Hosted by Jeff Walter, Founder and CEO of LatitudeLearning
In this episode of the Training Impact Podcast, Jeff Walter speaks with Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada about the role training plays in enabling confident performance in highly technical, customer-facing environments. Their conversation goes well beyond traditional learning topics to explore how training influences trust, decision-making, and operational consistency across distributed teams.
MCP Emerson Canada operates at the intersection of advanced technology and real-world application. The organization supports customers who rely on industrial automation solutions that must function reliably, safely, and efficiently. In this context, training is not simply about product familiarity. It is about preparing people to make informed decisions in complex situations where the stakes are high and the margin for error is small.
Throughout the discussion, Jeff and Kara unpack what it means to design training programs that support real performance. They explore how training must evolve as products, customer expectations, and workforce dynamics change, and why organizations that treat training as a static requirement often struggle to keep pace.
Technical industries present a unique training challenge. Products are complex, terminology is specialized, and customer use cases vary significantly across industries and applications. Unlike more transactional environments, technical sales and support require deep understanding, situational judgment, and the ability to adapt knowledge to specific contexts.
Kara explains that MCP Emerson Canada’s teams are often asked to act as trusted advisors rather than simple product vendors. Customers expect guidance on system design, integration, and long-term performance, not just pricing or availability. This expectation fundamentally changes the role training must play within the organization.
Training, in this environment, must prepare individuals to interpret information, not just recall it. Learners need to understand why a solution works, how it behaves under different conditions, and what tradeoffs exist. That depth of understanding cannot be achieved through surface-level onboarding alone.
One of the key insights from the episode is that knowledge and performance are not the same thing. Many organizations invest heavily in training content, assessments, and certifications, yet still encounter hesitation or inconsistency in the field. Learners may know the material but struggle to apply it confidently when interacting with customers or troubleshooting problems.
Kara notes that this gap often emerges when training focuses too heavily on information transfer and not enough on application. Quizzes and course completions can demonstrate exposure to content, but they do not always reflect readiness to perform under real conditions.
At MCP Emerson Canada, training is designed to support confidence as much as competence. When learners feel confident in their understanding, they engage customers more effectively, communicate more clearly, and make decisions with greater assurance. Confidence, in this sense, becomes a critical output of the training program.
Jeff and Kara discuss how effective training programs intentionally bridge the gap between learning and performance. This requires moving beyond passive consumption of content and toward learning experiences that reinforce application, context, and judgment.
Rather than overwhelming learners with exhaustive detail, MCP Emerson Canada emphasizes clarity and relevance. Training content is designed to answer practical questions learners will face in the field: How does this solution behave in a specific environment? What risks should be considered? How do different configurations affect outcomes?
By anchoring training in real-world scenarios, learners are better equipped to translate knowledge into action. This approach reduces uncertainty and helps learners internalize concepts in ways that stick beyond the classroom or LMS.
Another major theme in the episode is the importance of role-based training. Engineers, sales professionals, and support staff interact with customers in fundamentally different ways. Expecting a single training path to meet all needs often leads to frustration and inefficiency.
Kara explains that MCP Emerson Canada designs training with specific roles in mind. Engineers require deeper technical understanding and diagnostic capability. Sales teams need enough technical fluency to guide conversations and identify appropriate solutions without becoming overwhelmed by detail. Support teams must be able to respond quickly and accurately to issues that arise after deployment.
By aligning training content to role-specific responsibilities, the organization ensures that learners receive what they need to perform effectively without unnecessary complexity. This targeted approach also respects learners’ time, which is especially valuable in fast-paced, customer-driven environments.
MCP Emerson Canada supports teams distributed across regions, each serving customers with unique needs and challenges. This geographic and operational diversity introduces additional complexity into training program design.
Kara shares how training must be both consistent and adaptable. Core principles, standards, and product knowledge must be shared across the organization to ensure alignment. At the same time, training must allow for flexibility to address regional differences, industry-specific applications, and evolving customer demands.
Jeff connects this challenge to a broader pattern seen in partner and extended-enterprise training programs. As organizations scale, training systems must support variation without fragmenting the learning experience. Achieving this balance requires thoughtful program design, not just more content.
In technical industries, trust is earned through demonstrated competence. Customers rely on MCP Emerson Canada’s teams to provide guidance that affects critical systems and operations. Mistakes can be costly, both financially and reputationally.
Kara emphasizes that training plays a direct role in establishing and maintaining this trust. Well-trained teams are more comfortable acknowledging uncertainty, asking clarifying questions, and explaining recommendations clearly. This transparency strengthens customer relationships and reinforces MCP Emerson Canada’s credibility as a partner.
Training, in this sense, becomes part of the customer experience. It influences how confidently teams speak, how effectively they listen, and how reliably they deliver on commitments.
A recurring theme throughout the conversation is that onboarding alone is not enough. While onboarding is essential for introducing new hires to products, systems, and processes, it represents only the starting point of a longer learning journey.
Kara explains that MCP Emerson Canada treats training as an ongoing process. As products evolve, new solutions are introduced, and customer expectations shift, training must adapt accordingly. This continuous approach helps ensure that experienced team members remain current and confident, not just new hires.
Jeff reinforces that organizations often underestimate the importance of ongoing learning, particularly in technical environments where knowledge can become outdated quickly. Sustained training efforts help prevent skill decay and reduce reliance on a small number of subject-matter experts.
Technical training programs face constant pressure to keep pace with innovation. New products, updates, and integrations require training content to be refreshed regularly. Without a structured approach, training materials can quickly become outdated or inconsistent.
Kara discusses the importance of treating training content as a living asset. Rather than building courses once and moving on, MCP Emerson Canada regularly revisits and updates training materials to reflect current offerings and best practices.
This approach ensures that learners have access to accurate, relevant information when they need it. It also reinforces a culture of learning where staying current is viewed as part of professional responsibility, not an occasional inconvenience.
One of the more nuanced challenges discussed in the episode is balancing consistency with flexibility. Standardization is important for ensuring quality and alignment, but excessive rigidity can limit responsiveness and creativity.
MCP Emerson Canada addresses this by defining clear core standards while allowing room for adaptation. Training establishes a shared foundation of knowledge and expectations, but teams are encouraged to apply that foundation thoughtfully based on specific customer contexts.
Jeff notes that this balance is especially important in partner and field-based environments, where rigid scripts often fail to address real-world complexity. Training should provide guidance, not constrain judgment.
While the conversation emphasizes strategy and design, it also acknowledges the role of systems in enabling scalable training. Learning platforms, content management tools, and reporting capabilities all support the execution of a well-designed program.
Kara emphasizes that technology is most effective when it reinforces clear objectives. Systems should make it easier for learners to find relevant information, track progress, and revisit materials as needed. They should also provide visibility into how training is being consumed and where additional support may be required.
Jeff ties this back to a core principle of the Training Impact Podcast: technology enables impact only when paired with intentional program design.
Traditional training metrics such as course completions and attendance offer limited insight into real-world impact. Throughout the episode, Jeff and Kara discuss the importance of looking beyond these surface-level indicators.
At MCP Emerson Canada, success is reflected in performance confidence, consistency in customer interactions, and reduced reliance on ad hoc support. While these outcomes may be harder to quantify, they provide a more accurate picture of training effectiveness.
Jeff highlights that organizations willing to define success in terms of performance outcomes are better positioned to justify continued investment in training and to refine programs over time.
The conversation offers valuable lessons for any organization operating in technical, partner-driven, or extended-enterprise environments. Training programs must be designed with performance in mind, not just compliance or information delivery.
Role-based learning, continuous updates, and real-world application are not optional in these contexts. They are essential for maintaining credibility, efficiency, and customer trust.
Organizations that invest in training as a strategic capability, rather than a supporting function, are better equipped to scale without sacrificing quality or consistency.
This episode of the Training Impact Podcast highlights how MCP Emerson Canada approaches training as a driver of real-world performance. By focusing on role relevance, continuous learning, and application-focused design, the organization equips its teams to operate confidently in complex, high-stakes environments.
For leaders responsible for technical, partner, or extended-enterprise training programs, the takeaway is clear. Training that builds confidence and supports judgment delivers far more value than training that simply checks boxes. When learning is aligned with how people actually work, it becomes a powerful enabler of trust, consistency, and long-term success.
Learn more about MCP Emerson Canada at https://mcptri.com/
Jeff Walter (00:00)
Hi, welcome back to the training impact podcast. I’m your host, Jeff Walter. My guest today is Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada. Kara is the operations director at McCaw Heats Consumer Products Management. She brings over 25 years of experience across marketing, brand management and consumer packaged goods operations. Based in Burlington, Ontario, Kara has spent her career helping consumer brands grow through strategic thinking, operational discipline and strong cross-functional leadership. Kara, welcome to the program.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (00:29)
Thanks for having me, Jeff.
Jeff Walter (00:30)
And thank you for being here. So the first thing I always like to understand more is how did you become operate? What was your path to operations director? And what is Mokahi Consumer Products Management? And I think this is going to be an interesting, fun conversation because it’s a unique situation. It’s a unique channel partner relationship.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (00:50)
It is, is. So McCotty Consumer Products is an importer of consumer goods, particularly with a focus on HABA, HBA, and drug products, but over-the-counter drug products and natural health products. We help U.S. companies bring their products into the Canadian market and then…
get them into our retail channel and are specifically our bigger retail. Well, we deal with all retailers across Canada, mostly with a focus on drug and grocery banner, although we are expanding into other channels now. So it’s a very different model. We have US partners or partners actually from all different countries, and we have the infrastructure in place to get the products to market for them.
Jeff Walter (01:39)
And for those unfamiliar, which includes me, ⁓ what is HVA products? What is that? OK.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (01:43)
Yeah.
Health and beauty, health and beauty products.
So like shampoos, lip balms, cosmetics. We’re not heavily into cosmetics, but we’re getting there. We were at one time and we kind of deviated away from it, but it looks like we’re heading back in that direction now. And yeah, we work with our major retail partners to launch the newest and best products.
Jeff Walter (02:06)
And about how many brands do you all represent in the Canadian
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (02:10)
Oh boy,
I feel like we are around 50 now and we have them across different categories in the marketplace.
Jeff Walter (02:22)
And then on the retail side, how many retail partners and locations? Because that, in in locations is huge.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (02:26)
Yes!
Yeah, so Canada’s a pretty unique market. We have three major retailers who probably are about 75 % of the total market. So that would be Shoppers Drug Mart, the La Blah Banner, which is owned by Shoppers, and the Walmart. And then we have regional drug and grocery that we deal with. It’s
probably around 5,000 locations all told that we deal with. Most of our retail partners have warehouses that we ship to. We don’t typically service direct to store.
Jeff Walter (03:03)
So Kara tell us a little bit more about McCaw II and which is now part of Emerson and ⁓ Like how many brands do you represent and then?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada of MCP Emerson Canada (03:08)
Yes.
Jeff Walter (03:12)
On the retail side, how many retail partners and how many retail locations?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (03:16)
Yeah, so yeah, were recently well, but it’s been over the course of five years we’ve been.
joining the Emerson Group out of the US and that has opened a lot of doors. We’re representing, we’re upwards of 50 brands now across the wellness and OTC, over the counter drug, sections of retail. deal with, Canada is a really interesting market because there are some real dominant players in the retail field, particularly Shoppers Drug Mart, the Loblaws Corporation.
they are actually owned by the same entity and then Walmart, course. And then you have regional drug and grocery banners and all told, I’m guessing it’s probably upwards of 5,000 retail locations across Canada. And, you know, we don’t have a huge population in Canada, but we’re a big landmass. So there’s challenges with getting product across the country in a, a, you know, logistics and supply chain can have big challenges. And we have
infrastructure in place and that tends to be one of our one of the appeals of working with us.
Jeff Walter (04:26)
And when you say
you have the infrastructure in place, what does that mean?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (04:30)
So we have a demand plan team who helps determine what you need for the market. Plus we have a relationship with a logistics supply company who ships to all the big retailers, who’s familiar with all the requirements and can get product all across the country in a reasonably priced and reasonable amount of time.
Jeff Walter (04:56)
And getting, and this is interesting, first time I’ve talked to on an international, and there’s so many goods going back and forth, getting the goods from whether it’s the US or EU or Asia in Canada, how does that happen? I know.
Kara Hale ofMCP Emerson Canada (05:06)
Yeah.
Yes.
Right.
we, there’s actually quite a lengthy process depending on the kind of product, but it has to be approved.
Most of the products we deal with in import have to be approved by Health Canada prior to coming into the market. So the brand partners we work with, they would arrange the shipping, but prior to that, there is quite a bit of work of getting it registered and making sure that their supply sources are safe and approved so that we’re not bringing anything that might harm us, harm Canadians into the market. So there’s quite a rigor that
Jeff Walter (05:32)
Uh-huh.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (05:53)
that goes with that. And we have a regulatory team led by the VP of operations, Colleen McMillan, who makes sure that everything is in place before one product is even shipped. And that can take upwards of eight months before a product can get approved. And if it’s not approved, we can’t take it in. We can’t accept the shipment.
Jeff Walter (06:15)
So once it’s approved, is it fairly straightforward to get the product from, say, a US or Chinese or even manufacture it into the country? is there a…
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (06:23)
Yeah.
It is a fairly straightforward process. need to have a broker who will
help you at the port of import, making sure you have the right tariff codes and the right paperwork so that everything, that approval goes quickly and it clears customs easily. And then it comes into our warehouse and sometimes, depending again on the level of product, it needs to be tested at a third party before it can be released for sale. So there is quite a bit that goes into bringing a product to market, but
Jeff Walter (06:40)
Mm-hmm.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (06:58)
the Emerson Group, we’re experts at it now. And that is, you know, one of the appeals of why brand partners choose to work with us versus going the road on their own.
Jeff Walter (07:01)
I’m
And then I think you said it comes into your warehouse or goes straight to the retailers warehouse.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (07:14)
comes into our warehouse and then we get orders from the retailers and then we coordinate shipping. And that’s another benefit of working with an importer is we deal with so many brands that it’s the retailers like working with us because they can cover off so much of their store inventory by working with one partner versus having deal with several different brands and trying to get orders done and shipped and followed up. It’s one point of contact.
Jeff Walter (07:18)
Okay.
So now with the retailers, okay, so you have the brand partners. And it seems like from a process standpoint, there’s a whole bunch of processes that your brand partners have to, that you have to set up with your brand partners and you have to educate them on this is the process for getting product A into Canada. This particular product sells well in the maritime provinces. This one.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (07:46)
Yeah.
Yes.
Jeff Walter (08:10)
You know, these products sell well more in the central provinces. But there’s a certain set of processes that they have to go through, right? To get that in and then you got to educate them on that. And then, that’s on the supply chain side. And so how do you get them aligned once a brand wants to use you? What are those processes and how do you educate them on it?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (08:34)
So we have a fairly rigorous client onboarding process and it’s cross functional. So we have a regulatory team, we have a marketing team, we have our sales team, and each of them details with the brand partners what information they need just to get set up. So for a supply chain, we need all your specs, all your measurements. The sales team also needs that because the retailer needs it before they can list.
The marketing team needs all your branded information, your sell sheets, your presentation material, and we get it in all different formats and then we standardize to make it work for our retail partners and for our internal business.
So yeah, we are in the process of building out that process even more and automating a workflow so that the next person in the chain of responsibility gets an automatic notification. Take some of the manual work, make us a little bit more efficient. That’s one of our goals for Q1 of 2026.
Jeff Walter (09:44)
Yeah,
I’d have to, I would imagine that there’s a lot of institutional knowledge of those processes that are baked in people’s heads. And as people have careers and go from one role to another and somebody else comes in that then spinning them up on, well, this is the steps you have to go through to get that shipment from your plant in Oshkosh over to our place in Saskatchewan.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (09:51)
That’s it.
Jeff Walter (10:09)
whatever it is, right? And then you got to bring them back. So it’s, it sounds like right now that’s a fairly manual process. You know, human interaction and your, and the goal in 2026 is to have a more standardized workflow with checkpoints and reminders. And, and therefore you can, it’s easier than also not only does the process become more efficient, but it’s also easier to educate the person.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (10:10)
Yeah, that’s right.
Jeff Walter (10:35)
because you can point to the standardized process, right? Yeah. Now…
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (10:39)
Correct. And just
so steps don’t get missed, like as you said, when the information is baked in someone’s head, sometimes they forget a new marketer may not know all the steps and may not know this piece can’t happen. Their piece can happen until regulatory piece happens. So getting a more formalized and more automated process will help.
And it’ll allow us to scale a little bit quicker because as we’ve begun working with the Emerson Group, a lot more opportunities have come our way and we’re meeting new potential clients all the time.
Jeff Walter (11:15)
Yeah, so, okay, so that’s on the supply side. Now, what about on the retailer side? Because you said, I think when we were talking, you said there’s something like 5,000 different locations and there’s got to be scores and scores of retail warehouses. And so what are the processes look like on that side?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (11:33)
So yes, so we actually, we deal with a head office retailer, like a person we have a contact at retail head office. And then we set up their locations as different ship twos in our system. And our logistics company handles that. we’re not.
shipping direct to store. think some businesses operate like that, but it’s just not efficient because it’s ones and twos and we also don’t ship in each’s. We are sorry, we ship in each’s, but we tend to ship.
Jeff Walter (11:56)
Right.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (12:04)
like the first level of packaging, an inner versus a case. But yeah, we don’t want to get into the cost of having to ship, you know, two and three units to individual stores. So we deal direct with our retailer warehouses.
Jeff Walter (12:19)
And then is it if, and I know nothing about this industry, if I’m asking very basic simple questions, it’s because I like to actually understand things. ⁓ So when that occurs, there’s a whole, I guess there’s a whole order processing process, and then there’s a receiving process. And is that standard?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (12:23)
Yeah.
Yeah, I love it.
Correct.
Jeff Walter (12:42)
Is that standard for the retailers or is that standard for you or do you have to adjust to the retailers processes there?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (12:48)
We adjust to the retailer’s processes. Each retailer has a set of different standards and requirements for some pick up their own, some need ship tos, booking appointments, understanding their PO system.
There’s a lot of different nuances. so again, our customer service team, they have those nuances down pat. So they are easy for each different retailer to work with. And it’s easy for the brand partner because they don’t need to learn all the minutia of how a shoppers drug mart needs an order processed in their timelines and what they actually mean. so.
So that is one piece of it. And then there’s the middle piece where we have marketing teams work with our brand partners to create robust information. We also have an insight team who generates market insights for Canada. And we marry the two to create a really compelling vision of why the retailer should list us over hundreds of other products that they’re being presented each week.
And we’ve had a lot of success since we’ve added our insights team to bring really valuable information to our retail partners. And now they look to us as experts in the industry. So the marketing team works with the sales team to present to the retailer. The retailer determines what they’re going to take on shelf.
Jeff Walter (14:03)
And we’ll
And when you say insights, what does that mean? Help me understand what what is that, you know, what is that tangible thing?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (14:17)
Yeah, so insights would be
the tangent. they would create, for example, if we are launching a product that’s in the foot care category, they’ll look at our market, they’ll look at what generally what’s happening in the market as far as foot care products go. Is there a need? Is it decreasing? Is it increasing?
For example, GLP-1 is another thing. GLP-1 is taking over the market as I’m sure you’re, and of that, from that stems off a whole bunch of different needs from that. So our insights team will uncover what those needs might be. For example, you might need an anti-nausea product because nausea is one of the side effects of GLP-1. So that is gonna be increasing. When that had kind of gone down, when people weren’t traveling,
Jeff Walter (15:05)
Right.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (15:08)
because of COVID. So they are bringing those kinds of like market insights that the retailer needs to be aware of before they determine what they’re putting on shelf because times are changing, needs are changing, consumer demand is growing in different areas at each given time. So they’re uncovering those insights and tying them to how our products solve that consumer need and then bringing that to the retailer. And the retailer is dealing with
so much on their plate, they don’t have time to address all the different needs of the category. So they look to us to be the experts and bring them the information of what might be coming so they don’t miss out on the trend by not having the needs solved in their store.
Jeff Walter (15:53)
So it sounds like these are more the insights if I can if I hear I understand correctly the the insights are kind of macro consumer trends that are going on and how those macro trends on a primary and secondary and maybe even tertiary level affect the products that they’re bringing to their store right like you were saying with the GLP one like
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (16:15)
That’s it exactly.
Jeff Walter (16:18)
you know, why that’s not a direct thing. It has a secondary effect of increasing anti-nausea over the counter drugs. you’re not on the, you have nothing to do, like GOP-1, if I was, is a prescription drug, right? So you have nothing to do with that, but the trend in that is resulting in an increase in demand in this category of over the counter.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (16:28)
Right.
Yeah.
Correct.
Jeff Walter (16:44)
And therefore, you might want to provide more shelf space or stock up or get more. And then the flip side too, this other thing is happening, which means, you like you would mention COVID, but people aren’t hiking as much or people aren’t doing this as much. And therefore, you don’t need as much foot cream, let’s say.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (16:49)
That’s it.
Exactly. That’s exactly it.
So we always start our business reviews with our retailer with like why the why in the market, why it’s important to them to have this for based on market trends.
Jeff Walter (17:15)
Now is that information, is that delivered in person, not physically in person, but by a meeting or is that a dashboard? How does the retailer access those types of insights?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (17:29)
We do a meeting presentation for each new product we’re launching. It’s either part of a bigger presentation or it’s its own individual presentation. And our sales team has a cadence of meeting with the retailers. So they would start bringing the insights in advance of category reset time and then.
come category reset time, they really hit home with these are the products you need to have based on all these trends we’ve shared with you over the course of the year.
Jeff Walter (17:58)
And what has been the impact of that? So now you’re educating them, you’re giving them intelligence. It’s happening in a human to human way. People connecting, doing a presentation with a certain frequency so that they can make more informed decisions on reorder, where product, physical product should be.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (18:05)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (18:20)
When did you guys start doing that or more specifically, what have you seen as the impact of doing that? How has that helped the retailer? What benefits have they gotten from that?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (18:28)
Yeah. So I would say we really
leaned into bringing consumer insights about two years ago where we made it a full priority for our company, realizing that it’s not enough just to have another product available to them. And I would say it’s helped grow the category. We’re certainly growing. It’s really helping to grow our brand. ⁓ Yeah.
Jeff Walter (18:50)
you
Holy crap. I am so frickin’
sorry.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (18:58)
That’s okay, no problem.
Jeff Walter (18:59)
I think it’s like… DAAAHH! You gotta be kidding me! It’s raising a star! Jesus!
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (19:07)
Aww.
Jeff Walter (19:09)
And here I was like, I’ll go outside. It’ll be nice.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (19:13)
I’m enjoying the view.
I love seeing the beautiful leaves on the trees because we’re like barren and cold here in Canada.
Jeff Walter (19:17)
⁓ Terror.
I’m dumbfounded. I’m so sorry. I was like, it’s okay. We can reschedule for Friday. I’ll be down in Bardo. It’ll be nice. I’ll a nice background. I’ll do it outside. It’ll be great.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (19:24)
It’s okay, we’re good.
Jeff Walter (19:35)
UGH! HAHAHAHA!
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (19:36)
We…
You can’t control this, so there’s nothing you can do. We can reschedule for some time.
Jeff Walter (19:43)
You know,
just, I feel so bad. ⁓
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (19:48)
No,
don’t. Don’t feel bad. feel, it was me who started the chain of events having to reschedule the first time, so.
Jeff Walter (19:55)
No,
we’re we’re doing good. We’re gonna push through These are really small lots so I got to imagine I They’re like zero There’s there’s like no yard, but it’s single-family homes. That’s like boom boom boom boom boom Like there can’t be a lot to blow there can’t be a lot
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (20:01)
Hahaha
⁓ got it. Yeah. Okay.
Jeff Walter (20:19)
You gotta be done in like a minute. I’m sitting here going, you gotta be kidding me. This is so freaking embarrassing. ⁓
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (20:25)
and I think you’re losing
it.
I think you’re losing your connection too.
Jeff Walter (20:29)
⁓
yay. We’re doing great. You’re doing great, by the way. You are doing great. You know?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (20:37)
Thank you.
Jeff Walter (20:38)
my God, are you kidding me? he’s in my yard. Hang on a second.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (20:42)
⁓
Okay.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (20:46)
sitting here
and all of a sudden I see out of the corner of my eye, I’m like, that guy’s in our yard. I’m like, he’s here today. Oh, okay. I can tell him to leave. I can ask him to leave. should, I should say, I said, could you please come back in like a half an hour? I appreciate that. Thank you. Oh man. So, uh, so we were talking about retail. Okay. So let’s go. Let’s start again in three, two, Okay. So, uh, on the, on the retailer side,
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (20:51)
⁓
Yes.
⁓
Jeff Walter (21:13)
What are these insights? What’s been the impact of the insights?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (21:17)
Yeah, so I would say that the insights have had a really strong impact of growing not only the retailer categories, but helping to grow our brands and, you know,
develop them as leaders in the industry. So it’s been really valuable and it’s hard to argue with data. When you have data to support that this is growing and this is a need in the category and you’re like, have this product that will fill this need, it’s very difficult to argue why you wouldn’t consider or take it versus just saying, look at my nice product.
We think you should take it because we love it. Why wouldn’t you? It’s hard for the retailers to argue when you have like a data science backed presentation.
Jeff Walter (22:05)
Yeah, and
so have they has the retail experience greater inventory turn and but like, you know, yeah.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (22:09)
Thank ⁓
So I
think I would say their categories are becoming more efficient because they are not keeping anything on shelf that is not turning. just don’t, the shelf space is too valuable.
Jeff Walter (22:25)
Right.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (22:26)
And so
when a product solves a consumer need, it turns. just, that’s what happens. It works versus keeping a product on shelf that’s not efficient because it’s maybe seen it’s ran its course, is on the downturn of its life cycle.
Canada’s a very competitive market. don’t have a lot of retailers to choose from, not like in the US where there’s a plethora of drug and grocery banners. We only have a very few solid main ones and then the rest are smaller shops that can’t do the volume to make a brand sustainable.
you really need to make your product work. And I will say also, we work with our brand partners to let them know when their products are nearing the end of a life cycle and either need an upgrade, a tweak or a change to make them relevant again, or maybe it’s time to exit that skew and bring in a different product that might be more meaningful to the marketplace.
Jeff Walter (23:17)
Okay.
And so
from a retail partner, if I understand correctly, so you’re getting better, more efficient use of their shelf space, getting better turn while at the same time not running out of inventory. You know, it’s that fine line, right? Like it’s.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (23:40)
That’s a fine line. Yeah.
And that’s where our demand team comes into play. So they’re always looking at the point of sale turns, the point of sale data, and comparing it to what they’re projecting as inventory.
at letting our brand partners know, hey, we need to bump this up, we need more, we’re going to run out sooner. Do you always get it right? No, because sometimes you’ll have a big surge that you didn’t expect or a retailer sale takes off, like they might have a promotion that performs far better than anyone expected. you know, that or you get an unexpected hit from a high end influencer and all of a sudden the product is flying off the shelf. So we don’t always get it perfect, but
Jeff Walter (24:07)
Right.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (24:25)
I will say because we have a lot of eyes looking at all those elements, we do a pretty good job of keeping our inventory in stock and then at least notifying our brand partners and then sometimes they have their own challenges where they can’t supply quick enough and that’s out of our hands. We try to work with them as much as possible and find solutions but sometimes things happen and we just…
Jeff Walter (24:48)
Yeah.
Well, yeah. Well, I mean, you know, I’m well right now I’m down in Florida, view of cloud. And there’s some some folks might have heard there might have been a landscaper hanging around here somewhere. Maybe a tactical decision to do this from the porch, which is lovely here. ⁓ But back in Michigan, where we’re from, know, you know, obviously big in the automotive, but the balancing that
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (25:01)
you
you
Jeff Walter (25:17)
you know, as a manufacturer, you just want steady Eddie, right? Like I want to, I want to pop out a thousand of these a day or a thousand depending on what you’re making a thousand hour and just want it. Cause that’s the most cost effective way of producing. And then on the consumer side, it’s like, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. It’s like, this is really hot in Vancouver right now, but yeah, over in Prince Edward Island, nobody cares. Right. And then three months later,
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (25:42)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (25:44)
You know, so now as you provided that data science and those insights, how has that benefited your firm and your brand? Like, have you seen an uptick in shelf space or volume or what have you seen there?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (25:45)
you
Yeah.
Yeah, so we definitely see an uptake in volume. We’ve had growth in a couple key areas. And then with that success, then comes new brand partners who are interested in working with us and bringing, moving their business to the Emerson Group.
to make, you know, to have the same ease of bringing products to the market. So it’s worked in both ways. Not only is it helping us grow and develop brands, but it’s also helping grow and develop Emerson Group because the more…
you are seen as industry experts, the more people show interest in you. ⁓ And now we’re expanding into new categories. The newest one is a smoking cessation products. And now we’re quickly working to become the experts and providing all insights in that information. So we can help that brand partner grow and then attract new brand partners that might marry nicely in that category.
Jeff Walter (26:36)
Right.
And as we, as you look into this, as you guys get deeper and deeper into the data science, which is this, you know, huge emerging field. Now, it’s really interesting because if I go back a couple of decades, we did some work on plant floors, you know, down at the web enabling the plant floor. So you could capture all this digital information.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (27:10)
Thank
Jeff Walter (27:25)
You know, cause on the factory floor, it went from manual processes to automated processes, automated processes, that digital information. And then we did this big project for Chrysler where we capture all that digital information and they were able to cut their recalls by 90 to 95%. Because it used to be, you didn’t have any digital information. So you would sit there and Hey, something went wrong in this month.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (27:47)
amazing.
Jeff Walter (27:53)
Yeah, we producing engines and someone wrong with the carburetors in this month. So recall everything from these three months. And then when you captured all that build data, you’re able to analyze and go, no, no, it’s not just anything within this month. It’s anything that went, you know, and everything passed inspection going out the door, but it’s like, well, when all these things, which were within tolerance occurred, that’s when the problem occurred. And now you can.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (27:56)
.
Jeff Walter (28:21)
And then you could do the data science and go, okay, give me all the units that that instead of doing a recall like this, you did a recall like this and they cut an order of magnitude. And it’s so cool. Cause that was, you know, 20 something years ago. And it’s so cool with all the digitization that’s occurred in the supply chain and, and the retail and point of sales. You’re seeing that same type of detailed analysis, although it’s much more sophisticated.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (28:29)
Perfect. Yeah.
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (28:50)
happening because now you’re dealing with secondary and tertiary items. That was just kind of primary, right? That was like kind of simple, easy statistics. now you’re taking with data science second, third order. It’s really freaking cool, I think. I just think I find it fascinating. I find it really cool.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (28:56)
Yeah.
Yeah,
that’s my sweet spot. I love that. So we, with the Emerson Group in the US, have developed a proprietary data technology platform. We call it Omega. And it informs our insights in data analytics and it helps to create
Jeff Walter (29:19)
Uh-huh.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (29:25)
like a marketing go-to strategy. And then it also allows us to marry shipment data with POS data. So our brand partners can see if you had a dip in POS or you had something fall off, you can typically correlate that to, we weren’t able to ship this week because we didn’t have supply or that kind of thing. Whereas, when you’re looking back a year in review, you might forget that in May you were out of stock the whole month.
And it, you know, so it’s not that May is a bad month from POS wise. Typically, you don’t need to plan for that. You need to plan to have inventory. So it’s just helping us get better at these kinds of things. And so we’ve just rolled out the Omega platform in Canada. so now also our Canadian partners who have
that do business with the US group can just log into one source of truth and see their Canadian data and their US data. And we’re adding and building it out all the time because we just feel like that is how you make informed decisions. That’s how you tweak and refine your business when you have all the data points available. And it’s nice to have it in one source.
Jeff Walter (30:32)
And so as the Omega platform, so here’s a question, it’s on everybody’s mind nowadays. When you’re looking at that type of thing, do you see AI playing any type of role or has it played a role or any thoughts on that?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (30:50)
Yeah, so we’re leaning into AI in a big way not to reduce staff but to help make
make us more efficient so that as we scale up, can find, you know, different ways for our staff to use, spend the time growing the business versus doing the manual tasks. So that’s where we’re leading in. But with Omega, we are developing an AI aspect to it where it can generate insights from the data that
that’s available. So if you’re like, I’m looking at this POS data, tell me some insights about what this data is showing. So that is in beta testing right now. And we’ll be rolling that out in 2025, 2026. Sorry. know the year’s over. And so yeah, we’re very excited about it. And also, you know, looking to get rid of those repetitive tasks that are time suckers, but bring zero value very, very
necessary to the business, but they’re not giving value or helping to grow in any way. They’re just a manual test. So we are trying to work with our team to review everybody’s process and then develop an automation for those repetitive tasks that everyone quite frankly hates to do, but you have to do it. So.
Jeff Walter (31:51)
Right.
Yeah, I always think
of things in terms of, you it’s, you mentioned that because it’s, they’re not waste of time because to me there’s like, there’s the cost, it’s a cost of doing business. Like you just got to do it. If you don’t do it, everything falls apart, but it’s not, it’s not adding a lot of strategic value and you’re not getting a necessarily a return on that investment other than it has to be done or else everything goes to heck.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (32:21)
right.
Yes.
Right.
business
doesn’t run. Yeah, that’s me.
Jeff Walter (32:38)
Exactly. Exactly. Like I always think
like in the macro sense, I think of accounting that way. Like, like you cannot run a business without doing the accounting. You will, you will go right into a buzzsaw. Right. But the actual bookkeeping itself, it’s a, it’s a necessary, but it’s a cost of doing business. It doesn’t generate return, but you cannot figure out if you’re doing thing, if you’re, it’s a
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (33:02)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (33:06)
you cannot figure out if you are actually generating return unless you do the bookkeeping, right? It’s things like that. There’s like a million and one examples like that. It’s really interesting. I was talking to some folks over at Brandon Hall about agent AI, agentic AI.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (33:13)
That’s it. That’s it.
Yeah.
Yes.
Jeff Walter (33:33)
You know, who knows? We’re just at the beginning of all this, but it’s like, there just seems to be a huge opportunity, just like there was 30 years ago when information systems hit the scene to just get that next level of tedious, repetitive, and hand that off to an agent. ⁓
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (33:54)
Yeah,
agreed. Agreed.
Jeff Walter (33:55)
You know, but but
I’m sure we’re going to have lots of funny stories about agents that did, you know, silly things like, there was an there was a just getting completely off topic. But there was a an article in The Wall Street Journal the other day about they were testing out an agent that ran a the snack machines in the in the break room. And and they let this there. You there were
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (34:00)
Yeah.
Jeff Walter (34:21)
They’re just kind of testing this whole agentic AI and they let it, it was so cool. was an interesting article. They set it up so that it had a chat section that employees can interact with it in, right? With this agent and then let the agent buy the product and price the product. So, you know, so you’d get down there and go, Hey, I really like Rolos, know, Rolos.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (34:34)
Okay.
Jeff Walter (34:46)
yeah, this stuff is really terrible. can you get me this? this is price too high. this is and and so you can interact with it in the chat session and then it would sit there and go, okay, we’re gonna buy, you know, two cases of Mountain Dew and we’re gonna be up and we’re gonna we’re gonna put it in the and then you know, you would tell it, okay, I loaded the Mountain Dew and then it would say, okay, that’s gonna be, you know, a buck and a half a can or whatever. Anyway, long story short, within a month, the vending
business went bankrupt. It would give stuff away and price things below the cost. People would say, yeah, I really want this. It would stock up on this and then they’d sell one unit of it. It was really funny. you have access to the journal, I think it was last week.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (35:20)
⁓
Market value? ⁓ no! ⁓
Yeah.
Okay, I’ll have to look.
Jeff Walter (35:42)
So
it’s a funny story, you know, haha, but it’s like, okay, that’s just it. That’ll improve. Right. And then like, they can almost guarantee in five years, we’re going to have dynamic pricing on pop machines and, all that. And we’re going to have those agents doing it. It’s just, it’s interesting. It’s right. I think it’s going be really interesting.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (35:45)
Yeah.
Yeah.
It is interesting. And I think, you know, you have to balance the good with the bad, but I feel like there’s definitely ways where you can just really take the minutiae out of your life and have somebody have an AI agent handle it, a genetic agent handle it for you. So I’m testing a few just on my own, you know, for email replies, and they don’t get it right always, but it’s a starting point. And, you know,
finding my list of to-do’s from last week’s emails that I might not have closed out. And I’m finding it helpful. I’m tweaking and refining as I go, but I’ll continue to keep working till it is a super helpful tool.
Jeff Walter (36:50)
So if you don’t mind me asking, I’m just curious. So you’re creating your own agents? ⁓ What tools are you using?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (36:53)
Come on.
So
the tool that I’m using right now is just Copilot with MS, with, yeah. And just refining my prompts each week, I have a Monday morning assistant that I’ve created to let me know which emails I have not replied to, draft a response prior so that I can, as a starting point,
Jeff Walter (37:02)
Okay.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (37:20)
pull me a list of all my follow ups based on my meeting, my team’s meeting notes. And just as a starting point to just try and make me a little more efficient so I wake up Monday and I have a full to do list and that I don’t miss anything. And my next step is tying it in with OneNote.
Jeff Walter (37:40)
Very cool.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (37:40)
So we’ll see how goes. It’s new,
early days, but yeah, I’m excited to play around. I find it interesting. So I want to see what output it continues to yield.
Jeff Walter (37:51)
anything come down the pipe for Emerson? Or you guys, what’s the, I mean, you talked a little bit about some of the things coming out in 26, anything else interesting coming down the pipe?
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (37:58)
Yeah.
Always, always new and interesting with Emerson. It’s such a great team to be a part of. We are actually developing a, we have a data governance team where with Canadian and US employees and we’re working with business leads from each of the different departments of what their biggest issue is and how can technology or AI solve that issue. And then, you know, then the, the IT team,
work on creating a solve for each of our departments biggest issue. So that’s fun, exciting, and also I think it’s a great place to be as a company.
Jeff Walter (38:39)
Well, and thank you so much for your time. If somebody needed to get a hold of you or Emerson or how would they find you guys and if they were interested in you.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (38:51)
Yeah, so the Emerson group.com is where you’ll find access to all our contacts for both US and Canada online and on LinkedIn, the Emerson group or MCP Emerson Canada. So, to hear from people. And thanks so much for thinking of me for your podcast, Jeff. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
Jeff Walter (39:12)
Thank you, Kara. Sorry for the distractions that have been happening. We had a little internet issue there on my part, so I apologize for that. Thank you so much. My guest today has been Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada. Kara, thank you for coming and being part of the podcast.
Kara Hale of MCP Emerson Canada (39:22)
Nope.
Yeah, my pleasure.
Jeff Walter (39:30)
And thank you everybody out there for listening. We’ll catch you next time.