Identifying Logistics Educational Needs – UL03-02 Crane

The overall goal of the study was to assist in defining and assessing workplace competencies related to the field of logistics. With such an assessment, management should be capable of designing specific employee development plans and organization-wide programs to raise the level of logistics competency and performance in the organization.

Sponsor:

Crane – Naval Surface Warfare Ctr.

Research Team:

John S. Usher, Melissa Weir Boeglin, Cindy R. Edlin, Nick Anderson, Gail W. DePuy, Russell R. Dart

Universities Involved:

University of Louisville

Start Date:

05/01/03

End Date:

05/01/04

Summary:

The purpose of the work proposed herein is to perform research and make recommendations regarding the assessment of workplace competencies related to logistics at NSWC-Crane, such that questions about determination of workplace competencies and measurement of logistics preparation and progress could be answered.
Even though logistics is rapidly becoming the integrating function in modern industry and logistics excellence seems to increasingly be named as a pre-requisite to business success, few formal logistics training programs exist either in colleges and universities or in continuing education formats. When formal logistics programs do exist, they tend to be predominantly in business curricula as opposed to engineering curricula, even though logistics is a very technical field of endeavor. The purpose of this project is to perform research and make recommendations to address this need for specialized education programming to support industrial needs. The work will be generic enough to appeal to the broader CELDi membership, but will also address needs specific to Crane as the project sponsor .Development of a competency assessment application at NSWC will have benefits to both individual employees and the organization as a whole through improvements in:
* Employee understanding of position requirements
* Identification of logistics training needs
* Employee preparation for new job/position
* Demonstration of existing qualifications
* Personnel decision making
* Logistics competency of all workers

In order to do this, the system that is proposed herein closely follows the model designed by Cooper (2000), by offering the following features:
* Competency Model – The list of individual workplace competencies that workers must possess to be qualified for a position.
* Position Standards – The level of knowledge required for each competency and each job.
* Assessment Instrument – The measurement tool that will be used to determine levels of competency.
* Gap Reports – A description of the differences between actual competency and required competency for a given job that can be used to determine training needs.
* Individual Development Plans – a system for identifying to employee and management the areas where gaps exist.
The study has resulted in a software package that will enable employees and managers to evaluate the logistics workplace competency levels for each job and design specific development programs to improve knowledge and skill in logistics.