Exploring Visibility in the Supply Chain: Themes for the Nov 2017 SCRC Meeting

Our upcoming meeting on November 29th, the 36th semi-annual Supply Chain Resource Cooperative meeting, will explore some of the more interesting aspects of how organizations are coping with the availability of greater visibility in the supply chain.  While the benefits of creating a supply chain which is “LIVE, INTERACTIVE, VELOCITY, INTELLIGENT, NETWORKED, and GOOD” has been touted in my own book “The LIVING Supply Chain“.

In this meeting, we will be exploring some of the many challenges that exist as we think about what this means for the natural ecosystem of our economy and enterprises.

In my keynote, I will explore some of the topics here that impact this issue, including the impact of visibility on the transportation system, the new technologies being deployed around block chain, smart contracts, distributed ledgers, and visibility through the Internet of Things.  I will also discuss some of the downsides that lie ahead, including the possibility of exploiting visibility in transportation and logistics, the impact on exposure to diversion and counterfeiting, and the challenges around deployment across a global scale.

This will be followed up with practical insights by a group of executives.  Todd Greener, SVP of Supply Chain at Advanced Auto Parts, will share how his organization is using data to help drive improved decision-making, as well as the challenges of working with large amount of data across a large global network.  This will be followed by a presentation by Omer Rashid, Director of Solutions Design and Vince Peters, Vice President of Business Development, entitled “Data Driven Solutions for the Supply Chain”.  In this session, DHL will share their experience in working with large volumes of data for multiple clients in multiple geographies, and how solutions need to consider all of the security and IP issues as part of their design.

Finally, the day will conclude with insights from Vel Dhinagaravel from Beroe, Todd Carrico from Cougaar Software, and Rob Allan from IBM Watson Supply Chain, discussing some of the challenges each of them has seen in managing an ever expanding pool of data from clients.  The panel will be opened up to the audience, leading to what will be hopefully a great interactive discussion.  You need to be there!