Link Magazine 19 - SCLG

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72 AcademiaChurning out supply chain expertsSupply chain management is more of common sense than IT dependability, saysDr. Patrick H. James HarringtonThe Harrington Middle East is aconsulting firm providing an entire rangeof customized services to its clients,including management, technology,education and knowledge solutions. Thecontinuous attempt to achieve best- inclassbenchmarks have promptedcompanies to adopt latest technologies intheir supply chain. To cater to the demandof the industry to have trained supplychain professionals, Harrington MiddleEast has introduced a comprehensivecourse in supply chain management. In anexclusive interview with The LINK, Dr. H.James Harrington, CEO of HarringtonMiddle East discusses various aspects ofthe course.Why did you feel the need to offer asupply chain course at HarringtonMiddle East?When we started here, we focused on thequality field, like Six Sigma, total qualitymanagement (TQM), Excellence Awardsetc. We found that the quality field fellshort of covering what management reallyneeded. And management needed to lookat the complete system. It is only naturalfor us to introduce practice related tosupply chain because it tackles everything.Of course, we are really trying to get asgood as Ford was in <strong>19</strong>15. No one has everDr. Patrick H. James HarringtonCEO, Harrington Middle Eastbeen able to duplicate Ford supply chainmanagement. Ford provided thatbenchmark – and until today, it's still thesame benchmark that we have. I believenowadays, people have a tendency to relytoo much on information technology, whichreplaces common sense in most cases. Wedecided to offer supply chain coursebecause there is an urgent need to look atthat total system and make that total systemwork. There is a huge amount that can besaved – from reducing costs to providingbetter customer service – in short, byoptimizing the whole supply chain.Is a college degree essential for supplychain professionals?I think it is essential that we have peoplewho truly understand how to make thetotal system work. Most college degreesare not focused on the total system. AnMBA program, for example, verynarrowly discusses the supply chain. As aresult, the graduates manage poorly –they may manage money, but notnecessarily the workflow. I think thewhole area of supply chain provides acomplete picture that nothing else does.How does the UAE student populacerespond to Harrington's Supply Chaincourses?I think they are a little overwhelmed. Mostof the students have individualknowledge rather than a total grasp of thewhole business. Supply chainmanagement requires confident people –people who are ready to look at the bigpicture, a total system, rather thanindividual systems. One of the problemsis, for example, we teach Calculus 101without teaching the whole system ofmathematics. What we are doing here atHarrington is: we are not teachingprocurement or port loading ormanufacturing or distribution – we areputting it all together into one neatpackage. And sometimes, that is a littleThe Supply Chain & Logistics Group | www.sclgme.org
Academia 73hard for people to grasp. But what it doesis it makes a total person, rather than anarrow specialist.And today, we have to be versatile. It is theperson who understands the wholebusiness will have more opportunities tomove up. So, students who have had thechance to go through the supply chaincourse have a much better opportunity tobe president of a company than an MBAgraduate.Has Supply Chain Management becomemore sophisticated and more reliant onIT? Or have the principles of yourteachings still the same?The principles are the same that we had in<strong>19</strong>15. However, the techniques havechanged drastically. Today, we havebecome extremely reliant on technology.People have become less creative andmore dependent on technology.The basics of teaching are the same. Butthe tools in teaching continuously change– we modify our courses every two yearsto stay up to the latest. And I see thiswhole area of RFID would completelychange how we conduct business as awhole.Do you think students who come intoyour courses are equipped with thetechnological knowledge that they need?I think younger students aretechnologically better equipped than theirolder counterparts. We get a population of40s and they are really behind,technology-wise. But younger studentsare more comfortable in optimizing thecomputer and other technologies – it ispart of their thinking pattern.As far as technology is concerned, theyounger students grasp that lingo faster.As far as understanding how technologyor the whole system works, the olderstudents have greater advantage. It turnsout that the younger students are muchmore confident when it comes tocomputer skills.Is part of the challenge for you and yourcolleagues the fact that technologyevolves so rapidly?Certainly! But we have people whoresearch on the latest technologyapplications the world over so weunderstand what is going on inthe market.The problem with most schools is theywait for the technology to come out beforethey teach it. They wait for the book to bewritten. What happens is, the technologycomes out, people use it for many years;and then, a book is written about it. Andthat same book is used by universities toteach the students – which is by standards,delayed. What universities have to teachtoday are lessons that are ahead of thebooks to be written.Our courses at Harrington are constantlymodified, based on the continuousresearch that our people conduct.And that is primarily done in SiliconValley, California where our headquartersis located.Universities need to become moreresponsive to the needs of the businesscommunity. What are your commentson this?That is the only reason we are in business.We are totally focused on satisfying ourcustomers. And our customers are not thestudents – it is the business community. Ifa university is not producing good peopleto conduct good business, then it iswasting time and wasting resources.Many Supply Chain managers do nothave a formal background on supplychain as a degree – do you thinkeducation is vital in being successful insupply chain management?If we go back to the time of Henry Ford,we see that he did not have any formaleducation on supply chain – but heestablished the best ever supply chainmanagement system that until nownobody has surpassed. So, I think noformal education is needed but commonsense is essential. I think the area that weare really missing is education for themanagement team. We have to focus onshort courses, like one-day or two-daycourses that executives have time for toreally understand. I think we need tobuild demand for these things.
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SCLG -A Round Up 13Head TalksA-clas
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About SCLG 15THE SUPPLY CHAIN & LOG
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18LogisticsTrident Freight goes big
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Page 34 and 35: 34 Special ReportAirports embrace l
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Page 52 and 53: 52 GatewaysRomania keen in enhancin
Page 54 and 55: 54KSA DevelopmentsSaudi to build $3
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Page 59 and 60: Transportation 59Kamel El-Ghossaini
Page 61 and 62: Case Study 61in the extreme. The su
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