April 1996 € Volume 6 € Number 4

Real World

Demand for senior logistics executives up

The increasing importance of logistics and distribution in the development of competitive strategy is reflected in greater compensation and career growth opportunities in the field, according to a recently released study, "Logistics Executives: A Management Discipline In Transition." The study was conducted by Foster Partners, an international executive search firm, and a team of researchers from Fordham University's Graduate School of Business Administration.

The study shows that senior logistics executives in corporations with revenues up to $4.5 billion are reporting directly to the CEO or COO of the company. While compensation for these executives appears to be at a discount in comparable pay to other executives reporting at the same organizational level, the median base annual salary for logistics executives in industries surveyed is $110,000. This is expected to increase as market competition accelerates and companies strive to attract and retain gifted logistics executives.

Some of the surprise findings of the study reveal that environmental issues, total quality management and globalization were perceived to have little impact on the future of the logistics/distribution function. Among the most important factors in shaping the future of the function, EDI/information systems ranked first. Within the corporations studied, top competitive priorities were delivery/dependability, quick response and product quality.

The University of Tennessee ranked as the top school in the country for educating logistics/distribution managers. Overall, 95 percent of those surveyed hold bachelor degrees, while 41 percent of those hold graduate degrees and nearly 50 percent possess advanced graduate degrees. Nearly half of the logistics/distribution executives indicated that they report directly to the CEO or COO of their organizations.

Full results of "Logistics Executives: A Management Discipline In Transition," including an executive overview, detailed responses and illustrative graphs are available by contacting Tracy O'Carroll at D.E. Foster Partners, Inc., (212) 872-6052.

MESA to receive "SMART" funding

The Manufacturing Execution Systems Association (MESA International), as a member of the National Industrial Information Infrastructure Protocols (NIIIP) Consortium, will receive $13 million in national funding for the development of Solutions for MES-Adaptable Replicable Technology (SMART) from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) of the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The SMART project will receive this cost-shared funding to work on experimental, highly flexible technologies to simplify the task of integrating and sharing real-time data across the many different planning, tracking and control systems employed by the nation's manufacturing industries.
Members of the NIIIP consortium include General Motors Corp., North American Operations (Warren, Mich.), IBM (Stamford, Conn.), International TechneGroup, Inc. (Milford, Ohio), MESA International (Pittsburgh, Pa.), STEP Tools, Inc. (Troy, N.Y.), UES, Inc. (Dublin, Ohio), and the University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.).

"MES products already offer tremendous benefits to manufacturers," says Mike Wells, director of operations for Grant Thornton and MESA's member representative to the NIIIP Consortium. "In an open architecture format, which is the objective of this research, MES will become even more universal. This, in turn, will increase MES use, bring the cost of the technology down, and ultimately benefit everyone who buys manufactured goods."

Among MESA's membership, several members are participating including: Applied Automation Techniques, Consillium, FACT, FAST, ICC, and MDSS (with CAMSTAR serving as an alternate). At present, each member is to assign one full-time staff member to the project. These six individuals will form a subcommittee that, along with an outside project coordinator (to be named at a later date), will liaison with other members of the consortium.

For its part, MESA will receive approximately $1.5 million over the next three years.

The proposed SMART will be an open, non-proprietary software framework developed to facilitate the horizontal (among MES solutions) and vertical (from planning to operations) integration of existing and future factory information systems. To make the factory better able to adapt to specialized and varied orders, decision tools and knowledge agents that can collect relevant data will be developed. The use of software agent technology in the implementation of the framework will allow it to grow and evolve intelligently over time and adapt to additional end-user environments. The technologies that will result from the effort will be designed to support the complexity and disparity of the entire gamut of manufacturing enterprises.

Simulation Software Vendors Association formed

Eight major developers of simulation software voted recently to form Sim.TECH, the Simulation Software Vendors Association, "Solutions for Understanding and Managing Change."

Charter Members are AT&T Istel, AutoSimulations, Deneb Robotics, F&H Simulations, Inc., Imagine That, Inc., Pritsker Corp., Micro Analysis & Design, Inc., and Systems Modeling Corp. Representatives of these companies will participate on the Sim.TECH Board of Directors. Sim.TECH will operate as a not-for-profit trade association based in Pittsburgh.

The mission of the association is to expand awareness and use of Simulation Technology through programs including conference presentations, educational materials, an Internet web site, and work with trade and business publications to communicate to a variety of industries and fields.

Simulation models provide statistical estimates of actual system performance. In addition, they provide graphical animation that creates greater understanding of system dynamics. Simulation technology allows the design team to actually duplicate and operate the plant or business design within the computer, thereby facilitating exact renditions on how the new or changed system will operate before major investments are made.

For more information, contact Bill Hakanson, Executive Director, Sim.TECH, 303 Freeport Road, e-mail: [email protected]