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CHRIS CAPLICE: Supply chains are all around us.
Everything that we wear, that we eat, that we touch, or use every day,
is part of some supply chain that transformed raw material
from some other location into a finished product that you're enjoying now.
Supply chains literally connect the world.
My name's Chris Caplice and I'm the Executive Director for MIT Center
for Transportation Logistics.
I'd like to talk about why you might be interested in completing
the MITx Micromasters Credential in Supply Chain Management.
So what is supply chain management?
Basically, it's the art and science of getting products
from where they're made to where you, the consumer, want them to be.
It's how the pair of shoes you ordered online are manufactured in Italy
and sent to your front door in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It's how the pears from Chile get to your supermarket in Winnipeg, Canada
in the winter.
It's how your smartphone was assembled with more than 100 parts
from over a dozen different countries.
It's not just about moving stuff around.
Service industries, like restaurants, tourism, and health care,
have some of the most sophisticated supply chains.
You can think of supply chain management as managing three flows.
The flow of the physical product, the flow of information, and the flow
of money.
It also deals with the reverse flow of products
at the end of their life for recycling, re-manufacturing, or disposal.
While the term itself, supply chain management,
wasn't coined until the 1980s, the art and science of logistics
dates back to ancient Roman times.
It combines both theory and practice.
You need to master these theoretical concepts,
but also be able to temper them with practical considerations.
So supply chain management is a hybrid area
that combines different disciplines, methods, and ideas.
Supply chain management is the backbone of the global economy.
The need for professionals who can design, manage, and operate
these complex global supply chains, continues to grow.
This is why we created the online courses that comprise the Micromasters
Credentials in Supply Chain Management.
Our main objectives are to provide access
to supply chain education for anyone, anywhere in the world, for free,
and offer an official credential of achievement for a modest fee.
The Micromasters Credential can be used to advance your career,
as well as be a first step in earning a Master's degree in supply chain
management.
We've organized the course by theme.
The Micromasters consists of five online courses followed
by an intensive capstone final exam.
The first course, SC0x, Supply Chain Analytics,
covers the basic mathematical techniques that
are used in supply chain management software systems.
The next course, SC1x, Supply Chain Fundamentals.
We'll examine different forecasting techniques,
develop inventory replenishment policies,
and analyze transportation mode trade offs.
SC2x, Supply Chain Design, goes directly off of SC1x
to illustrate how to design the three primary flows within the supply
chain, the physical, the financial, and the information.
SC3x exposes the softer side of supply chains
and introduces some of the complexities inherent in real operations.
This class explores how different firms and supply
chains interact with each other.
Finally, SE4x, Supply Chain Systems and Technology,
we show how all of these activities are performed in practice.
We'll dive into big data management since data
is the lifeblood of any supply chain.
We'll also map out the different off-the-shelf software
tools and systems that most companies use to manage their supply chains.
We'll finish up with a simulation that ties together some complexities
and challenges that you'll face in practice.
These SCx courses combine practical and theoretical concepts
and have the same breadth, depth, and rigor,
as a course that I teach on campus here at MIT.
I love teaching these classes because the concepts and techniques are
universal.
The concepts you will learn are applicable to all supply chains,
from Fortune 500 firms all the way to your own home.
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