Achieving Customer Impact by Balancing Environmental Intelligence, Supply Chain Optimization and Product Design

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
Space is limited to members of CCIMS, SCMC, McCombs School of Business faculty and students. There is no fee to attend, but registration is required. The registration deadline is 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, 2008.

As the topic of sustainability continues to permeate all aspects of business, both in planning for future innovation and necessitating immediate change, The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business explores new ways to look at creating cross-functional, integrated design processes through the lens of sustainability.

On May 14 and 15, a symposium on holistic product design will be cohosted by the McCombs School’s Center for Customer Insight & Marketing Solutions (CCIMS) and Supply Chain Management Center of Excellence (SCMC) with support from the College of Engineering’s Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMC). Bringing together these three diverse research centers will allow for a unique perspective on end-to-end design.

The symposium will provide an opportunity for Marketing and Supply Chain executives to look at best practices, issues, and opportunities for holistic product design, beginning with the customer/consumer need, backward to raw material acquisition. We will also explore how to achieve the optimum balance of aesthetic beauty/functionality, low cost, and customer/consumer delight. The symposium will showcase industry success stories and panel discussions to highlight needed processes, organizational structure, culture, and measures to implement and evaluate the system.