Supply-Chain World-North America 2004 Conference & Exposition Features Case History-filled Program

PITTSBURGH--Feb. 1, 20042, 2004--Supply-Chain World-North America 2004 Conference & Exposition, organized by the Supply-Chain Council, Inc. (SCC), will be held 29-31, March 2004 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This year's theme Brave New World: 21st Century Supply Chain Realities...Connecting the Dots was developed by the diverse Planning Committee that came to the table this year to develop a program that provides the opportunity to connect the dots...people, ideas, best-in-class practices, and solutions that fit everyone's unique supply chain world.

This program has a very strong practitioner backbone to offer real world experience to support each attendee's own supply chain challenges. The committee focused on inviting speakers offering ideas and technology that is forefront for today's people working in the supply chain and related areas. "We look forward to meeting you at this outstanding event and hope you can take a careful look through this program to see how you can benefit from participating," said Jaime M. Bohnke, Conference Chair, and Director, Supply Chain Management, Deputy, Operations, Raytheon Company.

RFID topics are placed strategically throughout the program so as to not conflict with each other if participants have particular interest in this topic of timely interest. Track themes include Mastering Supply Chain Excellence: Achieving Bottom Line Impact; Flexibility for Today's Environment; Supply Chain Visibility: Emerging Trends; Collaboration/Connection/Cooperation; and Performance Measurement. The current event program can be viewed at http://www.supplychainworld.org/na2004/index.htm.

Monday, 29 March features presentations from a variety of companies including Hewlett-Packard, Larson Manufacturing, IBM Corporation, Boeing Helicopters, Raytheon Company, Rich Products and BASF. Louise L. Francesconi, Vice President, Raytheon Company, and President Raytheon Missile Systems will deliver the morning keynote presentation.

On Tuesday, a portion of the event program will feature sessions within industry-specific presentation tracks. The focus areas include Aerospace & Defense, Energy & High Technology, Consumer Products & Retail, and Converging SCOR/SixSigma/Lean sessions. Companies represented in these tracks are, in part, Arrow Electronics, Boeing, Intel Corporation, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Schneider Logistics, and the United States Air Force.

Supply chain professionals from IBM, Motorola, Inc., Sun Microsystems, and USG Corporation will deliver presentations in the themed breakout session tracks. Other featured events on Tuesday consist of the keynote address "Achieving World-Class AAA Supply Chain Performance: Agility, Adaptability and Alignment," by Dr. Hau L. Lee, Thoma Professor of Operations, Information, and Technology Director of The Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum, Stanford University. In addition, winners of the Supply-Chain Awards for Excellence in Supply-Chain Operations and Management will be presented.

The program continues on Wednesday morning with concurrent breakout sessions by supply chain professionals from companies including, Briggs & Stratton, Celexor AB, The Gillette Company, Sonoco, The Department of Trade and Industry: South Africa, USG Corporation and the Werner Company.

Registration for the event can be made online at http://www.supply-chain.org/SCW/NA2004/.

The Supply-Chain Council is a global, not-for-profit trade association open to all types of organizations. It sponsors and supports educational programs including conferences, retreats, benchmarking studies, and development of the Supply-Chain Operations Reference-model (SCOR). The Council is dedicated to improving the supply chain efficiency of its practitioner members.

The Supply-Chain Council members include Fortune 500 companies from industries worldwide, consulting firms, computer systems and solutions providers, and educational institutions.

For more information on the Supply-Chain Council, its members and activities, please call +1. 412. 781. 4101, 412. 781. 2871 (fax) or e-mail at info@supply-chain.org. Please visit the SCC website at www.supply-chain.org.