A supply Chain of Talent

Frank Adams with family pets Hoss and Henrietta

photo by Shelby Baldwin

FALL 2018 | DIVIDENDS

A Supply Chain of Talent

By Kelsey Waters

The Golden Triangle is growing. Made up of Starkville, Columbus and West Point, MS, it is not the sprawling urban metropolis where most people would expect to find a marketplace designed for big industry. However, a close look at this community reveals important characteristics needed for successful industry: available workforce, affordable abundance of land and strong academic development opportunities. Companies like PACCAR, Yokohama Tire, Airbus and Steel Dynamics have made homes in the Golden Triangle and are reaping the benefits of a close relationship with Mississippi State.

MSU produces a resounding heartbeat throughout the Golden Triangle, with historically strong programs like engineering and agriculture. As an institution of higher learning and a land grant institution, Mississippi State has a duty to provide education and training that makes a positive impact on the state, its communities and its people. To do this sufficiently, MSU invests in local communities by providing highly trained business leaders in addition to technical ones.

Dr. Frank Adams understands this need. Through his vision and industry experience, Adams is enhancing Mississippi State’s Supply Chain Management program so it will benefit students and industry equally.

Adams defines supply chain as “a linking of organizations and activities together in a way that converts inputs into something a customer wants to buy and puts it where they want to buy it.”

Adams earned a BA in history at MSU in 1997. While his education focused on his love of history, his career took him down a different path. For 10 years he worked at a medical device company, which was sold twice during his time there. As an operations support manager and then administrator, Adams built experience in the logistics and operations associated with supply chain management.

When he decided to go back to school, he figured it was “smarter to play to what I knew.” In 2008, Adams received his MBA from the University of Alabama, where he concentrated on the study of supply chain management. He then also completed a PhD in marketing at Alabama.

At MSU, Adams is now in his seventh year of working with supply chain students. As an Associate Professor of Marketing, he has the challenge of teaching three classes while also managing and developing curriculum for students in his field. Currently, supply chain management is a concentration available to marketing majors, but Adams has the goal of making supply chain available across disciplines in the College of Business. Right now, Supply Chain Management is successful under the umbrella of marketing because it works toward meeting customer needs. Yet the curriculum must expand and change to meet future business needs, which will include increased demand for employees who understand supply chain processes.

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Adams set high expectations, treating his students as professionals in the making.

photo by Emily Daniels

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MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY | COLLEGE OF BUSINESS

At every turn of his continually adapting curriculum, Adams focuses on students – yet he does not see them merely as students. Adams is growing professionals. He describes supply chain management students as “systemic thinkers” who problem-solve in every capacity of business and notes that these “practically minded souls” are diverse in personality, success oriented and ready to work. Adams sees them for what they will be and anticipates how they will be joining the workforce. As he looks to the future, he sees expansion in the warehousing and logistic operations fields. Online companies like Amazon are increasingly able to meet consumers’ needs for instant gratification, continually improving delivery and expanding product offerings. Adams sees this and knows his students have to be prepped and ready to help their employers outpace the competition.

As the Supply Chain Management Program grows, Adams focuses on bringing in speakers from companies like Williams Sonoma because real-world perspective “solidifies course content in a way I can’t, and it brands Williams Sonoma in [students’] heads.” Adams is constantly focused on connections, as he understands that while strong knowledge and training are vital, networking equals success. The relation of education and networking has resulted in a new goal for Adams and the program – a Solutions Center.

The location of Mississippi State in the Golden Triangle gives Adams the unique opportunity to create a funnel of trained, educated professionals to direct straight into the leadership workforce of the fast-growing economic zone. He hopes to create a Solutions Center to bridge gaps between students/young professionals and industry within the Golden Triangle. At the Center, annual seminars or summits would keep industry and education abreast of information, problems and changes happening within the workplace. The Center would also regularly place interns within companies, allowing them to gather experience as well as data for problem-solving that would be analyzed and shared within the Solutions Center.

Creation of the Solutions Center could change the face of education and industry in the Golden Triangle. Industries could identify strong candidates for hiring, while students would have the opportunity to discover the career opportunities available in the region. Together, Mississippi State’s Supply Chain Management Program and the flourishing industry of the Golden Triangle

DIVIDENDS | FALL 2018

FALL 2018 | DIVIDENDS

could make huge strides in fighting the “brain drain” that plagues the state. In Adams’ mind, this is how MSU can make itself stand out. The creation of the Solutions Center would merge the University’s three pillars of teaching, service and research and would “push them together, so that single efforts are serving more of these ends.”

Adams’ passion and dedication to developing strong, prepared and willing graduates has given him a vision of how to grow the Supply Chain Management Program at Mississippi State. He sees internship support from industry and alumni contributions as vital to its success. The opportunity to travel or earn money could create a beacon, drawing students interested in the field to MSU – especially if a 100 percent placement rate could be achieved. The Solutions Center dream is to establish a group of local industries that would invest time, experience and knowledge in students beyond what they receive in the classroom by allowing them to research and serve as consultants as part of their undergraduate education.

The way in which Adams invests in his students is refreshing, sincere and authentic. More importantly, it promises success – not just in industry, but in their development and growth as individuals functioning in an unpredictable world. Adams is making his students stronger, more flexible and quick thinking and substantially more prepared to take on challenges.

Frank Adams is always listening. Always watching. Always thinking. He seems to be able to gauge his students’ potential even before they are aware of it themselves. Adams sets high standards of excellence for his students, treating them like employees. Meeting his expectations sets them up to meet the expectations of the real world that often seems so jarring to fresh graduates.

Adams views much of life through a supply chain “lens,” gauging logistical, purposeful movements in everything. From relationships to products, he understands that there are deliverables, markets, transportation and problems to be solved. Clear, concise communication and thinking can bring success to any venture, and this way of thinking comes from having supply chain on the brain.

Adams received the 2018 College of Business Faculty Research Award. Shown with him are (from left) MSU President Mark Keenum, Dean Sharon Oswald, and MSU Vice President for Research and Economic Development David Shaw.

photo by Beth Wynn

“You cannot see it, but it underlays and supports everything around you,” he observes. “It is the foundation on which everything you buy or own or have rests.”

The goals, dreams and success of MSU’s Supply Chain Program stem from the mind of one Dr. Frank Adams. As he moves forward, the creation and implementation of the program’s Solutions Center will create a functional, real world education for supply chain students. This will result in a relationship between education and industry that will set a standard for all other institutions.

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