This year, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) celebrates its 51st anniversary as the leading worldwide professional association dedicated to the education, research and advancement of the supply chain management profession.
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Cal Maritime’s Michael Kazek was recently named the Faculty Advisor of the Year.
By Patrick Burnson
Published: October, 2014
This year, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) celebrates its 51st anniversary as the leading worldwide professional association dedicated to the education, research and advancement of the supply chain management profession.
A leader among CSCMP’s 114 global roundtables, the San Francisco Bay Area Roundtable (SFRT) reflects and serves the dynamic nature of global business headquartered and operating here. SFRT is recognized for its powerful dinner programs featuring world-class supply chain management innovators, its successful sponsor and community relationships and its annual Silicon Valley Outlook and Innovation events.
On October 7, SFRT will stage the year’s final educational event, “Collaborative Sales and Operations Planning: Best-in-Class Approach & Case Study,” at San Francisco’s University Club.
Traditionally, sales and operations planning is an integrated business management process limited to collaboration internally within organizations amongst sales and operations functions to improve customer service levels and reduce cost-to-serve. However, changes in the industry are driving the process toward collaborative sales and operations planning across the value chain in individual industries, bringing suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and others together.
SFRT panelists will discuss how the national beverage distributor Southern Wine & Spirits continues to be on the cutting edge of the wine and spirits sector by engaging with its supplier community on collaborative sales and operations planning processes. Southern Wine recently partnered with one of its key suppliers on value chain optimization and has jointly started to realize benefits such as the following:
• Reduced forecast error
• Improved supplier and customer fill rates
• Lower costs of freight
Roundtable participants will discuss how to extend traditional sales and operations planning within their organizations to their partners. Discussions will also include incremental benefits organizations can expect to receive by engaging in cross-company planning. For more information, see www.cscmpsfrt.org.
PTA Steamship Night a Success
Last month’s 35th Annual Steamship Night was a smashing success, according to Jahan Byrne, president of the Pacific Transportation Association (PTA). The PTA, founded in 1920 to foster dialogue between shippers and vessel operators, is also charged with aiding maritime education. Part of the PTA’s mission is to promote training and career opportunities for future industry leaders. This year, it created a scholarship for cadets at the California Maritime Academy—only one of six maritime schools in the nation, and the only one on the West Coast—and awarded a check to Cadet Ramona Perez for help toward graduation.
Cal Maritime Professor Honored
In other Cal Maritime news, Michael Kazek has been named the Faculty Advisor of the Year by the Society for Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME).
Kazek is Cal Maritime’s director of United States Coast Guard Licensure Programs and a professor of naval architecture. The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers is a global professional society that provides a forum for the advancement of the engineering profession as applied to the marine field.
The Faculty Advisor of the Year Award is presented to a faculty advisor from one of the more than 30 SNAME student sections around the world for leadership and service qualities that have contributed to the program and operations of a student section of the society.
Kazek won the award for his work with the California Maritime Academy Student Section. In addition to recognizing an outstanding faculty advisor, the $5,000 Bruce and Dorothy Rylander Johnson Scholarship will be awarded to a deserving student member from the California Maritime Academy Student Section.
Group Provides Resources for Women in Maritime Industry
Women in Logistics (formerly Women in Transportation) is winding up its membership drive for this year.
WIL was founded by Stacy Roth as a response to the lack of networking groups for women in the industry. In the late seventies and early eighties, women who worked in the field of transportation had few resources available to fulfill their needs to support career growth.
The initial meetings of WIL were roundtable forums where members brainstormed about how to structure the group to suit their professional career goals. At these informal gatherings, participants confirmed that women wanted and needed a professional environment where they could network with each other as well as develop business contacts. They also wanted an avenue to keep current on the latest industry actions and trends. Ultimately, the group’s focus and unique insight led to its success as a viable organization.
Today, WIL has nearly 400 members. Each year, the group’s leaders hand the baton over to a new group of officers and directors, whose responsibility it is to keep the organization flush with new ideas and promote its growth. For more info, see www.womeninlogistics.org.
Patrick Burnson is the past president and current board member of the Pacific Transportation Association, based in San Francisco. www.pacifictrans.org