DC Velocity - April 2017

inbound

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) has announced that it is rebranding its popular annual conference as the “CSCMP Edge Supply Chain Conference and Exhibition.” The industry association, which describes its role as “educating and connecting the world’s supply chain professionals,” draws over 3,000 supply chain management professionals to its conference each year.

While the content and format of the conference will remain the same, the new branding is designed to convey a focus on the entire supply chain “from edge to edge” as well as on leading-edge thought leadership and research, according to CSCMP.

“We rebranded the conference to reflect the changing, interconnected
nature of both supply chain management and the world at large,” said
Rick Blasgen, CSCMP’s president and CEO. “From end to end and edge
to edge, we cover content about, and provide support for, professionals
in every facet of supply chain management and help relate supply chain
management to the world around us.”
CSCMP has also rebranded its annual Educators’ Conference, which
is held in conjunction with the general conference, as the Academic
Research Symposium. Open to all conference attendees, the educators’
event was created to allow scholars from all disciplines of supply chain
management and logistics to share their current research.

This year’s CSCMP Edge conference will take place in Atlanta from Sept. 24–27. For more info, visit http://cscmpconference.org/.

CSCMP renames its annual conference
“CSCMP Edge” Logistics professionals have long strug-
gled to get the word out about the risks
posed by the nation’s failing infrastruc-
ture, but sometimes it seems America
just doesn’t want to hear the message.
Now, a group of filmmakers are hoping
to get through.

Los Angeles-based Delaware Park Productions Inc. has released “Be Prepared to Stop,” a documentary film that looks at our dependence on the great American highways, the perilous condition of those assets, and the potential consequences of a catastrophic breakdown. The film made its debut on Amazon and i Tunes March 30. (You can watch a two-minute preview at http://bepreparedtostop.org.)

According to the filmmakers, America’s “check engine light” is on. As a result of years of neglect, roads and bridges are failing, and safety concerns are mounting. If conditions deteriorate to the point where trucks can no longer get through, our supplies of food, drinking water, medicine, fuel, and other daily necessities would be depleted within just five days, they say. “Be Prepared to Stop” is intended to raise awareness of the threat of an impending breakdown and how it would obstruct the U.S. economy and adversely affect the daily lives of all Americans.

“My grandfather was a truck driver and taught me to respect the professionals driving the rigs hauling everything we rely upon for our way of life,” Jennifer Clymer, the film’s co-direc-tor and executive producer, said in a release. “I am incredibly alarmed about the poor state of our highway system and the lack of understanding about how dependent we are on the freight transportation industry. I don’t think the average person knows just how much we rely on the movement of goods and commodities and how fast this country would shut down if that were in any way impinged upon.”

Documentary warns of
highway neglect

Like the rest of the world, marketing has gone digital, relying heavily on channels like Facebook and Twitter ads, online videos, and webinars. But whatever happened to the good old-fashioned marketing jingle?

Employees at Hamilton Caster, a Hamilton, Ohio-based vendor of industrial casters and other material handling equipment, recently delved into the company’s archives and unearthed a classic example of 1970s marketing.

Marketing staffers at the firm dug up a 1975 memo (with a mind-blowingly groovy logo, shown here) that included a company fight song composed by former VP Tom Lippert and his wife, Adele. The product of this musical collaboration was a ditty described as “a raucous rallying cry to get distributors psyched about selling Hamilton [equipment].” As a final, fabulous touch, they mailed the sheet music—along with a plastic bugle—to the entire sales staff.

Sadly, this reporter lacks the musical education to resurrect the 14-bar tune from half a century of neglect. But we invite DCV readers to make their own recording and send it in. You can find the music and lyrics at Hamilton’s blog page, www.hamiltoncaster.com/Blog/EntryId/1302/ Blast-from-the-past-Hamilton-fight-song. Just post your .mpg or video file on DCV’s Facebook page, and let the flashbacks begin.