by Paul V. Arnold

For supply chain professionals looking for an Institute for Supply Management Web site, or wondering why they’re still receiving flyers and e-mail from the National Association of Purchasing Management, you’re going to have to be a little patient.

NAPM won’t officially become the Institute for Supply Management until Jan. 1, 2002, Kristen Kioa, the organization’s senior media relations associate, told MRO Today.

NAPM members voted this spring on a proposition to enact a name change. Two-thirds of the more than 11,500 members who voted supported a change to the Institute for Supply Management. The results were announced at NAPM’s International Purchasing Conference April 28 in Orlando, Fla.

Kioa said the organization is targeting Jan. 1 because of the time required to develop and implement a transition plan and publicity campaign.

Discussions were under way in late June on a new logo, Web site alterations, certification changes and whether a transitional name incorporating both the old and new names was necessary.

Along with the transition plan, Kioa said the organization hoped to launch a publicity campaign this fall to promote the new name to members, prospective members and the media.

Kioa stated the importance of educating print and electronic media outlets, many of whom promote the group through news stories about NAPM’s Reports on Business and the NAPM/Forrester Research Reports on eBusiness.

"We want people to know that the data is not going to change," said Kioa. "The information has such a strong, consistent following, we want people who report on it or read about it to have it automatically click that the Institute for Supply Management is NAPM."

To that end, the Purchasing Managers Index, the most cited facet of the Manufacturing Report on Business, will not undergo a name change to tie into the focus on supply chain management.

Stay up to date on the group’s news by visiting www.napm.org.

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