College of Business

CSUMB Class of 'Supply Chain Management' visited Driscoll's for Class Tour

Students of BUS 435 visited Driscoll’s to learn about their global supply chain at their headquarters in Watsonville, CA, and the warehouse in nearby Aromas. Sr. Logistics Manager Ms. Lalainia Moules helped organize and moderate an information session for the students about the company’s global supply chain, followed by an operational overview of the warehouse. Dr. Gary Schneider, Professor of Accounting, Dr. Joel Ryman, Associate Professor of Management, Dr. Sumadhur Shakya, Assistant Professor of Operations, of the College of Business at California State University Monterey Bay, accompanied the students for the tour.

Mr. Tom Shepard (DOTA VP of Logistics) explained the structure of Driscoll’s multinational supply chain, followed by Mr. Edgar Albor, Supply Planning Daily Operations Manager, who shared the importance of forecasting the supply side to the students. Mr. Albor explained to the students the importance of conveying the information about products in terms of pallets and trucks available to the sales and shipping division. Mr. Miguel Miciano, Director of Procurement, explained the importance of getting a sufficient amount of packaging materials at the correct field/place at the right time. Mr. Alfredo Gonzalez, Quality System Manager, explained the process of growing quality berries with desired sugar content, size, and various testing methodologies currently used. The information session was also joined by a CSUMB alum now working at the Driscolls, Mr. Gregory O’Hara.

Ms. Moules then guided the students to the company’s warehouse in Aromas, CA, where Mr. Guillermo Rocha and Mr. Jose Fernandez explained various functions of the warehouse operations in action, such as receiving the product, labeling the product for traceability, product quality testing, various methods of cooling the product, inventory management, pre-assembling the order or the staging area, and then finally the shipping the product out of the warehouse at one of various docking gates for outbound shipment. Mr. Rocha also explained the shipping and order fulfillment systems to the students. Ms. Moules explained the process and logic behind every step of the way to the students.

We are thankful for the support of industry leaders and experts at Driscoll’s for career-oriented experiential learning of CSUMB's students. We appreciate Ms. Moules and the team at Driscoll’s for helpimg our students learn first-hand about agribusiness operations and supply chain management. This exposure to industry experts helps create talent for the Central Coast’s agribusiness needs.