Mincron will host an executive conference for distribution companies Nov. 1-3 at the Montelago resort in Lake Las Vegas. The conference focus is on a series of roundtable discussions led by John Nelson, chairman of Nelson Jameson, a supplier in the sanitary processing industry; John Kennedy, CEO of Wilson Supply, an industrial distributor; Dr. Barry Lawrence, associate professor at the Texas A&M Industrial Distribution Center; and Peter Warrian, a researcher at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. Topics will focus on transitions within the industry, including economic swings, commodity price fluctuations, growth strategies, market opportunities and reverse auctions. Mincron executives will host the mainstay of day two of the conference: Technology Trends and the Business Implications in Distribution.

“The wholesale distribution industry has seen significant growth recently,” said Walter Ulrich, Mincron's president and CEO, “but the economy is only one factor in a rapidly changing world. The open and provocative discussions at this forum help participants crystallize high performance business strategies - and it helps drive Mincron's product development by anticipating key business trends.”

Other key technology companies hosted conferences at the beginning of the month. Vormittag Associates Inc. (VAI) hosted a user conference Sept. 30 - Oct. 2 in Las Vegas. The conference included several workshops on Vormittag's products, such as its new warehouse management system and customer relationship management system; open forums on distribution, retail and manufacturing; and a keynote address from Jack Shaw, a business speaker and author on leveraging technology to enable winning business strategies. Nine exhibitors were at the conference including IBM, Lansa and Optimum Solutions.

Infor Global Solutions, formerly known as Agilisys, hosted an executive retreat Oct. 3-5 in Lake Las Vegas. Five of the company's executives hosted general sessions or gave an address at the company, including the company's president and COO, Ken Walters. Workshops and panel discussions were hosted by industry professionals such as Peter Lott, director of information services, Carrier Corp., and Jeffrey Rosensweig, associate dean for corporate relations at the Goizueta Business School in Emory University.