OptiCon 2024 Agenda
Tuesday May 28
6-7:30 p.m.
OptiCon Welcome Reception
Optilogic Headquarters
309 S Main St, Ann Arbor
Wednesday May 29
8-9 a.m.
Breakfast and Registration
Michigan League Ballroom (registration outside ballroom)
9-10:15 a.m.
Opening Address: Optilogic CEO Don Hicks
Don Hicks shares his passion and vision for design in 2024, and how Optilogic and Cosmic Frog–and our customers and partners–will change the game–and their companies’ destiny–with intelligent design.
Michigan League Ballroom
10:15-10:30 a.m.
Break
Michigan League Ballroom
10:30-11:30 a.m.
Optilogic Supply Chain Design Vision and Roadmap
Built by the most experienced supply chain design team in the world, the 100% SaaS-based Cosmic Frog takes supply chain design to a whole new level. Join us for a ribbiting session with our product management trio who will share upcoming cutting-edge capabilities and how Cosmic Frog will continue to evolve and improve to meet the demands of complex supply chains and distributed design teams.
Michigan League Ballroom
11:30-12:15 p.m.
Networking and Design Lab Stations Open
Make sure to visit the Design Lab on Wednesday and Thursday. The Design Lab is set up for drop-ins – stop by for a quick question or stay for a while to discuss a project. Our four stations are staffed by Optilogic’s Customer Success, Professional Services, Sales, and Solution Design Team members.
>>Tech Support Station: Get help troubleshooting your model or ask general questions
>>Meet an Expert Station: Discuss modeling questions or your current project
>>Demo Station: See live demos of new Optilogic technologies
>>Executive Station: Meet with Optilogic thought leaders and discuss strategic objectives
Michigan League Ballroom
Design Lab in Henderson Room (3rd Floor)
12:15-1:00 p.m.
Lunch and Design Lab Stations Open
Lunch in Ballroom
Design Lab in Henderson Room (3rd Floor)
1:00-2:00 p.m.
Keynote Presentation: Steven Pinker
Rejecting the cynicism that humans are inherently irrational, cognitive scientist, author, professor of psychology Steven Pinker offers an insightful, hopeful analysis of what rationality really is, why it can feel like it’s scarce, and how we can use it to drive better choices in our personal and professional lives.
Michigan League Ballroom
2:00-2:30 p.m.
Customer Case Study: Whirlpool
Whether you’re migrating legacy models to Cosmic Frog or building models from scratch, data integration is a critical—and sometimes challenging—component. In this session you’ll learn how Whirlpool designers upgraded outdated Data Guru flows to Alteryx for a faster, simpler, more agile modeling experience. You’ll also hear how Whirlpool is using this new data structure to build Cosmic Frog for Excel apps to put the power of Optilogic models into the hands of transportation planners.
Michigan League Ballroom
2:30-2:45 p.m.
Break
Michigan League Ballroom
2:45-3:00 p.m.
Customer Video Address: Gerdau
Michigan League Ballroom
3:00-3:30 p.m.
Customer Case Study: Automotive Parts OEM Manufacturer
Michigan League Ballroom
3:30-4:00 p.m.
Customer Case Study: Coca-Cola
Walk through the digital journey of Commercial Product Supply within The Coca-Company and their use of Cosmic Frog for both pressure testing and supply chain design. You’ll hear how Cosmic Frog is used to simulate disruptions to business continuity along with long term capacity planning.
Michigan League Ballroom
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Networking and Design Lab stations open
Henderson Room (3rd Floor)
6:30-9:30 p.m.
Evening Event
It’s a party! Join us for food, drinks, games and live music in the fresh air at Union Rec.
Union Rec
545 S Main St, Ann Arbor
Thursday May 30
8-9:00 a.m.
Breakfast and Training Attendee Check-in
Michigan League (3rd Floor outside ballroom)
8-9:00 a.m.
Customer Advisory Board Breakfast–Invitation Only
Room C (3rd Floor)
8-9:00 a.m.
Breakfast Session: Decoding Design for Public Health Supply Chains
For many years public health leadership in low- and middle-income countries has struggled with how their supply chains could improve population coverage and provide more equitable access to proper medical care and preventive practices. Grab breakfast and join us to learn how, with advances in technology and the use of basic design principles, we are making design easily accessible and manageable for on-site teams to help them realize their vision. It is a game changing experience, and an inspiration for all of us who are designers at heart.
Room 4 (1st Floor)
8-9:00 a.m.
Design Lab stations open
Henderson Room (3rd Floor)
9-9:45 a.m.
Explore Optilogic’s Newest Capabilities: Inventory Simulation, Route Optimization and Simulation, Sensitivity at Scale
Creating effective supply chain designs can be challenging without the right tools. Join us in this session to discover the latest innovations from Optilogic designed to enhance efficiency in the supply chain design process, elevate your offerings, and increase revenue streams while delivering value to customers. You’ll gain insight into the technology’s value and how these innovations address key business challenges, empowering you to apply them effectively.
Koessler Room (3rd Floor)
9-9:45 a.m.
Tools and Tips for Building a Sustainable Supply Chain Design Practice
As companies look to build out repeatable processes around supply chain design, there are many tips to learn from practitioners that live in the supply chain design space every day. Join Optilogic and partner experts as we delve into tips and best practices companies should follow to build a successful supply chain design team, pitfalls to avoid, and what factors contribute to a high performing team.
Room D (3rd Floor)
9-9:45 a.m.
Hop into Frogger Pond: The Supply Chain Design Community at Your Fingertips
Are you looking for a way to ask other Froggers how to make the most of Cosmic Frog? Getting started and looking for best practices? Looking for supply chain design careers or talent? Froggers are asking technical questions and getting detailed responses (often in the same day). Want to see something new or different? The Frogger Pond is the place to help improve Cosmic Frog! Join this session to understand how you can make the most of the Frogger Pond starting today.
Room 4 (1st Floor)
10-10:45 a.m.
Supply Chain Design Consulting: Build Your Practice with the Optilogic Partner Platform
Supply chain design isn’t a one-size-fits-all industry, and consulting businesses are well aware of this reality. Join us in this session as we explore Optilogic’s new supply chain design partner platform, which offers tools and technologies tailored for consulting practices, along with the support we provide to foster successful design practices for partners of all sizes.
Koessler Room (3rd Floor)
10-10:45 a.m.
Usability and Engineering Agility: How Optilogic Turns Feature Requests into Reality
Staying ahead of the curve in supply chain design requires quick engineering, and Optilogic excels with its cloud-native infrastructure, enabling rapid feature development. Join us in this session to discover the driving forces behind Optilogic’s roadmap (and get a sneak peek!), gain insight into its agile engineering approach, and learn how you can help shape product development priorities.
Room 4 (1st Floor)
10-10:45 a.m.
Interactive Workshop: Solve Your Biggest Challenges with New Optilogic Technology
Unlocking the potential of the design process starts by addressing key supply chain challenges. Join our workshop to explore the business value of supply chain design to address issues such as diversifying risk sourcing strategies, managing rising freight costs, assessing alternative port options down to the SKU-level, and navigating material scarcity to understand final product profitability. This workshop is for attendees looking for new avenues and opportunities to reinvent your organization’s current global supply chain design.
Room D (3rd Floor)
11-11:45 a.m.
Democratize Decision-making with Cosmic Frog for Excel and Mobile Apps
Effective workplace decision-making is vital for process enhancement and cost reduction, and with the right tools available, teams across the organization can respond more efficiently to unexpected issues. Join us in this session to explore the power of Cosmic Frog for Excel and Cosmic Frog Mobile Apps in extending the power of design for decision-making beyond your modeling team.
Koessler Room (3rd Floor)
11-11:45 a.m.
Trends and Best Practices for Supply Chain Design Projects in Asia
It’s widely known that Asia holds a significant position on today’s global supply chain design stage, serving as both a major sourcing origin and demand destination. Given its diverse array of languages, business cultures, and natural disaster risks, it’s imperative for companies engaged in global supply chains to know how to navigate these factors across different countries. Join us in this session as we dig deeper into the latest supply chain design trends, technologies, and projects in Asia, including its unique regional characteristics.
Room D (3rd Floor)
12-4 p.m.
Design Lab stations open
Henderson Room (3rd Floor)
12-12:30 p.m.
Grab-and-go lunch (afternoon training attendees only)
Michigan League
Training Courses
Getting Started with Cosmic Frog
Thursday May 30, 1-4 p.m.
Room: Koessler Room (3rd Floor)
Course Description
Got your account but not sure what to do next? New to supply chain design? Transitioning from another tool? Want to see what’s available in Cosmic Frog? This interactive session is for you. In exchange for an afternoon of your time you’ll walk out feeling geeked to start your design journey with Optilogic and Cosmic Frog. Together, we’ll test drive models from the Resource Library to align solutions to supply chain challenges. By exploring Intelligent Greenfield, Risk reports, maps, dashboards, and more you will get practical hands-on experience with the next generation of supply chain design tools.
Attendees will learn to:
- Gather the minimum required data for any Cosmic Frog model
- Analyze supply chain challenges with scenario development and Cosmic Frog outputs
- Find candidate locations with Intelligent Greenfield
Transportation Optimization with Hopper
Thursday May 30, 1-4 p.m.
Room: Room 4 (1st Floor)
Course Description
Are you looking for greater detail in transportation cost to complement your network designs? Does your business deliver via routes today? Transportation route optimization can provide the insight needed to answer tough questions: How can you improve service? Should you ship direct or on a route? What is your asset utilization? Transportation cost in classic network optimization tools can be oversimplified. Attend this session to get hands-on with Hopper models and their network optimization counterparts and leave ready add transportation route optimization to your network design project.
Attendees will learn to:
- Gather the required data to design transportation routes in Cosmic Frog
- Evaluate new designs against existing routes
- Compare the cost of direct shipments against route costs
Prerequisite: We recommend students have some experience modeling in Cosmic Frog or take a live or on-demand Getting Started course prior to this session.
Cosmic Frog Best Practices – Build Your Design Confidence
Thursday May 30, 1-4 p.m.
Room: Room D (3rd Floor)
Course Description
Input. Process. Output. Easy, right? If supply chain design was easy, we wouldn’t need cutting edge solutions. Join this training to learn from expert practitioners how to build models that run the first time and what to do if they don’t. From gathering data to hyperscaling scenarios and everything in between, there are jobs to be done. This session will dive deep into the resources available to support you throughout your design process. You’ll leave with the confidence gained from knowing who and what are ready to help.
Attendees will learn to:
- Employ the appropriate resources throughout your modeling process
- Simplify model build and run routines with performance and troubleshooting tips
- Diagnose and resolve infeasible models
Prerequisite: We recommend students have some experience modeling in Cosmic Frog or take a live or on-demand Getting Started course prior to this session.
Simulating Results of an Optimization Model
Thursday May 30, 1-4 p.m.
Room: Room A (3rd Floor)
Course Description
Are you leveraging network optimization but wonder how your network designs will perform with more detailed business data? Do aggregations and abstractions make it difficult to compare designs? Simulation provides the detail you need. Seasoned simulation practitioners and optimization professionals alike will find value in the complementary solutions of optimization and simulation. In this hands-on session you will employ optimization results within simulation models to arrive at greater insights and leave ready to get started.
Attendees will learn to:
- Gather and transform the minimum required data to run a simulation when starting from an optimization model
- Leverage network optimization results as input to a simulation model
- Appropriately use simulation and network optimization results together to evaluate scenarios
Prerequisite: We recommend students have some experience modeling in Cosmic Frog or take a live or on-demand Getting Started course prior to this session.