Education / Certification Project

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.

Qualitative Research Explored

Employer awareness of programs Sector need for educational standards Partnerships between industry and

educational institutions

Three activities were conducted to support development of the strategy

1. Compilation of the compendium

2. Online surveys of employers

3. Focus groups

Compilation of the Compendium

Information for the compendium was gathered from three sources:AssociationsPost-secondary institutions Employers

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

“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

Updating the compendium

The CSCSC can expect incoming:EmailsCallsFeedback

“I think the material definitely needs to be reviewed periodically because it’s quite easy to fall behind and become outdated in this business.”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

Formal Updates

Once or twice a year:Pull – association and educational websitesPush – formal requests

• AUCC

• ACCC

• Associations

• Colleges and universities

Methodology

A number of research methods were employed to gather information: Online surveyInterviewsFocus groups 

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.

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.

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.

“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

Findings

Good supply of operational-level employees

Shortage of middle-level managers

“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

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.

“…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

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

“…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

Recommendation 1:Create Opportunities for:

Experienced workers from “blue-collar” sectors to become middle managers

Post-secondary students to obtain work experience

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

“[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

Recommendation 3:Improve Sector Image

CSCSC to improve overall professional sector image by:Recognizing pedagogically sound

practicesEncouraging associations to improve

“[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

Recommendation 4:Partnership Facilitation

Industry associations team with post-secondary institutions to:Improve the level of instruction“Raise the bar”

“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

Recommendation 5:Occupational Standards

Education of sector opinion leaders Standards developed by a team with:

substantial industry experienceunassailable credentials

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