Industry leaders talk global business practices, supply chain resiliency

Monday, February 20, 2017

Purdue University’s Krannert’s School of Management brought industry leaders to campus Feb. 17 to discuss the best practices in globalization. The conference focused on sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of products outside U.S. borders.

The spring 2017 Global Supply Chain Management Initiative (GSCMI) conference was held in the Purdue Memorial Union. The theme of this year’s conference, “Managing Global Supply Chain Resiliency,” attracted Industry leaders, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students.

Steve Dunlop, managing director for the Global Supply Chain Management Initiative, says the conference brought some of the industry’s very best leaders to campus. “We’ve steadily increased the prestige and quality of our speakers,” he says. “These are senior, senior individuals who are doing cutting-edge things and growing their operations rapidly.”

The audience enjoyed interactions with industry speakers as well as with students from six business schools who were on campus to compete in a case competition hosted during the conference. The center develops fresh cases each year that reflect current ideas and showcases the best ideas from students as they grapple with developing solutions. Industry participants at the conference served as judges to pick the winners of the case competition.

The keynote speakers were:

* Colonel Randall E. Warring, vice director of the 448th Supply Chain Management Wing, U.S. Air Force Sustainment Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

* Jan-Anders Manson, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Materials & Chemical Engineering, Purdue University.

* Scott R. Lake, global manager of Supplier Development and Risk, Agriculture and Turf Division, Deere & Co.

* Jim Churchman, vice president Supply Chain Site Operations and Logistics at Advocate Health Care.

* Alexandra Sokol, supply chain analyst - Corporate Planning Allocations, ArcelorMittal

* Dustin Smith, senior vice president, general manager, Commercial Trailer Products, Wabash National.

“From our standpoint, we want these industrial leaders to come to us if they have questions and concerns,” says Dunlop. “We want Purdue to be the first reference business leaders and for them to know we have an international presence.”