We would like to again remind Supply Chain Matters readers that the Supply Chain Council (SCC), the organization that developed and continues to mature the Supply Chain Operations Framework (SCOR) model, is conducting its annual U.S. focused Supply Chain World North America Conference in a few short weeks.  This is the SCC conference where the broader supply chain community and their teams can network and gather current thinking on supply chain direction and required capabilities. This author has attended many previous sessions of this event both as a participant and as a speaker. Last year’s event was enjoyed by most all those attending.

The 2013 event is being held from April 8-10, 2013 in St. Louis, with the overall theme: 21st Century Supply Chain- Gateway to the Future.  The conference planning committee purposely chose the St. Louis area because of its proximity to major areas of aerospace, industrial and other manufacturing and supply chain services, as well as its location in the central part of the U.S. , which can ease travel time.  Prior to the main event, SCC has scheduled its one day SCOR User Group meeting.

This year’s Supply Chain World North America conference begins with a networking reception on the evening of Monday, April 8th.  There are two principal keynote speakers on the main agenda that begins on Tuesday.  Kenneth A. Shaw, Vice President of Supply Chain Management Global Services and Support at Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security Group will provide the opening keynote while Jason Grebe, Vice President at Intel will provide the keynote on Wednesday. Other scheduled speakers during the two days of the conference include executives from Ingersoll Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, LG Display, L’Oreal USA, St. Onge and others.

Each Annual Supply Chain World North America conference customarily includes an Industry Analyst or Influencers panel discussion as the culminating closing event, to summarize the messages from the various speakers, to exchange views on compelling supply chain issues of the day, and to take questions from conference attendees. This author is pleased to be once again invited to be a participant of this panel.  Last year’s panel, which I moderated, garnered high feedback ratings. I will be joined on this year’s panel with influencers from Accenture, Gartner, IDC and Microsoft.

The deadline for registration and discounted hotel room is fast approaching so please consider joining us in St. Louis in April.  Readers can take advantage of a $200 discount on the conference registration fee if registered by March 15^th.

Readers can obtain more information and actually register for this upcoming premiere supply chain conference by double-clicking on the Supply Chain World North America ad located in our right-hand Upcoming Conferences panel.

Bob Ferrari

Each year, the Supply Chain Council (SCC), the organization that developed and continues to mature the Supply Chain Operations Framework (SCOR) model, sponsors that organization’s annual U.S. focused Supply Chain World North America Conference.  This is the SCC conference where the broader supply chain community and their teams can network and gather current thinking on supply chain direction and required capabilities.

This author has attended many previous sessions of this event both as a participant and as a speaker. Last year’s event was enjoyed by most all those attending.

The 2013 event is being held from April 8-10, 2013 in St. Louis, with the overall theme: 21^st Century Supply Chain- Gateway to the Future.  The conference planning committee purposely chose the St. Louis area because of its proximity to major areas of aerospace, industrial and other manufacturing and supply chain services, as well as its location in the central part of the U.S. , which can ease travel time.  Prior to the main event, SCC has scheduled its one day SCOR User Group meeting.

This year’s Supply Chain World North America conference begins with a networking reception on the evening of Monday, April 8^th.  There are two principal keynote speakers on the main agenda that begins on Tuesday.  Kenneth A. Shaw, Vice President of Supply Chain Management Global Services and Support at Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security Group will provide the opening keynote while Jason Grebe, Vice President at Intel will provide the keynote on Wednesday. Other scheduled speakers during the two days of the conference include executives from Ingersoll Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Foods, LG Display, L’Oreal USA, St. Onge and others.

Each Annual Supply Chain World North America conference customarily includes an Industry Analyst or Influencers panel discussion as the culminating closing event, to summarize the messages from the various speakers, to exchange views on compelling supply chain issues of the day, and to take questions from conference attendees. This author is pleased to be once again invited to be a participant of this panel.  Last year’s panel, which I moderated, garnered high feedback ratings.  This year, Matt Davis, Supply Chain Research Director at Gartner will moderate the panel, allowing me to be more of an active  panel participant.

Please consider joining us in St. Louis in April.

Readers can obtain more information and actually register for this upcoming premiere supply chain conference by double-clicking on the Supply Chain World North America ad located in our right-hand Conference panel.

Bob Ferrari, Founder and Executive Editor

Next week, I’m especially looking forward to delivering the first of a two-part market education series of webinars for the Accenture Supply Chain Academy audience on the evolving hot topic of Supply Chain Control Towers (SCCT).

In the Part One- Foundations webinar next week I will cover the fundamental strategic changes occurring across global supply chains, along with their implications for decision-making.  I’ll also provide our audience with a working definition of supply chain control tower capabilities, why these capabilities are so important, and delineate the design parameters, risks and benefits.

In December, Part Two of this education series will dive deeper into the people, process and technology capabilities to consider along with some guidelines for designing SCCT based initiatives within industry supply chains.

This series is exclusively available to licensed members of the Accenture Academy. The webinar content and registration can be viewed at this web link. Readers who are Accenture Academy Live members are encouraged to immediately register for this upcoming series, since registrations are building and the series kicks off Monday with an international based audience, followed on Tuesday with a European and U.S. based audience.

Supply Chain Matters readers can also review and access some of these SCCT concepts by clicking on supply chain control tower in our listing of Topics in the right-hand panel. Later in the week, I will also summarize some important takeaways from the Part One webinar for our broader readership.

Bob Ferrari

It is time to re-charge the creative juices, and thus Supply Chain Matters will be in hiatus for the next ten days taking a rather overdue vacation in Europe.

During this short hiatus, please feel free to review all of our published commentaries, content and insights regarding multiple industry supply chain developments. Again, 2012 has been rather eventful for global supply chains and we have amassed a dedicated collection of industry-specific supply chain commentaries. Supply Chain Matters also provides a wealth of content related to global supply chain disruption and risk mitigation.

The remainder of September and October promises to be rather busy for us at Supply Chain Matters as the Fall conference season ramps-up.  We will moderate the industry analyst panel held in conjunction with the Supply Chain Council’s Executive Summit being held from September 18-20.  At the end of September, we look forward to attending Oracle’s Annual Open World Conference being held in San Francisco, which is a massive event. In October, we travel to Scottsdale to attend the annual Kinaxis sponsored Kinexions Conference being held from October 17-19, where we contribute as a panelist on the program.  If readers are planning to attend any of these events, please take the time to introduce yourselves.  We have invested in some spiffy Supply Chain Matters logo attire that will help recognize our presence.

During the remainder of 2012, our blog will feature additional educational commentary related to the concepts and capabilities being contemplated for supply chain control tower initiatives, culminating in a two-part webinar series that this author will be delivering for Accenture’s Supply Chain Academy series in the November and December timeframe.

Thanks again for your continued Supply Chain Matters readership and please continue to provide feedback on how we’re doing.

Bob Ferrari, Founder and Executive Editor

We would like to alert our supply chain executive level readers to the upcoming Supply Chain Council’s Executive Summit program scheduled to be held on 18-20 September 2012.  A group of high caliber speakers, and a few more joining in the next few weeks, have agreed to join us at the Miramonte Resort and Spa in Indian Wells, California this September.

The Summit is a one-of-a-kind annual industry event.   It is developed and supported by the nonprofit Supply Chain Council, is not owned by any consulting or software company, and is open only to executive level attendees. Speakers will talk about what they want to share with peer executives.  As a result, this program leads to great open sharing, debate, and incredible high level networking.

This year’s summit will address transformative factors impacting today’s global supply chains and how thought leaders are responding.  You’ll learn how the conventional wisdom of low-cost-country and global footprint is evolving.  You will additionally hear from peers on how they’ve built global, yet nimble supply chains and how they’re structuring their organizations for success.

As in previous events of this kind, this author has been asked to lead the composition and facilitation of the Industry Analyst and Pundits Roundtable panel which is scheduled as the concluding keynote of the event on Thursday.

We hope you will join us at this important and timely event. You can gain additional information and register for this upcoming event by double-clicking on the Executive Summit North America conference logo in our featured supply chain conferences panel located on the right-hand portion of this blog.

Bob Ferrari