In Memory of             Jennifer Ferguson (1979-2009)

I am deeply grieved at the sudden and unexpected loss of Jennifer Ferguson.  She was a very special person, and she will be greatly missed by a host of family, friends, and co-workers.  As I write this, I think back with joy and humor to the many shared experiences I had with her.  I say joy and humor because Jennifer brought life and humor to everything she did.  She had high expectations; she made us step up to the plate, she raised the bar on every project she undertook, and she always brought laughter and light with her.

 I have had the privilege of knowing and working with Jennifer for the last six years.  Jennifer joined JBT FoodTech upon her graduation from Montana State in 2003.  During her years at JBT she has held increasingly responsible positions and has always been a much-valued employee.  She was always the “go-to” person for new projects and problem solving.

 In 2004 Jennifer earned the much sought after APICS CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management).  She served as a board member on the San Joaquin Valley Chapter of APICS for two years, and completed the chapter’s own Train-the-Trainer program to become an APICS Instructor.

 Memorial Services will be held at:

 Jay Chapel

1121 Roberts Ave

Madera, CA

Friday, June 12, 2009

Viewing 1:00 pm

Services 3:00 pm

Your friend in APICS

Connie Tallman, CMA, CFPIM, CIRM, C.P.M.

Professional Development Meetings-

September, 2009

Plan to join us Thursday evening, Sept 17, in Clovis in Pelco's training room located in building 5.  Registration begins at 6PM and dinner is at 6:30PM.

Call or email dinner meeting reservations to: Randy DiPinto (559)388-2901, or rdipinto@pelco.com by noon Sept 15. 

Use Credit Card to pay for PDM Dinner

Cancellations must be received by Sept 14th at noon to receive a full refund.

Our President

Rebecca Young 

CPIM

Read about PDM's and upcoming board of director meetings.  Also, how you can help the chapter in Rebecca's latest Presidential message.

Presidents message for May 2009.

Our Beginnings

The First Thirty Years

In the early months of 1975, a small band of local P&IC practitioners sought to bring professional enlightenment into our Valley by gaining entrance into the fastest growing technical society in the world.

By Randy DiPinto CPIM

Read "In The Beginning"

District and Chapter Handbook

Curious as to how the APICS Chapters and Districts operate?

District and Chapter Handbook

The APICS San Joaquin Valley Chapter serves Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced and Tulare counties.  This includes Fresno, Clovis, Madera, Merced, Hanford, Visalia and other neighboring communities.

Upcoming Classes

CPIM Certification Review & Test

Strategic Management of Resources

Aug 1, 8, 15 2009

Test Sept 12, 2009

Registration Deadline July 17, 2009

Register Now!

Use Credit Card to pay for Class Registration

2009 Education Calendar

Contact Connie Tallman for more information regarding classes.

A Confession

How (not) to Elect an APICS Chapter President!

APICS is, and always will be, a professional society made up of volunteers wanting to make a difference.  But as volunteers, we don't always have the time and resources needed to manage the chapter in a "proper" manner, yet as professionals we sometimes have to make decisions without the luxury of time.  Here was one of those times ....

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago …  Wait a minute - this is not a fairy tale.  This actually happened.  And since the statute of limitations has finally run its course, it's now safe to share one of our "skeletons in the closet" stories on how one of our members came to serve our chapter as president.

Back in the early 80's when our chapter was much younger and not as "sophisticated", elections were held to elect a new president and Board of Directors for the 1982 term.  The first dinner meeting of the new term had arrived and the newly elected President and Board were to be formally introduced to the chapter members with the oath of office officiated by a member of our Region 10 staff.  That evening, 3 of us arrived early at Fresno's "Tower House" restaurant to set up for the coming event when a call came in on the restaurant's phone (this was long before cell phones) for "any" APICS member.  Without presiding over a single APICS event, the newly elected president phoned in her resignation and was not heard from again.

What were going to do?!  Attendees were beginning to arrive for the dinner meeting and now we didn't have a president!  How was this presidential 'no-show' going to look?  What vote of confidence could we expect without a chapter leader?  So while we sat around a small table in the restaurant's bar trying to figure out how to clean up this mess, we noticed one of our new chapter members sitting at the bar having a drink before the meeting began.  This member had recently joined our APICS chapter and this was his very first dinner meeting.  But regardless of his lack of APICS experience, we saw an opportunity and said "hey, how about him?"

Desperate times begat desperate measures so we threw the chapter bylaws right out the window.  The chapter president is supposed to be elected by a vote of the chapter members - not appointed, and even if we could appoint a president, we needed a quorum vote of the Board which we did not have at the moment, so without telling the Region 10 officer (who was due to arrive any minute) what had just happened, in desperation we conspired to solve the matter ourselves.

It's a good thing this member had already consumed a couple of drinks, because when we approached him and said "Hi, how would you like to be chapter president?", his resistance was at low ebb and common sense did not prevail and he said  "sure, why not".  So for the few minutes remaining before the start of the meeting, we sat around that little table explaining "everything" he needed to know about being an APICS chapter president.  We described the evening's events on he and his new Board would be sworn in as chapter officers, and as an added bonus for being the new chapter president, he had to take center stage as the "MC" for the dinner meeting.

Incredulously the evening went off without a hitch with the "backstage antics" pretty much transparent to most in attendance.  When the rest of the Board members arrived we had to pull them aside and tell them what we did.  But since the only alternative was for one of them to volunteer for the president's position, everyone agreed with the course of action.  The 1982 / 1983 was not the chapter's most stellar year, but we survived and the president completed his term in office.  We all learned a valuable lesson that night - when the going gets tough and your back is against the wall, vote for the new guy cuz' he's probably too "looped" to turn around and run!