Supply Chain Management
“The percentage of supply management professionals earning $100,000 or more continued to climb, increasing from 38% to 41% in 2011 compared with 2010.” From: Inside Supply Management, “ISM’s 2012 Salary Survey”
What is supply chain management?
The supply chain refers to the network of facilities, functions, and activities that are used to produce or deliver a product or service. Facilities included in the network are basic suppliers of raw materials called vendors, manufacturers, warehouses, distribution centers, and retail outlets. Functions and activities include managerial and technical areas that encompass logistics management, forecasting, purchasing, inventory management, production management, quality assurance, scheduling, information management, and customer service.
Supply chain management involves the strategic integration of diverse business facilities, functions, and activities throughout the supply chain for the purpose of providing goods and services to customers as efficiently as possible. Achieving efficiency in the supply chain is accomplished by developing knowledge of transportation, inventory control, warehousing, material handling, purchasing, production control, and the tools necessary to analyze and coordinate these activities. The concept of total cost analysis (taking all costs into account before making decisions) and cost trade-offs (letting one or more costs rise to take advantage of greater savings in other costs) is also central to supply chain management. These concepts, once honed, apply to many facets of business and personal decision making.
Where is supply chain management used?
Supply chain management represents 10 percent of our country’s gross domestic product. All companies that deal with physical goods or services of necessity utilize supply chain management to get their products to their customers. Transportation companies provide the backbone of the supply chain. In addition, many third-party companies exist to service vendors, manufacturers, and retailers. Included are management consultants, telecommunications specialists, distribution firms, and various combinations of these, which partner with transportation and warehousing companies. Service organizations also have need for the supply chain function in ordering and maintaining supplies and repair parts and ensuring superior customer service.
What kinds of career choices can I expect and what is the job outlook?
Economists and employers single out supply chain management for its strong growth potential. In its “Best Jobs of the Future” issue, U.S. News & World Report, lists supply chain management as one of 20 hot job tracks for the 21st century. Membership in the discipline’s professional organizations has increased by 250 percent in the last 10 years. A major accounting firm reports that many companies are moving to get high caliber individuals into the supply chain management positions as they recognize the impact on competitiveness and financial performance. Growth in the field is expected to continue well into the 21st century.
Graduates with a supply chain management background can find employment in a wide range of occupational specialties including logistics, warehousing management, transportation management, operations and production management, purchasing, inventory control, and customer service to name but a few. Salaries for recent graduates in supply chain programs, according to several surveys, rank near the top among the various business majors. Supply chain management also plays a central role in the global economy. Many job opportunities are available which involve developing and maintaining the international supply chain.
What kinds of courses will I take?
Students in the supply chain management program take the core curriculum required of all John L. Grove College of Business students. These courses include accounting, finance, business computer systems, marketing, economics, business law, supply chain and operations management, organizational behavior, and statistics to provide a broad business background. In addition to these courses, there are both required courses and electives in the major, in which students will develop cross-functional team skills that emphasize cost analysis, e-business, logistics network modeling, and information management. The Supply Chain Management major consists of five required courses in the areas of logistics management, strategic procurement, quality management, supply chain systems, and data mining. In addition, one interdisciplinary elective from Marketing, Management, Geography, or Logistics Management is required.
May students who are not majoring in supply chain management take those courses?
Certainly. It is advantageous for all business majors to take at least a basic course in the supply chain area to get an understanding of what is involved in the movement and storage of goods and how this function interacts with other areas of the firm. In fact, in some schools’ business programs, at least one of these courses is part of the core business curriculum.
Where can I get more information?
For specific program information contact:
Department of Finance and Supply Chain Management
228 Grove Hall
Shippensburg University
1871 Old Main Drive
Shippensburg, PA 17257-2299
717-477-1434
Fax: 717-477-4067
E-mail: jrbard@ship.edu
John L. Grove College of Business
717-477-1435
E-mail: business@ship.edu
Website: http://www.ship.edu/business/
The John L. Grove College of Business is accredited by the AACSB International.