Master Class Global Supply Chain & Logistics

In this interactive session, we will review and refresh key supply chain principles, translating business strategy into an adequate supply chain strategy but also defining relevant business models. We will discuss omni-channel management in terms of delivering value to your customers and defining a clear customer value proposition. We will also zoom in on key aspects of people (change management), profit (top-line revenue versus bottom-line costs), and planet (sustainability) and apply them in real-life settings.

At the end of this session, you can:

• identify the main decision domains in supply chain management;
• connect business strategy and supply chain strategy;
• identify the key trade-offs in supply chain management.

The network and supply chain design is an important strategic logistics issue. Collaboration between companies is increasingly taking place in an international context. This not only involves the location of logistic activities but also the control over the whole international supply chain. One of the most important issues in designing (international) logistics networks is the potential to quickly and reliably react to changed circumstances. Multiple sourcing, hybrid network structures, and synchronization of logistics processes are examples of such flexible logistic structures.

At the end of this session, you will:

• understand the transportation chain and its components;
• recognize the dominant drivers of network and channel structure;
• understand the impact of the increased scope and scale of logistics networks.

We will discuss several supply chain trends that have emerged in the past few years and are expected to materialize in the future. The increasing role of sustainability in the supply chain will be discussed (e.g. cradle-to-cradle, circular economy). Other emerging concepts such as machine learning, Artificial Intelligence, analytics, etc. will be framed within a supply chain setting. We will look into both the applicability and the limitations of these technologies.

At the end of this session, you:

• can identify new and emerging trends within the supply chain and logistics context;
• will understand the context, use and potential of these trends, including ‘de-hyping the hypes’;
• will know examples and use cases that employ new trends, such as big data, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence.

In this module, we will look into the various modes of transport and distribution, their characteristics, and their combinations. Thus, we will dive into maritime shipping, air transport, road, rail, inland waterway, and pipeline transport. Principles of transport costing, logistics costs, and decision-making in transport will be conceptually explained and applied. With the help of a transport chain game and a chain cost model, you will get familiar with multimodal transport and the impact of policies and strategies on this. The subcomponents of chains and various cost items will be illustrated and calculated, and trade-offs as well as cost shares will be indicated. We will also consider both out-of-pocket costs and time costs (i.e. generalized costs) and external costs.

At the end of this session, you:

• will know and understand the various players and challenges in the various sections of supply chains;
• can make trade-offs in supply chain decision-making based on transport costs;
• can make scientifically founded judgments on the potential of transport supply chains solutions.

Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) has been around since the early 1990s but only really took off around 2005. We have seen successes and failures. In this session, S&OP has been substituted by Integrated Business Planning (IBP). As the objectives of S&OP formulated by the Oliver Wight Companies in 1990 are the same for IBP, we can use the vast experience on S&OP processes as a guideline when implementing IBP. We will touch upon the alignment of financials, resource use, forecasting order fulfillment and inventory management across the company. We will discuss how to organize decision support for IBP, both in human resources and ICT. And we will look into the key principles toward successful implementation of S&OP / IBP.

At the end of this session, you can:

• use the bulk of knowledge of S&OP implementations of over 30 years;
• use S&OP as a main driver of effective and efficient operations, such as lead time, lot sizes and safety stocks across the entire supply chain.

The added value delivered by your supplier basis is growing year after year. Unlocking the full potential of both your upstream markets and key suppliers is a crucial lever for competitive edge throughout the entire supply chain. The expected output? Financial (cost & cash), value (performance, innovation & CSR) and risk management (supply, market). Business partnering, sourcing and SRM (Supplier Relationship Management) are the 3 pillars for any high-performing procurement function.

At the end of this session, you:

• will have a full overview of the process framework of a contemporary procurement function;
• can generate a clear way to activate strategy options (understand procurement & sourcing strategies as well as the 6 different procurement maturity levels);
• can put procurement added value in practice.

Forecasting and planning are at the heart of all business processes. Despite efforts over the last decades to increase value chain flexibility, forecasting demand is still eminently important in many companies. Entities in the value chain are driven by the expected demand from the (end) customer. The quality of the estimation of future demand directly influences customer service levels, inventory levels, and cost levels.

At the end of this session, you can:

• analyze your company’s forecasting and demand planning processes and implement improvements;
• prepare demand planning organization for the digital age;
• assess when advanced analytics add value to your company.

In today’s competitive world, optimizing inventory at each facility independently will not provide a sustainable competitive advantage. But adjusting total inventory across the entire network of facilities, taking into account the interdependencies among stocking locations, will significantly extend the potential benefits achieved from optimizing inventories at each separate location. In this session, we will consider the basic multi-echelon inventory systems and introduce the current state-of-the-art models for optimizing inventory policies. We will compare local and echelon stock policies and quantify the benefits of using echelon policies. Also, we will discuss the methods that are commonly used to further improve the performances of multi-echelon systems.

At the end of this session, you:

• will understand the important definitions and concepts in multi-echelon inventory theory;
• can implement the most commonly employed methods for evaluation and optimization of multi-echelon inventory systems;
• can assess the benefits of utilizing the multi-echelon approach compared to the single-location approach;
• can implement the multi-echelon approach.

You will have the opportunity to add a company-based project supervised by the faculty. In face-to-face discussions on your case, the professors will help you to develop and formulate the relevant questions, based on your perceived business problem, including a well-defined description of the scope. Together, you will make a justified selection of methods and techniques for data collection and data analysis. You will apply these methods and techniques to find possible causes and explanations for your business problem, providing you with solid directions for improvement.