R.I.’s first SCM Summit slated for Friday

SMITHFIELD – Bryant University’s George E. Bello Center for Information Technology will be the site this Friday of the first Rhode Island Supply Chain Management Summit.
“The RI-SCM Summit is the first time that both public and private sectors are coming together to promote Supply Chain Management within any state,” Cheryl Watkins Snead, who chairs the planning committee for the event, said in a statement today.
She is the founder and CEO of North Smithfield-based Banneker Industries Inc. – the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2008 National Subcontractor of the Year (READ MORE) – a company she transformed from an ailing machine shop to a thriving supply-chain specialist.
Supply-chain management, or SCM – “the process of planning, implementing and controlling the operations of the supply chain as effectively as possible” – is one of today’s fastest-growing business sectors, event organizers say. The RI-SCM Summit will bring together representatives of the public and private sectors, to promote best practices and to highlight the SCM expertise and resources available to Rhode Island institutions.
“The overall goal … is to highlight the expertise and resources available to businesses that will allow them to expand their operations by incorporating cutting-edge supply chain philosophies and technologies to save time, energy and money,” Snead said.
The event is being presented by the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, the R.I. Manufacturing Extension Services (RIMES), Bryant University’s John H. Chafee Center for International Business and Banneker Industries Inc.
Keynote speaker will be Kevin Smith, senior vice president of supply chain and logistics for CVS/pharmacy, the retail arm of Woonsocket-based CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS). He has helped develop a highly responsive end-to-end fulfillment process at the company, which has more than 6,300 stores in 44 states, dispenses more than 1 billion mail-order prescriptions per year and generates more than $80 billion in annual revenue.
Smith’s lunchtime talk will be entitled “The History and Future of Supply Chain Management in Rhode Island.”
The RI-SCM Summit also will feature speakers and experts from other successful organizations in Rhode Island, including The Allied Group, Amgen Inc., Code Red Business Continuity Services, Lighthouse Computer Services, the nonprofit Lifespan health care network and Raytheon Co.’s Integrated Defense Systems division (Raytheon IDS).
“Rhode Island is establishing a model of excellence in this arena,” Snead said, “by maximizing relationships with the talent of world-class corporations, businesses, organizations and practitioners based in the Ocean State.”
The Rhode Island Supply Chain Management Summit (RI-SCM) will be held Friday, June 20, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bryant University’s George E. Bello Center for Information Technology in Smithfield. The cost to attend is $95 per person; corporate tables can be purchased at a lower rate. To learn more, or to register, call the John H. Chafee Center for International Business at Bryant University at 232-6407 or visit www.ChafeeCenter.org.