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April 17, 2014

Supply chain management center established

The logistical challenges of manufacturing and transporting goods will be the focus of the new Center for Supply Chain Management at the Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration (CBA).

Logistics provider GENCO will provide support for the new center.

The center will be dedicated to the study of critical issues relating to global supply chain management, an increasingly important field that adopts an end-to-end view of the product life cycle: from design and procurement through processing and distribution to recycling and reuse.

Interim director is Prakash Mirchandani, a Katz professor of business administration in the business analytics and operations faculty area.  A search for a permanent director will begin later this year.

The new center will provide student and faculty interactions with industry representatives, oversee student experience-based learning activities in supply chain management courses, and generate intellectual leadership in this area at Katz.

Designed as an interdisciplinary unit, the center will bring together faculty in fields such as operations, information technology, strategy, accounting and engineering. The interdisciplinary nature of the center is designed to leverage the synergistic role that these fields play in modern supply chains.

In the global marketplace, the planning, execution and monitoring of supply chains requires cooperation between a range of areas such as sourcing, procurement and distribution, information technology, sustainability, risk management and strategic supplier and customer management.

In order to support the activities of the center, the school will create a Supply Chain Management Industry Council composed of member companies with strong interests in supply chain management and a concern for the future enhancement of the field.

Members of the council will have the first option to review supply chain management research and studies facilitated by the center and have enhanced opportunities to engage with supply chain management students from Pitt in experience-based learning projects, internships, employment options and cooperative education programs.

Katz plans to hire a tenure-stream faculty member to produce research in the field of supply chain management and to cultivate connections with industry aimed at supporting the center, facilitating new research and generating opportunities for students, faculty and others at Pitt.

The center builds upon existing supply chain management resources at Katz and CBA. Katz offers a certificate program in global supply chain management as part of its MBA program, while CBA offers a supply chain management major and supply chain management certificate within its BS in business administration degree program.

Supply chain management also forms an integral component of executive education programs at Katz.