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Global Supply Chain Week Day 2 preview: Retail, construction industries

Import slowdowns, e-commerce fulfillment and automating warehouses part of second day of FreightWaves virtual conference

Day Two of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week virtual conference will include a talk with Brian Miller, senior director, customer and solution development at DHL Supply Chain. (Photo: DHL)

Revolutionizing warehouse operations, sourcing products domestically and preparing for import slowdowns are topics that will be discussed on Day Two of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week.

The eight-day virtual conference will be held from Feb. 22 through March 3 and will be streamed free on FreightWavesTV. The content will cover all aspects of transportation, from first to last mile.

Day Two of the virtual event features speakers from the retail, building and construction industries.

Changes in warehouse fulfillment strategy, the surge in e-commerce demand and a persistent worker shortage have forced logistics operators to think more about automation than ever before, according to Jeff Christensen, Seegrid Corp. vice president of product. 


Seegrid Corp. is a maker of autonomous mobile robots for material handling. Christensen joins FreightWaves’ Mark Solomon, managing editor of freight markets, in a fireside chat titled “The future of autonomous warehouses.”

With international supply chains being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, many retailers during 2020 were forced to dump products into the off-price market at huge discounts due to delayed imports.

United National Consumer Suppliers CEO Brett Rose talks about items retailers are trying to source domestically to supplement products that are trapped in ports and ships at sea.

The fireside chat with Rose, “Container break out: Christmas in January?,” will be hosted by Lori Ann LaRocco, senior editor of guests at CNBC.


Another fireside chat on Day Two will be “How to take an all-business approach to omnichannel,” featuring Brian Miller, senior director, customer and solution development at DHL Supply Chain (NASDAQ: DPSGY). 

The fireside chat with Miller will be hosted by Alejandro Del Toro, vice president of distribution, customization, logistics and customers at Savant Lighting.

Miller and Del Toro will explore the challenges of an omnichannel supply chain and address how having the right third-party logistics partner can solve supply chain issues, and support increased product availability, simplify returns and reduce order delivery times.

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Noi Mahoney

Noi Mahoney is a Texas-based journalist who covers cross-border trade, logistics and supply chains for FreightWaves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 1998. Mahoney has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working for newspapers in Maryland and Texas. Contact nmahoney@freightwaves.com