Supply chain professionals to meet in Cape Town

The 39th Annual SAPICS Conference and Exhibition for Supply Chain Professionals, will take place from 4-7 June at the Century City Conference Centre in Cape Town, South Africa.

Professionals from all disciplines of supply chain management including, but not limited to, logistics, planning, warehouse management, risk management, forecasting, demand management, and procurement will meet to discuss the latest trends and models in supply chain management with both local and international experts.

“People often think it’s necessary to travel across continents at vast expense to gather knowledge of best practices and network with global experts. With the SAPICS conference line-up we aim to have some of the best supply chain management experts from around the world in the same place at the same time,” said Jenny Froome, general manager at SAPICS, a professional knowledge-based association that enables individuals and organisations to improve business performance.

“As an added bonus, visiting Cape Town is high on the wish list for many of our colleagues from around the world, and now it can be combined with sharing experiences and gaining knowledge from some of the world’s most highly regarded supply chain professionals,” she added.

Topics included in the multi-faceted conference programme range from managing and identifying supply chain risk to addressing the worrying shortage in skills in supply chain skills and addressing solutions to this global crisis. Demand Planning, supply chain research and warehouse management innovations will all be addressed.

Important research papers will be tabled during the inaugural academic track which is being held for the first time in collaboration with POMS – the Production and Operations Management Society.

Exciting developments in technology and services will be showcased at the exhibition and delegates will have the opportunity to schedule one-on-one sessions with international guest speakers.

“In this currently turbulent economic climate, supply chain professionals face real challenges to maintain robust and agile supply chains which form the back-bone of industry,” explained Froome.

“It is more important than ever for supply chain professionals to keep up to date with what is required to remain profitable in this unusual business climate – hence our conference theme “Business Unusual,”she added.

Froome said more information is available at conference.sapics.org .