AURORA, Ill. - Nov. 2, 2015 - PRLog -- Prime Advantage, the leading buying consortium for midsized manufacturers, hosted more than 200 procurement, engineering, operations, executive, and sales professionals at its 36th Conference in Glendale, AZ.
The semi-annual event, which took place October 20-22, brought together manufacturers from more than 30 industries, including: commercial foodservice equipment, packaging, truck and trailer equipment, material handling, food processing, HVAC, and construction.
Highlights from the Supply Chain Conference
Prime Advantage Members and Endorsed Suppliers gathered for one-on-one meetings and attended seminars to share best practices for supply chain management, growth, and profitability. Prime Advantage's Fall Conference kicked off with the keynote address from Dr. Chris Kuehl, economist and managing director at Armada Corporate Intelligence. Dr. Kuehl provided insights into macro and micro trends, like what’s driving oil prices, and unveiled key manufacturing data. Renowned metals expert Markus Moll of Steel and Metals Market Research discussed the current and future state of the metals markets, including growth trends within North America and the primary segments fueling that growth.
The Fall Conference also featured an Executive Summit, in which manufacturing executives worked together to share ideas around executive communication skills, leadership, immigration and the crisis in healthcare. The meetings featured presentations on "The Future of Procurement: How Ready Are You to Compete?" from Deborah Stanton of CAPS Research; "Apprenticeship: A Better Way to Build Leaders" from Dr. Joseph Hill of GiANT Worldwide; "Do You Hear Them Now? How Executives Can Build A Listening Culture" from Karin Hurt of Let's Grow Leaders; "The Economics of Immigration" from Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute; "The Coming Healthcare Crunch: Strategies to Contain Costs" from Duane R. Gibson of the Livingston Group and Donald Marette of Aflac.
At each conference, Prime Advantage provides a purchasing networking breakfast in which Members and Endorsed Suppliers participate in roundtable discussions. The Fall Conference featured Karl Manrodt, Ph.D. of Logistics and Transportation at Georgia Southern University, who focused on strategic sourcing in the new economy.
Prime Advantage also honored Rio DeGennaro, vice president of Cres Cor, with the 2015 President's Award, as the individual who displays the qualities of leadership, strategy, dedication, creativity, and innovation as a supply chain professional. Prime Advantage Members voted Kloeckner Metals, headquartered in Roswell, GA, as the 2015 Endorsed Supplier of the Year for raw materials and components, and Grainger Industrial Supply, headquartered in Lake Forest, IL, as the 2015 Endorsed Supplier of the Year for services and supplies.
"At our award-winning Prime Advantage Conferences, Members and Suppliers not only share their companies’ successes in innovation and enterprise improvements, but also create, improve on, and innovate around best practices in order to find next practices,” said Louise O'Sullivan, founder, president and CEO of Prime Advantage. "We are dedicated to increasing the expertise of both Members and Suppliers, while steadily decreasing their total cost of ownership. The benefits to buyers and sellers in our group, through the bonds formed in our network, are second to none in manufacturing."
Prime Advantage concludes each Conference by distributing rebates earned by Member companies based on negotiated programs with its Endorsed Suppliers. In the past fifteen years, Prime Advantage has paid more than $180 million in rebates and discounts to its manufacturing industry Members.
The success of Prime Advantage has been continuously recognized in the industry. Prime Advantage was recognized as a finalist of the Expo EXCITE Awards in the category of Best Buyer-Seller Event in 2014 and won the award in 2013.
About Prime Advantage
Founded in 1997, Prime Advantage is a buying consortium for manufacturers with more than 750 Member companies and more than 125 Endorsed Suppliers. For more information on Prime Advantage, visit the website at https://www.primeadvantage.com.
Contact
Pete Wiltjer
Pete Wiltjer Marketing Group
***@pwmginc.com
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