Industrial Distribution

Steve Epner

Outside Inside Thinking - Blog 3
January 23, 2007

Years ago, I remember asking my kids about what they were learning in school. So, I am turning the tables and I will tell you what I have been learning at Purdue. The course of study is aimed at full time executives in manufacturing and distribution. For more information on the program, call Mark Schuver at Purdue, (765) 404-3550.

Project Management Long ago, we all learned something about managing a project. Some learned to use coercion. Some learned to use rewards. Some begged a lot. Others prayed (even if it was not politically correct).

Dr. Edie Schmidt started our program with an excellent article: “Lessons for an accidental profession - project management” published in Business Horizons,  March-April, 1995  by Jeffrey K. Pinto,  Om P. Kharbanda

The premise of the article is that most project leaders do not start out life dreaming about becoming a project management professional. Many of us are unprepared. We learn by observing others and often pick up bad habits.

Project management is a real science. There are parts that are too theoretical for smaller business projects (they can get us to the moon, but will overwhelm the purchase of a new delivery truck). Still, the concepts are very valuable. There have been many occasions where I wish I had this background 25 years ago and understood how a bit of planning could have saved hundreds of hours.

Not only did we cover traditional methods like PERT and CPM (identifying and managing the critical path in any project plan), but we got into Critical Chains and the theory of constraints. I do not want to take the time to explain the concepts here, but suffice it to say there is much that can be learned and applied to every distribution company I have ever seen (and that is a bunch).

Project management skills can be applied to any process. That could include the warehouse (put away, picking, packing, shipping), sales (order entry, invoicing, cash application), and so on through out the operation.

Finding and eliminating bottlenecks. Learning to use “feeding buffers” and dealing with resource contention. These are all skills that most of us were never taught the first time I went to college. I did not even learn them on the job. Having worked with them on a theoretical level and listened to how they work in practice from some very smart students, I am convinced we all need to pay more attention to the accidental profession and apply the lessons to all of our processes.

Posted by Steve Epner on January 23, 2007 | Comments (0)