The 2023 Commodity Trends Outlook, where industry insiders explore commodity trends and strategies that lie ahead, will resume in-person this year after two years online.

Hosted by The Right Place and the Supply Chain Management Council of West Michigan, the symposium aims to connect local experts and industry professionals to disseminate critical data needed to manage supply chains in 2023. It is scheduled for 2-5 p.m., Sept. 13, at Pinnacle Center, 3330 Highland Drive, Hudsonville. The last hour will be used for networking.

“This conference is the kickoff to procurement season. The purpose of it is to provide info from industry experts to help people with their prep for the upcoming year,” said Olivia Lanctot, business development manager at The Right Place.

This year’s event will provide insights for companies on how to prepare for global supply chain trends central to metals, plastics and especially electronics.

“I’m on the business development team. We meet with over 500 companies in the region every year. The current chip shortage is a pain point for many companies in our area,” she said.

“Electronics is something that affects everyone, not only in manufacturing, but in every business — from agriculture to biomedical — the chip shortage has affected them directly or one of their important suppliers leading to excruciatingly long lead times.”

The conference will be organized in a way that attendees can choose to go to either the metals or the plastics presentation, but since the chip shortage is top of mind for many purchasing executives this year, Lanctot said everyone will be able to attend the electronics presentation.

Four speakers with expertise in different areas are lined up to address the attendees.

Peter Richards, managing director at Fifth Third Bank Commodities Risk Management, will discuss the overall commodities outlook for 2023 and its impact on the supply chain. Matt Simms, founder and CEO of Simms Electronics, will provide insight in the area of electronics. Ben Irwin, CFO at PADNOS Recycling and Scrap management, will give an update on metals. Ramesh Iyer, director of nylon, ABS, and PC resin at Chemical Data-ICIS, will give a plastics update.

Registration for the event is available here .