|
 |
Vereniging Logistiek
Ontwerpers |
Den Dolech 2, Paviljoen G1
Postbus 513
5600 MB EINDHOVEN
Phone: +31 40 247 4404
Email: vlo@tue.nl
|
|
|
Guest
|
|
|
|
VLO Conference 2007
| Fast Forward to your strategic targets: Integrated Business Planning |
Summary VLO conference 2007
On April 26th 2007 some enthusiastic junior members of our association organized the bi-annual VLO conference in the auditorium of the TU/e. The topic of Integrated Business Planning (IBP) for this conference attracted more than 120 people, both VLO members as well as other professionals from the field of logistics. If we look for ourselves and the comments from attendants, speakers and sponsors, they did not get disappointed!
Opening
The start of the day was a little bit hectic, caused by an essential resource missing; due to train problems the day chairman, Prof. Dr. Steef van de Velde, was delayed. But equally as in day-to-day business this issue was solved by showing some flexibility and creating a fast work around. Therefore, the conference was unexpectedly opened by Dr. Ir. Nico Dellaert who did a great job. Inspired by the circumstances, he started his lecture with the effect of uncertainty in logistics and coping with this and gradually moved on to Integrated Business Planning, warming up the audience for the morning lectures.
Lectures
The first morning lecture was given by Prof. Dr. Henk Akkermans, who showed how system dynamics thinking might smooth production ramp-ups in service industries. It appeared that it is very important to jointly keep the supply network within control limits by focusing on workloads (and quality). This might be done in a collaborative S&OP meeting with representatives of all supply network partners.
Second, Dr. Ir. Harries de Haas presented us some aspects of the management of the service logistics spider web at ASML. In service logistics there is a conflict in interest between the customer, who wants a low down time due to parts and ASML who wants low costs. This conflict can be resolved by realizing improvements in parts availability, part delivery and part demand. It was shown by mister de Haas that reducing part demand can be achieved by close cooperation between logistics, service engineers and R&D.
In the last lecture of the morning André Vriens, from Eye-On, gave a basic introduction to Integrated Business Planning, wherein he focused on the basic model of IBP and its practical relevance. Thereafter, he provided us with 10 important lessons for Integrated Business Planning, such as “The objective of demand forecasting is not to predict the future, it is only used to take decisions”, “Influence sales”, “Measure performance” and “Formalize decision making in cross-functional teams”.
Lunch-break
After these inspiring morning lectures on IBP, the attendants deserved some rest and therefore a good lunch was served, with plenty sandwiches. The lunch-break provided an excellent opportunity to network with other attendants and to meet up with old acquaintances and talk about the ‘’good old days”. Furthermore, many attendants visited the stands of our sponsors, which resulted in interesting talks and discussions that might have some spin-off.
Workshops
In the afternoon the attendants split up in smaller groups and visited two workshops of their choice. They could choose from the following options:
-IBM Global Business Services: Spare parts inventory optimization - an integrated planning approach
-S&V Management Consultants: The road to an executive S&OP process
-Unilever: Challenges and Opportunities of implementing S&OP in a multicultural environment
-NXP Semiconductors: How to Apply Business Rules Straightforward in Business
-Capgemini: Vendor Managed Inventory: Rocket Science?
-Philips Lighting: What is planning?
-Influe Benelux: Increasing service levels while decreasing your stocks at your customer's site
According to our own experience and what we heard from the attendants the workshops were all very well prepared and interesting. Furthermore, some of the workshops appeared to be very interactive and this was highly appreciated by the participants.
Closing
When all participants had returned from their workshops and gathered for the last time in the main lecture hall, the day chairman, who joined in after his transportation problems, wrapped up the day by a nice closing speech. He presented some elements from his planned introduction which was both interesting as well as humorous. For example he dealt with the planning approach of Louis van Gaal and made some comments about PSV, which was not by all participants appreciated, since we were still in Eindhoven. Furthermore, he gave a brief overview of the lectures and workshops during the day. After thanking all speakers and sponsors for their help and some nice words addressed to us (conference committee), it was time to have some drinks and talk further about the interesting conference and other business, during the social drink.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank both chairmen and all speakers for their fascinating lectures and workshops, which made this conference a great success. Furthermore, we want to thank all our sponsors who contributed to the realization of this conference: Eye-On, ASML, Tias-Nimbass, P&G, Influe and Schneider logistics. Last but not least we would like to thank all participants for their attendance and active participation during the conference and we hope the VLO might welcome them again during a new VLO conference.
On behalf of the conference committee,
Ad Lavrijsen
For more information and pictures check the dedicated website of the VLO Conference 2007. |  |
|
|
|
|