2007-08 Events
Basics Class in Hutchinson Completes Spring Course
A CPIM Certification Course on the Basics of Supply Chain Management module was recently completed at HTI in Hutchinson. Below is a picture of the 10 Class members participating. The Instructor was Barb Tessmer; CPIM, of HTI. Congratulations!
Pictured Front Row L-R: Betty Meyer - American Time & Signal, Sharon Haley - Suttle Apparatus, Theresa Hoernemann - 3M, Kristen Schuft - HTI
Back Row: Russ Rolf, Linus Svoboda, Monte Einck, Chad Anderson, Bob Baune, and Michele Gregor - all from HTI
June Board Meeting/Annual Awards Presentation
Prior to commencing our final Board Meeting of the Year on June 16th, Central MN APICS Awarded their Company of the Year and Member of the Year Awards over Dinner at Michael's Restaurant in East St. Cloud.
The Company of the Year was awarded to New Flyer USA and was accepted by Cary Simon, New Flyer's VP of Human Resources. New Flyer has been a great supporter of our APICS programs this past year, with 16 employees attending CPIM Certification Courses, attendance at 2 of our PDM's, as well as supporting Dave Gerhardson in his position on our Board of Directors. Thank You New Flyer! (Picture of Cary accepting his Plaque will be posted later.)
One Member of the Year Award was presented to Jim Rueter of National Vision. Jim attended every PDM except our last one at Malco. He was registered, but had an emergency come up that he had to attend to that prevented him from attending. Below is the Picture of Jim accepting a $50 Gift Certificate to Crossroads.
The other Member of the Year Award went to Dennis Paul of Donnelly Custom Manufacturing in Alexandria. Dennis attended every PDM and Donnely hosted one of our PDM Plant Tours in February. (Dennis was unable to attend the Dinner, so his Gift Certificate will be awarded later.)
Pictured L-R: Dave Gerhardson of Central MN APICS and Jim Rueter of National Vision.
May PDM
Malco Products hosted our final PDM of the '07-'08 APICS Fiscal Year and we enjoyed a great turnout with 37 in attendance. Plant Manager Mardon Quant provided a great overview of Malco's history and some more recent Strategic Initiatives they are working on. The Tour Guides all did a great job of leading us through the various processes, showing how Malco is very proud of their Customer Relationships and how they personalize their Tools to a "Market of One". We enjoyed a superb Lasagna dinner and then settled in for the thought provoking insight of Dan Strike (3M) on how to optimize Inventory Management in a Lean Environment. Dan shared ideas on how to get Management's attention on Inventory Management, useful strategies to analyze and optimize Inventory from a Lean perspective, and when to use the various strategies for the appropriate product environments.
April PDM
Nahan Printing hosted our April 1st PDM Tour. We had another good turnout that enjoyed the Overview of Nahan and the Tour of their Operations. Our Guest Speaker was Vikki Sanders of OSHA, who gave a spirited talk on Preventing Workplace Violence, along with examples of past history, that should cause us all to pay more attention to this topic! We were treated to a Mexican Fajita Bar for dinner and all 28 in attendance had an enjoyable APICS Evening!
March PDM
We had great attendance (27) at the tour of New Flyer on March 4th, followed by a delicious Turkey Dinner and a super Presentation on Buffer Management by Rick Bernett, a partner with 3sixty solution llc. Unfortunately, Bruce Skalbeck, our perennial picture taker was absent, so we don't have any pictures to share. But we did get approval from Rick to post his presentation for all of our Central MN Chapter members, so here is a link to the March Presentation to it. Enjoy!
DSP Class Completes Winter Course
A CPIM Certification Course on the DSP module was recently completed. Below is a picture of several of the Class members participating. In all, there were 9 members:
Beth Haynes (Antioch), Steve Schoot, (Clarke Engineering), Mason Thompson, (Life Fitness), Kristin Fiedler, (RT Enterprises), John Lien (LNJ Consulting & Central MN APICS Board Member), and Amy Schriener, Saul Andersnon, Scott Bailey, and Lisa Becker (all of New Flyer). Congratulations to all!
Pictured L-R: Steve Schoot, John Lien, Beth Haynes, Scott Bailey, Amy Schriener
Good-Bye and Thank You to Andrew Pung
The Central MN Board wishes Andrew all the best as he transitions to his new position with 3M in Detroit. His involvement and Leadership within our Chapter will be greatly missed. Andrew was presented with this plaque on his last day of work at 3M Alexandria, on Friday, Feb. 1st.
February PDM
We had a great lineup for our first ever joint meeting with Tri-State in Alexandria on February 5th. Thanks to Tastefully Simple and Donnelly Manufacturing for the great Tours of their Facilities and to Tom Murphy of RSM McGladrey for his insight and research on Today's Global Value Chain. Thanks also to all who attended to make it a successful venture!
November PDM
The November PDM was a great topic and we thank Kent, Genreral Manager for Technomic Asia, for making himself available. China is an exciting topic and the event was well attended. We had a great interactive discussion after the presentation.
About Technomic Asia
Technomic Asia is a strategic consultancy with more than 20 years of experience helping clients plan and execute Asian growth strategies. Technomic Asia assists companies in entering the Asian market or in expanding their business by providing critical market insight, an understanding of business potential and assistance in designing the optimum strategy for success. Technomic Asia's Steven Ganster and Kent Kedl are co-authors of "The China Ready Company," a book that details the formation of a successful China strategy. (www.technomicasia.com) (www.chinareadycompany.com)