Tomorrow’s logistics managers riding today’s lift trucks

By Tom Andel, Executive Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/10/2007 6:42:00 AM

CHARLOTTE, N.C., LAVERGNE, Tenn., and NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Russ Meller is concerned about the future of material handling education. He thinks it’s in danger of disappearing as a component of logistics, business and engineering education. Meller, a professor at the University of Arkansas and past president of the College Industry Council of Material Handling Education (CICMHE), is worried that this discipline is becoming a “legacy topic,” one whose main tenets seem to already be well known and doesn’t have much more to offer for the enhancement of industrial operations.

Terry Goodman tends to disagree with this gloomy assessment of material handling’s contribution to logistics state of the art. She’s a partner with T&T Distribution Staffing, an employment recruiting firm based in LaVergne, Tenn. Eighty percent of her business is devoted to placing lift truck operators. In the environments where computer-equipped lift trucks are the first source of logistics data, talented operators get a head start to tomorrow’s logistics management careers.

“We’re recruiting higher caliber candidates than we did 10 years ago,” she says. “Warehousing and distribution have become more technical, so our clients are raising the caliber of candidate they’re trying to attract. A lot of people are making their way through college by working at a distribution center at night. There are logistics degrees available, and internships at these companies are great opportunities to work in that environment and see it from the ground up. You can’t just know how to drive a lift truck to be successful in a warehouse environment any more. You have to understand the computer and how the product flows through the system.”

Marc Hickey is a fine example of a logistics manager who got his start in material handling behind the wheel of a lift truck. He’s materials supervisor for ModusLink’s Nashville location. ModusLink is a 3PL with locations throughout the U.S. that does fulfillment for tech giants like Microsoft, Logitech, Comcast, 3Com and others. His introduction to logistics was doing warehouse work for his father, who was a warehouse manager for Lee Apparel. The lift truck was a learning tool for him.

“The fact you use RF devices with lift trucks means you need to develop familiarity with data entry, inventory control and shipping and receiving,” he says.

He eventually moved on toMcKesson Chemical, where he was given the responsibility to reorganize the warehouse. He found a way to double the company’s inventory capacity in the same amount of square footage. His lift truck experience taught him how to slot slow movers and fast movers to minimize wasted motion and to speed material flows.

“One of the reasons I’m able to do what I do is I was fortunate to have managers who saw talent in me and they promoted me,” Hickey concludes.

There’s a lesson for companies who are as concerned as Dr. Meller about the future of material handling logistics smarts. Many of these companies face the daunting prospect of filling logistics management vacancies as their baby boomers retire. The lesson: Start your talent search where logistics education goes on every day: within the four walls of your own warehouse or distribution center.