Extended Supply Chain starts tomorrow

The Extended Supply Chain conference starts tomorrow (Tuesday) with contributions from some of the world’s most successful companies, such as IBM, Oracle, Dell, Sony and Unilever.

In his keynote address on Supply Chain 2020, Professor Alan Braithwaite will look at volatility, complexity and global shifts in the supply chain. Braithewaite, chairman of LCP Consulting and visiting professor at Cranfield School of Management, will examine how supply chain practice has changed in the last ten years, and the big supply chain challenges of the next decade, as well as how supply chain now powers business strategy.

Oracle’s takeover of Sun Microsystems was not simply a major event for the IT industry: it presented a significant challenge in terms of transforming the supply chain.

How the group has achieved that is the subject of a key presentation at ESC. Jon Chorley, who is chief sustainability officer and vice president, supply chain management product strategy at Oracle, will look at: “The CEO-led supply chain transformation: one year on”.

[asset_ref id=”1469″]

The presentation will take in regulatory compliance and supply chain execution; sales and operations planning; service parts supply chain and working with logistics service providers to deliver a configure-to-order supply chain.

Computer maker Dell has an enviable reputation for the excellence of its supply chain – able to build to order and deliver a competitive product in just days. A key element of that success is the ability to align the supply chain across the business, customers and suppliers. 

Padraig Healy, executive director of supply chain operations at Dell, will be looking at the issues associated with supply chain alignment. In particular, he will consider how to maintain the ability to stay aligned with the fast pace of change, managing transformational change, and improving customer experience while maintaining a competitive edge. He will also consider strategies to improve performance while at the same time reducing costs. E-commerce is transforming the music industry supply chain with new technologies revolutionising the way people buy and two industry leaders will be analysing these changes and the responses to it.

Gareth Deakin, head of business development at Sony Music UK, and Tony Matthews, head of e-commerce, supply chain solutions at arvato UK & Ireland, will consider the impact of the growing demand for e-commerce on retailers and their supply chains.

In particular, they will look at how to manage multi-channel fulfilment cost effectively, how to optimise warehouses for multi-channel fulfilment, and managing reverse logistics operations in a multi-channel environment. And critically, they will consider how multi-channel fulfilment can drive sales and support customer loyalty.

Unilever’s work on transforming its supply chain has won it accolades in recent European Supply Chain Excellence Awards. A key member of its supply chain team will look at Driving Towards Supply Chain Transformation Excellence – in particular, how do you transform the business? The session will look at organisational design, end-to-end value chain transformation and aligning metrics.

IBM’s Global Logistics business uses a 4PL model that is sole sourced and represents the single largest multi-year collaborative outsourcing contract of its kind with $1 billion in freight spend alone.

In March 2009, the Geodis acquisition of IBM’s Global Logistics Business Unit was finalised and as part of the purchase deal of the logistics business, Geodis became the sole logistics supplier for IBM with a multi-year contract now closing out year three.

Analysing the impact will be Graham Wright, head of procurement and integrated supply chain, IBM. He will be joined by Bob Heaney, senior research analyst, supply chain management at the Aberdeen Group, and Matthew Lewis, vice president business development, Geodis.

Major retailers such as Tesco and Asda have started to develop communities among their supply chain partners to help them improve the sustainability of their operations and reduce their carbon footprints.

Such moves have clear implications for suppliers. Explaining how such communities work and what they can achieve will be Martin Chilcott, founder and chief executive of 2degrees, an online community of sustainability professionals. The idea is to help organisations accelerate the implementation of sustainable business strategies by enabling them to access essential information.

And Patrik Jansson, vice president, head of engineering and materials management operations at Sony Ericsson, will be looking at devising strategies to mitigate supply chain risk is a critical issue for many organisations.

He will examine collaborative strategies to manage and mitigate those risks as they arise and build a resilient supply chain. And he will also look at options for alternative sources of supply.

Mitigating risk is one of the potential benefits of supply chain collaboration but there are others.

Garry Clamp of Vodafone will look at generating value through supply chain collaboration. He will give an overview of the supplier management 2.0 programme as well as considering engagement and governance, and tools to support collaboration. He will also reflect on the importance of recognising and rewarding success.

The theme of collaboration will be taken up in a panel discussion with Simon Williams, chief supply chain officer, Accolade Wines, John Sewell, principal, Crimson & Co, and Alastair Charatan, director of supply chain programme, Travis Perkins.

Extended Supply Chain 2012 takes place at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, in central London from 16th-18th April.

Full details: are on the Extended Supply Chain web site: www.esc-lon.co.uk