Roadmap Workforce Summit: 2 Days of Best Practices

The U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics hosts its first Workforce Summit at ProMat on Wednesday and Thursday. The event showcases a series of speakers and discussion panels that will explore best practices in how to find, train and retain the supply chain workforce of the future.

“Just as the Roadmap was developed in partnership with industry, suppliers, academia and government, these eight sessions will bring both practitioners and educators together to address these workforce issues,” explained Gary Forger, MHI’s managing director of professional development, and organizer of the event.

The summit is also sponsored by MHI, the Material Handling Education Foundation (MHEFI), the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CICMHE), MHI’s Technical Career Education Program (TCEP), the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association (MHEDA), the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC), APICS, the Association of Professional Material Handling Consultants, and the Supply Chain Talent Academic Initiative.

The Roadmap devoted an entire section to the twin challenges faced by the industry: demographics and skill sets. A rapidly changing workforce, inadequately defined career paths, and a lack of industry appeal to potential labor pools are key demographic challenges. Skills challenges include a training and education network too small to meet projected demand for skilled workers, inadequate skills of both existing and incoming workers, and a poorly connected training and education network.

“Between now and 2018, there will be 1.4 million new jobs in logistics and supply chain. However, educational institutions can graduate only 30% of that workforce,” Forger continued. “Meanwhile, there is significant turnover and change among the jobs and careers within the existing workforce. That requires people with many new skills and abilities just to keep pace with increasing supply chain complexity.”

The sessions have been designed to give attendees a chance to hear what workforce practitioners and educators are doing already. Speakers and panelists will offer practical advice on how to adopt best practices, and the impact those steps will have on both current and future workforces.

Wednesday’s sessions kick off from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. with a keynote panel entitled “Find, Train, Retain your Workforce for 2025,” moderated by Bob Trebilcock, editorial director of Supply Chain Management Review and Modern Materials Handling magazines. The panel of experts includes Betsey Nohe of Morton Salt, Jeff LeClair of Caterpillar, and John Caltagirone of Loyola University’s Supply and Value Chain Center. The three will discuss a range of approaches to creating a workforce capable of exceeding the expectations of both supply chain partners and customers.

From 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., Loyola’s Caltagirone moderates “Movers and Shakers: Chicago Supply Chain Workforce of the Future,” a panel including Harry Haney of Kraft Foods, Bill Seliger of R. R. Donnelly, William Frain of CBRE, and Doug Whitley of the Supply Chain Innovation Network of Chicago. The four will explain how Chicago—long a major U.S. supply chain hub—is leveraging its leaders from industry, government and academia to develop people and stimulate economic and business growth in the region.

Thursday’s sessions divide participants into two different tracks, one for practitioners, the other for educators.

The practitioners’ track includes three sessions geared toward industry:

• “Find: Recognizing the Changing Workforce,” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., features a discussion of why women, veterans, people with disabilities and people under 40 are the future of the material handling and logistics workforce.
• “Train: Bridging Competency Gaps,” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., explores the certifications and other training courses rapidly gaining importance in building the skill sets for future leaders in the supply chain workforce.
• “Retain: Rethinking Material Handling and Logistics Career Paths,” from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m., examines ways to keep the valuable employees a company has invested in to ensure they will lead an operation to supply chain greatness.

The three sessions in the educators’ track are for persons charged with teaching and training the workforce of the future:

• “Partnering with Industry,” from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., highlights leading supply chain education programs and how they ensure that program content is relevant to both industry and students through research, internships and projects.
• “Flipping the Classroom,” from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., focuses on how to leverage e-learning for the delivery of lectures online, while using face-time in class for “homework” with real-time feedback from classmates and the instructor.
• “Learning through Games,” from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m., shares how games—from old-fashioned board games to sophisticated online simulations—can be used to motivate people while providing an opportunity for active learning and hands-on experience in a low-stakes environment.

ProMat 2015 is scheduled to be held March 23-26, 2014 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. The tradeshow will showcase the latest manufacturing, distribution and supply chain solutions in the material handling and logistics industry. Modern’s complete ProMat 2015 coverage.