Articles

APICS Branded Life Long Learning - June 2023

Bill's Building Blocks - June 2023
Last Issue – APICS Branded Lifelong Learning

I am in another transitional period in my life, and it is time to move on. This is the 118^th and last issue of Bill’s Building Blocks that I have written since September 2012. I retired from industry practice after 42 years, and I have now retired from teaching undergraduates at Rutgers Business School after an additional eight years. While I am still teaching graduate students at NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn, I need to step back and learn some new things to avoid becoming stale.

The integration of the disciplines of architecture to plan and design, engineering to evaluate design constraints and analyze risks, and construction to build using local materials and practices to create new structures has always intrigued me. Each discipline follows basic principles and learns through practice. Each discipline alone is necessary, but insufficient. When fully integrated, such collaboration can produce amazing results!

Are the latest challenges to supply chains such as the application of artificial intelligence, achieving the sustainability of resources, compliance in an explosive regulatory environment, or bridging the workforce gap suggestive of incremental or revolutionary change? I don’t know, but time will tell. What I do know is that a deep understanding of supply chain basics coupled with lifelong learning is a recipe for personal success as a supply chain practitioner. APICS branded education and certification has been with me every step of the way along my long journey to becoming an APICS Certified Fellow.

In the beginning there was one certification: CPIM-Certified in Production and Inventory Management. Then CIRM-Certified in Integrated Resource Management, CSCP-Certified Supply Chain Practitioner, CLTD-Certified in Logistics, Transportation, and Distribution plus a non-certified course in Fundamentals appeared on the scene. Today I hardly recognize all the APICS branded certifications and certificates offered through ASCM. There is a new certification: CTSC-Certified Transformation for Supply Chain. And there are four certificates: Supply Chain Planning, Supply Chain Procurement, Supply Chain Distribution, and Supply Chain Technology plus the SCOR-P professional program.

I want to thank the Boards of Directors of my home chapter, West Jersey Chapter of APICS (later becoming Greater North Jersey Chapter of ASCM), the Central Jersey Chapter, and the Princeton South Jersey Chapter for publishing my work. It has been a great pleasure to be able to give back something of value to the chapter membership.

©2023 William T. Walker, CFPIM, CSCP-F, CLTD-F, CIRM has 42 years practitioner experience mostly with Hewlett-Packard, authored Supply Chain Construction and Supply Chain Architecture, and teaches Supply Chain Engineering at NYU Tandon in Brooklyn. He is a 40+year ASCM member and APICS E&R Foundation past president. email: [email protected]