Don’t miss these workshops at the 2022 SAPICS Conference!

May 17, 2022

Some incredible workshops – including one covering risk management strategies and tools employed by successful companies during the Covid-19 crisis – are up for grabs at this year’s SAPICS Conference.

The Covid-19 crisis delivered bitter lessons on supply chain risk and resilience to organisations around the world. Still reeling from the impact of the pandemic, businesses have faced further disruptions, or ‘black swan’ events. Risk and resilience have become prime focus areas for business executives, as they strive to keep supply chains on track for on-time delivery, meeting customer expectations, and containing costs.

To empower the African supply chain community to prepare and protect their supply chains against future chaotic disruptions, SAPICS (The Professional Body for Supply Chain Management) has included a compelling workshop on this important topic in the programme for the upcoming 2022 SAPICS Conference, which takes place from June 12 to 15 at Century City Conference Centre, Cape Town, South Africa.

Presented by international supply chain risk management specialist Gregory Schlegel, the workshop includes case studies across multiple industries. Schlegel has been a supply chain executive for several Fortune 100 companies and a professor at Lehigh University in the USA. He is a renowned author and founder of the global Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Consortium. In this SAPICS workshop, he will discuss the risk management strategies and tools employed by successful companies during the Covid-19 crisis.

“With the pandemic covering two calendar years and the inability to visit with companies, many service providers – including the SCRM Consortium – built cloud-based assessment tools utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and machine language to lead, guide, direct, and coach companies to survive and thrive during Covid-19 and beyond. This SAPICS Conference workshop will provide context, including case studies describing how AI and machine learning algorithms are producing computer-generated risk analyses and action recommendations to effectively start and drive a successful supply chain risk and resilience journey,” explains Schlegel.

SAPICS president MJ Schoemaker notes that the annual SAPICS Conference has the proud distinction of being one of the very few events to offer powerful workshops as a value-add, at no additional cost to delegates. “This year, we have 10 not-to-be-missed workshops, including Professor Schlegel’s discussion, and I urge SAPICS delegates to make the most of the opportunity,” she says.

WAREHOUSE OF THE FUTURE

Also on this year’s workshop agenda is a session in which popular SAPICS Conference presenter Martin Bailey will examine how warehousing is evolving in the digital age. “In this workshop, we will develop scenarios for future warehouse infrastructures, along with the integration of future warehouse facilities into the total supply chain. We will look at trends for developing warehouses, and how the metaverse will change the way we do things – along with all the associated technology. We will discuss changing marketplaces and how we must adapt to market needs, as well as the want-it-now culture,” Bailey explains. This workshop will also cover the explosion of e-commerce. The design of infrastructure to cope with e-commerce will be examined, together with strategies to handle an explosion of stock keeping units and diminishing order sizes.

Other compelling workshops lined up at the SAPICS Conference are skills development and supply chain career planning. The latest models and methodologies impacting supply chains, including SCOR (the Supply Chain Operations Reference model) and DDMRP (Demand Driven Materials Requirements Planning) will also be covered. “The latter workshop features ‘DDBrix’,” Schoemaker explains. “Delegates will get hands-on experience in a LEGO bricks assembly workshop, where they will practice demand-driven planning and experience effective collaboration, getting updated on the latest DDMRP methods while playing and having fun.”

The workshops take place on the afternoon of Sunday, June 12, and the morning of Wednesday, June 15. Pre-registration is essential, as space is limited. To secure your place, contact Gugu Mashiane (Gugu@sapics.org.za), Caidan Makin (Caidan@sapics.org.za), or call SAPICS on +27 (0) 11 023 6701.