Held at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, LA, the forum proved to be a success with exclusive access to benchmarking results, breakout sessions for networking and facilitated discussions on supply chain issues.

Attendees included vice presidents and directors in logistics, distribution and transportation, as well as in other key supply chain areas.

Hotel Monteleone New Orleans, LA

Topics such as global sourcing practices, top 10 security concerns for 2009, inventory accuracy improvement techniques, and environmental lessons from the leaders in operations were high on the agenda. In total, 35 sessions were offered from five different tracks.

The opening day of the forum included a special insiders tour of the Port of New Orleans. Attendees learned the history and present-day statistics about one of the world's busiest port complexes with a presentation from Gary LaGrange, president and CEO, Port of New Orleans. Jim Bridger, general manager, New Orleans Public Belt Railway, followed with a presentation and tour of the unique publicly owned and operated terminal switching railroads -- the New Orleans Public Belt Railway.

The highlight of the reception and dinner on Tuesday evening was keynote speaker and Pulitzer-prize winning author, Chris Rose. Mr. Rose presented a captivating and highly engaging keynote touching upon his life experiences in New Orleans. He is author of The New York Times bestseller 1 Dead in Attic, a compilation of his newspaper columns on the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina, and is a columnist for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

Chris Rose Author, 1 Dead in Attic

Mr. Rose followed his speech with a book signing of 1 Dead in Attic. The Supply Chain Consortium presented a donation to Idea Village, a not-for-profit organization in New Orleans that Chris Rose is a supporter of.

Day two of the forum kicked off with the presentation of several types of awards to Consortium members: Hundred Hits Club Award, Hot Topic Participation Award and the Leadership Forum Excellence Award. Winners of the Hundred Hits Club Award included Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Kraft Foods, Papa John's, Sony and Target. Hot Topic Participation Award winners included Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Ingram Micro, and Molson Coors. Recipients of the Leadership Forum Excellence Award included Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Campbell's, Ingram Micro, Kraft, Limited Brands, Molson Coors, Sony and Target. Advisory Board Recognition Awards were presented to Campbell's, Ingram Micro, Molson Coors and Target for their participation on the 2008 Supply Chain Consortium Advisory Board. Congratulations to the award winners for their outstanding leadership!

A group of attendees during the opening session

A panel discussion on The Future State of Global Supply Chain Capacity took place mid-morning on Wednesday. Participants of the panel included Mary Long, Director of Collaborative Supply Chain Solutions, Campbell Soup Company; Steve Carter, Director of Transportation Planning, Target Corporation; Terry Tysseland, Senior VP of North American Operations, Ingram Micro, Inc.; Ruth Sol, President of the Western Transportation Advisory Council (WESTAC); Jim Tompkins, President and CEO, Tompkins Associates; and Gene Tyndall, EVP of Global Supply Chain Services, Tompkins Associates.

All agreed that balancing globalization with the needs of customers, employees, the environment, and company profitability will be challenging, but that is why this new playing field makes it such an exciting time to be in the supply chain business.

Companies are going to have to become more creative as they expand supply chains globally and put dollars where they will yield the most return. There is ample opportunity for U.S. companies and their employees to compete and succeed, the group noted, but it will be on a new playing field with different types of tools and knowledge.

The forum concluded with keynote luncheon speaker Gene Tyndall. Tyndall is a global supply chain expert and executive VP of global supply chain services for Tompkins Associates. He presented Transforming the Global Supply Chain which targeted business issues created by globalization, business objectives of global supply chains and challenges that constrain transformations.