November 1996 € Volume 6 € Number 11

APICS Report

Basics of Supply Chain Management Piloted at Major Company

Basics of Supply Chain Management, the review course for the new module in the Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) program, was pilot-tested at AlliedSignal Communications Systems in Towson, Md., in early October. The Basics module will be added to the CPIM program in January 1997, with the first exam to be administered March 1-8, 1997.

About 20 AlliedSignal employees from several levels within the organization took part in the pilot. The participants represented several functions including planning, buying, scheduling, finance, quality and the manufacturing floor.

The new Basics course provides a fundamental understanding of the planning and control of the flow of materials into, through and out of an organization. The Basics course replaces the Principles of Materials Management.

The instructor for the pilot was Henry Hutchins, CFPIM, CM, a partner in Florida-based Applied Industrial Cybernetics and one of the observers was J.R. Tony Arnold, CFPIM, CIRM, PE, who co-authored the new Basics course as well as the Principles course.

"It is important for APICS to pilot its courses before releasing them for public use to ensure the flow of the material and the appropriateness of the information for the target audiences," said Mary King, senior publications manager, who is in charge of publishing APICS courseware. "The input provided by the AlliedSignal participants will ensure that APICS is providing a quality educational product."

King added that AlliedSignal is encouraging its employees to seek CPIM certification, and the course provides the foundation for achieving that goal. A review of the pilot course will appear in an upcoming issue of APICS -- The Performance Advantage. For more information about the new Basics module, call APICS Customer Service at (800) 444-2742 or (703) 237-8344 and ask for the Basics of Supply Chain Management fact sheet (item #09027) and the 1997 CPIM Certification Bulletin (item #09002).

APICS and IBM Agree to Cooperative Venture

APICS and IBM signed an agreement in September for a cooperative venture that calls for both organizations to provide educational information and products to society members and IBM clients in the small manufacturing industry. The agreement, which will be implemented through the APICS Small Manufacturing (SM) SIG, covers information and products already in existence as well as those to be developed in the future. Information will be disseminated through various vehicles including videos, research studies, educational courseware and newsletters.

The agreement will benefit APICS and IBM in a number of ways, according to David Bowman, APICS senior manager, SIGs. For example, IBM educational professionals may assist the SM SIG in developing new educational products and services, perhaps using the IBM video development facilities. In turn, the SM SIG may help IBM acquire, develop and share market research on the small manufacturing marketplace.

Updates about this agreement will appear in future issues of APICS -- The Performance Advantage. For more information, contact Bowman at (800) 444-2742 or (703) 237-8344, ext. 267.

APICS Nominates 1997 Society Officers

The APICS Nominating Committee met in late August to select candidates for 1997 society officers. Following is a list of nominees:

President-Elect
Thomas R. Hoffmann, Ph.D., CFPIM, CIRM

Executive Vice President
Richard P. Welch

Secretary/Treasurer
John P. Blest

Vice President, Membership and Chapter Development
Michael C. Moody, CPIM, C.P.M.

Vice President, Education Development
Linda L. Rossi, CPIM

Vice President, Education Development SIGs
Carol A. Ptak, CFPIM, CIRM

Ballots were mailed Nov. 1 to the voting membership of APICS and the deadline for returning them is Monday, Dec. 2.

Readex Survey Indicates APICS Magazine Hits the Mark with the Customer

A recent survey of APICS -- The Performance Advantage readers indicated that an overwhelming majority of those polled think so highly of the magazine that they rate it as "excellent" or "good" and would recommend it to others even if they were not APICS members. In particular, 84 percent of the survey respondents gave the magazine an excellent or good rating while 86 percent said they would recommend it to others.

For the third year in a row, the survey was conducted by Readex, Inc., of St. Paul, Minn. The survey results are used by the magazine for planning many facets of the publication, including editorial, special section and advertising content, to ensure the magazine meets the demands of the readership.

The mail survey results are based on 430 responses which provided additional insight into the magazine's readership:

• Seventy-seven percent of respondents described their organizations' operations as manufacturing.
• The average number of people employed in a respondent's organization (both full and part time) at all locations is 3,390.
• The average 1995 salary was $58,800, up from the $51,600 reported in 1994.
• Thirty-nine percent of respondents have received professional certification from one or more organizations, 34 percent from APICS.
• Nearly all (99 percent) of the respondents use computers at work, and 56 percent have access to the Internet.

The survey also found that 45 percent of the respondents have input into the purchase of computer hardware and 49 percent into software. Meanwhile, 20 percent of those involved in purchasing reported that their purchasing decisions have been assisted by advertisements in the magazine.

In addition, more than 50 percent of the respondents indicated a desire to see scheduling/planning and inventory management covered in future issues. Both of these topics will be extensively covered in the March and July 1997 issues of the magazine.

Questions about the Readex survey should be directed to Barbara Gleason, APICS' senior communications manager, at (800) 444-2742 or (703) 237-8344, ext. 271.

APICS Web Site Gives Insight Into Job Market

Looking for a new job is never easy, and it's always a bonus to be able to compare against similar positions especially in the area of salaries and benefits. Job seekers can now access past employment listings from the APICS Employment Referral Program on the APICS Web site (http://www.apics.org).

"We've been getting a lot of calls from people who are candidates for various positions and want to maximize their negotiating position with as much information as possible," said Henri Wingfield, APICS associate director, member services and chapter relations. "These people can now access the web site and look at comprehensive descriptions including salary ranges for dozens of similar positions."

Wingfield noted that the APICS Web site also includes an APICS Employment Referral Program application that job seekers can print directly from the web page, fill out and then send to APICS. The service is free to APICS members and nonmembers pay a nominal fee of $125, which also gives them a year's membership in APICS.

For more information, contact the APICS Job Referral Service at (800) 444-2742 or (703) 237-8344, ext. 317.

Workshops

APICS Adds New Workshops for 1997
Always dedicated to keeping up with the latest practices and technology, APICS has added two new workshops for 1997 focusing on keeping companies and individuals competitive in the business world: Agile Manufacturing, and Selection and Implementation of a Manufacturing Computer System.

Agile Manufacturing will focus on topics including:

• How to react to changing production volumes with the implementation of flexible machining centers.
• The concept of cellular manufacturing and how to make the transition from traditional assembly.
• How to organize an agility project. For example, attendees will learn about designing new cycle time processes to streamline the supply chain, modifying information systems to support agility and initiating new approaches to product costing.

With the abundance of manufacturing software in the marketplace, making the correct choice for a company's unique needs is becoming increasingly difficult. Selection and Implementation of a Manufacturing Computer System will offer in-class exercises to assist attendees in developing actual plans and strategies that can be used to make the correct software choices.

The 1997 APICS Learning Opportunities Brochure, featuring educational program and speaker descriptions as well as registration information for all APICS programs, products and services, will be available in late 1996. To receive this brochure, call APICS Customer Service at (800) 444-2742 or (703) 237-8344 and request item #01049N.

E&R FOUNDATION

Call for Papers for E&R Foundation '97 Summer Workshop
The APICS Educational and Research (E&R) Foundation is issuing a call for papers to people interested in presenting educational sessions at its 1997 Summer Academic/Practitioner Workshop to be held in August 1997 at New Mexico State University at Las Cruces. The theme of the workshop is "Putting Research into Practice for Supply Chain Managers."

Cosponsored by the APICS El Paso/Juarez Chapter, the workshop is designed to maximize exchanges between practitioners and academicians and to introduce new applied research funded by the foundation. The foundation encourages practitioners and consultants to submit papers, especially on the subject of training issues in the twin-plant maquiladora community.

Two-page abstracts, including descriptions of the presentation, the purpose of the study and learning objectives for workshop attendees, should be sent to Mike Spencer, Ph.D., CFPIM, University of Northern Iowa, Department of Management, College of Business, Cedar Falls, IA 50614. Papers also can be faxed to Spencer at (319) 273-2922 or e-mailed to [email protected]