Every business owner worth his salt is constantly seeking ways to improve and grow his business. Every manager is searching for ways to improve the return on investment (ROI) and reduce costs. That is why we are always searching for new, more efficient machinery; new products for our customers; more reliable vendors; and better operating techniques. One of the most important and often overlooked assets in a business is the human asset base. Our employees are a major strength of operations. They are the ones who make everything happen according to our instructions and procedures. However, have we stopped to think what will happen to the skills of our employees in five or ten years?
As we improve, grow and change our business we will have to grow and improve the employees who perform the operations. Look back five years: How has your business or operations changed in that time? Have your employees been “upgrading” their skills to keep pace with the business changes?
APICS, the American Production & Inventory Control Society, has recognized the need to upgrade employee skills for the past 50 years. The Society has developed a variety of professional development courses to improve the professional skills of employees. These courses are recognized throughout the business community as excellent sources of knowledge in a wide range of business disciplines.
Let us look, first, at the CPIM curriculum. This is the oldest professional designation and is preferred by thousands of employers around the world. Over 100,000 professionals have earned this designation and it has become a key criterion for hiring new employees.
In the CPIM program you gain the ability to understand and evaluate the terminology, concepts and strategies related to demand and procurement, materials requirements planning, capacity planning, sales and operations planning, master scheduling, performance measurements, supplier relationships, quality control and continuous improvement. As a business owner or senior manager, aren’t these the disciplines with which you want your employees to be knowledgeable? Having an educated employee, who can not only improve your current operations, but also help adapt the business to new operations, is vitally important for success.
The standard terminology and best practices developed in this course of study are utilized by just about every software company that sells ERP software in the manufacturing market space. They have recognized the value of this program to the businesses they serve.
The CPIM curriculum is geared to those employees involved in production and inventory management; operations; supply chain management; procurement; materials management and purchasing. These disciplines cover a lot of your employees!
The course of study in preparation for the CPIM examination covers the major modules of:
- Basics of Supply Chain Management
- Master Planning of Resources
- Detailed Scheduling & Planning
- Execution & Control of Operations
- Strategic Management of Resources
Further details on the content of these modules can be found at the APICS web site (www.APICS.org).
From personal experience I can tell you the exam is not a push over. Anyone who passes the certification exam is knowledgeable. They are able to understand concepts and to apply strategies and principles to adapt to new business opportunities.
An employee with the CPIM designation and knowledge will help you maximize the ROI on your business operations; build your customer satisfaction; create consistency through best practices; and through the use of a common terminology, enhance corporate wide communication.
Isn’t this the type of employee you want in your organization?
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