Being an expert in your craft and the best possible leader involves significant learning, and many in our field will look for fulfillment management association and organization opportunities. These present intelligent ways for you to learn more about fulfillment management and meet like-minded individuals who can help with problem-solving.
As 2021 comes to a close, now is a perfect time to consider joining a fulfillment management association. Don’t forget to look deeper than just an organization’s name.
What is fulfillment management?
Fulfillment management is the control and operation of all processes used in order fulfillment for your eCommerce business. That touches everything from sourcing products and to getting orders out the door. That means keeping inventory levels high to having the people, boxes, and carrier relationships needed . It ranges from local shops with neighborhood fulfillment to expanding your eCommerce business internationally.
Fulfillment management professional roles are responsible for supervising all these activities. You’ll often see multiple managers in a warehouse or 3PL. When operations start to scale, you’ll want individuals controlling inbound, outbound, inventory, and more. Leaders for categories ensure that everything runs smoothly.
For more advanced operations, fulfillment management will include demand forecasting, inventory optimization efforts, updating warehouse layout based on order volume, and advanced picking techniques. You might even learn the truth about working in a fulfillment center. These actions require a detailed understanding of both your business and the overall industry. That is best achieved by combining firsthand experience with industry training and educational opportunities.
However, choosing the proper management association can be tricky. The Fulfillment Management Association seems like it could be a good fit based on the name. Still, many supply chain professionals will discover that it has a very narrow focus and might not be relevant. Let’s look a little deeper and see what this association is, if other organizations may be more helpful, and what’s Red Stag Fulfillment’s approach to education and learning.
What is the Fulfillment Management Association?
The Fulfillment Management Association (FMA) is a non-profit to help its members stay up to date on the news around periodicals. The group initially focused on the circulation and fulfillment of these magazines and publications. Now, however, the Fulfillment Management Association is a closed arm of the Media & Content Marketing Association (MCMA).
Today, the MCMA focuses on creating networking and educational events for media professionals who create and promote newsletters. It does have some ties to the fulfillment space thanks to a relationship with the Postal Customer Council, a group of business mailers and USPS staff. The association aims to help publishes adapt to changing channels, from supply chain production concerns to delivering newsletters via social media.
Is the FMA right for fulfillment professionals?
Most eCommerce companies won’t need to join the FMA because of its focus on publishing and newsletters. However, the Fulfillment Management Association could have been helpful if that’s your core business development tool. There are more targeted associations and organizations that prioritize our industry for fulfillment professionals, shippers, and others in the logistics professions.
You may want to consider fulfillment management support organizations and associations relevant to both the supply chain in general and the areas where your customers operate. If you oversee goods for convenience stores, for example, custom distribution organizations target that niche.
A management association often provides good opportunities for networking, learning, and improving operations. If you’re in the publishing space or help publishers source materials for printing and production, then the Fulfillment Management Association would be a good opportunity. You’ll need to reach out to the MCMA to see if it remains a wise choice based on their current focus and continued learning opportunities.
Why does expertise like this matter?
One of the more critical elements of joining something like the former Fulfillment Management Association is the educational support offered. Management association options for your field often have newsletters and training. These help you to stay on top of what’s happening. This could be introducing a new warehouse management tool or a novel approach. Many eCommerce companies started looking at just-in-time (JIT) fulfillment because of studies that associations like this supported.
Red Stag Fulfillment is a strong proponent of joining groups in our industry and sharing our thoughts and experiences when possible. Our expertise comes from working in fulfillment management and exploring the many ways to improve fulfillment, logistics, and inventory management. We’re thankful for our internal experts who aim high and help us achieve milestones. That includes 2021’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday order output being our highest ever — a 27% year-over-year increase from 2020!
These experts are here for you, too. So, ask us the questions you have. Tell us about the challenges you’re facing in your supply chain or concerns over things like peak season charges. And share your wins so we can help the whole industry grow together. Got a quick concern or want to learn more about our fulfillment guarantees and capabilities? It all starts with a click.
