Distribution Solutions Conference
IFDA DSC Direct
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Attention DSC Direct attendees: Education sessions are now available on-demand to paid registrants. If you’re registered for DSC Direct 2020, you should have received an email on Nov. 3 with a link to access them. If you did not receive the link, email events@ifdaonline.org for information on how to access.
Overview
With the input of many members, IFDA has made the decision to change the 2020 IFDA Distribution Solutions Conference that was to be held in Tampa, FL to a virtual conference format. With all the uncertainties surrounding the current COVID-19 pandemic, the move to a virtual setting was unanimously agreed upon by the DSC Planning Council which is made up of 20 individuals from leading foodservice distributors.
We are currently in the planning and design phases of the transition to a virtual conference--DSC Direct. In the meantime, we are excited to announce we will be offering the following features that will provide new directions for the distribution community. You can’t afford to miss our timely and relevant education sessions that will help industry leaders navigate the current environment and plan for future success!
As always, we’ll still have the content to meet the challenges of today including warehouse operations, transportation, talent development and compliance. Everything you would expect from the IFDA DSC.
Need help convincing your boss to attend? Use our "Justify your attendance with a ROI letter"
Interested to see who is attending DSC Direct? Check out the roster below
The COVID crisis has changed the world as we know it and its fingerprints will remain for a long time. Consumers have had to alter their lifestyles and the way they think, down to their most basic habits – including where they get their meals. As we adjust to this changing landscape, restaurants will need support from their supply chain partners to get back to pre-pandemic strength.
Tune in to a fireside chat with Tom Bené and Mark Allen, President & CEO of IFDA, to explore how the entire industry – from farmers to distributors to operators – will work together to get back on its feet and build an even better industry.
Prior to assuming his role the National Restaurant Association in June 2020, Tom served as Chairman, President & CEO of Sysco Corp., the world’s largest foodservice distributor, where he had previously served as COO, President of Foodservice Operations, and Chief Commercial Officer.
Tom Bené, President & CEO of the National Restaurant Association
Sponsored by
Join us as cold chain subject matter expert Brad Bartlett shares how early adopters are creating a culture of food safety translating to higher quality products and increased market share.
Brad Bartlett, Senior Vice President of Sales, Cooltrax
John Walsh, Director of Compliance, Ace Endico
Join us as we look at the key ingredients for a perfect delivery: What makes a delivery seamless? What's involved in the process? How can you give your customers the perfect delivery experience?
Erich Wolters, Vice President of Sales, Wise Systems
This session will help demystify some of the questions around robotics implementation and provide practical tools and advice on assessing and preparing for the robots to come to your facility.
Kyle Cooper, Emerging Technology Robotic Solutions Manager, Yale Materials Handling Corporation
Robotic process automation addresses the key challenges to consistently achieving the best route results: 1) make every planner perform like they were the best planner and 2) optimizing 24/7. Robotic Process Automation’s bot structure allows planners to create best practices and automate the planning process. This approach removes the variability that normally occurs across planners, improving route results and allowing planners to focus on exceptions and performance improvement. RPA bots are also tireless workers and can be configured to continually optimize, solve specific planning tasks and be invoked in real-time depending upon the incoming data or other events.
Brian Hodgson, SVP Industry Strategy, Descartes
Sergio Torres, Vice President, Product Management, Descartes
The need for more drivers has been a pressing issue for several years. These jobs are physically demanding and can require long hours and potentially third shifts. Learn new tactics to increase engagement and reduce turnover by improving the employee experience, reducing stress and fatigue, and mitigating stress.
Carrie Bruno, Vice President of Human Resources, Cash-Wa Distributing
Darla Rischar, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Director of Human Resources, Kohl Wholesale
Moderator:
Sara Green-Hamann, Chief Human Resources Officer, Dennis Paper & Food Service
Successfully adapting your business to move through the Coronavirus pandemic goes beyond increased sanitation practices and PPE. New technology and progressive warehouse design ideas can help keep your employees and business partners safe, while operating today and into future challenges.
Aidan Madigan-Curtis, GM, VP, Connected Workforce, Samsara Inc.
Dan Yudchitz, Senior Design Architect, Leo A Daly
Leif Eikevik, Senior Project Manager, Leo A Daly
Don Durm, VP, Customer Solutions, PLM Trailer Leasing
A company’s culture is not decided by chance. It's shaped by the values, beliefs, and actions of each employee, regardless of title or position. Healthy cultures rally employees in times of scarcity and excite them in times of surplus. Conversely, unhealthy cultures serve as the reason to underperform in the best of situations, and disengage completely in times of need.
Ruben Riggens, Director of Employee Development, Warehouse and Transportation, Ben E. Keith Foods
Understanding how the inbound transportation process can evolve from a decentralized, manual to a more centralized, standardized process is crucial to success. This session will demonstrate the productivity and efficiency improvements that can be gained by digitizing this process.
Luis Garza, Senior Director Transportation Procurement, Sysco Corporation
Na Ye, Senior Manager, Inbound Supply Chain COE, Sysco Corporation
Moderator:
Ray Morgenstern, Senior Director, Inbound Supply Chain COE, Sysco Corporation
This interactive discussion session explores the challenges of leading through uncertainty. Share and learn with your colleagues as you delve into strategies that worked to motivate and sustain yourself, your organization and your clients.
The session will use interactive techniques within Zoom such as raised hands, chat and breakouts. Additionally, the session will use Mentimeter for polling.
Shelley Row, P.E. CSP, ACC, President & CEO, Blue Fjord Leaders
Charlie Cook is widely considered to be one of the nation’s most respected and impartial analysts of American politics, elections and political trends.
Called “the man who knows more about politics than anyone else” by Washingtonian and “the Picasso of election analysis” by the Wall Street Journal, Cook will discuss the presidential election and today’s political and legislative environments in a balanced, non-partisan way.
Charlie Cook, Editor and Publisher of the Cook Political Report and Columnist for the National Journal
Sponsored by
Join ExtenData, FoodLogiQ, and Quality Custom Distribution for a discussion on innovations during the delivery process for improved customer service, experience, and safety. Speakers will discuss farm-to-fork last mile smart traceability, and the use of QR codes to enable contactless delivery. Plus, hear from Quality Custom Distribution and how they achieved complete delivery visibility and traceability for their famous quick serve chicken sandwich customer.
Food distributors are facing changing FDA regulations, COVID-19 safety measures for staff, and customers demanding traceability. Discover how your business can turn increasing challenges into a competitive advantage that ensures the safety of your customers and theirs.
John McCabe, Director of Business Development, ExtenData Solutions
Julie McGill, Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights, FoodLogiQ
Tami Niccum, Sr. Information Technology Specialist, Quality Custom Distribution
The importance of e-standby for eTRUs is an investment in your employees, your equipment, and your bottom line. Safety, Regulation, Infrastructure, ROI– it’s all connected and how you plug in matters.
Bobby Johns, Vice President of Business Development, SafeConnect Systems
Get ahead of the technology curve by joining the Lytx Innovation session where you will find out how powerful technology, coupled with data, can help arm your fleet against future challenge.
Kristin Costas, Director, Product Management, Lytx
Review how mobile devices can be used for POD and Route Sales. Highlight how mobile devices can be used to confirm orders, process returns, capture signatures and photos and process payments.
Joe Scioscia, Vice President of Sales, VAI
In Alchemy, Rory Sutherland proposes “the opposite of a good idea can be a good idea.” Most businesses focus of carefully selecting top talent and cautiously removing underperformers. This presentation explains how hiring managers’ intuitive beliefs drive this conventional approach, and why that leads them down the suboptimal path. The presentation then provides guidance around creating a talent strategy that offers abundance rather than scarcity.
Jim Kramer, Vice President of People Operations, Shamrock Foods Company
The saying “A place for everything, and everything in its place” almost sums up the idea behind warehouse slotting and profiling. A more accurate version might be, “An ideal place for everything, and everything in the most efficient place.” During this session, attendees will learn key areas and tactics to achieve effective warehouse slotting practices.
Brandon Munden, Slotting Coordinator, Ben E. Keith Foods
Leveraging Big Data provides insightful visibility into critical components of a food distribution fleet’s operations. Fleet managers constantly must do more with less - increase efficiencies, save money and meet customer demand, while monitoring and complying with growing regulatory mandates. Business Intelligence technology can help create a visual of your operations.
James Griffin, COO & CTO, Fleet Advantage
When it comes to right-sizing a fleet, managers are focused on determining the right number of assets and drivers to meet customer time window and delivery expectations, all while minimizing costs.
Mark Hurd, North American Transportation Development Manager, Gordon Food Service
Controlling extreme temperatures is both an art and a science. Cold storage warehouse management requires an intimate knowledge of the industry and the ability to make the best use of materials, equipment and facilities. Learn tips and tools to attract, retain and motivate the right talent to work in this harsh environment, and get insight into promoting and ensuring a safe work environment.
Susan Williams, Director, Talent Acquisition, Lineage
This session will focus on “Cultural Conversations in the Workplace” and will include topics such as “Picking up the Pieces following the 2020 Election.”
Restaurant veteran and diversity pioneer, Gerry Fernandez, will facilitate a round table conversation on the most pressing challenges facing the restaurant, foodservice and lodging industry from a workplace and community perspective.
Gerry A. Fernandez, President & Founder, Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance (MFHA)
Warehousing jobs are tough to fill and customer expectations continue to increase. Robotics and automation are hot topics in the industry that can help alleviate these challenges and make operations more flexible, efficient, and appealing. From cutting-edge technology to well-tested solutions, this session will allow you to hear strategies that can apply to successful operations today and will allow you to virtually explore a distribution center of the future.
Ken Tolliver, NA COE Warehouse Operations Manager, Gordon Food Service
Marc Gordon, Director of Sales & Business Development, DLN Integrated Systems, Inc.
Bob Whitmore, Operations and Automation Advisor, DLN Integrated Systems, Inc.
Talking to drivers about safety performance becomes more complicated when office staff is busy or drivers are on the road. Reclaim your time by leveraging tools to coach, recognize & reward drivers.
Adam Kahn, CTP, President of Commercial Fleets, Netradyne
Put your inventory on auto-pilot using autonomous drones by Gather AI. Learn how to monitor your inventory in real-time. We will share the results of our pilot with Ben E Keith and how to get started.
Sankalp Arora, Co-founder and Chief Robotics Engineer,Gather AI
Michael January, Director of Warehousing, Ben E. Keith
Allen Jay explores some of the obstacles fleets have experienced as a result of 2020, and the implications of forward-thinking, agility, and innovation, outlining a formula for success for fleets.
Allen Jay, Regional Sales Manager, Mobileye
In this session, Merchants Foodservice will discuss how their company employs technology to improve safety, reduce costs, retain drivers and deliver quality customer service.
William Dowden, Safety Manager, Merchants Foodservice
Veteran operational leaders in the foodservice distribution industry share their experiences and key take-aways that have come as a result of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. From the evolution of team engagement and communications, to financial and payroll management, to equipment and delivery routing, distributors have made changes to the way they do business to become better prepared for future market changes.
Michael Card, Director of Transportation, Ginsberg’s Foods
Josh Grapp, Director of Safety & Compliance, Martin Bros
Food safety regulations, tracking and tracing, and improved visibility are all important to the food supply chain. How is the foodservice distribution industry managing these processes? Learn best practices and gain a better understanding of the technologies used to track and trace product.
Don Durm, VP, Customer Solutions, PLM Trailer Leasing
Dan Bromberg is the Senior Manager, Distribution Support and Traceability at Quality Supply Chain Co-op, Inc.
Moderator:
Phillip Lamb, Director Logistics, Frosty Acres Brands
Gather AI
National Restaurant Association
Quality Supply Chain Co-op, Inc.
Cash-Wa Distributing
Ginsberg’s Foods
Cook Political Report
Yale Materials Handling Corporation
Lytx
Merchants Foodservice
PLM Trailer Leasing
Leo A Daly
MFHA
Sysco Corporation
DLN Integrated Systems, Inc.
Martin Bros. Distributing Co.
Dennis Paper & Food Service
Fleet Advantage
Descartes
Gordon Food Service
Ben E. Keith
Mobileye
SafeConnect Systems
Netradyne
Shamrock Foods Company
Frosty Acres Brands
Samsara, Inc.
ExtenData Solutions
FoodLogiQ
Sysco Corporation
Ben E. Keith Foods
Quality Custom Distribution
Ben E. Keith Foods
Kohl Wholesale
Blue Fjord Leaders
VAI
Gordon Food Service
Descartes
Ace Endico
Lineage
DLN Integrated Systems, Inc.
Wise Systems
Sysco Corporation
Leo A Daly
Exhibit at DSC Direct
Participate at the 2020 IFDA Virtual Distribution Solutions Conference
If you provide products and/or services to the foodservice and convenience distribution industries, this is the one conference of the year to meet with executives who have purchasing authority for forklifts, transportation assets, other hardware, technology, and services supporting distribution center and transportation operations. This is key opportunity to develop new business relationships, grow your business, and strengthen relationships with some of your most valued customers. The Distribution Solutions Conference virtual platform will provide vast networking opportunities including video chats, product promotion, attendee access, giveaways, brand recognition, video uploads, expo hall data, and much more.
Executive Level
Premier
ASSA ABLOY Entrance Systems
BFC Associates, Inc.
Cooltrax Americas
Descartes Systems (USA) LLC
Mobileye, an Intel Company
ProCat Distribution
Thermo King
Trimble MAPS
Standard
48forty Solutions LLC
AFS Technologies
Anteo USA
Belmar Integrated Logistics
CMC Design-Build, Inc.
Crown Equipment Corporation
Diversified Logistics
DLN Integrated Systems, Inc.
Encompass Technologies
ESI Group USA
ExtenData Solutions
Fleetworthy Solutions
Gather AI
GS1 US, Inc.
Industrial Fleet Management
Integrated Communications
K3S
Keiter Advisors
Kidron
LIDD Consultants Inc.
Manhattan Associates
Netradyne Driveri
Optricity
Pedigree Technologies
Prime FoodService Software
RoadSync
Safe Fleet
SafeConnect Systems
Samsara
Save-A-Load By Fleet Engineers, Division of Tramec Sloan
SmartDrive Systems
St. Onge Company
Systems Application Enterprises, Inc. (SAE)
The Chamberlain Group (LiftMaster)
TransForce Group
VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.)
Verizon Connect
Visionet Systems Inc.
Wise Systems
Yale Materials Handling Corporation
* Exhibitor Listing as of 10/29/20
New! DSC Direct attendees get ready to take part in a leader board style competition, DSC Direct 500. Engagement counts! Earn engagement points when you engage in the following activities during DSC Direct. All attendees (non-exhibitors) are eligible to play and will be automatically entered. Points will be automatically earned each time you engage in one of the following activities over the three day period. The game will run until 2:00 pm on Thursday, October 29.
DSC Direct 500 Leaderboard Activities and Point System
Scavenger Hunt Bonus Points –
Prizes include –
1st Place = A prize package including: a $500 Gift Card + Justin Custom Boots; TX Whiskey compliments of the Ft. Worth CVB and (1) complimentary DSC 2021 Conference Registration
2nd Place = $350 Gift Card Sponsored by Omnitracs
3rd Place = $250 Gift Card Sponsored by Omnitracs
4th Place = $150 Gift Card Sponsored by Omnitracs
5th Place = $100 Gift Card Sponsored by Omnitracs
The game will close at 2:00 pm on Thursday, October 29 and winners will be announced at the DSC Direct 500 Winners Circle Event