Inaugural Vancouver 2016 Supply Chain Strategy Summit opens next week

The first APICS Vancouver 2016 Supply Chain Strategy Summit will take place next week in Burnaby, B.C., hosted by cloud-based and on-premise Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions provider SYSPRO Software, along with the Vancouver chapter of APICS, at the Delta Burnaby Hotel and Conference Centre, from 12:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time, on Wednesday, November 2.
The Supply Chain Strategy Summit will focus on issues related to best practices and innovation methodologies in the supply chain industry.
“We are very excited to bring this informative supply chain innovation and best practices summit to our Vancouver APICS community,” said APICS Master Instructor, Roberta McPhail. “This inaugural event continues the long tradition of providing leading educational topics to our members, to help them excel in their performance and productivity for their organizations. We are also thrilled to have SYSPRO Canada partner with APICS Vancouver to host this event, as they are equally committed to serving the performance needs of supply chain leaders across the country.”
Known today as the Association for Operations Management, the association began life as the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) and was founded in 1957 in Chicago, which eventually merged in 2014 with the Supply Chain Council and in 2015 with the American Society of Transportation and Logistics.
The Association today offers professional designations and serves as a primary information source for topics related to operations management, including production, inventory, supply chain, materials management, purchasing and logistics.
A special keynote address will be delivered at the Supply Chain Strategy Summit in Vancouver next week, called “Successfully Managing Supply Chain Variability and Volatility”, by co-founder and partner of the Demand Driven Institute, Carol Ptak, who will discuss how to manage and sustain competitiveness in an atmosphere of supply chain variability caused by technological innovation, among other factors.
Ptak’s keynote will offer a case study in Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP), using local biotechnology company STEMCELL Technologies as an example.
The APICS Vancouver chapter has 250 members, including 100 employers in the lower mainland, such as Alpha Technologies, ASCO Aerospace, Ballard Power Systems, BC Hydro, Bell, Essential Software Solutions, Independent Supply Co., Natural Factors, SYSPRO Software, TELUS, Tree Island Industries, Washington Marine Group & Wexxar Packaging.
In addition to the Vancouver chapter, there are three other APICS chapters in British Columbia, including the Fraser Valley chapter, the Okanagan chapter in Kelowna, and the APICS BCIT Student chapter, which is student-run by BCIT Operations Management program students and is affiliated with both the Vancouver and Fraser Valley chapters.
SYSPRO is one of the largest independent providers of ERP systems for mid-market manufacturers and distributors globally, with a 35-year history and thousands of customers.
SYSPRO’s ERP platform is sold in modules, allowing companies to manage every aspect of finance, manufacturing and distribution, as well as covering advanced reporting capabilities, planning and automated workflows.
The Supply Chain Strategy Summit is scheduled in a multi-track format, with presentations offering supply chain executives and practitioners the opportunity to listen to a variety of subject matter experts and to network with industry peers in a meet-and-greet followed by a buffet dinner in advance of the keynote address.