The inaugural CILT Mobility & Supply Chain Summit took place on 28th and 29th March 2023 at the Royal Marine Hotel Dún Laoghaire.
The Institute was delighted to host the anchor event of Ireland's first ever Logistics Week, supported by the Department of Transport. The aim of this week was to promote awareness of supply chain career opportunities to students, new entrants, and potential career changers. The sector accounted for around €6.5 billion worth of total gross value added to the Irish economy in 2021.
Keynote speaker Professor Martin Christopher opened the Summit with an insightful presentation on Rethinking Supply Chain Strategy which had the audience spellbound.
Marcus Mallon, Senior Operations Manager, Amazon, "The CILT Summit's packed agenda contained high profile speakers from academia, industry, revenue and government. The informative presentations, coupled with a plethora of fireside chats with subject matter experts, facilitated plenty of insightful takeaways and healthy debate."
Dr.Paul Davis, DCU delivered a potentially slightly controversial presentation on 'Reassessing the East West Supply Chain," with John Mee of Trinity Biotech moderating a riveting Q&A session during the post presentation fireside chat.
After a delicious lunch and a great opportunity for networking the Carlisle Suite was packed once more for the afternoon sessions. The first of which included Commissioner Gerry Harrahill and Celine O'Neill from Revenue covering Customs Developments at EU level and their implications for Logistics and Supply Chain Operators. Post presentation a Q&A was facilitated by Lorcan Sheehan of PerformanSC.
To close out the day presentations on the many education progression opportunities available to industry and individuals were given by Dr Yvonne Delaney of University of Limerick and James Kearney, Education Manager and CILT Skillnet Network Manager.
Day 1 concluded with a CILT Networking Dinner taking place later on in the evening. Ex All Black, rugby pundit and mental health advocate Brent Pope was special guest speaker and regaled the room with some entertaining tidbits relating to his career. The networking dinner gave those who had attended day 1 of the Summit the chance to unwind and network in a relaxed social setting whilst also allowing those who hadn't attended the Summit to still meet and chat to some of the conference speakers from earlier in the day.
Day 2 of the CILT Summit was kicked off by Mark McKeever of PwC, he presented PwC's report on ESG and Supply Chain. The audience listened to some interesting findings from this report and had the opportunity to get involved also with some audience participation.
Immediately following this presentation came the panel discussion consisting of Conor Molloy of AEMS Ecofleet, Mike Higgins of Circularwise, Violetta Matzoros, Smart Freight Centre and Frank Allen, Irish Rail Freight on the topic of The Challenges of Carbon Footprint Reduction and Sustainability. All panellists presented engaging presentations based on work they have done in this area and a thought provoking panel discussion ensued moderated by Mark McKeever.
Following on from this Fellow of the Institute and Consultant Economist Tom Ferris led a fireside chat with John McGrane Director of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce and Trevor Dempsey of BDO regarding Post Brexit Impacts and Future Challenges.
The highly successful inaugural CILT Mobility & Supply Chain Summit was closed by Minister Jack Chambers, Minister of State for the Department of Transport.
We thank our sponsors Amazon, Irish Rail Freight and CILT Mobility & Supply Chain Skillnet without whom this wouldn't be possible. We also acknowledge the support of the Logistics and Supply Chain Skills Group and our event partner Premier Publishing.
Check out our photo gallery for professional photography from the CILT Networking Dinner.
We hope to see you next year!