2008 R. Hadly Waters Supply Chain Symposium
The 18th Annual R. Hadly Waters Supply Chain Symposium, Managing Supply Chain Complexity, was held on April 24, 2008, at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, University Park, Pennsylvania, with approximately 200 supply chain professionals in attendance.
This year the keynote address, Leveraging Technology and Innovations to Increase Supply Chain Value, was co-presented by Paul Avampato, vice president, Process Design, Kraft Foods North America and Deborah Lentz, vice president of customer service and logistics, Kraft Foods Europe. This presentation set the tone for the entire day. Avampato and Lentz discussed Kraft’s organizational strategies for growth: Rewire the organization for growth, reframe product categories, exploit Kraft’s sales and logistics capabilities, and drive down costs without compromising quality. Through this quest to increase supply chain value, Kraft realized that the organization needed to drive more innovation in their supply offerings in order to create value for their customers and company shareholders through state-of-the-art technology.
The luncheon address, given by Kevin Hourican, senior vice president of logistics—direct to consumer, Macy’s Inc., gave an in depth look at redefining retail distribution in his presentation, Managing Supply Chain Complexity in the Direct-To-Consumer (D2C) Business. Hourican gave an inside look into the $27 billion multi-channel retailer’s supply chain challenges and optimal solutions to balance the ‘need for speed’ versus operating efficiency.
This year the 2008 Pashek Award for Supply Chain Excellence was presented to the Kraft Foods team of Avampato and Lentz. With a combined 50 years of experience in the supply chain field, the Penn State Business Logistics alums represent the essence of the award – logistics professionals that have made significant contributions to the practice and development of the logistics discipline.
Mark your calendar for the 19th Annual R. Hadly Waters Supply Chain Symposium on April 23, 2009.
