By David Greenfield, editor

The general sessions at the APICS International Conference and Exhibition started off on an exceedingly upbeat note, as motivational speaker Keith Harrell inspired the audience to have the right attitude about their business, their operations and themselves. "I'm not concerned with the attitude that you brought to this conference," Harrell said. "But I want you to leave with a tuned-up attitude to go back and make a difference."

To achieve the right attitude, Harrell exhorted the audience to focus on W.I.N. — What's Important Now. "If you're not in a change mode today, you're in a rut," Harrell said. "And the only difference between a rut and the grave is the dimensions."

Harrell also noted the importance of humor in the workplace, and realizing that one shouldn't worry about the things he/she can't control. "Don't sweat the small stuff," he said. "And remember, it's all small stuff."

Monday morning the conference opened up with Sam Donaldson, co-anchor of ABC TV's "PrimeTime Live," giving personal insights into the colorful inner workings of inside-the-beltway politics. He offered witty remarks and scenarios that served to bring a more personal picture to the actions of politicians often presented to the public only in soundbites.

Illustrating how current politicians never stop portraying themselves in the best of lights to the public, Donaldson touched on perpetual improvement that is now commonplace across industry. In this instance, Donaldson spoke of how Bill Clinton, who at the time had just lost his re-election bid for governor of Arkansas, immediately began running commercials (under the direction of political consultant Dick Morris) apologizing for his lack of action in certain areas while governor. This began a series of steps that led Clinton to reclaim the Arkansas governor's seat and ultimately brought him to the White House.

When businesses take these small, incremental steps toward their goal, it's known as kaizen, or continuous improvement; when politicians do it, it's known as "perpetual campaigning."

Few people know how to bring about successful change within a business as Katherine Hudson, CEO of W. H. Brady Co. In her address on Tuesday morning, Hudson drilled down into the buzzwords tossed about today to find their real meaning and usefulness.

Her point was that every company needs a clear goal, and that "everyone in your organization must be engaged in the processes of your enterprise." To do this effectively, she said, a company must have a simple message through which to convey it goals. According to Hudson, bringing a company's goals to fruition requires a written framework that includes the mission statement, a snapshot of the company's key categories of activity (via critical success factors, economic value added, etc.), and a means of measuring success and failure. "This framework should also incorporate the elements of the company's culture and vision as well," she said. "Put it all down on one page and it becomes a guide for action for the entire company — even on a global basis."

Renowned organizational consultant Tom Peters wrapped up the general sessions on Wednesday morning with a call to action for all businesses to become revolutionary in purpose.

The big news to follow now, Peters said, is the voluntary split-ups, like those that have taken place at AT&T, Kodak, General Motors and PepsiCo. The spin-offs generated from these split-ups are the companies to watch, because once these companies are out from under corporate directives, they're free to focus and streamline activities and pursue their goals with an entrepreneurial spirit.

Peters also made special note of how important it is to break out of old modes of thought in order to be successful in today's business environment. "Wealth in the new regime flows from innovation, not optimization; not from perfecting the known, but from imperfectly seizing the unknown," he said, quoting a column from Wired magazine.

"I'm offended by this kind of language," Peters noted, referring to the column. "But I believe there is a phenomenal amount of truth in it. The problem today is not in coming up with a new, innovative idea, but in getting the old ideas out."


Educational sessions
The educational sessions at this year's APICS conference underscored participants' desire to capture innovative ideas and put them to practical use. And with presentation topics ranging from supply chain and resource management to team stewardship and future vision, the most critical issues facing business as it moves toward the millennium were aptly covered.

One of the hottest topics in industry over the past few years has been the supply chain — how best to define it, implement it and take advantage of it. Getting right to the heart of most attendees' concerns on this subject, Karen L. Alber, CPIM, and William T. Walker, CFPIM, CIRM, offered their take on "Supply Chain Management: A Practitioner's Approach." After first identifying the supply chain as a "global network used to deliver products and services from raw materials to end customers through an engineered flow of information and physical distribution," the presentation began with the details of how to build the supply chain infrastructure though the use of relationship mapping; bidirectional, parallel flow vs. unidirectional, serial flow; and process mapping. But no supply chain, no matter how well implemented, can be proven successful without some sort of performance measure. Following the discussion of performance measurement implementation, the presentation then drilled down into the role logistics plays on supply chain functions and how to synchronize the supply chain to best serve customer demands, as well as the organization.

Focusing on the materials aspect of the supply chain, Mary Lu Harding, CPIM, CIRM, C.P.M., outlined the process for "Designing Automatic Resupply Systems." The planning process for such a design includes the determination of goals and appropriate participation. Harding also detailed the differences between, and how to select, the appropriate auto-resupply mechanism — kanban, breadman, consignment, systems contracts and direct shipping from an MRP schedule.

Beyond the physical aspects of the supply chain lie successful planning and scheduling. To demonstrate one of the more proven methods of facilitating business operations in this area, William R. Lilegdon presented his case: "Simulation for Planning and Scheduling — More Than 'What If.'" Lilegdon made note early in his presentation that simulation is not warranted for every manufacturing system. However, simulation's ability to dynamically build inventory levels as it portrays events in the manufacturing system makes it a useful tool for predicting the performance of sequence dependent systems.

Summing up the process as a whole, Dave Garwood offered "Supply Chain Management: New Paradigms for Customers and Suppliers." Beginning with a look at the numerous buzzwords for theories that have promised to solve manufacturing's problems, Garwood pointed out why supply chain management, one of the newer buzzwords, deserves serious consideration. "So what's different about this new phenomenon? A lot," said Garwood. "Supply chain management focuses on resolving business process problems that are important to the customer. It looks at the entire value chain, from consumption to absorption. The objective is to be flexible, quickly supplying defect-free products up the chain, eliminating all unnecessary costs and time delays."


Resource management
Effective management of resources is key to all levels of a successful business operation — particularly upper management, where success is measured in quarterly profits. One of the quickest, surest ways to improve bottom-line finances is through bolstering inventory resources. Donn Zawis, CPIM, and Gary Gossard, PE, addressed this very issue in their presentation: "Improving Inventory Performance by Working Smarter, Not Harder." The presenters spoke of their experience implementing a state-of-the-art, closed-loop, integrated manufacturing resource planning system with all the bells and whistles, but to little avail — the sought after results just weren't there. Their search for a more effective approach to managing their inventory investment led them to the Inventory Quality Ratio (IQR) — the ratio of active inventory dollars to total inventory dollars.

To capitalize on human resources, Ann K. Willis, CFPIM, CIRM, offered "Breaking Through Barriers to Successful Empowerment." Willis said that for companies to best utilize their greatest asset — people — they must allow their workers to use their creative juices to improve their lives and workplaces and take the organization out of the traditional boundaries. Willis said, "By practicing the principles of empowerment, team-building and leadership, work forces are developed that take responsibility for making change successful, creating organizations that can successfully stay ahead of the competition and prepare for the future."

Following on the human resource theme, Tom Schulte presented "Facilitating Skills: The Art of Helping Teams Succeed," which received the highest educational session evaluation score by conference attendees. "When a person assumes leadership in the 1990s, that person must be equipped with the skills to facilitate a team," said Schulte. The focus of Schulte's presentation revolved around P.O.I.N.T. — Plan, Observe, Intervene, Nurture, Teach — basically, all the skills and disciplines necessary to be a good facilitator.

To put the whole picture in perspective, Martin Ramsay, CFPIM, Paul Schuring and Evan Van Gelder offered the case history, "Putting Vision, Systems and People into Action: The Vermeer Manufacturing Story." After examining the accomplishments Vermeer Manufacturing achieved through its learning-by-doing initiatives to accomplish change, the role of vision, systems and people lay clearly in the fore. According to the authors, "Had we overlooked any one step, we would have failed. Without vision, we would still be groping around in the dark. Without systems, we would perhaps be expending a lot of effort with very little to show for it. And without people, we would not have the buy in and support we enjoy today."

Copyright © 2020 by APICS — The Educational Society for Resource Management. All rights reserved.

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