When: Thursday 15 January, 2015. 5.30pm for networking and refreshments, 6pm presentation
Where: Nidd Seminar Rooms 1 and 2, Hull University Business School
An expert in supply chain and logistics will give a presentation to students, staff and local businesses at Hull University Business School on Thursday 15 January, 2015.
Dr Don Ratliff, who is Chair of the World Economic Council on the Future of Supply Chain Ventures (pictured here), will explore Connectivity and the Future of Global Trade and Logistics with Examples from the Panama Canal.
Professor Amar Ramudhin, Director of the Logistics Institute at the Business School, said:
‘Dr Ratliff’s knowledge of Panama and its logistics strategy will offer a fascinating opportunity for students and other guests to advance their understanding of the potential impact in global terms and will give practitioners an opportunity to interact with a global expert on logistics.
Drawing on his work advising the government on the strategies required to consolidate Panama’s role as the logistics hub of the Americas, Dr Ratliff will give valuable insights by considering the ways in which:
- Massive computing and data transmission networks provide the opportunity to ‘see’, plan, control and measure supply chains at very detailed levels; increasing digital connectivity which should enable increased global trade;
- The physical connectivity between countries is also changing – in a negative way. The advent of big container ships that will call on fewer ports with less frequency, will decrease the service for the shippers and increase costs for the ports.
- Some of the issues posed by the digital and physical connectivity conundrum on countries such as Panama will affect the future of world trade.
As the Executive Director of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Trade and Innovation Centre in Panama, Dr Ratliff is researching new logistics concepts and algorithms. In the past, he has created the Logistics Institute Asia-Pacific in Singapore, which contributed to the country’s developments as a global logistics hub through programmes in education. He has also helped to pioneer the development of interactive software tools to design supply chain networks and optimise logistics processes.
Dr Ratliff serves on a variety of boards where he helps to develop strategies for designing, building and bringing to market new logistics technologies and services.
