Supply Chain Resource Cooperative
Robert Handfield
“Our vision for the SCRC is to create a clearinghouse for industry, faculty and student interaction. Since our start in 2000, we have done a lot to make sure our participating companies are integrated into the curriculum, providing an ongoing forum for discussion, knowledge exchange and research.“
Robert Handfield Bank of America University Distinguished Professor; Director, SCRC
Our vision for the SCRC is to create a clearinghouse for industry, faculty and student interaction.
Since our start in 2000, we have done a lot to make sure our participating companies are integrated into the curriculum, providing an ongoing forum for discussion, knowledge exchange and research between the students and supply chain executives from a number of our partner companies.
Our students ‘learn by doing,’ and executives participate in the learning process. This collaborative effort is helping to create a pipeline of talented individuals for companies who need people who know “how to hit the ground running” when they are hired.
It is amazing to see the variety of industry environments that our students will face in their course work. They might work in the financial services or consulting sector for Bank of America or IBM conducting supplier relationship benchmarks, or work with oil and gas companies like BP, Chevron, Shell, or Bechtel on market research for critical commodities such as steel, copper, craft labor, pipeline services.
Our students have worked on inventory and construction supply chain projects for new utility generation plants for Progress Energy and Duke Energy. Others have worked on inventory and value chain mapping projects for Caterpillar, Lenovo, John Deere, and other manufacturers. Still others have worked on healthcare supply chain projects for GlaxoSmithKline, Cardinal Health, and Ministry Health.
All of these companies have a common need – to build insights into the root cause of supply chain problems and develop recommendations on how to remedy them. Students who have gone through these experiences come back and tell us later how much they learned in the process.
