60 seconds with Michael Mikitka, WERC

Michael Mikitka, WERC
Title: CEO, Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC)
Experience: CEO for 5 years
Duties: As an organization focused on optimizing processes inside the four walls of the warehouse, WERC offers resources that help logistics professionals stay at the leading edge including educational events, performance metrics for benchmarking, practical research, expert insights and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange.

Modern: Organizations like APICS, MHI and CSCMP began with a specific focus and are expanding into broader supply chain organizations. How is WERC evolving, and how do you view your mission today?
Mikitka: WERC started out as an organization that focused on activities inside the four walls of the warehouse. Over the last 10 to 15 years, WERC has expanded that view to include activities that touch the four walls. That’s why you’ll see topics like ports. Fifteen years ago, a member in Joliet, Ill., may not have cared about ports. Today, however, that member may have packaging requirements for international shipments or may receive product that arrived at a port or may be shipping to a port. We are still DC focused, but we recognize that our members are asked to support their organizations’ strategies. But, it all ties back to distribution. That’s what makes us different from the other organizations you’ve mentioned. We are part of the supply chain, but we are still focused on optimizing our part. That’s what WERC tries to be.

Modern: Is the role of your members—the role of the warehouse and DC—changing within the organization?
Mikitka: Yes, it’s changing. The strategic value of warehousing is evolving and increasing. We used to be thought of as four walls that held stuff. Today, organizations are looking to the DC to serve their customers, meet their financial goals and contribute to the overall wellness of the organization.

Modern: Distribution is really enabling the business, isn’t it?
Mikitka: I think so. We have directors and VPs as members, and we have warehouse managers as members. What we’re hearing from all levels is that they’re being integrated into the service and sales departments of their organizations. Companies are including their logistics teams when they meet with their customers. And, this bolsters the credibility of the service and sales team.

Modern: As you look forward, what do you think is the biggest challenge distribution professionals will face in the future?
Mikitka: There are a number of challenges to overcome, and I think it’ll be interesting to see how our industry confronts them. One is the workforce. It’s interesting that there are so many layers to this issue. For some, it’s an aging workforce and retirements. For others, it’s a diverse workforce and language barriers. For others, it’s regulation. There are so many different angles that our challenge is finding a focus so we can have the biggest impact on our industry. We could address the diversity issue and that doesn’t solve the other problem of retention and education, and attracting a workforce to our industry. From an association standpoint, we tend to take a general approach to this because our members have so many different issues. Yet, at an industry event, like the WERC conference, you’ll find specific commonalities and solutions.