The company is Home Hardware and the year was 1980. I had just started my supply chain career and didn’t have any knowledge or experience so I did what others did back then and went to the local library.
The library had an inexpensive a course call “Group Buying” and the instructor was Walter Hachborn who you might recall was the founder of Home Hardware. I am now happily involved with Kinetic Group Purchasing 42 years later. By the way, I have a copy of he material which I will post at a later date.
In 1988, I was talking to a friend who worked at Home Hardware and they were implementing a new inventory management and forecasting software system. Being the curious sole, I ended up spending some time in their office learning as much as I could. Less than a year later I was approached by IBM to be a part of a new department they were creating. I got the job because I did have my supply chain designation. What sold them on me was that they were planning on using the same software that Home Depot was using. I was the only person they interviewed that had that knowledge.
The other instance, was when I was the President of the local supply chain association and we were holding a golf tournament with 700 players. Our purpose for the tournament was to raise money for charities, student bursaries and reduced educational costs for our members. Home Hardware allowed us to purchase their returned items at a 50% discount and these savings went a long way.
Three different occasions and the same great experience and results all because of my outside of work involvement with an exceptional company like Home Hardware.
To see my previous posts: https://qcsolver.com/blog/
Comments are closed