Supply Chain Management (SCM)

This course develops students' knowledge and application of different methodologies, systems and tools, to address the managers' drive for efficiency, effectiveness, and quality. By identifying, examining, and improving these gaps through root-cause analysis and continuous improvement methodologies, the supply chain - or any other process - can correct current issues and position itself for future successes. This course introduces students to these critical skills and tools and demonstrates appropriate application to real-world challenges. This course is ideal for any FOX undergraduate student (but especially HRM, Risk, Health Care, Marketing, SCM) and non-Fox students (prerequisite is a 2000-level statistics class) as it applies basic management decision tools to a variety of challenges.

Operations and Supply Chain Management is the art and science of integrating the flow of products, information and money through the pipeline from the sources to the end customers. The goal of the course is to provide an understanding of the fundamental principles and activities occurring in the supply chain and to prepare students with a basic knowledge of activities within the supply chain.

Transportation, distribution, logistics, or supply chain management all refer to the process by which companies move material, parts, and products to their customers. Proper planning and scheduling are crucial to efficient operations and customer satisfaction. Transportation management encompasses planning goods movements across its different modes – truck, rail, water, air and pipeline. This course provides students with a basic familiarity to the important issues, concepts and models for analyzing different transportation functions. The focus will be on presenting information about, and providing access to, available tools and techniques that ensure a smooth flow and distribution of goods in the industry today. The course uses both quantitative and spatial techniques for proper decision making – specifying how, when and where to transport goods; selection of appropriate location of warehouses and distribution points; selection of route and carriers; and understanding of logistics and distribution costs.

A key decision in manufacturing, retail and some service industry businesses is how much inventory to keep on hand satisfying the customer needs. Inventory is often a business's largest asset and not having enough inventories means losing sales, while holding too much inventory is expensive; therefore an efficient inventory control system is very important in any business. This course develops students' skills for quantitative and analytical thinking in the general areas of Operations, Logistics, Supply Chain Management, and Managing Global and Service Operations by developing analytical skills and an ability to make "data-driven" decisions. This course is a required course for the SCM Major and SCM Minor.

This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts, tools and techniques in purchasing that will make them aware of the demands placed on supply chain managers, understand the strategic nature of purchasing, understand the impact of purchasing on the competitive success and profitability of modern organizations and finally, secure better job prospects and superior on-the-job performance. This course develops students' skills for quantitative and analytical thinking and ability to make "data-driven" decisions. This course is the capstone course for the SCM Major and is required as part of the SCM Minor.