Leaders from Coca Cola, Coles, Telstra, GraysOnline, Walgreens and the National Broadband Network will come together in Sydney on Wednesday for Australia's leading supply chain and logistics event, the Smart Conference & Expo.
Smart 2013 will bring together more than 100 local and international speakers at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre from 26-27 June 2013.
Among the program highlights will be an examination of the award-winning 'Share a Coke' campaign, presented by Bruce Herbert, Director of Operations at Coca Cola and Angela Tatlis, Chair of the National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO).
Titled 'Death to the Big Batch Paradigm', the presentation will share the diverse thinking and innovation behind a project that cast aside asset optimisation and big run printing to enable customers to pick up a personalised bottle or can of Coke at Australian shopping centres.
The two-day conference will also feature a keynote presentation Cameron Poolman, CEO of online retail and auction giant GraysOnline, which recently acquired department store OO.com.au in a move that made it the largest eCommerce business in Australia.
Mr Poolman will discuss how the online revolution has affected his company and how Grays' operations and supply chain have been customised to suit the online sales channel.
Conference delegates will also hear from Deb Russell, the former corporate manager for diversity and inclusion at Walgreens, who will share how America's largest drug store chain embarked on a deliberate journey to increase the number of people with disabilities in its workforce.
Ms Russell said Australian businesses should see employing people with disabilities as, first and foremost, a good business strategy.
"The model has been tremendously successful. Walgreens had data analysed and found the turnover rate for people with disabilities was half that of co-workers without disabilities, productivity is the same and they are much safer," she said.
Delegates will also hear from Grant Enders, GM Replenishment at Coles and the man tasked with establishing and developing the supply chain for the National Broadband Network, NBNCO's general manager of supply operations, Michael Bragg.
Mr Enders will share a case study of the cutting-edge work that Coles has done in the past 18 months to enhance collaboration with suppliers and improve on-shelf availability for shoppers, while Mr Bragg will discuss the key dimensions of the NBN supply chain and provide an update of the project's progress.
Other leading brands and companies represented in the diverse conference program include Commonwealth Bank, Pacific Brands, Telstra, BP, Caltex, and Qantas.
"These are companies at the forefront of supply chain innovation and creative thinking and we're delighted to have them join us for what promises to be our most topical and thought-provoking conference yet," said Mal Walker, program director, Smart 2013.
With a theme of Critical Links, Smart 2013 will explore the links that extend and sustain supply chains and what can ultimately break them, providing strategic information and tools for those working in supply chain and logistics management as they move into the future.
