CSCMP Notebook

Save the date: Annual Global Conference and China Conference

September will be a busy travel month for those in the supply chain management profession. That's when CSCMP will present two valuable and important educational events for SCM professionals: the 2014 Annual Global Conference and the China Conference.

This year's Annual Global Conference in San Antonio, Texas, USA, scheduled for September 21-24, will focus on developing supply chain management strategy. In a change from previous events, the 2014 program will organize the conference tracks and 120-plus educational sessions into six disciplinary specialties called "Cornerstones":

• Talent and Career (diversity; talent and leadership; and young professionals in the supply chain)
• Economic Forecasts, Benchmarks, and Surveys (Supply Chain Innovation Award presentations and current issues, research, and surveys)
• Thought Leadership (future supply chain technologies and strategies)
• Manufacturing, Planning, and Sourcing (continuous improvement; reliability and resilience; sales and operations planning; and strategic supply chain decisions)
• Transportation, Distribution, and Warehousing (logistics operations, sustainability, and risk management)
• The Customer (omnichannel and retail trends)

The keynote and major session addresses will be given by venture capitalist, consultant, and former Apple software "evangelist" Guy Kawasaki, and Daymond John, founder, chief executive officer, and president of the clothing company FUBU and star of ABC Television's reality business show, "Shark Tank."

For more information, visit cscmp.org/annual-conferences/annual-global.

CSCMP's China Conference in Beijing, slated for September 2-3, will focus on the theme of "Creating Value Through Supply Chain Management." Supply chain experts from major multinational corporations will present on such topics as global supply chain strategies, successful approaches for managing e-commerce supply chains, strategies for managing supply chain risk, financial dimensions of supply chain management, technology as a driver, and creating value through sustainability initiatives. More information is available at cscmp.org/events/beijing-conference.

Nearshoring, reshoring, homeshoring ... how real are they?

Nearshoring (locating production close to an end market), reshoring (bringing offshored production back to its original country), and "homeshoring" (locating production in the end market) are hot topics these days. But are they, as some say, more talk than reality? Or is a major shift away from offshore manufacturing actually under way? To answer that question, CSCMP has initiated a research project to investigate the current state and future prospects of the nearshoring, reshoring, and homeshoring movement.

With labor costs rising in previously low-cost economies and logistics costs growing due to increases in fuel prices, interest is growing in locating manufacturing closer to markets. Some reports, however, suggest that offshoring remains strong, but with an increasing emphasis on other considerations besides cost, such as market development and access to global talent.

In other words, the actual trend is not yet clear. By conducting systematic research into the subject, CSCMP will seek to understand the reasons for offshoring, and location decisions in general, in terms of costs versus other factors. This systematic approach could also be used to better document actual trends in location decisions.

The research findings will be reported in Current Practices in Offshoring and Reshoring, an upcoming book by professors Wendy Tate of the University of Tennessee and Lisa Ellram of Miami University. The book also will include 12 industry-specific survey report appendices.

If your organization is concerned about where to locate manufacturing operations and whether to revisit offshoring decisions, this CSCMP research can be an invaluable resource. Find out more about the project and sign up to receive an executive summary here.