Mentor Interview: Sean Jackson, Operations Manager at the Recycling Center
Sean is a fellow BYU-Idaho student, but he's had some amazing experiences. I was scrambling to find someone for this final interview, and I'm glad I went to Sean. I learned some new things and figured it's probably good to network with people that are immediately around me, not just try to find mentors elsewhere.
What is your major?
I'm a business major with an emphasis in Supply Chain. I'm a minor in psychology and I also have a lot of experiencing with programming. But companies don't hire programmers out of high school anymore. I came to BYU-Idaho to diversify my skills and resume. I don't feel like I've learned a ton at college that the real world hasn't been able to teach me, I just need a piece of paper that says that I know this stuff.
Where are you from?
Seattle, Washington.
What jobs have you had in the past?
I've had a few different jobs, but the one that is the most recent and that I feel I accomplished the most in was at Mutual Materials. I was in charge of database management, everything from distribution, forecasting, data mining, and logistics. In distribution, for example, I used heuristic models. Heuristic models are used to find the shortest path possible on a given set of inputs. At Mutual Materials, I shortened the routes from the warehouse to end user which ended up saving the company $1.8 million/year. I also projected forecasts of when to start production in the year, and how long to produce for to last the entire year. What happened was we had a huge demand for bricks and blocks in the summer, and low demand in the winter. However, we could not produce enough in the summer to meet demand concurrently, so we had to start production early. I went back and examined the last five years of data to project future demand. My forecasting for the three plants were pretty accurate, ranging from the high 80s to the low 90s. This saved the company about $1-1.5 million. The company is dying now though.Management got switch over, and some other stuff has happened.
I also had a couple other programming jobs growing up.
What do you do here at the Recycling Center?
Oh, a lot of stuff. I'm in charge of shift management, inventory, shipments, etc. Right now I'm redoing the financials because they were pretty inaccurate before I got here. I've also changed inventory so I know within the day what we have on the lot (speaking of bales of recyclable materials) and how much each individual bale weighs. I feel like it's a more accurate way of measuring (you can't manage what you can't measure).
What do you see are the main differences in your last two jobs?
Manufacturing is a very different world than programming. There is a lot more room for inefficiencies here, whether it be in managing a shift of employees, deliveries come in late, shipments go out late, etc. The more people involved it seems the more inefficient the system can be. So, the key is to develop good business practices to minimize errors.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans keep changing daily. I would love to work for Disney World, or a video gaming company. My options are really wide open right now with my education and my background. I've got a good range for options. So, we'll see where I go.
What is your major?
I'm a business major with an emphasis in Supply Chain. I'm a minor in psychology and I also have a lot of experiencing with programming. But companies don't hire programmers out of high school anymore. I came to BYU-Idaho to diversify my skills and resume. I don't feel like I've learned a ton at college that the real world hasn't been able to teach me, I just need a piece of paper that says that I know this stuff.
Where are you from?
Seattle, Washington.
What jobs have you had in the past?
I've had a few different jobs, but the one that is the most recent and that I feel I accomplished the most in was at Mutual Materials. I was in charge of database management, everything from distribution, forecasting, data mining, and logistics. In distribution, for example, I used heuristic models. Heuristic models are used to find the shortest path possible on a given set of inputs. At Mutual Materials, I shortened the routes from the warehouse to end user which ended up saving the company $1.8 million/year. I also projected forecasts of when to start production in the year, and how long to produce for to last the entire year. What happened was we had a huge demand for bricks and blocks in the summer, and low demand in the winter. However, we could not produce enough in the summer to meet demand concurrently, so we had to start production early. I went back and examined the last five years of data to project future demand. My forecasting for the three plants were pretty accurate, ranging from the high 80s to the low 90s. This saved the company about $1-1.5 million. The company is dying now though.Management got switch over, and some other stuff has happened.
I also had a couple other programming jobs growing up.
What do you do here at the Recycling Center?
Oh, a lot of stuff. I'm in charge of shift management, inventory, shipments, etc. Right now I'm redoing the financials because they were pretty inaccurate before I got here. I've also changed inventory so I know within the day what we have on the lot (speaking of bales of recyclable materials) and how much each individual bale weighs. I feel like it's a more accurate way of measuring (you can't manage what you can't measure).
What do you see are the main differences in your last two jobs?
Manufacturing is a very different world than programming. There is a lot more room for inefficiencies here, whether it be in managing a shift of employees, deliveries come in late, shipments go out late, etc. The more people involved it seems the more inefficient the system can be. So, the key is to develop good business practices to minimize errors.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans keep changing daily. I would love to work for Disney World, or a video gaming company. My options are really wide open right now with my education and my background. I've got a good range for options. So, we'll see where I go.
Supply Chain Today
What is the role of supply chain in a typical business?
Supply chain deals with incoming, work in progress, outgoing. Really close connection with marketing. Supply chain mangers ask, "how do we satisfy a customers needs from an operations standpoint?" Whenever a new product is developed or a new service is offered, one of the big challenges is the disruption it causes in technology, development, shipping, and on and on and on. There's a lot of supply chain functions that may be mistaken for marketing. The connection with finance or costs throughout the supply chain is also important to take into consideration.
Supply chain is looking at a problem, pulling data together, and solving the problem. There are supply chain jobs that requires a lot of negotiation skills. You've got to be able to work with the CEO, engineers, delivery drivers, marketing, finance, etc.. It takes analytical skills, people skills, and communication skills. If you're the type of the person who is so optimistic that you are hesitant to encounter problems, than supply chain may not be the place for you. Supply chain managers are great if they can find where problems exist and find a creative way to improve them. It is absolute critical to be able to communicate effectively and be influential. You're interacting with suppliers, and customers and everyone in between. Someone who is efficiency minded, creative, and analytical could be a good supply chain manager. Every day is different and you get to work with very many bright people. Some people love it because you can see real impact in your business. Top of mind or revenue growth is very challenging for many companies. If you can't change the top line, then you can change the middle lines to make things as efficient as possible. You can be creative and create jobs for people in the community. It's fulfilling to provide something, on time, to a customer. You'll go through finances, simulations, production lines, and it seems every hour is a new challenge. There is a very challenging job market out there, but here in Supply Chain there are great job opportunities as buyers, suppliers, quality engineers, planners, forecasters, logistic managers.
Many people think "If I get a job or career in Supply Chain, I'm going to be stuck on an assembly line." Not so! There are many opportunities that are very different. Purchasing relationships, planning analyst (managing capacity), warehouse managers, inventory managers, forecast analysts, etc.
Don't look for the money in your job choice. The money will materialize wherever you go. Pick something that is fulfilling for you. Don't be too hasty at ruling anything out. Take the opportunity to study it out.
From an interview with Brother Whitesides and Brother Kunzler
Supply Chain Management Careers
1. Supply Chain Manager
2. Purchaser
3. Operations Manager
4. Warehouse Management
5. There are a ton of jobs in supply chain! Anything that involves incoming and outgoings, analysis and efficiency.
Key Supply Chain Management Terms
Lead time-Delay between initiation and execution.
Cycle time- How long it takes to get one unit from beginning to end of production.
JIT- Just in Time, reduces the amount of inventory on hand to reduce inventory carry costs.
Lean Production- anything involved in production that doesn't benefit the end customer is a wasteful practice.
Six Sigma- Certification process from Asia for supply chain managers. Follows certain principles.
Logistics- Management of resource flow.
Inventory control- managing inventory quantity by production and shipping.
SKU- stock keeping unit, identifies each individual product.
Level Loading- making sure that a semi-truck doesn't have too much weight over any one of the wheels.
RFID- Radio frequency Identification
References
Wikipedia.org, my own knowledge, and the interviews with Brother Kunzler and Brother Whitesides.
Supply chain deals with incoming, work in progress, outgoing. Really close connection with marketing. Supply chain mangers ask, "how do we satisfy a customers needs from an operations standpoint?" Whenever a new product is developed or a new service is offered, one of the big challenges is the disruption it causes in technology, development, shipping, and on and on and on. There's a lot of supply chain functions that may be mistaken for marketing. The connection with finance or costs throughout the supply chain is also important to take into consideration.
Supply chain is looking at a problem, pulling data together, and solving the problem. There are supply chain jobs that requires a lot of negotiation skills. You've got to be able to work with the CEO, engineers, delivery drivers, marketing, finance, etc.. It takes analytical skills, people skills, and communication skills. If you're the type of the person who is so optimistic that you are hesitant to encounter problems, than supply chain may not be the place for you. Supply chain managers are great if they can find where problems exist and find a creative way to improve them. It is absolute critical to be able to communicate effectively and be influential. You're interacting with suppliers, and customers and everyone in between. Someone who is efficiency minded, creative, and analytical could be a good supply chain manager. Every day is different and you get to work with very many bright people. Some people love it because you can see real impact in your business. Top of mind or revenue growth is very challenging for many companies. If you can't change the top line, then you can change the middle lines to make things as efficient as possible. You can be creative and create jobs for people in the community. It's fulfilling to provide something, on time, to a customer. You'll go through finances, simulations, production lines, and it seems every hour is a new challenge. There is a very challenging job market out there, but here in Supply Chain there are great job opportunities as buyers, suppliers, quality engineers, planners, forecasters, logistic managers.
Many people think "If I get a job or career in Supply Chain, I'm going to be stuck on an assembly line." Not so! There are many opportunities that are very different. Purchasing relationships, planning analyst (managing capacity), warehouse managers, inventory managers, forecast analysts, etc.
Don't look for the money in your job choice. The money will materialize wherever you go. Pick something that is fulfilling for you. Don't be too hasty at ruling anything out. Take the opportunity to study it out.
From an interview with Brother Whitesides and Brother Kunzler
Supply Chain Management Careers
1. Supply Chain Manager
2. Purchaser
3. Operations Manager
4. Warehouse Management
5. There are a ton of jobs in supply chain! Anything that involves incoming and outgoings, analysis and efficiency.
Key Supply Chain Management Terms
Lead time-Delay between initiation and execution.
Cycle time- How long it takes to get one unit from beginning to end of production.
JIT- Just in Time, reduces the amount of inventory on hand to reduce inventory carry costs.
Lean Production- anything involved in production that doesn't benefit the end customer is a wasteful practice.
Six Sigma- Certification process from Asia for supply chain managers. Follows certain principles.
Logistics- Management of resource flow.
Inventory control- managing inventory quantity by production and shipping.
SKU- stock keeping unit, identifies each individual product.
Level Loading- making sure that a semi-truck doesn't have too much weight over any one of the wheels.
RFID- Radio frequency Identification
References
Wikipedia.org, my own knowledge, and the interviews with Brother Kunzler and Brother Whitesides.