CLEVELAND, Ohio — Some of the biggest movers and shakers in retail will meet in Cleveland later this month to find solutions to a broken supply chain, and hopefully make it more resilient and sustainable in the process.
The National Retail Federation will host Supply Chain 360, an event where stores, product suppliers and shippers will talk about the issues that stop products from getting on shelves. The inaugural event will be held at the Huntington Convention Center June 20-21.
The event will feature executives from American Eagle, Best Buy, Alibaba, Kroger, Walmart and other large retailers. It will also have local names, Port of Cleveland CEO Will Friedman and Goren Dillard of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland.
Jon Gold, the trade group’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy, said the group has held conversations about the supply chain at other events. But the issue is big enough now that it needs its own conference.
He said the goal is to take a holistic look at the supply chain focusing on operations, information technology and sustainability.
There wasn’t a lot of redundancy in supply-chains, because having unneeded backup shipments costs money. Gold said retailers aren’t looking to make supply chains more redundant because of current issues, but they are trying to make them more resilient.
He said companies want more visibility when products are being shipped, so they can know where they are and if they’ll arrive on time. They’re also reshoring and trying to buy products from a diverse set of places, so that all the eggs aren’t in one basket, Gold said.
“We know that disruptions aren’t going to end with the pandemic,” Gold said.
They’re doing this while trying to decarbonize their footprints.
Scot Case, vice president of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, said many companies are trying to deliver on environmental promises they made to customers. That means both the stores and the process of getting product into the stores are getting a close look, he said.
While topics will include digitizing the supply chain and whether electric vehicles are the future, much of the real work will happen in working groups after the presentations, when all these leaders meet and chat.
“It’s the session after where people are actually going to roll up their sleeves and try and solve problems together,” Gold said.
