DC Velocity - April 2013

inbound

Logistics gives back
Women of distinction

Although women have steadily increased their involvement in the transportation industry, they haven’t received much notice for their accomplishments. WTS International, the association for the professional advancement of women in transportation, is doing its part to correct that through its annual Recognition Awards for outstanding achievement. In May, the organization will present its 2013 awards at its annual conference in Philadelphia.

Winners of the five awards are:

▪ Woman of the Year—Beverley Swaim-Staley, president and CEO, Union Station Redevelopment Corp., and former Maryland transportation secretary, for her achievements in workforce development among women and minorities in transportation;

▪ Member of the Year—Lupe Harriger, former senior transportation planner, Arizona Department of Transportation, for her commitment to the principles of WTS and success in strengthening her local chapter;

▪ Employer of the Year—HDR Engineering, for its record of affirmative action in hiring and promoting women and supporting continuing education and mentorship of young women;

▪ Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award—Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders of Austin, Texas, for preparing girls, especially minorities, to attend and graduate from college through a curriculum that emphasizes science, technology, engineering, and math; and

▪ Innovative Transportation Solutions Award—Presidio Parkway Project, for improving the seismic, structural, and traffic safety of the Doyle Drive segment of Highway 101 in San Francisco.

For more information about WTS International and for details on its 2013 annual conference, go to www.WTSInternational.org. ;

Here’s our monthly roundup of charitable works by companies in the logistics and material handling industries:

▪ Akro-Mils has donated plastic storage bins and containers, platform trucks, steel carts, dollies, shelving units, and louvered hanging systems to the Material Handling Logistics Technology program at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute (LCTI) in Schnecksville, Pa. LCTI’s Material Handling Logistics Technology program features a live management system in a functioning warehouse that gives students an opportunity to see what it’s like to work in a real-world facility. The program also features a learning station that lets special needs students practice specific tasks before applying their new skills in LCTI’s warehouse, which serves nine local school districts.

▪ Ingram Micro Inc., a wholesale technology distributor and provider of supply chain, mobile-device lifecycle services, and logistics solutions, has made a $100,000 charitable gift to Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis.

▪ With help from soccer stars Josh Rife and Nick Perera of the Milwaukee Wave, Bridge Logistics Services Inc. recently donated Snuggies and Pillow Pets to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. Bridge Logistics Services, a third-party logistics company, made the donation to thank the city of Milwaukee for its help when the company moved there earlier this year.

▪ UPS says its corporate support for communities around the world in 2012 tallied more than $97.5 million in monetary donations. Employees also donated more than 1. 8 million volunteer hours, exceeding previous records for volunteer hours and for the number of organizations served. ;

New SCM program combines business
and engineering

Some schools place their supply chain degree programs in their business schools. Others consider them to be best suited to an engineering curriculum. But as Arizona State University’s new Master of Science in Supply Chain Management and Engineering program demonstrates, it doesn’t have to be an “either/or” situation: The online program will be delivered by ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The program will teach students to apply both business and industrial engineering perspectives to solving supply chain problems. Classes will cover operations and supply management, strategic procurement, and supply chain cost and design. Other topics will include logistics, modeling and analysis, and deterministic and stochastic operations research. In a capstone project, students will propose and evaluate solutions to actual supply chain problems and present their recommendations to a client business.

The 21-month degree program, which requires one orientation visit to the ASU campus in Tempe, Ariz., is designed for mid-level professionals with several years of supply chain experience.