Medline Executives Schwartz, Slattery to Deliver NextGen Keynote

The upcoming NextGen Supply Chain Conference in Chicago is jam-packed with sessions spanning the entirety of the supply chain. The entire event (Oct. 16-18), though, will kick off with a keynote address delivered by a pair of leaders in a vertical that has seen more change in the last few years than perhaps any other segment.

And it is a story of a mission to reinvent the supply chain.

Medline’s Daniel Schwartz, vice president of engineering and operations, and Kate Slattery, vice president of real estate, design, construction, and facilities, will take the stage at the Chicago Athletic Association on Tuesday morning to kick off the annual Peerless Media event. (Register here)

The duo’s keynote address, Building Resiliency at Medline: Automation That is Transforming the Healthcare Supply Chain, will tell the story of the $2 billion journey Medline is on to reinvent the healthcare supply chain.

Speaking with Supply Chain Management Review prior to the conference, Slattery said Medline has put “massive effort and resources in the last several years to build resiliency in our supply chain.

“We’re going to talk a bit about a snapshot of that journey that has [impacted] how we have shifted our focus going forward,” she added.

The presentation will include a look at Medline’s Healthcare Resiliency Initiative (HRI), Schwartz said. The effort has included automation and other efforts. The keynote will provide a glimpse into those efforts that are reinventing how Medline views its supply chain.

Both of the speakers said the goal is to adapt to the changes in the healthcare supply chain.

“[It is] improvements in evolving our supply chain to meet the shifts we have been seeing in healthcare and how we leverage technology and automation to maintain exceptional service regardless of where the points of care were occurring,” Slattery said, with Schartz adding that he will discuss how automation is playing a role in that in improving inventory management and more.

The NextGen Supply Chain Conference brings together senior-level supply chain professionals and will feature leading supply chain executives from top organizations, including Macy’s, Proctor & Gamble, Pitney-Bowes, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Estee Lauder and Gap among many others speaking during the three-day event, which includes an opening-night reception on Monday, Oct. 16.

To register for the event, click here.