13th Annual North Texas
WERCouncil – Warehousing
Resource Convention
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
8 am – 4 pm
Grapevine, TX Convention Center
1209 South Main Street
Sponsors:
Dematic
DFW Communications
DM Logic
Golf Galaxy
Intelligrated
Lucas Systems
Optricity
ScanIT
St. Onge Company
VoCollect by Honeywell
The Progress Group
Xact Warehouse Solutions
Event Highlights:
Exhibit Hall - 40 industry suppliers
Four Educational sessions
Golf game and big raffle (NEW)
Breakfast, hot lunch, and snacks
FREE gifts and cash raffles
Networking and Fun
LOW Cost:
$30.00 - WERC Members
$35.00 - Non-WERC Member
Students & Faculty with ID’s Free
Register On-Line by 9-26-14:
www.werc.org – WERCouncils – North Texas –
scroll down to this event – add to cart
Questions:
Norm Saenz, WERCouncil President, St.
Onge Company, NESAENZ@stonge.com,
817-919-1753
tasks that are assigned to a team member that he or she will
not want to do or will not know how to accomplish. It will be
the responsibility of the team leader to help team members
get the resources they need to accomplish their assignments.
Under this model, evaluations should be based not only on
the knowledge gained by individuals but also on how the
team is able to solve the problem given to them with the
resources provided.
Educators might argue that learning soft skills, such as
how to work in a team or how to effectively communicate
with peers, is not the purpose of a college degree. While that
argument can be made, so can the counterargument: that
supply chain knowledge is becoming so technical, industry/
company-specific, and subject to ever-changing economic
trends that it’s difficult for universities to teach the exact
skills students would need for any particular job. Soft skills in
leadership, teamwork, and organization, however, will help
make students effective workers and leaders no matter what
job they land after leaving their academic programs.
Yet at the same time, it is important to realize that addressing the soft-skill gap is not solely the responsibility of educational institutions or their students. Employers themselves
must do a better job of communicating to potential employees and educators about the importance they place on soft
skills as well as exactly what they are looking for from job
applicants. Consider that many job descriptions emphasize
the technical nature of supply chain positions while including
only a brief mention that “strong written and verbal communication skills” are required. A more helpful approach would
be for employers to be more specific, and to communicate
that the job requires new hires to effectively communicate
their ideas, problems, and solutions to co-workers as well as
to management.
IMAGE VERSUS REALITY
In addition to a lack of awareness of the importance of soft
skills, many recent graduates enter the workplace with unrealistic expectations about the amount and kind of work they
will have to do to advance in their careers. In some cases,
supply chain programs and faculty are fostering this attitude.
For example, at a recent presentation by a college faculty
member to a group of supply chain and logistics professionals and graduate students, I was stunned by the air of excep-tionalism the speaker was creating by saying how great the
school was, how honored the industry professionals should
be to attend the presentation, and what outstanding employees the students would be because they were graduates of
the university’s program. This attitude does the students a
disservice. If they believe they are assured of success because
they attended a specific program, they will be surprised when
they get out into the workplace and find that how well they
do the work matters more than where they went to school.
There is a perception among employers, moreover, that
younger workers are myopically focused on climbing to levels beyond their experience and that they expect to have pro-
