Addressing Chapter Challenges

1. Addressing Chapter Challenges APICS Piedmont Triad Chapter

2. PTC BOD 2008-2009 President Rebekah Chandler Executive VP Camilla Deyton, CSCP Secretary Margie Henningsen, CPIM Treasurer Diana Meacham, CPIM, CIRM VP Membership Erin English VP Chapter Development Barbara Swann VP Professional Development Jeff Bell, CPIM, CIRM VP Education Dave Lehman, CFPIM, CIRM, CSCP

3. Piedmont Triad Chapter • Chartered in 1970 • Serving Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem, NC and south central Virginia • 326 members - 51% hold APICS certifications • Platinum status every year since 1988 • Newsletter won “Fit to Print” award for 10 years running

4. Challenges 2007/2008 • Declining chapter activity participation • 2006-2007 decrease in membership • PDM attendance was consistently decreasing • Scheduled workshop cancellations due to lack of signup • Declining board participation • Two open officer positions throughout 2007-2008 • A third position became vacant mid-year

5. Action Plan • Environmental scan • Understand our Vision, Mission, and Goals • Complete a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis (SWOT) • Develop and commit to winning strategies • Develop Operations Plan as a roadmap to success • Execute the plan • Evaluate/learn

6. Environmental Scan – Who Are We? Vision PTC is recognized as the foremost provider of education and knowledge in Operations Management by its stakeholders. Mission Provide opportunities for individuals to gain professional expertise in operations management. Provide awareness of the value of APICS as a global professional association and an educational leader in the Ops. Mgmt. field.

7. Environmental Scan - SWOT Threats • Continuing changes in the local manufacturing business climate – 11.9% reduction in jobs 2003-2006 • Competition • Area colleges and universities offering certificate programs in Ops. Mgmt. • Consultants offering in-house company programs. • Self-study and web-based course availability

8. Environmental Scan - SWOT Opportunities • Gain better understanding of the opinions and needs of our membership and potential customers • Explore different PDM formats – i.e., networking dinners and breakfast meetings • Increase local APICS name and brand recognition • Explore new techniques to reach potential members/customers • Upgrade chapter website to be more user-friendly and automate chapter management

9. Develop Winning Strategies “Highlight” Strategy – Understand Member Needs: • Member survey learnings • 70% of respondents attended 0-3 PDMs during the prior year • Respondents favored another day of the week for meetings • Other formats were suggested – i.e., breakfast, networking • Action • Added 3 breakfast PDMs • Two evening PDMs were networking sessions with no meal • Changed PDM locations and day of week

10. Develop Winning Strategies Results: Understand Member Needs • Breakfast meetings did not work for us. • Permanently moved PDMs to Tuesday nights. • Moved PDMs to be held at Volvo USA, leveraging our partnership with Volvo and lowering the member cost to attend. • Emphasis on networking produced positive results – including in every PDM in 2008/2009.

11. Develop Winning Strategies “Highlight” Strategy: iChapter • Dedicated board volunteers saw opportunity to automate chapter management through iChapter. Action and Results: • 2007/2008 was a year of implementation. We expect to benefit from ease of document storage, automated activity registration and payment, and marketing capabilities of iChapter in 2008-2009.

12. Develop Winning Strategies “Highlight” Strategy: Align with local initiatives to expand business and provide workforce development. Learn from: • Piedmont Triad Roundtable for Logistics and Distribution • Piedmont Triad Partnership

13. Execute Operations Plan Marketing/Communications and Chapter Development: • An average of 800 copies/issue of our Newsletter were distributed to members and potential members. • All PDMs and educational offerings were announced through local newspapers and radio stations. • Extended gratis membership to Second Harvest of NWNC and sponsored a food drive in October to celebrate the APICS/Second Harvest Partnership.

14. Execute Operations Plan Education Offerings 2007/2008: • Fundamentals workshops – 5 • Inventory Workshops – 4 • Lean Workshops – 4 • CPIM – 13 • CSCP – 5 • Seminars - 3 • In-house CPIM workshops - 6

15. Execute Operations Plan Membership Retention and Recruitment: • PTC experienced negative membership growth rate 2007/2008. • Plans for 2008/2009 include • Identify key non-member companies in the area and market the benefits of APICS membership and educational offerings with them. • Establish a presence in local business discussions through the Chamber of Commerce. • Invest time training and retaining board volunteers for the future.

16. Challenges or Opportunities? • Why? • The economy in our area coupled with rising annual membership dues and rising food costs for PDMs are keeping people from participating. • Why Not? • We provide opportunities for personal development, education and networking that our members need and value. We help people stay job-ready.

17. Outlook for the Future “The goal of PTC is to provide professional development, education and networking to our area so that companies and individuals can remain competitive during the tough economy and ready for new opportunities when the market expands.” -Rebekah Chandler

18. Thank You! For more information, please contact: Rebekah Chandler rebekah_a_chandler@yahoo.com Camilla Deyton cdeyton@triad.rr.com