Pallets: New supply chain certification from CSCMP supported by CHEP

CHEP, a indus­try leader in pal­let and con­tainer pool­ing solu­tions, has joined with the Coun­cil of Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment Pro­fes­sion­als (CSCMP) and other indus­try mem­bers to develop and test a new qual­i­fi­ca­tion for man­agers. The SCPro is a three-level cer­ti­fi­ca­tion that offers global sup­ply chain man­age­ment pro­fes­sion­als a way to demon­strate a broad range of indus­try skills and mas­tery of end-to-end sup­ply chain functions.

“Even though today’s sup­ply chain tal­ent may be bet­ter edu­cated than pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tions, they still need to gain expe­ri­ence in the depth and breadth of logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment in order to become high-impact lead­ers. Along with expe­ri­ence, they must also have the inter­per­sonal, man­age­r­ial and tech­ni­cal skills to suc­ceed in their careers. That’s why CSCMP devel­oped its own cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram,” said Rick Blas­gen
, CSCMP Pres­i­dent and CEO.

CHEP part­nered with the CSCMP by iden­ti­fy­ing CHEP sup­ply chain pro­fes­sion­als to take the SCPro beta test. CHEP team mem­bers with dif­fer­ent lev­els of expe­ri­ence and job func­tions includ­ing trans­porta­tion, logis­tics, cus­tomer oper­a­tions, sales and cus­tomer solu­tions vol­un­teered to study the draft review mate­ri­als and com­pleted an eight hour long unabridged 300 ques­tion beta test to assist the CSCMP efforts to val­i­date ques­tions and bench­mark performance.

“CHEP is com­mit­ted to serv­ing our cus­tomers and improv­ing the sup­ply chains we sup­port. As our cus­tomers’ sup­ply chains mature, we need to be faster, smarter and stronger in order to inno­vate and deliver value that will meet their needs. That com­mit­ment requires an engaged work­force will­ing and able to part­ner with our cus­tomers to find new oppor­tu­ni­ties that increase pro­duc­tiv­ity and reduce costs. The CSCMP SCPro pro­gram is a great tool for our peo­ple to be rec­og­nized as respected sup­ply chain pro­fes­sion­als,” said Lane Pence, CHEP Direc­tor of Sup­ply Chain Efficiencies.

The first level of SCPro is Cor­ner­stones of Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment, and hold­ers of this des­ig­na­tion demon­strate a solid foun­da­tion of knowl­edge in all the func­tions of sup­ply chain man­age­ment, such as: demand plan­ning, pro­cure­ment, sup­ply man­age­ment, man­u­fac­tur­ing, ser­vice oper­a­tions, trans­porta­tion, inven­tory, ware­hous­ing, and order ful­fill­ment. Level One designees have proved they are solutions-focused and effec­tive at col­lab­o­rat­ing with oth­ers to the ben­e­fit of the entire sup­ply chain. This intro­duc­tory des­ig­na­tion, which demon­strates a clear com­mit­ment to grow­ing one’s sup­ply chain exper­tise, is awarded for a pass­ing grade on a 160-question exam­i­na­tion. Require­ments for this level are four years of rel­e­vant work expe­ri­ence OR a bachelor’s degree.

The sec­ond level is Analy­sis and Appli­ca­tion of Sup­ply Chain Chal­lenges. In order to obtain an SCPro Level Two des­ig­na­tion, pro­fes­sion­als must thor­oughly ana­lyze real-world case stud­ies, pin­point areas for opti­miza­tion and rec­om­mend effi­ciency improve­ments in the sup­ply chain. Require­ments include Level One PLUS either a four-year degree and three years rel­e­vant expe­ri­ence OR seven years of rel­e­vant experience.

The third level is Ini­ti­a­tion of Sup­ply Chain Trans­for­ma­tion. The high­est SCPro des­ig­na­tion requires an unprece­dented use of prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tion, a ground­break­ing advance among sup­ply chain cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. Can­di­dates must per­form hands-on analy­sis of a work­ing orga­ni­za­tion and cre­ate a detailed project plan that gen­er­ates real results, such as increased ROI or improved cycle times. Require­ments include Level Two PLUS either a four-year degree and five years of rel­e­vant expe­ri­ence OR nine years of rel­e­vant experience.

Learn­ing doesn’t stop once the SCPro Level One Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion has been attained. Designees must par­tic­i­pate in con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion pro­grams to main­tain an active cer­ti­fi­ca­tion sta­tus. The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion cycle is three years. Dur­ing the three years designees must attain no less than 20 hours of pro­fes­sional con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion cred­its toward main­te­nance each year, for a total over the three years of no less than 60 hours. Upon com­ple­tion of the three-year cycle, a new cycle begins.