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in this issue
· Program Highlights
· Thank you for your Support: Progress
Software
· The Exploration & Discovery Room
· Mark the Date
· Links to the Presentations
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Welcome to
a special Leadership Summit edition of the CLI newsletter. In this issue
we'll recap the highly successful executive conference that CLI hosted for
its clients on September 29 through October 1 at the magnificent Dolce
Tarrytown House in Tarrytown, NY. It was three days of intense learning and
exciting networking.
The
program, entitled "The Road to the Future," was a
by-invitation-only event, bringing together the chief executives, presidents
and strategic leaders of CLI customer companies. These high-level attendees
heard from experts about: the current state of the transportation and
trucking industry and what to expect in the future; how to best satisfy
customers' needs today and anticipate their requests tomorrow; and most
importantly, what leaders in the LTL industry must do to thrive in the
marketplace in the coming years.
And here's
some good news...Due to overwhelming demand - 100% of attendees surveyed said
they would like to attend the program next year - CLI will host the 2005
Leadership Summit on September 28 through 30, 2005 at the Tarrytown House in
Tarrytown, NY. So, if you were invited to attend this year's Summit and
couldn't make it, mark your calendar now for the 2005 event. I'm sure once
you read this newsletter you won't want to miss out again.
I want to
extend a special thank you to all of our speakers and attendees. You truly
helped make this a world-class and valuable event. We look forward to working
with you to shape next year's program.
Keynote
After a lively reception and dinner on Wednesday night, Summit participants
got down to work first thing Thursday morning. Jack Shaw (pictured here), a
business strategy and technology expert, opened the program with a stirring
keynote presentation. He urged the executives in attendance not to just
prepare for change but to seek it out and embrace it. He also shared his
self-titled, Shaw's Law which states, "90% of businesses fail to take
advantage of 90% of what the technology they already own could be doing for
them." Weaving in content from the rest of the agenda, Shaw managed to
encapsulate the program, keeping the focus on a high level and setting the
tone for the program.
Activity-Based
Costing
Ken Manning of Transportation Costing Group shared his expertise on the
importance of Activity-Based Costing (ABC). Manning, a 30-year industry
professional, told the group that the premise of ABC involves four core
points:
1.
Providing a service (e.g., freight transportation) consumes activities
2. Activities consume resources
3. The consumption of resources is what drives cost
4. Each activity has independently associated overhead costs
ABC is a
way to discover savings opportunities, improve strategic decision making,
identify money makers and money losers, and compare different options of
pricing and operating adjustments.
New
Aspects in Training
Following lunch, Joe Suprenant, training and documentation manager for CLI,
talked about the different training options that are now available to
organizations. Whether it's through instructor-led, web-based, or self-paced
training modules, the key to productive employees is education. Consider that
trained users use 66% of a product's features, but untrained users use 24%
(Booth Research) and you'll understand the importance of training too.
Disaster
Recovery
Brian Bowman, a product manager for the Data Management team and Fathom
products at Progress Software, discussed the timely topic of Disaster
Recovery and the need for organizations to have a disaster recovery plan in
place and practiced by key staff. From the more sophisticated high-end
preparedness of having a call re-routing system in place to the basic
no-brainer that your plan should not be solely on your computer (rendering it
useless in a power outage), Bowman covered it all with entertaining insight.
What's
New at CLI
Ben Wiesen, a senior consultant and project manager at CLI, presented,
"What's New at CLI," putting the spotlight on what he referred to
as the "soft" and "hard" changes at the organization and
to CLI's software. Some of the "soft" changes include the
introduction of this newsletter and the additional staff brought on for
training and documentation. Wiesen also discussed some of the
"hard" changes including the introduction of Business Intelligence
software to complement FACTS™, the new Graphical User Interface or New Look
option now available, and the Dock Management system. Wiesen demonstrated
that CLI was listening to its customers and working hard to meet their needs
and requests.
Industry
Trends
After some dedicated time spent trying out new software and modules in the
Exploration and Discovery Room (see the article below for more details), the
group reconvened for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the King House Library.
A private dinner in the floor-to-ceiling windowed Sun Porch followed, capped
by a speech by Merrill Lynch's senior Airfreight and Surface Transportation
analyst Ken Hoexter. Hoexter shared his view of the industry and what he
foresees as its biggest challenges. Participants clearly wanted this
insider's views as was evidenced by the more than 30 minutes of Q&A that
followed his speech.
Moving
Beyond Just-in-Time
Day three began with a presentation by the Professor of Operations Research
and Financial Engineering at Princeton University, Dr. Alain Kornhauser, who
detailed the next stage in process flow management. He noted that
Just-in-Time is a great concept that focuses on the fundamental needs of
transportation:
1. To have
control of the place and time utility of goods and people
2. To have goods where they are needed at the time they are needed
However, it
does have its shortcomings, specifically that the process is inherently
deterministic and static, meaning it can't adjust to changing conditions. Dr.
Kornhauser's recommends moving to "Real-time Management and
Control" which provides a dual-use advantage. First, it delivers a more
economical and efficient transportation operation and second, it delivers a
more secure surface transportation system. Dr. Kornhauser also shared his
research regarding how to get to Real-time Management and Control.
Business
Intelligence
Eric Levine, president of Top Dog Solutions, focused his remarks on the
background of Business Intelligence. After reviewing the makeup of Business
Intelligence, Levine presented the advantages of it, namely that Business
Intelligence allows you to:
· Run your
business more efficiently
· Get instant analysis
· See profitability at the customer level
· Evaluate trends and variances
· Find quick answers
· Improve the bottom line
Finally the
program closed with an interactive session led by Ken Weinberg that elicited
thoughts and ideas for future programs from the audience. After another
gourmet lunch, the participants were free to enjoy a beautiful Fall afternoon
in New York.
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Thank you for
your Support: Progress Software
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 CLI would like to thank its platform partner,
Progress Software for their support of this event. Progress sponsored, in
part, the Keynote presentation by Jack Shaw, which was highly rated in both
content and delivery by the participants. Progress also sponsored the wine
which was served with dinner on the first night.
Brian
Bowman, as noted earlier, a Product Manager for the Data Management team at
Progress Software, led the presentation on "Disaster Recovery."
Glenn Haertel, Anne Cayer, and Dave Grazio, all with Progress, attended the
program as well.
Thank you
again to Progress for their continuing support.
Click
here for more information on Progress Software. »
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The Exploration
& Discovery Room
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 CLI set up a separate
room at the Summit, where participants could try out some of the newest
technology products for the industry firsthand. The room was very well
received by participants and there were many comments like this one on the
evaluations: "I thought the discovery room was very good."
FACTSview™,
the new Business Intelligence software that is the latest addition to the
FACTS™ suite, was demonstrated as was the New Look versions of accounting
and operations modules, now available in a GUI, or graphical user interface
version. Attendees had the opportunity to try out the new Dock Management
software as well as sample FACTShelp™, the documentation and training
software. Other demonstrations included FACTS™ Web Modules, ABC costing
software from Transportation Costing Group, and Fathom, the disaster
recovery solution provided by Progress.
For
further information on any of the above products or to set up your own
demo, contact Ken Weinberg at kweinberg@carrierlogistics.com
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Mark the Date
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The 2005 Leadership Summit will be held on September 28
through 30 once again at the Tarrytown House (pictured below) in Tarrytown,
NY. In addition to the same strong content from seasoned presenters, there
will also be industry roundtables where attendees can discuss issues and
share solutions in a peer-to-peer environment.
"The
event was well planned and provided good information and good networking
opportunities," wrote one of the participants on his evaluation. With
that in mind, CLI will once again strive to put together a well-organized,
timely and educational event that will benefit your business.
Please
mark your calendars and watch your e-mail for updates as the program draws
nearer. 
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Links to the
Presentations
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 CLI has made the
PowerPoint presentations from the program available on their website.
Either click the quick link below or go to www.carrierlogistics.com and
click on the Transport Forum link in the left column. Once in the forum
follow the links to the Fall Leadership Summit and then to Presentations.
While we recommend you set up a forum account, you may enter as a guest to
access the presentations.
Remember:
These presentations were created to be accompanied by a speaker, filling in
details, and rounding out discussion points. CLI is making them available
so that you can get a sense of the high level of the content.
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Quick Links
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