President's Message

Welcome to the 2010-2011 Winter Newsletter.  We are off to a great year with an increase in Chapter and membership activity.  In September we hosted the 2nd course (MRP) of the CPIM-in-a-Year program with the plan to offer the 3rd in the series (Detailed Scheduling) in early 2011.  In September we also hosted a joint PDM with ISM.  A full house enjoyed a good meal, great networking and a very informational presentation by Bill Cure on Value Stream Mapping.  The feedback from this event was very positive. 

In October eight members of the New Orleans APICS Chapter attended the International APICS Conference in Las Vegas.  This conference featured a host of excellent breakout sessions and speakers.  Lt. General Russell Honore’, known as the Cat 5 General during Katina, was the featured speaker on the Day 1.  His message was on preparing for disasters, and he highlighted several concepts that can be applied to Operation Planning.  Honore’ is originally from Lakewood, LA, and he was very excited to meet folks from the Who Dat Nation!  The speaker on the second day was Bert Jacobs, the founder of Life is Good t-shirt company.  The New Orleans Chapter made their presence known during his talk.  Last year Kay Byrd and I met Wink William, an APICS member from Las Angeles, and he happened to be asked to go on stage during Bert’s talk.  While he was up there he gave a shout out to the  Who Dats, which was immediately met with enthusiasm. It definitely sounded like there were more than 8 of us among the hundreds in attendance!  Later on a few of us had the opportunity to meet with Bert and have dinner with him.  He made a lasting impression on us, and I know he won’t forget his New Orleans friends anytime soon

In November the Chapter finished out the 2010 calendar year with a plant tour at Intralox.  Thanks to MaryAnn Caruso and Dinah DeSoto for hosting this event.  APICS will not be holding a formal meeting in December.  However, we have an excellent PDM set up for January with Von Hartley from the Louisiana Economic Development office that you do not want to miss.

If you missed the International conference or are interested in additional education opportunities, the Terra Grande APICS Region is holding a 6-Pack Conference in Houston March  3rd and 4th comprising of  two-full days of speakers and breakout sessions.  I attended this conference 3 years ago, and it is a excellent conference at a very reasonable price.  The conference allows companies to be bring 5 people for the price of 4.  However, the New Orleans Chapter has worked out an arrangement with them that we can take advantage of this offer as a chapter.  If you plan on attending, please let the us know to see if we can meet this 5 person threshold.

Next Spring we would like to reach out to our members in Morgan City, Thibodeaux, Baton Rouge and Lafayette and host a PDM in that area.  Please let us hear your suggestions on location and possible speakers and topics.  We are looking for ways to serve you better!

Here’s hoping you have a fabulous holiday season and that 2011 is your best year yet! We’ll see you at the PDM in January.

Shari Ruelas, CPIM, CSCP
President, APICS of New Orleans Chapter