Dan L. Gardner

Sessions With Dan L. Gardner

Sunday, 3 March

• 01:30pm - 01:45pm (PST) / 03/mar/2024 09:30 pm - 03/mar/2024 09:45 pm

  TPM24 Academy: An Introduction

  RETURNING TO TPM24! Following a highly successful introduction at TPM23, TPM Academy returns with a series of 45-minute educational workshops offering a practical introduction and overview of key subjects that international trade professionals typically encounter in their day-to-day responsibilities. Taught by seasoned professionals with deep knowledge and experience, each 45-minute course provides attendees with a conceptional and practical understanding that will make dealing with these issues much easier in the real world. In this 15-minute introduction, Dan Gardner, an educator with 30 years of logistics experience, will run through the course material, the courses that make up TPM Academy, and other details of this essential feature for professionals who have recently joined the industry, for TPM newcomers, and for those who simply have a passion to learn.

  • Speakers:
  • Dan L. Gardner

• 01:45pm - 03:15pm (PST) / 03/mar/2024 09:45 pm - 03/mar/2024 11:15 pm

  TPM24 Academy: From Supply Chains to Demand Loops — How the Fusion of AI and System Dynamics Will Revolutionize Global Trade

  Ask any businessperson what the new, new thing in supply chain management is and they’ll invariably say, “Artificial Intelligence.” All the hype notwithstanding and tempered with a dose of skepticism, it’s not an exaggeration to state that the application of AI to disciplines such as demand planning, purchasing, manufacturing, distribution planning, and logistics can materially alter the way in which international trade is conducted. Despite its bright future, this session begins with the heresy that AI will be unable to create order-of-magnitude benefits until linear supply chain mindsets are abandoned for a circular, demand-based approach. Based on the tenets of “System Dynamics,” the presentation’s hypothesis is that AI will only reach its potential when folks stop engaging in silo-based cause-and-effect decision-making and begin to treat interactions between international business players as an array of interdependent and ever-expanding feedback loops. In what truly is a revolutionary perspective on supply chain management, logistics, and trade compliance, this TPM Academy session will demonstrate how the success of global trade lies in the fusion of AI with the organic principles of System Dynamics. Built upon an understanding of what AI is and how its capabilities align with the concept of “Systems Thinking”, attendees will emerge from this session confident that AI will play a dominant role in global trade for years to come.

  Content of the 90-minute presentation will include:

  • The true definition of Artificial Intelligence and the concept of feedback loops

  • Setting the stage: Examples of mainstream AI applications

  • AI’s “Kitty Hawk Moment”

  • Why AI for international business is so hard: separating the hype from the hope

  • AI and applications for global trade: Current examples

  • AI and applications for global trade: What’s being worked on

  • Where the real breakthrough lies: The fusion of System Dynamics and AI

  • The road ahead: Future applications for trade-based AI      

  • Speakers:
  • Dan L. Gardner

Monday, 4 March

• 11:30am - 12:15pm (PST) / 04/mar/2024 07:30 pm - 04/mar/2024 08:15 pm

  TPM24 Academy: Incoterms® 2020 Rules — Understanding and Application

  Companywide knowledge of Incoterms is fundamental to supply chain execution and financial success. Because trade terms deal with the seller’s delivery responsibility under a sales contract, Incoterms impact areas that include risk transfer, shipping, landed cost controls, calculation of gross profit and payment for logistics services. Equally applicable to importers and exporters, the content of this module will go beyond the basics of understanding shipping terms to address rights and responsibilities between the seller and buyer, as well as the division of transportation costs between the parties. With an emphasis on the updates to Incoterms 2020, this class will set the stage for other modules to follow.   

  • Speakers:
  • Dan L. Gardner

Tuesday, 5 March

• 02:15pm - 03:00pm (PST) / 05/mar/2024 10:15 pm - 05/mar/2024 11:00 pm

  TPM24 Academy: Nearshoring to Mexico — Sourcing, Logistics, and USMCA Considerations

  Say the word, “nearshoring” and the first country that often comes to mind is Mexico. With advantages such as geographic proximity and participation in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Mexico is often the first option when considering relocation of manufacturing or product sourcing closer to domestic North American markets. But there’s a lot more to breaking often decades-long relationships with existing overseas vendors than simply up and moving to Mexico. This TPM Academy module will provide a primer on Mexico, focusing on considerations including optimal modes of transportation, lead times, logistics costs, as well as product availability and quality, border vs. deep Mexico locations, the shipper-friendly IMMEX* program for approved manufacturers, and product origin criteria for USMCA qualification. In addition to these mission-critical factors, the session will touch on not-so-positive elements that include organized crime, security risks, and corruption.

  * IMMEX, a Spanish acronym for Manufacturing, Maquiladora, and Export Services Industry is a Mexican program that enables foreign companies to operate and manufacture in Mexico with low-tax structures and reduced labor costs 

  • Speakers:
  • Dan L. Gardner