This year, the annual conference of the US Council of Logistics Management (CLM) took place from September 21 to 24 in Chicago. The conference is considered to be the most important logistics event in the calendar of the English-speaking logistics community and was attended by an impressive 3,200 representatives from all over the world.
In 2003, the CLM conference committee had selected ELA to organise one of the 28 topic-based tracks. This was possible thanks to the support of the German logistics association, the BVL, and Dr. Thomas Wimmer, managing director of BVL, was named as track chairperson for the topic, ‘Transatlantic Logistics’.
The track was kicked off by Chris Slijkhuis, senior project manager logistics at Flextronics International, Austria, and Heinz-Paul Bonn, CEO of GUS Group and vice president of the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunication and New Media (BITKOM), who talked about ‘Special Topics in Supply Chain Management’ based on case studies from the disposal logistics and IT sectors in a session moderated by Dr. Wimmer.
Following this, Prof. Dr. Alan C. McKinnon from Heriot Watt University, UK, Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Pfohl from the Darmstadt University of Technology, and Felix Kasiske from the Department of Logistics at the Technical University of Berlin turned the spotlight on ‘Trends in Logistics and Supply Chain Management and their Impact on Transportation’ with particular reference to research projects funded by the EU Commission.
A Polish perspective
In a sequence moderated by Dr. Stanislaw Krzyzaniak from the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing in Poland, a Polish perspective was provided on ‘News From Eastern European Logistics’ – with regard to infrastructure, EU enlargement, further education and training – by Prof. Dr. Danuta Kisperska-Moron from Katowice University of Economics and Prof. Dr. Wlodek Rydzkowski from the Transport Policy Department of the University of Gdansk, while the corresponding Czech perspective was outlined by Miroslav Rumler from Reliant s.r.o.
The contributions by trend experts Prof. Peter G. Klaus from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Dr.-Ing. Frank Straube from the Kuehne Institute for Logistics at the University of Saint Gallen, and Jack Thoms from the Technical University of Berlin spanned the ocean in a discussion entitled ‘Trends and Strategies in Transatlantic Logistics’, moderated by Prof. Pfohl.
Then Jan Felde from the Kuehne Institute for Logistics at the University of Saint Gallen, Dr. Stefan Wolff, CEO of 4flow AG, and moderator Dr. Stefan Walter from BVL outlined the theory and practice of ‘Transatlantic Supply Chain Collaboration’. They presented a combination of abstract research findings and a concrete tool for supply network design. Philippe Tufinkgi from the Technical University of Berlin followed this up with his innovative logistics model for the co-ordination of relief in the context of natural disasters.
The track ended with a comprehensive profile of ‘IT Strategy for Global Logistics Services’ by specialists Dr. Dietmar Jobst from Danzas Management AG, DHL Solutions, Italy, Dr. Ulf Leinhäuser from the Boston Consulting Group, and, Oswald P. Werle, CEO of inet-logistics/Gebrüder Weiss in a discussion that was expertly moderated by Dr. Stefan Wolff.
New filtered definitions for logistics
During the conference’s opening event, a working group made up of leading experts and chaired by William C. Copacino, Group CEO business consulting at Accenture, outlined new filtered definitions for logistics and supply chain management, the details of which can be seen on www.clm1.org or www.bvl.de.
This event also provided the setting for the presentation of the CLM’s Distinguished Service Award to Wal-Mart ceo H. Lee Scott.
Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the Duke University college basketball team, gave the first keynote speech on the topic of Motivation’ – an unusual choice, but one that fitted in well with the conference motto: ‘Changing the Game – Maintaining the Passion’.
Next year’s conference will take place in Philadelphia on October 3 – 6.
