Supply Chain Summit & Workshop – Istanbul, Turkey

I was in Istanbul, Turkey the week of April 12-16, 2010.  I was invited to attend and present at a two day conference on Supply Chain Management.  On April 14th, I was one of four keynote speakers at the Supply Chain Summit 2010.  The following day, April 15th, each of the keynote speakers gave a half day workshop on the topic they spoke about the day before.  The topic for both my keynote address and workshop was Supply Chain Physics.

The conference was sponsored by Bosphorus Conferences (Boğaziçi Eğitim Ilitişim Organizasiyon Ltd. http://www.bogaziciegitim.com.tr/indexEn.php).  Both events took place at the Sheraton Maslak in the heart of the business district on the European part of this grand and old city whose population has burgeoned to 12 million.

The other three keynote speakers who had travelled from the US or UK to participate in this conference were:

• Jim Ayers, Principal at CGR Management Consultants based in Los Angeles, CA.  Jim’s talk was on “How to Build a Strategic Supply Chain”


• Amir Sharif, Professor of Operations Management & Director of MBA Programmes at Brunel Univeristy in West London, UK.  Amir talked to the attendees about the “Global Competitive Environment: Strategic and Operational Trends in Supply Chain Management”


• Shunmugham Pandian, Lecturer in International Supply Chain Management at the University of Plymouth in Devon, UK.  Pandian, as he is addressed, talked about “Strategic Sourcing - Paradigm Shift in Supply and Procurement Strategies”

Other notable speakers included:

• Ahmet Tamtekin (www.ahmettamtekin.com) is an executive coach, consultant, and MBA professor gave his perspective on “New Management Competencies Arising From the Globalizing Supply Chains”


• Murat Güventurk, Managing Director at Selco Consulting www.selcoconsulting.com, related his experience helping his clients use a variety of software products to truly optimize their supply chains.


• Mesut Güney, Borçelik Supply Chain Deputy General Manager, delivered an excellent talk on “Creating a Supply Chain Organization & Integration with Customers”


• The meeting was emceed by Atilla Yildiztekin the very well known business and supply author and consultant.  He did a masterful job linking the various presentations.   

It was a great pleasure being part of the same program as these talented and knowledgeable professionals.

As mentioned above, my topic in both the Summit Presentation and the Workshop was Supply Chain Physics which has been the subject of three Cadent Resources webinars.   The concept and the straight talk surrounding it were very well received.  Our concept of Supply Chain Physics truly gets to the heart of the trade-offs we are all facing as we manage our supply chains in the dynamic environment this century has been thus far.  The other speakers all hit upon the topics I stressed:

• The trade-offs between Inventory, Service, Quality, and Costs.


• Dealing with the constraints of production, transportation, and distances.


• Accommodating the inefficiencies inherent in Demand Planning & Forecasting.


• Managing global supply chains with changing economics in terms of exchange rates and fuel prices.

As the world has truly gotten smaller, supply chain professionals are definitely dealing with the same challenges all around the globe.

Lastly, I wish to thank Mustafa Yeşilli (in the photo with me) the President of Bosphorus Conferences and Funda Eresken, who coordinated all of the logistics for those of us travelling from the US and Europe.  The event ran as smoothly and professionally of any I have ever participated in.