APICS and JD.com launch China-focused supply chain partnership

Supply chain management association APICS and JD.com, China’s largest e-commerce company by revenue, recently announced they have partnered up for a strategic agreement designed to establish nationwide standards for the Omni Channel Supply Chain Capability in China and also further e-commerce supply chain performance in China.

APICS said that through this initiative it is focused on providing China’s business leaders, academics, and global businesses with “valuable insights, information and actionable data necessary to succeed in supply chain management.” And APICS added it is establishing a Chinese Corporate Advisory (CCA) that it said will facilitate discussion between APICS and companies in China like JD.com and serve as a resource for APICS products and leveraging them in China.

Peter Bolstorff, CSCP, SCOR-P, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development at APICS, said in an interview there are various factors that led to this partnership with JD.com.

“JD.com considers supply chain as a strategic imperative to power the company’s domestic and international growth and is initiating a corporate-wide Supply Chain Talent Development program,” he said.  “JD.com is seeking support from APICS to provide both a performance-driven learning platform and advisory services to support this long-term objective. 

Bolstroff explained that APICS corporate members and affiliates in the e-commerce and omni-channel community of practice will benefit from benchmark and practices sharing, adding that for JD.com, this is an opportunity to bring a global standard to both their employee and supply base to elevate their performance.

The China Corporate Advisory (CCA) will facilitate dialogue between APICS and leading Chinese companies as a regional extension to APICS Corporate Advisory.

“Specifically, the CCA will provide a community of practice with key APICS corporate customers and their stakeholders,” said Bolstroff. “Agenda for CCA meetings can include trends, innovation, best practices relating to supply chain talent development and overall transformation leveraging SCOR. This kind of open forum helps APICS prioritize regional service needs, network supply chain leaders, and provide a consistent platform for Global 2000 companies.”

APICS is also working with JD.com to establish the JD Supply Chain Academy, which is part of JD University, a nationwide supply chain talent development center and e-commerce supply chain research center.

Through the JD Supply Chain Academy Bolstroff said APICS and JD.com will jointly design, develop and deploy an omni channel benchmark entitled the SCOR Mark Omni Channel, which will be available to APICS stakeholders and the JD.com supply base.

Future plans for the JD Supply Chain Academy include leveraging SCOR Professional (SCOR-P) training with the JD.com team to improve the performance of one its supply chains, as well as collaborating with the JD.com Supply Chain Academy team on a best practice talent development solution marrying globally recognized certification standards with the e-commerce and Omni-Channel industry.

“By entering a strategic agreement with JD.com and establishing the CCA, APICS is furthering its role as a global supply chain leader that now supports the China e-commerce industry,” said Bolstroff. “The collaboration also continues our efforts to develop a global supply chain community with common goals and interests. The CCA gives APICS a new, direct avenue to communicate with leading Chinese companies, which will help inform the development of APICS products and provide information on how to best leverage these resources in the region. China is the world’s largest and fastest-growing e-commerce market. We consider it critical to advance supply chain performance for this industry in this region, so we can more effectively prepare the next generation of Chinese supply chain talent.”