CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) today released research and conference reports based on an executive roundtable it conducted this August in Chicago. The research report, “Demand Management: Matching Supply and Demand over Time,” and subsequent market impact analysis report, “Demand Management, the Perfect Match,” audio podcast highlight reels and other information about the exclusive symposium are available FREE at www.larstan.net/DMroundtable.htm.
The roundtable, held on August 17-18, brought together top-level authorities from the hardware, software, manufacturing, consulting and academic industries. All came to the table with extensive experience and influence in the demand management market; thus, the mix of members provided an accurate snapshot of where demand management is being used well, and where it needs improvement.
Roundtable participants included: G. Michael Clark, Velocity Manager, Caterpillar Inc.; Dale Roberts, Manager, Sales & Operations Planning, Caterpillar Inc.; Tahl Milburn Director/Lead Enterprise Architecture Practice, Cisco Systems; Philip Franz, Crowe Chizek; Christian Verstraete, Solutions & Technology Integration, Hewlett Packard; Jeff Cashman, Senior VP, Business Development, Manhattan Associates; Sanjay Raveendranathan, Global Marketing Director, Microsoft; Ken Cottrill, MIT-CTL Global Communications Consultant; Richard Howells, Director, Solution Marketing SCM, SAP.
Dr. Larry Lapide, a Research Director at CTL and moderator of the roundtable, said that, “We’re finding that leading companies don’t confine supply chain management to the back room but also use the discipline to support front-office functions such as sales and marketing. In other words, market leaders recognize that SCM is integral to securing long-term business growth and profitability. What we find especially fascinating, though, are the very different challenges that face each industry and the highly variable ways of confronting them from company to company.”
These differences and the ability to harvest strategies and procedures from one industry and adapt them to the needs of the others have driven Lapide and CTL to inaugurate a research group of industry solutions providers in the supply chain discipline to study the demand management practices and challenges of different kinds of industries. The goal of the “Demand Management Solutions Research Group,” according to Lapide, “Will be to better define the underlying principles that influence supply chain and demand management processes and to create advanced strategies by which they can optimally manage supply and demand over time.” Lapide said that, “The payback for companies could be huge: increased profitability, more market share and improved customer service.”
Jennifer O’Grady, the organizer for the roundtable and publisher of the MIT Supply Chain Strategy Newsletter, will serve as executive director for the MIT Demand Management Solutions Research Group. “There has been an enthusiastic response to the group from DM executives, both end-users and solution providers alike. We are securing the charter members and bracing ourselves for a robust flow of applications in the next few weeks. There are a limited number of membership slots available, so the challenge for us is selecting the right members with diverse industries, experience and expertise. We plan to conduct preliminary planning calls with members next month and host the first live quarterly solutions meeting in January,” O’Grady said.
For more information about the MIT Demand Management Solutions Research Group, visit: http://DMsolutionsgroup.mit.edu or contact Jennifer O’Grady, (240) 396-0007, Ext.902
