This Week in IDEA | September 13, 2011

Meet the Forum General Session Speakers

We’ve assembled a diverse cast of speakers for the 2011 E-Biz Forum to help you gain a new perspective on your trading partners’ needs, take an integrated approach to your business, and apply best practices to your area of expertise.

Our opening general session, "Gateway to Change: Shift Ideas to Results" Panel will be headed by Bob Gaylord, President and CEO of IDEA, and Larry Stern, Chairman of the IDEA Board and President and CEO of Standard Electric Supply Co. Then, Andrew White, Research VP of Gartner, will speak about the importance of communication between trading partners. The session will wrap-up with a panel composed of pilot participants in a next-generation data synchronization solution born from the industry. Panelists include: Jason Archbold, Marketing Catalog Supervisor, Border States Electric; David Farahmandpour, eCommerce Manager, Leviton Manufacturing; Ron Schlader, VP of Operations & Quality, Crescent Electric Supply; and Peter Vient, Business Solutions, OSRAM SYLVANIA.

Our keynote speaker, Tim Sanders, a New York Times best-selling author and former CSO of Yahoo!, relates his findings on which companies are able to survive and thrive after a downturn in “Phoenix Companies: How to be the First to Bounce Back.” Drawing from his personal experiences during the dotcom bubble, Sanders shares his business philosophy on how individuals are at the center of all business successes and downfalls.

For the first time in Forum history, IDEA has invited past winners of the Richard Buzun Award to reveal how they catapulted their companies to becoming eBusiness leaders in the industry. Mike Wentz, Director of Sales and Marketing of IDEA will moderate the panel: George Droder, VP of Customer Service, ERICO International; Kyle Johnson, Marketing Manager, Viking Electric; Mark Richards, Director of eCommerce, Leviton Manufacturing; and Ron Schlader, VP of Operations & Quality, Crescent Electric.

The last general session will address a growing point of interest for companies – how to manage and succeed with four generations in the workplace – Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers and Matures. The “Building a Cross-Generational Workplace” Panel will be moderated by Dennis Griess, Senior Managing Consultant of IBM Human Capital Management, and the panelists include: Barry Carden, VP and CIO, Mayer Electric Supply; Rebecca Jacoby, Senior Training Manager, Eaton Corp.; and Erin Koester, Marketing and Communications Manager, Van Meter Inc.

View the agenda>
View speaker biographies>

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Tweet about the Forum to Win a New iPad 2

Now is the time to start tweeting about the Forum! We’ll award the person who provides the most value-added tweets mentioning and using the hashtag #ebizforum with a new iPad 2 on the last day of the event, September 28th. Any tweets that reference Forum educational sessions or the trade show will be counted towards the prize. Share a new eBusiness strategy you learned at a session, a new technology you discovered at the Tech Center, questions you have for speakers, or anything else interesting related to Forum.

IDEA will also be tweeting throughout the event and providing updates about what’s happening at the educational sessions, opportunities to interact with speakers, and a running dialogue of up-to-the-minute news.

Congratulations to the winners of our previous contests! Dawn Wright-Perry of Milbank Manufacturing won a new 42” Toshiba flat screen HD TV from the Refer-A-Friend Raffle, and Alphie Aiken of General Electric and John Ludlam of supplyFORCE will enjoy 50% off their hotel stay courtesy of IDEA.

There will be more opportunities to win at the Forum including the Tech Center Passport Program - meet and collect stamps from all exhibitors and you may be one of three people to win a new iTouch with Facetime.

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Ann Jaehn of Thomas & Betts Appointed ISC Vice-Chair

The IDEA Industry Standards Committee (ISC) welcomes Ann Jaehn of Thomas & Betts to the executive team as the new ISC Vice-Chair. Jaehn has participated in the standards committee since 2001 and Thomas & Betts is not only a customer of IDEA, but also one of the founding members. Jaehn brings both technical and business experience to the ISC, and will play an integral role in carrying out the ISC’s initiatives for the development and maintenance of industry eCommerce standards.

As the Director of Pricing for the Electrical Division of Thomas & Betts, Jaehn specializes in pricing strategy and execution, data synchronization and standardization, and systems automation for the electrical division. She works closely with key strategic partners to reduce transaction costs and improve process efficiencies.

Jaehn has over 30 years of experience within electrical manufacturing. In addition to the Director of Pricing role, she has held a variety of positions during her career including: Sales and Marketing Administration, Marketing Services Manager, and Pricing and Marketing Program Development Director. She has led several key projects at Thomas & Betts resulting in efficiency improvements and business controls

Jaehn is an active participant in the IDEA E-Biz Forum, and is an active member of the Professional Pricing Society (PPS). In recent years, Jaehn has participated in several NAED best practices task forces.

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How to Integrate Lean Principles in Distribution Supply Chains

Content courtesy of MCA Associates.

Howard W. Coleman, Principle of MCA Associates management consulting firm, proposes radical change in his thought leadership white paper, “Lean Principles in Wholesale Distribution Supply Chains: Do you Pull or Push?” Coleman challenges wholesale distributors to adopt a different approach to managing product inventory and supply chain costs. He recommends incorporating “Lean Principles” to overcome ingrained preconceptions about supply chain management and forecast planning. The main premise of his argument debates the merits of Push vs. Pull Replenishment and unlocks the ideal of “sell one – buy one” inventory management. In one of his points, Coleman suggests bringing a strategic focus to the supply side of inventory management. Instead of distributing inventory based on customer demand, distributors should lower inventory at branch locations and concentrate on reducing lead times. Coleman goes on to encourage distributors to critically evaluate the costs of the supply chain and to form truly collaborative relationships with partners. Coleman will be speaking on this topic at the E-Biz Forum on Tuesday, Sept. 27.  View his session "Lean Distribution – A Change in Thinking; Lean Forever" on the agenda to learn more.

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New Synchronization Customers

As a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, IDEA implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using the IRD CERICOMX® Data Synchronization Platform. IDEA was recently assigned 17 suppliers:

• Life Wear Technologies, Inc.
  
• New Whey Nutrition, LLC
  
• G Cubed, LLC
  
• Ehrmann USA, LLC
• Baks Company
  
• Choice Foods
• TEKRAM USA
  
• Mangar, Inc. 
• Brand New, LLC 
• Bold, Inc. 
• Dynapep 
• Illusions Custom Auto Graphics
• Biocalth International Inc. 
• Corozonas Foods, Inc. 
• NL + A Collections, Inc. 
• Who-Rae Pty Ltd 
• Whole Life Pet Products
  

These companies will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an online catalog that suppliers use to register product data with the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool. Suppliers also use this solution to publish product data to demand partners including retailers such as Lowe’s and Walmart.

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