Who: Bob Nardelli, Founder of XLR-8, Senior Advisor to Cerberus Capital Management
What: An investment and consulting company specializing in emerging companies
On the Smart Manufacturing imperative for mid-size firms: As you start to scale a company, smart manufacturing becomes increasingly important. When I was running GE Transportation, we were doing something similar through brute force, manually getting data and focusing on cost, quality and customer experience. What Smart Manufacturing does is to bring a level of speed and the ability to digest big data. Collecting big data is easy. Using it is the challenge, and smart manufacturing lets us do that. I would encourage the 197,000 companies out there today that are between $500 million to $1 billion in revenue to not be intimidated by smart manufacturing, but to embrace it and start, maybe one sensor at a time, working your way through connecting those key elements of the process critical to quality and [essential] to your customers. You either have to innovate or you’ll evaporate. Start small, keep adding the sensors, keep adding the information and work with CRM—that will be the best way to keep growing and scaling your business.
On where to start: Get the key individuals from your factory—from the shop floor to the superintendent—all in a room and talk about the major issues you’re having. Is it an inability to fill orders within a committed time frame, so you’re paying penalties or paying to expedite air freight? What is the biggest bottleneck you have? What piece of equipment tends to go down the most? Put all the issues, challenges or opportunities on a whiteboard. Then, talk about [how] to control those using very simple dashboards. It’s not that complicated. You just work through it in a very deliberate, thoughtful and unemotional way to bring out the issues,and then figure out the best way to digitize or systematize those so that it helps you be able to scale your business. Otherwise,you will be handicapped by the limits of what you can see and how you can react.
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
