Commentary: ‘The Amazon Effect’ and Operation New Hope

American Shipper’s IT Editor Eric Johnson gave a presentation at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Roundtable Tuesday night in Jacksonville, Fla. that focused on how Amazon is impacting perceptions and attitudes about the supply chain.    American Shipper’s IT Editor Eric Johnson gave a presentation at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Roundtable in Jacksonville, Fla. Tuesday night on “The Amazon Effect.”
   The presentation focused on the way that Amazon is impacting perceptions and attitudes about the supply chain. The e-commerce giant has plans for a major distribution center in Jacksonville and it is expected to tighten an already very tight labor market for qualified warehouse workers here in the city.
   At the meeting, I sat at a table with John Warren, business development manager of Operation New Hope; and Kevin O’Meara, senior vice president, operations with Interline Brands in Jacksonville.
   John works on placing individuals who have had difficulties in their lives and have gone through Operation New Hope to train them for entering the workforce. Operation New Hope has had a great deal of success in training and placing workers in warehousing positions where there is a real shortage of labor right now.
   Kevin was very interested because on a weekly basis, he has to deal with a shortage of trained warehouse workers, along with dealing with a labor market where most applicants for warehouse positions are not trained and generally are not prepared to take any position.
   Operation New Hope not only trains the men and women in its program for work, but also teaches them the life skills necessary to successfully hold a job and to present themselves as applicants. Operation New Hope carefully vets the participants in its program before working with employers to place them in jobs. John said the training and placement of workers for warehouse positions has been very successful.
   When you go to a CSCMP Roundtable meeting, you can never be certain what you will learn, but to me, it was very heartening to see an employer with a problem and a ministry with a solution get together for mutual benefit.
   By the way, Eric Johnson did a great job on his presentation and initiated a lot of discussion on the direction that the supply chain is moving with companies like Amazon introducing a new paradigm in setting consumer and business expectations toward fulfillment.