On April 2^nd thru the 4^th, the Supply Chain Council (SCC) is conducting its annual Supply Chain North America 2012 Conference, which this year is being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Miami Florida.

This year’s conference has as its overall theme: A Shift to Integrative Thinking, and will include sessions that address needs in the areas of customer delight, supply chain operational excellence, people and talent, and the need for resilience. Last year’s conference garnered highly positive feedback from attendees and this year’s event has similar potential.

The lineup of speakers includes timely keynotes from Donald Wirth, Vice President, Global Operations-Corporate Supply Chain at DuPont, and Steven A. Melnyk, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. Other conference speakers include senior supply chain managers representing Anheuser Busch Inbev, Avnet, Inc., Cienna Communications, Dell, Land O’Lakes, and SAP, among others.

I’m delighted to announce that I will once again be moderating the Pundits and Influencers panel discussion which is scheduled on Wednesday, the final day of the conference.  This will be my second year of panel moderation for the annual conference.  The panel itself is designed to provide attendees the latest perspectives of upcoming business, process and technology trends impacting global supply chains.  We broadened the format last year to provide the audience with more diverse perspectives, hence the name changed from the traditional industry analyst panel to an influencer’s panel.  The change was well received by last year’s audience.

The panel will include perspectives involving recognized supply chain thought leaders representing academic, consulting, social media and industry analyst perspectives. Panelists thus far confirmed include:

• Steven A. Melnyk, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, Michigan State University
• Roddy Martin, Senior Vice President, Global Supply Chain Practice, Competitive Capabilities International (Former Vice President at AMR Research/Gartner)
• Matthew Davis, Research Director, Supply Chain, Gartner Inc.
• Bob Parker, Group Vice President, IDC Manufacturing Insights and IDC Retail Insights
• Yours truly

My goal is to have the panel discuss and interact on current top-of-mind topics including what integrative supply chain capabilities equate to, the impact of a rather tumultuous 2011 across global supply chains and other topics.

More detailed information regarding the conference, including detailed agenda and registration information, can be accessed by clicking on the conference graphic located on our Conferences panel on the right-hand side.

Please consider joining me at Supply Chain World North America this coming April.

Bob Ferrari, Founder and Executive Editor

Supply Chain Matters will be again out on the road this week.  Tomorrow we are off to Baltimore to attend the Supply Chain Council’s annual conference, Supply Chain World North America which is being held on Wednesday and Thursday.

This particular conference was on a bit of a hiatus during the global recession years of 2009-2010, and is now back.  This year’s theme of Building Supply Chain Capabilities for Future Success was designed to help attendees to focus and discuss the appropriate global supply chain business process strategies in this post-recessionary economy.  There is a great line-up of supply chain executive and other speakers speaking on very timely topics, with lots of opportunities for networking.

This author will be facilitating the Pundits and Influencers Panel Discussion being held on Thursday.  This year, the conference planning committee elected to alter the traditional industry analyst panel to include a broader lens on global supply chains.  We have assembled a panel consisting of influential industry analysts, consultants, influencers and of course, bloggers.

Readers can look forward to subsequent Supply Chain Matters commentaries reflecting on the conference as well as our panel discussion, so please keep this destination on your browser favorites listing.

Bob Ferrari- Executive Editor

We would like to again call Supply Chain Matters readers attention to two upcoming conferences involving Executive Editor, Bob Ferrari.

On April 28-29, the 2011 OpsInsight Leadership Forum will be held in Boston. This forum will focus on important challenges and approaches undertaken by operations management teams and includes stellar listing of planned speakers from organizations such as Accenture, Aberdeen Group, Economist Intelligence Unit, Kotter International, MTV Networks and Xerox.  Topics include strategy to execution, lean concepts, innovation and change management. We are pleased to announce that Bob Ferrari will serve as master of ceremonies for this event including the conference kickoff presentation.

On May 24-25, the Supply Chain Council will be hosting the Supply Chain World North America conference in Baltimore. These are not normal times for global supply chains.  Speakers at the conference will be addressing needs for building and sustaining supply chain capabilities in the “new normal” of post-recessionary business where business change and unplanned events occur at an extraordinary pace. Join us for a particular session which will be the Pundit and Thought Leaders Panel Exchange, scheduled for day two of the conference, which will be moderated by Bob Ferrari.  Panel participants will include AMR Research/Gartner, IDC Manufacturing Insights, Industry Directions. In this session, industry analysts, noted industry influencers and bloggers will comment and exchange insights on what can be expected in global supply chain needs in this next era, and you will not want to miss this dynamic exchange from some of the most insightful supply chain observers and thought leaders.

Topics addressed will include:
• In light of the increased incidents of supply chain risk and disruption, what are the proactive outsourcing strategies for the next two years?
• What are the next step for organizations in Sales and Operations Planning?
• What strategies can we use to align global supply chain operations in the ‘new normal’?
• What are the talent and information technology skills required in the post-recessionary supply chain environment?

Information and registration information for either of these conferences can be accessed via the Conferences section appearing in the right-hand panel of this site.

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We wanted to again alert our Supply Chain Matters readers to an upcoming webinar, The Potential of the Social Supply Chain, which is being held on Thursday, March 10 at 10am Eastern time,  3pm London time.

There has been a lot of discussion revolving around the emergence of what author Geoffrey Moore terms as ‘System of Engagement’ or the social web.  Much of the current activity has been channeled in the marketing, sales and service aspects for conducting business.  Important questions however for supply chain management executives to ponder is whether there is a business case for use of social web in supply chain business processes. Consider for a moment  how today’s omnipresent access of networks, the fast emergence of the empowered mobile worker, and the fact that today’s supply chains extend to all forms of the globe, are quickly changing the dynamics of business.  More importantly, business activity is becoming virtual and in the moment.

This webinar sponsored by both RaptureWorld and Kinaxis, will explore some current concepts for leveraging social concepts in supply chain processes. Trevor Miles, Director of Thought Leadership for Kinaxis will provide context for the social web.  Lora Cecere, Partner in the Altimeter Group will speak to concepts and examples of social web that are occurring within the demand side of supply chain.  Bob Ferrari, Executive Editor of our Supply Chain Matters blog will explore concepts and relative examples related to the supply view of supply chains.

Since this is such an interesting topic which provides many viewpoints and perspectives this webinar will also include some time for back and forth discussion of current perspectives and there is also some time allowed for fielding audience questions related to this interesting topic.

Please join us in this interesting and timely webinar by registering at the following web link.

Disclosure: Kinaxis is one of other sponsors featured on the Supply Chain Matters blog.

We would like to alert our readers to some upcoming Supply Chain Matters activities and special appearance within the upcoming March and April time period.

On March 10, Bob Ferrari will be participating in a featured Rapture World webcast, The potential of the social supply chain. Lora Cecere, Partner in Altimeter Group will also be an invited participant in this webcast which is co-sponsored by Kinaxis, Inc.  While from a business perspective, there has been an adoption of social media related technologies in marketing, what is their relevance in supply chain management? Where can the principles be applied and to what benefit?

Lora and I will explore some effective examples of companies utilizing social media technologies for effective purposes, on both the demand and supply perspectives of value chain business process activities.  Join us as we explore the pros and cons of this new dimension of business communication and interaction.  I will also be noting how blogs like Supply Chain Matters contribute to new forms of social communication. Registration is available by double-clicking on the webcast title above.

From March 22-25, Supply Chain Matters will be in Orlando reporting commentary from the Logistics and Supply Chain 2011 conference sponsored by SAP Insider.  This conference provides SAP supply chain customers the opportunity to exchange learning and insights focused on supply chain applications, and we look forward to annually attending this conference to check-in with the SAP installed base. Set your calendars to anticipate our commentary and if you are planning on attending, please say hello or drop us an email.

From April 11-13, Supply Chain Matters will be in Las Vegas reporting live commentary from the IBM Impact 2011 conference.  We are looking forward to hearing the IBM plans for the supply chain applications related to the former Sterling Commerce and ILOG as well as catching-up with past colleagues.

Finally, we remind readers that on May 24-26, Bob Ferrari will be attending the Supply Chain World North America conference in Baltimore. Bob will be moderating a panel discussion among industry analysts, pundits and influencers on the topic of supply chain capabilities required in the post-recessionary economy.  Already confirmed for this session are representatives from AMR Research/Gartner, IDC Manufacturing Insights and Cambashi, and others.  The registration page can be accessed by double-clicking on the logo appearing on our conferences tab, to the right.

Many Supply Chain Matters readers are familiar with our ongoing blog commentary on the most important developments and strategies related to global supply chain business process and supporting technology needs. While I serve as the Executive Editor and most frequent contributor to the thought content appearing on this blog, I also provide individual consulting services to companies and supply chain technology providers through our consulting arm, The Ferrari Consulting and Research Group LLC.

We provide consulting services to manufacturing and services companies in global supply chain business process strategy and technology deployment.  Other services include assisting in reengineering, business performance and change management initiatives, identification and training in supply chain risk mitigation, or wider adoption of existing supply chain technology.

Consulting services are also provided to supply chain technology and software providers in product strategy, positioning and go-to-market messaging, and the development and integration of Web 2.0 and other social media tools that can leverage product marketing programs.  Custom consulting is available for market research, alliance or acquisition strategy, or media / industry analyst and blogger partnership development.

If you have specific consulting or external viewpoint needs, let us provide you with proven and pragmatic approaches.  You can obtain more information and assistance by sending an email including your name, firm, and contact information to supplychaininfo@ (at) theferrarigroup (dot) com, or by filling out a request on our Contact Us page.

 Bob Ferrari

Vice President and Managing Director