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Ravi Anupundi on the goal of Michigan’s new supply chain management program.

By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 6/1/2007

Ravi Anupundi TITLE: Associate professor University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, and academic director for the school's new Master of Supply Chain Management program ACTIVITY: Teaching and research LOCATION: Ann Arbor, Mich. EXPERIENCE: 14 years in academia at Northwestern, New York University, and University of Michigan PRIMARY FOCUS: Planning a new Master of Supply Chain Management program

Supply Chain Management is the central nervous system of the global economy. Companies have started to look at integrated supply chains for new cost savings and efficiencies. Our industry partners saw gaps in their current talent pool which exhibited strong functional bias in areas like purchasing, transportation, logistics and lacked sufficient business orientation.

We want to eliminate the silos. Connect the supply chain components. And link it all to a company’s business.

Our opportunity is to tie this together in a year-long program. Our first class will enter in January, 2008. Two semesters of course work will be complemented by a 10-week team-based supply chain project at a sponsored company to impart action-based and practice-oriented skills.

Classes will focus on the following three areas:

• Basic business skills set training covering areas like marketing, finance, accounting, organizational behavior and the like;
• Seven supply chain courses that will cover topics such as lean, logistics and material handling, sourcing, supply chain management, information technologies, and project management; and
• MBA electives on topics from negotiations to marketing to international business.

In the end, we want our graduates to have a formal understanding of the supply chain and how it connects to other parts of the business. For more details see www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/MSCM.