Materials handling pros rising!
Materials handling professionals are not only part of the Supply Chain Revolution, they are seen as the leaders of charge!
By Mitch Mac Donald -- Modern Materials Handling, 11/1/1999
From the heart of the Sunbelt he sits and watches. This learned old man has watched the American business scene change many times over the past half century, but never in ways so dramatic as he has witnessed these last couple of years.And what does he see?
Well, for the first time in over 50 years, the most direct route to the top doesn't run through manufacturing, finance, sales, or even marketing. No, the path to the top now, and for may years to come, is via what the wise old man describes as the Material Supply Chain.
The "wise old man" is Eugene Jenning, professor emeritus at Michigan State University. He's been been studying the career paths most likely to lead to the president or CEO positions in U.S. companies since 1947. The results of his ongoing research have been the focus of innumerable books and reports.
When he first began his study, employees who "grew up" in manufacturing operations typically had the inside track to the top spot. Sales began to emerge in the late 50s and early 60s as the most direct route to the coveted corner office. Finance professionals challenged the sales types in the 1970s. And then, in the 1980s, marketing pros took the inside position as companies scrambled to establish themselves globally.
Now, in what Jenning himself refers to as the most momentous change in career trends since he began his work, professionals who design, integrate, and manage their company's Material Supply Chain operations have moved into the passing lane. "It's a change that will forever reshape business and careers," he says.
Jenning, in fact, sees this shift as so profound and long-term in nature that he is shifting the entire focus of his five-decade study to concentrate on supply chain professionals.
Because Jenning and others are increasingly recognizing the direct correlation between the success of a company's material supply chain integration strategies and it's overall success as a going, profitable concern, companies are quickly tapping their best and brightest and putting them in charge of the function.
These top guns, should they achieve the supply chain successes the current and future business world demands, will ultimately find themselves running the whole show.
So, it seems that materials handling professionals are not only part of the Supply Chain Revolution, they are seen as the leaders of charge!
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