Paul D. Ericksen has 38 years of experience in industry, primarily in supply management at two large original equipment manufacturers. At the second he was chief procurement officer. After this, Ericksen headed up a multi-year supply chain flexibility initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. He presently is an executive level consultant in both manufacturing and supply chain, counting Fortune 100 companies among his clientele. His articles on supply management issues have been published in APICS, Industrial Engineering, Purchasing Today, Target and other periodicals.