Presidents Corner

By Pete Petersen
Welcome back I hope you all enjoyed your summer break, it's always nice to take a vacation with the family and get away if your schedule allows you too. As we start another year many of our industries are faced with challenges of the uncertain economy. This is all the more reason to hone our skills, learn new and better ways to do our business, and to work smarter not harder. We need to show our employers that we are adding value to the operation and contributing to the bottom line. NAPM-Southern Arizona wants to be one of the forums available to you to accomplish these goals.

This year we are looking forward to some exciting speakers, also this year our dinner meetings will be held at different locations so check your newsletter, they will still be on the second Wednesday of each month unless there is a holiday. I hope that you will be able to attend our Professional Development sessions this year we will be having some good sessions and hopefully you will be able take something away that will be of use to you.

We will also be presenting four Satellite Seminars this year. Ralph Long C.P.M. has offered to hold C.P.M. review classes containing the new updated material if there is an interest (we need a minimum of 10 people in order to make it worth while). If you are interested please contact one of the Board members.

Our Board Members and Committee Chairs attended the summer workshop and came back with some great ideas, hopefully to make our affiliate better, but the real way we can make our organization beneficial to you is through your involvement. Whether it's assisting one of the chair positions or just offering suggestions it is your input that will let us know what we can do to make our affiliate be a benefit to you.

I hope to see you at our dinner meeting on September 12^th at Chads Steak House

By Myles Zimmerman C.P.M.
In September, we will look into Measuring Purchasing Performance and Efficiency. How do you as a Purchasing Manager measure your Buyers and department or how are you as a Buyer measured? There are standard measures, which are used almost universally, for example, Raw Material Turnover. Then there are specific, unique ways to measure purchasing performance; these can either be based on objective or subjective criteria. This information should be able to be used to increase productivity as well as to make personnel decisions such as promotion and termination. We encourage you to attend and hope you learn a thing or two about evaluating the purchasing function. This topic is part of Module 4, Task 411 of the C.P.M. Exam.

To start our year, NAPM-SA has seen the economic and business conditions change for our members and their companies over the past year. Even the rules and regulations that govern our companies have changed. On Wednesday September 12, 2001 at 7:00 pm at a new location for the month, we will have Arizona State Representative Peter Hershberger talk to us about the economic and business conditions in Tucson, in Arizona and it's effects internationally. This will include legislative updates on the changes that have recently been passed in the Arizona House of Representatives. Even our meeting location for this month has changed to Chads Restaurant located at 3001 N. Swan Rd. (cross-street is Fort Lowell) in Tucson.

Peter Hershberger comes from a Tucson family with a tradition of community involvement and fighting for Tucson as State Representatives in Phoenix. First his father served in the Arizona House from District 12 for 5 years in the 70's and 80's, then his mother served for 6 years in the 90's. Now it is the son Peter's turn being our state representative from District 12. Peter has over 25 years of experience in contracting, budgeting, and provision of services to State Departments of Economic Security, Juvenile Corrections, Behavioral Health, and Administrative Office of the Courts. On the political side of Peter's life he served on standing committees as Vice Chair in Human Services, Judiciary and Commerce; and interim committees as Co-Chair on Child Support Enforcement,

Ad Hoc for Child Protective Services and Related Child Welfare Issues, and Probation Officer Safety committees. In 1998 Governor Hull appointed Peter as Pima County's representative on the State Board of Directors for Community Colleges of Arizona and serves on it's legislative committee. In 1999 Peter provided mediation services for the Attorney General's Mediation Program in the Civil Rights Division/ Conflicts Resolution Section. In the community Peter has been on the Board of Directors with the Rotary Club, Precinct Committeeman in Precinct 68 District 12, and with Greater Tucson Leadership.

On the other side of Peter's life is his current regular job as an Associate Administrator at Open Inn and past positions as Co-Owner of New Columbus Inc. from 1977 to 1999 and as a Counselor at the Arizona Department of Corrections from 1972 to 1977 all being in Tucson. Peter is a Certified Professional Counselor, Reality Therapist, Reasoning and Rehabilitation Instructor, and Keys to Innervisions Facilitator with a B.A. in Biology and M.Ed in Counseling and Guidance.

Its time to talk about global sourcing as it applies to buyers in small to middle size companies who have little or no background in global sourcing. : Lets get back to basics and address those issues which are the forces which cause us to buy internationally, the hands-on skills needed, the pitfalls to be avoided and the resources available to get the job done. Realistically, there is more to be covered than can be presented in one article. So during the 2001-2002 year we will devote several articles to the various aspects of this area of sourcing. Some of the matters which we will consider are:

• Why educate the U.S. buyer in global sourcing?
• Competitiveness in the global economy and the forces at work with which we must deal.
• The reasons to buy, or not buy from global sources including internal and external pressures
• Governmental Considerations
• The "How To's" for locating sources, selecting the method of purchase and handling the importation process
• Global sourcing resources available to the purchasing professional

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PURCHASING MANAGEMENT-SOUTHERN ARIZONA AFFILIATE SERVES AS A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING PROFESSIONAL STANDARD OF COMPETENCY AND CONDUCT FOR ITS MEMBERS AND THE PROFESSION IN MATTERS PERTAINING TO PRUCHASING AND MATERIALS MANAGEMENT

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