treat facilities, right.
032a39a8-f0e8-4e3f-be12-a25ac286332e-0 It's an it's a supporting department. 12fbffff-868d-41bb-be69-7af9f2a26388-0 It probably reports up into finance. It it's a cost center. cd2cc416-7800-4bef-9bbd-0a0ec37f7452-0 It's keeping the lights on, right, but not at not at ALOM.
685d0ddd-6f11-428f-8e94-714aa43bded3-0 And I decided very early on, in the in the late 90s that IT would 685d0ddd-6f11-428f-8e94-714aa43bded3-1 report directly to her and that we would lead with, with technology. d2ffe0db-33ec-4793-b2e8-2e39378a54cb-0 So right, I came around in 2001 just to let you d2ffe0db-33ec-4793-b2e8-2e39378a54cb-1 know a little bit about me. 1623d731-554f-4390-9446-d3d7a30f909c-0 So it's 25 years this year coming up in, in August. c88af12b-a107-43f5-9125-dc7e3ce03b00-0 And you know, there's plenty of people in my c88af12b-a107-43f5-9125-dc7e3ce03b00-1 organization that are, that were born after I started a day long, c88af12b-a107-43f5-9125-dc7e3ce03b00-2 which is a which is a sobering, sobering thing.
14138a2b-61bb-488d-a9f0-1e10100b92fe-0 I, I stopped counting that, you know, a couple of years ago when I first 14138a2b-61bb-488d-a9f0-1e10100b92fe-1 realized it. 4308bfed-2ae0-4204-aa6b-b63ce5fcc185-0 You're aging yourself here, Brandon, You're aging yourself. e85429fb-1e81-4663-9968-718365e9ed26-0 I know there's a little there's, I mean, you know, it's not, e85429fb-1e81-4663-9968-718365e9ed26-1 I don't look exactly the same as I started in in 2001, e85429fb-1e81-4663-9968-718365e9ed26-2 but but you started in 2001 and you were actually in IT then.
e441dcc3-f642-4fc2-9158-0efc00a8f145-0 And so you were really driving what the technology plan was for ALOM and helping e441dcc3-f642-4fc2-9158-0efc00a8f145-1 that to grow. 7e76b843-d3ae-4e22-b953-4c3b007a37c2-0 Yeah, that's right. c993d066-960b-4359-8068-84ccfc7b1841-0 You know, we weren't a five person company. 6e48cc8b-1f21-4ce0-a2e9-cbf8fa59c345-0 We also weren't a 500 person company, right.
8e595317-58ae-492d-8280-59ec357427ab-0 We were still, but we are large enough that I probably 8e595317-58ae-492d-8280-59ec357427ab-1 shouldn't have been reporting directly to the CEO as the leader of the technology 8e595317-58ae-492d-8280-59ec357427ab-2 organization back in 1997. 60a5815c-99b4-4dae-b01f-6923ee8300f7-0 But I what I did and I always have and yeah, so, you know, 60a5815c-99b4-4dae-b01f-6923ee8300f7-1 building the company from a technology first perspective has been obviously my 60a5815c-99b4-4dae-b01f-6923ee8300f7-2 entire careers work essentially.
03be6861-0aba-4d62-a3e1-6571e6603c8d-0 And since I've been at ALOM and it's, it's been so much fun to build the 03be6861-0aba-4d62-a3e1-6571e6603c8d-1 company in, in the, in the Bay Area, having access to, you know, 03be6861-0aba-4d62-a3e1-6571e6603c8d-2 innovation and innovative people in the area. 937d9f27-21a8-4e62-b2b7-5945b36b7cf9-0 And, and, and that gold technologies space right 937d9f27-21a8-4e62-b2b7-5945b36b7cf9-1 where we really look to, to technology first when they're, 937d9f27-21a8-4e62-b2b7-5945b36b7cf9-2 when presented with a problem, rather than throwing people at it or 937d9f27-21a8-4e62-b2b7-5945b36b7cf9-3 spending money in some other way.
877ea15b-fd64-450d-a67c-cb7636db4ca7-0 But how do we spend money correctly in the technology space to not only solve 877ea15b-fd64-450d-a67c-cb7636db4ca7-1 the problem, but solve it well, solve it with high, 877ea15b-fd64-450d-a67c-cb7636db4ca7-2 high level of quality and make it easy for people to perform well in the actual 877ea15b-fd64-450d-a67c-cb7636db4ca7-3 physical operation of that of that solution, right? 9884964c-2015-4475-9b27-ca9b038e9037-0 Because at the end of the day, for me, it was always about improving people's 9884964c-2015-4475-9b27-ca9b038e9037-1 lives and the quality would come and the, and the productivity would come kind of 9884964c-2015-4475-9b27-ca9b038e9037-2 along free.
e5a3df48-cbb4-4405-af2b-529f2235f01a-0 And that's something that we carry forward to today. f735dbf6-c702-4681-984a-5570f8b395a5-0 And I think that's another thing that the that's very influenced by, f735dbf6-c702-4681-984a-5570f8b395a5-1 by the Silicon Valley. cac71db7-af56-410d-813e-84ddd792865f-0 The Silicon Valley has been in the business of trying to improve people's cac71db7-af56-410d-813e-84ddd792865f-1 lives, right. 8c9e8df5-2020-4167-9fd5-858116bc6284-0 We can have a discussion how well they've done that over the past quarter century.
e8cf937c-b306-47e9-ae5e-2e4d75b8307c-0 But that's certainly part of the culture of innovation is how do we improve e8cf937c-b306-47e9-ae5e-2e4d75b8307c-1 people's lives with technology. 2f516744-c4ba-440e-8eb5-85093a024c99-0 How do you, how do you think that helps to set ALOM 2f516744-c4ba-440e-8eb5-85093a024c99-1 apart from other companies that are in the supply chain world? 1913e5ab-9208-470e-a8e1-50bebcee253f-0 Yeah, I think it comes in to with solutions, 1913e5ab-9208-470e-a8e1-50bebcee253f-1 right.
With, with the solutions that are sustainable, 1913e5ab-9208-470e-a8e1-50bebcee253f-2 they're scalable, they're they become easy to maintain as 1913e5ab-9208-470e-a8e1-50bebcee253f-3 we as we perform, as we perform whatever service it is that 1913e5ab-9208-470e-a8e1-50bebcee253f-4 we're doing for a particular customer. 7b3b3844-10dc-41b8-820b-d74e528407bd-0 You know, Fiona, our our Chief Commercial Officer recently 7b3b3844-10dc-41b8-820b-d74e528407bd-1 wrote an article about the operations that should be kind of silent.
e13e4f6b-ace6-4a64-a5d4-a07cdb2e2a30-0 You know, if you if the customer is paying a lot of e13e4f6b-ace6-4a64-a5d4-a07cdb2e2a30-1 attention to your operation, then you probably are doing something e13e4f6b-ace6-4a64-a5d4-a07cdb2e2a30-2 wrong, right? 2434731d-6df8-459d-83bf-d24342f5cf2c-0 We want to have elegant solutions that have high quality that allow our 2434731d-6df8-459d-83bf-d24342f5cf2c-1 customers to do the thing they do really well and which could be product 2434731d-6df8-459d-83bf-d24342f5cf2c-2 innovation or or something like that, you know, 2434731d-6df8-459d-83bf-d24342f5cf2c-3 designing the new product while not worrying about getting their existing 2434731d-6df8-459d-83bf-d24342f5cf2c-4 product or their existing supply chain humming, right?
277e920a-f98f-4a28-91e9-6ab913d8a6ad-0 That's really what we're for. 1b75a1b4-51e1-499a-a758-c38ebd148af5-0 I mean, that's that's a great point in that 1b75a1b4-51e1-499a-a758-c38ebd148af5-1 article with Fiona was really good just talking about how you shouldn't be having 1b75a1b4-51e1-499a-a758-c38ebd148af5-2 your customers pay attention to what's happening in your operations. da5bef9e-2944-45a4-ae68-71e54c867c71-0 If they are paying attention to that, it's probably because something is going da5bef9e-2944-45a4-ae68-71e54c867c71-1 wrong.
54ecb5c0-7a42-44f4-80be-406ea82d3f68-0 You need them to just trust you can get it done. fb456d3e-bd97-4149-b708-8f085463f9e7-0 Yeah, exactly. ec4c58b3-5c65-4380-a613-7f8e02c868fd-0 The old easy button, right. a1d1fcff-5817-45a9-8184-5c66dced42bf-0 That was that's something that I think Hannah still says every now and then a1d1fcff-5817-45a9-8184-5c66dced42bf-1 about what, you know, we want our customers to think of us as a1d1fcff-5817-45a9-8184-5c66dced42bf-2 the easy button.
7c8674dc-0026-480e-b44a-16407bced540-0 Absolutely. 429970b4-2400-49e5-a2ce-f62df4c1cb9c-0 You know, one thing, I, I do feel like you helped to really 429970b4-2400-49e5-a2ce-f62df4c1cb9c-1 influence how the culture has been set up at ALOM 83c4033c-c6e5-43b4-9af2-7cf16d4e12b1-0 And really this whole idea of innovation and technology I think got accelerated 83c4033c-c6e5-43b4-9af2-7cf16d4e12b1-1 when you came into the company just because of, again, where you grew up. 9f59c5aa-9d4c-4ab9-a971-d9793d55dad2-0 But also you're kind of a giant geek in a lot of ways.
27382b82-6999-4dc4-b3d4-e9ab15aa12b2-0 Brandon. 66dfd4f4-dd37-4cf6-b3b5-3be0427f79e5-0 You're you're you're into technology. b44d4881-7ef5-4492-8308-bcb10f7c51ac-0 You also, what did you go to school for? f6ff7d07-4003-411d-ad89-60a5e2721e60-0 What was your what was your.
4316aa95-0eed-49c9-9c33-2712ff12f6de-0 Yeah, astrophysics. 3a2cd9f8-e1b5-49c5-ba25-c36ab69168b7-0 How does astrophysics influence things? 673d2b98-c73b-4318-ae24-3ff0b897ccbc-0 Yeah, you know, it, it's, I'm, I am a geek, 673d2b98-c73b-4318-ae24-3ff0b897ccbc-1 especially when it comes to science and technology and really education, 673d2b98-c73b-4318-ae24-3ff0b897ccbc-2 as you know, part of my training philosophy and 673d2b98-c73b-4318-ae24-3ff0b897ccbc-3 leadership philosophy.
f88682e1-403c-4d5b-93ad-0a7e0860eca8-0 I probably would have been a teacher or maybe a professor if I'd gotten lucky f88682e1-403c-4d5b-93ad-0a7e0860eca8-1 with, if I hadn't gone into the supply chain f88682e1-403c-4d5b-93ad-0a7e0860eca8-2 industry. 0e286a4b-57c8-4ab3-afde-05d1b48ff5ee-0 So I, I really thrive on finding elegant 0e286a4b-57c8-4ab3-afde-05d1b48ff5ee-1 solutions based on data without over engineering, right? fb46e6b4-2549-458d-a47d-66111bad88e8-0 The you can engineer, you engineer your way into oblivion as as fb46e6b4-2549-458d-a47d-66111bad88e8-1 I like to say.
877735ab-940d-4db6-86b9-15991582cd09-0 So you want to have pragmatic engineering that creates an elegant, 877735ab-940d-4db6-86b9-15991582cd09-1 simple solution that's easy to understand, it's easy to support and it's easy to 877735ab-940d-4db6-86b9-15991582cd09-2 scale. b71d033a-c677-4d9c-9a48-dc30b8617cec-0 And and that's, you know what? c11d4b4b-1b80-4fbd-83ab-901029e6e788-0 I feel like we've done really well at ALOM the past 25 years now and that and, c11d4b4b-1b80-4fbd-83ab-901029e6e788-1 and then I'm hoping that a lot of that came from me.
0ca65f04-3a93-423a-87a0-9523fe81974f-0 I, I think so. 5f9b0994-a57b-46d4-8c60-0c49ef80b2b6-0 I mean, I think one of the things also that I 5f9b0994-a57b-46d4-8c60-0c49ef80b2b6-1 like about, again, what I think that you bring to the 5f9b0994-a57b-46d4-8c60-0c49ef80b2b6-2 company is the sense of curiosity and, you know, 5f9b0994-a57b-46d4-8c60-0c49ef80b2b6-3 problem solving and being able to really look at some of the challenges that our 5f9b0994-a57b-46d4-8c60-0c49ef80b2b6-4 clients have or that we have internally and you don't asking questions and trying 5f9b0994-a57b-46d4-8c60-0c49ef80b2b6-5 to get to the bottom of it.
84a372ee-cf5d-4e97-9cde-6cda9810df8b-0 And again, figuring out something easy to solve that 84a372ee-cf5d-4e97-9cde-6cda9810df8b-1 so that it's easier for the team internally and it's easier for our 84a372ee-cf5d-4e97-9cde-6cda9810df8b-2 clients. 05af35b4-cc21-41ab-8498-03d948d246ad-0 Yeah, for sure. 21d9e652-df05-499c-b117-2dcaaa114e47-0 You know, life. 61ecc00c-2606-4c3d-b9c3-9978bb0200b4-0 I think I'm certainly a lifelong learner I which I take for granted, 61ecc00c-2606-4c3d-b9c3-9978bb0200b4-1 but I think that's, you know, people ask me why I've been at ALOM for 61ecc00c-2606-4c3d-b9c3-9978bb0200b4-2 so long.
f1bcbad9-de56-41a1-a5cd-d5d59706b581-0 And a lot of it is that I get to learn something new all the time because as we f1bcbad9-de56-41a1-a5cd-d5d59706b581-1 have new customers and new challenges inside of existing customers, f1bcbad9-de56-41a1-a5cd-d5d59706b581-2 we're solving something new, right? fb4009a4-b66a-4dd2-b414-c9c8c0a696df-0 We're, we're, we're bringing to bear our expertise and, fb4009a4-b66a-4dd2-b414-c9c8c0a696df-1 and our, and our innovation to a new, a new problem all the time.
517a1288-25d4-4db4-a76e-765f7aab5769-0 And that keeps me interested, keeps me excited. d873db35-189e-47f0-909b-d2289e0aab75-0 And yeah, it's fun. c82bc31c-7120-4958-9ce4-6d650dada2d8-0 At the end of the day, it's fun. 29208f6e-a214-49ca-bb39-d19cc80b9405-0 Well, you've worked with some really iconic Bay 29208f6e-a214-49ca-bb39-d19cc80b9405-1 Area customers and clients since day one when you started.
5a524205-7f72-4bfb-adff-e3b754536e43-0 One of the clients that started I think in the late 90s before you before you 5a524205-7f72-4bfb-adff-e3b754536e43-1 came in, but was still a customer when you were 5a524205-7f72-4bfb-adff-e3b754536e43-2 joining in the early 2000s, was a well known tax software company 5a524205-7f72-4bfb-adff-e3b754536e43-3 whose name I won't mention. 0836e567-1e54-4468-9373-59438ed0fc04-0 But this was one of the first, you know, kind of big clients that ALOM had.
913c80f3-243f-4838-af93-f34fb1df5fa9-0 How's that relationship evolved over the years? e254ab22-4035-46fb-8771-c704c6bd69d8-0 They're still a client of ours. 8a308236-fdc0-40b8-9728-55f855dc168a-0 I think we started with doing just flash memory or no, sorry, even before that. fbfe8b9f-4d91-4141-8b2b-47adc5989b2c-0 They're talking floppy disk, floppy disk for a minute.
0877f9ec-a2f9-4421-9f20-4b6e8f66b54b-0 Yeah, floppy disk for a minute and then on to 0877f9ec-a2f9-4421-9f20-4b6e8f66b54b-1 CD's. cc85b96f-316b-4193-8e66-b7ea06fef45d-0 So this was good. 87cbb4ca-7f97-4407-97cd-2b1052cb01a7-0 You know, our first foray with them was getting 87cbb4ca-7f97-4407-97cd-2b1052cb01a7-1 their product into the stores, right. ff97f297-c076-445e-9145-1e0c3f8878f4-0 The, the physicalness of the software product ff97f297-c076-445e-9145-1e0c3f8878f4-1 that was in a box with memory that you'd put in the slots on an on computers and ff97f297-c076-445e-9145-1e0c3f8878f4-2 ask your parents and, and, and, and they exploded in popularity because ff97f297-c076-445e-9145-1e0c3f8878f4-3 they because they were a very early adopter.
1909ac77-6afd-4282-8653-7dbf3bcb7680-0 OK, let's try to make this tax filing 1909ac77-6afd-4282-8653-7dbf3bcb7680-1 business a bit easier on people, right? d2248cd2-f305-4237-b2de-01ea20631db5-0 Once again, let's improve people's lives with d2248cd2-f305-4237-b2de-01ea20631db5-1 technology. d916ed92-bb03-4b68-9c8d-707d0c48ff6c-0 And they had to get it to market. 5c8ea5e5-8bff-4ed6-b6e6-cd69996b2aa1-0 And this was before the Internet could really support downloading it, obviously.
f3c84cdb-6db9-4faa-b9c7-1bb238e00bcb-0 So you wouldn't, this is when you would walk into a store f3c84cdb-6db9-4faa-b9c7-1bb238e00bcb-1 and go to a shelf and pick up the software and, f3c84cdb-6db9-4faa-b9c7-1bb238e00bcb-2 and buy it and install it in your machine. 311b2afc-4579-463e-bd64-61dd7340964a-0 And I remember we had trucks lined up, you know, 311b2afc-4579-463e-bd64-61dd7340964a-1 in the months leading up to tax season to get the product out into the shelves. 7a8ae409-299e-425e-a3af-1565bd74868c-0 And I remember that was about one of the first big things I came in to help solve 7a8ae409-299e-425e-a3af-1565bd74868c-1 for was to really scale that operation because it had gone pretty crazy over the 7a8ae409-299e-425e-a3af-1565bd74868c-2 past couple of years in growth.
c8c346fc-90e5-4e2b-8ebc-ce1db58956e2-0 And, and, and we were, you know, trying to scale that operation before you c8c346fc-90e5-4e2b-8ebc-ce1db58956e2-1 before some before the technology was really ready to do so. 6c796cce-55dc-40f7-a9bf-437b74320d2b-0 Right. 98b6553f-30bc-4679-a7c5-f221814bcc4c-0 So that was our first foray to modernizing fulfillment and, 98b6553f-30bc-4679-a7c5-f221814bcc4c-1 and things like that when it came to that customer. 7f8c8dc6-0d38-482a-bbf6-b578b12f7e9e-0 Yeah, it was, it was, it was fun experience of fun, fun, 7f8c8dc6-0d38-482a-bbf6-b578b12f7e9e-1 fun one to get my training wheels on for sure.
44e61506-b0fd-4e39-af3d-7760c0482517-0 It helps me play that well. a5968bed-98a9-4e12-8232-40a95b4be4c9-0 Another early win for you was Lexar. 6079f37c-b49e-41b2-b9fe-d549ff55b5fe-0 That was actually the flash memory I was thinking about. ff49890b-83c5-4ead-bcd2-08eedafcdf3a-0 And I think we got with them before they actually went public.
326b478a-09f5-4df0-8442-63abb18ab27e-0 And it probably grew quite a bit after we they came on as a customer. bcb7009c-9370-4ccf-a9ec-e8bbd9fc72c5-0 Is that right? 3f1b190b-5c17-45de-8cac-8bb9a0536c71-0 Yeah, that's right. fe12db3e-7071-4d52-b785-7dddb7a378ec-0 They grew 10 as well.
bc54327b-aa72-4d29-8008-e545fd3c69b4-0 They they became kind of the leader or one of the one of the few leaders in the bc54327b-aa72-4d29-8008-e545fd3c69b4-1 in the camera memory space at that point at that time. 562d09aa-2b7a-4af3-b393-fa67d03398dc-0 Once again, ask your parents. 58797e6d-be04-48a3-82d2-8c6b3115f0e2-0 There were cameras that had little memory slots that, that, 58797e6d-be04-48a3-82d2-8c6b3115f0e2-1 that you needed memory for. 5903d4c0-11c5-454e-8d4b-71e13bdbcd01-0 And Lexar was, was huge in that space.
4c902b7c-5c47-40d1-ae6f-f42380b17caf-0 Then we were doing all their packaging and, 4c902b7c-5c47-40d1-ae6f-f42380b17caf-1 and omnichannel fulfillment and we went through, you know, their, their IPO, 4c902b7c-5c47-40d1-ae6f-f42380b17caf-2 their, their, their public offering. 7a092d4c-2490-4846-896f-33fcd2383ea1-0 And that was, that was another challenge that we face, 7a092d4c-2490-4846-896f-33fcd2383ea1-1 right, because that was, we had the entire compliance issue around 7a092d4c-2490-4846-896f-33fcd2383ea1-2 going public with very high, highly accurate inventory.
49b25abb-3506-484b-a5af-6b5660bae783-0 Of course, the reporting of the on, on inventory over the past, you know, 49b25abb-3506-484b-a5af-6b5660bae783-1 12 or 18 months or whatever it was at that time to, to, 49b25abb-3506-484b-a5af-6b5660bae783-2 to satisfy those requirements. 2dc454a9-97b0-42cb-8ab0-cca3e6d7e9de-0 So getting through that kind of regulation, that was our first big foray that I at 2dc454a9-97b0-42cb-8ab0-cca3e6d7e9de-1 least that I was part of getting in into the regulatory space, right?
93b8aa43-f451-458d-960c-2eb96f66ac3d-0 When they went public in the early 2000s, they went public in 2004 or maybe 2005, 93b8aa43-f451-458d-960c-2eb96f66ac3d-1 I don't remember, but one of the one of those two and it 93b8aa43-f451-458d-960c-2eb96f66ac3d-2 and they would had a really hard time doing it without us because we had their 93b8aa43-f451-458d-960c-2eb96f66ac3d-3 inventory on point and all the reporting that they needed once again via the 93b8aa43-f451-458d-960c-2eb96f66ac3d-4 extranet thing that that we that we had that we're still a little bit foreign to 93b8aa43-f451-458d-960c-2eb96f66ac3d-5 people leaving at that time.
5e8fee56-2c3b-4b6d-91b0-bbaff1b2d6a0-0 And they were able to get all the reporting that they that they needed to 5e8fee56-2c3b-4b6d-91b0-bbaff1b2d6a0-1 to satisfy the requirements and have a successful public offering. ed6f443e-cd69-4b52-bcb1-6536be801399-0 Yeah, which is an amazing experience to go ed6f443e-cd69-4b52-bcb1-6536be801399-1 through. a13f3433-17b6-40eb-8d3f-bd77b853e643-0 I mean, one of the experiences that I have a13f3433-17b6-40eb-8d3f-bd77b853e643-1 certainly been a part of is the growth and the fascinating journey with 23andMe.
2af9d4f0-779b-448f-8aa5-8e300b8be3b4-0 It's obviously a huge DNA company. 8e81f7ff-5bcc-42af-a4ce-5f45b680d7d4-0 And I think that you guys signed the contract with them in 2008, 8e81f7ff-5bcc-42af-a4ce-5f45b680d7d4-1 right before they were, they were named, I think it was Invention of the Year by 8e81f7ff-5bcc-42af-a4ce-5f45b680d7d4-2 Time magazine. 519348cb-c79f-4b01-92d1-b231e2300709-0 And they really grew up after that blew up. 7b77d84c-5ce6-42c6-b587-b0d2dcc0fef4-0 And there was a lot of news stories about this new technology with, you know, 7b77d84c-5ce6-42c6-b587-b0d2dcc0fef4-1 DNA testing and that was one of our early customers talk about how that really, 7b77d84c-5ce6-42c6-b587-b0d2dcc0fef4-2 you know, influenced how we use that technology 7b77d84c-5ce6-42c6-b587-b0d2dcc0fef4-3 within ALOM and also, you know, supporting a client.
10ec7632-b149-4af1-a7f8-15b567e44a77-0 How did that kind of come together when their demand really grew overnight? 18bae4da-4d55-47ea-8160-5877e9f6f6ee-0 Yeah, a couple of stories there. 5d96be0e-9f9f-40c8-a32a-45fd10516397-0 I'll start with the demand situation. 026a885b-4879-43e8-98a2-fd4706ad92c8-0 I remember that very distinctly because all those, you know, 026a885b-4879-43e8-98a2-fd4706ad92c8-1 they went from this kind of smaller niche company that maybe your friend next door 026a885b-4879-43e8-98a2-fd4706ad92c8-2 might know to all of a sudden being referenced on Saturday Night Live, 026a885b-4879-43e8-98a2-fd4706ad92c8-3 Simpsons.
14d90ae9-f408-4e33-945d-f7a786bb6583-0 And there was a whole South Park episode around 60 minutes. fffe306f-6f24-4718-9ab0-5c2a90e80bb2-0 But all of a sudden they just really took off. 763d81ce-fc90-47c5-91c3-fe1e4edda5a2-0 And I just said invention of the year and one year that I think that the year that 763d81ce-fc90-47c5-91c3-fe1e4edda5a2-1 they got all that attention, they beat their sales forecast in, 763d81ce-fc90-47c5-91c3-fe1e4edda5a2-2 in Q4 by 7X, which is, you know, I'm not not 7%, right, 700 percent!
7 times. da30110d-f25d-4cb0-a300-612e0c0554ff-0 And, and we were able to, you know, meet that demand, not without some, da30110d-f25d-4cb0-a300-612e0c0554ff-1 not without some effort, of course, but, but, da30110d-f25d-4cb0-a300-612e0c0554ff-2 but we were able to scale the operation quickly. 6567b45a-3b56-4024-ba41-3050dedae366-0 And I, I doubt that anybody on the, on the, 6567b45a-3b56-4024-ba41-3050dedae366-1 on the receiving end of those kits even noticed that there was, you know, 6567b45a-3b56-4024-ba41-3050dedae366-2 an additional demand.
4bb027a4-6156-4849-abc5-f911332140ae-0 It's not like anybody I had to wait four weeks for a, 4bb027a4-6156-4849-abc5-f911332140ae-1 for a kit if they were still getting them the next day. b85be489-659b-4400-b90e-6b32917e2fea-0 So that was a huge effort to get that done. 1d487dec-ce52-4804-9c6f-352b949acd6e-0 And that was a technology first solution there, right? 414f3dbf-8b4d-4120-9a45-bd5ad5b5ada4-0 It was a, it, we, we went from it, we changed the filming model entirely 414f3dbf-8b4d-4120-9a45-bd5ad5b5ada4-1 over essentially a weekend to, to really accelerate their, 414f3dbf-8b4d-4120-9a45-bd5ad5b5ada4-2 their fulfilment speed and, and yeah, and we're able to meet that demand.
855e0cbe-0865-4b45-a488-f67009937e7b-0 It was, but it was, it was some late nights, it was, 855e0cbe-0865-4b45-a488-f67009937e7b-1 it was pretty crazy. 5ec82c42-5000-4fd7-bc1c-6d3ceebe2e1c-0 And, and, and once again, very fun. 12a59b9b-3aa9-4111-806f-841857f2cb3c-0 And you know, it's the kind of thing where you run 3 12a59b9b-3aa9-4111-806f-841857f2cb3c-1 shifts and, and you're, and you're buying, buying pizza parties and things like that. af2e25b3-2ca0-45d5-9ea8-0a6876f32219-0 And, and the customers watching things via BI af2e25b3-2ca0-45d5-9ea8-0a6876f32219-1 dashboards and, and a, an operation center because everybody's af2e25b3-2ca0-45d5-9ea8-0a6876f32219-2 just so excited about the amount of volume that's really pumping through.
2baa9ac4-dfee-4715-99ed-eed454b0ed5d-0 And it happened so quickly that it was very little like robotic automation that 2baa9ac4-dfee-4715-99ed-eed454b0ed5d-1 we could do. 2c1828ee-a38b-4f1c-be23-ca5031b88e1c-0 It was mainly about the, about the systems and the system 2c1828ee-a38b-4f1c-be23-ca5031b88e1c-1 performance and the end of and the process. ec80d05d-47bb-4094-862a-913e58409b7a-0 We had made some severe process changes so that we were essentially shipping by ec80d05d-47bb-4094-862a-913e58409b7a-1 serial number rather than by pick.
6fd392be-1378-4fc6-ba79-7606cb87d0a1-0 It was a, it was a, an innovative way of, of capturing both serial number very, 6fd392be-1378-4fc6-ba79-7606cb87d0a1-1 very quickly and, and have a high output on each 6fd392be-1378-4fc6-ba79-7606cb87d0a1-2 fulfillment line. df3e25b0-3192-4967-9d2f-7fe749436196-0 So it was really, it was really cool. 8b73384b-54ab-40d1-857f-24acf2ae3a37-0 It was a, it was, it was fun to do and the customer of 8b73384b-54ab-40d1-857f-24acf2ae3a37-1 course was, was absolutely delighted that we were 8b73384b-54ab-40d1-857f-24acf2ae3a37-2 able to meet the demand.
e5c445d7-b7c1-4140-8156-66b87042535c-0 So that was huge. afd03e21-f1a5-43e8-b06c-f58091dab2d3-0 And what was the other question you had about 23amdMe? 7da8b279-a316-43b8-baa8-87de66c7bae5-0 Talk to me a little bit more about just the technology that, I mean, 7da8b279-a316-43b8-baa8-87de66c7bae5-1 we're putting in place. e89c96bd-64b6-4607-ab2d-ad6056bb0f7d-0 I mean, obviously a serialized product.
30bd54a2-907a-4518-b5f9-97eb6751d6bc-0 You want to make sure that Shireen gets Shireen's kit and Brandon gets Brandon's 30bd54a2-907a-4518-b5f9-97eb6751d6bc-1 kit, because I don't want your DNA and you 30bd54a2-907a-4518-b5f9-97eb6751d6bc-2 don't want mine. d0edf37b-23d9-44c9-8871-f47521af6ff2-0 We want to know about what our own DNA is. 9e5caff9-0749-429f-97ea-193c5628892a-0 So that's really critical. 288436c4-5f93-437c-958f-a0e84d53343c-0 And you know, obviously there was a lot of work that 288436c4-5f93-437c-958f-a0e84d53343c-1 was put into that, you know, in addition to the operational team, 288436c4-5f93-437c-958f-a0e84d53343c-2 right?
7fc88a8f-47d6-4262-9382-4151283fc598-0 I always tell prospective customers that have serialization, you know, 7fc88a8f-47d6-4262-9382-4151283fc598-1 really know what your serialization means to you and to your, 7fc88a8f-47d6-4262-9382-4151283fc598-2 and to your client and to your, your ultimate end user, right? 4dc70640-9523-4724-ac9c-443e8b303b53-0 Is it, is it a life and death situation or is, 4dc70640-9523-4724-ac9c-443e8b303b53-1 or is it a warranty situation? 97f555c2-320c-4a81-a211-543d9008b7e6-0 Or is it, you know, something about lot control?
c4d60f30-b9fd-41bf-b8ac-918833f9d693-0 And if it's a life and death situation, which is, you know, c4d60f30-b9fd-41bf-b8ac-918833f9d693-1 not quite life and death, but it's certainly, as you said, c4d60f30-b9fd-41bf-b8ac-918833f9d693-2 you don't want to be, don't want to screw up each other's DNA c4d60f30-b9fd-41bf-b8ac-918833f9d693-3 or have access to each other's DNA accidentally or make a wrong decision c4d60f30-b9fd-41bf-b8ac-918833f9d693-4 medically because of some mixed results.
23c34434-0d27-43bf-b4db-2f90fc5e650b-0 So that's pretty close to life and death. 3966dc24-0d6a-429f-aac6-287f0833f581-0 And and that's where we really honed our serial control prowess there. 64145a2e-5391-40d8-8591-3cbb68ab5bc4-0 You know, we we shipped and I don't even know we 64145a2e-5391-40d8-8591-3cbb68ab5bc4-1 must have, we probably shipped 2 or 3 million kits that quarter and we didn't have 64145a2e-5391-40d8-8591-3cbb68ab5bc4-2 one cross contamination situation happening.
909275bc-3615-4311-bf8a-82e4e7a4e302-0 And that's because we are building the quality into the process, right? 38924296-c738-4c66-afc6-38bc9a518109-0 We're not, that's not because somebody's inspected 38924296-c738-4c66-afc6-38bc9a518109-1 at the end of the line going that's serene serial number. 48689f41-c9cc-443b-ad74-51adb2ffae1e-0 Yeah, that's right. 4b348c00-3d6f-49b5-bc74-f37f1def18f3-0 Now that's not what's happening is you're doing multiple scans of the shipping 4b348c00-3d6f-49b5-bc74-f37f1def18f3-1 label against serial number in sequence where you're not getting to process the 4b348c00-3d6f-49b5-bc74-f37f1def18f3-2 next sequence unless the first sequence is is correct, right.
2202d5f8-2b50-41ce-a266-7f4ebd456859-0 Where you have an assembly, think of an assembly line where there's a 2202d5f8-2b50-41ce-a266-7f4ebd456859-1 quality step built into each each scan or each gate and it needs to pass those 2202d5f8-2b50-41ce-a266-7f4ebd456859-2 gates before it can get to the end of the line. 98be0539-dfac-4a4e-896f-e127edec65ca-0 It's a great example of kind of that human and technology interaction where, 98be0539-dfac-4a4e-896f-e127edec65ca-1 you know, we put things into place so that.
5eed71f4-6bba-48de-8f15-90ebde6b5e24-0 It's not all just on a person, it's not all on the technology. 29d28a95-5dda-4535-8082-4fdd7bd1a3c2-0 You've got a mix of both, right. Right, exactly, exactly. 4fa458be-4dcc-4471-a83a-ada812d83b47-0 And it's still scalable, right?
87f161c2-109c-4939-af21-6f617ba56bc5-0 That's the other thing that's, that's the, that's a big deal there, right? 08af1db0-67f7-4efc-bb16-388f3a770d09-0 You could easily say, you could easily envision, oh, OK, well, 08af1db0-67f7-4efc-bb16-388f3a770d09-1 you want to ship that many units? f769c275-12a7-41d1-b290-b1ca1b85fac3-0 Well, now it's going to be 4 to 6 weeks and f769c275-12a7-41d1-b290-b1ca1b85fac3-1 then so many places in order because we really got to make sure that that serial f769c275-12a7-41d1-b290-b1ca1b85fac3-2 number is correct.
ce90628f-6499-415c-acf0-a78f0c94749d-0 So we found a really good niche there where we could bring scalability and ce90628f-6499-415c-acf0-a78f0c94749d-1 productivity to to a very highly regulated and controlled high quality ce90628f-6499-415c-acf0-a78f0c94749d-2 serial serialization program there. 9b0f771f-72aa-4958-b037-5760a19a406b-0 And you know, we were able to really leverage that into 9b0f771f-72aa-4958-b037-5760a19a406b-1 the into life sciences and medical space, right.
1e3caaeb-688b-4afb-b0ab-a24564d3f546-0 And I think after, yeah, I think, you know, after we did 23andMe, 1e3caaeb-688b-4afb-b0ab-a24564d3f546-1 we really decided to expand more into that medical space and start to look at 1e3caaeb-688b-4afb-b0ab-a24564d3f546-2 what we wanted to do going forward. 9ae2f945-25d1-4fe9-8384-26d531f42811-0 And I think that's when you got the ISO 13485 certification. feed715d-74d8-4968-b185-25e9d1ff09ef-0 I think that happened right after the 23andMe sort of boom is when we were feed715d-74d8-4968-b185-25e9d1ff09ef-1 looking into that.
449abd9d-a331-4e4f-b29a-7580c761ceea-0 Yeah, Correct. 449afb63-a198-4814-88f6-cecdc18f63b9-0 Yeah, exactly. eabf77bb-fa78-45b5-9d82-627af99cf4aa-0 And, and we started realizing that this, there was a kind of a, eabf77bb-fa78-45b5-9d82-627af99cf4aa-1 a missing piece here in, in an industry where, you know, eabf77bb-fa78-45b5-9d82-627af99cf4aa-2 once again, the Silicon Valley roots of improving eabf77bb-fa78-45b5-9d82-627af99cf4aa-3 people's lives with technology. c483c0ae-27e5-4ce8-afc5-3bad7030aa9e-0 Well, of course, these medical, the medical space is all about improving c483c0ae-27e5-4ce8-afc5-3bad7030aa9e-1 people's lives.
ef4701a4-f8e7-4a90-bfbe-26c8e5cbf56f-0 And what we, what we found was the medical space was ef4701a4-f8e7-4a90-bfbe-26c8e5cbf56f-1 very high of highly regulated, but that regulation came at an extreme ef4701a4-f8e7-4a90-bfbe-26c8e5cbf56f-2 supply chain cost from time to market, just pure cost of regulatory situations ef4701a4-f8e7-4a90-bfbe-26c8e5cbf56f-3 and, and, and processes being being very cumbersome, ef4701a4-f8e7-4a90-bfbe-26c8e5cbf56f-4 right, to make sure that you're, you're staying regulated.
45402bf1-c7d7-4c74-868b-459daf0679f6-0 So what we saw was these medical companies that were or quasi medical 45402bf1-c7d7-4c74-868b-459daf0679f6-1 companies like 23andMe that we're trying to reach into the Silicon Valley 45402bf1-c7d7-4c74-868b-459daf0679f6-2 innovation space, you know, but where they where they wanted to bring 45402bf1-c7d7-4c74-868b-459daf0679f6-3 something to market quicker. e1541e43-4966-4bd4-a2b0-7d62fac20be4-0 That was not necessarily, you know, a heart transplant thing or, e1541e43-4966-4bd4-a2b0-7d62fac20be4-1 or something that would go into somebody's body, e1541e43-4966-4bd4-a2b0-7d62fac20be4-2 but that still qualified as a medical device, e1541e43-4966-4bd4-a2b0-7d62fac20be4-3 still had all those regulatory requirements from the FDA, e1541e43-4966-4bd4-a2b0-7d62fac20be4-4 from from other regulatory bodies.
9012ff85-4fa8-4d2b-aefc-31a206da3f81-0 And but they wanted to be able to move faster and, 9012ff85-4fa8-4d2b-aefc-31a206da3f81-1 and have a had higher scale and a lower overall cost of supply chain ownership, 9012ff85-4fa8-4d2b-aefc-31a206da3f81-2 right. c7a8c68b-8cca-4dba-9f27-6cc1b5e54df1-0 So bringing that innovation that we learned from 23 me and from the c7a8c68b-8cca-4dba-9f27-6cc1b5e54df1-1 technology area, technology companies in general, c7a8c68b-8cca-4dba-9f27-6cc1b5e54df1-2 growing up in the Silicon Valley and having those customers, you know, c7a8c68b-8cca-4dba-9f27-6cc1b5e54df1-3 with high innovation, high iteration, bringing those two things together so c7a8c68b-8cca-4dba-9f27-6cc1b5e54df1-4 that we could so we could service these companies, c7a8c68b-8cca-4dba-9f27-6cc1b5e54df1-5 these medical companies that were reaching over into the technology space c7a8c68b-8cca-4dba-9f27-6cc1b5e54df1-6 and these technology companies are reaching into the medical space.
20365b78-50b7-4c07-8e63-dcc74ed6f9f6-0 So think like fitness trackers and know the company that we had that that worked 20365b78-50b7-4c07-8e63-dcc74ed6f9f6-1 with. c65d2ad2-3e22-4027-828f-5697d7b5819e-0 There was also a medical device that was an air filter, right? 6f0a4a9c-506b-41e9-b17d-6eb1282c7cc2-0 So a class two, well, still a Class 2 medical device, 6f0a4a9c-506b-41e9-b17d-6eb1282c7cc2-1 but really a piece of technology that sits in somebody's room and filters the 6f0a4a9c-506b-41e9-b17d-6eb1282c7cc2-2 air.
37d517bd-a106-4767-b2d1-b5e985326b79-0 So the cross section between these two things is, 37d517bd-a106-4767-b2d1-b5e985326b79-1 is a place where it really thrive. 0c846337-8401-442b-bed5-5eef3e0d3bdb-0 And I think we were able to really investigate a lot of those companies and 0c846337-8401-442b-bed5-5eef3e0d3bdb-1 find future customers because we were digging into that a bit more. 6103838e-dd36-4c7b-a2fe-69bbe2cc8580-0 And we definitely learned a lot with, you know, 6103838e-dd36-4c7b-a2fe-69bbe2cc8580-1 the air filter and air filter company and other, you know, 6103838e-dd36-4c7b-a2fe-69bbe2cc8580-2 kind of medical device sort of customers that we've had over the time.
c9dc7a94-d9de-4f19-a2f5-8eef41014ce9-0 Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. c030d436-a8d7-4670-81c9-0d94ffcb667f-0 Well, Brandon, no supply chain podcast can go on without c030d436-a8d7-4670-81c9-0d94ffcb667f-1 talking about AI because that's all all we talk about these days is what's c030d436-a8d7-4670-81c9-0d94ffcb667f-2 happening. 6357026f-ed75-429e-8c2b-307d0cd16f36-0 I think the police come and they for sure, absolutely. 07e6ce46-008a-4d94-9acb-8f3990174b2a-0 I feel like somebody would come in and slap my hand and say say something about 07e6ce46-008a-4d94-9acb-8f3990174b2a-1 AI because I don't feel like I can get out of any conversation without talking 07e6ce46-008a-4d94-9acb-8f3990174b2a-2 about it at some point in time.
5aee8aef-3448-4643-9e9c-83ebfaa1f137-0 So we're right in the middle of, I mean, AI has been around for a while, 5aee8aef-3448-4643-9e9c-83ebfaa1f137-1 but I feel like it's just starting to get to the point in the last couple of years 5aee8aef-3448-4643-9e9c-83ebfaa1f137-2 where it's really, really becoming a big thing across a lot 5aee8aef-3448-4643-9e9c-83ebfaa1f137-3 of different companies and not just in niche markets. 0a222988-aded-431b-9822-864ddc8af182-0 And certainly it's huge in supply chain.
3dbc7b3c-89f0-4447-9b07-e877547afb8f-0 I think, you know, we're serving AI infrastructure customers 3dbc7b3c-89f0-4447-9b07-e877547afb8f-1 and we're also deploying AI internally and have been doing this for a while. 809967db-34c2-4bae-a243-d66813b4b259-0 How do you think ALOM's position to really take advantage of all the stuff 809967db-34c2-4bae-a243-d66813b4b259-1 that's happening around AI today? f5bb9324-9490-4178-89c5-5d822099339b-0 Yeah, in several ways, right. e2f91216-ca44-4b41-84d7-8e891e472451-0 So one, it's a whole new industry once again e2f91216-ca44-4b41-84d7-8e891e472451-1 concentrated in the Bay Area that we can help support as an industry, e2f91216-ca44-4b41-84d7-8e891e472451-2 right via the customer relationship, which we are doing right.
ad6ec457-b7f0-4517-b343-b2eb8a1e263b-0 There's, we have several customers that are in ad6ec457-b7f0-4517-b343-b2eb8a1e263b-1 this space that are that are looking to us to really help scale. f1cae078-15d4-4cd9-91b2-08d9f29906a7-0 So we have more than one customer that's providing hardware to the data centers f1cae078-15d4-4cd9-91b2-08d9f29906a7-1 that are they're they're driving AI. 573573cc-490a-4310-91fb-5a335fcd3f59-0 Some some customers that are also in the design space. c142af03-7600-4bb3-933b-0d24a9073a18-0 When I say design, I mean like silicon design that are c142af03-7600-4bb3-933b-0d24a9073a18-1 driving GPU CPU design and that kind of thing.
23a17a29-f231-4a46-94dc-83d1f046e8dc-0 So it's a whole nother space where we can hopefully help the industry grow, survive, 23a17a29-f231-4a46-94dc-83d1f046e8dc-1 thrive and and and scale. c278e2eb-ceec-4539-acd2-cbb30854d5bf-0 But then of course, there's using AI as a as a tool once c278e2eb-ceec-4539-acd2-cbb30854d5bf-1 again to improve people's lives, right? 8f97e081-9e7b-4c4a-a8c1-f9b207e9562a-0 And and both our company and, and of course, and, and for our customers. 323b80f1-e6b7-4114-b4ca-2f4fb5e67a18-0 So bringing AI to bear on on in internally when it comes to code creation 323b80f1-e6b7-4114-b4ca-2f4fb5e67a18-1 and integration is already something that we're doing.
2ca614dc-d418-43ee-84f6-4d6e4e10453f-0 So this is think we did it had an interesting project recently. 42b83fd5-1f21-4b91-a5be-b0ec8fbec2d6-0 That's a fun story which is about EDI integration. b60b10b4-b842-4d8b-a0cb-40b6a01d2d54-0 So there's still a lot of customers out there that we that we get that are on a b60b10b4-b842-4d8b-a0cb-40b6a01d2d54-1 kind of old school EDI transmission. f8659a6b-7589-4223-bec6-1f2c69b39b6e-0 So, and if you're on SAP and some versions of f8659a6b-7589-4223-bec6-1f2c69b39b6e-1 Oracle, so that's kind of some of the choices f8659a6b-7589-4223-bec6-1f2c69b39b6e-2 that you get for immigration, right as you're sending, f8659a6b-7589-4223-bec6-1f2c69b39b6e-3 you're sending over this at a fact integrate at a fact documents or, or, f8659a6b-7589-4223-bec6-1f2c69b39b6e-4 or other traditional EDI standards.
d6b00a01-d404-4c25-848d-6a385cf66e52-0 And, and it's getting, you know, less and less supported by modern systems. 5b8ee608-6ffa-433e-b165-3efa989081ea-0 But we recently brought EDI, brought EDI into our anthropic deployment 5b8ee608-6ffa-433e-b165-3efa989081ea-1 and, and, and create an integrate a new type of 5b8ee608-6ffa-433e-b165-3efa989081ea-2 integration for, for, for those EDI documents that funnels 5b8ee608-6ffa-433e-b165-3efa989081ea-3 through AI where AI is looking at at the at the, the documentation for that EDI.
bdbc4eca-252e-4a90-aad9-6a75791989fc-0 Then it's actually looking at the examples that are actually sent in the bdbc4eca-252e-4a90-aad9-6a75791989fc-1 EDI to cut shocker of the EDI signal that comes over is not always what specs as bdbc4eca-252e-4a90-aad9-6a75791989fc-2 it's going to be and make and it's making on the fly modifications or on the flight bdbc4eca-252e-4a90-aad9-6a75791989fc-3 judgments about how to modify those documents to make them to spec and get bdbc4eca-252e-4a90-aad9-6a75791989fc-4 them and get them integrated real time.
665d7780-814d-411e-8915-32df8610c5fb-0 So kind of thing where you would normally use a value added network or an 665d7780-814d-411e-8915-32df8610c5fb-1 integrator or something like that is starting to replace that and accelerate 665d7780-814d-411e-8915-32df8610c5fb-2 it. 38ceef6f-5211-44c1-a39d-72ec28c52f1e-0 So we were able to bring on an EDI trading partner without a van, 38ceef6f-5211-44c1-a39d-72ec28c52f1e-1 without EDI specific software, just by using our, 38ceef6f-5211-44c1-a39d-72ec28c52f1e-2 our clawed deployment to help facilitate the, the communication.
037c80b4-32be-4906-86b1-befdc3b12224-0 So I think about a pod, one of the podcasts that I did for ALOM, 037c80b4-32be-4906-86b1-befdc3b12224-1 you know, maybe two years ago, I think about a year and a half ago on AI 037c80b4-32be-4906-86b1-befdc3b12224-2 and I had predicted that AI would be brought to bear on old school IT 037c80b4-32be-4906-86b1-befdc3b12224-3 integrations at some point. e8068158-dd78-4a84-a17b-765324c04cc1-0 And here we are actually doing it now. 28293360-08b2-41df-b874-84ac9f9b27dd-0 And that's, and that's something that's really been 28293360-08b2-41df-b874-84ac9f9b27dd-1 possible, I would say over the past eight weeks, 28293360-08b2-41df-b874-84ac9f9b27dd-2 12 weeks, certainly 2026, you know, that's how fast it's moving.
de9af082-d621-44e3-b6ba-79f6291072e0-0 That wouldn't have worked in 2025 and that's working kind of Florida state now. 49d03bfc-07fa-4ee0-a4d3-45e062521f0a-0 And that's pretty, pretty crazy, pretty exciting, pretty crazy. 828383ee-764e-4cb3-840b-b126a59219a2-0 Any any predictions that you want to give today or anything you think's going to 828383ee-764e-4cb3-840b-b126a59219a2-1 happen? ac098073-b8f6-48cf-afea-5ec8c35ad03c-0 It's here to stay, that's for sure.
61b82b76-8728-486c-9307-c75b414ce9c2-0 Yeah. 8e8c2f2a-2673-4972-857d-fc498db31f45-0 So I think about it too. 20ab6356-e2ad-4569-83d4-21f665aba428-0 It's fun because the last big kind of thing that we had in the supply chain 20ab6356-e2ad-4569-83d4-21f665aba428-1 coming out of the Silicon Valley, that was, you know, 20ab6356-e2ad-4569-83d4-21f665aba428-2 a big deal was blockchain. 4d38f353-0fec-4e53-a4df-213dc0dd552b-0 And, and it's probably been a while since 4d38f353-0fec-4e53-a4df-213dc0dd552b-1 anybody's thought about blockchain outside of, outside of, you know, 4d38f353-0fec-4e53-a4df-213dc0dd552b-2 a few very large companies like IBM and and of course, you know, 4d38f353-0fec-4e53-a4df-213dc0dd552b-3 the Bitcoin stuff, right, which is where it's still used.
b12f90ac-af06-4e5f-9571-0338ff3782a6-0 And the problem that and blockchain fizzled out a little bit to go mainstream b12f90ac-af06-4e5f-9571-0338ff3782a6-1 in in the supply chain area, mainly because of the barrier to entry. b94679b2-7d87-422e-9385-110185a31213-0 You, you needed a lot of cooperation between b94679b2-7d87-422e-9385-110185a31213-1 all trading partners involved for blockchain to kind of work. aaa3e408-5659-4091-9fd7-b9b46f7e8985-0 And it was a pretty big investment for everybody.
4444f616-cc6d-4555-90e8-ffa5310f1897-0 So it's really hard for people to come come along for the ride, right? 129f56c6-5429-47c1-b906-7610061f81da-0 And having a mom and pop, a mom and pop shop trucking company come 129f56c6-5429-47c1-b906-7610061f81da-1 along for the blockchain, right? ff57064a-4a6a-4aa2-aa77-6e3f61c5a541-0 It's just a complete non starter. 6e71cfbc-0ba4-45fe-bfd1-d099f798d750-0 But that is not the case with AI, right?
75df94b7-faec-4179-94d6-ec2cccbe8e8c-0 AI for a couple hundred bucks a month, you're, you can start playing around and doing 75df94b7-faec-4179-94d6-ec2cccbe8e8c-1 real things. 024f1e77-173f-433a-9aa2-27b61178683d-0 And so that's, that's a big difference between between 024f1e77-173f-433a-9aa2-27b61178683d-1 blockchain and AI. 9356880a-17a7-4d0a-a2ae-5f7526c86b2b-0 So it's definitely here to stay. 208944bc-7536-4b8e-9e93-7a3564814470-0 I think that we'll have winners and losers like in every other, 208944bc-7536-4b8e-9e93-7a3564814470-1 every other industry.
9a5e5ac3-0c17-40fb-95e2-b53049328576-0 And that's still to be determined as none of these big, 9a5e5ac3-0c17-40fb-95e2-b53049328576-1 big guys have gone public as of taping. 7dbd6dbc-6042-4cb7-9e1b-8f7f2ae45061-0 But but when they do it'll, yeah, it'll, it'll start, 7dbd6dbc-6042-4cb7-9e1b-8f7f2ae45061-1 it'll start shake out a little bit more. fa33ed79-46a1-4220-a00f-9ee903bf41af-0 And, you know, supply chain companies aren't going to be fa33ed79-46a1-4220-a00f-9ee903bf41af-1 replaced by AI, but supply chain companies that don't use fa33ed79-46a1-4220-a00f-9ee903bf41af-2 AI will be replaced by supply chain companies that do.
d4966be4-4afc-4c06-8333-97334bc394f3-0 It's yeah, it's not a silver bullet for sure. 2ae3d6bb-2381-4b7a-a7ab-a82b39aec453-0 But again, it just goes back to that kind of human 2ae3d6bb-2381-4b7a-a7ab-a82b39aec453-1 and technology integration and, you know, interaction that there's a lot of great 2ae3d6bb-2381-4b7a-a7ab-a82b39aec453-2 things that AI can do, but it doesn't completely replace the 2ae3d6bb-2381-4b7a-a7ab-a82b39aec453-3 human judgment. f54aae0a-c237-4d2f-a0c2-aa3d753110a4-0 And you still need, you still need humans to make AI f54aae0a-c237-4d2f-a0c2-aa3d753110a4-1 effective.
784a63bc-babb-4430-b8ea-3a5b806e9187-0 Yeah, that's right. 5b1848ad-2719-40e5-bef9-08afd3132501-0 So the agentic stuff gets a little bit creepier, right? f3563aec-b851-4209-8181-8107c4118b5b-0 That's so the agentic AI is when it's taking action for you sometimes without f3563aec-b851-4209-8181-8107c4118b5b-1 asking and making decisions. 0f225b7f-71d7-46d4-84e8-62494ef1d202-0 And that's our, you know, that's really our showing up a lot these 0f225b7f-71d7-46d4-84e8-62494ef1d202-1 days and contract negotiations and data privacy agreements and, 0f225b7f-71d7-46d4-84e8-62494ef1d202-2 and those types of things where companies are starting to pay attention to, OK, 0f225b7f-71d7-46d4-84e8-62494ef1d202-3 who am I hiring here?
a81e6398-4d16-4736-8e5f-0947a16df113-0 Am I hiring a company where people are making decisions or am I hiring a company a81e6398-4d16-4736-8e5f-0947a16df113-1 where a computer is making decisions? 078161ff-4201-4660-af1f-cf54518f7628-0 Right. bc0334e7-2a4f-41cc-87a9-9662c9967878-0 So, so that's certainly something that we are bc0334e7-2a4f-41cc-87a9-9662c9967878-1 taking very seriously and have not started down that road yet of, of, bc0334e7-2a4f-41cc-87a9-9662c9967878-2 of AI making decisions for us.
ceabf7fc-5181-4676-ba06-8cdcea539ac0-0 We have a philosophy that AI can make recommendations, but it's always a human, ceabf7fc-5181-4676-ba06-8cdcea539ac0-1 at least for now, that's always a human making a decision. c1bef4e3-b745-41e6-b0cb-e61cd36b2b3c-0 Absolutely. 4f92832c-138b-4374-b7f3-7529fcbe023c-0 Brandon, any, any last advice in terms of, you know, people working with, you know, 4f92832c-138b-4374-b7f3-7529fcbe023c-1 companies in the Bay Area and our kind of culture of innovation?
86ae8b91-186a-412b-96e5-a98e4040faa2-0 Any last words about innovation and supply chain? d1c70d5b-5247-4932-91dd-672a1163d1f8-0 I mean, you know, it's, it's, I think it's never OK to sit pat with, d1c70d5b-5247-4932-91dd-672a1163d1f8-1 with what you're doing, right. c2b4341f-f496-4987-bf4d-73bbaa5ae996-0 It's so one of our core tenants is a continuous improvement. 7f422656-dca4-4860-b758-4c7c1fdf44fb-0 And for me, continuous improvement starts with 7f422656-dca4-4860-b758-4c7c1fdf44fb-1 innovation, especially with technology.
da1a842d-692a-4e08-b3a9-f3e88cb64420-0 And just because you know, if it's not broke, don't fix it. 36ce449e-c64a-4642-9db0-64b0a03e00cc-0 Not always the case. 3793da95-b54c-4e58-a9f7-b0afc3a038e3-0 You know, it should be all you should always be 3793da95-b54c-4e58-a9f7-b0afc3a038e3-1 looking at what your what your supply chain is doing, where it can be improved, 3793da95-b54c-4e58-a9f7-b0afc3a038e3-2 where you've got risk and where that risk is changing as the world changes. bf8d696a-8f56-40c7-b24b-e8a1f5ac1985-0 I don't know if you've noticed, but the world is a little volatile these bf8d696a-8f56-40c7-b24b-e8a1f5ac1985-1 days.
4c0eb22a-f181-421f-bfc5-335c45fbb2c7-0 Really. 2312b2b7-7fbb-4cf3-be62-8d29ade38d0f-0 OK, I'll check my news feed. 23f3a5e2-9280-4f0e-90c9-c524d5741c21-0 Risk and opportunity profile is constantly changing. ae5d1fbd-f18c-47c1-81d9-2cc213ba4e95-0 So it's it's something you need to pay attention to all the time.
4341c5fd-d15e-40df-9af8-710f264ad0de-0 Absolutely. fbfb12d5-17af-47b9-b0b1-33be757fe05b-0 Well, you know, I always ask everybody on my podcast one fbfb12d5-17af-47b9-b0b1-33be757fe05b-1 last question. 4ffb47ee-46e1-4680-a756-6e3b42b7239d-0 And my question is usually around travel. 741a6e39-fcdc-42ab-9ac1-bc5d73c60ecb-0 But because you are such a, you know, a little bit of a tech geek and a space 741a6e39-fcdc-42ab-9ac1-bc5d73c60ecb-1 geek, I am tweaking my question today to ask 741a6e39-fcdc-42ab-9ac1-bc5d73c60ecb-2 you if you had the opportunity to travel and take a holiday on Mars, 741a6e39-fcdc-42ab-9ac1-bc5d73c60ecb-3 would you do it?
551f3fc1-5d59-4b8a-b46d-d5476d24b128-0 Oh, man, that's a tough one. 2e89bab8-4c84-43e0-abce-0917809a6abe-0 In in the current state, probably not. d0eba8c4-4b1d-4b05-a2bb-466fdede8e47-0 You know, Mars sounds like fun, but so think about Mars. 1424488c-41de-4c70-81c5-b7c4299d6d5b-0 Mars is like a warm, pleasant day.
2b0a7b4b-d9a0-4d95-8536-8a8271b4522a-0 On Mars is like being in Antarctica, except with no air. 83b888cd-18b0-4521-acfc-53a3919ca8e0-0 You know, you have to have the right equipment. f567032c-c8a1-483a-bad6-fbaa57c4aa46-0 On any holiday, you always have to think about what f567032c-c8a1-483a-bad6-fbaa57c4aa46-1 you're going to pack. 946c5b33-0792-49f0-8a7c-55efb2c4cb42-0 OK, well, I'll, I'll take that answer.
9ccf7bdc-24ab-4856-94aa-7e663a59bf0e-0 That's good enough for now, but that'll happen. 62674450-8655-4b04-ad59-edad692d2b36-0 The moon sounds like more fun in a little bit, a little bit closer. 3b16480e-f6d7-48ec-8c9a-aca7dc9a284c-0 OK. bc32a706-7970-4887-a6e8-5298cb066664-0 All right.
b1cb8624-f8c4-4ead-8a7d-acd1c62b77e7-0 So maybe you would have been one of those people that would have taken the the trip b1cb8624-f8c4-4ead-8a7d-acd1c62b77e7-1 to the moon. 42cfeac2-2b48-4d74-99d3-f1d2a44654e2-0 Yeah. cd9eb923-eb14-4be3-9bc5-515e4afacfe3-0 Yeah. 0ac95afa-6b5a-4305-8bea-8e2c074162e7-0 Artemis 2 that just went around fairly recently.
06afb094-4e78-4cf5-91d5-aa4979016ac8-0 That that was pretty cool. a1ca009b-fbc4-48bb-9e6f-1993639f227f-0 And look at looking forward to that, to the next missions for sure. 7a2b7b35-50ac-4477-960c-d8092545f811-0 All right. 1cafe0ea-f32e-4e18-bc68-be26bb92bee4-0 Well, thanks, Brandon.
5e0c1f2a-d5b1-4f21-94c5-cf99738a93fb-0 That'll have to be the last word because we're out of time. 7a7b9090-f398-48bf-9d4c-df01e9dda4ce-0 But I would like to thank Brandon Marugg, our COO. e3806dc5-a753-4320-b8b2-f8b65cbcfab5-0 And I really appreciate you being a guest here on Smart Supply Chain. 8aeb056d-b836-420d-8d17-f6bb251f636f-0 And for everybody tuning in, we'll catch you next time on 8aeb056d-b836-420d-8d17-f6bb251f636f-1 Smart Supply Chain and you can check us out anytime at alom.
com. a62b27d4-c578-4a00-ab6f-4e9c02f3b9fe-0 Thanks, Brandon.
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