Students satisfy these objectives while taking courses in sourcing, logistics, quality management, operations planning, enterprise resource systems, and one elective. These courses give students a complete understanding of an end-to-end supply chain including: strategic sourcing, production operations and planning, sales and operations planning, logistics, distribution and transportation, and demand planning and managing the customer-supply chain interface.
Major and Minor
Supply Chain and Operations Management Major
The Supply Chain and Operations Management program systematically develops a contemporary curriculum and co-curriculums that provide students with a deep understanding of sourcing, logistics, and operations management principles and how these areas integrate with other business functions. The program emphasizes hands-on experiences such as simulations, mentorship, guest speakers, case competitions, and applied client projects. The program emphasizes hands-on experiences such as simulations, mentorship, guest speakers, case competitions, and applied client projects.
Producers of products and services in the global economy rely more heavily on outsourcing than ever before. The more they outsource, the more difficult it is to manage relationships with that ever-growing number of suppliers. The Supply Chain and Operations Management major prepares students for careers in aspects of supply chain management that include purchasing, logistics, process improvement, quality management, inventory management, and scheduling.
MGT 431: Logistics Management - This course focuses on developing students’ understanding of all of the firm’s movement, storage and support activities necessary to provide products to customers where and when they are desired. Logistics is fast-paced, constantly changing, and essential to businesses in today’s complex supply chains. This course looks at challenges and major decisions managers address in transportation, warehousing, inventory, order-processing, and reverse logistics activities. These are investigated in terms of their impact on customer service, sustainability, total distribution cost and supply chain value creation. Guest speakers and current events related to logistics and supply chain management are also incorporated into the class on an ongoing basis.
MGT 432: Global Strategic Sourcing - Students in this course will gain an in depth appreciation for how to navigate the increasingly complex process of identifying, evaluating, and selecting suppliers from around the world. Throughout the course, students will learn about how strategic sourcing decisions are made corresponding to a firm’s strategy and operations, geo-political and regulatory considerations, as well as sustainability and financial outcomes. Specifically, students will learn a number of valuable techniques and tools that will enhance their decision-making capabilities when working with suppliers to deliver innovative solutions. The course also provides students opportunities to engage with senior purchasing managers for career development in supply chain and operations management.
MGT 451: Operations Planning and Scheduling - A technology-intensive experience with manufacturing-oriented planning and scheduling systems. The semester is devoted to learning and practicing techniques used to plan, evaluate, schedule, and control manufacturing resources. The most significant and challenging task is for students to build a working production planning and control system. Students develop the skills required for evaluating the outputs needed from a system, the inputs required for the system, and the logic required to convert those inputs to the desired outputs. Students also acquire a deep understanding of processes and the dynamics of inventory, cycle time, variation, and throughput rate. Although most of the coverage in this course emphasizes manufacturing operations, the techniques are generalizable to the service sector.
MGT 453: Quality Management Systems - This course introduces students to the importance of quality management and how it is used in achieving sustainable business success. To this end, the course introduces a variety of quality and process improvement topics. These include Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, and Toyota Production/Lean concepts. An introduction to process mechanics, statistical process control, and tools for process improvement are also incorporated into the class. The course integrates business analytics in the form of students utilizing Minitab Statistical Software to measure process capability and analyze process variation.
MGT 498: Supply Chain Management - This Supply Chain Management (SCM) course evaluates how companies work together to bring products to market. With the heavy emphasis on improving the world wide supply chains, this course seeks to bring together the many concepts learned through the students’ educational journey at the Farmer School of Business. It borrows concepts from all business functions to help create an understanding of how processes involving products, information, finances, and services can support the flow of products and services across and between the organizations and that they are aligned in optimizing the supply or “value” chain.
To assist in delivering clarity and develop a deeper understanding of the issues facing supply chain management, a significant portion of this course is devoted to discussing current SCM topics, real world projects with successful corporate professionals, evaluating case studies and developing a simulation of a working world wide supply chain.
- Ability to collect and analyze data, ultimately providing decision Recommendations
- Create information systems to aid in making resource-related decisions
- Recognize and apply strategic sourcing concepts and solutions to common business problems and activities
- Ability to recognize and apply logistics concepts and solutions to common business problems and activities
- Integrate course content knowledge along with critical thinking and technological skills to address specific supply chain issues and challenges that typically arise in the business world.
Supply Chain Management Minor
A recent study cited Supply Chain Management (SCM) as one of the three most important management practices for determining world-class performance. The SCM minor is designed to provide students with an opportunity to curate their own learning experience by adding supply chain & operations management literacy to their area of expertise. This minor will allow students to develop a broad understanding of the concept of supply chain management as a means to a competitive advantage in a contemporary global business setting. Students will also be exposed to various tools for integrating key functions across the supply chain, such as procurement, operations, and logistics.
Launch Your Career in Supply Chain and Operations: Real-World Experience with Global Impact
Due to the broad and essential nature of the field, our Supply Chain and Operations Management students have a wide variety of career paths and work in exciting, fast-paced jobs upon graduation. Our alumni are represented at the biggest supply chains in the world such as DHL, Shark/Ninja, Textron, and Grainger.
Supply Chain and Operations Management students are taught by faculty with real-world experience who have won numerous teaching and research awards. Experiential learning, client-based class structures, and real-world problem-solving are important tools we use to shape our students into career-minded, successful individuals.
Farmer School of Business Department of Management
3056 Farmer School of Business
800 East High Street
Oxford, OH 45056