thoughtleaders JOEL SUTHERLAND
it with industry demand. That could be regional
demand or it could be global. You want to ask
yourselves how students are going to get a job.
You are manufacturing that talent.
QThat leads into the next question. Are there any special courses a student considering a
career in distribution should take?
AI am a big fan of IE courses. If you’re taking pure business classes in supply chain, you
are missing a big part of where that demand is,
what industry is really looking for.
the shelf, you can customize it, you can implement it in a matter of weeks instead of years, and
you can do it at a fraction of the cost. Because of
that enabling technology, we’ve been able to
move it into supply chain management versus
just managing within the single enterprise.
QYou mean industrial engineering?
AIndustrial engineering, with the focus in the supply chain area. Industrial engineering historically was
focused on manufacturing, but that has changed. In the
United States, there are more supply chain programs now
that are applying IE techniques and skill sets.
QIf you were to do it all over again, would you still pick this profession?
AAbsolutely. I picked this back in the early ’70s, and it has been tremendous for me for
a number of reasons. There is never a dull day in
this field, and it is constantly evolving. When I
joined NCPDM [the National Council of
Physical Distribution Management, the forerunner to CSCMP], we were talking basically inside the four
walls. From transportation and some warehousing and
some inventory management to logistics, we started integrating a lot of the activities into supply chain management. I think that Wall Street now recognizes the importance of effective supply chain management. ;
QLooking back, what has been the biggest change you’veseen in logistics anddistribution?
AI would say one would be technology. We used to have to build our own technology. Now you can buy it off
Editor’s note: This is an abridged version of DC
VELOCITY’S Q&A with Joel Sutherland. To read the full interview, visit www.dcvelocity.com/200909thoughtleaders.
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