Supply chain education and its challenges
Filed in archive Point of view on April 4, 2008
I recently read a blog on the effectiveness of the supply chain education. The blog reflected the concerns of the managers regarding young supply chain professionals: "I am tired of recruiting people with supply chain education background and then noticing they don't have a solid knowledge base in the area".
That's true. There are several points that came to my mind in this respect:
- Companies can never get rid of company training in SCM. Supply chain is a broad field and young professional can't master everything in their courses.
- It helps to recruit from the program that have close relationship with the industry or the programs with the higher average age of the students.
- It's good to at the rankings too. It certainly helps to get an idea what universities produce better graduates, but we have to have in mind an important point: It depends what you are looking for; some universities are better at manufacturing, some good at OR and some at IT.
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Response from:
Eric
(04/07/08 6:52am)
Response from:
Katherine
(04/07/08 5:08pm)
This issue recalls an experience five years ago that highlights one gap between academics' and executives' perspectives on the talent/training issue. During an 'advisory committee' gathering, an esteemed faculty member of well-known transportation/engineering grad program declared that what the SCM world needed was more technical developers--to which several of us responded that, no indeed, what business really needed was more people who were technically trained but had mastered broad business principles, and understood how to use the existing tools and increase compliance/collaboration among trading partners.
Response from:
Alex
(04/07/08 7:36pm)
I believe the problem is really two-fold:
First, students are still taught supply chain in separate conceptual modules rather than in an integrated system, which leads them to solve problems with local optima instead of an overall optimal approach. This is compounded by the professors and the general academic environment - it is difficult to simulate large systems so let's just publish the two millionth specialized optimal order quantity formula...
Second, my personal observation is that most "experienced" professionals are neither. Even after 40 years of MRP they do not understand how computerization fundamentally changes the workflow of the supply chain. I'm saddened to think of the number of times I hear "I don't have time to maintain the system" when automation is the only hope to manage a global, lean, SKU-proliferated supply chain. And when the inevitable execution failures occur management moans "if only I had people with more skills/experience"...
First, students are still taught supply chain in separate conceptual modules rather than in an integrated system, which leads them to solve problems with local optima instead of an overall optimal approach. This is compounded by the professors and the general academic environment - it is difficult to simulate large systems so let's just publish the two millionth specialized optimal order quantity formula...
Second, my personal observation is that most "experienced" professionals are neither. Even after 40 years of MRP they do not understand how computerization fundamentally changes the workflow of the supply chain. I'm saddened to think of the number of times I hear "I don't have time to maintain the system" when automation is the only hope to manage a global, lean, SKU-proliferated supply chain. And when the inevitable execution failures occur management moans "if only I had people with more skills/experience"...
Response from:
dreck
(04/16/08 6:20pm)
I've been a long time supply chain and materials manager and I've been pretty frustrated when trying to find some advanced SCM education and training. In St. Louis (where I live) we have a SC consortium that has a very basic certificate program but it is really meant for people that know nothing about SCM.
I was extremely happy to find that Penn State offers an on-line SCM certificate program that has just been turned into a Masters Program and I am 3 courses shy of graduating. It is a great program and I have been able to apply what I have learned in every class to my job and this has made me a better SC manager. I can't say enough good things about this program. I tell people that you no longer have to settle for the fly by night diploma mills (named after a large city in Arizona) when you can experience a Penn State education at a much lower cost (it still isn't cheap but you get PHDs, in SCM, not some knuckleheads with only a masters)
I was extremely happy to find that Penn State offers an on-line SCM certificate program that has just been turned into a Masters Program and I am 3 courses shy of graduating. It is a great program and I have been able to apply what I have learned in every class to my job and this has made me a better SC manager. I can't say enough good things about this program. I tell people that you no longer have to settle for the fly by night diploma mills (named after a large city in Arizona) when you can experience a Penn State education at a much lower cost (it still isn't cheap but you get PHDs, in SCM, not some knuckleheads with only a masters)
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I always wish that new folks entering our profession take at least 3 years between undergraduate and MBA level courses in order to gain proper business experience that will really make their MBA or graduate education come alive. And DO NOT work for a consultant during that interim period. Work for a real company with a live supply chain. Not some strategy consultant like McKinsey that doesn't implement their recommendations.
Do work on external certifications like APICS or ASTL certifications. These mean something in the real world.