The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) will host the fourth annual Joint Industry Supply Chain Conference February 4-6 in Orlando, Florida and, once again, SAP will participate as a sponsor. As in previous years, FMI and GMA will promote a forum for retailers and consumer products companies to identify opportunities for collaboration to improve supply chain efficiency, reduce operating costs and improve profitability.
As a sponsor of the event, SAP will host a thought leadership session on Wednesday, February 6th. John Buckley, Director, Global Supply Chain Solutions for Consumer Products with SAP will present on the topic of "Transforming Sales & Operations Planning for Competitive Advantage." Here is the abstract for John's session:
A robust and mature sales & operations planning (S&OP) process is essential for creating and sustaining competitive advantage. However, what was once a periodic exercise in simply balancing supply and demand has now transformed into a highly collaborative, real-time exercise in reconciling varying perspectives on inter- and intra-enterprise demand to dramatically improve both demand and supply side forecasting and fulfillment. In this session, learn how leading consumer products companies are leveraging recent technology innovations to address the challenges of consensus demand building, what-if scenario development and process management along with broader issues of globalized S&OP and financial integration.
In addition to the SAP session on S&OP, attendees will also learn from a wide variety of consumer products and retail industry leaders about the latest challenges and opportunities in supply chain including:
- Improving scheduling through sharing of data
- Mitigating workflow interruptions
- Discovering the latest developments in product traceability
- Exploring better contingency plans
- Using shopper trends data to drive inventory levels
- Optimizing direct store deliveries (DSD)
For more information:
The full conference overview is available at http://www.gmaonline.org/forms/meeting/Microsite/SupplyChain2013,0
In addition, a detailed conference agenda is also available at http://www.gmaonline.org/forms/meeting/Microsite/SupplyChain2013,1
