APICS 2015: Another year, another merger

Last year around this time, I attended APICS’s annual conference in New Orleans, where I had a chance to talk to CEO Abe Eshkenazi. At the time, Eshkenazi discussed his organization’s merger with the Supply Chain Council. The rational, he explained was that APICS had always been strong in “the plan and make” aspects of supply chain management. With the top down, senior level perspective SCC brought to the table, the organization could now also look at how to enable supply chain management. That is, the design and strategy of SCM.

Fast forward another year, and last week, I was in Las Vegas where I had a chance to talk to Eshkenazi about another merger, this one with the American Society of Transportation and Logistics, announced last May. As my colleague Patrick Burnson wrote at the time, the combination was designed to “expand, extend and deepen the end-to-end supply chain body of knowledge that fuels APICS’s global supply chain research, education and certification programs. …Specifically, the merger may create the most complete supply chain body of knowledge. The combination unites APICS’ Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM), Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP), Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) framework, SCOR Professional (SCOR-P) brands with AST&L’s three credentials including the Certified in Transportation and Logistics (CTL) designation.”

So, where do things stand today? “The integration is complete and what facilitated it was that our cultures are very similar,” Eshkenazi said. He also noted that APICS is rolling out a new certification - APICS Certified in Logistics, Transportation and Distribution (CLTD) designation – in 2016. The new certification program will supersede the CTL certification previously offered by AST&L and is designed to set the global standard for logistics best practices and candidates completing the comprehensive program will demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a broad range of logistics, transportation and distribution topics. You can read more about the certification here.

With the merger and the new certification, Eshkenazi said, APICS now offers research, educational content and certifications for all of the basic supply chain functions, including design, plan, make, source, deliver, and return. “A member can now cover all but a certification for procurement,” he said, adding that there have been discussions about a collaboration on that topic with ISM.

Asked if the merger with AST&L will change the annual event – for instance, will we see more exhibitors on the show floor from the transportation and distribution sides of the industry – Eshkenazi said that APICS’s conference will continue to be a content-based, education-driven event. “There will be a deep alignment with content,” he said. “But we’re under no mandate to expand the exhibition hall. We’re committed to the education of our members.”
“If you look at supply chains today,” he added, “they are transcending technical competency. There aren’t enough people trained to lead cross-functional teams and sit at the C-level in the transformation of their organizations. We’re excited about the opportunity to be part of that.”