Course Overview

During the last two decades, many within-firm improvement strategies have been attempted: materials requirements planning (MRP), manufacturing resource planning (MRP II), business process reengineering (BPR), enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, total quality management (TQM), Six-Sigma, lean operations, etc. The emphasis is now shifting to supply chain efforts i.e., inter-firm improvement strategies, to ensure a coordinated response from the entire supply chain.

Competing effectively in the new market place requires an up-to-date knowledge of best practices in supply chain integration in various areas: collaborative design of products and services, design for logistics, inter-organizational demand forecasting, coordinated inventory management, new ways of partnering with key suppliers and distributors, and strategic sourcing. The arrival of Internet-based information technologies has also created unprecedented opportunities to improve inter-firm communication and coordination, and this program will cover effective application of information systems to realize supply chain integration.

Strategize on the enterprise knowledge and resources across the supply chain activities.