American Production and Inventory Control Society
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| American Production and Inventory Control Society | |
|---|---|
| Name | American Production and Inventory Control Society |
| Abbreviation | APICS |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Type | Professional association |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Region served | Global |
| Membership | Supply chain and operations professionals |
American Production and Inventory Control Society The American Production and Inventory Control Society is a professional association focused on supply chain, operations, manufacturing, and logistics practitioners. It provides certification programs, standards development, training resources, and conferences that connect professionals from General Electric, Toyota, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, and Boeing. The organization collaborates with institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Michigan, and Carnegie Mellon University.
History
Founded in 1957, the society emerged amid post‑World War II industrial expansion and the rise of quantitative production methods used by Ford Motor Company, General Motors, American Motors Corporation, DuPont, and Eastman Kodak. Early leaders drew on work from Frederick Winslow Taylor, Henry Ford, Eliyahu M. Goldratt, W. Edwards Deming, and Taiichi Ohno to formalize inventory control and production planning practices utilized at Bell Labs, IBM, AT&T, and General Electric Research Laboratory. During the 1960s and 1970s the society intersected with developments at MIT Sloan School of Management, Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Cornell University, and Columbia University as material requirements planning concepts diffused through Texas Instruments, RCA, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed. The 1980s and 1990s saw engagement with concepts from Michael Porter and frameworks popularized at McKinsey & Company, while partnerships expanded to include APICS Certification Council, International Federation of Purchasing and Supply Management, Institute for Supply Management, Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, and multinational corporations like Nestlé and Unilever.
Mission and Activities
The society’s mission emphasizes workforce development, competency frameworks, and operational excellence sought by practitioners at 3M, Honeywell, Caterpillar Inc., Schneider Electric, and Johnson & Johnson. Core activities include offering curricula used by United States Air Force, United States Navy, U.S. Department of Defense, World Bank, and United Nations Industrial Development Organization, delivering workshops influenced by scholars from Wharton School, Kellogg School of Management, INSEAD, London Business School, and IMD. It supports implementation of methodologies applied at Zara (company), IKEA, Walmart, Amazon (company), and Alibaba Group through local chapters in cities like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and Singapore.
Certifications and Professional Development
Certification programs align with skills in demand at Microsoft, Oracle Corporation, SAP SE, Teradata, and Infor. Notable credentials reflect subject matter leveraged in roles at Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and Accenture. Training pathways are informed by research at Northwestern University, Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Berkeley, and Georgia Institute of Technology. Alumni include managers and executives who have worked for ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell plc, and Chevron Corporation.
Publications and Research
The society publishes journals and periodicals read by staff at The Boeing Company, Raytheon Technologies, SAIC, Babcock International, and ThyssenKrupp. Research topics reference case studies involving Toyota Production System, Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, Just-in-Time manufacturing, and Total Quality Management with citations drawn from scholars at University of Cambridge, Oxford University, ETH Zurich, University of Toronto, and National University of Singapore. Content distribution channels connect with libraries at Library of Congress, British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, and National Diet Library.
Standards and Best Practices
The society promotes standards and best practices adopted by supply chain teams at FedEx, UPS, Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company, and COSCO. Frameworks address inventory visibility and planning used in implementations by Siemens Energy, ABB (company), Rockwell Automation, Schlumberger, and Halliburton. It contributes to dialogues alongside International Organization for Standardization, American National Standards Institute, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and European Committee for Standardization on consistency in metrics favored by ISO 9001 adopters and firms like Toyota Motor Corporation and BMW.
Governance and Membership
Governance models mirror nonprofit boards seen at American Red Cross, United Way, Rotary International, Boy Scouts of America, and Girl Scouts of the USA. The board interacts with regional councils across continents with chapters in Toronto, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Madrid, and Frankfurt am Main. Membership includes professionals from Small and Medium Enterprises, multinational firms such as Samsung, LG Corporation, and Sony Corporation, and public sector practitioners from U.S. General Services Administration, European Commission, and Australian Department of Defence.
Conferences and Events
Annual and regional conferences convene speakers and exhibitors from CES, Hannover Messe, MODEX, ProMat, and IMTS. Events showcase case studies from Intel Corporation, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Broadcom and include workshops led by consultants from Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, Gartner, Inc., and Forrester Research. Symposia are hosted in conjunction with universities like Purdue University, Ohio State University, Michigan State University, Texas A&M University, and Virginia Tech to advance pedagogy and practice.