This year’s Supply Chain Conference, hosted in Phoenix, AZ, was a complete success. ES3 had the pleasure of hosting not only two dinners, but also a General Session and an interactive booth.
ES3’s booth featured a different internet-enabled device each day to demonstrate how ordinary everyday items can be connected and controlled over the internet. We are living in an era of inter-connectivity, and to be successful in this new world, we must learn to collaborate with one another. ES3’s model of consolidation connects different manufacturers with each other to fill trucks more efficiently, allowing for greater speed-to-shelf and fewer out-of-stocks.
The General Session, sponsored by ES3 and CHEP, Smart Devices Meet Smart Supply Networks- When the Digital and Physical Worlds Connect, featured three industry experts, each with different expertise and industry experience. Jack Uldrich, Global Futurist, Speaker, and Author opened the presentation with an eye opening explanation on how we need to ‘unlearn‘ many of our preconceptions about the supply chain during this era of unprecedented change.
After we had begun to question our past assumptions, Benoit Montreuil, PhD, professor at Georgia Tech, mapped a detailed path illustrating how supply chains are likely to change, presenting graphs and diagrams to explain the benefits and necessity of consolidation. This technical approach shed light on many areas of change and growth which our industry is about to undergo.
The final speaker, Doug Stephens, the author of Retail Prophet, again challenged our viewpoints of retail by explaining the current shift we are seeing between marketing and store fronts. Historically, media was used to promote products, the idea being that if the advertisement was successful, then the consumer would buy the item in the store. Now however, the buying process is not as liner, and instead resembles a meandering path. The internet is frequently being used as the point of sale, and sales are beginning to dwindle in our brick-and-mortar stores. In coming years we will face a phenomenon where store fronts are being used predominantly as advertising, and advertisements online lead directly to online sales. We must reconsider the role of the store in our supply chain if we are to survive in the new era of retail.
To learn more about this thought-provoking presentation, contact us at blog@es3.com. After this successful conference, we are already looking forward to seeing you at 2016’s conference in New Orleans!