• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Talent Development Is Crucial to the Supply Chain

Talent Development Is Crucial to the Supply Chain

April 30, 2010
SupplyChainBrain

It's ironic that conferences are devoted to supply chain efficiency, yet when times get tough one of the first things companies do is to undermine their supply chain performance by firing people.

This is particularly counterproductive, he says, when so many companies are run by people who could retire at any moment. In fact, during the worst of the economic downturn, many experienced heads were forced to retire.

Who's gonna run the shop?

"We have to treat human capital as a strategic part of the business," Malenfant says. "If we don't start looking at it that way, if we don't start bringing young people in for comprehensive talent development, we're going to have a vacuum in another five or six years."

Grooming the next generation of supply chain leaders-right now-is imperative. "Who's going to be my successor? Who's going to take over the industry in the future?"

He suggests a program of six to eight years in which candidates are developed in "every vertical" in the company's supply chain. In the end, they emerge as senior leaders.

In the past, he says, he placed a "procurement person" in charge of company logistics and had great success. "You identify those people with soft skills and give them the training."

Lean is the mantra virtually everywhere. "When the downturn came in my organization, all the money for training was cut. But you can still move people around. You can still identify those with potential, take them out of their comfort zone and test them. I've got 15 people in my development program, and it hasn't cost a dime."

To view this video in its entirety, click here.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Education & Professional Development Global Supply Chain Management HR & Labor Management Quality & Metrics Retail
KEYWORDS Education & Professional Development Global Supply Chain Management HR & Labor Management Quality & Metrics Retail
  • Related Articles

    Talent Development Is Crucial to the Supply Chain

    Supply Chain Talent is the Missing Link in the Race for Supply Chain 2020

    How the Talent Gap Is Disrupting the Supply Chain

SupplyChainBrain

100 Great Supply Chain Partners Issue 2009

More from this author

Wake up to Coronavirus Updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Coronavirus-watch-Armada

    Virus Update: Biden’s 100 Million Doses ‘Doable’ in 100 Days; China to Donate 500,000 Doses to Philippines

    Coronavirus
  • U.S. and China Trade

    How China Won Trump’s Trade War and Got Americans to Foot the Bill

    Global Supply Chain Management
  • Obtaining Adequate Supplies of PPE in the Pandemic

    Watch: Obtaining Adequate Supplies of PPE in the Pandemic

    Coronavirus
  • AT&T

    How the Pandemic Has Altered AT&T’s Global Sourcing Strategy

    Coronavirus
  • U.S. Vaccine Shift Stirs New Unease as 128 Million Join Line

    U.S. Vaccine Shift Stirs New Unease as 128 Million Join Line

    Coronavirus

Digital Edition

Scb home issue 27

2020 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • LSP Saves Customer $1.5 Million a Year With MPO Global Inbound Management

  • Auto Supplier Wows Key Client Using riskmethods Supply Chain Savvy

  • Integrating Shipping and Compliance Saves Conglomerate Millions

  • How a Consumer Goods Giant Upped Its On-Time Delivery Performance

  • LSP Wows Global Client, Quickly Advances to Become End-to-End Provider

Visit Our Sponsors

6 River Systems ArcBest Armada
aThingz BluJay Burris Logistics
DSC Logistics DCSA (Digital Container Shipping Association) DHL Resilience360
Genpact GEP Honeywell Intelligrated
Infor Logility Magnitude Software
MPO Old Dominion Oliver Wight
OpenSky Ports America Purolator
QAD Precision Red Classic Riskmethods
TGW Systems Transportation Insights Watson Land Company
Westfalia Technologies Workjam Yang Ming
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright © 2016 - 2018 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing