IMTS Smarter Sourcing Symposium Tackles Supply Chain Challenges

The inaugural IMTS Smarter Sourcing Symposium, presented by IMTS and The Onshoring Project, will be held at IMTS 2022. It is intended to provide guidance, tools and tactics to create more profitable domestic sourcing using lean and agile suppliers.

The symposium runs 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, at the IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show, which will be held at Chicago’s McCormick Place and runs Sept. 12-17. AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology owns and produces IMTS.

“The lessons of the last two years prove we need to expand our domestic manufacturing base and reevaluate supply chain response capabilities,” says Ryan Kelly, general manager of AMT’s San Francisco Tech Lab. “The Smarter Sourcing Symposium will show OEMs, tier suppliers, contract manufacturers and sourcing/purchasing agents how working with lean domestic suppliers makes a positive business impact and improves resiliency.”

The supply chain symposium is a result of The Onshoring Project, a collaboration of AMT, Gardner Business Media (GBM), IndustryWeek, the Reshoring Initiative, Helpful Engineering, and the Aerospace and Specialty Metals Group (ASMG).

Registration for the symposium includes an exhibit hall pass for IMTS 2022, breakfast and complimentary subscriptions to Modern Machine Shop and IndustryWeek magazines. Topics and speakers, which were curated by GBM, include:

Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT), a metric that quantifies true lead-time relative to waste and identifies areas for lean improvements. Presented by Paul Ericksen, consultant, author and supply chain columnist for IndustryWeek.
Using Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) instead of purchasing price. Harry Moser, founder of The Reshoring Initiative, demonstrates how to identify the 30% of your imports that can be sourced more profitably domestically. He will also introduce a reshoring case study featuring Hardinge.
The Supply Chain Interoperability Specification (SCIS), a framework that enables resilient, self-healing supply chains capable of efficiently fulfilling orders. Presented by Benjamin Treuhaft, CEO of Helpful Engineering.
Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A.