The customer knows best

Supply chains around the world are increasingly being altered to keep up with specific customer demands, and by using them to maximise outcomes for the customer, companies are in turn maximising outcomes for themselves. Global services logistics director at Dell, one of the world’s biggest computer technology companies, Sean O’Reilly works on maximising these outcomes on a daily basis. O’Reilly is responsible for all freight networks from Asia into all regions at Dell, as well as the replenishment of service parts within each region, and the end delivery of service parts direct to the customer or engineer. He also handles defective parts returns, and has his own team members in APJ, LATAM, US and mainland Europe within the company. O’Reilly will be giving advice to attendees of the Logistics and Supply Chain Conference in April, with the aim of enabling them to follow in the footsteps of a leading company such as Dell. Supply Chain Standard’s 12th Logistics & Supply Chain Conference (formerly the Extended Supply Chain Conference) brings together supply chain leaders from around Europe to analyse latest industry developments, share ideas, and network with like-minded professionals. Attendees will also hear from Jim Gallagher, director of physical distribution and customer care, from Philips, on how reducing costs is a critical task in supply chain. Gallagher will look at how to remove cost without reducing quality of product or customer service. In addition, he will be identifying areas of excess waste and unnecessary cost in the supply chain. He will also consider the question of whether it is right to focus on cost, or should more attention be paid to continuous improvement strategies and improved service efficiencies? Sue McGeorge, GB supply chain director at Diageo, will focus on achieving operational improvements in her opening presentation at the event. Diageo, of course, is responsible for some of the world’s most iconic brands including Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Gordon’s gin, Hennessy cognac, and Blossom Hill wines. McGeorge will consider how best to engage staff and ensure they are on board with operational changes, as well as asking if supply chain leaders spent too much time focusing on cost reduction, to the detriment of improvement and investment in their supply chains? Attendees will also hear from companies including, Diageo, Dell, and Shop Direct, on how to drive growth and improvements across the supply chain, tackling challenges along the way. Forecasting strategies will be the topic of debate between Travis Perkins, Nestlé, and Logility, during an interactive panel discussion. Workshops hosted by Delaware Consulting, Demand Solutions, BSI, TXT e-solutions, Voiteq, and Vocollect, among others, will offer attendees an opportunity to join peers in discussing industry developments and best practice. Pandora, Greencore Group, Premier Farnell, Cranfield University, and Philips will also be present at the conference to share their very own case studies and advice. And the event will be chaired by two of the industry’s great professionals, Richard Hunt, chairman of London Ambulance, and Hugh Williams, of Hughenden Consulting, who are renowned for bringing out the best in debate. Supply Chain Standard’s Logistics and Supply Chain Conference takes place at ETC Dexter House in London from 2-3 April 2014.
http://www.esc-lon.co.uk/

Source: logisticsmanager.com
Portal: logistik-express.com