The plan was to announce the biggest event in our organization’s annual calendar in March, so we can have a better chance at getting sponsors. We ended up announcing in the midst of a fuel price crisis, which at the time seemed to have no end in sight. (Sure, it hasn’t really ended, but at least now prices have stabilized to around PHP 80 a liter rather than the triple digits we saw across the board in the first weeks of the fighting in Iran.)
From a timing perspective, we got it so, so wrong. But then, we can argue, we didn’t really see it happening – and even if we did, we didn’t see a reason to move this year’s SCMAP Supply Chain Conference. (The same could not be said of our annual Supply Chain Immersion, which we had to cancel due to the declaration of a “state of national energy emergency”.) Arguably, now, more than ever, we need to talk about how we can get back up on our feet from this disruption – one of many, many disruptions we have seen across the past twelve months alone – and continue to deliver value for our customers and partners.
Thus we settled for our theme this year: “Reenergizing Our Supply Chains”. It may have been foolish from a marketing perspective to anchor your event still in September on a disruptive event happening in March, but in hindsight, there really was no better way to frame it. Now, more than ever, we have to reenergize our supply chains – through talent, (digital) transformation and collaboration.
We have tackled emerging technologies in previous conferences, but I think it’s only this year when we devoted an entire day to it – including two sessions on artificial intelligence, both its applications in the supply chain setting, and in the impact of AI on human jobs. With the debate over Philippine participation in the Pax Silica somewhat obscuring the broader, more balanced discussion of the impact of AI as it now stands, it’s good to be able to take a step back and understand the pros and cons on our operations, on our society, on our environment, and so much more besides.
We also have a dedicated panel on electric vehicles – arguably the most important, since most of our delegates cite fuel prices as their biggest pressure point in the past year. The crisis has seen EV use in the logistics setting jump from just a sustainability play to one of cost efficiency, and the conditions seem to be coming together for a reckoning on how we will move forward with these vehicles in the future.
But technology, of course, is just one part of the equation. Some of the interventions we can do now already lie in our own plans, strategies and frameworks. What do we have to revisit and revise? What should we consider now that we didn’t consider as much before? How can we better work with our partners (and perhaps even our rivals) so we can continue delivering for our end customers without falling victim to escalating costs? Our sessions on the first day goes back to the basics, so to speak, and we hope they can spark new inspirations among our delegates.
We at SCMAP try our hardest to be responsive to what is impacting the industry on the ground, whether it be through our engagements with other stakeholders, or through events such as this one. We can never truly get it right – who’s to know if something big will happen from today that could potentially turn our programme around? – but we look forward to seeing you in what has become an annual tradition, not just of coming together and saying hello, but of forging new paths and new ways of working together. It may have been more difficult than usual – I can’t count how many companies have talked of cutting costs because of the aforementioned fuel crisis, impacting participation in events like ours – but, well, we’re here. We’re still here.
We thank our delegates, speakers and sponsors for the trust you have put in us. I hope we make it worth your while. See you this Thursday and Friday at the EDSA Shang, like we do every year?
Henrik Batallones is the marketing and communications director of SCMAP, and editor-in-chief of its official publication, Supply Chain Philippines. More information about SCMAP is available at scmap.org.
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