NEW CUMBERLAND, Pennsylvania –
As part of their professional development, members of the American Production and Inventory Control Society visited DLA Distribution Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, Oct. 1.
Over 20 members from the Central Pennsylvania APICS chapter received a DLA Distribution Overview and participated in a walking tour of the Eastern Distribution Center.
APICS is an association for supply chain management and a leading provider of research, education and certification programs that elevate supply chain excellence, innovation and resilience.
During the walking tour through the EDC, the group saw various areas of operations in the warehouse; Receiving Operations and Processing; Storage, Retrieval and Sortation System which included the High Rise Storage and Active Item System; and Out loading Operations.
According to Bruce Spurgeon, president, APICS, Central Pennsylvania Chapter, his group takes a tour here every year. Additionally, they hold three to five professional development meetings where they’ll host someone from DLA to come and provide a presentation.
“We do have a combination of defense and commercial related people come and speak during our professional development meetings. But, the benefits of coming here help us to understand the scope and scale of this. So it’s very beneficial for them (APICS Chapter members) to come and experience an operation of this size, from a military view-point,” stated Spurgeon.
It was the first tour here for Robert Neidigh, professor, Supply Chain Management Department, College of Business, Shippensburg University.
“I teach a quality course and the first thing I saw when walking towards the conference room was a big poster that said, “Quality Talks,” so it drives home what we’re teaching in our classes. Our main emphasis for us to get so many students in here is career opportunities – and the tour provides our students the ability to see the operation from a practical standpoint,” said Neidigh.
Melissa Meador, management analyst, DLA Distribution, briefed the group on the many career opportunities available to them at Distribution through the DLA Pathways to Career Excellence Program and other hiring programs.
“I think it’s very important to at least to be able to give them the idea that there’s a place for them at DLA. However, the other side of this is to encourage managers and leadership here to utilize those programs,” said Meador.