March 1996 € Volume 6 € No. 3

Education Notebook

APICS Education And The Computing Professional


By Gene Brockmeier, CPIM, CIRM



When I joined Boeing Commercial Airplanes in 1983, I was assigned to the design and development of a new shop floor control system. At the time, Boeing's manufacturing plant in Wichita, Kan., employed approximately 14,000 people and manufactured major assemblies for all models of Boeing commercial airplanes. Just gaining an understanding of the complexities of the existing shop floor processes and systems proved quite difficult. Analyzing, designing and developing a shop floor control system for such a large facility provided an even greater challenge.

The project team was primarily staffed with recently hired employees with little shop floor control experience. Having a project staffed with inexperienced people has its pros and cons. The primary problem was a lack of understanding of manufacturing processes in general, but this was offset by an eagerness to learn. Having hired into Boeing with my Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) designation and recent material requirements planning experience, my day-to-day challenge was to answer the seemingly endless questions about shop floor control while trying to design the system and schedule the project. It didn't take long to realize that the staff needed shop floor control education, and APICS was going to be the source.

Seven systems analysts (at my urging) attended class for one hour each week to review APICS materials in preparation for taking the CPIM exams. I initially began teaching class after hours, wanting to avoid any conflicts with our project schedule. I wrote a memo to our management and received funding approval for our examination fees. Eight weeks after classes began, the analysts took their shop floor control exam. From that basic beginning, the education process continues, and computing employees are realizing the benefits.


Gaining respect from the manufacturing community
One of the benefits to be gained from APICS education is respect from manufacturing organizations. Too often, systems personnel are looked upon as not understanding manufacturing processes or being unable to provide input to solving manufacturing problems.

"As an information systems person, my CPIM and Certified in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM) certifications opened doors for me, overcoming the paradigm that information systems personnel only crunch data and know nothing about manufacturing," said Mike Kuhlmann, material systems manager. "These certifications definitely garner respect from our customers," he added.

An APICS education enhances the computing professional's ability to help resolve manufacturing problems by improving the understanding of functions and the systems and data that support them. A support department must understand its customers and processes. In many instances, knowledgeable systems personnel can be very helpful in resolving problems.

"To have the respect of my customers and peers and effect change, I need the knowledge not only of where we are but where we should be going," said Jerry Coles, CPIM, Boeing information systems manager.


Common language supports process and systems design
A difficulty often experienced by systems personnel is the lack of familiarity with manufacturing terminology. The analysis and design of manufacturing computing applications are very complex processes that can be complicated by unfamiliar terminology. Working relationships among team members are enhanced if those involved speak the same language and are headed in the same direction.

"As a result of my APICS education, I now understand the types of data that are passed back and forth between the different functions as well as the reasons why the data are necessary," said Brian Hickman, CPIM.

Detailed analysis of current and future systems applications is made much easier if the systems staff has been APICS educated. Understanding the information relationships between processes facilitates the design process. Many of the commercial off-the-shelf software packages are based upon the standard principles of APICS education.


Starting an in-house education program
No matter how large or small their company, employees can start an in-house education program by selecting a topic that addresses a current problem or assignment. Study sessions can be held during lunch or right after work. Set a goal of taking the certification exam a month or six weeks in the future-not a problem thanks to computer-based testing. Acquiring funds for educational materials, examination fees and memberships can be challenging. Employees can approach management for funding support by explaining the benefits of improved production and inventory management processes and how APICS education will enable the company to achieve these goals. Those who cannot get support for educational efforts should not give up. Study materials can be borrowed from a local chapter or library. As a last resort, individuals may have to pay for their own expenses. After all, it is a career investment.

Employees can spread the word that their study group is educating themselves to help address a specific problem in the company. Others will join to seek advice on problems in their areas and eventually the informal group will grow and gain visibility and respect. If at all possible, employees should recruit upper management as members, which will make the effort more formal and eventually result in company support. All results of these efforts should be reported to upper management, including number of people involved, topics and testing progress. The APICS CPIM and CIRM certification bulletins are excellent ways to communicate details of the certification programs.

Over the past 10 years, our study group has grown and flourished. It didn't take long for the word to spread, and soon we had to try to limit the class to 25 students. Not being one to turn away those willing to learn, our classes expanded to as many as 45 students. Class participation has been increasing at a steady rate for a number of years. To date, more than 35 employees, many of them computing personnel, have been certified through the CPIM program.
Gene Brockmeier, CPIM, CIRM, is an APICS Qualified Instructor. He has worked on production and inventory management systems for the past 18 years and most recently was the program manager for the installation of Baan's TRITON software for Boeing Commercial Airplane Group in Wichita, Kan.
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