The Enterprise Process Management Area of Information Management consists of three separate but related offerings, namely: Business Process Management, Supply Chain Management, and Service Oriented Architecture. The 3 core process areas are Procurement and Supplier Management, Manufacturing and Operations Management, and Distribution and Logistics Management.
ITs role in integrating these processes is essential in optimizing an organizations supply chain. They are applying modeling, simulation, what-if analysis, and scenario planning to simplify their supply chain processes and improve outcomes. To do this often demands digesting massive amounts of data in real-time, with advanced informatics to identify the best course of action. Ensuring a collaborative IT-business team is fundamental.
Materials, parts, goods, or products that frequently originate from other continents depend on an entire industry of transportation, logistics, and distribution to make their way to consumers.
All companies, large and small, manufacturers and service providers, depend on successful supplier performance to help satisfy their customers. The performance of an agile, motivated, and responsive supply base can improve operating efficiencies, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction.
Supply chain management integrates the activities associated with the procurement of material, the transformation of procured material into final product, and the delivery of final product to customers. These activities include the traditional purchasing function, along with additional activities that are important in the relationship with suppliers, distributors, and customers. Internally, Supply Chain Managers work with Operations, Engineering, Distribution, Information Systems, Purchasing, Marketing, and Finance functions. They share forecast, customer, design, and production information. Externally, Supply Chain Managers concentrate on building a high-performance team focused on maximizing customer value while maintaining speed, flexibility, efficiency, and responsiveness in their own operations.
Around the globe AI and robotics are supplementing and even replacing workers. Managing change is fundamental.
Understanding emerging information technologies (especially AI) and their impact on enhancing supply chains, and the roles and responsibilities of IT and non-IT stakeholders in leveraging these emerging technologies in light of the digital transformation will be at the heart of all of the courses. This is especially important when considering that only 1% of AI initiatives in logistics make it into full production.
- Demand Forecasting: AI analyzes historical sales data, market trends, and external factors like weather patterns to predict future demand more accurately.
- Inventory Management: AI optimizes inventory levels by analyzing real-time data, reducing stockouts and excess inventory.
- Supplier Management: AI automates interactions with suppliers, ensuring timely deliveries and reducing delays.
- Logistics Optimization: AI routes shipments efficiently, reducing transportation costs and delivery times.
- Warehouse Automation: AI-powered robots and systems streamline warehouse operations, improving accuracy and efficiency.
- Quality Control: AI performs automated inspections, ensuring products meet quality standards consistently.
- Risk Management: AI predicts potential disruptions, allowing companies to proactively address issues.
AI is transforming supply chain management in various ways
These applications help streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency
Select at least 4 courses from the following:
(All courses are available live/synchronously
face-to-face & online)
1. Strategic Supply Chain Management
This course illustrates the theory and practice of designing and analyzing supply chains. It provides tool sets to identify key drivers of supply chain performance such as inventory, transportation, information and facilities. It provides an enhanced understanding of key concepts in supply chain management, with an introduction to how IT can be leveraged to enhance the supply chain processes. For this course, supply chain management is defined as "the integration of key business processes from the end user through the original suppliers that provides products, services, and information that add value for customers."
Recognizing the interactions between the supply and demand components and how they are enhanced by IT, the course provides a methodology for implementing integrated supply chains, enabling a framework to leverage these dynamics for effective product/process design and enterprise operations. This is a comprehensive course covering a broad range of topics in the management of supply chains. Content emphasizes managerial issues and challenges as opposed to technical aspects. Topics include:
- strategy and role of supply chain
- inventory management in efficient supply chains
- supply chain coordination
- role of technology
2. Procurement & Supply Chain Management
This course addresses the important topics of strategic sourcing and purchasing management, while focusing on enabling/driving the procurement function in the development and implementation of effective strategic procurement plans that add greater value to the business. Topics will include:
- strategic procurement
- make or buy (sourcing/outsourcing)
- supplier selection
- supplier relationships
- supplier performance evaluation
- strategic cost management
- product design and sourcing strategy
- e-sourcing (auctions vs. relationships)
- negotiation
- emerging markets
- global sourcing
- compliance issues
- internal and external governance considerations
3. Distribution & Logistics Management
The focus of this course is the strategic design of supply chain networks. The course provides an examination of (1) the role of supply chain network design within the context of the firm's competitive strategy, (2) alternative supply chain designs and the factors that influence network design decisions, (3) a framework for the network design process, and (4) the principal models and techniques used for the design of supply chain networks. This course focuses on the economic conditions, managerial strategies, governmental policies, IT considerations, and other phenomena which affect the demand for and supply of transport and distribution services - the delivery portion of the supply chain.
4. Operations Management
Recognizing the interactions between the supply and demand components, the course provides a methodology for implementing integrated supply chains, enabling a framework to leverage these dynamics (especially IT) for effective product/process design and enterprise operations. This is a comprehensive course covering a broad range of topics in the management of supply chains. Content emphasizes managerial issues and challenges as opposed to technical aspects. Topics include:
- challenges in managing responsive supply chains
- management of transportation and distribution
- role of network design
- supply chain performance measurement
- supply chain coordination
- incentive issues
- e-business models
5. Trends & Directions in Supply Chain Management
This course focuses on strategic supply chain transformation, innovation, and organizational change. The course examines current and emerging issues, technologies, and best practices with respect to supply chain strategy and IT; value creation through design and redesign of supply chain capabilities; transformational outsourcing; supply chain role in new product design, development, and market introduction; technology adoption; and change management.
As supply chain organizations accelerate the digital transformation of their industry, they are focusing their investments in leveraging information technology to improve their processes and lower overall costs. In today’s highly regulated, increasingly resource-constrained, and cost-focused environment it is essential to understand how to effectively and efficiently manage an organization’s information technology (IT) resources. There are numerous strategic, tactical, and operational choices to be made about managing supply chain resources and it is essential to ensure that IT and non-IT executives across the organization work in harmony.
Experience has made it clear that supply chain organizations need well-conceived organizational structures, skills, processes, and decision rights to ensure that IT investments are appropriately leveraged across internal and external organizations, especially when considering the impact of emerging information technologies.
This course prepares supply chain executives/professionals by providing a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental decisions related to the management of IT resources in the supply chain environment. The course will also provide an overview of current and future relevant supply chain information technologies and their potential impact on organizations and associated stakeholders.
The course is designed to be delivered live/synchronously (face-to-face or online) with a total of twenty (20) contact hours. While the schedule is flexible, it is usually delivered in approximately ten (10) 2-hour modules/lectures/sessions.
The IT-Supply Chain topics include:
- Deriving IT-business strategies
- Considerations for types of
- organizational structure
- sourcing
- governance (i.e., decision-making and decision rights)
- roles/responsibilities
- processes
- Leverage emerging digital technologies
- The business value of IT
- The definition, concepts, and contexts of Supply Chain IT
- Enhancing business-IT alignment
