Master of Science - Supply Chain Management

Master of Science - Supply Chain Management

The Master's in Supply Chain Management program offers career opportunities in supply chain management, including planning, sourcing, making, delivering, and returning supplies from suppliers to customers. Goods are produced, and services are provided to consumers. But how do those goods become finished products and get to where they need to go, and how do services get provided? Supply chain management masterminds these processes. Raw materials must be stored and cataloged, transformed into usable inventory, and once finished and given the stamp of approval, must be moved from the point of origin to the point of consumption. The movement of goods is a skillfully designed labyrinth of interlinking networks, channels, and connecting points, with the customer situated at the end of that supply chain. Likewise, the transformation of raw materials and human expertise into provided services requires skillful planning and execution.

Career Path

It was once noted that supply chain management deals with a product from the cradle to the grave. Supply chain management borrowed from the process known as logistics, which emerged as a procedure in World War II as part of an effort to deliver the right amount of supplies to the troops in the trenches. The supply chain concept, however, focused on the product's inception, as far back as the design stage, and followed that product through marketing and customer service. The largest Fortune 500 company, Wal-Mart, owes much of its success to making supply chain management a science. Examples of career opportunities include areas such as: Distribution operations supervisor, Supply chain analyst, Inventory specialist, Materials manager, Buyer, Quality assurance professional.