#supply-chain
245 episodes
#5926: Inside Alibaba's Machine: AliExpress, Guanxi, and the China Daniel Has Never Visited
What's actually on the other end of an AliExpress order? A look at Alibaba's B2B machine, Israel's import economy, and guanxi.
#5894: Printing Money Isn't What You Think It Is
Central banks order billions of banknotes a year — but that's replacement, not stimulus. Here's how cash actually gets made and destroyed.
#5884: The Machines That Take 5 Years to Replace
Large power transformers, HVDC converters, nuclear forgings — why some essential machines have no quick reorder.
#5806: Graphene's Real Story: Lab to Fab at Last
Graphene's properties were never hype — the physics is real. The hard part was always making it at scale. That's finally changing.
#5796: 900 Tonnes on Public Roads: The Weirdest Cargo Moves
544 wheels, 66 hours on the road with three elephants, and a spaceship on Crenshaw Boulevard — the strange industry that moves the impossible.
#5787: Inside the Two Steel Industries
Steel is really two industries wearing one word — and the health and carbon ledgers land in different places.
#5746: Why Power Tool Cords Are So Short
Nobody regulates that stubby cord — it's container math. And making it longer can actually make your tool more dangerous.
#5744: Blue Tools, Green Tools: Inside Bosch's Channel Strategy
Why Bosch sells two tool lines under one name — and why the green one wasn't sold in America for decades.
#5647: Can Any Country Actually Go It Alone?
Ninety percent of rare earth processing runs through one country. So what happens when a nation tries to trade with nobody at all?
#5605: From Dolium to Cup: Rome's Wine Supply Chain
Rome had no wine bottles — just giant buried jars, throwaway shipping pots, and a hill of 53 million smashed amphorae.
#5565: Inside the Factory: Why Plant Tours Are Addictive
Boeing, Ford, and Shenzhen's Future Factory: why watching a bottling line is mesmerizing, and where to find real golden tickets.
#5562: What "Heavy Industry" Actually Means
It's not about weight — it's about capital intensity and cycles. Why the heavy/light split is younger than the factories it describes.
#5538: One Pot, 120 Curries: How BIR Kitchens Work
A single pot of onion base gravy is why a 120-item curry menu reaches your table in ten minutes — and why it might work at home too.
#5529: 15 Forgotten Hardware Parts Your DIY Kit Needs
A 64-drawer parts bin reveals why you keep buying the same screws twice — and the 15 fasteners worth actually stocking.
#5519: Mobile Warehouse: Racking That Travels With the Tech
What happens when your inventory tier gets wheels — and how Milwaukee and Bott keep drawers shut at 50 km/h.
#5373: Why the Same Face Cream Costs 2.5x More in Israel
Same La Roche-Posay cream: $17 on Amazon, 160 shekels in Jerusalem. Here's where the markup actually happens.
#5339: How Auction Insiders Find the $9,000 Forklift
Government surplus, factory liquidation, and bankruptcy sales are three different animals — and the pros who profit know exactly where to look.
#5275: Reading a Supplier in 20 Minutes
How does a two-person firm vet a supplier without a procurement team? Walk in, watch the workshop, read the room.
#5274: A Broken Dremel and the Hidden World of Parts Distribution
A dead rotary tool leads down two rabbit holes: warranty economics and how components actually move around the world.
#5217: Inside the Hidden Fleet of Medical Couriers and Police Escorts
A hidden network moves organs, blood, and critical patients through cities at speeds the roads weren't built for.
#5207: Hard Drives Are Having Their Biggest Boom in a Decade
Everyone assumes flash killed the spinning disk. Seagate's 52% margins and sold-out capacity through 2028 say otherwise.
#5206: Why IKEA Has No Replacement-Parts API
IKEA's catalog is community reverse-engineering. GS1 solved replacement semantics years ago. Neither reaches a purchasing manager's database.
#5190: How Iranian Rugs Reach Israeli Shelves
Tunisian olive oil with French labels, Iranian rugs in Jerusalem shops — how goods actually move around sanctions and enemy-state bans.
#5147: Tents vs Container Cities: Rethinking Disaster Housing
Why do disasters still end in tent cities when foldable container homes and container cities already exist?