CSCMP's roundtables are local organizations of supply chain professionals who come together to share ideas, experiences, and hands-on knowledge. Roundtables sponsor educational events and site visits, promote the profession to young people, and provide opportunities for members to learn how to advance their careers. For more information, go to www.cscmp.org and click on "Local Roundtables."
Everything that goes around, comes around—especially when it comes to the customer service provided by CSCMP's roundtables.
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' 87 global roundtables are dedicated to organizing programs that provide the best customer experience possible for local business communities and the supply chain profession at large. The officers and committee chairs who make up the roundtables' cabinets firmly believe that the better the customer experience, the better the value derived by all involved, from the event organizers and attendees, to the broader supply chain community, and back to the roundtable volunteers.
This concept of mutual benefit is one of the foundations of the roundtables' mission. "[The] value of roundtable involvement isn't just a takeaway," says Mike DelBovo, 2003 CSCMP Roundtable Chair. "It's a giveaway as well. Participation benefits other roundtables and attendees, who in turn give value to the organization, to the membership, and to the supply chain community. And where does it end up? Right back on the doorstep of the roundtable volunteers— enriching their individual careers and personal development."
Voice of the customers
Four decades ago, the founders of CSCMP (then National Council of Physical Distribution Management) established the roundtables as local venues for encouraging dialogue and for sharing knowledge and opinions. That's why, like their Arthurian namesake, CSCMP roundtables strive to create an atmosphere of open discussion and equality among those who come to the "table." By doing so, they encourage the fusion of both commonalities and differences into a cohesive goal.
One way roundtables achieve that objective is by offering a wide variety of educational programs and networking opportunities structured to facilitate communication among all represented supply chain segments. This, in turn, encourages collaboration and ultimately forms an unbreakable connection among participants, the organization, and the industry. These three elements embody roundtable philosophy and purpose by unifying the talents, skills, and knowledge of many people into a single, focused force.
Current CSCMP Roundtable Chair Michelle Meyer, whose involvement dates back to her college days, notes that roundtable participation has enhanced her professional and personal development. Based on her experiences, she believes that members' dedication to serving and promoting the profession makes it all happen. (For more of Meyer's views, see "CSCMP Roundtables—A Professional's Perspective.")
Meyer is right: The roundtable volunteers are the driving force behind CSCMP, functioning both as a conduit of information between the organization and the professional community and as the voice of the customers, expressing their needs to the organization. This two-way stream of communication helps the roundtables develop programs that meet the expectations and needs of their customers, the supply chain professionals.
The customer journey
Yet volunteers can't be expected to provide great customer experience unless they have experienced it themselves. That knowledge led to an opportunity for roundtable cabinet members from around the globe to learn about both giving and receiving great customer service during the 2007 Annual Roundtable Leadership Forum, held in June.
The Leadership Forum's unique "Customer Journey" session was the brainchild of Organizing Committee Chair Russell Kinneberg. In that session, Kinneberg used a "map" to guide participants through the phases of a great roundtable customer experience, as seen from the customer's point of view. The forum's organizing committee designed this unique program to provide cabinet members with a model they can follow in their local roundtables when planning programs and services. (See "Mapping a Great Roundtable Experience.")
Throughout the world, CSCMP's global roundtables offer local supply chain professionals a great customer experience. Whether it's planning, organizing, educating, or learning, each phase of that experience is another step in a unique and memorable journey. And, when that journey comes full circle, the participants have received immense value not only to take away but also to give back—to colleagues, to the profession at large, and to CSCMP, where it all began and where it will start again.
CSCMP Roundtables—A Professional's Perspective
By Michelle Meyer
When I was asked to contribute my thoughts about what the roundtables mean to me as a professional to the inaugural issue of CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly, the first words that came to mind were "friendship" and "generosity." The community of professionals that I have been lucky to meet over the years of my CSCMP involvement is absolutely amazing, and I am fortunate today to be able to consider many of them as friends.
It is hard for me to believe that it all started when I attended my first annual conference, 20 years ago this October, as a college junior majoring in transportation and logistics at the University of Colorado. Professor Jerry Foster's generous sharing of his time and his keen interest in students helped make sure that I got the most from my conference experience.
The roundtables became "real" for me when Paul Nuzum, who re-established the Rocky Mountain Roundtable in the early 1990s, hooked me the usual way most people get pulled into supporting a local roundtable: He asked me to be program chair. It was my first opportunity to ask industry professionals to share their knowledge with other colleagues.
It was fun! Our roundtable developed programs that attracted a cross-section of people, all coming to learn and to share. This provided an opportunity to network with people whom I otherwise would never have had the chance to meet. And there was always a focus on including students and on ensuring that the program was informative and helpful. I have learned so much about other industries, other companies, and other parts of the world through the information that people have been willing to share at roundtable events.
Some of the unique opportunities that I remember most are witnessing the behind-the-scenes operations at Coors Field (our beloved Denver baseball stadium), walking through a UPS sorting facility during night operations, drinking beer from the end of the filter line at a major brewing company, viewing the size and complexity of one of Wal-Mart's one-million-plus squarefoot distribution centers, and observing how the external tank of the space shuttle is manufactured and assembled. All thanks to participating in events scheduled through the local roundtables. Pretty incredible!
Through all the years of attending, participating, and supporting the local roundtables, I am still constantly amazed at how generous people have been with their time and knowledge. I know personally how much time and effort it takes to run a local roundtable. The roundtable volunteers are a special group of people who give their time to put together the programs, raise the monies that send students to college and to the conferences, and share their knowledge. I just like being around them.
That's why I love CSCMP—it's the people! And the people who make it happen every day at the roundtables are the ones who make CSCMP a viable force that reaches most of us. So, thanks to all who run a roundtable, and to all those who support their local roundtable—you do make a difference.
Michelle Meyer, president of Mcubed, Inc., is the current CSCMP roundtable chair.
Mapping a Great Roundtable Customer Experience
By Russell Kinneberg
How do you define a great customer experi- ence? Colin Shaw, author of Building Great Customer Experiences, puts it this way:
"It is a blend of a company's physical performance and the emotions evoked, intuitively measured against customer expectations across all moments of contact.
A great customer experience is about how it makes you feel.
A great customer experience is about stimulating customers' emotions."
Creating a customer experience that meets this definition starts with defining a series of high-level steps or phases, and then recording them on a customer experience "map." Many maps that I have seen include seven to 10 linear steps across a sheet of paper. These steps describe the "story" you are designing, but from your customer's point of view. The descriptions usually use words that end in "ing" to indicate that they are in the process of being experienced.
Great stories have a beginning, middle, and end. With that in mind, think about the steps that your customers—the roundtable attendees—will go through while using your product or service. For example, a roundtable that is creating a tour may consider the steps of learning, planning, arriving, networking, educating, leaving, and remembering. On the other hand, if you are creating a customer experience map for your business, you may consider the steps of learning, planning, buying, ordering, tracking, using, and paying.
After writing your steps across the sheet of paper, label the rows under those steps. Each row provides a place for answering questions about each step. The first row is usually labeled description and documents the "what" for each step. For instance, the description for learning could be "Gathering information for decision-making."
Additional rows could include attributes, where you would list synonyms for each step. Attributes for the learning step would include listening, seeing, and discussing—all parts of the learning process.
Additional rows could answer such questions as:
What is the customer's expectation?
What are potential threats to meeting that expectation?
What is the opportunity to exceed physical expectations?
What is the opportunity to exceed emotional expectations?
What is the emotion you want to evoke?
What metrics are needed to know whether the experience has been successful?
When you are ready to design your customer experience, start with a few steps and a few rows of detail as needed. The chart detail; you can add more shown on the preceding page can serve as an example to get you started with the process of mapping.
Another tip for building great customer experiences is to observe what others are doing and how they are reacting. Keep a journal of what you observe. Can you see for yourself what works and doesn't work? What are the people around you expressing about the experience? Are their needs being met?
Providing a great customer experience helps to prevent your products, services, and programs from becoming a commodity.
Russell Kinneberg, project manager at Cargill Inc., is a CSCMP strategic advisor and the 2007 Roundtable Leadership Forum Organizing Committee chair.
The number of container ships waiting outside U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports has swelled from just three vessels on Sunday to 54 on Thursday as a dockworker strike has swiftly halted bustling container traffic at some of the nation’s business facilities, according to analysis by Everstream Analytics.
As of Thursday morning, the two ports with the biggest traffic jams are Savannah (15 ships) and New York (14), followed by single-digit numbers at Mobile, Charleston, Houston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, Baltimore, and Miami, Everstream said.
The impact of that clogged flow of goods will depend on how long the strike lasts, analysts with Moody’s said. The firm’s Moody’s Analytics division estimates the strike will cause a daily hit to the U.S. economy of at least $500 million in the coming days. But that impact will jump to $2 billion per day if the strike persists for several weeks.
The immediate cost of the strike can be seen in rising surcharges and rerouting delays, which can be absorbed by most enterprise-scale companies but hit small and medium-sized businesses particularly hard, a report from Container xChange says.
“The timing of this strike is especially challenging as we are in our traditional peak season. While many pulled forward shipments earlier this year to mitigate risks, stockpiled inventories will only cushion businesses for so long. If the strike continues for an extended period, we could see significant strain on container availability and shipping schedules,” Christian Roeloffs, cofounder and CEO of Container xChange, said in a release.
“For small and medium-sized container traders, this could result in skyrocketing logistics costs and delays, making it harder to secure containers. The longer the disruption lasts, the more difficult it will be for these businesses to keep pace with market demands,” Roeloffs said.
Jason Kra kicked off his presentation at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) EDGE Conference on Tuesday morning with a question: “How do we use data in assessing what countries we should be investing in for future supply chain decisions?” As president of Li & Fung where he oversees the supply chain solutions company’s wholesale and distribution business in the U.S., Kra understands that many companies are looking for ways to assess risk in their supply chains and diversify their operations beyond China. To properly assess risk, however, you need quality data and a decision model, he said.
In January 2024, in addition to his full-time job, Kra joined American University’s Kogod School of Business as an adjunct professor of the school’s master’s program where he decided to find some answers to his above question about data.
For his research, he created the following situation: “How can data be used to assess the attractiveness of scalable apparel-producing countries for planning based on stability and predictability, and what factors should be considered in the decision-making process to de-risk country diversification decisions?”
Since diversification and resilience have been hot topics in the supply chain space since the U.S.’s 2017 trade war with China, Kra sought to find a way to apply a scientific method to assess supply chain risk. He specifically wanted to answer the following questions:
1.Which methodology is most appropriate to investigate when selecting a country to produce apparel in based on weighted criteria?
2.What criteria should be used to evaluate a production country’s suitability for scalable manufacturing as a future investment?
3.What are the weights (relative importance) of each criterion?
4.How can this methodology be utilized to assess the suitability of production countries for scalable apparel manufacturing and to create a country ranking?
5.Will the criteria and methodology apply to other industries?
After creating a list of criteria and weight rankings based on importance, Kra reached out to 70 senior managers with 20+ years of experience and C-suite executives to get their feedback. What he found was a big difference in criteria/weight rankings between the C-suite and senior managers.
“That huge gap is a good area for future research,” said Kra. “If you don’t have alignment between your C-suite and your senior managers who are doing a lot of the execution, you’re never going to achieve the goals you set as a company.”
With the research results, Kra created a decision model for country selection that can be applied to any industry and customized based on a company’s unique needs. That model includes discussing the data findings, creating a list of diversification countries, and finally, looking at future trends to factor in (like exponential technology, speed, types of supply chains and geopolitics, and sustainability).
After showcasing his research data to the EDGE audience, Kra ended his presentation by sharing some key takeaways from his research:
China diversification strategies alone are not enough. The world will continue to be volatile and disruptive. Country and region diversification is the only protection.
Managers need to balance trade-offs between what is optimal and what is acceptable regarding supply chain decisions. Decision-makers need to find the best country at the lowest price, with the most dependability.
There is a disconnect or misalignment between C-suite executives and senior managers who execute the strategy. So further education and alignment is critical.
Data-driven decision-making for your company/industry: This can be done for any industry—the data is customizable, and there are many “free” sources you can access to put together regional and country data. Utilizing data helps eliminate path dependency (for example, relying on a lean or just-in-time inventory) and keeps executives and managers aligned.
“Look at the business you envision in the future,” said Kra, “and make that your model for today.”
Turning around a failing warehouse operation demands a similar methodology to how emergency room doctors triage troubled patients at the hospital, a speaker said today in a session at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)’s EDGE Conference in Nashville.
There are many reasons that a warehouse might start to miss its targets, such as a sudden volume increase or a new IT system implementation gone wrong, said Adri McCaskill, general manager for iPlan’s Warehouse Management business unit. But whatever the cause, the basic rescue strategy is the same: “Just like medicine, you do triage,” she said. “The most life-threatening problem we try to solve first. And only then, once we’ve stopped the bleeding, we can move on.”
In McCaskill’s comparison, just as a doctor might have to break some ribs through energetic CPR to get a patient’s heart beating again, a failing warehouse might need to recover by “breaking some ribs” in a business sense, such as making management changes or stock write-downs.
Once the business has made some stopgap solutions to “stop the bleeding,” it can proceed to a disciplined recovery, she said. And to reach their final goal, managers can use the classic tools of people, process, and technology to improve what she called the three most important key performance indicators (KPIs): on time in full (OTIF), inventory accuracy, and staff turnover.
CSCMP EDGE attendees gathered Tuesday afternoon for an update and outlook on the truckload (TL) market, which is on the upswing following the longest down cycle in recorded history. Kevin Adamik of RXO (formerly Coyote Logistics), offered an overview of truckload market cycles, highlighting major trends from the recent freight recession and providing an update on where the TL cycle is now.
EDGE 2024, sponsored by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), is taking place this week in Nashville.
Citing data from the Coyote Curve index (which measures year-over-year changes in spot market rates) and other sources, Adamik outlined the dynamics of the TL market. He explained that the last cycle—which lasted from about 2019 to 2024—was longer than the typical three to four-year market cycle, marked by volatile conditions spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. That cycle is behind us now, he said, adding that the market has reached equilibrium and is headed toward an inflationary environment.
Adamik also told attendees that he expects the new TL cycle to be marked by far less volatility, with a return to more typical conditions. And he offered a slate of supply and demand trends to note as the industry moves into the new cycle.
Supply trends include:
Carrier operating authorities are declining;
Employment in the trucking industry is declining;
Private fleets have expanded, but the expansion has stopped;
Truckload orders are falling.
Demand trends include:
Consumer spending is stable, but is still more service-centric and less goods-intensive;
After a steep decline, imports are on the rise;
Freight volumes have been sluggish but are showing signs of life.
CSCMP EDGE runs through Wednesday, October 2, at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Resort.
The relationship between shippers and third-party logistics services providers (3PLs) is at the core of successful supply chain management—so getting that relationship right is vital. A panel of industry experts from both sides of the aisle weighed in on what it takes to create strong 3PL/shipper partnerships on day two of the CSCMP EDGE conference, being held this week in Nashville.
Trust, empathy, and transparency ranked high on the list of key elements required for success in all aspects of the partnership, but there are some specifics for each step of the journey. The panel recommended a handful of actions that should take place early on, including:
Establish relationships.
For 3PLs, understand and get to the heart of the shipper’s data.
Also for 3PLs: Understand the shipper’s reason for outsourcing to a 3PL, along with the shipper’s ultimate goals.
Understand company cultures and be sure they align.
Nurture long-term relationships with good communication.
For shippers, be transparent so that the 3PL fully understands your business.
And there are also some “non-negotiables” when it comes to managing the relationship:
3PLs must demonstrate their commitment to engaging with the shipper’s personnel.
3PLs must also demonstrate their commitment to process discipline, continuous improvement, and innovation.
Shippers should ensure that they understand the 3PL’s demonstrated implementation capabilities—ask to visit established clients.
Trust—which takes longer to establish than both sides may expect.
EDGE 2024 is sponsored by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and runs through Wednesday, October 2, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville.