Registration for the 2020 Food Shippers of America Conference registration is now open to all interested attendee types. CONFERENCE REGISTRATION IS AT NEW RECORD LEVELS WITH 75% OF CONFERENCE CAPACITY SOLD AND 80% OF HOTEL ROOMS ALREADY BOOKED. 

2020 Conference Co-chair's Mike Marquardt, Birchwood Foods and Kyle Kottke, Kottke Trucking along with the Food Shippers of America Officers, Board Members and Advisors are pleased to present the 65th Annual Food Shippers of America's Conference Agenda as of Sept. 10, 2019 (Subject to updates and changes).

Thank you to our committed sponsors for their support of our 65th Annual Food Shippers of America Conference, Feb. 23-25, 2020 at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes in Orlando, FL.

Click here for a listing of our 2020 Conference Sponsors. 

If you are interested in sponsorship, you can secure your sponsor designation when registering for the conference, or contact FSAtreasurer@foodshippersofamerica.org for additional details.

Food Shippers of America has arranged for discounted transportation from the Orlando airport to the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton at Grande Lakes hotels for the 2020 Annual FSA Conference. 

MEARS Transportation will provide a $4.00 off discount for a shared ride shuttle round-trip ticket. Attendees can click here to book directly online (the discount code is built in).

Click here for other ride options MEARS offers for the Orlando airport.

Food Shippers is looking for suggestions to refresh and update the look of the Food Shippers of America (FSA) logo.

To that end, FSA is sponsoring a competition for our members and past annual conference attendees to help develop ideas for a new logo.

Please note: FSA Executive Director Paul Newbourne has updated his phone number and can now be reached at 847-302-1496. Please update your contact management systems accordingly. 

Food Shippers of America is researching this growing area of supply chain management and is looking for shippers or receivers that are actively using or pursuing blockchain technology. Our 2020 annual conference co-chairs are looking for a company or two that would be willing to share their blockchain story with other Food Shippers member companies as part of a presentation panel on this topic.    

We would like to talk with your company about your blockchain experience and would ask that you reach out to Kyle Kottke at kyle_kottke@kottke-trucking.com if you would be willing to participate as part of the 2020 Conference program.

Food Logistics, the only publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of product through the global food supply chain, has named The Shippers Group to its 2019 Top 3PL & Cold Storage Providers list. 

Hoosier Logistics Inc. a logistics and supply chain management provider, announced plans Aug. 14, 2019 to grow its operations in Indiana through multiple expansions, scaling its corporate office in Indianapolis and adding its first satellite office in Fort Wayne.

Logistics Management
Taking the concept of voice technology – think your current smart phone – to the warehouse and distribution sectors, providers are expanding voice technology to include scanning, image capture, augmented reality and more to form warehouse management systems (WMS) that replace paper-based processes and increase accuracy.

FoodBev Media
Focusing on innovative snacking and the "rapid development" of contemporary snack trends, Conagra Brands announced its plan to build a 40,000 square foot Center for Food Design next door to the company's Chicago headquarters.

SupplyChainDive
Retreating from its July accessorial fee rollout, Union Pacific announced this week that it was indefinitely suspending the planned charges. Despite increasing scrutiny from regulators of rising demurrage and accessorial fees, the railroad would not say exactly why it was suspending the fees, only that it would proactively monitor customer's reservation utilization to "ensure that reservations match actual demand."

Food Engineering
Preventing downtime is always a high priority. To keep food packaging machinery running at optimal levels, upgrading or buying equipment with the ability for flexibility, technology upgrade, and easy maintenance are essential for keeping food safe and maximizing uptime.

FreightWaves
In an effort to reduce wait times at border crossings, officials on both sides of the Mexico/U.S. border are considering expanding a joint inspection program – one already in effect at the Port Laredo crossing – to crossings in Arizona and California. Utilizing American security certifications, average wait times at Port Laredo have been reduced by 3.5 hours.

MH&L
Despite ever-changing technologies, industry consolidations and differing management strategies, material handling managers must still get the food delivered. However, the presence of new channels affecting American dinner plates make the situation clear: change the way you deliver food, or you may soon be out of business.

Thank you to all our members for your support!

John Murphy was one of the long-standing members of the Food Shippers of America organization both as a food manufacturer and as the Executive Director. John spent more than 40 years in the transportation industry, the last half at The Borden Food Company from which he retired in 1995. Upon retiring, John spent 14 years as Executive Director of Food Shippers of America.

SupplyChain247
Digital transformation, in response to ever increasing e-commerce pressures, is driving food supply chain industries across the board to incorporate robotics, automation and data analytics. The distribution and fulfillment sectors are no exception.

Reuters
Trucking companies large and small rely on some 70,000 California independent truckers to move cargo in and out of the port of Los Angeles. Those same companies may face serious impacts come January 1 as California senators this week passed proposal AB5, legislation that sets tougher standards for independent contractor classification.

GroceryDive
Driven largely by Walmart, Amazon and Target, online sales are projected to reach 13% of all grocery sales by 2024. But according to a report by consulting firm Edge by Ascential, independant and regional grocers are also making strides using AI to optimize pricing strategies and advanced technology such as geofencing to create a frictionless customer experience.