IFDA Webinars
IFDA Webinars address a variety of topics, giving you insights from distributor peers, subject matter experts, IFDA legal counsel, and IFDA staff.
How Can Foodservice Distributors Participate in the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program?
Held October 26 from 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EDT
The Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program (SDAP) provides opportunities for 18- to 20-year old professional drivers to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce under specific conditions.
Officials with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and IFDA’s apprenticeship partner, FASTPORT, broke down SDAP eligibility standards and operational requirements, providing a clear roadmap to guide foodservice distributors when applying to participate in the pilot program.
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Next-Gen Delivery Management
Thursday, August 25 | 2:00 - 2:30 pm ET
Sponsored by
The future of delivery is data: instantly collected, analyzed, and transmitted to ensure seamless operations. Join us on Thursday, August 25, at 2:00 pm for a 30-minute webinar to explore how delivery management solutions are building this future. You'll take a journey through the past, present, and future of delivery at Denver's Mile Hi Foods as they show how next-gen data from ExtenData MobileConductor has transformed their daily proof of delivery operations.
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Speakers:
5 Ways Technology Can Help Foodservice Distributors Overcome Supply Chain Challenges
Held on March 3, 2022
Most distributors are regularly tackling the challenge of doing more with less—less time, fewer people, and limited products on the shelves. How can technology streamline operations to optimize what you have and make the most of every customer interaction? During this session we’ll discuss various ways distributors are using technology investments to gain an edge.
Those investments include:
- Cloud as a platform for agility and growth
- Easy automation tools
- Actionable data insights
- Expanding self-service
- Supply chain efficiency
This webinar will also explore ways to cost-effectively remove obstacles and drive value to your bottom line.
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Pest Traceability: Protecting Your Supply Chain
Held on February 24, 2022
You keep your facility’s standards high, and so should your pest control provider. Learn how pest traceability can help protect your supply chain from our experts with 120+ years of experience.
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Sponsored by:
Presenter: Frank Meek, Technical Services Manager, BCE
Frank Meek provides technical support and guidance for Orkin in the areas of training and education, and operations and marketing. As a board-certified entomologist and an almost 35-year industry veteran, he is an acknowledged leader in the field of pest management.
Strategies to Address ESG Issues that Build Trust and Deliver Value
Held on February 23, 2022
Free to all IFDA members
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Trust is every organization’s most valuable intangible asset. Disruptions in the economy, technology, and demographics, and distrust of institutions challenge the food system’s ability to secure and protect trust. Our food system has benefited from its current focus on productivity, efficiency, and throughput. However, engaged consumers, investors, policy makers and other key stakeholders have new priorities that require equal focus on other socially relevant attributes.
Join Charlie Arnot, Kelly Leighton and Amy te Plate-Church with the Center for Food Integrity, and Tammy McElroy with Sysco as they discuss the drivers of change, the evolution of sustainability to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues, and the alignment of company values with social change. We will outline three steps to ESG success that embrace the evolution of consumer expectations, access to unlimited information, need for greater transparency, and growing ESG demands of consumers, food companies, influencers and policy makers.
Key takeaways will be steps to:
- Identify, clarify, and align your values
- Align the attributes of your brand with emerging ESG priorities
- Catalogue gaps for potential action
Autonomous Trucks Delivering Fresh Faster
Held on October 12, 2021
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A presentation and deep dive on the work TuSimple is doing today with McLane and Giumarra. TuSimple's technology is a potential gamechanger for how goods are moved around the country.
Presenter: Robert Brown, TuSimple
Mr. Brown is responsible for the federal, state, and strategic partnerships for TuSimple. Working with legislators and regulators on best practices for safety, commercial viability, and policies. He works on building coalitions of industry, OEMs, Tier 1 providers, associations, and academics in the autonomous vehicle industry. Prior to TuSimple, he worked for the state of California, was Vice President at the Mitchell Firm, taught at Oxford University and University of California, San Diego.
Eliminate Picking Errors: Order Picking Technologies for Increasing Accuracy & Productivity
Held on Tuesday, October 26, 2021
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Inefficient picking system? ProCat Distribution Technologies will compare the pros and cons of different picking technologies including paper picking, RF Handheld, Voice picking, and Scan picking.
Sponsored by:
Presenters: Steve Stomel, Founder & CEO, ProCat Distribution Technologies and Joe Doyle, Director of Sales, ProCat Distribution Technologies
Steve Stomel is the Founder and CEO of ProCat Distribution Technologies. Started in 2001, ProCat brings cost-effective technology to food distribution companies. The company offers 14 modular software solutions to support critical functions in the warehouse including Receiving, Cycle Counting, Order Picking, Loading, Put-away, and Replenishment. Over 200 warehouses across the United States rely on ProCat’s technology every day.
Joe is ProCat’s National Director of Sales and has twenty-five years in the technology space, first in the ERP market providing solutions to manufacturers, and now in the distribution technology market providing solutions to foodservice and convenience store distributors. Joe’s focus has always been on improving operational efficiency, reducing operational costs, and helping his customers to be better partners with their clients.
The 3G Sunset Dilemma
Held on Thursday, November 4, 2021
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Devices on your trucks could be using older 3G and even 2G generations of the cellular network, which are about to be “sunset.” That means as cellular carriers make the switch to 4G and 5G, devices that depend on those older networks will stop working. If you don’t update your devices in time, you could leave your fleet and your business exposed to non-compliant and at-risk status, resulting in fines. PLM’s Vice President of Customer Solutions, Don Durm, will outline what you need to do to insure you are prepared and take your questions.
Presenter: Don Durm
Don Durm is a 25-year veteran of PLM, an international industry expert, writer and keynote speaker on cold chain handoff applications, regulatory compliance, and supply chain technology.
Vaccine, Testing, and Face Covering Mandates - What They Mean to Distributors
Held on Wednesday, November 10, 2021
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This webinar is exclusive to Distributor and Buying Group IFDA members as a member benefit. Login is required.
On Wednesday, November 10 at 2pm ET, Peter Susser, shareholder at Littler, will provide important details of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency temporary standard on vaccination and testing, executive order requirements for federal contractors, and compliance options. Please submit your questions in advance of the webinar.
Presenter: Peter A. Susser, Shareholder, Global Practice Leader & Chair, International Employment Law Practice Group, Littler Mendelson P.C.
Peter Susser serves as Littler's Global Practice Leader and previously served as chair of the firm's Workplace Safety & Health Practice group. He has extensive experience counseling clients on a wide range of workplace issues and employment law, has handled numerous OSHA cases, has appeared before the EEOC and the NLRB, and is involved with legislative developments in Congress as well as with rulemaking proceedings before federal agencies, including the Department of Labor.
Diversity Equity & Inclusion Strategy for Leaders
Held on Thursday, November 11, 2021
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As business leaders look to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) performance across their organizations, some find it difficult to know where to begin and how to develop and implement an effective plan. In this session, attendees will walk away with the key principles of DEI and how they translate to the language of the business, examples of DEI in action across the foodservice industry and steps for advancing DEI designed for leaders at any stage of their DEI journey.
Speakers: Frank D. Finn, Founder, Capo Initiative
Shannon Finn Connell, PhD., Founder, Capo Initiative
Frank D. Finn is a recognized leader in diversity, equity and inclusion. As the former President of McCain Foods US, Frank brings unparalleled experience in designing and implementing diversity, equity and inclusion strategies that drive organizational change. Previously he worked in executive level positions at Royal Dutch Shell and PepsiCo, both domestically and internationally. Frank serves as an advisory board member to Michigan State University’s hockey program and is an advisor to the Navy SEAL Foundation where he supports Special Operations Warriors transitioning from active military service to civilian life. Frank holds an executive MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Chartered Director certification from McMaster University and bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University
Shannon Finn Connell, Ph.D. is an executive coach, author and organizational change leader. A former executive with SYSCO, Shell Oil and Procter & Gamble, Shannon worked internationally in China and Latin America before combining her corporate experiences and academic pursuits. While maintaining leadership positions in business, she was appointed adjunct professor of management in the MBA program at Rice University. Shannon serves on the Dean’s advisory board of University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences and is an advisor to the Navy SEAL Foundation where he supports Special Operations Warriors transitioning from active military service to civilian life. Shannon obtained her Ph.D. in organizational development, researching design thinking as a problem-solving methodology in global organizational change initiatives. She also holds an MBA from North Central College and bachelor’s degree from University of Cincinnati.
Comparing Final Mile Performance Across Markets
Held on Tuesday, November 16, 2021
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Logistics and foodservice companies operate in geographic markets with unique attributes – density, volumes, customer mix, labor costs, and more. This variability can make it challenging to compare performance on an “apples-to-apples” basis. How do you know which markets are run efficiently and which are underperforming? In this session, learn to identify factors causing differential performance and techniques for comparing performance both within and across geographic markets.
Sponsored by:
Presenter: James Nissenberg, Vice President, Logistics, Santa Monica Seafood
James’ logistics and final mile experience includes strategy and systems consulting for CVS Pharmacy, Home Depot Pro, Worldpac, Castellini, Gulf States Toyota and Wegmans Food Markets. He also launched operations for start-up delivery carrier Parachute and advised Copyfree, a regional equipment services company, on field service logistics strategy and cost savings opportunities.
Currently, James heads logistics and is a member of the executive team for Santa Monica Seafood Co. (SMS), a Southern California-based processor and distributor with 10 facilities in the Southwest and Midwest. At SMS, James cut fleet by 10% with minimal service impact, implemented new routing, tracking and cold chain systems projected to reduce expenses by 16%, and centralized organization to standardize operating procedures and improve responsiveness.
James earned his MS in Transportation from MIT and BA in Economic Geography Magna Cum Laude from UCLA. His skills include Lean Operations and Managerial Finance. James also serves on the benchmarking steering committee for National Private Truck Council and advises industry research groups on various topics.
The State of Foodservice Distribution
Held October 19
This webinar is exclusive to IFDA members as a member benefit. Login is required.
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Join us for a presentation by Technomic Principal Wade Hanson that will provide an overview of the foodservice distribution industry recovery from the pandemic impact, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between the distributor and the operator. We’ll also examine distributor challenges, possible future scenarios, and the outlook for the foodservice business.
Presenter: Wade Hanson, Principal, Technomic
Wade has more than 25 years of experience in strategic planning, market sizing, market trend evaluation, category opportunity assessments and company benchmarking. Since joining Technomic, he has conducted and written numerous multisponsor and proprietary studies encompassing all foodservice segments. During his years with the firm, he has had an active role with key clients in interpreting implications and developing targeted strategic plans. Wade has regularly presented at industry events, been cited in national news media, and made appearances across various TV news networks.
All about DOT Off-Site Audits
Held on April 29, 2021
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In 2020, the number of DOT off-site (remote) audits increased by more than 500% over 2019, and those numbers will continue to climb. IFDA has partnered with Scopelitis Transportation Consulting (STC) on this members-only webinar that will explain in detail how FMCSA and its State enforcement partners conduct off-site DOT compliance audits. The webinar content was developed by STC from FMCSA’s safety auditor/investigator training manual and will be delivered by well-known transportation regulatory and enforcement expert. Highlights include:
• What CSA BASICs trigger the most off-site audits.
• How the off-site audit process really works.
• Details on the number and type of records audited during off-site audits.
• How drivers and their records are selected.
• What other business records are requested during these audits.
Speaker: Dave Osiecki, President & CEO of Scopelitis Transportation Consulting, LLC.
Osiecki personally develops and delivers the safety, technology, regulatory and compliancerelated consulting, training and advisory service offerings of STC. He began his transportation career in 1986 as a motor carrier safety auditor for the Federal Highway Administration. He spent several years building his motor carrier and regulatory expertise in program, policy and regulatory development positions for FHWA in Washington, DC, then spent 20 years at the American Trucking Associations working on behalf of the trucking industry in safety, policy, regulatory and advocacy-related positions
Four Ways COVID-19 Changed Foodservice Distribution and How to Respond
Held on April 20, 2021
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There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has put tremendous pressure on the foodservice industry. With more people staying home and changing habits, distributors like you have adjusted significantly to keep up. Even as restrictions begin to ease, four significant trends will continue to impact the industry in the years ahead:
- Market Shift: Retail vs. Foodservice
- Sales Force Automation
- eCommerce Demand
- Tax Implications
In this panel webinar, Innovia Consulting’s food industry experts will discuss how each of these trends arose, how it changes your business environment, and how you can respond proactively to each. There will also be an opportunity for you, the viewer, to participate and share what you’ve experienced.
You’ll come away from this discussion with:
- A strong understanding of the long-lasting effects of the pandemic on your market.
- A checklist of features you need in an ERP system that can help you meet these challenges.
- Several best practice strategies other distributors like you have used to succeed over the past year.
- Ideas for what to focus on for the coming year to outperform your competitors.
We hope you will plan to attend this collaborative virtual experience. Be sure to bring all your questions about COVID-19’s effects on the foodservice industry and how technology solutions solve these challenges.
Presenters: Jim Weaver, Scott Borsodi, and Scott Warner of Innovia Consulting
Comparing Order Picking Technologies for Increased Accuracy & Productivity
Held on March 2, 2021
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Improving a company’s order picking process is the number one way to improve overall warehouse operations. This webinar, presented by ProCat Distribution Technologies, will detail different picking options and technologies for distribution centers of all sizes.
Join this webinar to learn about:
- Paper picking, RF Handheld, Voice picking, and Scan picking.
- Pros and Cons of each type of picking technology.
- Real-world stories from distributors with experience implementing new picking technology.
- How to achieve 100% order picking accuracy with a hands-free order picking solution.