Focus Sessions

In addition to informative general session programs, these activities offer another opportunity for education and networking.

Sunday, April 22

Scientists Speak
Sunday afternoon is devoted to food science, as the members of the WFLO Scientific Advisory Council bring their knowledge to apply to your everyday operations. In short, 10-minute chunks, these experts will discuss the latest ideas in food safety and security, how to calculate what it costs to freeze product, and how to keep foods at the highest quality without losing all your profits to the electric company. Don't miss this once-a-year chance to ask your questions, hear the latest food science news for your industry, and do a little taste testing.

Monday, April 23

Spanning the diverse background of our members, these concentrated 30-minute sessions present cutting-edge knowledge guaranteed to enhance your job performance. Directed by the advice of both industry and association experts, as well as member evaluations, IARW-WFLO-IRTA is pleased to offer the following sessions:

Automation to Reduce Labor Costs
John King, Daifuku

Sometimes the best way to ensure adequate labor is to eliminate it. John King, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Daifuku, discusses an increasingly popular alternative to personnel: automation. He will describe how the utilization of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems can decrease the cost of maintaining labor while increasing movement efficiency, showing that these systems can enable users to maximize limited staging time and boost rates of picking and pick replenishment. This technology is a powerful solution for some of the industry’s most common labor problems, and attendees will learn in full what it has to offer.

Case Studies in International Cold Chain Development
Arne Martinsen, Transmar Ltd.
Dr. Lisa Kitinoja, Extension Systems International

This focus session will examine WFLO’s involvement in two recent cold chain projects in Ethiopia and Egypt. Mr. Arne Martinsen, of Transmar Ltd. and WFLO Public Member, recently traveled to Ethiopia to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment of the refrigerated transportation options from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to the Port of Djibouti. Mr. Martinsen’s report will be used to improve the transportation capacity of meat producers and shipping companies interested in exporting product from Ethiopia to the Middle East. Dr. Lisa Kitinoja, of Extension Systems International, will discuss her experiences in working for WFLO in Egypt on a USTDA-funded feasibility study to evaluate the possibility of building a fruits and vegetables packinghouse and a refrigerated warehouse near the Luxor airport. Mr. Martinsen and Dr. Kitinoja will discuss how this project could lead to new business opportunities, and they will also explain how WFLO’s involvement in international development projects can benefit you as a member of WFLO, IARW or IRTA. Come learn how to get involved in WFLO’s International Cold Chain Development work.

Don't Be Left Out In The Cold—A Dual Faceted Approach to Employee-Retention
Perry Buckman & Brad Singer, UBS Financial Services

At a time when benefits are getting slashed across the nation, an attractive benefits package sets a company apart and packs serious retention punch. This session, led by Perry Buckman and Brad Singer of UBS Financial Services, investigates benefit trends and describes ways to lure and retain qualified employees. Perry and Brad will cover Health Savings Accounts, Qualified Plans (401K, SIMPLE, Profit Sharing, Deferred Comp), Group Life and Disability Insurance, as well as the advantages of employee-covered education. In light of the financial challenges posed by rising healthcare costs, insufficient social security benefits, and other factors, this session will present cost and tax efficient ideas which attendees can offer employees that encourage them to build a future at the company.

Knowing and Managing the Risk of Loss for Goods in Transit
Stephen Galati, Mattioni, Ltd.

All too often cargo interests and carriers fail to consider what will happen if the goods are lost or damaged—until it occurs. At that point, it is too late to protect themselves. In this respect, the familiar caveat of "Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst" should be heeded. Careful consideration must be given to the terms of all transportation, storage, and insurance contracts. The parties must understand the allocation of responsibilities and the limitations on liabilities for all parties in the transportation chain in order to protect themselves from loss. Particular points of concern will be identified and suggestions will be made for addressing such issues.

Lift Truck Batteries: Beating the Cold
Pete Bucci, Applied Energy Solutions
Roger Altman, Battery Power Institute

Incomplete lift truck battery charging is a common problem in refrigerated warehousing operations, causing batteries to sulfate and lose capacity at an accelerated rate. As a consequence, lift truck battery sulfation is the single greatest factor that limits cold storage battery capacity, increasing lift truck maintenance costs, and reducing the operational efficiency of your lift truck fleet. During this half-hour you will hear two presentations. The first presentation discusses a commercially available charger that will fully charge batteries, even those used in cold storage operations. The second presentation discusses the cost savings from recovering capacity from older batteries that are already sulfated. Strategies for avoiding sulfation will also be discussed.

Preventing Claims Before They Occur
Connie Phipps, Lockton Companies

Business is bustling, product is moving faster, and claims are on the rise. These claims have been spiking in large part due to basic operational and maintenance issues. It’s time, then, that we refocus our attention on the fundamentals. This session brings us back to the ABC’s that allow us to properly protect ourselves and care for our customers' product. We will review common claims causes and preventative measures that can stop these claims before they start. We’ll explore a range of preventative maintenance programs, a list of housekeeping practices, and an important set of loss control measures. We’ll also take a look at our aggressive 2007 business plan for the IARW Insurance Services and Coverages. Finally, we’ll discuss the considerable advantages of enhancing web-based communications. By maximizing protection, we can minimize risk. It’s time to relearn the basics.

Productivity and Benchmarking
Ray Tarnowski, Philadelphia Warehousing & Cold Storage

Few issues facing cold storage are more critical than labor. Drawing upon the findings of IARW’s 2006 Productivity and Benchmarking Report, which lays out the industry’s financial and operational picture, this session takes a hard look at the human resources piece of the puzzle. Ray Tarnowski, President of Philadelphia Cold Storage and Warehouses, will present key labor statistics, trends, and insights across a broad cross-section of PRWs. Some of the topics he will discuss include wages and benefits information, turnover problems/solutions, employee revenue patterns, the upsides of “doing more with less” and continuous management training, and more. This session is an opportunity to learn what’s working in labor, what isn’t, and where we go from here.

Rail and Refrigerated Transportation
Union Pacific Railroad

In today’s cold chain, rail has become an indispensable link. Amidst a climate of rising fuel prices and driver shortages, food shippers and logistics companies increasingly turn to rail as a solution. This session will address topics such as expedited rail service, the redistribution and transloading of perishable commodities, solutions for rail claims issues, and much more. Please join the opening of a dialogue that IRTA and IARW considers essential to the strength and adaptability of our industry.

Reducing Energy Costs
Mike Webster, Icetec

Mike Webster, president of Icetec, will show how the right approach to the deregulated energy market can save large energy users tens of thousands of dollars. Mike will explain how IARW members can leverage flexibility in their plant requirements and flexibility in the energy market to reduce both power demands and greenhouse emissions. It’s a twenty-first century presentation that gives attendees the knowledge to stay ahead.

Routing and Load Planning to Improve Your Fleet’s Performance
Richard Simpson, INFOR

With high fuel costs and driver shortages it is more important than ever to optimize your fleet operations. Learn how different technologies can be utilized to:

• Decrease transportation costs
• Increase asset utilization
• Improve customer service
• Simulate routing strategies
• Automate the routing process
• Provide Management with visibility/metrics

This session will use real life examples of companies that increased efficiency through technology. This session is not specific to any software vendor and a summary of the available vendors in the field will be included.

Safety and Compliance: A SHARP Way of Doing Business
Paul Henningsen, Henningsen Cold Storage Co.

Businesses that take a proactive approach to safety rather than a reactive approach find themselves on firm foundations when working with governmental agencies. Henningsen Cold Storage Co. has taken the proactive approach to regulatory compliance by inviting governmental agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) into its facilities to conduct safety and health audits and by participating in EPA’s self policing policy audit. Paul Henningsen will share the path the company has taken to earn membership in OSHA’s Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) for its facilities.

Sales/Leaseback Transactions
Matthew Terry, Marcus & Millichap

In recent years, sale/leasebacks have become popular vehicles for corporations to realize equity tied up in their real estate assets. In a sale/leaseback transaction, an owner/user decides it would be beneficial to lease the space it currently occupies and owns, rather than continuing to own it. The property is marketed to an investor who agrees to lease the space back to the selling entity. Several PRWs have used this strategy to achieve various goals.

Matthew Terry of Marcus & Millichap, an IARW associate member that has brokered several PRW sale/leaseback transactions, will cover topics such as:

• The relation between CAP rates, net operating income (NOI) and facility valuation.
• Regional CAP rate trends and CAP rate sensitivity to interest rates.
• Sale/leaseback benefits and drawbacks.
• Tax implications and tax deferral strategies involving sale/leasebacks.
• Sale/leaseback case studies.

By the end of the session, attendees will have enough information to determine if sale/leasebacks are viable options for their operations.

Tracking Your Safety and Maintenance
Sandie Hitchcock and Jeff Haney, Safetrax

This session will help you understand the importance of implementing a system at your facility which could potentially improve all of your operations and maintenance programs. You will be introduced to an online program which was originally designed to improve your Process Safety Management and Risk Management Programs in order that you can comply with safety regulations. PRWs have learned that these same procedures can be applied to your maintenance programs by helping you store equipment information, track preventative maintenance, help customers conduct audits or regulatory inspections, and also assign and monitor employees’ tasks. The applications of this process can make you a better operator by forcing you to focus on the operational basics.

Warehouse Law-Internal and External Security
John Horvath, IARW’s Legal Counsel

IARW’s legal counsel, John Horvath, will address the issue of security when it’s the employee who happens to threaten it. He will discuss the presence of proper security policy and procedures, providing a special focus on minimizing liability for employee theft of customer goods. He asks the question: “With the changes in security technology and the increase in criminal sophistication, do your internal security policies and procedures pass the reasonable care test?” He will review options that are available to minimize your liability exposure for both internal and external theft of customer products, as well as addressing other timely issues affecting your business, including C-TPAT and much more. As technology evolves, so do security threats, and John Horvath furnishes the most up-to-date information and policy for staying safe.