Looking for a reason to escape to Atlanta or Phoenix this winter? The Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) will offer several of its popular two-day seminars in those cities in February and March. But leave the golf clubs at home. These are fast-paced hands-on seminars that will require participants to do some work.
Coming up at the end of this month is "Benchmark NOW," which will be offered in Atlanta on Feb. 20-21. The instructors for the course are Kate Vitasek, managing partner of Supply Chain Visions and a recognized authority on performance measurement; and Karl Manrodt, assistant professor, Department of Management and Marketing at Georgia Southern University, who serves as the co-director of the Southern Center for Logistics and Intermodal Transportation.
This course teaches the "how" and "what" of benchmarking, a method of analyzing company performance. The program gives participants two options: they can bring their own company data to benchmark against best practices or they can use mock data supplied by the instructors. This seminar is intended for C-level executives, general managers and vice presidents, warehouse and DC managers, and plant managers.
Next month, WERC will offer two of its programs back to back in Phoenix, Ariz. First up will be "Maximizing Warehouse Space," which is scheduled for March 6 and 7. That course will be followed on March 8 and 9 by "Using Metrics to Achieve Results."
During the first day of the "Maximizing Warehouse Space" class, participants will examine the elements of space planning. On day two, they will work with a group to redesign a fictional DC using the techniques learned on day one. The instructors for the program are Robert B. Silverman, president of Gross & Associates, and M. Geoffrey Sisko, senior vice president and principal of the firm. Gross & Associates are consultants in material handling logistics, specializing in distribution operations design. The program is intended for warehouse managers and supervisors, anyone involved in building or redesigning a DC, engineers, and managers responsible for warehouse productivity.
On the following two days, Vitasek will lead the metrics seminar, which will focus on the right way to implement metrics. Participants will leave with a "Roadmap to Metrics" they should be able to implement in their own facilities. The program is aimed at general managers; warehouse/DC supervisors and managers; plant managers; and inventory, material and shipping supervisors.
Later in the year, WERC plans to offer two additional courses, "Management Skills for Warehouse Supervisors" and "Managing Warehouse Operations," although no dates or locations have been set.
For more information, visit www.werc.org.
