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Hello and welcome to episode
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number four of the coatings
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chat that my name
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is allowed to cheat and they work
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in the marketing department for
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packaging coatings.
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Today we will speak about the
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research and development process
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and we have Jean-Dominique Verges
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with us.
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Or you go by J.D., is that
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right?
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Yes. Hello, Laura.
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Thank you.
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You're right. You can call me JD.
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Thanks for being with us today.
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JD is the associate R&D
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director and I am excited
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to hear his perspectives today.
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JD To start that,
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can you share a little about you
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and your experience working at
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Sherwin-Williams?
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Sure.
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I've been working for Sharon
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Williams for eight years and in
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the field of packaging, inks and
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coatings for 25.
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I've worked with paperboard, film
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and metal with gradual,
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flexible offsets, spray and roller
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dealing with cured, baked and
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dried, and even a bit of
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vinyl flooring and fiduciary
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coatings.
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So besides the metal shelves
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themselves, when I go to supermarket
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today, I've touched just about
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any packaged goods you can buy.
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The floor you walk on and the money
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you pay with.
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That's impressive that
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you've had quite a long, varied
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career in packaging and with
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Sherwin-Williams.
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Now I would be thinking about
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metal packaging during my next visit
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to the supermarket.
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Can you tell me what interests
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you the most with R&D?
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Well, I'm primarily interested in
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coming up with successful
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innovations, and those require
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not only a solution that works
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technically for the customer, but
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also one that fits with our sourcing
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and manufacturing capabilities.
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And because of those elements, I got
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interested very early on
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in how R&D is done and
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the process for coming up with
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innovations from idea
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to commercialization and through
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my interest in work in the area.
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I've become a master black belt
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in design for Six Sigma.
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Very interesting.
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And what does design
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for Six Sigma mean?
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While Six Sigma is a methodology
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applied not just for design,
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the organization defines the process
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as a system of techniques and tools
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used in process improvement.
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Design for Six Sigma is a
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specific approach we follow in
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Sherwin-Williams for new designs,
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especially new product development.
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The products we design using a DFS
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driven process are formulated
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coatings for metal packaging.
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They are a blend of multiple
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ingredients, all interacting
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with one another and working with
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a customer's process to create a
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protective and decorative film
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for metal.
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Now you are mentioning get
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ingredients and blending
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it. Are you part of the shift
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to a.
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You're right that all in the
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formulation is a bit like cooking
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or baking.
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Well, working with several
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ingredients, making sure they work
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well together.
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In a sense, we deliver our
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preparation to the customer,
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the kind of enclosure makers, and
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they bake the cake themselves.
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Consumers are, in a way, the
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ultimate food and beverage
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testers.
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What is the biggest challenge
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you face during R&D
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activities in coatings formulation?
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It's not a singular thing.
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It's definitely a combination of
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at least three elements.
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One is the ever increasing
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need for reduced
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cost of ownership.
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Two is a tightening
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of worldwide regulations for food,
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skin contact, and the last
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element may be the most important.
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Ever shrinking time.
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Our customers are looking to deal
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with fewer variants of formulations
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and they are seeking more and more
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universal products and cost savings.
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As such, the list of specifications
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and functional properties for single
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products is growing.
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Integrating constraints and
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requirements from multiple end uses.
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This in turn leads to longer
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and longer design times and
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more effort combined with lengthier
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and more stringent qualifications.
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At the same time, the constant
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pressure of tightening regulations
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and environmental considerations
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reduces the list of ingredients we
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are able to use for development.
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These factors effectively compress
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the product development time by
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working with advanced formulation
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techniques such as experimental
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designs, statistical tools,
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and operating in a well
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oiled design process.
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What do you mean by when I.
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The design process.
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Well, first of all, we follow a
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staged gate approach,
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a well known practice in many
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industries within Sherwin-Williams.
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We firmly believe that ultimate
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customer satisfaction starts
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with identifying their problems
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and needs and in our ability
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to translate and deploy
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the relevant solutions all the way
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into each feature of our product.
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This drives every activity at
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every stage of the development
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process and the questions being
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asked at every milestone point,
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every gate
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management of risk is actually
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at the heart of this process.
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For example, one of the critical
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requirements of the product
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development process for coatings
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in contact with the packaging
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contents is to accurately
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anticipate from work done
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in the lab to the
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adequate performance of the product.
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After multiple years of holding
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its contents on shelves
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to a spa past the recommended
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best by date as possible
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and customers have no time to waste,
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We need to ensure that when
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they performed the last round of
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qualification tests
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using real packs and real contents,
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that the outcome of the test will be
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positive. For achieving
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this level of excellence and
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certainty demands a
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well-oiled design process.
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In short, we need to focus on the
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development process because we need
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to continue to be right.
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We need fewer products with
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broader use and we need to be
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fast.
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Thanks, JD, for the time you spend
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with us today and the overview
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of your activities.
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I certainly learned a lot
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that now I
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better understand how products are
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designed in such a complex
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environment, and I
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know there is a big effort to
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reach customer satisfaction.
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I'm sure I will not be
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the only one looking at the products
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on the supermarket shelves
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in a different way next time
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I'm there.
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For those watching.
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I hope you enjoyed this episode
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of Coatings Chat.
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Stay tuned for new episodes.
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