Ronald Ireland
Principal
Ronald K. Ireland is a retired principal with Oliver Wight Americas, Inc. He is internationally recognized as a leading authority and visionary in the area of value chain strategy, technology, and best practices. Ron is a highly sought-after speaker for industry conferences and as an instructor at forums sponsored by leading colleges and universities. With Oliver Wight, he educates and consults at leading manufacturing organizations on integrated business management techniques, value chain strategies, order management best practices, and supply chain collaboration concepts.
Ron’s business experience includes manufacturing, retail replenishment, planning, forecasting and distribution, marketing, and consulting. He has over 25 years of business process and technology experience with leading companies where his primary focus is on Demand and Supply Chain processes for retail, manufacturing, high technology, telecommunications, and aerospace.
Ron’s career is one of outstanding leadership and achievement. While with Martin Marietta, he was the technology lead manager responsible for six MRP II implementations all of which successfully achieved Class A certification. He also was awarded the Information Technology “Visionary of the Year” for his design of the Wal-Mart Replenishment Planning process (WRP), which became the initial vision and foundation for today’s Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR®) process.
Ron is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Toyota Cup, which is in recognition of the most innovative idea presented at the annual conference of the South African Production and Inventory Control Society. He received the honors in 2005 and 2006 for his innovative Supply Chain Collaboration model. His articles have appeared in many leading industry and business publications, and he is the author of “Supply Chain Collaboration: Implementing CPFR® and Other Collaborative Best Practices.”
Ron is a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University, where he earned his BS degree in business management.
CPFR® is a Registered Trademark of the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Standards (VICS) Association
