On the 10th of June, our SCF FCI Corporate Workshop “Building Resilience in the Supply Chain” took place at the prestigious FCI 56th Annual Meeting in Seoul, South Korea. We had a great turnout, with numerous discussions and networking opportunities among supply chain professionals.

The workshop was opened by Neal Harm, Secretary General at FCI. Mr. Harm welcomed the delegates with a warm speech. He reflected on the importance of corporations, providers, and academia working together and expressed a dream for the start of a new relationship with corporations from FCI.

This was followed by the first talk of the day by Monica Fernandez Barbero, International Factoring & SCF Senior Manager at CaixaBank and Chairwoman of the FCI SCF Executive Committee. Her presentation, “Confirming Evolution of the Activity in Spain 2023,” provided a comprehensive overview of Supply Chain Finance (SCF). She explained how SCF encompasses various financial solutions, such as Confirming and reverse factoring, which streamline administrative and financial procedures for buyers and strengthen supply chains by linking strategic suppliers to company projects.

Following Monica’s insightful introduction, Rea Bosco Vaz, Head of Product and Market at SCF Community, presented “Tackling New Challenges in Today’s World with Supply Chain Finance.” Rea discussed the basics of SCF, the latest SCF instruments, trends, and developments, highlighting the evolving landscape of supply chain finance and its role in addressing modern challenges.

Michiel Steeman, Co-Founder of the Supply Chain Finance Community, then talked about “Resilient Supply Networks.” He emphasized the increasing risks in supply chains due to external factors such as climate change and geopolitical risks, as well as internal vulnerabilities caused by supply chain design. Michiel’s main takeaways included the limitations of redundancy strategies and the importance of determining resilience archetypes to effectively manage supply chain risks.

The final presentation was delivered by Prof. Brian Shim, CEO of Ihime Consulting. Brian explored how advanced supply chain management can enhance collaboration between finance and operations. His presentation focused on optimising working capital through supply chain finance and inventory reduction, with a detailed analysis of cash-to-cash cycle time.

In addition to the presentations, the workshop featured interactive discussions and corporate case studies. These discussions provide a space to talk about practical insights into real-world applications of supply chain finance and strategies for building resilience in the supply chain.

It was an engaging day filled with thought-provoking presentations and discussions. Did you miss this event and want to learn more about these topics? More corporate events are to follow, so make sure to keep an eye on our website and sign up for our Newsletter to be the first to hear about upcoming events.

To learn more about the topics around SCF, join us at our next event in Utrecht! Register here: https://scfcommunity.org/event/scf-corporate-event-netherlands-2/