Supply Chain Monthly

My 25 years of leadership in the food industry taught me the value and importance of having a documented succession plan and Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for each of my employees. This realization of the importance of talent management came later in my career, but once recognized, it is now something I share with fellow leaders and mentors.
 
In my current role as President and CEO of a professional association, the next generation of supply chain’s leaders, CSCMP’s students and young professional members often share with me the challenge they face in acquiring the well-rounded skills they will need to pursue a career path of increasing responsibility and leadership. This is one of the primary reasons many of CSCMP’s young members join the association – to have the chance to volunteer and take advantage of mentoring that will help them on their career path.
 
Certainly, as leaders, we must offer a path to achieving one’s goals.That’s not only an opportunity, but an obligation if we want to have a strong organization for the long run. It is also up to leaders to acknowledge and proclaim that changes are inevitable, and individuals must also know that careers will take twists and turns depending upon the opportunities and challenges that arise.
 
Any leader building a high-performance team knows that a truly well-rounded supply chain management professional is one that has a baseline of knowledge in the core modes that are foundational to a healthy supply chain – transportation, distribution, customer service, and product supply planning. Collaborate with your Human Resources department to provide opportunities for employees to have exposure and experience within different parts of the organization.
 
There is no one size fits all plan to achieve this, as every organization is unique. But where there is a will, there is a way, and the practice of mentoring, educating and providing experience will always benefit the company in some way – employee retention, talent acquisition, high performing teams, etc.
 
There are also several opportunities within your professional association, CSCMP. Whether or not you can orchestrate education and professional experience within your organization, as a member of CSCMP, you can take advantage of the resources that we provide to educate, develop and mentor the next generation of leadership.
 
Contact myself or anyone at CSCMP to learn more about all the opportunities we offer to the development and education of our members.

 

Access to this study has been limited to CSCMP members.  
 
Gartner’s 2019 Women in Supply Chain Survey, conducted in partnership with AWESOME and CSCMP, shows that having specific goals and objectives and focusing on the right initiatives is yielding benefits: we’re seeing more women across all levels.
 
The war for talent rages on, and supply chain organizations continue to feel the pressure, even as we face slowdowns in some regions and sectors. With women making up more than 50% of the professional workforce and collecting most university degrees, companies that are better able to attract, retain and develop women will have a broader talent pool to draw from. Research shows they will also achieve higher profitability, more revenue from innovation, and speedier resilience through economic downturns.
 
How to achieve these outcomes, however, continues to be a big question. The 2019 survey uncovered specific practices that work:
 
1.   Goals. When we asked respondents to characterize their progress toward achieving gender diversity and inclusion at top leadership levels (VP and above), respondents with stated objectives were more than two times as likely to report improvement.
 
2.   Supply chain leadership. Supply chain organizations that lead targeted initiatives themselves – rather than relying on corporate or HR-led initiatives – saw statistically significant improvement in representation at the manager/supervisor level and improvements at other levels as well.
 
3.   Involving men. Men comprise a majority of leadership positions and account for 89% of executive leadership positions across the supply chain. Perhaps it wasn’t so surprising then that our results showed that companies that involve men are more successful. When respondents had male involvement in their initiatives, 71% reported success in promoting women to top leadership roles; without men, 40% reported success.
 
Results associated with these practices showed across our sample: overall representation in the supply chain workforce was up 2% YoY, with women now comprising 39% of the average supply chain organization. The numbers improved from there, with 3-8% jumps in the proportion of women holding front-line manager roles through VP positions, all along the pipeline, with women holding on average 28% of supply chain VP positions. See the full report to learn more about proven practices and why we are cautiously optimistic about future progress.

 

Is the brick-and-mortar retail store dead? Will e-commerce reign supreme? At the center of this heated debate lies one fact no business can ignore: shopping behaviors have changed. 
 
The world of retail shopping has changed. Whether you're competing with smart-store technology or two-hour delivery windows, retailers will need to optimize their supply chain to give customers what they want – or risk getting left behind.
 
The latest CSCMP Hot Topic will show you how to reduce freight costs, improve shipping speeds, master your retail logistics, and gain an edge over the competition.  Read CSCMP's latest Hot Topic, Flipping the Script on Retail Supply Chain, written by CAI International.
 

Congratulations to Kathy Wengel, Executive Vice President and Chief Global Supply Chain Officer for Johnson & Johnson, on receiving CSCMP's 2019 Distinguished Service Award!
 
Throughout her 30+ years with the company, Kathy has led major innovations in the Johnson & Johnson operating model that have put increased focus on the needs of the customer, integrated and transformed company-wide functions and processes, and leveraged the size and reach of this broadly based healthcare company.
 
A proud member of CSCMP, Kathy also serves as Chairman of the Board for GS1 Global, the global standards and services organization enabling organizations of all types and sizes to identify, capture and share information seamlessly. She is also a Board member of the National Association of Manufacturers, and an Advisory Board member of AWESOME (Achieving Women's Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management and Education).
 
Please join us for CSCMP's Annual EDGE Conference September 15-18, 2019 as we honor Ms. Wengel with supply chain's highest honor.  Learn more and register for EDGE 2019 at cscmpedge.org.

Fun Fact: George Laurer, the inventor of the UPC Barcode, was inducted into CSCMP’s Supply Chain Hall of Fame in 2017.

What’s Next for the UPC?
By Carrie Wilkie, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Program Delivery, GS1 US
 
Today, June 26, marks the 45th anniversary of the first Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode scan – a milestone that ushered in the modern shopping experience that we know today and opened the door to more automation and efficiency in the supply chain. The ubiquitous black-and-white symbol represents continued supply chain industry collaboration that has helped propel global commerce forward in numerous ways.

How industry pilots underscore the need for unique identification
 
Industry pilots are consistently pointing to the need for having the right data in the right format for blockchain to work well.
 
Join this session to hear how the GS1 US Cross-Industry Blockchain Discussion Group is exploring use cases appropriate for implementation and what resources are available to help you get a better understanding of challenges and opportunities.
 
Topics will include:
> Foundational data sets needed to begin a blockchain implementation

> Why you can’t enable technology without the right data

> How standardized data formats support interoperability between ecosystems
 
Register for the webinar today!
 
FREE Webinar | Thursday, July 25, 2019, 2 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET

 

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) released the 30th Annual State of Logistics Report^® during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, June 18, 2019.

 

This report is a CSCMP member benefit and available to CSCMP members for complimentary download each year after its release in Washington D.C.
 
Non-members may purchase a copy of the report for $350, or join CSCMP as a professional member for only $325 to receive full access to the State of Logistics report and exercise additional members only networking and educational benefits.

We've gathered the Top 12 Takeaways to get you started today.

The overall LMI index is 56.0 in the June 2019 reading, down very slightly from May’s index score of 56.7. This is also down considerably from a year ago when the LMI overall score was 72.6. It has trended down since then, with rates of growth decreasing in every period since October 2018 and this month’s reading is the lowest in the history of the index – the fourth consecutive month that this index has reached a new nadir. This month’s decrease seems to be primarily driven by decreasing rates of growth in Warehouse Prices, Transportation Capacity and Transportation Utilization, as well as slightly improved but still very low rate of growth for Transportation Prices. With that being said, June's score is still above 50.0, which indicating growth (albeit at the slowest rate in over 2.5 years).  
 
Get the latest issue of the Logistics Manager Index (LMI). The LMI is calculated using a diffusion index, in which any reading above 50 percent indicates that logistics is expanding; a reading below 50 percent is indicative of a shrinking logistics industry.
 
The LMI score is a combination of all of the other components that make up the index including inventory levels and costs, warehousing capacity, utilization, and prices, and transportation capacity, utilization, and prices.