Johnson & Johnson and Intel Lead the Way in 2018

Almost any conference in any industry depends on practitioners to deliver presentations that add value to attendees.

That is certainly true in supply chain generally, and clearly the case at CSCMP's conference in Nashville two weeks ago, as always. So what companies stepped up at CSCMP to contribute to the 100+ sessions this year?

Supply Chain Digest Says... As can be seen, Johnson & Johnson led the way with three presentations and one panel participation. Intel had three presentations What do you say? Click here to send us your comments Click here to see reader feedback

SCDigest once again reviewed the conference program to see which companies had managers or executives participating either in a panel discussion, giving an actual presentation, or providing a kenyote presentation/discussion, as shown in the table below.

The data on companies participating is based on the descriptions of the sessions in the formal program guide, and may not reflect a few last minutes changes not included in that program guide, such as a company speaker cancelling at the last minute, either due to a scheduling conflict - or the company changing its mind about his or her participation. But overall, such differences from the guide are usually very few.

The line between panel and presentation is often a fine one, and SCDigest primarily relies on descriptions from the program guide in making that call. So while speakers from Alfa Laval and John Deere each presented at a ingle session on global control towers, as each is giving its own case study, we count that as a presentation, not a panel.

We give an extra shout out to actual presentations, which in our view require more effort on the part of the participant than do panel discussions, and to our mind usual provide more insight into how to improve a supply chain than do what you gain from a panel, even though such panels are often entertaining.

That said, we note that it is often easier to get corporate permission to be on a panel than to lead a full presentation, such as those offered for the supply chain innovation awards track.

SCDigest's perception, based on attendance at every CSCMP conference going back many years, is that the number of panels is rising versus say even five years ago.

Whether this is a good or negative trend is purely a matter of personal opinion.

We will also note the list below does not include vendors such as 3PLs or technology companies, nor academics or consultants, as these types of speakers receive a benefit from participation and are generally happy to be asked to participate.

All that said, below is the list of companies participating in CSMP 2018, sorted from most sessions to those that were involved in just one presentation or panel. We counted the keynote supply chain executive discussion as a presentation too. 

All told, 75 such "end user" companies participated in either a panel or presentation, up significantly from the 50 involved in 2017.

We suspect that is in fact a reflection of the increase in panel formats, where you mgiht have 3-5 companies participating in a given session.

(See More Below)

As can be seen, Johnson & Johnson led the way with three presentations and one panel participation. Intel had three presentations - most of which with no other vendor or consultant involved, a true rarity.

Bacardi, McDonald's, Mondelez, Nike, ThyssenKrupp, Under Armour, Arcade Beauty, Coca-Cola, DuBois Chemicals, Kimberly-Clark, L'Oreal, and Walmart all had two participations each.

Dozens of companies has a single participation as presenter or panelist.

Congratulations to all of these companies.

Your Comments/Feedback