40 DC VELOCITY JULY 2016 www.dcvelocity.com
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Cliff Lynch is a five-decade man. He cut
his transport teeth in the mid-1960s when
regulation was part of the firmament and
a free market was still years away. He has
seen regulation at its peak and through
its demise, as well as deregulation during
its infancy, adolescence, and into full-fledged adulthood. Simply put, there is
little that Lynch has not witnessed.
Q Of all the things that have changed uring the 50 years you’ve been a
practitioner and consultant, is there one that stands out?
A The [trucking and rail] deregulation acts in 1980 stand out as the most significant. Many who’ve
been in the field just a few years may not realize that all
the changes we have seen and continue to see would not
have been possible without first eliminating transport
regulations. The freedom to negotiate, innovate, and
manage your business the way that you wanted to was
practically nonexistent during regulation. It all seems
like dull history to most practitioners, but I cannot
imagine where we would be today had deregulation not
taken place.
Q Most folks around today didn’t work through the transition to deregulation. Was there concern at the
time that this was the right thing to do, and did anyone
forecast that the industry would evolve the way it has in
the past 35-plus years?
A The transition was not an easy one. We were mov- ing out of a 100-year period, with all the bureau-
cratic mindsets that had accumulated. For many, regula-
tion was a security blanket. Everyone paid the same rates
on similar commodities, so you didn’t
have to worry too much about what the
competition was doing. Carriers couldn’t
go out of business and leave shippers
stranded without extensive Interstate
Commerce Commission (ICC) hearings
and bureaucratic hurdles.
The disagreements weren’t so much
about right or wrong as they were over
matters of interpretation. In my early
days at the old Quaker Oats Co., I worked
on one proposed rate innovation exclusively for five years, following it all the way through ICC
hearings to the U.S. Supreme Court. A good rate clerk
was worth his weight in gold back then. Fortunately,
there were enough forward thinkers who could imagine
what it would be like to join a free market. Even so, it
took years of adjustment to get to where we are today.
Q Has the free-market pendulum swung too far in favor of providers, and will we see some blowback
from Washington in terms of either reregulation or
brakes on the free-market trend?
A We could see some government intervention if carriers become too heavy handed. The behavior of
the airline industry is a classic example of the practices
that led to regulation in the first place—high profits,
high rates, and poor service for the only game in town.
There is an ongoing issue with the railroads and their
treatment of so-called “captive shippers.” Some companies have no other mode choice, and we could see some
government action if the Surface Transportation Board
[the U.S. agency overseeing what’s left of rail regulation]
believes rates are too high or service is inadequate.
Cliff Lynch
Q What is your proudest personal achievement, and why?
A I have been credited with the development of hori- zontal picking carts, which have been in use at Petco
for the past five years and have significantly improved
productivity and accuracy in our break-pack modules. In
truth, the “sled” was developed after I had seen a picking
cart used during a DC tour. Working with a small team
at Petco, we set out to implement a cart of our own that
enables us to cluster pick multiple store orders and significantly reduce travel by our order pickers. We landed
on a horizontal cart or “sled” design that enables order
pickers to pick six stores at a time and utilizes put-to-light technology to increase accuracy. Working with
that small team and achieving results was very satisfying.
It also highlights the benefits of getting out and seeing
other operations. No matter where I go, I always see
something someone else is doing that can be brought
back home and implemented.
Q What advice would you give to a young person just entering the supply chain management profession?
A Learn as many business functions as you can. Staying in one area and developing deep skills limits
your versatility. Managing supply chains requires collaboration across multiple functions. Someone who has
worked across multiple functions gains critical perspective to understand the challenges as well as insight into
how to solve the problems.
