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Michael Mikitka is the executive vice president of the MHI Knowledge Center and the Warehousing Education & Research Council (WERC). Mikitka is responsible for the overall execution of the Knowledge Center and WERC Division strategy; stakeholder engagement and influence; and strategic planning, budgeting, and evaluation.
Until August 2020, Mikitka served as the chief executive officer of WERC and was responsible for helping WERC live up to the commitment it has made to its members and the industry. Mikitka and his team work to ensure WERC provides its members with education, research, and services to develop them professionally and to improve the performance of logistics within their organizations.
Mikitka joined WERC in 2000 and served as the senior director of the organization’s flagship annual conference and managed WERC’s network of chapters. In 2009, WERC’s board of directors appointed Mikitka as CEO.
Mlkitka began his association career at the Property Loss Research Bureau (PLRB), a trade association of property and casualty insurance companies. In that role, Mlkitka created learning materials and managed the association’s educational programs as well as its annual conference and trade show.
Mikitka holds the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation and is an active member in the American Society of Association Executives and the Association Forum of Chicagoland.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 00:00
It's time to get to WERC. New investments to maintain the friendly skies. And what does it take to be a supply chain leader?
Pull up a chair and join us as the editors of DC Velocity discuss these stories, as well as news and supply chain trends, on this week's Logistics Matters podcast.
Hi, I'm Dave Maloney. I'm the group editorial director at DC Velocity. Welcome.
Logistics Matters is sponsored by Aptean. Aptean is a global provider of mission-critical, industry-specific logistics and transportation management solutions. Aptean routing and scheduling delivers advanced transportation management systems to world-leading brands, helping them streamline daily operational processes. If you're ready to see savings of up to 30% and unlock the value of your transportation operation, Aptean can help. For more information, visit Aptean.com and discover what's next now.
As usual, our DC Velocity senior editors Ben Ames and Victoria Kickham will be along to provide their insights into the top stories of this week. But to begin today, now that the worst of Covid-19 appears to be in the rearview mirror, industry organizations are gathering in person again, including WERC, the Warehousing Education and Research Council, which meets next week in Louisville. I recently caught up with Michael Mikitka, who is the Executive Vice President of WERC as well as the MHI Knowledge Center. Here now is our conversation.
Welcome, Michael. Thanks for joining us today.
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 01:33
Thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 01:36
For those who may not be familiar with the Warehousing Education and Research Council, can you describe your role in the industry?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 01:43
The Warehousing Education and Research Council, or WERC, or W-E-R-C, is a professional association, or association of people who manage logistics throughout the supply chain. Our focus is on the processes of warehousing, the best practices of warehousing, the quantitative and qualitative metrics of warehousing and distribution, and its role in the overall supply chain.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 02:11
You started working at WERC, W-E-R-C, in 2000, so that's more than 20 years ago, and a lot has happened since then, in the industry. What do you think are the most significant changes that you have seen during your time at WERC?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 02:24
Wow, when I started a W.E.R.C., my first job was to focus on its 2001 conference, and I remember at that time meeting with the committee and the talk about these online orders, internet orders, e-commerce—I'm not even sure if it was called that back then—but the rise of that, and what that meant, and how companies were handling it. And a very big deal at the time, along with some issues and mandates that were coming down regarding RFID, etc. So, it was an interesting and exciting time. It was a shift that was coming that we couldn't see until we look back at it, but obviously with the rise of e-commerce fulfillment, challenges and opportunities; the changes in technology that have taken place in just the last 20 years have been amazing and have an incredible impact on it. As far as what's most—has been most significant is, I think, has been the influence of e-commerce. But, while a lot has changed, a lot has also stayed the same. And kind of the pillars, the cores, of supply chain—people, process, technology — are still at the heart of all of it, no matter how fulfillment takes place.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 03:45
And that e-commerce drive that you've talked about has really changed the technologies that are used to fulfill that, the automation and things, and that's been a huge change as well, right?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 03:55
It has been, and automation, we're starting to see a shift again, as there's even a greater push towards automation with some of the challenges in the workforce, the disruption that we experienced over the last two years, and companies are looking more and more at that. They're giving it a little bit more leeway in terms of its expectations for ROI, knowing that it might take a little bit longer, but we definitely see more push in that direction as well.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 04:20
You just touched, obviously, on some of the effects of the pandemic. What are the major needs right now that your members see in the warehousing business?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 04:29
I think it's similar to [what] a lot of industries are feeling; obviously squeezed with the workforce and availability of the workforce. You know, some regulations are still playing a role in what they can do and how they can do it. The issues with transportation, et cetera, still remain challenges, and of course the issues at the ports, kind of the the general supply chain issues that we hear about in the news every day.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 04:53
Now, WERC became a part of MHI in July of 2020. Can you describe the role that you play within MHI and the opportunities that that collaboration brings to WERC members?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 05:05
Sure. I have the benefit of kind of having a foot in both organizations, if you will, with oversight of MHI's Knowledge Center, and still W.E.R.C. And with the acquisition came the opportunities to look at the supply chain, look at logistics more holistically from both organizations' views. Both organizations, to some extent, try to serve both those that provide products and services to the industry, as well as those that use the products and services, the practitioners of the industry, and the acquisition is an opportunity for us to kind of step back and look at that together, really from a collaborative approach. Both organizations see value in maintaining our identities and maintaining our audiences. MHI is a trade association, so their organizations are companies, whereas WERC is a professional association, and our members are individuals. And so how we focus, how we deliver products to those two audiences is different, how we service them is different, but ultimately, we each have things that we can provide that provide value for both of our groups. So, the collaboration is, the acquisition has provided opportunities to make products and services available to a greater audience.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 05:56
Now, WERC is also returning to its annual conference after two years of being virtual due to the pandemic. You're going to be in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 1st through 4th. Can you share some highlights that attendees can expect to experience at the conference?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 06:37
Well, you know, we are bringing the conference back, and we're excited about that. And as the conference has always been, it's peer-developed, so a number of professionals from the association from a number of companies have provided their support and served on a committee to help plan the conference. So, all of our content is procured by the members for the members, and so, our focus is always the takeaways — what will people walk away with? This year, there's a big push on workforce issues around retention, hiring. We're focusing on the impact of automation, valuating opportunities, assessing what your needs are, and then also focusing on kind of the core competencies of warehousing and the processes that take place, whether it's about trade issues, about transportation issues, anything that impacts our members and their ability to do their jobs and provide their products and services to their customers.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 07:39
Now, as you mentioned, there is a little difference between MHI and W.E.R.C., WERC, in the emphasis of the organizations, in the sense that W.E.R.C. is a professional organization made up of members and individuals who are professionals within the organization. So, education has always been a very strong focus that you've had. Can you talk about some of the educational opportunities are available to WERC members throughout the year?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 08:04
Certainly. So, W.E.R.C. always provides a series of webcasts. We, as we see Covid kind of winding down, our chapters are becoming more active, so we look at, we're looking forward to bringing back those local opportunities for facility tours or speakers. Our Texas chapter, last year, brought back its regional event. It was well attended, and, you know, we're looking forward to doing that again. So, you know, we'd like to provide content in a number of different ways, whether it's face to face, whether it's online, and we're able to start bringing a lot of those opportunities back.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 08:43
Michael, W.E.R.C. and DC Velocity have collaborated for many years on the annual warehouse metrics study, I think this will be the 19th year that we've been doing it. So what will the focus be of this year's study?
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 08:56
Yes, this will be the 19th year that we've been producing the study. This year's focus, there's two parts to it. We'll be looking at micro distribution, as our members are dealing with challenges of serving their customers in urban settings, et cetera, and of course, with the rise of e-commerce, micro distribution is becoming a big interest to a number of our members, as well as workforce. We'll be looking at a number of workforce issue workforce issues in this year's study, and the impact that that's having on the supply chain as well as distribution. And something new this year that we'll be offering is we're going to be taking that study and we're going to be making it more engaging for our members by developing a tool that will allow them to go on online, enter their data, and see how it compares to the metrics in the report. Members will have a chance to look at the data, align it with their demographics, put in their demographics and align it with certain demographics of the study, see how they compare. They'll be able to develop a number of reports that they can use and share with their teams. They can compare facilities within their networks, all as a means to make the tool more usable and more engaging for our members.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 10:11
Thank you, Michael. We appreciate you being with us today.
Michael Mikita, Executive VP, WERC and MHI Knowledge Center 10:14
You're welcome. Thank you.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 10:16
We've been talking with Michael Mikitka, the executive vice president of MHI Knowledge Center and WERC, the Warehousing Education and Research Council. Now let's take a look at some of the other supply chain news from the week, and, Ben, you wrote this week about the latest infrastructure spending for air traffic control. Can you share the details?
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 10:37
Yeah, that's right, Dave, we have spent a lot of time last year reporting on the debate and the eventual passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which, of course, is a $1 trillion package that funds federal public works programs on everything from roads and bridges to broadband internet, safety, energy production, lots of stuff. Both industry and politicians across the spectrum seem to agree that this kind of work is long overdue, and could even lead to serious disasters if certain parts of it don't happen soon. Pointing, for example, there was a bridge collapse that happened in Pittsburgh in January this year, just after President Biden had arrived in town to talk about infrastructure. But money takes time to trickle through federal bureaucracy, so now we're finally starting to learn about how exactly these new funds are going to be spent. This week, we learned that the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, that's part of the Department of Transportation, has started investing the first $1 billion of 5 billion in total funding provided for it. That's a small portion of the total pie. If my math is right, 5 billion is I think, half a percent of the trillion-dollar total. But the FAA says that the work is important, because the investment will repair or replace hundreds of buildings and pieces of equipment that work to keep flying safe for both U.S. passengers and the cargo that, of course we write about here on the magazine. Specifically, the FAA will be working on the nation's air-traffic control system, including all those tall control towers you see at every airport.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 12:21
Well, that sounds like a smart investment to make, but will the work have any impact on logistics and the air freight sector specifically?
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 12:29
Yeah, good question. That's hard to say. Of course, the passenger and cargo planes all use the same runways and equipment. Fortunately, we haven't covered many air wrecks or crashes on the magazine lately, but the FAA says that its equipment is aging, so this work will get ahead of any potentially more serious problems. For example, the agency said that its approach and departure facilities, as they call them, that are part of those control towers, include a lot of structures where more than half of them are over 40 years old. And that network depends on complex technology, like power-supply systems, navigation and weather, radar and surveillance, and if many of those suffer from delayed maintenance, that's important to get ahead of the curve there. Speaking of new airplane technology, I covered another story this week. If you'll forgive me, it's unrelated but it shows how quickly the field is moving. This is not related to infrastructure spending, but rather private-sector investment. There are a couple of venture capital firms that raised almost $40 million to back an electric autonomous airplane startup in California. It's called Pyka, P-Y-K-A. This company makes aircraft that, they look like those one- or two-person planes you see at smaller airports. They call it the Pelican. It has a 38-foot wingspan. It has three electric motors, and it can take off from just 450 feet of runway, even if it's dirt or gravel or grass. That's just a little longer than a football field. Pyka is now using that plane to do crop spraying in [the] agriculture sector, but with the new funding, it says it's looking to [adapt] it to to cargo sector work. It can carry about 700 pounds. So, between the airport upgrades and some of these new types of aircraft in the skies, we may be seeing some really interesting changes in coming years.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 14:18
Yeah, certainly seems that way. Thank you, Ben.
Ben Ames, Senior News Editor, DC Velocity 14:21
Yep.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 14:21
And Victoria, you reported this week on new research into top supply chain leadership practices. What more can you tell us?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 14:29
Well, yeah, that's right. Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, say they've discovered what supply chain leaders need to do to keep their companies successful in the long run, and they say it's all about something called transformational leadership. So, researchers from the Global Supply Chain Institute, or GSCI, at the university's Haslam School of Business examined 16 what they call benchmark companies across seven industries to determine, as you say, the capabilities supply chain leaders need In today's increasingly volatile, yet interdependent digital economic environment, which is something I think we can all agree is an accurate description of what we're working in today. The study was sponsored by consulting firm Daugherty Business Solutions, and it culminates in a white paper that's called Winning Supply Chain Transformational Leadership Practices. The researchers describe how they examined the 16 companies through a lens of this idea of transformational leadership, which they say was conceived in the 1970s and has been refined over the years. Daniel Myers, who's a co-author of the paper and a senior fellow at the Haslam School, went on to explain that, in a broad sense, transformational leaders inspire greater performance in their employees in pursuit of specific goals aligned with a higher purpose. What attracted our attention, of course, is this focus on logistics and supply chain leaders specifically, and the increasingly important role they play in business strategy and success. We've seen this transformation in the past couple of years and talked about it many times here. Supply chain planning and operations really have never been more important in light of all the disruptions, delays, and challenges we've experienced during the pandemic, as well as from natural disasters, and in terms of geopolitical issues. All of these things can negatively affect the business — I should say, business and society — in so many ways, so it was interesting to see this, see them delve into this topic.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 16:27
Right, it is a good topic. So, what are some of the attributes that they say are part of transformational leadership?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 16:33
Yeah, so, well, the paper provides what it calls a "transformational leadership best practices pyramid" to explain that, and the pyramid essentially breaks this down into four key leadership components. The first is about culture. They talk about a "culture of excellence" that" inspires consistent and reliable end-to-end supply chain performance." The second is having operational and process skills that cultivate what they call a "deep functional [expertise]." The third is relationship and communication skills that facilitate that end-to-end performance and integration. And the last is "inspirational character that drives bold change." These are big themes, of course, and they may sound sort of theoretical, but the paper delves deeper into each issue through a series of essays, and those essays describe the specific skills for each layer of that pyramid, as well as new skills that they say are going to be required for success in the long term. One of those longer-term skills is high-speed decision making, which is gaining ground as supply chain takes on a larger role in companies worldwide, and that's really the key. The paper talks about the ways in which the business environment is changing and the supply chain's vital role in managing that change. That said, the authors also say their research has broad relevance across the business landscape, you know, and although supply chain is a huge focus lately, they make the observation that the problems and challenges of the next 10 years really affect everyone across the business spectrum. So, it's an interesting look at management strategy and leadership skills needed, as they say, for the next 10 years.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 18:07
Victoria, can people link to that report from your story?
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 18:11
Yes, yes, they can. Yep. If they check out the story online, there's a link to the white paper and to some other information.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 18:18
Great. Thank you, Victoria.
Victoria Kickham, Senior Editor, DC Velocity 18:20
You're welcome.
David Maloney, Editorial Director, DC Velocity 18:21
We encourage listeners to go to DCVelocity.com for more on these and other supply chain stories. And check out the podcast Notes section for some direct links on the topics that we discussed today.
And our thanks again to Michael Mikitka of MHI and the Warehousing Education and Research Council for being our guest today. We welcome your comments on this topic and our other stories. You can email us at podcast@dcvelocity.com.
We also encourage you to subscribe to Logistics Matters at your favorite podcast platform. Our new episodes are uploaded each Friday.
And speaking of subscribing, we encourage you to check out our sister podcast series Supply Chain in the Fast Lane. It's coproduced by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and Supply Chain Quarterly. This past Tuesday, we discussed the 3PL market, so subscribe to Supply Chain in the Fast Lane wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to catch the past episodes.
And a reminder that Logistics Matters is sponsored by Aptean. Aptean routing and scheduling supports logistics and delivery fulfillment operations with the tools needed to optimize resources, automate route planning and proof-of-delivery processes, and drive savings of up to 30%. Your delivery operation can be a powerful vehicle to deliver game-changing customer service. Aptean routing and scheduling can help. Visit Aptean.com and discover how now.
And by the way, this was our one hundredth episode of Logistics Matters. We'd like to thank our sponsors and guests over the past two years for making this podcast a success. And of course we thank you to our listeners for tuning in and allowing us to inform you of important supply chain trends. Thank you.
We'll be back again next week with another edition of Logistics Matters when we'll meet with Nicole Glenn of Candor Expedite Be sure to join us. Until then, have a great week.
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