inbound

Supply chain visionary Charles
L. “Chuck” Taylor Jr. dies
Good deeds

Even during the dog days of summer, material handling and logistics companies continue to donate their time, money, and services to nonprofit organizations. Here are just a few recent examples:

▪ Cargo Services Inc., an Indiana-based global freight forwarder, has signed on for its fifth year as campaign title sponsor for Indiana Books for Youth. Run by the Indiana Department of Child Services and Indianapolis Colts football team, the campaign provides foster children statewide with backpacks filled with age-appropriate books. The 2012 campaign kickoff was held at Cargo Services client company Haynes International in Kokomo, Ind. Representatives from the Colts franchise joined company representatives to distribute backpacks to foster children from the area. During the event, foster children and their families also visited the Colts in Motion traveling museum, got autographs from Colts cheerleaders, and took pictures with the Super Bowl Trophy.

▪ For the fourth consecutive year, Kiva Systems has hosted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Women’s Technology Program (WTP). The program provides a rigorous academic experience for female high school students who want to explore engineering through hands-on classes, labs, and team-based projects. In July, more than 40 young women from WTP visited Kiva’s headquarters, where they learned about the company’s robotic technology and watched a demonstration.

▪ Toyota Material Handling, U.S.A. Inc. (TMHU) is partnering with its network of Toyota Industrial Equipment (TIE) dealers to expand its “Giving Veterans a Lift” program. For every veteran hired as a service technician by a TIE dealer in 2012, TMHU will match a dealer’s donation (up to $500) to Hire Heroes USA in honor of the newly hired veteran. Hire Heroes USA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating job opportunities for transitioning U.S. military service members, veterans, and their spouses. ;

Charles L. “Chuck” Taylor Jr., a longtime executive with decades of experience in the fields of transportation, logistics, and supply chain management, died July 11. His passing was unexpected, according to a family friend.

Taylor was principal and head coach at Awake! Consulting, a consulting and executive coaching firm he founded in 2005. He was equally at home as a shipper, carrier, consultant, or logistics service provider. Over the course of his 40-year career, he held managerial and executive-level positions at such companies as Mercer Management Consulting, Tri Valley Growers, Nabisco Brands, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway, Ryder System Inc., and ServiceCraft Logistics. His expertise encompassed everything from DC and truck fleet management to Lean/Six Sigma and business turnarounds.

Taylor felt it was important for logistics and supply chain professionals to be engaged in “big picture” issues that would affect the industry as a whole as well as in day-to-day operations and business management for their own companies. Throughout the last decade he worked tirelessly to educate his peers about the consequences of the end of “cheap oil,” urging them to prepare their supply chains for potential fuel shortages and to play active roles in shaping national energy policy. He spoke at numerous industry conferences and wrote articles on the topic, including the influential and widely read article “The end of cheap oil: Are you ready?” in the inaugural issue of CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly.

In 2010, Taylor received the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Distinguished Service Award for his lifetime commitment to finding practical solutions to industry problems as well as for sharing that knowledge with others. He was named a 2007 Rainmaker by DC VELOCITY and wrote a blog for dcvelocity.com from 2009 to 2010. While he was business unit vice president for BNSF Railway, he championed a unique partnership between the railroad and Coors Brewing Co. that won the 1993 Distribution Magazine/AST&L Partnership of the Year Award. ;