The politics are very difficult. As a woman, I was told by a woman who was at the corporate level that I was like a white chimpanzee in the middle of the jungle. I went to a meeting, and there were about 2,300 distribution people there of which only about 200 were women. I don't want to say it's hard to advance only because I'm a woman, but it's harder.
Q - How stressful is your position?
A - It's a rather stressful position. Whenever you're trying to resolve conflict, and the basic part of the job is one of conflict, you have stress. Furthermore, the job involves constant change just because of the nature of the marketplace. Often there is a need to confront others. That's always a tough thing to do, to say to others, "Hey, you're not performing like you should." I've had people who have worked for me who just couldn't bring themselves to go up to a foreman and say, "Look, this is what you were supposed to do. Why didn't you do it? What are you going to do to get caught up? Are you going to work overtime, or are you going to subcontract work?"
I guess my position is fairly high in stress, not only because of the deadlines but because the things you work on change so quickly. You can be speaking on the phone about something, and as you're speaking someone may walk in with another crisis, which is a totally different topic.
Q - Do you see any major trends in the field of inventory control?
A - I don't think it's any secret that most distribution people would like to report independently to somebody other than marketing or manufacturing. We have stood for that for some time, but we haven't gotten anywhere with it. We should not have to report to either one of those people for obvious reasons. Marketing people want all the product all the time, and the manufacturing people only want to run the product as economically as possible for them.
People are no longer operating in a vacuum. They're no longer just with production or inventory. Years ago things were labor intensive, interest rates were lower, and you could afford to have more "fat on the land" and keep more inventory. Today, we're more cost conscious. When we have to expedite a shipment now, it may not be as great a cost in terms of premium transportation as may in fact cost us in inventory. So people are looking more for the big picture, the overview in terms of having things working together.
There is increasing emphasis on the control activities within manufacturing organizations in order to get the efficiencies that are necessary today. Personally, I think production inventory control will become one of the most vital elements within manufacturing organizations. In order to drive inventory down, it's very important that the production inventory system be a very good one, because you no longer have the safety stocks necessary to cover your mistakes, and you no longer have the additional capacity just to cover your mistakes. The trends are evident simply by reading the Wall Street Journal. Materials management jobs are being advertised. Ten years ago there were very few of those. How has the computer changed your operation?
The materials management concept is an old concept that a lot of people think is rather new. The computer has made it possible to implement the concept because the necessary data really couldn't effectively be controlled without the computer. For example, our product is rather simple, but we have over 20,000 different part numbers. As you can imagine, a very complex product is going to have many more than that. When you start developing the controls that are necessary to follow from operations to operations you have to be computerized.
Is there any advice you would give students interested in inventory control? I think financial ability is very valuable; every day I'm here I realize how important it is. That's what makes the world go around. It's a question of numbers. Very few companies that I know of are charitable.
So I would concentrate on finance, economics, and marketing. Once you're out of college, I think the best training you can get is to work for a large corporation because of the training they give you. They've got the skills down, and they've been doing it for a long time. What they give you in a few years you'd never learn on your own. They also teach you a certain discipline. It is important not to close your eyes at any entry-level job. In the lower areas you get exposed to ,so many things by just sitting and observing. It gives you a clearer idea of where you want to go.
Students should consider examining all schools that have inventory in a formal program, not approach it through the back door like I did. Also, they should try to get summer jobs in warehousing or production if they can. The best candidates are those who have the best experience. There are times when I've had difficulty visualizing certain things; I didn't know what a pallet was or what repacking meant. You've got to be there in a warehouse to see what goes on. The two go hand in hand- practical experience and education.
It wouldn't hurt them to join some of the professional organizations and find out what they are doing. The National Council of Physical Distribution (NCPDM) and the Production Inventory Control Organization are two good ones. There are a whole lot of local people around, and it doesn't cost much in terms of what a person is going to get out of it long range.
