Education / Certification Project

1. Education / Certification Project

2. Research • Guided by a working group of the CSCSC’s Research Committee, Blueprint Public Relations of Ottawa, Ont., carried out the first phase of the Council’s Education/Certification Project to collect hard and soft information.

3. Qualitative Research Explored • Employer awareness of programs • Sector need for educational standards • Partnerships between industry and educational institutions

4. Three activities were conducted to support development of the strategy 1. Compilation of the compendium 2. Online surveys of employers 3. Focus groups

5. Compilation of the Compendium • Information for the compendium was gathered from three sources: • Associations • Post-secondary institutions • Employers

6. June 28, 2007, Mississauga, Ontario • Canada’s first comprehensive database of education and training programs for the supply chain sector is now available online. • http://www.supplychaincanada.org/assets/Compendium_website.pdf

7. “I most definitely find this to be an interesting and very useful thing.” – French teleconference • “I tried looking for something like this and I couldn’t find anything.” – Toronto

8. Updating the compendium • The CSCSC can expect incoming: • Emails • Calls • Feedback

9. “I think the material definitely needs to be reviewed periodically because it’s quite easy to fall behind and become outdated in this business.” – French teleconference

10. Formal Updates • Once or twice a year: • Pull – association and educational websites • Push – formal requests • AUCC • ACCC • Associations • Colleges and universities

11. Methodology • A number of research methods were employed to gather information: • Online survey • Interviews • Focus groups 

12. Online Survey of Employers • A short online survey was posted from January 29 to February 16, 2007, and supply chain employers were contacted by CSCSC and invited to complete it. • Response to the survey was disappointing as it was completed by 20 respondents, 19 in English and 1 in French.

13. Interviews • Ten leaders in the sector were interviewed to understand what education and training programs they admire, have recommended to colleagues or employees or if they were in education themselves, which programs they have created.

14. Focus Groups • Four focus groups were conducted during March 2007 in three regions of Canada: • Two face-to face focus groups were conducted, in Winnipeg and Toronto. • Two groups were carried out by teleconference with representatives in Montreal and its environs.

15. “Looking for middle management is always a struggle…I’m looking for …soft skills…project management, establishing relationships, some financial background, and being capable of doing a P&L…and with a background in logistics, because you need to have someone who understands and has a supervisory background.” – Toronto

16. Findings • Good supply of operational-level employees • Shortage of middle-level managers

17. “At the lower levels you can train them on the job…if you’re looking for a forklift operator, a dispatcher, a customer service representative…there are a sufficient number of people around to be able to answer our demand.” – English teleconference

18. Partnership Development • There is general agreement that there are a large number of industry designations and training programs, and considerable overlap in the subject matter. • It should also be noted that more partnerships are being developed between industry associations and colleges or universities.

19. “…If we asked ten different senior people at ten different senior supply chain organizations, ‘Which one would you value?’ you would get ten different answers.” – Toronto

20. Needs for Improvement • Need for standardization of training programs • Little need for occupational standards • Improve stature of industry designations • Increased partnerships between industry associations and colleges and universities

21. “…they have to continually be upgrading their courseware and, you know, to keep up with what’s happening in the industry…and that’s something that some of these training companies and associations may be lagging behind…what’s happening in the industry.” – English teleconference

22. Recommendation 1:Create Opportunities for: • Experienced workers from “blue-collar” sectors to become middle managers • Post-secondary students to obtain work experience

23. Recommendation 2:CSCSC to Review Industry Programs • To recognize better programs and encourage consolidation • To lend credibility to individual designations • To make choosing a program simpler • To prevent wasted time and money on the wrong training

24. “[The Sector Council could say], ‘These are the ones that we’ve evaluated, that we’ve looked at the content, that we’ve looked at from an industry perspective and that we think make sense’…I think that’s a great idea.” – Toronto

25. Recommendation 3:Improve Sector Image • CSCSC to improve overall professional sector image by: • Recognizing pedagogically sound practices • Encouraging associations to improve

26. “[Supply chain management] has got a very blue-collar image to it…and that’s one of the things we’ve got to do, is to try to market it as a very sophisticated profession.” – Winnipeg

27. Recommendation 4:Partnership Facilitation • Industry associations team with post-secondary institutions to: • Improve the level of instruction • “Raise the bar”

28. “The customs field is forever changing and we’re really short-staffed with knowledgeable people, despite the fact that there are so many layoffs and mergers in Canada.” – Winnipeg

29. Recommendation 5:Occupational Standards • Education of sector opinion leaders • Standards developed by a team with: • substantial industry experience • unassailable credentials

30. Contact Information 1100 Central Parkway West, Suite 17-1, Mississauga, ON L5C 4E5 T: 905-897-6700/1-866-616-3468 F: 905-897-1100 E: info@supplychaincanada.org W: www.supplychaincanada.org