Supply Chain Management
In your world, the definition of supply chain as simply getting the right goods/services to customers in the right quantity at the right time is expanding and changing.
- Traditional supply chain tactics (improved materials flow and production optimization) now rest within a more integrated and mission critical supply chain management role.
- Linear supply chains have begun to morph into complex and adaptive networks that hold both far greater risk and opportunity for companies.
In the past, supply chain expertise was viewed as a tactical asset. Managers viewed tradeoffs between doing it cheaper (cost containment) and doing it better (product/service innovation) as inevitable.
Today, supply chain leaders look to avoid such compromise by helping companies do more than one thing well, including:
- control costs
- anticipate disruptions
- factor in design/sustainability considerations
- manage supplier and customer relationships
- track competitors
- commercialize more and better products
It goes without saying that as a supply chain professional, you will play a larger, more mission-critical role — overseeing the full span of activities from sourcing to production planning to marketing, delivery and customer service.
What You Will Do
As with all business areas, supply chain is getting much more complex thanks to two forces: emerging technologies and data.
Several emerging technologies have begun to reshape supply chain management, including:
- Advanced delivery systems
- Artificial intelligence
- Wearable technology
- 3D printing
- Advanced robotics
For example, a company like Amazon is already planning for a future in which some products get produced on demand aboard moving factory/delivery vehicles.
Big data sets are also changing supply chain management.
For example, when Coke teamed with Cargill, a global food ingredient maker to make a better sugar substitute, the two combined not just food science expertise, but also marketing knowledge and data — anything that could help answer questions regarding package design and customer preferences for a changing product.
You will be asked to mine data using a variety of tools and methods:
- Integrated business planning
- Control tower analytics and visualization
- Real-time shipment tracking
- Supplier collaboration and risk analytics
- Demand forecasting
What You Will Learn
As a Boler supply chain management major, you will benefit from the right mix of core knowledge, study in the major and hands-on experience:
- best-in-class supply chain management foundations (methods, concepts and tools)
- industry-tested faculty
- speakers and field visits
- internship opportunities
You will gain knowledge and skills across key supply chain principles:
- strategic sourcing
- global procurement
- contract management
- business performance improvement
- supply chain technologies
- pricing analysis
- channel coordination
- brand management
- new product development
- supply chain alignment
- retail management and distribution management
Upon graduation, you will hit the ground ready and running, able to rethink and re-engineer business processes in a variety of settings, types and sizes. Boler encourages supply chain students to consider adding courses in management and marketing, especially those focused on statistical analysis and other computational and data-focused abilities.
Job Outlook
A new generation of supply chain management graduates are in high demand across industries ranging from pharmaceutical and healthcare, hospitality, retail and all manufacturing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, supply chain management is projected to continue as one of the fastest growing industries for jobs over the next ten years (over 1.5 million openings in the next several years).
Many schools report supply chain undergraduate placement rates between 85% to 100%. The average starting salary for undergraduates can be over $50K a year. As a Supply Chain Management graduate, you will be prepared for positions such as:
- procurement/sourcing manager
- logistics planner
- supply management analyst
- acquisition project analyst
- marketing analyst
- sales/distribution managers
Supply Chain Management Program Requirements
Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain Management: 61-64 credit hours, as described below:
Business Core: 41 credit hours, including MHR 461. A complete listing of the Business Core can be found under the Graduation Requirements for the Boler College.
Major Courses: Two required courses:
- SCM 328 Supply Chain Logistics
- SCM 440 Problems in Supply Chain Management
Two courses chosen from:
- SCM 330 Purchasing
- SCM 350 Supply Chain Transportation
- SCM 361 Global Supply Chain
- SCM 405 Contemporary Topics in Supply Chain Management
To complete the major, students will choose either the marketing pathway or the data analysis pathway:
Marketing Pathway:
- MK 302 Applied Consumer Insights
- MK 309 Digital Marketing
- MK 402 Market Analysis
Data Analysis Pathway:
- BI 341 Advanced Data-Driven Decision-Making
- BI 371 Business Decision Optimization
- MHR 483 Project Management
Industry Statistics
BLOOMBERG CERTIFIED
We encourage every Boler student to earn Bloomberg Certification. By completing the (free) self-paced Bloomberg Market Concepts (BMC) e-learning course, you gain a credential that tells employers you have a firm grasp of the gold standard financial markets data platform.
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