Driving Business Growth and Competitiveness
July 25, 2012
MIT Faculty Club
50 Memorial Drive, 6th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02139
Driving Business Growth and Competitiveness
The 2012 Annual MIT Forum Manufacturing Survey indicated driving business growth was a top priority for manufacturers. How can manufacturers remain competitive and drive business growth successfully? The MIT Forum for Supply Chain Innovation addresses these questions in the upcoming conference, Driving Business Growth and Competitiveness. The Forum has brought together academic, industry and government speakers, including a representative from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Joi Ito - director of the MIT Media Lab, to discuss innovation, technology, government policies and supply chain strategies that enable growth.
***MIT Forum Launches Major and Important U.S. Reshoring Survey***
Prof. David Simchi-Levi and Dr. William Killingsworth will also release results from the MIT Forum and SCDigest 2012 Reshoring Survey and present survey insights on the geographical movement of manufacturing production and assembly.
SPEAKERS:
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Manufacturing an "America Built to Last"
Tom Kurfess - Asst. Director, Advanced Manufacturing to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
President Obama stated in the 2012 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS that an AMERICA BUILT to LAST requires an innovative and strong manufacturing industry. The U.S. manufacturing industry is at a transformational point in history and requires support from the U.S. government to flourish. Tom Kurfess will speak about the impact of manufacturing on innovation and the polices and initiatives that the White House is enacting to support the economic engine of America.
Innovation in Open Networks: The Impact to Manufacturing
Joi Ito - Director, MIT Media Lab
The combination of Moore's law and the Internet has changed everything. Innovation happens on the edges in ecosystems where standards are developed in non-governmental bodies, where intellectual property can become more of a burden to agility than an asset and where planning can cost more than doing. This massive reduction of the cost of production, distribution and collaboration has created an explosion of innovation in consumer Internet and software through startups. Hardware and biotech are going through a similar transformation.
Joi Ito will discuss innovation in open networks and the impact to manufacturing, the nature of risk, startups and the role and trajectory of the MIT Media Lab in this environment.
US Competitiveness and the Case to Reshore
Harry Moser - Founder and CEO, Reshoring Initiative
Supply chains have recently been shocked by natural disasters and rising offshore wages and currency. The U.S. is now forecast to be increasingly competitive to reshore substantial amounts of offshored manufacturing over the next 5 years. The non-profit Reshoring Initiative helps companies objectively decide what and when to reshore by use of the Initiative’s free Total Cost of Ownership Estimator™ software which helps them calculate the “hidden” offshoring costs, including the negative impact on innovation. Takeaways include the Estimator software and ideas for its use in sourcing decisions and as a sales tool.
Complexity Reduction for Business Growth
David Simchi-Levi - Professor, MIT
Senior executives talk about their desire to reduce complexity as a way to improve margins, cut cost and benefit from economies of scale. Unfortunately, once it comes to taking action, very few have been able to effectively reduce complexity in their business.
In his presentation, Prof. David Simchi-Levi will discuss how a long tail analysis provides insight into product performance and enables decision making. Important strategies motivated by long tail analysis include: cutting off lagging products, reducing number of configurations, creating more profitable supply chain strategies and bundling products.
2012 Manufacturing and Reshoring Survey Results
William Killingsworth - Director, MIT Forum for Supply Chain Innovation
Driving Transformation and Growth Enabled by Technology in the Manufacturing Sector
TBD, Infosys
Members of the Forum and LGO affiliates attend FREE OF CHARGE. To register, please email Janet Kerrigan.
Nonmembers register online and pay a registration fee of $500.