Session Abstracts

Session 1: Understanding the Causes and Effects of Supply Chain Complexity and How to Overcome Them
Joel Sutherland (USD Supply Chain Management Institute)
This session will explore a topic that is rapidly becoming the focus for many supply chain executives – increased complexity within your business and supply chain. Attendees will gain an understanding of complexity, including its definition, the various types of complexity that exist, and the difference between good and bad complexity. Attendees will also gain an understanding of the causes and effects of supply chain complexity while gaining insight into effective ways to eliminate complexity across your business and supply chain.

Session 2: Supply Chain Complexity - If People Cause It, They Can Fix It; Otherwise Be Prepared
Bob Bennett (Toyota - retired/Lean Consulting Associates)
This speaker will classity complexity causes into categories and use case studies to explain solutions. These categories and examples will be drawn extensively from a 28-year hands-on career at Toyota.

• We do it ourselves
• We do not manage normal supply chain behavior
• Our business partners do it to us
• It's out of our control
• We live in a global world - Importance of Lean System Thinking and a long-term view

Session 3: Last Mile Distribution - Balancing Distribution Costs with Product Requirements
Rachel Schaler (Starbucks Coffee Company)
Managing a last mile distribution network that enables innovation requires continual review of product requirements, store capacity, and distribution costs.  The interdependency of each element drives complexity in the supply chain.  From the timing of the inbound product to the required storage space in a store, a complete understanding of product and store requirements is the foundation for managing a last mile delivery network. 

Session 4: Architecting Your Supply Chain to Reduce Complexity
Kevin Nohelty (WD-40 Company)
The presenter in this session will discuss how acquiring seven new brands resulted in duplicate processes within a heavily outsourced supply chain model. You will learn how streamlining the supply chain, and in-sourcing several key functions, is yielding dramatic improvement in efficiencies, standardization of processes, and is providing greater supply chain visibility.

Session 5: Managing Supply Chain Complexity: Perspectives from the World's Largest Enterprise Manufacturing Solution (eMS) Provider
Phil Schultz (Foxconn Technology Group)
Being the world’s largest eMS provider, Foxconn must participate in the management of supply chains from a variety of customers. Some of these customers are competitors, and some are in completely different businesses. Our customers come to us to take advantage of our global presence (especially Asia), large scale, flexible balance sheet and access to skilled labor to reduce cost and simplify their solution spaces. The issue of concurrently working with multiple customers across a variety of industries adds an additional layer of complexity, but also a unique perspective. This session will touch on four key strategies that Foxconn uses to manage complexity in this challenging environment.

Session 6: Breakout Sessions

• Driving Supply Chain Strategies to Mitigate Complexity/Uncertainty
  Simon Croom, Ph.D., Professor, University of San Diego
• Risk Management in a Complex Global Environment
  John Hanson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of San Diego
• Globalization Issues - Outsourcing, Near Sourcing, and Right Sourcing
  Ray Hummell, MBA, Adjunct Instructor, University of San Diego
  

Session 7: Supply Chain Complexity in a Changing Environment
Michael Forbes (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
This session focuses on responding to customer, legislative, and regulatory changes that have occurred in the supply management environment over the past two years. In this session, the speaker will provide an overview of supply chain mandates, industry responses to the Dodd-Frank/ SEC Rule on Conflict Minerals, Counterfeit Identification and Mitigation, Supplier Financial Risk and the increasing role of Industry Associations and Academia as forums for shaping responses and implementation strategies.