With over 1100 participants, the first annual LogiCon24 Virtual Supply Chain Summit hosted by Logility brought together industry experts, thought leaders, and enthusiasts to reimagine supply chain. The agenda featured a mix of keynotes, discussion forums, and breakout sessions spanning from what keeps executives up at night to leveraging new and existing technology solutions.
LogiCon24 kicked off with a message from Logility, CEO, Allan Dow, “In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, sharing ideas has never been more crucial. We find ourselves at an intersection of unprecedented challenges and opportunities, where plans are getting smarter and responses must be swift, often within minutes or hours. It’s clear that setting a course of excellence is imperative, as those who fail to act will inevitably be left behind.”
Couldn’t make it? No problem, we have a recap of the top eight hard hitting topics and you can jump into the on-demand event to watch any sessions you missed.
Eight Critical Supply Chain Opportunities Identified at LogiCon2
1. The past doesn’t hold the key to the future
Keynote speaker Simon Anderson, a renowned futurist, focused on how the traditional approach to supply chain transformation that only looks at the past will hold organizations back from having more years of success. Through unlearning, the deliberate process of letting go of outdated practices, mindsets, or knowledge to embrace new approaches in a changing business environment, organizations can reimagine a course for their future.
2. Ensuring resiliency is keeping executives up at night
An executive panel featuring Angie Taylor of PPC Flex, Sean Rierdon of Clarios and Jim Kilpatrick of Deloitte highlighted the top challenges organizations are currently facing. Overall, executives find themselves wide awake thinking about how to keep their businesses resilient to customer expectations, new sustainability requirements, and expectations of a technology first workforce.
3. Cyberattacks happen – Have a plan before you get hacked
In Rachel Wilson’s keynote, she discussed how cyberattacks have become more complex with triple extortion scams on the rise. Scammers are coming after businesses through data encryption, data leak threats, and additional extortion. She recommends the best way to protect yourself is to have a 3,2,1 back up strategy which is three copies in two geographic locations, and one off of your network.
4. Reimagine supply chain
The final keynote of the day came from Kevin McInturff, CTO for Logility. In addition to sharing what’s next on the Logility roadmap, he shared insights into why we must reimagine supply chain. Reimagine Supply Chains is about embracing what technology is available to us now and how its changing supply chain. Supply chains used to run at a different pace, but that is no longer sufficient. They must operate with more speed, intention, and execution. They can do this by leveraging tools that have AI built in rather than bolted on and ultimately elevate human decision making.
5. The next generation workforce has big expectations
Digital natives are entering the workforce with a mindset of time being their most important value. Businesses are faced with workers that don’t want to run manufacturing lines on the weekends, planners that don’t want to spend hours sifting through excel spreadsheets, and onboarding challenges for digital forward learning styles.
“We’ve reached such a different level of complexity with our portfolio that we can’t do things the same way we used to. We must take another step in terms of technology and get off spreadsheets. Even if we try to throw bodies at the problem, which you likely won’t be successful doing, how they engage in the work is different now. New hires want to engage in new processes, new ways of doing things, and ultimately want to be challenged in the workplace,” Rierdon shared.
6. The future of supply chain is digital and requires a roadmap
Generative AI was thread among many sessions from a discussion forum with Jim Kilpatrick from Deloitte CA, to a dedicated breakout track with Sarthak Pany, Deloitte CA, and Gokhan Usanmaz of Logility.
Kilpatrick noted that “Many organizations are still experimenting with new technologies but struggling to quantify the value. They need their business case to include both costs and benefits, so it’s crucial to focus on maximizing value through these new technology investments. Companies should identify where benefits will appear on the balance sheet or P&L, such as labor productivity or inventory performance, rather than just costs.”
7. Locate, identify, and assess the data
The key to kicking off digital transformations in supply chain is through master data management. Any organization creating a roadmap should start with the data.
“A lot of people overlook the data and get all the way to tool implementation, and you don’t have the information or data that you need to actually be successful at the end. Slowing down to frame up the problem, make sure that you have a good foundation, and understand what problems you are trying to solve,” Taylor said.
8. The cloud is where it’s at
“The pace of business and technology has changed. There is tremendous opportunity to move faster and be more effective and more anti-fragile but that comes with technological burden. It’s not possible to have elastic scale in old technology outside of the cloud,” McInturff said.
Logility Client Hamilton Beach expressed how critical this move is. They advised that organizations elevating to the cloud should embrace the change with cross functional team involvement, anticipate data cleansing, build a stable planning foundation through DemandAI+, inventory planning, and replenishment planning, and finally, keep moving up the maturity curve with SIOP, supply planning optimization and real time scenario analysis.
A New Era of Supply Chain
LogiCon24 was designed to challenge how leaders think and approach the next era of supply chain management. Attendees were exposed to new technology, expert opinions, and client experiences that change how we view supply chains.
The main takeaway. The time for action is now. Don’t miss the chance to challenge your own thinking, explore the full event on-demand here.
