www.supplyht.com/articles/95618-asa-s-youth-get-served
ASA's Youth Get Served
July 1, 2011
And vice versa, as our
industry is in good hands for the future.
To me, it’s a sad sight to be in one of those social circles where everyone is up in years and hanging around almost exclusively with people their own age. Don’t get me wrong. As I approach (some would say landed in) old-fogiedom, I enjoy the company of friends my own age more than any others. We share similar life experiences and, increasingly, aches and pains.
The down side is that we old-timers tend to be set in our ways. Viewpoints and habits forged over an extended lifetime are hard to change. It’s refreshing to be around generations that look more to the future than the past, and whose conversations aren’t overly studded with medical matters.
With that mindset, I volunteered to leap as a fish out of water to a small town that needs no introduction to our industry, Kohler, WI, to attend the annual ASA Young Executives Spring Forum, held May 23-25. A review of what went on there appears here. Here are some additional observations more suitable for an opinion column than straightforward reporting.
First and foremost, I was impressed with the enthusiasm and
intelligence of the YE participants. Without exception, those I encountered
throughout two days of business seminars and social gatherings exuded business
professionalism. Many were the sons, daughters or in-laws of people I had
written about in the past and gotten to know. Most were college-educated with
business degrees ranging up to MBAs, along with plenty of hands-on experience
working in the grubbier aspects of wholesale distribution. Their acumen was on
display as they tackled case history problems presented by seminar leader Dr.
Rick Johnson with quick and incisive thinking. All of them seemed to grasp
Johnson’s main thesis that leadership is about managing people much more than
the nuts and bolts of distribution operations.
ASA’s thrust toward vendor participation seems to be working out
well. The 59 persons attending the YE Spring Forum represented 22 distributors,
14 manufacturers and four independent manufacturer rep firms. Faced with a
declining membership and dues base, ASA had to reach out to vendors in order to
survive. Yet the experiment seems to be shaping up as a lot more than
desperation. ASA has become more of a supply chain organization rather than one
focused solely on distribution.
Although I had attended events in Kohler a couple of times in the
past, this was the first opportunity I had to take the company’s fabled plant
tour. I’ve visited many manufacturing facilities over the years, and some of
what I saw at Kohler was repetitious. What fascinated me most, though, was the
company’s cast iron operations. Behemoth machines slung around red-hot cast
iron bathtubs like they were children’s toys. Every time I see
sophisticated machine tools do their stuff I marvel at the human ingenuity that
goes into modern manufacturing.
Just as astounding from another direction was the realization that
Kohler and other cast iron manufacturers have been creating similar products
for more than a century in more primitive fashion. Our guide occasionally
pointed out operations handled by one or two button pushers that used to
require dozens of humans performing back-breaking labor. Automation is the
salvation of American manufacturing. Lost jobs are nothing to celebrate, except
in realizing that it’s the only way to stay competitive in today’s global marketplace.
Although we’ve been running Rick Johnson’s Distribution Management
column for years (mostly online), this was the first chance I’ve had to meet
him, and it was a pleasure. Despite his PhD, this is no egghead. Johnson’s
intellect and personality are perfectly suited for our down-to-earth industry.
A message he hammered home throughout the conference was: “Work to live, not
live to work.” Hard work is essential for business success, but not when it
crosses a line where business owners and managers have no time to watch their
kids grow up. It was good to hear someone with his track record of business
success point out that workaholism is more a disease than a
virtue.
In the Q & A session following his dinner speech, I asked CEO
Herb Kohler what was his biggest business challenge. His reply: “Anything
onshore. We have 10 plants in China,
and all of the production is going to the Chinese market.” Our country’s
troubled housing market appears not likely to get well soon.
To me, it’s a sad sight to be in one of those social circles where everyone is up in years and hanging around almost exclusively with people their own age. Don’t get me wrong. As I approach (some would say landed in) old-fogiedom, I enjoy the company of friends my own age more than any others. We share similar life experiences and, increasingly, aches and pains.
The down side is that we old-timers tend to be set in our ways. Viewpoints and habits forged over an extended lifetime are hard to change. It’s refreshing to be around generations that look more to the future than the past, and whose conversations aren’t overly studded with medical matters.
With that mindset, I volunteered to leap as a fish out of water to a small town that needs no introduction to our industry, Kohler, WI, to attend the annual ASA Young Executives Spring Forum, held May 23-25. A review of what went on there appears here. Here are some additional observations more suitable for an opinion column than straightforward reporting.