With summer in full swing, retailers are in the thick of preparations for the back-to-school season. In Washington, DC activities are wrapping up in anticipation of the August congressional recess, but the RILA office remains as busy as ever.
The Logistics Conference Steering Committee met in late May and is moving full steam ahead with the development of an outstanding education program for the 2011 conference. Planning is also well underway for this fall’s Environmental Sustainability & Compliance Conference. Just last week, RILA hosted its first-ever Retail Mobile Executive Summit in San Francisco to great success. Additionally, RILA will host retail’s first industry-specific law conference in November, inviting attendees to hear from experienced legal minds on the issues facing the industry today, including product safety, employment law, and litigation management, while also networking with their peers.
RILA’s committees to continue to engage with peers and policy makers to address issues of top concern for today’s supply chain operations. The Supply Chain Security Committee held a very productive benchmarking meeting on leading practices in overseas security in mid-July at The Home Depot’s Atlanta headquarters, and the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is slated to convene in Washington, DC in late September.
The RILA/British Retail Consortium Global Standard for Consumer Products continues to progress, recently achieving yet another important milestone with the completion of the factory assessment tool. A pilot program will launch later this year.
Research and benchmarking remain an important focus area for RILA. Two new reports, produced in partnership with American Shipper, have recently published—Transportation Procurement and Freight Payment Practices. RILA and Auburn’s annual State of the Retail Supply Chain Study launched earlier this month.
As RILA’s offerings continue to grow, so to does our membership. In the past few months we have been happy to call several great companies new members, including 24-Hour Fitness, Family Dollar, Tractor Supply, Whole Foods Market, as well as IBM Corporation, which recently joined RILA as a premier associate member.
RILA remains active and dedicated to serving the industry’s interests here in Washington, DC and supporting your operations at home and aboard. I welcome the chance to talk with you about new ways that we can accomplish these goals for your organization and I look forward to hearing from you this summer!
Regards,