'An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.'

- Benjamin Franklin

Supply Chain Leadership - a Workshop Seminar

Description: A comprehensive case study of Nova, Inc., a fictional manufacturing company that has implemented a variety of new technologies, business processes and organizational changes to maintain competitiveness over the years, yet continues to lose market share. The case study uses actual operating data to illustrate business scenarios, and the economic value of collaborative supply chain management techniques. Students compete to optimize Nova’s business using a simulation that provides hands-on experience with advanced decision support tools.

Objective: To expand understanding of the business impact and benefits of collaborative supply chain management systems, tools and techniques.

Learning Goals: (1) Provide a philosophical basis for supply chain business management that recognizes and mitigates the presence and effects of uncertainty. (2) Understand the imperative for building intelligent, collaborative supply chain management systems. (3) Design a Decision Support System for the planning and control of production, inventories and distribution to maximize customer responsiveness and financial return. (4) Experience the use of data and models to structure and operate a simulated supply chain.

Agenda: A two to three day class with light homework assignments in the evenings, and some reading to complete as a pre-requisite for the seminar. See: Detailed Class Agenda.

Type: Instructor led; classroom

Duration: 2 to 3 days

Class size: 16 to 32 students organized in teams of 3 or 4

Cost: 995 USD per student day plus expenses

Schedule and location: By Arrangement

Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) Excellence - a Workshop Seminar

Description: S&OP is a powerful, cross-functional business process that unites sales and production plans with the common goal of satisfying customer requirements at minimum cost. Translating strategy into tactical, integrated demand and supply plans that can be executed consistently – and predictably – is the essence of S&OP excellence. In this two-day program, participants learn best practices, critical success factors, common pitfalls, and how to spot the symptoms of poor processes.

Objective: To provide participants with the understanding, tools and methods needed to define, develop and manage collaborative planning processes.

Learning Goals: (1) Identify gaps between strategic decisions, tactical policies and operational capabilities. (2) How S&OP works. (3) Integrate production rules with inventory policies to achieve customer service goals. (4) Develop business cases. (5) Demand Management Best Practices. (6) Reduce forecast uncertainty. (7) Best-in-class decision support tools. (8) Effective meeting agendas and action plans. (9) Balanced scorecards. (10) Key performance metrics.

Agenda: This two-day seminar begins with a discussion of what S&OP is, and why not all companies do it well. Participants manage a simulated company in an S&OP computer game. S&OP templates will be provided, together with suggestions on how to customize the process to fit your company. A case study will be presented, including the timeline from initial assessment to a fully operational S&OP process to the business results achieved over several years. See: Detailed Workshop Agenda.

Type: Instructor-led; classroom

Duration: One day

Class size: 16 to 32 students

Cost: 295 USD per student, plus expenses

Schedule and location: by arrangement

Designing and Operating High-Performance Manufacturing Systems - a Workshop Seminar

Description: A highly participative, one-day experiential learning workshop that reveals 5 Guiding Principles for designing high performance manufacturing systems. Competitive team game play will be reinforced by interactive discussions. A fun and highly effective way to learn.

Objective: To discover, explore and apply guiding principles for creating high performance manufacturing systems.

Agenda: (1) An overview of the Principles of Modern Manufacturing. (2) The Cups Game illustrates fabrication and assembly operations, bottleneck operations, quality issues, coordination, and the use of capacity and inventory to achieve good customer service. (3) How Kanban systems can be effectively applied to production processes with high product variety. See: Detailed Course Description.