Executive Interview with Rick Blasgen, President and CEO of CSCMP

Rick Blasgen

We spoke with Rick Blasgen, president and CEO of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) on the occasion of their big anniversary. Logistics represents 14-15 percent of U.S. GNP, and we wanted to understand where he sees the organization moving in its next 50 years and what its biggest new initiatives will be.

Target Online: In the 50 years since the organization's founding in 1963, what do you think has been CSCMP’s biggest achievement?

Blasgen: Back in 1963, there was no Internet — we had to write letters, we used Telex and freight forwarders. Think about trading with China — that wasn’t going on. So now we are extending the supply chain, we are the first one on the scene with new connections, but global opportunity comes with global risk, currency issues and geopolitical issues.

Who has figured out the best global supply chains? There are many who are doing it well. Companies such as Procter & Gamble and Nestle have been maintaining a global footprint for many years, and, like the computer makers, those companies have probably figured it all out pretty well. But then you have a tsunami that wipes out 10 thousand suppliers in Thailand, and it illustrates how big the risks are in global.

Q: Are people getting smarter about risk, learning about how to operate in countries with risk, plus building better relationships? And where are we on global IT?

A: There may be a lot of functionality out there that has surpassed the ability of people to use it. There is some work to done with global visibility systems and there’s a lot of functionality that we aren’t using. As we hunker down, not enough people to do it; sometimes the information stream moves faster than the product. We are exchanging data, faster, with more accuracy between Chicago and Beijing, but for the physical movement of materials and product, we have to move longer distances — we put it on rail, we put it on trucks, but the physical nature still exists.

Q: How has the organization flourished?

A: Seventy percent of people at our conference are at the director level or above. People still like to assemble face-to-face, to share a smile, share a solution. Conferences haven’t gone away — they’re great for networking and a little fun. We have between 45 and 50 presenters, very good speakers who are willing to share — that’s kind of fulfilling. We have 9,000 individual members, and 100 corporate members, and part of the reason we have these numbers is that we have been going to companies and asking how we could provide value — companies such as Kraft, Motorola, Dow Chemical. We have people around the world, so why not provide the curriculum they need, be their “supply chain concierge”? We can do that for the entire supply chain because we know everybody.

It’s harder. There’s a lot more competition, and some companies may not have the same bias toward quality — they want to make money — we have to compete to retain market share. We launched certification in response to companies saying that there is no end-to-end certification.

It took a long time because we wanted to do it right. It’s called SCPro and people take the exam all over the world. They use our text materials.

It’s rigorous, the same regardless of where it’s administered — we didn’t want to do certification “lite.”

India, for example, is very thirsty for knowledge, but we need some help getting the name out. We had difficulty getting to right people, but we know we have to expand our ability to get there.

Q: Where do you see IT systems going that will make the most impact on global supply chains? What apps, what systems matter most? And do you see that manufacturing and distribution/logistics are integrated now well enough to be working toward the same goals, with the same agenda?

A: We have joint membership with AME — manufacturing is part of the supply chain. The work they are doing on lean is very important within the four walls, so we offer joint membership. So that’s going on and there needs to be, there can be more connections. Sometimes we have goals in conflict, like silos — in some companies hunkering down can create internal conflict. What I am talking about is hard — it involves money and leadership. I’ve worked with “bonusable” objectives, and I’ve found that different departments didn’t have goals that tied in, they were sometimes in conflict. And that was a turning point that allowed us to change it.

What are the companies to watch next for CSCMP? We talk a lot about current leader needs, companies that have a global mindset. But I think we underestimate interpersonal skills because people should be out there nurturing relationships — it’s worse today because people hunkered down to survive. There’s an inward mentality, so we know we need people with interpersonal skills. Why would I, for instance, want to be hammered with your good data?

I spend 60-70 percent of my time on the road advancing the discipline. It’s important because the field is becoming more competent, we have to get into education, we have to do better than have people stumble upon it in college.