Thoughts on CSCMP 2009
The subdued nature of the conference surfaced in well-attended sessions on topics such as how companies can effectively deal with fuel surcharges. While I have no doubt this topic represents a significant cost item for shippers, I hope that 2010 will see a return to greater interest in sessions like innovation in the supply chain.
I was a co-presenter, along with professors from the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, in a session that offered the hypothesis that volatility – extreme volatility – has become embedded in the supply chain. Not just demand volatility, but also volatility in sourcing, markets, regulatory requirements, acquisitions and product lifecycles. Thinking and dialogue around developing innovative supply chain technologies, processes and organizational responses that turn this volatility into an advantage, not simply something to be “managed” is the kind of subject that CSCMP attendees might find useful moving forward.
