Faculty

Students Gain First-Hand Exposure to Supply Chain

This week, FIDM Instructor Rebecca Eliason took students in her Supply Chain Management class on a field trip to Dependable Supply Chain Warehouse in East Los Angeles, to give them a first-hand overview of logistics, shipping and receiving, order fulfillment, and third party warehousing.

Supply Chain Management is a required course in the Bachelor of Science, Apparel Technical Design program. Technical Design offers careers where pay, growth and travel opportunities are among the highest of any career in the fashion industry.

Dependable is housed in a huge grey and pink striped building, instantly recognizable by commuters on the 10 Freeway headed through downtown over the Los Angeles River. It’s a full-service logistics provider, handling shipping and distribution for over 200 companies all over the United States. Their services include trucking, warehousing, distribution, 3PL (third party logistics), air freight forwarding, ocean freight forwarding, and freight transport to and from Hawaii & Guam.

One of their largest customers is Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, headquartered in Los Angeles. In fact, the warehouse keeps an ongoing dedicated space in the building just for them, to fulfill their orders.

Dependable, established in 1950, also boasts the largest solar panel rooftop installation in Los Angeles, powering 60% of the electrical needs for their warehouse.

The work carried out at the distribution center supports what the students are currently studying, both domestic and import production processes and suppliers.

This field trip is one example of the countless ways FIDM brings real-world experience into the classroom, or in this case the classroom out into the real world of fashion.