At our series of supply-chain-related conferences next week, it will be interesting to hear how expert presenters and attendees view the supply chain in Japan as that country deals with the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation threats.
Japan’s presence in the supply chain and its foothold in industries such as automobile manufacturing and high tech both seem unsteady as the nation responds to a series of terrible crises. Even if your company doesn’t have direct business ties to Japan, it’s not hard to appreciate what could happen if similar escalated disasters hit other parts of the world.
I searched for the term “global” in sessions at our Logistics and Supply Chain Management 2011, Procurement and Materials Management 2011, PLM 2011, and Manufacturing 2011 conferences (all of which take place next week in Orlando). More than 25 presentations showed up in the search results, and I’d expect Japan’s dire circumstances to come up during many of these gatherings.
All of our presenters turned in the slide sets weeks ago, so I don’t know any of them will bob and weave their discussions around Japan’s supply chain woes. But some of the sessions that have peaked my interest from a global perspective include the following:
- “Case study: Maintaining a competitive advantage: How the U.S. Navy transformed their global supply chain design side-by-side with an SAP implementation,” with Captain Doug Newell of U.S. Navy Supply Information Systems Activity
- “Keynote Address: Competing in the ‘Networked Normal’: A pathway to growth through innovation and collaboration,” with Richard Campione, executive vice president at SAP
- “Trends and best practices in 3PL selection, structure, oversight, and operation,” Srinivathsan Narayanan, Krypt
- “Case study: See how SMI enables a high-tech manufacturer to stay ahead of demand,” with Anil Yadalam from TriQuint Semiconductor
I hope to see many of you at the conferences—stop by the WIS Publishing booth and say hello.
Follow Scott on Twitter @scmexpert
