BUS-P 431 Supply Chain Management: Logistics and Distribution
Logistics refers to the process of coordinating and moving resources—people, materials, inventory, and equipment—from one location to another, transforming or storing them along the way. This course examines strategic, tactical and operational decision-making in logistics in order to understand the main trade-offs embedded in logistics and distribution including decisions concerning inventory management, warehousing, packaging, distribution and delivery. This course includes topics such as: network planning, distribution, warehousing and packaging, logistics settings such as same day delivery (e.g., Amazon and Walmart), global logistics and risk management (e.g., Toyota and Volkswagen), reverse logistics, and humanitarian logistics (e.g., Red Cross Movement). The future of logistics and distribution includes topics such as uberization of freight, blockchain, fully autonomous trucks, and artificial intelligence applications. Using data analytics tools and models (e.g., linear optimization, statistics and simulation), students learn how to apply key concepts in class.