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A Letter From Our President
July 1, 2010
Members,
July marks the start of the new fiscal year for the San Fernando Valley chapter. As part of the new fiscal year we install a new board of directors. We are fortunate in that we have been able to add a number of new board members and retained a lot of our old members. I believe this mix provides us with the benefit of new blood and their new ideas while retaining the corporate knowledge that the old members have. This mix of old and new provides the chapter with a strong leadership base. Something that we will need this year as we try to successfully lead the chapter when we are all having difficulties, both professionally and personally, in these challenging times.
The success of the chapter is in direct proportion to the success that our members have. Like you we have had to deal with the economic downturn. Fewer companies are able to afford the products that we provide as they have had to deal with decreases in their revenues. And fewer of our members are in a position to pursue the various APICS educational offerings. I believe that having a strong board and a strong membership will help us survive the current issues. And we will be ready to adjust to the turn around of the economy.
The board’s first concern through all of the upheaval we have been seeing is how the chapter can better serve the membership. In some way we discuss this at every board meeting. We have also been trying to solicit ideas from the membership. This has been done through various surveys, at the monthly Professional Development meetings (PDM’s), and by just talking to the members.
Some of the initiatives we have taken include adding a “Have a Job/Need a Job” segment to the PDM’s. This provides those looking to fill a position an opportunity to talk about that position at a PDM and network with potential candidates. And for those looking to locate a position this is an opportunity to let others know about you and for you to make contact with individuals who might be able to help. We encourage everyone to bring resumes to hand out.
Also as part of our effort to increase the value of membership in APICS to our chapter’s members we are planning to initiate a “Single Point Lesson” at the PDM’s. This will be a short lesson on a focused topic.
We have also started a group on LinkedIn. For those of you who are not familiar with LinkedIn it is a networking site for business professional. I encourage every member to join the “APICS - San Fernando Valley” group. It is another way for you to network with other business professionals in operations management. If you need help in finding LinkedIn or our group feel free to contact any member of the board.
We conducted two seminars this past year that had very good turnouts. In the first one we were able to offer to the membership and the business community the opportunity to attend training from the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI). As most of us who have been exposed to Lean Manufacturing know LEI is one of the premier thought leaders in Lean. It is very rare for them to present a class on the west coast. Many thanks to the members and participants of all of our seminars and classes. It is only through YOUR participation and feedback that we know we are adding value to you and your companies.
We continue to look for ideas on how to increase the value the chapter provides to the membership and welcome input from you. If you have ideas please contact us. We would love to hear from you. You can reach any of the board members through our website (www.apics-sfv.org), by attending the board meetings, or at the PDM’s. We want to hear from you. The only way we can better serve you is by you telling us what you would like to see from us. It is your chapter so you get to decide how it can best help you.
Respectfully,
Walt Ciszczon
President – San Fernando Valley chapter of APICS
e-mail: president@apics-sfv.org
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