Andreas Kerst

CPIM, CIRM, PLS, CSCP, SCOR-P, DDFP

Please tell us in which company and position you started your APICS certification(s)? What was your motivation to complete the certification(s)?
"Early in 2003 I started an assignment as a Regional Supply Planner for DuPont in Europe. With a technical background as Process and Quality Engineer and a completed Six Sigma Black Belt role for two years in Manufacturing, a Supply Chain assignment called for a proper education, I thought. So I discovered APICS Supply Chain Education with their local representation through PMI in Munich and enrolled in the CPIM (Certified in Production to Inventory Management) certification program which I completed still in 2003. A year later I completed the CIRM (Certified in Integrated Resource Management) program as well, which was discontinued and replaced with a new program, the CSCP (Certified Supply Chain Professional). With a promotion and a new job as a Global Supply Chain Manager I certified in CSCP. Besides the certifications described above I am certified in SCOR-P, TFC and DDFP."

How did your certification(s) help you to achieve the position you are currently in?
"APICS Supply Chain education helped me to continuously learn, apply the concepts at work and grow into new areas of responsibility that I had not anticipated before. APICS teaches many different aspects of a functioning enterprise in detail and the certifications prove your proficiency in applying them in your day-to-day work. I became a consultant for Integrated Business Effectiveness and helped other units inside the DuPont Company to redesign some of their business processes successfully through improvement projects."

Please give us a concrete example, where you have applied the APICS knowledge in your career.
"A very concrete example of applied Supply Chain knowledge was the development of a comprehensive Planning Manual for an internal client at DuPont. As part of an improvement project the description of all processes from S&OP via Master Scheduling to MRP and Final Assembly Scheduling were determined and described in a Handbook."


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