Robert H. Smith School of Business Launches Supply Chain Management Center

College Park, MD - November 13, 1998 - Information technology companies, manufacturers, financial institutions--these and other businesses have at least one thing in common: they depend on timely delivery of goods and services to customers. The degree to which companies can effectively manage their supplier/customer relationship hinges on how well they plan and implement the supporting physical and informational flows. Managing these flows, a critical part of business operations, is known as supply chain management.

The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park, has created and launched the Supply Chain Management Center to define and help organizations implement the next-generation best practices related to the efficient production and delivery of products and services to customers. Cross-functional in its approach, the center spans the disciplines of logistics, management science, and marketing.

"The establishment of the Supply Chain Management Center is part of our ongoing effort to contribute to the strategic management of organizations in the global knowledge economy," says Smith School Dean Howard Frank. "By identifying best practices in the field and developing new models and courses in supply chain management, the center will help organizations achieve and sustain competitive advantage."

Tom Corsi, professor of logistics, and Sandy Boyson, research professor, both at the Smith School, are the center co-directors. Their research on logistics best practices has been featured in several publications including the Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Commerce. They also have written a book, Logistics and the Extended Enterprise: Best Practices for the 21st Century Company, to be published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in January 1999.

Says Boyson: "By providing education on state-of-the-art supply chain management practices, the center will help to provide managers and executives with the vision, knowledge, and skills to lead the global, technology-driven supply chains of the 21st century."

Housed within the school's Logistics, Business and Public Policy Department, the Supply Chain Management Center has three primary mission areas:

• Research, to assist organizations in exerting strategic control over physical and informational flows within the enterprise, and between the enterprise and its supply chain partners;
• Education, to prepare leaders with the necessary competencies for leading globalized, technology-driven supply chains;
• Economic Development, to help position the state of Maryland as a hub for integrated supply chain management.

The center has already established partnerships with industry. For the Data Interchange Standards Association, the center is conducting a survey of the best management practices in electronic commerce across the supply chain. For the National Industrial Transportation League, the center is conducting a survey of the best practices in transportation management and logistics. These survey results will enable members of the two organizations to enhance their supply chain management processes.

Other current projects include identifying best practices in the commercial motor carrier industry for the U.S. Department of Transportation and a study of private industry supply chain management for CACI International, Inc., and the U.S. Army Logistics Integration Agency.

The organizational impact of Internet technology is the focus of a project that the center is conducting for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of the Defense.

The Supply Chain Management Center also has launched its first education initiative with support from the center's primary corporate partner, EDS. The initiative focuses on developing a new course, "Real-Time Management of Supply Chains." EDS is providing the distance learning technology while the center is providing the supply chain management expertise. Offered initially to Smith School of Business MBA students next semester, the class will be offered later in other formats to corporate executives.

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research for the digital economy. The school offers cross-functional study options in its six academic departments, which include accounting and information assurance; decision and information technologies; finance; logistics, business, and public policy; management and organization; and marketing. More information about the Robert H. Smith School of Business can be found at http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu.