Over the course of three days, continuous improvement practitioners from 20 countries came together virtually at the 36th annual The Association For Manufacturing Excellence (AME) International Virtual Conference to explore best-practices, experience facility tours, learn from workshops, dive deep into supply chain issues and hear from five keynote sessions.
Highlights of the virtual conference included tours of Baylis Medical, Crown Equipment Corporation and San Antonio based M2 Global Technology and keynote sessions with Thomas Rajan (American Airlines), Michael Lombard (Kaiser Permanente) and Michael Muilenburg (3M). The event kicked off with a keynote discussion by Katie Anderson and Isao Yoshino about their book, “Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn,” and ended with an inspiring keynote by Billy Taylor that focused on making employees visible so they can make the organization valuable.
Beyond lean and continuous improvement topics, the 2020 AME conference included a track dedicated to supply chain management which included a forum moderated by Scott Luton and Greg White of Supply Chain Now and featuring panelists Drew Greenblatt (Marlin Steel & NAM), Kim Humphrey (AME), Harry Moser (Reshoring Initiative) and Jayson Myers (NGen). Meanwhile, a special session with Lynn Torrel, chief procurement and supply chain officer at Flex, dove deep into how the 200,000-employee company has managed its supply chains through the pandemic.
“I was excited to see tours from all across North America including my own company right here in Texas,” said Doug Carlberg, president of M2 Global and an SAMA and AME Southwestern Region board members. “The virtual setting allowed me to hear speakers and see facilities that I wouldn’t have had access to at a traditional conference. My company will benefit from the insights and lessons we learned at the AME conference.”
Now with the conference over, participants may revisit sessions they saw live or discover those they missed during conference week. All participants have six-months of access to on-demand recordings of most of the conference’s program – an add-on value that allows for learning to continue beyond conference week.
AME continues to provide trainings, tours, webinars and sessions throughout the year, all culminating in the 37th annual AME International Conference in Atlanta on Oct. 18-21, 2021. Learn more at ame.org/conference.
Article written by: Douglas Carlberg, President/CEO M2 Global Technology.
