Mentor Spotlight: Larry Pavey

YANG is strong not only because of member participation, but because we can lean on current leaders in our industry for knowledge and support. The most recent YANG Professional Series webinar exemplified this when we spoke with Larry Pavey, president, Automotive Parts Services Group (The Group), and proud YANG mentor. Pavey is described by those who know him as a “humble genius” and that was evident during our Q&A session. We’re lucky to hear from someone who has seen it all. Someone who has been in the industry for his entire professional career and has held almost every position imaginable (he started out as a delivery driver). There isn’t enough room in the YANG Effect to list all of Pavey’s accomplishments or attributes, and frankly, my fingers don’t have the stamina, so let’s focus on what we learned about Supply Chain Disruptions during our YANG Professional Series seminar.

The year 2020 will forever be known for phrases like “you’re on mute” or “can you see my screen?,” but especially the news media’s favorite: “unprecedented.” Everything we saw come out of the pandemic was “unprecedented” if you asked the media. But as a historian, I knew that just wasn’t true. We’ve seen crises before and have always come out on the other side better than we started. Issues with the supply chain are nothing different. However, we learned from Pavey that the current supply chain landscape is truly unprecedented. Pavey made parallels to previous events in our history that have affected the supply chain, notably gas shortages in the ‘70s, shipping container issues and problems in the ports, worker shortages, lack of raw materials and more. What makes our current climate unprecedented is that it’s all happening at once!

That’s all well and good, but what do we do now? Pavey noted several manufacturers and distributors who have fared better during our crisis. Several reasons contributed to this, like leadership and vertical integration. The successful leaders were proactive and not afraid to do things differently. Vertical integration allowed companies to be more responsible for each aspect of manufacturing and not have to rely on the supply chain. Many successful companies also forecasted well. No one has a crystal ball, but foresight into stocking levels was certainly important. Part of the current supply chain issues also stem from supply and demand being out of whack. Pavey noted that eventually the supply will ramp back up to match demand, or the demand will fall to sync up with supply. Things will even out as they often do.

Pavey also took the time to speak on leadership and looking toward the future. He noted that great leaders think differently. One cannot see a challenge and look at what’s being done without also asking what can be done differently. Don’t be afraid to innovate and think outside the box. Looking toward the future, Pavey had no doubt that our generation will face a new set of challenges. Cybersecurity and energy shortages are a major concern and are already adding to supply chain challenges, as well as day-to-day business challenges. No matter what comes next for the automotive aftermarket and the YANG generation, we will be able to face the challenges head-on thanks to the wisdom imparted by great leaders like Larry Pavey.