One of CSCMP's goals is to promote the supply chain management profession to students around the world. CSCMP's roundtables are vitally important to realizing this goal because they continuously build collaborative relationships with universities, colleges, and academia. As part of that effort, many roundtables offer scholarships to students who are rising supply chain stars. Here are a few examples.
The Arizona Roundtable proudly awarded its first annual supply chain scholarships in 2007 to Naomi Amparo, a student at Arizona State University (ASU), and Manish Sawlani, a student at the Thunderbird Global School of Management. Each received a scholarship of US $1,250. The roundtable also recently awarded a US $2,500 scholarship to Amanda Schmidt, a supply chain student at ASU who has been involved in sending medical supplies to various regions of Africa.
To fund these awards, the Arizona Roundtable contributes 75 percent of the net proceeds from its events to the scholarship fund. In addition to raising scholarship funds, this practice aids in event promotion and helps justify the expense for attendees. It also allows the roundtable to build a strong line of communication with the local education community.
The Columbus Roundtable, through its Bernard J. LaLonde Transportation and Logistics Scholarship program, awarded Steven Miko, a student at The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business, a US $3,270 scholarship.
The New England Roundtable (NERT) awarded five US $1,000 scholarships to students at partner schools. Through its scholarship program, the Education Committee of NERT works with professors at area colleges and universities to recognize students who are interested in supply chain management and who excel both in the classroom and in extracurricular activities.
This year's recipients are:
Chris Chesebro will receive an MBA in management of operations and technology from Bentley College in 2009. He plans to focus his studies on textile supply chain management, which will allow him to be a fourth-generation contributor to Wigwam Mills, a well-known hosiery manufacturer.
Jarred Sternbergh is a 2010 candidate for a bachelor of science degree with a concentration in international business and logistics at Maine Maritime Academy. Sternbergh has been an officer in the Regiment of Midshipmen and has received the Rear Admiral Warren C. Hamm Jr. Leadership Award.
Erik Caldwell is a student in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) master of engineering in logistics (MLOG) program. His research has focused on exploring how transportation pricing is correlated to other factors such as tender lead time and business policies. Before entering the MLOG program, Erik attended West Point, served in the U.S. Army, and worked in third-party logistics.
Marcia Muñoz Robles will receive a bachelor of science degree in international business with a concentration in supply chain management at Northeastern University. Robles, who is fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian, will also earn a dual degree with Universidad de Las Americas in Mexico. She is a research assistant to one of her professors, a position usually reserved for MBA students.
Helen Zhang is a 2009 candidate for a bachelor of science degree with a double major in supply chain management and management information systems at the University of Rhode Island. Zhang, who speaks Shanghai-dialect Chinese and is studying Mandarin, is an active member of the Supply Chain Management Club and assists faculty with various research projects.
Repeat performance
Student Showcase returns to CSCMP's Annual Conference
"Don't mess with success." That's a motto CSCMP takes to heart, especially when it comes to something as successful as CSCMP's Student Showcase! The showcase premiered at CSCMP's Annual Global Conference 2007 and featured students' case studies, projects, white papers, and résumés, all of which highlighted their unique talents and experience.
CSCMP developed the program last year after asking members if they would be interested in interviewing future supply chain leaders. Based on their enthusiastic response, we created the Student Showcase as a way to connect practitioners with supply chain students.
The 2007 Student Showcase in Philadelphia was overwhelmingly popular, and this year's event promises to be equally exciting. Companies will be able to schedule interviews with the best and the brightest graduate and undergraduate students at CSCMP's Annual Global Conference, October 5-8, 2008, in Denver, Colorado, USA.
The Student Showcase will be open Sunday, October 5, through Tuesday, October 7. Conference attendees will be able to view students' résumés, projects, and papers, as well as network with them. Students will be available for interviews on Tuesday, October 7, between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
While the showcase is a new addition to the conference, student participation is a long-standing tradition. For more than 20 years, CSCMP's roundtables have been sponsoring college students so they can attend the annual global conference as part of CSCMP's extended staff. Students are selected by the roundtables based on their scholastic performance and passion for the profession. Each year, CSCMP's Annual Global Conference benefits from the participation of these outstanding young people, and the students benefit from the event's educational content and the opportunity to meet potential employers.
For more information about the Student Showcase, or if you, a colleague, or your human resources staff are interested in participating, please contact Sherrie A. Nauden, CSCMP Manager of Roundtables, at +1.630.645.3466 or
Global risk, crisis and leadership: An insider's view
Few people know as much about global risk, crisis preparation, and leadership as Frances Fragos Townsend. Townsend, who will be the keynote speaker at CSCMP's Annual Conference October 5-8, 2008, served as assistant to President George W. Bush for homeland security and counterterrorism and chaired the Homeland Security Council from May 2004 until January 2008. During that time, Townsend was known for having the ear and respect of the president, advising him almost daily on matters of global security.
Since resigning from her post, Townsend has been bringing that expertise to the corporate world. She currently provides consulting services on global strategic risk and contingency planning to companies worldwide. Her keynote address, "Global Strategic Risk: Anticipate, Prepare, and Mitigate," promises to expand attendees' view of global risk, showing how it can affect them no matter the size, location, or other characteristics of the markets their companies serve. She will then address what they can do to mitigate those risks.
Other major sessions include "Curved Thinking in a Flat World: How to Capitalize on Future Uncertainty" by Dr. Mahender Singh, head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Supply Chain 2020 research project, and "Faster, Better, Smaller: Leading in an Era of Exponential Change" by noted futurist and best-selling author Jack Uldrich.
Powered by supply chain professionals
Intel becomes first corporate partner in CSCMP's Supply Chain Management Professional Recognition Program
The "Intel Inside" brand awareness campaign made sure consumers knew that their personal computers were powered by Intel microprocessors. Now, with a little help from CSCMP, the company's supply chain professionals are doing a little awareness raising of their own. Through the Supply Chain Management Professional Recognition Program, the company is making sure its employees know that supply chain professionals inside Intel are powering the company's success.
Intel Corporation is the first corporate partner of CSCMP's Supply Chain Management Professional Recognition Program, a collaborative effort between CSCMP and global businesses to formally recognize top-performing supply chain talent. Under the program, partner companies honor their outstanding supply chain practitioners with two designations, Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP) and Senior Supply Chain Management Professional (Senior SCMP).
The program does not award an academic or training certification. Instead, supply chain practitioners are evaluated based on their companies' specific criteria, which typically include the level of execution expertise and the professional's influence within both the company and industry. Supply chain professionals who earn these designations are recognized by the organizations they work for, under the auspices of CSCMP. The individuals receive recognition on CSCMP's web site and in various association publications.
Intel Corporation's senior supply chain master and SCMP program chair, James R. Kellso, was recognized with the Senior SCMP designation. The following Intel Corporation employees received the SCMP designation: Simon Barrett, Nikhil Chhabra, German Ham, Isaac Hooper, Scott Kornak, Pallas Kwok, Shelly Lafree, Kenneth Loop, Chris Philippi, K.C. Quah, and Michael Virani.
"We commend these practitioners on their commitment to professional excellence," said Rick Blasgen, CSCMP's president and CEO. "Earning one of these designations is a noteworthy achievement. It increases the profile of the individual receiving the recognition as well as that of the profession by creating company- and industrywide awareness of the supply chain professional's significant role in the global marketplace."
CSCMP's Supply Chain Management Professional Recognition Program benefits both individual firms and the industry as a whole by recognizing and utilizing the expertise and knowledge base within a company. Any organization that employs supply chain professionals, regardless of its mission, size, or location, may participate in the program. There is no cost to participate.
If you haven't already signed up to join Denver, Colorado, USA, now is the October 5-8, 2008, in Global thousands of your peers from around the world at CSCMP's Annual Conference, time to register and make your hotel reservation. Save US $280.00 if you register by July 31, 2008. Conference fees cover all program events, meal functions, and materials.
Information about the conference agenda, track topics, accommodations, activities in Denver, and more is available here.
To register online, go here and click on "Register Now."
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help users build “smart and responsive supply chains” by increasing workforce productivity, expanding visibility, accelerating processes, and prioritizing the next best action to drive results, according to business software vendor Oracle.
To help reach that goal, the Texas company last week released software upgrades including user experience (UX) enhancements to its Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) suite.
“Organizations are under pressure to create efficient and resilient supply chains that can quickly adapt to economic conditions, control costs, and protect margins,” Chris Leone, executive vice president, Applications Development, Oracle, said in a release. “The latest enhancements to Oracle Cloud SCM help customers create a smarter, more responsive supply chain by enabling them to optimize planning and execution and improve the speed and accuracy of processes.”
According to Oracle, specific upgrades feature changes to its:
Production Supervisor Workbench, which helps organizations improve manufacturing performance by providing real-time insight into work orders and generative AI-powered shift reporting.
Maintenance Supervisor Workbench, which helps organizations increase productivity and reduce asset downtime by resolving maintenance issues faster.
Order Management Enhancements, which help organizations increase operational performance by enabling users to quickly create and find orders, take actions, and engage customers.
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Enhancements, which help organizations accelerate product development and go-to-market by enabling users to quickly find items and configure critical objects and navigation paths to meet business-critical priorities.
Nearly one-third of American consumers have increased their secondhand purchases in the past year, revealing a jump in “recommerce” according to a buyer survey from ShipStation, a provider of web-based shipping and order fulfillment solutions.
The number comes from a survey of 500 U.S. consumers showing that nearly one in four (23%) Americans lack confidence in making purchases over $200 in the next six months. Due to economic uncertainty, savvy shoppers are looking for ways to save money without sacrificing quality or style, the research found.
Younger shoppers are leading the charge in that trend, with 59% of Gen Z and 48% of Millennials buying pre-owned items weekly or monthly. That rate makes Gen Z nearly twice as likely to buy second hand compared to older generations.
The primary reason that shoppers say they have increased their recommerce habits is lower prices (74%), followed by the thrill of finding unique or rare items (38%) and getting higher quality for a lower price (28%). Only 14% of Americans cite environmental concerns as a primary reason they shop second-hand.
Despite the challenge of adjusting to the new pattern, recommerce represents a strategic opportunity for businesses to capture today’s budget-minded shoppers and foster long-term loyalty, Austin, Texas-based ShipStation said.
For example, retailers don’t have to sell used goods to capitalize on the secondhand boom. Instead, they can offer trade-in programs swapping discounts or store credit for shoppers’ old items. And they can improve product discoverability to help customers—particularly older generations—find what they’re looking for.
Other ways for retailers to connect with recommerce shoppers are to improve shipping practices. According to ShipStation:
70% of shoppers won’t return to a brand if shipping is too expensive.
51% of consumers are turned off by late deliveries
40% of shoppers won’t return to a retailer again if the packaging is bad.
The “CMA CGM Startup Awards”—created in collaboration with BFM Business and La Tribune—will identify the best innovations to accelerate its transformation, the French company said.
Specifically, the company will select the best startup among the applicants, with clear industry transformation objectives focused on environmental performance, competitiveness, and quality of life at work in each of the three areas:
Shipping: Enabling safer, more efficient, and sustainable navigation through innovative technological solutions.
Logistics: Reinventing the global supply chain with smart and sustainable logistics solutions.
Media: Transform content creation, and customer engagement with innovative media technologies and strategies.
Three winners will be selected during a final event organized on November 15 at the Orange Vélodrome Stadium in Marseille, during the 2nd Artificial Intelligence Marseille (AIM) forum organized by La Tribune and BFM Business. The selection will be made by a jury chaired by Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the Group, and including members of the executive committee representing the various sectors of CMA CGM.
Businesses were preparing to deal with the effects of the latest major storm of the 2024 hurricane season as Francine barreled toward the Gulf Coast Wednesday.
Louisiana was experiencing heavy rain and wind gusts at midday as the storm moved northeast through the Gulf and was expected to pick up speed. The state will bear the brunt of Francine’s wind, rain, and storm damage, according to forecasters at weather service provider AccuWeather.
“AccuWeather meteorologists are projecting a storm surge of 6-10 feet along much of the Louisiana coast with a pocket of 10-15 feet on some of the inland bays in south-central Louisiana,” the company reported in an afternoon update Wednesday.
Businesses and supply chains were prepping for delays and disruptions from the storm earlier this week. Supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc said the storm will have a “significant impact” on a wide range of industries along the Gulf Coast, including aerospace, life sciences, manufacturing, oil and gas, and high-tech, among others. In a statement, Resilinc said energy companies had evacuated personnel and suspended operations on oil platforms as of Tuesday. In addition, the firm said its proprietary data showed the storm could affect nearly 11,000 manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, fabrication, and testing sites across the region, putting at risk more than 57,000 parts used in everyday items and the manufacture of more than 4,000 products.
Francine, which was expected to make landfall as a category 2 hurricane, according to AccuWeather, follows the devastating effects of two storms earlier this summer: Hurricane Beryl, which hit the Texas coast in July, and Hurricane Debby, which caused $28 billion in damage and economic loss after hitting the Southeast on August 5.
Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in August, though growth slowed slightly from July, according to the most recent Logistics Manager’s Index report (LMI), released this week.
The August LMI registered 56.4, down from July’s reading of 56.6 but consistent with readings over the past four months. The August reading represents nine straight months of growth across the logistics industry.
The LMI is a monthly gauge of economic activity across warehousing, transportation, and logistics markets. An LMI above 50 indicates expansion, and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
Inventory levels saw a marked change in August, increasing more than six points compared to July and breaking a three-month streak of contraction. The LMI researchers said this suggests that after running inventories down, companies are now building them back up in anticipation of fourth-quarter demand. It also represents a return to more typical growth patterns following the accelerated demand for logistics services during the Covid-19 pandemic and the lows of the recent freight recession.
“This suggests a return to traditional patterns of seasonality that we have not seen since pre-COVID,” the researchers wrote in the monthly LMI report, published Tuesday, adding that the buildup is somewhat tempered by increases in warehousing capacity and transportation capacity.
The LMI report is based on a monthly survey of logistics managers from across the country. It tracks industry growth overall and across eight areas: inventory levels and costs; warehousing capacity, utilization, and prices; and transportation capacity, utilization, and prices. The report is released monthly by researchers from Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, and the University of Nevada, Reno, in conjunction with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP).