Learn From Retail Leaders
Supply chain executives will gather next month in Berkeley, Calif., to discuss best practices implemented across retail supply chains to create and enhance the customer experience. The two-day conference will include hands-on experiences as well, including a private tour of the Port of Oakland and an opportunity to board the APL Thailand, a 4800-TEU* container vessel operated by Sacramento, Calif.-based APL.
A global container-transportation company, APL serves more than 90 ports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. During tours of the Port of Oakland’s APL Middle Harbor Terminal and the container ship, attendees of the Supply Chain Summit will witness how goods are being transported to the U.S. from suppliers around the world.
Co-hosted by Chain Store Age and ChainLink Research, Cambridge, Mass., the inaugural Supply Chain Summit will be held June 25-27 at the Claremont Resort and Spa. Speakers and sessions on the agenda include:
Dan Currie, senior VP of global supply chain, Best Buy, will discuss how the leading electronics retailer has utilized RFID in its supply chain to support a strategy of market segmentation by customer personalities, thus improving the customer experience on a granular store-level, and in some cases, item-level basis.
Mike Graham, VP of logistics, Tractor Supply Co., will share how retailers can build flexibility into the supply chain to achieve consistent service levels across a diverse product mix that ranges from tiny quarter-inch bolts to massive farm tractors, while maintaining efficiencies across a fast-growing portfolio of stores throughout multiple regions.
Randy Lewis, Walgreens’ senior VP of distribution and logistics, will present a moving case study of how the drug store chain’s decision to employ disabled workers in its distribution centers has contributed to improved performance.
John Ling, VP of logistics at Crate & Barrel, and a panel of retailers will join moderator Greg Johnsen, executive VP of marketing and sales for GT Nexus, Alameda, Calif., in a discussion of challenges and innovations associated with international trade logistics.
Retailer case studies on the use of item-level RFID tagging will be the focal point of another session, with specific attention on supplier compliance and interaction with the end customer. Phillip Calderbank, director of global marketing, RFID, for Avery-Dennison, Pasadena, Calif., will lead this discussion.
*One twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is equivalent to a 20-ft. ocean container of cargo.
Risk consultants with New York City-based Marsh will lead a session on building a resilient supply chain and mitigating risk. The discussion will address external factors, such as sourcing of raw materials, storage, production, integrated logistics and delivery to the end customer, as well as internal dynamics, such as regional management processes, information flow and store-level operations.
In another RFID-oriented session, Jonathan Golovin, Ph.D, chairman and CEO of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based T3Ci, will report case studies that illustrate improvements in inventory management as learned from RFID analytics.
Additionally, co-host ChainLink Research will deliver results from its recent survey of more than 100 retailers that are using RFID to enhance customer experiences. Milwaukee-based RedPrairie will be on hand to discuss its comprehensive suite of integrated supply chain solutions.
For more information, or to register to attend the Supply Chain Summit, please visit www.csasupplychainsummit.com.