Supply chain management career?
Asked by feyenoord87
I'm considering majoring in SCM. I heard from a lot of people including my advisers that this field is growing and supply chain managers are in demand. I'm currently majoring in Accounting, but it seems very boring. Does anyone have any good websites that explains SCM more in depth and also, from your personal experience, how hard is it compared to Accounting? Also, I want to know if this major is worth it. Because some majors like Management is worthless since anyone without a degree can become a store manager or whatever... Is this the case for SCM?

Best Answer:
ehhh, here is my opinion. if you love it, great. keep that a big consideration. companies usually sophisticated enough to have supply chain focus are those whose products are more commoditized, or basically their margins are low and industries are pretty mature (autos, chemicals, etc). while you can make a decent living, you won't get rich, and it helps to have a degree from more established university. you will always be a piece of overhead, at best justifying your cost savings as some sort of money maker for the company. its not ideal to justify your career like this, but a lot obviously do. If you want to be in accounting, shoot for a top auditing or consulting firm. At least you have a shot to bring in business, and to those who do money potential is limitless. Of course, being a corporate accountant is a necessary evil but still adheres to the point i made above about being overhead. If you can add value and bring in business for anyone in this country, you have the potential to make a lot of money and have a good career.

If you own a degree - or any alternative qualification - then you'll already be in advace of of the masses when it comes to hunting for jobs. My pal has a degree and he wasn't sure what direction to go with it, but he discovered some good tips and tricks on the site in the resource box below which guided him to settle that he wanted to be a lab assistant. There is a lot of help on the site regarding alternative jobs.
Answered by Tracy A

SUPPLY CHAIN is a network of supplier, manufacturing, assembly, distribution, and logistics facilities that perform the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these products to customers. Supply chains arise in both manufacturing and service organizations. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM) is a systems approach to managing the entire flow of information, materials, and services from raw materials suppliers through factories and warehouses to the end customer. SCM is different from SUPPLY MANAGEMENT which emphasizes only the buyer-supplier relationship. Supply chain management has emerged as the new key to productivity and competitiveness of manufacturing and service enterprises. The importance of this area is shown by a significant spurt in research in the last five years and also proliferation of supply chain solutions and supply chain companies (e.g. i2, Manugistics, etc.). All major ERP companies are now offering supply chain solutions as a major extended feature of their ERP packages. Supply chain management is a major application area for Internet Technologies and Electronic Commerce (ITEC). In fact, advances in ITEC have contributed to growing importance of supply chain management and SCM in turn has contributed to many advances in ITEC. 1.2. Two Faces of Supply Chain Management SCM has two major faces to it. The first can be called loosely as the back-end and comprises the physical building blocks such as the supply facilities, production facilities, warehouses, distributors, retailers, and logistics facilities. The back-end essentially involves production, assembly, and physical movement. Major decisions here include: 1. Procurement (supplier selection, optimal procurement policies, etc.) 2. Manufacturing (plant location, product line selection, capacity planning, production scheduling, etc.) 3. Distribution (warehouse location, customer allocation, demand forecasting, inventory management, etc.) 4. Logistics (selection of logistics mode, selection of ports, direct delivery, vehicle scheduling, etc.) 5. Global Decisions (product and process selection, planning under uncertainty, real-time monitoring and control, integrated scheduling) Stochastic models (Markov chains, queueing networks), optimization models (LP, ILP, MILP, heuristics), and simulation provide the basis for the above decisions. The second face (which can be called the front-end) is where IT and ITEC play a key role. This face involves processing and use of information to facilitate and optimize the back-end operations. Key technologies here include: EDI (for exchange for information across different players in the supply chain); Electronic payment protocols; Internet auctions (for selecting suppliers, distributors, demand forecasting, etc.); Electronic Business Process Optimization; E-logistics; Continuous tracking of customer orders through the Internet; Internet-based shared services manufacturing; etc. 2. OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE To introduce the major building blocks, major functions, major business processes, performance metrics, and major decisions (strategic, tactical, and operational) in supply chain networks To provide an insight into the role of Internet Technologies and Electronic Commerce in supply chain operations and to discuss technical aspects of key ITEC components in supply chain management. To bring out the role of stochastic models (Markov chains, queueing networks); optimization models (LP, ILP, MILP, GA, Constraint Programming); and simulation in supply chain planning and decision-making. This will provide the foundation for design and analysis of supply chains.
Answered by Paul