PURPOSE, OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES

As a business professional with a vested career interest in the field of logistics, you are part of a highly dynamic profession: current global developments and technological innovations are impacting logistics today as never before. While the contributions that logistics makes to a firm's competitive strengths have often been "invisible" in the past, many factors have coalesced to heighten its importance and visibility in the 1990s and beyond.

SUPPORTING THE LOGISTICS PROFESSION

In its thirty-eight year history, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, relying on the active participation and expertise of its members, has sought to enhance the development of the logistics profession, aiming all the while to provide logistics professionals with educational opportunities and relevant information. To this end, the Council exists to provide you with a variety of programs, services, and activities to enhance your involvement in, satisfaction with, and contribution to the profession.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is a not-for-profit organization of business personnel who are interested in improving their logistics management skills. The Council works in cooperation with private industry and various organizations to further the understanding and development of the logistics concept. This is accomplished through a continuing program of organized activities, research, and meetings designed to develop the theory and understanding of the logistics process, promote the art and science of managing logistics systems, and foster professional dialogue and development within the profession.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is particularly concerned with three important areas:

• developing and improving logistics management skills by creating opportunities for communication and dialogue among those in the profession,
• adding to the knowledge base of logistics theory and practice by arranging for and conducting research,
• serving as a resource to create an awareness of the significance of logistics to business activities as well as its critical role in the global economy.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is a professional business organization of individuals throughout the world who have interests and/or responsibilities in logistics and the related functions that make up the logistics profession. The Council now has as members 15,000 women and men from a diverse worldwide population. The fact that over 5,200 of these members attend the annual conference indicates that membership in the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is more than a status symbol.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals was founded in 1963 under the name National Council of Physical Distribution Management. In late 1985, the name was changed to the Council of Logistics Management and in 2005 to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals to reflect our expanding focus.

THE VISION

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is the preeminent professional association of logistics personnel.

THE MISSION

The mission of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is to serve the evolving logistics profession by developing advancing and disseminating logistics knowledge.

THE GOALS

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is a not-for-profit professional organization which provides:

• leadership in developing, defining, understanding, and enhancing the logistics process on a worldwide basis,
• forums for the timely exchange of concepts and best practices among logistics professionals,
• research that advances knowledge and leads to enhanced customer value and logistics performance within the supply chain,
• education and career development programs that enhance career opportunities in logistics management, and
• involvement of individuals with the broadest possible backgrounds in its programs and activities, thereby assuring that the organization benefits from and develops the diversity of its members.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals will operate on a not-for-profit, self-supporting basis, with emphasis on quality, and in a cooperative manner with other organizations and institutions.

The definition of logistics adopted by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is "the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer requirements." Note that this definition includes inbound, outbound, internal, and external movements, and return of materials for environmental purposes.

THE COUNCIL'S PHILOSOPHY

Members chose the name Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals to identify this as the professional organization of individuals who have an interest in logistics management.

The word professional is stressed because it was not the intent of the founders (or any executive committee since the Council's founding) to allow the organization to function as a trade association, a social organization, or a high-density market which suppliers could use to promote their services to transportation, warehousing, and/or logistics-related service users.

As with any professional organization, membership in the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is on an individual basis. The membership belongs to the individual and not to his or her company. It is not transferable. The two principal requirements for membership in the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals are a serious, professional interest in advancing the art and science of logistics management, and evidence that you are participating in this field of endeavor and are contributing to its advancement. There are no other restrictions.

As an organization, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals is not aligned with shippers, carriers, warehouse operators, material handling equipment manufacturers, consultants, or any other similar industrial grouping. Because its members have widespread and varying interests within logistics, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals will not get involved in legislative or similar matters in which industrial segments have contrary interests.

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals programs may involve controversial subjects (e.g., outsourcing, downsizing, reengineering, etc.). But these subjects are generally presented in such a way that all sides of the issue are heard. The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, as an organization, cannot endorse, sanction, or discourage legislation, products, or services that are somehow related to the logistics industry or offered to those who manage the logistics process.

THE SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIP

There is a tendency on the part of other trade and professional associations to treat the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals as a "shipper" organization. Most Council members in fact are logistics service users--but the organization also has a significant number of logistics service suppliers (warehousers, carriers, consultants, etc.) among its members. Suppliers are welcome to join the organization and participate in its activities. In fact, supplier support of the Council's activities is one of the things that has made this organization a moving force in the industry.

However, members who belong to supplier companies must recognize that there is a fine line between educating and selling, between discussing innovations and displaying their wares at Council functions.

As more than one supplier member has learned, Council members are greatly offended when they receive a promotion piece or a letter which starts off with the seemingly innocuous greeting, "Dear Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Member." Membership in the organization will not knowingly be extended to those whose primary purpose in joining would appear to be selling to existing members in the organization.

Formal hospitality suites (with printed invitations and signs in the hotel lobby or halls) are not compatible with the educational aims of a Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals conference. Consequently, the Council has a longstanding tradition of prohibiting formal hospitality suites and/or competing hosted events at its meetings.

In this regard, organized receptions or parties that are held nearby and at the same time that conference activities are scheduled have the effect of detracting from the professional nature of the program. The Council would prefer that no competing events be scheduled to take place in proximity to the conference between the time when the annual conference registration desk opens at noon on Sunday, and the time when the concluding luncheon is over at 2:00 pm on Wednesday.

The intent of this policy is to prohibit organized receptions, large-scale social events, golf outings, or evening events hosted by organizations other than the Council and to which only selected conference registrants are invited.

To avoid any misunderstanding about this, it should be pointed out that the Council sees nothing wrong with groups of conference attendees getting together in an informal setting during periods of time when there are no scheduled conference activities. Members will not generally object if the "get-together" is on an informal basis (i.e., no written invitation), if it does not conflict with scheduled conference activities, and if it does not involve an obviously overt marketing effort.

Granted, it is difficult to provide a precise definition of what constitutes an informal get-together versus a formal hospitality suite. Such distinctions are drawn by observers--those who are in a position to judge the intent of the host and the execution of the event.

If you would like to discuss what has generally been judged to be acceptable and what has not, call the Council's executive office at (630) 574-0985.