Ryder Center for Supply Chain Management

Profitable Business Connections

A new type of business entity is emerging—the supply chain. A supply chain is two or more parties linked by a flow of goods, information, and funds, and it is frequently global in scope. It not only includes the organization, but also its suppliers, buyers, vendors, customers, and others with whom it interacts.

Supply chain management is an interdisciplinary field that emphasizes cross-functional links and seeks to manage those links to enhance a company’s competitive advantage. It involves forecasting, resource allocation, production planning, flow and process management, inventory management, customer delivery, after-sales support and service, and a host of other activities and processes familiar and basic to business. Competitive pressures are intense.

An increasing number of companies rely on supply chain management as a key competitive weapon. Large and small businesses alike have reported astounding results, including dramatic reductions in cycle time and accelerated cash flows. The magnifier effect is stunning: a $1 reduction in cost from supply chain efficiencies is equivalent to a $12 increase in sales revenues.

Supply Chain Knowledge — a Corporate Asset

An understanding of supply chain management is an asset to any manager, and there is a strong demand for specialists in the area. Successful management of supply chain relationships requires the development of innovative business models, supply chain structures, and analytical approaches. Sophisticated techniques have been devised to expedite information flow, including on-board computers for trucks and ships, satellite tracking systems, and the electronic transmission of order and shipping information.

Entrants to the field can look forward to an entrepreneurial environment and opportunities to deal with a wide array of people from a variety of organizations.

The next generation of CEOs may very well emerge from supply chain management. Why? Because supply chain managers very often hold the key to corporate profitability. Economists and employers single out supply chain management for its strong growth potential. U.S. News & World Report describes it as one of the 20 hottest job tracks of the new century.

The Educational Link In The Supply Chain

The Ryder Center for Supply Chain Management was established with the goal of becoming a leading source for the creation and dissemination of knowledge in the science and practice of Supply Chain Management. With its multidisciplinary perspective, the center sees Supply Chain Management as the dynamic integration of enterprises and their suppliers and customers to determine, create, fulfill, and communicate value in the global environment.

Specifically, the Ryder Center for Supply Chain Management will bring together executives from leading corporations with FIU faculty and students to identify, document, research, develop and disseminate best practices in Supply Chain Management.  Within that mission the center will:

• educate FIU students to become future leaders in supply chain management.
• develop research to contribute to theory and practice of supply chain management.
• provide a forum to help FIU’s business partners to be on the leading edge of supply chain management best practices.

Activities of Ryder Center
We are a supply chain management education and research center that develops and delivers education in supply chain management to the business community and provides solutions to emerging supply chain management problems by promoting problem solving and research between FIU faculty and the business community.

Research

The center supports research in supply chain management and its application to the work of supply chain professionals. In addition, to help facilitate functional knowledge transfer of industry best practice, we also focus on international supply chain issues. This focus reflects the growing importance of Miami as a business and distribution center for trade within The Americas.

Supply Chain Management Education

Through undergraduate degree and continuing professional education programs, the center addresses the industry need for qualified supply chain professionals. To that end, the center is developing an Advanced Certificate of Supply Chain Management (Launch date fall 2007) and Distribution and Logistics Management concentrations for undergraduate business students

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Walfried M. Lassar, Dipl.-Ing.
Director, Ryder Center for Supply Chain Management,
Ryder Professor and
Associate Professor of Marketing
FIU College of Business
University Park, RB308
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, FL 33199
Phone: 305-348-2571
Fax: 305-348-3792
e-mail: ryder.center@business.fiu.edu