Plant Tour of Lock Joint Tube Tuesday, October 14, 2014

APICS Michiana offers for its October Event:
Plant Tour of Lock Joint Tube
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Lock Joint Tube was founded in 1919. Lock Joint Tube manufactures mechanical and structural grade steel
tubing in four plants located in Indiana, Texas and Tennessee and is a privately-owned member of the Lerman
Enterprise network of related-industry companies.
Lock Joint Tube services fabricators and distributors, as well
as original equipment manufacturers with different sized and
shaped steel tubing used in such diverse industries as
automotive, office furniture, health care, exercise and
display fixtures to name a few.
Lock Joint Tube provides the automotive market with a
variety of component parts from exhaust systems on tractor
trailer rigs to running board assemblies on sports utility
vehicles to structural beams on Class A motor home chassis
to the steel frames of trucks such as the Ford F-150.
For the office furniture and institutional furnishings market, our
material is specified for desks, chairs, tables, office partitions and cafeteria furnishings. In retail stores, our tubing
forms the structure for many of the chrome plated and painted racks, shelving and merchandising islands for
an assortment of goods.
Dinner will follow at the attendees expense at the nearby Hacienda Restaurant. Please indicate whether you
will attend dining following by signing up for the separate dining event. NOTE – this is a different Hacienda
location. See below.
Lock Joint Tube
515 West Ireland Road
South Bend, IN
Agenda: 5:30pm Check in, Tour 6:00-7:00pm
Cost: $15 for non-APICS Members, $10 APICS Members $5 Student - ID Required
This session is worth 1 Certification Maintenance Point(s)
Click Here to Sign Up for the Tour
Google Map and directions available by clicking here
Once you have signed up for the tour, if you are going to join us for dinner at the Hacienda on Miami Street,
click here to register for dining so we have an idea for asking for seats.
Presidents
Corner-Issue Two
Hello fellow APICS-Michiana Chapter members! I want to first take this opportunity to introduce myself to
you as your new chapter president. My name is Tom Sesterhenn and I am the Director of Supply Chain
Management at General Sheet Metal Works in South Bend. Supply Chain Management is relatively new
to me as I have spent the majority of my career in sales and business development. As a “newbie”, I
joined APICS in order to learn (I am studying for the CSCP and plan to test late this year) and network.
These are two of the fundamental values that APICS provides to professionals involved in operations and
Supply Chain Management.
I am both excited and honored to be in this role and look forward to building on the many good things that
have been done over the past several years by other current and former chapter leaders. Ron Myers, our past
president, and Gwen Spretnjak, our VP of Finance and Treasurer, and Doug Canter, our VP of Education,
deserve some special mention here. Terrence Nugent, our former VP-Education just retired from his post (and
tells us he is moving to the north woods!), and we thank him for his many years of leadership in the chapter.
Your other fine chapter leaders are listed below. Any of us can be contacted by visiting the APICS-Michiana
website at: http://www.apics-michiana.org/newBoard.asp
Gwen Spretnjak-VP Finance and Treasurer
Jackie Sittley-VP Marketing
Eric Piazzoni-Internet Marketing and Webmaster
Ron Myers-Past President and Webmaster
Doug Canter-VP Education
Robert Yagel-Membership Services and Instructor
Laura Lasky-Secretary
One of our first orders of business as an incoming board will be focusing on engaging our current membership…
you! We will be contacting as many of you as we can directly to find out what you really want to see from the
chapter in the areas of education, plant tours, PDM’s and networking.
Ron, Gwen, Laura and I all attended the Great Lakes District Meeting September 19th and 20th. We heard from
other chapter leaders about things that are going well for their chapters, as well as challenges they face. No
matter the size or geographic location of the chapter, membership engagement was recognized as
something that all want to improve. We must be relevant to existing members before we can expect to grow.
Your APICS chapter continues to be recognized for excellence in management through the Chapter
Benchmarking and Reporting (CBar) evaluation. First feedback from the district indicates that we have again
achieved Gold level scoring. Since we have met these standards for 5 years consecutively (actually since
1985!!!), we are recognized by APICS as a PLATINUM chapter! One more good reason to be proud and
participate!
I look forward to seeing you at the next plant tour on Tuesday, October 14th at Lock Joint Tube. This is a great
opportunity to learn about a strong local manufacturer and network with YOUR chapter! You can sign up here
if you haven’t already. http://www.apics-michiana.org/newEventDetail.asp?ID=1202
Tom Sesterhenn
President
APICS Michiana
Wanted: 1.4 million new supply chain workers by 2018
Most people don’t know what happens behind the scenes when they buy a product on-line or in a store. It is
just available. The people that work to make that happen are working in the Supply Chain. They are those
that deal with engineering, sourcing, converting/manufacturing, scheduling, customer service, transportation
and logistics, quality and reverse logistics. The field gets overlooked by college students because they think
of manufacturing and supply chain in the realm of fork lifts and smoke stacks.
Get involved with education in the supply chain field and take advantage of the growing demand for
qualified workers in various disciplines in the field. The good thing is that the demand is here now and will
continue into the foreseeable future. Seek APICS certification to help you stand out against the job
competition and gain a significant percentage of advantage over your uncertified peers in advancement
and earnings potential.
For more on this story, visit the APICS Michiana website at www.apics-michiana.org. Get started on your
certification journey and start advancing your career and advancement potential.
Has Your CPIM Certification Expired?
Re-engage YOUR Expired CPIM With A New APICS CPIM Recertification Course
APICS is announcing a new option for APICS Chapters and International Channel Partners interested
in preparing candidates for the CPIM recertification exam. The CPIM Recertification Overview
Course aligns with APICS's continued mission to advance supply chain excellence through
education and certification. The chapter looks forward to re-engaging former CPIM designees to
APICS through this course and the 2014 recertification exam.
Note that this re-certification course as well as the CPIM re-certification exam is ONLY available to
those who have not maintained their certification by meeting the required Maintenance points. To
take a review course, the candidate must also be an active member.
Note that this Re-Certification course and Test is another option to get your certification re-instated.
Don’t forget to investigate if normal maintenance activities might be available to you to get your
CPIM certification re-instated. You can perform activities that can earn you maintenance points
sufficient to get you there for up to 5 years after your certification has lapsed. Check out the CPIM
maintenance guidelines on the APICS website at:
http://www.apics.org/careers-education-professional-development/certification/cpim
If you fall into this category and want to re-activate your CPIM Certification, let us know at
education@apics-michiana.org and if sufficient in number, we’ll put a course together for you.
This Recertification test and offer is available only through December 2014
Register to Attend Or You Will Miss the Opportunity
Save the date for the leading annual gathering of supply chain and operations management professionals
worldwide!
October 19–21, 2014
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, Louisiana
Registration is Now OpenSupply chain and operations management professionals are
expected to achieve maximum productivity, meet consumer demand, and remain agile
amid instability and unpredictability. Each year, the APICS annual conference offers
relevant education, best practices and thought leadership to help attendees lead their
organizations to reach these goals.
Click Here for more information on the Conference
Let APICS Assist You in Advancing Your Career
Determine the most appropriate APICS course suited for your career advancement.
Follow this link, Complete this short questionnaire and get custom course recommendations
for your educational needs to help you advance in your field.
Recent District Meeting Notes
Several of your chapter board attended the Great Lakes District Meeting on September 19th and 20th.
Informative as always, we met and listened to the next APICS Chairman of the Board. Alan Dunn, speak on
APICS Strategic Initiatives and progress on the integration with the merged Supply Chain Council. Sharon Rice
of the APICS Staff talked about the emerging Membership Strategy and how APICS has to find a way to stay
relevant with the new millennials and how has to draw them into participation, all topics of interest and with
which the Michiana chapter is dealing with today. Not just millennials but with our existing member base, We
need to hear from you and how we can keep our chapter moving into the future and meeting your needs.
FYI - Other Local Professional Organization Events
APICS Central Indiana
APICS Chicago
APICS Fort Wayne
APICS Southwest Michigan
Choosing an ERP System
Always Greener - 6th Annual Case Competition
N/A
Emotional Intelligence
10-9-14
10-14-14
Great Lakes AME
Michiana AMA
Michiana ASQ Section 1005
Michiana IMA
Michiana SHRM
Michigan WERC
Lean 2.0 - Smart Use of Tech to Accelerate Lean
N/A
Metallography as a Quality Inspection Tool
Plant Tour Lippert Components, Inc
2014 Executive Leadership Forum
Lean Processing, Increasing Efficiency & Profitability
10-8-14
10-21-14
10-16-14
10-21-14
10-15-14
10-16-14
APICS Michiana 2013 – 2014 Chapter Board of Directors
Executive:
President
Tom Sesterhenn
General Sheet Metal Works
Phone: 574.288.0611
VP Finance & Treasurer
Gwen H Spretnjak CSCP
HJ Enterprise
Phone: 574.309.3850
Secretary
Laura Laskey
Operations:
Webmaster
Ron Myers CPIM CIRM
Eric Piazzoni
Phone: 269.208.3595
Phone: 574.239.2444
VP of Education
Douglas M Canter CPIM CIRM CSCP
Nyloncraft, Inc
Phone: 574.256.1521 ext.231
VP of Programs
Jackie Sittley
PSSI, Inc
Phone: 574.239.2444
VP of Membership
Robert Yagel CPIM
Benteler Automotive
Phone: 832.727.3462
Career Opportunities
Ron Myers CPIM CIRM
Retired
Phone: 269.208.3595
Marketing
VP of Marketing
Jackie Sittley and
Eric Piazzoni
PSSI, Inc
Phone: 574.239.2444
Chapter Instructors
Douglas M Canter CPIM CIRM
CSCP
Nyloncraft Inc
Phone: 574.256.1521 ext.231
Robert Yagel CPIM
Benteler Automotive
Phone: 832.727.3462
You could step into a role here.
Contact us if you have an
interest in volunteering with the
Michiana Chapter. Help us
move forward and keep the
chapter great!
VP of Publications
Ron Myers
Retired
Phone: 269.208.3595
Communication is important
and the Michiana Chapter Needs to do More of It With You
For the chapter to continue to exist and provide benefits to you and others in
the community, we need to find out what you want us to do for you, how we
can help you succeed in your career, how we can help your employers and
our member companies improve performance and prosper.
We would like to, again, take this Opportunity to reach out to you to tell us
how we can help you, what you want of the Chapter.
Contact MichianaPresident@apics-michiana.org and let us know your
thoughts on what we need to improve.