Having certified skills in supply chain management can help you take the next step in your career. More and more employers are searching out candidates who are proficient in this area of business and having a supply chain management course under your belt can help you stand out in your field or even embark on an exciting new career path.
1. What is supply chain management?
If you’ve seen the term before but are never sure quite what it is referring to, here are the basics. Supply chain management deals with coordinating and controlling processes in the network of interconnected businesses that work together to provide a product or service to customers.
The process essentially reflects a deliberate effort by the supply chain firms to develop and run supply chains in the most effective and efficient ways possible. Supply chain activities cover everything from product development, sourcing, production, and logistics, as well as the information systems needed to coordinate these activities.
2. What are the principle concepts of supply chain management?
The concept of supply chain management is essentially rooted in two key ideas. The first is that virtually every product that reaches an end user represents the cumulative effort of more than one organization. Working as a collective, these separate entities are referred to as the supply chain.
The second fundamental idea is that while supply chains have basically been around forever, the vast majority of organizations were only really thinking about what was going on internally. It is only recently that businesses have started to both understand, and manage, the full spectrum of activities that ultimately gets their products from point A to point B. This is why supply chains have often been very ineffective in the past.
3. What will I learn in a supply chain management course?
Supply chain management courses at universities and academic institutions around the world are built and structured to train current and future managers in the most up-to-date, relevant concepts and practices integral to successful supply chain management. In order to prepare you effectively for the workplace, courses in supply chain management often use real world case studies as a point of departure for lessons about effective, efficient, ethical management decisions.
4. Who will I meet in a supply chain management course?
Another one of the great things about taking a supply chain management course is that it will enable you to dramatically expand your professional network. Students applying to supply chain management courses can come from a range of academic and professional backgrounds. You will meet people who are already working professionals seeking to develop additional qualifications or become familiar with new techniques or protocols in the industry.
You will also meet people who are just starting out in their career or have shifted over from another academic area altogether. The relevance of supply chain management is now understood across the globe, so you’re even likely to meet people from different countries and cultures, who will be able to to bring a unique perspective to the subject matter.
5. Opportunities to advance your career
Career choices within the supply chain field are spread across a large spectrum, leaving you with lots of options upon completion of the course. For example, you could choose to work for a big corporation, small business, local or federal government entity or a non-profit organization. The possibilities are endless. Some of the most common career paths pursued by those upon completion of a supply chain management course include procurement or supply management, operations and production management, logistics and distribution management, or supply chain planning and technology.
