To a great extent, business success is a result of effective management of operations and resources. That is the focus of APICS — the association for operations management — an international organization with more than 40,000 members.
APICS is focused on education and professional development. Offering certifications in production and inventory management for manufacturing and distribution specialists and supply chain management (Certified Supply Chain Professional) which is valuable to professionals in fields as diverse as health care, retail, insurance, services, and logistics, APICS is dedicated to helping members and their companies better manage operations and get the most from all resources — people, equipment and facilities, materials, funds and trading partners.
APICS chapters throughout the world offer a professional development meeting that consists of either a presentation on an operations management topic or a plant tour. Recent topics in our local chapter include lean operations and six sigma quality, "green" energy management, capacity management, and the logistics infrastructure in China, among others.
The group also tours local plants and discusses the products, markets, and operations. At each of these companies, members are usually given a tour of the production areas and warehouses, learn about the company business and operations, and discuss their challenges and successes.
As an education-oriented association, APICS also offers classes on a wide range of operations management topics. There are programs leading to certification for individuals and others focused on operational improvements such as lean manufacturing and global sourcing. CPIM certification classes are offered through local chapters and colleges, and all classes and workshops are available on-site at host companies in the area, and at public scheduled sessions.
APICS members come from plant and warehouse operations, procurement, customer service, general management, logistics, information technology, and other business areas. The association publishes a magazine for members and offers a weekly newsletter to all (members and non-members) highlighting operations management issues in the news. For more information and to sign up for the newsletter, visit www.apics.org Many local chapters also publish newsletters with local activity schedules and items of interest.
APICS offers business professionals the opportunity to learn best practices in operations and resource management, enhance job performance and career advancement through education and certification programs, and helps companies advance productivity, innovation and competitive success.
Dave Turbide, CFPIM, CMfgE, CIRM, CSCP, is president of the Granite State chapter of APICS and vice president for education. More information can be found at www.daveturbide.com.
Showing posts with label best practices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best practices. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Do You Get It?
I placed an order with Staples on the Internet the other afternoon and there was an email waiting in my in box the next morning saying that the order had already been shipped and I could expect my merchandise the next day. I placed an order with a different company two weeks ago and I'm still waiting for that shipment to arrive. Whereas that might have been acceptable, or at least expected, a few years ago, my expectations have certainly changed. Staples gets it. The other company is headed for trouble.
This is a really obvious example of how a market has changed dramatically. Market changes are not always that dramatic and not always that obvious. What worked for the last ten (or twenty or fifty) years may not continue to work in the future. The Internet has played a big role in changing markets but it’s the companies that have exploited this technology that have made the difference, not the technology itself. Who would have ever thought that a retailer could make a thriving business just selling coffee, and charging several times the going rate for it as well? Who could have predicted that someone could build a multi-billion dollar business delivering letters and small packages overnight – competing with the established, relatively reliable and very inexpensive postal service – charging eight or ten dollars to deliver a letter in one day that the post office would deliver in a couple days for less than a dollar? And the list goes on.
It should be pretty obvious that change is coming and possibly from an entirely unexpected direction. Every business must be continuously aware of market forces and competition and be ready to adapt to meet the challenges head-on. Or, better yet, think far enough ‘outside of the box’ to be the one driving its competitors out of business. Best-in-class benchmarking – looking outside of your own industry for best practices – can sometimes be the source of game-changing ideas.
Companies that don’t ‘get it’ – don’t recognize the changing landscape at the earliest opportunity and take positive action to counteract it – are doomed.
Do you ‘get it’? Are you willing and able to recognize the first signs of change? Are you willing to abandon long-held ideas, processes, products, methods, and marketing approaches?
This is a really obvious example of how a market has changed dramatically. Market changes are not always that dramatic and not always that obvious. What worked for the last ten (or twenty or fifty) years may not continue to work in the future. The Internet has played a big role in changing markets but it’s the companies that have exploited this technology that have made the difference, not the technology itself. Who would have ever thought that a retailer could make a thriving business just selling coffee, and charging several times the going rate for it as well? Who could have predicted that someone could build a multi-billion dollar business delivering letters and small packages overnight – competing with the established, relatively reliable and very inexpensive postal service – charging eight or ten dollars to deliver a letter in one day that the post office would deliver in a couple days for less than a dollar? And the list goes on.
It should be pretty obvious that change is coming and possibly from an entirely unexpected direction. Every business must be continuously aware of market forces and competition and be ready to adapt to meet the challenges head-on. Or, better yet, think far enough ‘outside of the box’ to be the one driving its competitors out of business. Best-in-class benchmarking – looking outside of your own industry for best practices – can sometimes be the source of game-changing ideas.
Companies that don’t ‘get it’ – don’t recognize the changing landscape at the earliest opportunity and take positive action to counteract it – are doomed.
Do you ‘get it’? Are you willing and able to recognize the first signs of change? Are you willing to abandon long-held ideas, processes, products, methods, and marketing approaches?
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