APICS streamlines
supply chain exam
process
Logistics education and training organization APICS has
launched an updated version of
its Certified in Production and
Inventory Management (CPIM)
credential, streamlining the program to make the certification
more accessible, the group said.
APICS said it has simplified
CPIM Version 6.0 to have just
two exam modules instead
of the previous five modules.
Candidates must now pass two
exams within three years to earn
the CPIM certification and must
renew their CPIM designation
every five years.
Separately, APICS said it has
released an updated CPIM
Learning System that offers
enhanced online content, with
educational resources such as
exam preparation strategies and
digital practice exams. The organization also announced it has
updated the APICS “Learn It”
app, a smartphone study guide
for the exams. Renamed the
“APICS Dictionary” app, the tool
offers a database of flashcards
and is available for free through
i Tunes and Google Play.
“The CPIM designation demonstrates that an individual has the
knowledge and skills to strategically streamline operations and
maximize ROI (return on investment) on systems and technologies, which is why thousands
of employers worldwide look
for the CPIM designation when
making critical hiring decisions,”
APICS CEO Abe Eshkenazi, said in
a statement.
APICS began administering its
CPIM Part 1 exam on Sept. 30.
The Part 2 exam will be administered beginning Nov. 4.
stitute much of the traffic tendered under the carriers’ postal services—are
generally lightweight, but they are getting bulkier as a broader range of goods
is sold online. FedEx and UPS already impose dimensional pricing on U.S. air
and ground deliveries as well as on international services.
The companies have said that adjustments to dimensional pricing are necessary to properly compensate them for handling lightweight and bulky packages
that occupy disproportionate amounts of space aboard an aircraft or ground
vehicle. As e-commerce volumes continue to grow, the companies have said
they handle a larger proportion of packages with those characteristics and can
no longer price all of them at their actual weight.
TACKLING THE LAST MILE
The FedEx and UPS last-mile services operate in conjunction with USPS’s
“Parcel Select” program, which connects local post offices to residential and
commercial addresses for local package deliveries. USPS, which is required by
law to serve every U.S. address, picks up and delivers at 156 million addresses.
USPS prices the Parcel Select service on an incremental basis, and its low
prices have made it very popular with shippers. FedEx and UPS have migrated
to it because it enables them to broaden their delivery coverage without the
expense of deploying drivers and delivery vehicles to countless residential
addresses. However, FedEx, UPS, and Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc., the
three largest users of the service, have been mapping plans to more efficiently
handle their own last-mile shipments because of the segment’s rapid growth.
USPS acknowledged in a regulatory filing earlier this year that such measures
could divert business from Parcel Select.
USPS, for its part, does not impose dimensional pricing under Parcel Select.
IMPACT ON SHIPPERS
As for the impact of FedEx’s latest move, Rob Martinez, CEO of consultancy
Shipware LLC, said between 70 and 80 percent of SmartPost packages would be
eligible for dimensional pricing. However, Martinez said that FedEx and large
users of the service will negotiate concessions in one form or another to avoid
most of the pain associated with the pricing scheme.
Jerry Hempstead, who runs a consultancy bearing his name, said shippers
that have SmartPost discounts and that ship packages weighing less than 10
pounds will still get a better deal with SmartPost than with other FedEx delivery products. The vast majority of SmartPost shipments fall under that weight
threshold, Hempstead estimates.
—M.S.
Logistics service provider Dachser has broken ground on a new
215,000-square-foot facility located in Stans in Tyrol, Austria. …
Third-party logistics service provider Bonded Logistics has opened a
371,000-square-foot warehousing facility at Metrolina Park in North
Charlotte, N.C. … CenterPoint Properties has celebrated the ground-breaking on a 223,000-square-foot facility located in Kent, Wash. The
building, which is leased to Classic Accessories for 10 years, features 33
dock doors and 37 trailer positions.
ground breakers
