Sessions

Presentation & Discussion - "Lean Distribution"

Louis Mangino

VP Operations , Benco Dental Company

Lou Mangino will lead a discussion on Benco’s Journey into the Lean process – 7 years later, how we worked this into our corporate DNA and the overall process integration and evolution. Why Lean, where it starts, what worked, what didn’t work, past and current successes and issues, “champion profile”, what Lean is and isn’t, how to start and how to sustain the process. Goal is to start a dialog and share best practice experiences from other participants who have implemented Lean into their organization or who are thinking about implementation.

Presentation & Discussion - "Growth Technologies for the Sales Force"

Kenny Talley

Chief Financial Officer, Womack Machine Supply

Kenny Talley the CFO of Womack Machine Supply will lead the discussion on this topic. He will discuss how Womack is using new tools to help the sales force become more efficient in the field. As the economy grows and Womack grows, how will these technologies change or not change as his sales force grows. How are I-Pads going to fit into this new dynamic? What Apps are we using and what apps will be created? And, all of this over the internet and how does this all tie to your CRM system back in the office? Kenny will lead this discuss but please come prepare to discuss how your company is or will address these issues.

Presentation & Discussion - "Voice Pick"

Brian McCarthy

Senior Vice President-Operations, Nature's Best

Nature's Best, the Country’s largest privately held natural and organic products wholesaler-distributer, achieved an increase in perfect orders, productivity and inventory accuracy since deploying a voice pick system within their supply chain. Brain McCarthy, Senior Vice President of Operations for Nature's Best, will give us, via a round table format, an overview of the process for qualification, selection and implementation of the voice system. Brain will tell us how the technology improved the operational performance across multiple key performance indicators and discuss the ROI methodology and time line. He will also speak to soft benefits of the implementation, where the technology might expand within the operation and how the Nature’s Best team adapted to the voice pick technology. He will also discuss lessons learned and share thoughts on flexibility, scalability and dependability of this technology.

Presentation & Discussion - "More than Buying Inventory"

Panelists

• 

  Kerry Porter

  Vice President Replenishment, Harvard Drug Group
• 

  Scott Sellers

  Vice President-Operations, McNaughton McKay Electric Co.

Harvard Drug is a $400M national distributor of generic and branded pharmaceuticals. In this discussion, Kerry Porter, VP Replenishment Harvard Drug Group will unveil their forward-thinking approach to inventory optimization. Harvard was faced with the challenge of improving inventory turnover; reduce obsolete inventory and streamlining processes.

In 2 years Harvard went from merely buying inventory to true inventory management. This transition included a major cultural shift as Harvard embarked on an approach that considered the future impact to their business and ultimately saved millions.

 

McNaughton-McKay Electric Company is a $600M+ Electrical Distributor with 22 distribution outlets servicing parts of Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Our Materials Management team, formed in 2008, takes responsibility for our $60M+ of inventory as it focuses on fill rate and the most effective replenishment paths for each of our 80K SKU’s.

To improve our ability to service customers in all of our locations, McNaughton-McKay strategically deployed 4 Customer Fulfillment Centers which combined the concept of an Regional Distribution Center with a logistics engine to ensure on-time delivery for customer satisfaction. This structural change along with the creation of the above mentioned Materials Management team, have allowed McNaughton-McKay to improve service levels without increasing inventory dollars.

 

Presentation & Discussion - "Customer Segmentation"

John Mansfield

Vice President of Business Development, Graybar Electric Company, Inc.

Graybar has embarked on the journey of implementing the recommended steps for boosting profitability through Customer Stratification identified in the NAW publication Customer Stratification: Best Practices for Boosting Profitability. John Mansfield, Vice President Business Development, will share how they have used the research as a foundation to build a customer stratification model customized to their business, created a dashboard of results, and developed strategies to utilize for each customer type. He will share their experience in the rollout of their model to a group of pilot locations and how they are documenting how each location is utilizing the customer stratification results to drive increased profitability.

Presentation & Discussion - "Alternative Energy"

Bradley Clarkin

Distribution Center Superintendent, Kwik Trip, Inc.

Panelists

• 

  Joel Hirschboeck

  Alternative Fuels Superintendent, Kwik Trip, Inc.

Compressed Natural gas (CNG) is cleaner and less expensive than both diesel or gasoline. CNG causes less wear on equipment, leading to lower maintenance costs. A wide range of reliable new CNG vehicles and conversion systems are available. Kwik Trip has made the decision to move forward with natural gas powered vehicles and has already transitioned 24 vehicles over to natural gas. Eric will discuss the decision making process they went through and go over the ROI of the conversion. Join us for this thought-provoking seminar and learn how your fleet can take advantage of all natural gas has to offer and learn the does and don'ts of the natural gas conversion.