Supply chain: Get ready for Modern's Virtual Conference

I’m not a car guy, but one of my guilty pleasures on Saturday morning is to listen to Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, on public radio in the car while I’m running errands. If you’re a fan like me, you’re familiar with the Shameless Commerce Division, that portion of the show when they hawk their own stuff to a captive audience.

Consider this blog Modern’s Shameless Commerce Division. In fact, we’re getting ready to host our own show, Modern Materials Handling 2009 TRENDS IN AUTOMATION Virtual Conference. The event goes live on December 7, from 11 AM till 7 PM ET. It won’t be on NPR, but you can attend from the comfort of wherever you keep you desktop or laptop computer. That gets you the benefit of some great presentations and make you a hero for saving your company’s travel budget (I said this was shameless commerce, right?).

Why a virtual conference? No doubt the materials handling and supply chain software industries are in a slump, like every other industry. But talk to providers and look at the stories Modern features every month, and you’ll see that leading companies like Homedics, Kroger and Empire Beverage continue to invest in their order fulfillment, distribution and logistics processes. That’s because they understand that an investment in their supply chains today can give them a distinct advantage over the competition when the economy improves. This conference is designed to inspire innovation and investment.

What will you find? First, you’ll be able to visit virtual booths and communicate in real time with solutions providers. We’ll also be offering four Webcasts, including:

Planning the Comeback: Putting Automation to Work: Jim Tompkins, known by many as the “Prophet of Boom,” will deliver our keynote address. Tompkins is now advocating that warehouse and DC professionals should be taking a thorough look at their current operations and developing a comeback plan that includes plenty of strategic investment in automated solutions-with a reasonable payback of a year or less.

Automated Material Handling’s Return on Investment: John Sarinek, a vice president at Beumer and chair of the Integrated Systems and Controls (ISC) Industry Group at MHIA, will join Dan Whitnable, Lands’ End’s engineering manager, for a look at A New Look at Automated Material Handling’s Return on Investment, a new report from the ISC group designed to help materials handling professionals justify their automated systems decisions.

Trends in Targeted Automation: Bryan Jensen, a vice president and principal with St. Onge, will explain how organizations intent on getting the most out of their operations are discovering that automation targeted at specific processes can drive significant improvements in parts of an otherwise conventional warehouse. Whether you’re looking at light-directed or goods-to-man picking, automatic guided vehicles (AGVs), or voice-recognition technology, this track will examine how you can identify areas ripe for automation as well as how you should introduce it into your organization.

Data Collection’s Evolving Role in the Automated Warehouse/DC: Tom Wimmer, director of Auto ID for VDC Research, will look at how the data capture industry is brining to market devices that operate in a multi-modal environment, where one mobile computer can accept data that is keyed in, scanned in, or spoken into the device-some devices may even work with RFID scanners and camera-based imaging technology.

WMS Trends/Optimizing your WMS: If you’ve attended ProMat or the North American material handling show, you’ve probably heard John Hill, a vice president with TranSytems, talk about technology. For our event, Hill will review the full breadth of WMS functionality and share real-world examples of savvy managers who have not only improved warehouse operations but have witnessed substantial benefit outside the four walls by plugging in all the options.

To register for the event, click here. I’ll be hosting four of the Webcasts, and look forward to meeting you, virtually.