The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) End-to-End (E2E) Value Chain Pillar held its 2019 Summer Solstice SpringBoard from 25th – 26th June in Barcelona, Spain. The event brought together logistics experts from Europe, Asia and North America to delve into key transportation topics affecting the industry today. From waiting times and empty miles to global supply chains and last mile logistics to retail, participants got the opportunity to share their knowledge and best practices with fellow industry peers.

The event kicked off with a tasting tour to discover the wines of the region, which was followed by a networking dinner at Ultramarinos, where participants got the chance to make new connections while enjoying local delicacies. The workshop held at Ailaic in the heart of the city served as the perfect setting for collaborative discussions as participants dissected the main industry hurdles and brainstormed innovative ideas to solve them.

The aim of the Summer Solstice session was to keep content at the core of the gathering. The participants discussed the main challenges they faced within their companies, sectors and roles, as well as the potential opportunities for collaboration to overcome them. In what proved to be truly interactive exchanges, and a first-of-its-kind for SpringBoard events, the participants worked together to tackle questions around four of the main themes identified as the most pertinent during the discussion session. The outcomes of the workgroup discussions will be outlined in a post-workshop executive summary coming soon.

The Summer Solstice SpringBoard session proved to be a great success, with plenty of positive feedback shared by the participants. The experts present at the SpringBoard particularly appreciated the interactive nature of the workshop, allowing for new connections to be made and for existing connections to be strengthened. In addition, the workgroup session that allowed the experts to deep dive into the four identified transportation themes and come out with tangible proposals was enjoyed by all.

The decision to keep the conversation going was unanimous. Going forward the group will continue to collaborate through a series of calls to push the four work streams over a period of three months each. Furthermore, the E2E Value Chain team will aim to plan follow-up physical meetings in November 2019 in Norway and in June 2020 in Switzerland.

Keep an eye on the CGF events calendar for upcoming SpringBoard dates.