Building on the success of last year's industry roundtable discussions, the Warehousing Education and Research Council ( www.werc.org) has more than doubled its roundtable offerings for this year's event, scheduled for May 1 to May 4 in Dallas.

Susan Rider, WERC president and a consultant for Rider & Associates, says that the success of last year's 12 diverse roundtable sessions convinced her that increasing the number of those sessions to 28 was a positive move. "The feedback for these events was overwhelming at last year's conference," she said.

This year's keynote speakers include Pamela Stegman, vice president of supply chain management for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, who will present the finding of an RFID study of 60 major consumer products companies. Rider adds, "The purpose of the keynote is to start a proactive dialogue on the issue in the industry. RFID pilots are not easy. The technology is not as developed as it should be and changing the direction of operations is difficult."

For C-level attendees, a CEO panel is set to detail the direction, challenges and improvement opportunities in warehousing and distribution. Panelists include Rick Blasgen, senior vice president of logistics, Conagra Foods, Scott McWilliams, chief executive officer, Ozburn-Hessey Logistics and Joel Sutherland, president of Air-Road Express, a transportation and logistics company.

Over 80 speakers are scheduled for this year's event. Attendees will hear about key warehousing and distribution topics including facilities, metrics, processes, third-party logistics relationships, strategies and value-added services.