You will meet a tall, dark logistician ...

Though our staff is made up (mostly) of grizzled veterans, we still get a kick out of meeting logistics professionals and discovering interesting facts about the products they handle. Earlier this year, for example, one of our editors met a Kansas City-based 3PL who counts among his clients a European company that makes, among other things, the cheese coating for Cheez-Its crackers and the sprinkles for Dunkin' Donuts. At the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) annual conference in Denver, we broke bread with an executive of a film packaging company that makes, again among other things, the wrapping for each slice of Kraft American cheese and the film used to hold small boxes of packaged cereals together. There, also, we chatted with a lady from the iconic garbage disposal manufacturer InSinkErator (quick, name another one!), who said the company tests the quality and durability of blades by running 35 pounds of some exotic animal's frozen bones through them.

A special post-CSCMP shout-out to Con-way Inc. for its ubiquitous cell phone charger stations and its handy screen wipes. We'd also like to thank the lovely Latvian-born shoeshine lady who may have worked harder and longer than any of the attendees.