Volume 21-01 | February, 2021
FEBRUARY 2021 NEWSLETTER



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President's Message
Hello folks. 

Welcome to 2021. Hopefully, it will be better than 2020 though it seems since we had a fairly uneventful snow season last year we are making up for it this year. Covid is still haunting us and we have had a national election with a new President and Vice President. Each event is going to either continue to wreak havoc with our economy and supply chains and the latter is something we will have to deal with for our companies and economy in general. There is plenty of speculation on both subjects but does anyone really know what their impacts will be.

APICS as most of you know has come up with a new acronym, ASCM (Association for Supply Chain Management), for the corporate name and APICS is a subset within ASCM providing education and certification opportunities. There will be a bit more on this subject later in this newsletter.

Also, you may have noticed we are partnering with several other chapters to provide you with additional speakers and subjects in our monthly and sometimes twice monthly Professional Development Meetings (PDM). These have been and will be for the foreseeable future via Zoom. Attendance has been great as we, the multiple chapters of APICS and ASQ, have sought out outstanding speakers who have performed admirably to date and I expect will continue for the balance of the 2020/2021 PDM schedule.
Education and certification opportunities continue to be scheduled and provided by our chapter’s certified instructors, via Zoom. We have had limited interest, due possibly to Covid and job security issues resulting in limited available income both at the personal and corporate levels. I suggest this may be a particularly good time to pursue certification due to the potential for limited job opportunities and the increased competition to attain those jobs.

I have looked forward to re-introducing periodic Newsletters from our chapter to provide you more of a local flavor to the ASCM/APICS world.

More news to follow in the next edition of the Newsletter. Have a great 2021, and stay careful and healthy.

Sincerely,

Jim

Jim Timmons, CPIM, CSCP, CLTD
President
APICS New Haven Chapter
Other News
APICS New Haven Chapter to become ASCM New Haven Chapter!!

As announced earlier this year, as of the second quarter of 2021 APICS New Haven will become ASCM New Haven Chapter. ASCM Chicago has decided to complete the society's name change by extending it to the local partners. At the same time, ASCM is dividing the current APICS Chapters into two parts: ASCM Chapters and ASCM Professional Forums. The main difference between Chapters and Pro Forums is that the Chapters will still be able to offer education and training while the Pro Forums will not. Both types of organizations will still offer membership and PDM activities. All educational materials and certifications will maintain the APICS brand.
Upcoming Events
The February PDM will be held on Tuesday, 2/23 (please note that this is a Tuesday night instead of Wednesday).

Our speaker will be Mike Ford, and his topic will be "Lifelong Lean Lessons Learned". Ford is an entertaining speaker, and has great insight into all things ASCM. For more information and to register for the event, click here!
Past Events
Our first annual virtual Student Night was held on Tuesday, February 9. One hundred and fifty-eight (158) folks attended, including the thirteen who were running the program.
The event opened with an introduction by Dr., Mark Chockalingham (President, APICS
Mass Minuteman Chapter), followed by a keynote address by Michele Lawrence, Site Manager MRO Supply Chain, Pfizer Inc., Andover, MA.

After about 45 minutes, the student attendees circulated among 6 breakout rooms for 10 minutes in each room. The breakout room topics were:
  1. What a student needs to get a job.
  2. What to expect as a young professional on the job: Transition from undergrad to young working professional.
  3. What a supply chain career entails. You are thinking of a supply chain career...what does that really mean??
  4. What a supply chain career entails. Manufacturing in supply chain.
  5. What a supply chain career entails. Lots of opportunities for travel in supply chain.
  6. What a supply chain employee can expect once certifications and experience are acquired in a supply chain career.

The New Haven Chapter was represented by Olivia Atkin and John Sawyer, who were each a leader of one of the breakout rooms. Quinnipiac University was one of the eleven organizations whose students attended.
Certification News
Did you know? Two exciting things are happening to the CPIM Certification this month. First, the name behind the initials is changing to Certified in Planning and Inventory Management. Second, the CPIM Learning System has been significantly updated and re-released as version 7.0.