The Lally School of Management Center for Supply Networks and Analytics hosted a one-day symposium on April 20 featuring executives in supply chain management and data analytics from a variety of industries. Presentations and panel discussions included top companies including Amazon, Chainalytics, CDPHP, GE, Google, Marsh and McLennan, OPS Rules, Target, Triumph Group, and UPS.
The event explored how technology and analytics are transforming manufacturing and industrial supply chains in very fundamental ways. Understanding these changes and the effective strategies to harness the opportunities offered by these changes is critical for business executives.
The keynote address for the event highlighted the profound changes underway in advanced manufacturing and supply chains because of the digitization. The program included presentations and panel discussions on three broad themes: Agility Through Digitization and Analytics; Talent Management: Supply Chain and Analytics; and Supply Network Resilience and Risk Management. Attendees were given a broad set of perspectives and insights on some of the critical issues in creating agile and effective supply networks now and for the future.
T. Ravichandran, associate dean of research and the Irene and Robert ’55 Bozzone Distinguished Professor at the Lally School, says the emergence of digital tools and the integration of technology hold the promise of making connections faster, more efficient, and more productive in manufacturing supply chains than ever before.
The symposium also featured posters presented by students in the M.S. in Supply Chain Management and M.S. in Business Analytics programs. The posters depicted the work done by the students in their capstone projects. The projects were in companies such as GlobalFoundries, SI Group, Albany Molecular Research Incorporated, Momentive Performance Materials, Apprenda, Outmatch, and others.
“The emergence of digital tools and the integration of technology hold the promise of making connections faster, more efficient, and more productive in manufacturing supply chains than ever before,” said T. Ravichandran, associate dean of research and the Irene and Robert ’55 Bozzone Distinguished Professor at the Lally School. “Data and analytics can help people make better decisions, build intuition, segment customers, optimize pricing, and create agile supply networks.”
With increasingly complex and connected supply networks, the opportunities for disruption exist and a company’s business continuity plan, risk management infrastructure, and how it responds to any disruption can make a significant difference in outcomes. Digitization and analytics can be critical enablers in creating resilience in supply networks.
A strong talent pool and workforce development strategies are key to bridge the talent gap that exits today in supply chain management and analytics. These sought-after skill sets are being developed each year in the Lally M.S. in Business Analytics and the M.S. in Supply Chain Management programs.