President's Message

Chapter Mantra: “Networking, Knowledge, Recognition, Fun” 

May 2009

As President of Mission Peak Chapter, I want to thank Rick Merritt for an excellent presentation on the topic of Implementing Supplier Consigned Inventory.  Now that is not just my opinion, but based upon the evaluations given to the attendees. One note: “Rick Rocks” was a sign of enthusiasm for the presentation.  I was struck by the success of the program at Applied Materials. It was a program that was well thought out and took a long time to implement. No sense rushing to failure. I believe Rick mentioned, in the Q&A portion of our PDM that over 300 suppliers now participate in the program. I was surprised by the magnitude. The benefits of selecting a single source supplier to provide material on a consignment basis can reduce procurement costs significantly. Conversely, being selected as a supplier reduces marketing and sales costs for the supplier. Taking non value added steps out of the procurement cycle is always a good thing. I suspect metrics of stock outs, on time delivery would be breath taking. The collaboration between the supply chain and Applied Materials was very interesting. The supplier views actual demand in an integrated methodology. The cycle time for payment is less for the supplier participating in the program. Again a cost of accounts receivable is eliminated. It is always a good thing to reduce costs.

When one has an established business and integrating suppliers in a successful way, is a very prodigious win/win. Our objective was to have a presentation that was implemented in the real world. Theory is interesting, but actual achievement is even more fascinating.

On the other hand, start ups have a different environment. Forecasting is really a challenge. Forecasting in this economic environment is like taking on Mission Impossible. Some established large companies have refused to make forecasts in the conference calls. Why pretend one knows the future. Even if internal forecasts are done, but not shared publicly. We still have to plan even if it is plagued with uncertainty.

Coming up June 3rd is Mitch Zucker,” Secrets of Professional Growth & Leadership Development”. It is always good to develop ones skill set. I look forward to Mitch’s presentation. In September, we have booked Greg Higgins he has implemented a practical application of RFID at Brushwellman in Fremont. Again in both PDM’s I look forward to learning from experienced, well qualified people and presenters. Hope to see you there.

                                                                    
Hank Zoeller, CFPIM, C.P.M., CSSBB

 

 

 

 

 

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Instructor of the Year

Dr. Zinovy Radovilsky

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Member of the Year

John Trang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Trang & President Hank Zoeller

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Company of the Year

Brushwellman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greg Higgins & President Hank Zoeller

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Benefits Extension for Unemployed Members Form

APICS members who are temporarily unemployed and actively seeking work within the operations management business sector can use this form to request a six-month extension of their membership at no cost. Members submit their completed form to their local chapter president for approval. The chapter president submits the completed form to APICS Headquarters for processing. Students, retirees, and buy-out participants are not eligible.

 

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APICS Mission Peak Chapter Receives Gold Award for 2008 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional Development Meetings

Sept 9, 2009 Professional Development Meeting

 

   Speaker: Greg Higgins

   Topic:  

RFID - A Practical Application

 

RSVP by Sept 4 to Chuck Dewey at

Chuck_Dewey@cardivamedical.com

 

   Location

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6:00   Networking – Get to know each other
7:00 Meeting – Dinner and Professional Development! 


Massimo’s Restaurant
5200 Mowry Avenue, Suite Q (enter on Farwell, east of 880)
Fremont, CA                  510-792-2000 

Students $28 
Members $35
Non-Members $40 

Complete 2009 PDM Calendar

President's Salute

   John Trang

Example Gears

 

John is a company coordinator and a recently minted CPIM. He has taken the time to help others in the Chapter that were interested in taking the exam. I had the pleasure of instructing at Brushwellman Electrofusion Division in Fremont. John was an outstanding student. John adds:

OK, I’ll admit it.  I primarily became an APICS member to take advantage of the discounts offered to members on certification study materials and exams.

When I graduated from UC Berkeley with an Economics degree, I hadn’t quite figured out what I wanted to do with my life.  Fortunately, I was hired on as a Buyer/Planner at Brush Wellman Electrofusion Products.  While I can’t say I grew up wanting to be a Buyer, it’s evolved from simply being just a job to something I’m passionate about and plan on building a career around.  During the course of obtaining a C.P.M designation from the ISM, I met other Buyers who understood what my interests were and recommended that I also pursue an APICS CPIM certification.  

So the plan was to sign up, buy the books I needed, pass the exams and add the extra letters to my business card, all while never really intending to participate in APICS activities.  If everything played out as scripted, I would have missed out on a lot of what APICS has to offer. 

For as long as I’ve been with Brush Wellman, SAP has been our ERP system.  Up until last year, the planning and scheduling was done outside the system.  There was very little visibility in terms of the jobs on the floor and incoming work.  Engineers were being used as project managers contending for the same resources without regard to the capacity available.  After some restructuring, there was a push to implement the MRP portion of the software in hopes of arming the company with timely information with which to make better decisions for our low volume, high variety shop. 

An MRP implementation isn’t something you just flip the switch on.  To do it right, it involves a lot of planning, hard work and training.  Before we started the implementation, Hank was brought in to enlighten us with his knowledge of the concepts and get us all talking the same language.  It’s pretty powerful when you are able to merge theory with hands-on experience.  Getting this training up front helped make the transition go a lot smoother. 

Somewhere along the way, I became more immersed in the content and started going to APICS PDMs.  Here I discovered this untapped network of people like myself.  The people are very supportive and I’ve come to find that the challenges I face at work are not all that unique.  The PDMs offer stimulating topics, good food and good company.

Obtaining certifications and attending PDMs are good ways of keeping my skills current.  When I benchmark my skills, I compare them to other APICS members to see where there are gaps and ask them for their recommendations on how I can improve.  I am currently studying for an ISM CPSM certification and plan on pursuing the APICS CSCP certification later this year.  

Obtaining certifications and being an active APICS member has given me a quiet confidence that I don’t think existed before.  I don’t mean this in the sense that I feel I’m always right, but more in the sense that I can talk intelligibly about a subject and understand other people’s point of view.  It has enabled me to be a better resource for people at work.  As a Mission Peak Company Coordinator for Brush Wellman, I’ve invited coworkers to meetings that I thought they might find interesting.  As we learn more, we become stronger as a company and I feel their success is my success as well.  What we do with this knowledge is what differentiates the time and money spent from being considered an investment or an expense. 

 

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