NAPM Considers Name Change; Focus On 'Supply'

Presumably Florida's votes in the 2000 U.S. presidential election will be counted and certified before the Tempe, Ariz.-based National Assn. of Purchasing Management (NAPM) begins its balloting next Apr. 28. The group's 45,000 members throughout the U.S. will be asked to vote on changing the 32-year-old organization's name to the Institute for Supply Management. Within the association, there are feelings that purchasing is an increasingly dated term. "Supply is what the profession is all about. Managing a reliable flow and availability of important goods and services is what we do," contends Dick Bradshaw, NAPM's president. There's also a feeling that institute better connotes NAPM's focus on education, research, and communication. The association's board of directors has already approved amending the bylaws and articles of incorporation; ballots are slated to be mailed to members in early March 2001.