President's Message
September 18, 2007
Who are we?
As this is written, the Northern Sierra Chapter consists of 169 members representing 57 companies. The chapter has always been the beneficiary of strong support from IGT and this continues to be the case. Seventy chapter members and five of the eleven Board members are IGT employees. IGT generously makes its training facility available to the chapter for CPIM and other classes and the company has donated slot machines as chapter fund-raising raffle prizes each of the last two years. Until recently, the chapter’s website was hosted on an IGT server. It is very safe to say that IGT’s support has been, and continues to be, the foundation of APICS’ Northern Sierra Chapter.
Who else are we? Two companies are second to IGT in the number of chapter members: Server Technology (Reno) and Cooper B-Line (Reno) both count 6 employees as chapter members. Third? It’s a three-way tie with four employees each: Reliance Parts (Minden); Parker-Hannifin (Carson City); and Vitamin Research Products (Carson City). These companies, and each of the remaining 51, recognize the value of their employees’ APICS participation. They are the reason the chapter exists.
Educational opportunities…
- The September 27th Basics of Supply Chain Management course begins the annual cycle of the five CPIM exam review courses. Those interested in CPIM certification are strongly advised to begin with this course. The four classes that follow build on the Basics course material.
- Our October 9th Professional Development Meeting features Floyd Bates III presenting “Six Sigma: Getting Results.” Mr. Bates is the President of the local chapter of the American Society for Quality. We are looking forward to this joint APICS/ASQ meeting.
- We are offering a “Presentation Skills for Trainers” course led by Jim Tarr in early October at Western Nevada College in Carson City. Anyone making presentations will benefit from this enjoyable two Friday course. Details: http://www.apics-nors.org/events/2007/ttt.aspx
- CPIM is coming to Western Nevada College in Carson City in 2008 with Basics of Supply Chain Management beginning in early February. Details to come.
- The Certified Supply Chain Professional class discussed last month is now planned for early 2008. More to follow.
More survey….
Some further interesting outcomes of the member survey conducted this summer and discussed in last month’s message:
- Members were asked their primary reason for APICS participation. Those responding split equally between education, networking, and certification.
- One-third of respondents had attended a CPIM certification class in the previous year. That seems to correspond nicely to the bullet point above.
- 87% of respondents had attended at least one APICS function in the previous year.
- The text responses were illuminating. A one-day CPIM exam review was one good idea we are considering. Several respondents suggested holding Professional Development Meetings on varying days of the week. This is something else we are talking about. Suggested PDM topics included: measuring the bottom line impact of lean/six sigma; project management; certification exam strategies; and competitive eating. The last suggestion may lie a bit outside APICS’ target area, but the others are all under consideration.
The survey provided valuable input and the impact of the results are seen in the chapter’s program offerings. Our thanks to all who took the time to participate.
David Steiger, CPIM
