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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Industry Experts and Academicians Explore
e-Supply Chain Management and
Lean Manufacturing Implementations

Alexandria, VA (July 3, 2002) More than 25 industry experts and academicians will share best practices and applied research at the APICS Educational and Research (E&R) Foundation's Academic/Practitioner Summer Workshop, July 19-21, 2002, at the APICS Training Center for Manufacturing Excellence in the Pittsburgh-metro area. The workshop, "Managing the Enterprise," is cosponsored by the APICS Pittsburgh Chapter.

"Any time a workshop can bring industry leaders and academicians together to discuss the challenges faced in the business world today, participants are the winners," stated James F. Cox III, Ph.D., CFPIM, CIRM, Jonah's Jonah, E&R Foundation president and University of Georgia professor. "We are very excited about this year's workshop, which integrates the latest applied research with real-world implementations."

Featured speaker, Herman A. Zwirn, CIRM, of LaMarsh and Associates in Chicago, will discuss how Caterpillar Inc. successfully launched a global effort to change its business processes and systems at its dealerships. Keynote speaker, Harvey McChesney III, CPIM, Coplay, Pennsylvania, president of McChesney Associates and principal of the Metapro Excellence Institute, will present successful team-building guidelines for company implementation.

In its ninth year, 2002 workshop highlights include

• Effective Supply Chain Network Design
  William Walker, CFPIM, Agilent Technologies
  A competitive supply chain network enables revenue growth, holding costs in check, and focuses on asset utilization, while minimizing risks. This presentation uses the reverse engineering of successful and unsuccessful supply chains to outline a decision process for designing competitive supply chain networks.
• Closed-Loop Supply Chains and a Simple Method for Balancing Supply and Demand
  V. Daniel R. Guide Jr., Ph.D., CPIM, Duquesne University
  This presentation demonstrates that there are common processes required by a closed-loop supply chain for reverse supply chain activities: product acquisition, reverse logistics, inspection, testing and disposition, remanufacturing, and selling and distribution.
• A Conceptual Model of Supply Chain Flexibility
  Robert J. Vokurka, Ph.D., CFPIM, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
  As supply chain management goes beyond a firm's boundaries, the flexibility strategies must also extend beyond the firm. This presentation discusses the cross-enterprise nature of supply chain flexibility and the need to improve flexibility measures across firms and identify opportunities for future cross-functional research that builds on this theoretical foundation and leads to more effective formulation of supply chain strategies.
• The Impact of Mass Customization on the Supply Chain
  Kevin J. O'Mara, Ph.D., Elon University
  This presentation addresses the underpinnings driving mass customization and compares this model with previous business models for discussion on operational issues. Issues that will be covered range from supplier relations to internal operations such as training and evaluation systems.
• World Solutions, On-Time, On-Budget ERP Implementations: Ten Secrets
  William M. Grauf, CFPIM, J.D. Edwards World Solutions, Chicago, Illinois
  This presentation identifies 10 easy-to-follow tips that guide ERP implementation projects toward successful conclusions.
• Integrating Lean Manufacturing, ERP, and e-Business
  Chaim Silberstein, CFPIM, CIRM, Jonah, CS Consulting Association, Inc., Toronto, Canada
  This presentation integrates the philosophies of lean thinking and lean manufacturing techniques to improve ERP systems.
• Workforce Development in Lean Manufacturing
  Kim LaScola Needy, Ph.D., P.E., CFPIM, University of Pittsburgh
  This presentation identifies eight human issues involved in cellular manufacturing: worker assignment strategies, skill identification, training, communication, autonomy, reward/compensation system, teamwork, and conflict management.
• Leveraging Synergies Between Business and Academia
  Patricia Wickham, Education Nonpareil, El Paso, Texas
  As companies continue their journey to lean organizations, the need to integrate across industries is a value-added philosophy that is a win-win strategy for the community and the resources of both academia and business. This presentation discusses the benefits of reciprocity between the needs of today's industry and the skill requirements necessary for the next generation of industry resources.
• Designing Training to Fit the Audience
  Honey D. Johnson, CPIM, J.D. Edwards World Solutions, Denver, Colorado
  This presentation focuses on the elements of education design to provide the right information to fit the audience's needs, in the necessary format, and using the appropriate combination of delivery tools.
• Concepts Through Games and Exercises
  James F. Cox III, Ph.D., CFPIM, CIRM, Jonah's Jonah, University of Georgia
  Theory of constraints applications are a paradigm shift in thinking about how to run a business. It is impossible to convince practitioners in a conversation that the simple applications described in The Goal, It's Not Luck, and Critical Chain are effective in running a business. This presentation describes the use of the penny-production game in undergraduate and MBA classes to teach the concepts of traditional push systems, kanban, and drum-buffer-rope systems.
• Developing Team Activities to Make Training FUN
  Joni White, CFPIM, APICS DC-Metro Chapter and Maryanne Ross, CPIM, APICS DC-Metro Chapter
  Training effectiveness directly contributes to the profitability of an enterprise. Knowledge retention is a key factor in minimizing the learning curve. Studies have shown that after three days the human brain only remembers 50 percent of what we see and hear. However, after two months, 70 percent is retained of what has been told, shown, and performed.
• Developing a Learning Organization: Training in a Public Sector Organization
  Amin Mohamed, Ph.D., Indiana University of Pennsylvania
  This session presents results of a year-long training program that was designed to help a public sector organization become a learning organization. The coverage of the learning organization concepts was primarily based on Peter Senge's concepts espoused in The Fifth Discipline.

For complete program and registration information, visit the APICS Web site at www.apics.org

APICS—The Educational Society for Resource Management provides lifelong learning for lifetime success through its certification programs, training tools, and networking opportunities. The society supports nearly 60,000 members in 20,000 manufacturing and service industries worldwide. The society's Educational and Research Foundation fosters education and development in the field of resource management. By building working relationships between industry practitioners and academicians, the foundation is able to promote applied research on real-world issues.