Supply chain managers are the primary suppliers of change. That was the conclusion of the second EXCHAiNGE management conference, held on June 24 and 25, 2014, in the new Kap Europa conference center in Frankfurt am Main. Over 150 supply chain management and operations experts gathered to discuss and develop ideas, plans, and solutions for how businesses can adapt and cultivate new technologies and social trends like industry 4.0 and the sharing economy.
This change is also driven to a large extent by industry 4.0 and new technologies such as big data or 3D printing, and these technologies have the potential to influence or even destroy established methods and business models of supply chain management in a short period of time – that was the takeaway message of the session entitled “Technology and innovation – next practices.” Dr. Michael Henke, Institute Director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics in Dortmund, moderated this session and the overall conference.
GF Piping Systems made supply chain management its unique selling proposition. In so doing, it not only lowered its own logistics costs, optimized its processes, and improved its customer service – it also won over the jury of the Supply Chain Management Award. GF Piping Systems was presented with the 9th Supply Chain Management Award at the EXCHAiNGE Award Night, celebrating alongside co-finalists Bühler AG, Knorr-Bremse Group, Paul Hartmann AG, and the other attendees.