Phil Jones, Distribution Engineering & Facilities Group Manager for Target and Steve Harrington, Industry Liaison, National Center for Supply Chain Technology Education recently partnered on a co-presentation at Dematic’s annual Material Handling & Logistics Conference in Park City, Utah. 25 industry professionals involved in maintaining, repairing, upgrading and installing automated equipment and systems were in attendance.
In the co-developed format, Mr. Harrington provided background on SCTE, highlighted milestone accomplishments and introduced resources for business and educators. Then Mr. Jones stepped up to the podium to talk about Target’s commitment to growing the Technician workforce and featured a real world business case example of this commitment in action. In closing, Mr. Jones talked about the “Top 10 Ways Industry Can Help SCTE” then he issued an industry call to action for all presentation attendees.
The presentation was titled: “New Thinking on What Matters in Technician Education.“ The abstract for the talk read as follows: Automated materials handling systems have advanced in precision and the Technicians who care for them need to possess precision capabilities as well. Skilled Technicians are in short supply and these presenters are one part of the answer. They will share details on their collaborative work to address the shortage of skilled Technicians nationally and the emerging development of a Supply Chain Technician certification driven by industry.
Over 500 individuals attended the more than 55 sessions offered by this world class supply chain education event addressing supply chain trends, strategies and thought leadership. The 2015 Conference was highlighted with a special evening featuring remarks by Condoleezza Rice. In addition to Dr. Rice, participants attended sessions addressing robotic picking, data warehousing, ensuring growth with automation, omni-channel fulfillment, waveless picking and more. The Innovation Lab featured the latest trends in the Supply Chain industry such as augmented reality, image-based barcode tunnel, 3D image solutions, PC based automation, and robotic picking.
Excellent feedback was received by those in attendance. Many industry experts provided comments requesting information on Technician programs in their regions based on SCTE’s model curriculum. One outcome from SCTE’s co-presentation at this industry conference was the recruitment of two new Industry Leadership Team (ILT) members. Both of these new ILT members are already assisting SCTE with a pilot project in Columbus, Ohio focused on developing sustainable educational ecosystems.