Since I was called out by a fellow student in class tonight for not posting for a few weeks I s'pose it's time (it's great to know that someone reads these, by the way):
I didn't start the MBA program last Fall expecting to be surprised by anything. I mean, at its roots, business is somewhat common-sensical (a word sure to make Webster's soon) and anyone who has spent a couple years in the corporate world is aware of the fundamentals of accounting, marketing, economics and whatnot. However, my expectation was wrong: there's a lot more to supply chain than meets the eye.
It's not that I don't have a lot to learn in accounting, marketing and economics (and, of course, whatnot), I certainly do. However, I had a pretty good feeling ahead of time what it was that I was getting into.
My concept of supply chain management was completely limited. The words alone made me think of trucking. In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't yet had a class in supply chain management (though I did register for Professor Tatikonda's Operations class this Fall). However, the X522 Enterprise Lecture Series has provided a nice preview:
One of my favorite classes was the week before the Super Bowl when we had guest lecturers from Adidas-Reebok. Their presentation was entertaining and informative, and more importantly completely relatable. The logistics of printing and distributing that much fan gear the morning after a game that finishes late in the evening with so much revenue on the line is mindboggling. A class a few weeks ago featured the Conexus organization and executives from a few of their member companies. It's amazing that a company like Brightpoint Americas will process and distribute 100 million mobile phones (50% of the US devices, 10% of the world's supply) this year alone, most of which will come through suburban Indianapolis. Contrast that to Rolls-Royce, who produces 12.5 engines per week at their Indianapolis facility (and 0 cars, who knew?).
A week or so, I was able to attend the site visit to the Fedex hub at IND and marveled at their "matrix" of automated conveyor belts sorting and slinging 75,000 packages per hour between inbound planes from cities as far away Seattle just so they can put them back on planes to head to cities just as far away.
Four very different companies; each of which operates on a global scale and have a heavy investment in Central Indiana.
This semester has just opened my eyes to supply chain management and I look forward to learning more about it in the coming semesters. With a business enterprise, a new MBA major on the way and a recently announced Center of Excellence all part of Kelley Indianapolis, I'm in the right place.
