Dane Fernandez
ASU 101
November 3, 2008
Supply Chain Management Article
My major is Supply Chain Management. The article I read titled “A Long and Winding Road” goes into detail of the growing need and importance of supply-chain professionals in our economy. Times are difficult, no one can deny this, which is why it is an exciting time for the supply chain industry. People involved in the industry are accepting this, and are doing what it takes to be more creative and strategic to adapt. More and more corporations are realizing that they need to have a supply-chain person on their side. Problems are being created at an extraordinary rate and problem solvers are in high demand. We cannot use the same way of thinking to fix a problem as we did when we created it; supply-chain majors are strategic thinkers, who are prepared for dealing with new obstacles. The article continues on to tell of PepsiCo, who in 2001 completely redesigned its supply chain network in North America. The reason for this is because of the waste in which their network produced is greatly reduced. Although most companies do not have the capacity to have done such an experiment like PepsiCo, it is does a great job of proving to the world that with time and effort along with proper direction from an educated supply-chain professional group, wonderful and prosperous things can be done for almost any company.
The article continues on to explain how in the future supply-chain people will be finding themselves on the executive board. Even before these crazy economic times, supply-chain professionals have always had to find ways to adapt and change according to the world market. Tim Feemster agrees that there is no doubt that supply-chain activity is becoming more critical to the organization.
I am excited to be part of such an amazing program at ASU, which allows me to study this major. It seems as though I made the right choice as far as my specific field of business is...