Conference Highlights

• What the pandemic has revealed about supply and demand alignment in healthcare
• What true “visibility” in the healthcare supply chain requires from trading partners
• How supply chain partners must prepare for and respond to future outbreaks, hurricanes, and public health events
• Why it’s critical to build more flexibility and surge capacity into the supply chain, and how to do it

Who Should Attend

• Supply chain professionals, demand planners and forecasters, operations leaders, inventory management professionals, S&OP professionals, strategic/national accounts leaders
• Manufacturers, distributors, health system supply chain leaders, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), and IT/solutions providers
• Anyone else interested in improving demand visibility, forecasting, and inventory availability in the healthcare supply chain

How You’ll Benefit

• Collaborate to improve demand planning and ensure product availability
• Guide the industry initiative to increase visibility and reduce shortages, disruptions, and waste in the supply chain
• Connect with peers and trading partners to discuss demand planning challenges
• Take-away ideas for ensuring your supply chain continuity

Leveraging The Advantages Of Virtual

For everyone’s health and safety, the 2021 Supply Chain Visibility Conference will be virtual. It’s a great opportunity to bring more team members and benefit from lower registration fees and no travel costs!

View Virtual Platform Orientation►
(Google Drive Link)

HIDA’s virtual platform offers some great advantages:

• Ability to attract key thought leaders as presenters and panelists
• Live, face-to-face discussions and networking via video conference
• Real-time interaction during conference sessions
• Convenience and cost savings
• Safety

Kudos From Past Supply Chain Visibility Conference Attendees

“Great conversations about challenges with a focus on elevating the industry.”
Rachel Martin, AVP, Resiliency and SCO Strategy, Vizient

“It was a great conference. Probably the most interactive and across the board, the most solution driven that I’ve been part of.”
Joseph Goyne, Senior Director, Logistics, Geisinger Health System

“Great place to collaborate with the various partners in the healthcare supply chain and to understand the challenges at each tier.”
David Hovan, Vice President, Supplier Operations, McKesson

All sessions are listed in Eastern Time. Times and topics subject to change.

Jump to: Tuesday, June 22 Sessions↓ | Roundtables↓

Monday, June 21

11:00-11:45am ET
Leveraging Pandemic Lessons To Build Resilience

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the U.S. healthcare supply chain needs to be better prepared to respond to sudden increases in demand for medical products. A partnership that includes government, distribution, and healthcare organizations could be leveraged to build a flexible pandemic response infrastructure. Gain insights on key elements for a more robust supply chain, including:

• Large reserves of PPE and critical equipment positioned close to healthcare providers
• Expansion of U.S. and nearshored manufacturing capacity to establish a more strategic blend of sources capable of quickly increasing volume during a pandemic
• Managed, centralized stockpiles serving as a backstop to the commercial supply chain
• End-user aligned supply chains to avoid surge-driven competition for products

11:50am-12:10pm ET
Roundtables: Introductions

12:15-12:45pm ET
Minimizing Supply Chain Risk: A Health System Case Study

John Frye
National Vice President Supply Chain Operations & Finance
CommonSpirit Health

The pandemic spurred CommonSpirit, the nation’s largest nonprofit health system, to carefully examine supply chain risk. The system’s supply chain leaders analyzed product categories by risk exposure and clinical impact, and built capabilities to prevent stockout risk for critical categories. Find out how the system succeeded in:

• Identifying and reducing upstream constraints
• Setting minimum inventory levels for its divisions and hospitals
• Utilizing its technology to facilitate decision-making
• Increasing owned inventory where needed – without buying warehouses

1:15-1:45pm ET
Tackling The Challenges Of Onshoring

Most every proposal for increasing supply chain resilience mentions the need to increase domestic and near-shore medical supply manufacturing. But it won’t be easy. In this session, take part in a conversation about the benefits and challenges of moving more manufacturing closer to the U.S.

• Factors impacting where medical products are made, from labor to raw materials to environment regulations
• Cost differentials and potential ways to overcome them
• Benefits of a blended approach to sourcing

1:50-2:10pm ET
Roundtables: Addressing Risk In Your Upstream Supply Chain

2:15-2:45pm ET
Technology Solutions for Improving Visibility: 5 Ideas In 30 Minutes

Check out technology offerings for supply chain management. Each company will have 5 minutes to introduce their solution. If you’re intrigued and want more details, you can visit the vendor’s virtual booth after this session.

2:45-3:15pm ET
Technology Solutions Vendor Visits

Speak directly with technology vendors to learn more about their offerings for improving visibility.

3:30-4:00pm ET
Visibility: The Best Response To Volatility

Elaine Thibodeau
VP North American Regional Deliver Operations
Johnson & Johnson

Visibility helps to overcome the negative impacts of volatility: that was one of Johnson & Johnson’s top takeaways from the pandemic experience. In many product categories, demand plummeted when elective surgeries were put on hold, creating storage issues for products that weren’t moving. Then, procedure volume recovered more quickly than expected, and new issues arose. In this session, J&J leaders will share what worked best as they responded to the roller coaster of demand, including:

• Creating new reports and aggregating data in new ways
• Partnering with customers on new rules of engagement for reporting, delivery of product, and allocations
• Partner with distributors, 3PLs, and suppliers on workforce and safety issues, inventory management, and more
• Sharing information up and down the supply chain

4:10-4:40pm ET
Improving Allocation Management

Allocation is a critical tool for managing product supply during a shortage or expected shortage. The severe and prolonged shortages created by the pandemic have spurred the industry to look for ways to improve allocation practices. In this session, hear from members of a new workgroup launched to identify best practices in allocation management for healthcare supply chain partners.

4:45-5:00pm ET
Roundtables: Best Practices For Allocations

5:15-6:15pm ET
Virtual Game Night & Networking

Join a virtual team and engage in competition and connection during your very own happy hour game show.

Tuesday, June 22

11:00-11:45am ET
Managing Through Major Shortages

The pandemic caused demand to skyrocket for many types of medical products, from PPE to lab supplies to freezers. In this session, a panel of leaders from across the supply chain will consider how trading partners worked together to manage through the resulting shortages, and what they could have done better. They will examine:

• The role of allocations and other tools used to conserve supply
• Information-sharing up and down the supply chain
• Strategies for ensuring that products went where they were needed most

12:00-12:30pm ET
Near-Term Demand Planning Through Demand Sensing 

Demand planning is typically a mathematical exercise: Take the last year or two of sales history, and apply the best model to get a new forecast. But volatile periods like the COVID-19 pandemic require a much more agile approach, with more attention to short-term trends and a considerably heftier dose of horse sense to predict demand. That’s “demand sensing” – and it’s been critical in meeting fast-changing needs during the pandemic. In this session, gain insights on:

• Weighting short-term and longer-term demand info
• Understanding and factoring in changes in customer behavior (for example, double gloving)
• Using demand sensing information to better manage production and allocation

12:35-12:55pm ET
Roundtables: Working With Your Trading Partners To Better Manage Shortages

1:30-2:00pm ET
A Strategic Approach To Stockpiles

Stockpiles can play a critical role in ensuring that the supply chain is prepared for demand spikes. However, the pandemic has revealed the need to create a stronger stockpile system. In this session, hear from experts on what they’ve learned about stockpiles, what changes should be made, and how the supply chain can work better together on pandemic coordination.

• Understand the role of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and how it is evolving
• Consider the flip side of some stockpile requirements, that can put products on the back shelf when they’re needed on the front lines
• Hear what federal and state agencies and doing to increase both preparedness and coordination

2:15-2:45pm ET
Technology Solutions Vendor Visits

Speak directly with technology vendors to learn more about their offerings for improving visibility.

2:50-3:20pm ET
Disasters Happen. Are We Ready?

Hurricanes, snowstorms, fires, and other weather events and disruptions happen every year, and climate change seems to be making them more frequent and more severe. This session will focus on preventing the major supply disruptions that can result.

• Tools suppliers and customers can use to jointly prepare for a hurricane, snowstorm, or other disruption
• Strategies to consider, such as sequestered inventories and pre-determined emergency orders
• The most important elements of your emergency plan

3:25-3:45pm ET
Roundtables: Finalize Recommendations

3:50-4:00pm ET
Conference Wrap-up And Action Items