South Africa’s Professional Body for Supply Chain Management (SAPICS) has received an international accolade honouring its commitment to advancing supply chain excellence.

APICS, the association for supply chain management in the United States, presented SAPICS with its 2018 Diamond Partner Award at the annual APICS supply chain conference. “This award recognises APICS global partners that exhibit extraordinary dedication and accomplishments in promoting supply chain excellence, innovation and resilience, elevating the global standard for supply chain skills development, and building a community of certified professionals,” explains SAPICS general manager Jenny Froome, who accepted the award in Chicago.

“SAPICS was selected because of the organisation’s world-class education, year-round calendar of professional development events and impressive annual conference and exhibition, which has become the leading event in Africa for supply chain professionals,” APICS vice-president of Global Channels Jim Lahey, said.

He commended SAPICS for making a meaningful impact on individuals, organisations and the profession as a whole, and striving for quality, professionalism and continuous improvement.

“SAPICS is proud to have been APICS's exclusive Premier Channel Partner in Sub-Saharan Africa for over 50 years. We are honoured to be recognised for our commitment to representing the interests of supply chain and operations management professionals in Africa. We recently launched two professional designations – the Professional Processor in Supply Chain Management and the Professional Specialist in Supply Chain Management – with four more on the way.

We were also recently appointed to sit on the Council for Supply Chain Management, a South African Government initiative and the Board of global organisation People that Deliver.  It has been another busy year for SAPICS and this award highlights our team’s hard work and achievements,” Froome states.

SAPICS chairman Mungo Park notes that this recognition comes at a time of significant advancement in the profession. “At its annual conference, APICS announced the formation of a brand-new global alliance network aimed at propelling supply chain forward and transforming how organisations do business around the globe.

SAPICS is exceptionally proud to be a strategic partner of APICS and the newly formed Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM).”