Abe Eshkenazi, CSCP, CPA, CAE
APICS CEO

    Last week at the 2009 APICS International Conference & Expo, I had the pleasure of interacting with a group of students from Lakeshore Collegiate Institute—an Etobicoke, Ontario, high school located in a distribution district near Toronto. The school has a close relationship with the Canadian Supply Chain Sector Council (CSCSC) which sponsored the students’ participation in the APICS conference. Working together, Lakeshore Collegiate and the CSCSC are developing student interest in supply chain careers. 

    It is a challenge to define supply chain management (SCM) to high school students. Presenters working on the student program relied on the very simple and useful definition provided by the editors of the APICS OMBOK Framework: “balancing or synchronizing sup­ply with demand.”  Still, we needed to make supply chain come alive for them. How did we do it? We went retail: Wal-Mart, Nordstrom, Abercrombie & Fitch, Target. We followed the supply chain from source to delivery of a T-shirt.

    When I returned to the office, an APICS staffperson forwarded me a study conducted by Auburn College of Business and the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “The State of the Retail Supply Chain: Results and Findings of the 2009 Study” surveyed senior vice presidents, vice presidents, and directors responsible for SCM within major retail organizations. Questions explored the role of SCM in these companies, as well as the challenges and issues businesspeople are experiencing in this recession economy.

    In retail operations, critical supply chain capabilities, in order of importance, include supply chain cost control, in-stock on high-volume items, response to demand changes, executive engagement, store inventory coordination, and formal SCM organization. Of these capabilities, the biggest gap identified by respondents was in the area of visibility upstream to vendor operation. Sound familiar? Regardless of whether you practice SCM in the manufacturing, retail, healthcare, hospitality, or distribution industries, this is a challenge.

Beyond traditional

    This year, the Voice of the Customer and the Body of Knowledge Committees have been working with the APICS Board of Directors to determine which industries outside of manufacturing would benefit from APICS SCM education. Although terminology from industry to industry is different, ask a supply chain professional in any industry why upstream visibility is important, and he or she likely will provide the same answer as the APICS OMBOK Framework editors: “because the supply patterns do not match the demand patterns, inventory accumu­lates at various stages, and shortages and delays occur at others. Collaboration and communication among supply chain members is one way to minimize the impact. Information visibility in inventory levels, anticipated production, and material-in-transit are needed by supply chain members to successfully coordinate the supply chain.”

    With the 2009 update of the APICS OMBOK Framework due in December, you will find an appendix that maps the applicability of OMBOK topics to operations management professionals working in retail, distribution, healthcare services, utilities, and hospitality. The mapping was based on an APICS survey of non-APICS members serving these industries. The APICS Board of Directors has set a strategic priority to apply the APICS body of knowledge to these industries. The APICS OMBOK Framework survey is the first step.

    With this move, we are not abandoning our core constituents in manufacturing. In fact, we are working to ensure mobility in the careers of the members we serve. We hear over and over again that APICS education and certification provide the best foundation for supply chain careers across industries. Nearly 30 high school students in Toronto now can tell you—from the mining of crude oil in Venezuela for polyester to the stocking of T-shirts on Wal-Mart shelves, supply chain professionals are involved every step of the journey.

3 Responses to “Reaching Out to the Next Wave of Supply Chain Professionals”