Automotive Logistics Global
28 - 30 September 2009
Dearborn, Michigan, USA
10th annual conference

The next conference is Automotive Logistics India
in Pune 2-4 December 2009

Automotive Logistics 2008 conference report

Over 200 executives came together as dark clouds gathered over the automotive industry, just a week before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers triggered a potential collapse of the global banking system.

They were from OEMs, including Frederiek Toney from Ford, GM's David Dudek, Peter Weiss from Chrysler, Denny Lewis from Toyota, Richard Portillom of Nissan and Honda's Dana McBrien; and from Tier 1s including Patrick Baeur from Visteon, Delphi's Sylvia Hill, Todd Pronger from Robert Bosch, Jim Romine from Yazaki and Cooper Standard's Michael Silvio.

They were joined by senior executives from LSPs and transportation companies including Ryder, Panalpina, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Hoegh, Norfolk Southern, Navistar and UPDS, plus systems, packaging and many other service supplies.

It was a significant meeting, as our Editors report...

See last year's attendees.

Weathering the economic storm

It was neither a secret nor a surprise to hear during the 9th annual Automotive Logistics Global conference that the North American industry is facing a tough year.

With sales at their lowest point in decades and costs dramatically high, more than 250 industry leaders from carmakers, Tier suppliers and logistics service providers met in Dearborn, Detroit to reflect on these challenges and the impact they are having on logistics.

While 'collaboration' has long been an over-used word at conferences, and an under-used idea in the marketplace, Ford's Frederiek Toney and Chrysler's Peter Weiss emphasised that this is a market environment that demands innovation and partnership to drive waste out of the supply chain...

Read full story in the Nov/Dec 08 issue of Automotive Logistics magazine