This writer began his career in healthcare supply chain in 1971. Actually, I didn’t realize I was starting a career: I thought I was doing something to earn money while completing my formal education in chemistry. Fast forward and my undergrad degree in is information systems with a minor in accounting. Obviously along the way my butterfly instincts got the best of me. Working in supply chain I was hooked. Here was a field that let me touch everything and interact with everyone. For a people oriented person, with almost equally strong tendencies towards the analytical, this was the round peg meeting the round hole.
In 1971 there were no degrees in supply chain: at least not in Pittsburgh’s otherwise diverse college community. No one working in the field had direct credentials. Job skills and competencies were strictly learned via experience and mentoring – and good mentors were far and few between. There were also no professional societies focusing on healthcare. The National Association of Purchasing Managers (NAPM), now the Institute for Supply Management, was the organization providing structure and standards, and it was then strictly a group of procurement managers.
A group of pioneering hospital materials managers formed the now defunct Hospital Materials Management Society. The founders were all Chicago based hospital materials managers. This writer got his first certification from this organization in the early 1980’s. I remember having to memorize the formulas supporting economic order quantity theory. Eerily, I still know them.
Today we have myriad societies and certifications, but we also have formal supply chain education programs, up to and including terminal degrees (Ph.D and DBA). Along the way many of us were awarded life status on certifications. My life status is in the C.P.M. from ISM. But, when a field awards doctorates does a life status certification have any value? I would contend the answer is a clear no. Obviously ISM came to the same conclusion when they halted the C.P.M. program and replaced it with the CPSM: which has no life status. Supply chain has come too far and has become so dynamic that we can no longer afford practitioners who fail to keep current with practices and theory. When we retire we can wallow in life achievement, but not under the pretense that we know the field because we were once current.
In 1971 there were no degrees in supply chain: at least not in Pittsburgh’s otherwise diverse college community. No one working in the field had direct credentials. Job skills and competencies were strictly learned via experience and mentoring – and good mentors were far and few between. There were also no professional societies focusing on healthcare. The National Association of Purchasing Managers (NAPM), now the Institute for Supply Management, was the organization providing structure and standards, and it was then strictly a group of procurement managers.
A group of pioneering hospital materials managers formed the now defunct Hospital Materials Management Society. The founders were all Chicago based hospital materials managers. This writer got his first certification from this organization in the early 1980’s. I remember having to memorize the formulas supporting economic order quantity theory. Eerily, I still know them.
Today we have myriad societies and certifications, but we also have formal supply chain education programs, up to and including terminal degrees (Ph.D and DBA). Along the way many of us were awarded life status on certifications. My life status is in the C.P.M. from ISM. But, when a field awards doctorates does a life status certification have any value? I would contend the answer is a clear no. Obviously ISM came to the same conclusion when they halted the C.P.M. program and replaced it with the CPSM: which has no life status. Supply chain has come too far and has become so dynamic that we can no longer afford practitioners who fail to keep current with practices and theory. When we retire we can wallow in life achievement, but not under the pretense that we know the field because we were once current.
Hiring practices need to reflect the reality of widely available undergraduate degrees in supply chain. General business degrees were once adequate, but they are quickly losing relevance in a field that has been transformed from tactical to strategic. Failure to keep up now could be disastrous in the not too distant future.
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