2020 has been a year of firsts and the Steel Market Update (SMU) Conference 2020 was no exception. The conference this year was the first ever virtual conference with a fully virtual lobby, exhibition space, as well as the auditorium where all the presentations took place. But that didn’t stop people attending, in fact the accessibility of the conference and its affordability (no flights, no hotel, no expenses) actually encouraged new attendees to the event. With over 900 attendees, this was the 2nd largest attendance in the event’s history.
CareGo this year operated a booth, with some speedy assistance from the team at SMU we had our virtual booth set up in a matter of days.
Congratulations to the team for a excellent effort.
Congratulations also go to the winners of our prize draw who received AirPods Pro, which includes features like noise cancelling and a customizable fit, making them perfect for all-day wear while cancelling out the day-to-day activities of our new “offices” (children playing, meals being prepared, family coming and going). The winners were:
Brian Yamaguchi, Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co.
Jeff Joldrichsen, North Star BlueScope Steel
Carl Grobien, National Material Mexico
As expected there was significant talk about the current pandemic and the impact it has had on our economy, there was lots of insights into trends of the various end-user markets such as automotive, construction, aerospace. The pandemic has impacted each differently, but in a year of firsts, there was a shift in some of the conversational themes. Digitization, automation, visibility into our operations and supply chain were significant themes. All operations saw the impact of the pandemic as people reduced on-site labor, worked remotely, reduced operations and the one thing that disrupted the metals supply chain most was lack of visibility. John Brandt, CEO of The MPI Group, discussed that the investment into automation is accelerating right now, as automation is the first step in the digitization program that will provide that visibility not only into the facilities processes, but the inventory material handling, the inventory shop-floor visibility, receiving and shipping visibility, all the things that move metals through our supply chain. Industry 4.0 is now.
Both Caitlin Nelson from Crowe and Ali Aksut from Microsoft, discussed the how to go about the digitization process with a theme to incremental changes which build on one another and leverage more and more visibility. Companies should be looking to have short, agile projects, say 12-14 weeks, which offer some automation, or digitization, or visibility which provides the prerequisites for the next step in the program.
CareGo has recently released a new product into the marketplace which was also featured on our booth at the conference, called TELIA handheld. TELIA handheld is designed to provide inventory tracking, and operators instructions to provide the visibility and digitization clients are looking for, without a significant capital investment in equipment to enable full automation. This first step in an optimization, automation, digitization and visibility program delivers rapid ROI after a 6-8 week installation, unlocking that first key requirement which is visibility into our supply chains.
If you would like to learn more about TELIA Handheld or our full suite of TELIA automation and optimization products please contact us today.
CareGo uses its patented material handing technology to change the world of logistics and supply chain management in the metals and heavy goods sectors all around the globe, continuing to help usher companies into the technological world of tomorrow.
By utilizing CareGo’s TELIA Software, Companies can utilize a full state of the art suite of supply chain management application software that uses dynamic decision-making algorithms. By creating these solution services CareGo is changing the way our clients store, handle and ship their raw materials, work in process as well as their finished goods.
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