SYNERGY 2010 Presentation Overviews

Supply Chain 2010: On the Frontline of Economic Recovery
Keynote Speaker: Marci Rossell, Ph.D.
The global economy is in the early stages of recovery: orders are picking up, exports are rebounding and prices are once again on the rise. Join Dr. Marci Rossell as she explains how these crucial elements of the supply-side of the economy are driving the business cycle today.

Toward the Sustainable Supply Chain: Risks, Opportunities and Critical Capabilities
Media Presentation: Andrew Reese, Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Regulatory compliance, green product transitions and corporate social responsibility initiatives are presenting Sourcing and Procurement executives with new supply-side challenges at a time when most companies are focusing on growth in the aftermath of the recession. This presentation will explore the role of Supply Management in mitigating the risks – and taking advantage of the opportunities – presented by the paradigm change as enterprises move toward the sustainable supply chain.

5 Purchasing Best Practices
Workshop Facilitator: Charles Dominick, Next Level Purchasing, Inc.
Wouldn't it be great if you could implement the purchasing best practices that are used by the world's top corporations? Do you think it is impossible because your existing staff is so busy and you don't have the budget to hire an expensive consulting firm? Think again!

You can introduce purchasing best practices into your organization easily, without outside help, if you have the right guidance. At SYNERGY 2010, Charles Dominick, SPSM – President of Next Level Purchasing – will be presenting the workshop "5 Purchasing Best Practices." This seminar will make it realistic for you to quickly and significantly improve your performance and the performance of your purchasing department. You'll become a respected purchasing leader by following this seminar’s step-by-step instructions, examples, and exercises, as well as the Sample, Tool, and Template Pack provided when you attend. Get ready to deliver world-class purchasing results! You will learn how to improve your spend management by implementing a buying plan, plus…

How and when to utilize each of the four types of proposal analysis strategies
How to build cross-functional commodity teams, scorecards, and total cost of ownership analysis
How to improve vendor performance through a supplier performance management program
How to conduct a risk assessment and use the results

Developing Category Management Results through Improved Market Intelligence
Breakout Speaker: Robert Handfield, Ph.D.
Organizations are facing increased uncertainty in economic markets and are increasingly aware of the need to closely monitor market conditions and respond to these changes through improved supply chain strategies. As more organizations seek to build sourcing strategies to identify cost savings opportunities, they are recognizing that there are major shortfalls in market intelligence and cost modeling capabilities that form the basis for effective strategies and negotiation. Dr. Handfield’s presentation provides insights from a recent research study covering over 100 organizations implementing category management strategies, and brings to bear several important themes and insights.

Procurement Thriving in the "New Normal" - Emerging from the Downturn Stronger...Not Just Leaner
Breakout Speaker: Pierre Mitchell
As procurement organizations have emerged from the recession into an uncertain 2010, most have had banner years in 2009 in terms of cost savings, but the truly great ones are not just executing existing value propositions well. Rather, they’ve used the downturn to expand the quantity and quality of their spend influence while also building in critical market intelligence, risk management, services procurement, and other areas. To do this, they are also re-architecting the way in which they are delivering and measuring procurement services to the business. In this presentation, quantitative and case study data will be shared on trends in emerging procurement value proposition, metrics, performance (using Hackett’s latest World-Class Procurement figures), and capabilities.

How to Manage Global Alliances for Improved Firm Performance: Buyer and Supplier Perspectives
Breakout speaker: Daniel F. Lynch, Ph.D.
In this session the results of a multi-year study of both buyers and suppliers in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific will be presented. Some of the topics to be discussed are:

What are the key drivers in global supply chain relationship management today?
Are these drivers the same for both buyers and suppliers?
What are the key similarities between buyers and suppliers?
What are the key differences between buyers and suppliers?
What is the role of “power” in global supply chain relationships?
What are the differences and/or similarities between products and services, if any?

Bridging the Gap Between IT and Procurement: How to Drive Improved Collaboration
Breakout Speakers: Allen Rittscher and Joanne Roth
Expounding on the theme of February’s exceptionally well received Corporate United Webinar, Volt Information Sciences’ Allen Rittscher and Joanne Roth will be returning to host a similar presentation at this year’s SYNERGY event. Their presentation will elaborate on the themes covered in their webinar. Attendees can expect to learn about the different sets of concerns facing IT and procurement when it comes to arriving at purchasing decisions and why it is imperative for collaboration between these two groups to succeed. Learn how the IT and procurement can better understand each other’s criteria for determining which product or service to procure and how this powerful collaboration can yield significant operational improvements and respectable cost savings.

Procurement Technology Deployment: The Five-Phase Journey to Best-in-Class
Breakout Speaker: Deborah Wilson, Gartner
Procurement is in the midst of a quiet revolution – and organizations of all sizes and in all industries are gradually increasing their use of software to improve productivity and effectiveness. This session will describe the stages along the journey from just getting started to the state-of-the art use of technology to support procurement.

What I Just Learned About Your Key Supplier
Breakout Speaker: Brian Sommer, Techventive
Brian Sommer has a team of experts who comb the Internet looking for clues about your suppliers and customers. Listen as Brian describes the techniques they use to find out: the true economic condition of a supplier; the points of view they test for; the savings that can be affected in negotiations; and, the disturbing news about a key supplier that can cause you to replace them now. Brian will also share some of their processes to find the true story and how this impacts values and decisions.