{"49923":{"#nid":"49923","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Short Courses Boost Supply Chain Managers\u0027 Expertise","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFacility tours are a popular part of the Supply Chain \u0026amp; Logistics Institute\u0027s (SCL) short-course professional development program, but not all participants are as impatient to share their new insights as the fellow who pulled out his cell phone in the middle of a tour. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022He told me later that he was talking to his boss,* said Carole Bennett, SCL\u0027s director of program development and marketing. \u0022He just couldn\u0027t wait to tell him about something related to automation they had been shown.* \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFacility tours represent an important hands-on component of SCL\u0027s professional development curriculum. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Before we visit a particular site, the course instructor talks about the concepts we\u0027re going to see,* she said. \u0022Then when our group gets there, someone from the company walks them through the distribution center and shows them how the conveyors and automation process work.* \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPractical, nuts-and-bolts knowledge is the hallmark of the twelve-plus two- to five-day courses SCL offers during the year on subjects such as transportation, warehousing, and supply chain management as well as on more specialized topics, including material handing, supply chain finance, and logistics optimization. SCL\u0027s mainstay logistics course, dating back to the beginning of the short-course program itself in 1992, is typical, said Bennett. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We\u0027ll have a different theme for each of the four days,* she explained. \u0022Like transportation and distribution on Tuesday, warehousing on Wednesday, third-party logistics on Thursday, and future trends on Friday. The course director will make presentations based on the day\u0027s theme, and we\u0027ll also bring in industry speakers and Georgia Tech faculty to talk about issues related to the theme.* \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBy the end of the week, attendees will have received a broad but intense education on customer service and order processing, inventory planning and management, supply chain integration, transportation and warehousing, and distribution, according to Bennett. In addition, the class covers logistics performance measures and benchmarking procedures, logistics information systems architectures and implementation, third-party logistics strategies, and logistics organization design. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESome classes include breakout sessions while others ask participants to bring real work problems to tackle in class. Another popular activity associated with certain classes is the supply chain game. \u0022It\u0027s a board game with six people on a team, each one representing a different part of a supply chain,* Bennett explained. \u0022You keep score as you go through round after round, and pretty soon you\u0027ll see trends develop based on the decisions you make: This person has a lot of inventory, while this person has nothing on the shelf to sell*why is that? What\u0027s happening in the chain that\u0027s causing these things? The game forces people to interact and make choices, and then see the results of those choices.*\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESCL short courses may be taken individually or as part of a certificate program. Depending on the subject, participants earn either one or two continuing education credits for each course they complete. Eight credits earned within a four-year period from a prescribed series of courses qualifies the participant for a certificate in supply chain management. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile there are no prerequisites to enrolling in any SCL short course, \u0022to earn a certificate, there are certain courses that you have to take, what you might call core courses,* Bennett said. \u0022But after that, you can choose classes from among the electives to match your specific interest.* \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EClasses are held at the Global Learning Center on Georgia Tech\u0027s Midtown Atlanta campus. Many are also available online.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESince 1992, more than 6,500 logistics professionals have attended the program with more than 420 participants earning SCL\u0027s Logistics Professional and Management certificates from Georgia Tech.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We work with a lot of experienced mid-range managers who want to step back from their jobs for a bit and focus on solutions they can take back to the office, and we also see people who are relatively new to the supply chain side of their company\u0027s operation,* Bennett said. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022But all of our students are motivated and highly focused on learning as such as they can,* she continued. \u0022The people who get the most out of the professional development program are those who are looking for new ideas, new ways to  improve what they\u0027re currently doing by implementing what they\u0027ve learned here in their job*and of course their company benefits when they\u0027re able to improve systems and make them more efficient.*\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor details about course schedules, costs, and general information about SCL\u0027s professional development program, contact Carole Bennett at 404.894.9138 or \u003Ca href=\u0027mailto:carole.bennett@isye.gatech.edu\u0027\u003Ecarole.bennett@isye.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Facility tours are a popular part of the Supply Chain \u0026amp; Logistics Institute\u0027s (SCL) short-course professional development program, but not all participants are as impatient to share their new insights as the fellow who pulled out his cell phone in the middle of a tour.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Short Courses Boost Supply Chain Managers\u0027 Expertise"}],"uid":"27279","created_gmt":"2008-11-19 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:56","author":"Barbara Christopher","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2008-11-19T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2008-11-19T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"49924":{"id":"49924","type":"image","title":"Edward H. Frazelle, PhD, known by his students for","body":null,"created":"1449175366","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:42:46","changed":"1475894451","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:51","alt":"Edward H. Frazelle, PhD, known by his students for","file":{"fid":"126960","name":"tkx30184.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tkx30184_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tkx30184_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":50604,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tkx30184_0.jpg?itok=Oql66Xg_"}}},"media_ids":["49924"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"}],"keywords":[{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"167077","name":"scl"},{"id":"170915","name":"supply chain courses"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=bt3\u0022\u003EContact Barbara Christopher\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}