In 2005, the Moore School’s Center for Global Supply Chain and Process Management was founded to help companies improve their top- and bottom-line performance though better deployment of their existing resources, and also to train students in real-world applications of operations management concepts learned in the classroom.

On April 25, some 35 undergraduate students majoring in global supply chain and operations management showcased the results of their consulting projects for these companies at the Center’s 2008 Annual Industry Summit, held at the downtown Marriott in Columbia.  The all-day event brought together 45 representatives of companies that are current or future Center members.  More than 30 faculty and staff members from Moore also attended.

(Global Supply Chain and Operations Management  - GSCOM - is an undergraduate program that produces professionals with dual expertise in "business process improvements using lean and six-sigma approaches"; and "domain expertise in managing sourcing, production, distribution and other logistical processes in manufacturing and service firms".) 

"We were very pleased with the overall outcome of our project and are definitely following up on the student recommendations," said Donna S. Chavis, Director of Continuous Improvement at Colonial Life and one of the company representatives who spoke at the summit.

"The students identified opportunities that can save us millions of dollars," said Norman Whitfield, Director of Supply Chain for Capsugel, a division of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. 

Colonial Life and Pfizer are two of the seven companies that are current Center members.  The other member companies are Sonoco, Johnson & Johnson (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics Division), Palmetto Health Richland, Mead Westvaco (Chemical Division), and Westinghouse-Toshiba (Nuclear Fuel Division).

Each member firm pays $30,000 annually to join the Center.  A student team and supervising professor then conduct a semester-long consulting project for the firm aimed at helping improve its business performance.

Jennifer Alyward, a 21-year-old senior at Moore who gave one of the summit presentations, said the tools learned as a global supply chain/operations management major are "excellent for your resume."  And, her team’s consulting project was "a great lesson in working in the real world," she added.

Alyward, who will graduate in May, was offered a job last fall in the supply chain field with the industrial manufacturer Eaton Corp.  She begins work with Eaton this summer.

It is hoped that the Center will eventually have 12 to 15 members, said Dr. Manoj Malhotra, the Center’s founder and director who is also Jeff B. Bates Professor and Chair of the Department of Management Science at Moore.  He also praised Professors Sanjay Ahire, Pat Philipoom, Dan Steele, Jay Jayaram and others for their contributions to the growth of the Center.

(l to r) Hildy Teegen, Manoj Malhotra and Vinod Singhal, Assoc. Dean of MBA Programs, Georgia Institute of Technology

Jan Collins
April 2008