We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • ::COVID-19 COVERAGE::
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Dispatches
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Dispatches
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
Home » can we please buy a vowel?
fastlane

can we please buy a vowel?

November 1, 2004
Clifford F. Lynch
No Comments

Twenty years ago, officers of the National Council of Physical Distribution Management found themselves contemplating the unthinkable: changing the organization's name. Despite the risks, the group's executive committee felt it had little choice. The term "physical distribution management" was quickly being eclipsed by the broader-reaching "logistics management." A leadingedge professional organization like NCPDM couldn't afford to be burdened with an outdated name. As the committee members debated the various renaming proposals—including their eventual choice, the Council of Logistics Management—a few joked that whatever name they chose, at least it wouldn't have a more difficult acronym than NCPDM.

This year, however, their successors appear to have met that challenge. At the Council of Logistics Management's annual conference in October, President Elijah Ray announced that the organization would once again be changing its name. Effective Jan. 1, 2005, the group formerly known as CLM will become the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, or CSCMP.

The decision reflects the changing nature of the group's membership and its members' expanding scope of responsibilities. Ray says the majority of CLM members have seen big changes in their jobs in the past decade. "We interact with more people within and outside our organizations" he noted. "Our members want to know about collaboration, visibility, integration. They want to understand the connectivity in all these things and learn how they can more effectively execute." No doubt this is true; and if it isn't, it should be.

But some worry that the titles may be getting a little too far ahead of the game. As we wrote earlier this year, you cannot transform logisticians into qualified supply chain executives with a stroke of the pen (or several strokes, in this case). Many fine logisticians simply haven't yet mastered the skills required to take command of the sprawling supply chain—the human relations skills, the negotiating expertise, and the ability to secure consensus among independently managed functions.

How do the CLM members themselves feel about the name change? Our informal (and admittedly unscientific) poll of conference attendees revealed some ambivalence. Even two venerable educators who have spent years promoting the notion of the "supply chain" felt we may be reaching too far. As one put it, "All of a sudden, everyone wants to be a strategist and view the issues from 30,000 feet. The major emphasis still needs to be on blocking and tackling."

Still, our poll failed to uncover any serious opposition. Comments ranged from the lukewarm endorsement ("I guess it's OK") to the downright optimistic ("At least it will educate those corporate officers who understand the supply chain, but still believe all the logistics experts are in the military").

But no one was able to muster much enthusiasm for the name itself. It's simply too cumbersome, members told us, and it has no comfortable acronym.

One CLM officer dismissed those concerns by suggesting that the organization would in all likelihood become known simply as "the council." To me this sounds a little sinister, bringing to mind shady characters slinking about in the shadows, admitting only when pressed that they work for "the agency."

That's not to say we won't work our way through this. As one logistics executive cheerfully observed, "The name is just a pothole in the road to what the organization is trying to accomplish."

Certainly, the group gives every indication that it's barreling ahead with its mission to be the profession's preeminent educational organization, and the conference itself reflected that. The keynote address was delivered by The Right Honorable John Major, former British Prime Minister, a most impressive opening to a high-level event. But we might have been better served by inviting Vanna White. We need a vowel.

Business Management & Finance
  • Related Articles

    we're over a barrel here!

    the seven deadly sins of supply chain crisis management

    Conversation – the lost art

Clifford F. Lynch is principal of C.F. Lynch & Associates, a provider of logistics management advisory services, and author of Logistics Outsourcing ? A Management Guide and co-author of The Role of Transportation in the Supply Chain. He can be reached at cliff@cflynch.com.

Recent Articles by Clifford Lynch

A New Solution for Some Old Problems

The time has come

The continuing saga of driver shortages

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • Cold chain giant Lineage Logistics buys its own rail operator

  • For container lines and ports, what a difference a year makes

  • Outlook 2021: What’s in store for logistics supply chain?

  • Capacity challenges will continue in 2021

  • Cushman & Wakefield Brokers Sale of 170 Acres plus Lease for 1MSF Build-to-Suit for Home Improvement Retailer in Commerce City, CO.

Now Playing on DCV-TV

2mw 01 11 21 thumb

Ocean Sector Shaping the Next Shipageddon

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
If you're a shipper, it's never good when a rep for an ocean carrier tells you, "You better sit down before you read this." We've been seeing astoundingly high increases in the ocean sector and they seem to have staying power. While the ocean carriers used blank sailings last year to tip the balance of supply and...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Proven Benefits: A Compendium of Slotting Optimization Success Snapshots

  • Bridging Information Gaps in Dock and Yard Operations

  • How Intelligent Sensor Solutions Turn Data Into Action

  • Order picking Solutions: Understanding Your Options

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2021. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing