Conference Report

The LogSo conference was a great success for me. I think a little disappointing for the organizers due to low attendance, but well worth the trip for me. I learned a tremendous amount about both the challenges and opportunities here, primarily in the supply chain area. I also met some great people, locally and throughout the southeast Asia region.

There were a few key things that kept being discussed over and over at the LogSo conference. First was infrastructure, or the lack thereof. That's an issue that is going to depend mainly on the government, but there is a role for the private sector.

The second, and maybe more important is the general lack of knowledge of supply chain and it's importance to the success of any business. Many people spoke of the lack of awareness about supply chain among executive and senior management, let alone at the lower levels. The awareness is slowly growing, but it is well behind other countries in the region and the more developed countries in the world.

Since there is only a nascent awareness of supply chain, there is also a severe lack of education and training in all aspects of operations and supply chain. The two organizations that spoke at, Vietnam Supply Chain Community & Vietnam Supply Chain Insights / LogSo, are trying to do their part to increase the knowledge in supply chain areas.

Another very important factor discussed was human resource and workforce issues. There is a shortage of people with the skills and education that is needed by companies. That is with specific supply chain knowledge and general education and basic work skills.

But with all the challenges they face, companies are optimistic and many are doing very well.

As far as my presentations went, they went well. I had a lot of good comments after my lunch presentation. After my workshop, I had a couple of gentlemen tell me it was a great presentation. Then after my last presentation on Supply Chain Trends, a man told me how much he and his employees liked it.