Organised by the ISLI MSc students (choice of themes, speakers, organisation, etc.) the forum is celebrating its 30th anniversary and will focus on the following topic: "The supply chain: the new star of the EXCOM”. It will be led by Jean-Luc Rognon, editor in chief of Suppy Chain Magazine.
Covid and its repercussions in focus at 30th ISLI Forum
Covid's brutality has taken us all by surprise. Our economies, our consumption habits, our environment and above all our lifestyles have been shaken up. Small and medium-sized businesses have had to interrupt their supply chains, with some unable to meet delivery deadlines or maintain cash flow.
While Covid has caused many problems, it has also revealed a flawed system that brings with it many challenges. Indeed, the pandemic, which had already caused considerable disruption to the supply chain through factory closures, border closures and general labour shortages, also resulted in new challenges as the business recovered. One of the major illustrations of these challenges was certainly the capacity crisis related to semiconductors. This was compounded by a major maritime crisis due to increased demand for consumer goods from Asia, even as labour in the ports became scarce. The pandemic also reminded us that we were living in an uncertain, unpredictable world where risk would become a constant in the equation.
However, it is important to put this into perspective - although it is impossible to predict the occurrence of climate change (e.g. cold spells in Texas or flooding in the ZhengZhou regions) or geopolitical tensions (Trump's price war with China, rising oil prices, ...), it is possible to anticipate or at least reduce the effects of these incidents.
Forum objectives
The 30th Forum aims to look ahead and prepare for the opportunity of the post-Covid recovery by taking a global view in assessing risk. The crisis has shown the limits of a pattern where companies' strategic decisions were based solely on the economic optimisation of their operations. As a result, the supply chain was rigid, slow and out of step with events.
Through this forum, we want to collectively project the resilient and sustainable Supply Chain of tomorrow, a true lever of transformation that will meet the countless challenges of the coming decades.
The pandemic has made the Supply Chain more visible through certain key links such as transporters, forklift drivers and logisticians who have often remained in the shadows. These jobs have proved to be decisive for the economy. This visibility is an asset for managers at a time of recovery. No one can now ignore the decisive role of the supply chain anymore. These changes have propelled the supply chain from a simple operational function to a strategic function: from stars to the EXCOM.
Main challenge
At a time when our societies and consumption habits are being reshaped, how can we maintain the primary function of the Supply Chain, namely to counterbalance supply and demand in an increasingly uncertain and globalised environment? How to rethink the Supply Chain ecosystem in order to face environmental, technological and human challenges?
Topics addressed
- The first topic will be understanding our ecosystem, as each country, individual and sector of activity has gone through the crisis in a different way. State action, as illustrated by the numerous recovery plans aimed at making our societies more resilient, will be used as one of the levers to build a more resilient supply chain.
- The second topic will address the construction of a sustainable packaging in supply chain, which is both a consumer need and a response to the challenges brought about by the climate emergency. The evolution of consumption patterns towards zero packaging will impact on supply chain organisations that create value for customers.
- We will then address the issue of performance from a data-driven supply chain perspective. The Supply Chain has been collecting data for years through demand, in and out flow management. Using this data to meet the challenges of tomorrow offers huge potential to better manage complexity and uncertainty and to help managers make decisions. We will examine this issue in the context of control towers and discuss their benefits and challenges.
- The last theme will deal with the company's human capital. The shortage of manpower and the lack of attractiveness, the necessary evolution of skills considering increasingly sophisticated technologies, the ageing workforce and the necessary feminisation of the supply chain - are all challenges that must be met.
The supply chain will be central to this necessary change management, so how can we better anticipate it to meet the challenges? Come and find out at the 30th ISLI Forum.
Agenda of the event
- 8.30 - 9AM: Registration and distribution of welcome packs
- 9 - 10.30AM: Round table 1 - Responsible packaging's implications on supply chains
- 11 - 12.30PM: Round table 2 - Focus on sustainable and responsible packaging
- 2 - 3.30PM: Round Table 3 - Control Towers, the golden age of data
- 4 - 5.30PM: Round table 4 - People at the heart of the transformation
- 5.30 - 6PM: Conclusion of the forum
- 7.30 - 11.30PM: Cocktail
KEDGE ISLI programme
The ISLI MSc in Global Supply Chain Management programme was created by several large multinational companies to train high-potential multicultural managers. It is ranked as the world's leading supply chain programme since 1984.
ISLI has acquired an international reputation in higher education in Global Supply Chain and delivers a unique training in global and strategic management of flows from suppliers to the final customer in a systemic approach considering the chain as a single entity. Thanks to the course entirely taught in English and the global perspective of the programme, graduates benefit from increased employability in managerial positions worldwide.
