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At the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics

MIT SCALE Master’s Ranked #1 Global SCM Program by EdUniversal

July 19, 2019

The MIT SCALE master’s programs have been ranked #1 Supply Chain Management programs in the world for the fourth consecutive year by Paris-based EdUniversal.

EdUniversal has evaluated academic institutions and programs in France since 1994, and internationally since 2007. Its rankings are based on criteria including overall program reputation, career and salary outcomes of recent graduates, international reach, and feedback from students and alumni.

MIT’s SCM program shares the #1 position with sister programs offered through three of the five centers in CTL’s global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Network: Zaragoza Logistics Center (ZLC), Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (MISI), and Luxembourg Center for Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LCL).

The SCALE network was formed by the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics in 2003 and includes education and research centers in Spain, Luxembourg, Colombia, Malaysia, and China, in addition to Cambridge MA. Zaragoza Logistics Center (ZLC), Malaysia Institute of Supply Chain Innovation (MISI), and Luxembourg Centre for Logistics & Supply Chain Management (LCL) each offer a master’s modeled on MIT’s 10-month master’s in supply chain management program, which has been educating supply chain professionals since 1998. The Ningbo Supply Chain Innovation Institute China incorporates the 10-month SCALE curriculum into a 2-year MBA program, while the Center for Latin American Logistics and Innovation (Colombia) offers a low-residency Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management to students pursuing a master’s in a related field at their home universities in Latin America.

For over 15 years, the MIT SCALE master’s programs have helped early-career professionals build their supply chain expertise and advance their careers. Students learn the latest supply chain management methods, engage in cutting-edge research, and enjoy rich interaction with industry through site visits and facility tours, lectures by visiting executives, and an intensive recruiting program. Each January, students from across the global network convene at MIT for SCALE Connect, a unique, intensive opportunity to work and learn with fellow supply chain and logistics students from all over the world.

SCALE Network graduates are in high demand by top global companies in a wide range of industries including biotech and pharmaceuticals, software/internet, healthcare, manufacturing, consulting, retail, utilities, food & beverage, and transportation & logistics.

In addition to its #1-ranked master’s programs, MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics also offers the MITx MicroMasters credential in supply chain management on the EdX learning platform. The MicroMasters offers students around the world an opportunity to advance their supply chain expertise through fully-online study. Students earning the MITx MicroMasters Credential are eligible to apply to the blended or accelerated Supply Chain Management master’s programs, and complete a full master’s degree in only five months on campus at MIT, ZLC, or MISI. These pioneering blended master’s programs enrolled their first classes in 2017.
MIT Supply Chain Management and AWESOME announce AWE Scholarship and Research Expo Winners

February 4, 2019

The award, to be given annually and currently valued at $72,000, is the first ever full-tuition award specifically for applicants in the 20-year history of the MIT SCM program. It represents a significant commitment by MIT SCM, the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, and AWESOME to encourage applicants to prepare for and perform successfully in supply chain leadership roles.

Women in Supply Chain Fellowship Award

The applicant profiles in response to the scholarship were so strong that the organizers decided to award one full scholarship and two additional half scholarships. Elizabeth Raman received the full scholarship award and Gabriela Lamas and Victoria Brown each received half-tuition awards. All three women finalists attended the event. Over 200 guests and 180 fellow students were gathered to witness the award presentation and surprise announcement of the additional scholarships. “We look forward to the impact all three of these women will have not only on the MIT Supply Chain Masters Program in the fall but also on the Supply Chain Management industry in the future“ said Katie Date, “This scholarship marks an important achievement in the mission to encourage more applicants to pursue graduate education in SCM.”

Learn more about MIT SCM here.

According to Bridget McCrea writing for Supply Chain 247, “Gartner’s third-annual ‘Women in Supply Chain Survey’ reveals sustained representation of women in the senior-most ranks of supply chain organizations, with more supply chain leaders spearheading their own initiatives to attract, retain and advance women. The MIT AWE scholarship is created to support and accelerate this trend. Offered in partnership with AWESOME, the AWESOME/MIT Advancing Women through Education (AWE) Scholarship provides a full-tuition fellowship to a female student entering the MIT Supply Chain Management 10-month residential program in August.

Research Expo Project Awards

Teams from each of the MIT Global SCALE Network locations and Graduate Certificate program were awarded prizes for their projects at the Expo. Use the images below to see an overview of the kind of projects we’ll be looking forward to seeing completed in May at Research Fest.

OMS Features for Omni-channel | Optimizing Last Mile | Segmentation in FCMG | Tackling Undernourishment in LatAm

About the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics

Launched in 1973, MIT CTL is one of the world’s leading centers for supply chain education and research. MIT CTL coordinates more than 100 supply chain research efforts across the MIT campus and around the globe. The center also educates students and corporate leaders in the essential principles of supply chain management and helps organizations to increase productivity and improve their environmental performance.

About AWESOME

AWESOME (Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management & Education) is the supply chain’s most active and prominent organization focused on advancing women’s supply chain leadership. Involving more than 1,200 senior executives in a wide range of supply chain roles, AWESOME provides opportunities for networking, collaboration, and professional development. In addition to an annual industry-wide Symposium and other events and programs, AWESOME recognizes the accomplishments of outstanding supply chain leaders by presenting the AWESOME Legendary Leadership (ALL) Award each year and fields several initiatives to support and encourage supply chain as an area of study among young applicants. To learn more and review criteria for network membership, visit awesomeleaders.org.

About the Research Expo

Research Expo showcases the industry-sponsored research projects of over 180 students from 42 countries in the current MIT Global SCALE Network Masters in Supply Chain Management. Winning projects are awarded prizes. The Research Expo is hosted by the Institute for Supply Management, MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, MIT Supply Chain Management, and MIT Global SCALE Network. Previous students from the MIT Global SCALE Network Masters programs are now practicing their skills in a wide variety of industries, including consulting, manufacturing, retail, logistics, distribution, and software. Companies worldwide are turning to logistics and supply chain management to give them a strategic advantage and they’re hiring SCM graduates to implement that change.
MIT CTL’s Bruce Arntzen Joins NESCON Hall of Fame for 2018

October 31, 2018

New England Hall of Fame

The 2018 New England Supply Chain Conference Hall of Fame Award winner is Bruce C. Arntzen, Ph.D. He has contributed in distinctly outstanding ways to the Supply Chain profession. The following summary is an excerpt from the full article. There are nine attributes that constitute the award criteria, and Bruce fulfills each criterion in an exemplary manner. His participation as a speaker at NESCON many times was in recognition of his body of professional contributions that pre-dated the award.

Career

Dr. Arntzen spent four years at MIT to fulfill a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, making significant contacts and being exposed to many different career opportunities. He commenced a career in operations management as a consultant with Arthur D. Little, Inc. focusing on distribution operations and planning, manufacturing operations, supply chain process re-engineering, and optimization and simulation modeling for which he became well known and in demand.

Later during the middle and late 1980’s with Digital Equipment Corporation, he helped country-wide distribution teams and product business units reduce costs and cycle time and implement new planning processes and tools. Later he co-founded two consulting firms – Global Supply Chain Associates and Avicon Partners – that were dedicated to Supply Chain problem-solving, transformation, operations management, industrial engineering, and process re-engineering.

Contributions to the field

He recognized the growth value of belonging to a professional organization that would enhance professional performance. What ensued was twenty-five years on the board of the New England Chapter of CSCMP serving as President three times, Program Chairman many times, and on the Program Committee of the national CSCMP conference. Voluntary presentations at numerous industry and professional conferences including Shingo Prize, CSCMP, OMTEC, and WERC were part of his outreach. This is the short list of many other actions and achievements.

Bruce then moved on to influence the next generation of professionals by returning to academia as the Executive Director of the MIT Supply Chain Management Program which trains managers on five different campuses around the world for futures in SCM. In this role he teaches the courses in Supply Chain Fundamentals, Global Supply Chain Management, and Leading Global Teams. But the emphasis is not just in the classroom. The programs provide for exposure to the values of association with professional organizations – CSCMP and its Best Thesis Competition, APICS and its Case Competition, and ISM with its Best Poster and Supply Chain Game Competitions – that not only expose the “best of the best” to students but build cross-functional and cross-industry bridges.

What is most refreshing about Bruce is his continuing drive to build stronger professional organizations through streamlining engagement, adaptive mediums of information and personal interconnectivity so that future generations can appreciate and enjoy the benefits of association involvement as our honoree did and continues to develop in our behalf.

Receiving the award

Pictured below are Leonard Morrison, MIT CTL Career Development and Alumni Relations Officer with Diane Cotter, NESCON Chairperson and Dave Kriz, NESCON Programming Committee Chair and Hall of Fame Committee Chair. Len Morrison received the award on behalf of Dr. Arntzen who was not available for the event.

New England Supply Chain Conference: https://www.newenglandsupplychainconference.org/nescon-hall-of-fame-2/bruce-c-a…
Converting MicroMasters MOOC “Zombies” into “Learners” – Research Award

September 5, 2018

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, September 5, 2018 – An MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) research project titled “Converting Zombies into Learners: Improving MITx MicroMasters MOOC Learner Retention” has been awarded a grant of more than $ 124,000 by the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative (MITili).

MicroMasters Mooc and Increasing Retention

Almost 9,000 learners have completed and earned a Verified Certificate in at least one SCx course (a supply chain MOOC or Massive Open Online Course), and 1,274 learners have completed MIT CTL’s highly successful MITx MicroMasters Credential in Supply Chain Management (SCM). While these numbers are impressive, the team is constantly looking at ways to increase both registration and active participation. In order to better understand the course dynamics, the program’s registrants have been categorized into four distinct groups: Learners (who watch videos and complete the work to attain a grade), Voyeurs (who watch video lessons but do not complete the work for grade), Magicians (who do not watch any lesson videos and miraculously complete some work for grade), and Zombies (who neither watch videos nor complete any graded work).

The distribution of learners in these categories varies dramatically between verified (students paying a fee and electing to earn a Verified Certificate) and auditing (students taking the course for free) students. On average, 85% of verified students are Learners, 10% are Voyeurs and 5% are Zombies. However, for auditing students, just 5% are categorized as Learners, 25% as Voyeurs and 70% as Zombies.

Although the number and geographic spread of MicroMasters students have far surpassed expectations, the program’s management team wants to reduce the number of students in the Zombie category, and increase the percentage of Learners and Voyeurs. Another objective is to reduce the number of Learner dropouts; individuals who complete some graded work successfully but cease to submit graded assignments or take exams and therefore don’t pass the course.

The research project will help the team to achieve these goals by devising a methodology for identifying the different categories of students and developing a model for predicting dropout rates. This work will enable the team to design effective interventions and other measures to reduce the dropout rate and improve MOOC learner retention.

Redefining Education

“MicroMasters is redefining supply chain education. This year, 40 MicroMasters credential holders from around the world enrolled in and graduated from MIT CTL’s campus-based Supply Chain Master’s Degree in Applied Science in SCM as the inaugural class of our new SCM Blended program,” said Dr. Eva Ponce, Executive Director, MITx MicroMasters Program in Supply Chain Management, who is leading the research project. “We are constantly working to improve the online program, and the research project funded by MITii will help us to refine the MITx MicroMasters in SCM and make it even more impactful.”

Ponce noted that the research will benefit other MOOCs too. The findings will be made available to other programs and could ultimately be used to improve the MOOC education model. Studies show that a relatively small proportion of MOOC participants complete their courses.

The research project is scheduled to start in September 2018 and end in October 2019. During

this 13-month period 10 SCx courses will run, allowing the researchers to implement and test different intervention actions. A paper based on the research will be submitted to an international academic journal by the end of 2019.

For more information please contact:

Arthur Grau
Communications Officer, MITx MicroMasters in Supply Chain Management
agrau@mit.edu
617-253-4592

NOTES TO EDITORS

About MicroMasters

The MITx MicroMasters credential in Supply Chain Management consists of five intensive online courses covering all aspects of logistics and supply chain management (equivalent to one semester worth of courses in the SCMr program). Students submit graded homework every week and take mid-term and final exams in each SCx course. To earn the MITx MicroMasters Credential they also have to pass a proctored comprehensive final exam. The total cost of the MicroMasters Credential in SCM in 2018 is $1,200, including the cost of the five courses and the comprehensive final exam.

This innovative program in online education has reached over 260,000 learners in more than 196 countries across the globe. Learners enrolled in the program come from diverse backgrounds. Most of them are professionals from supply chain and related business fields who are expanding their skills, as well as students in other academic programs who are augmenting their knowledge base. A new intake of SC0x learners will start on September 5th, 2018.

Conversation with director Chris Caplice

About MITili

Founded in February 2016, MITili funds, connects, and shares research investigating learning effectiveness. The research ranges, for example, from scans of individual learners in Brain and Cognitive Sciences to applying data analytics to understanding the implications of policy decisions in Economics to almost every department at the Institute.

MIT CTL
First Students Arrive on Campus to Pursue “Hybrid” Masters Degrees

January 31, 2018

In early January, 40 students from around the world landed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to embark on their first semester at MIT. Though it was the first time they had set foot on campus, they weren’t new to MIT courses by any stretch.

After completing the online MicroMasters program in supply chain management (SCM) offered through MITx by the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL), passing a comprehensive exam, and making it through a demanding admissions process, these eager learners were simply taking the next step on their career journey: earning a full masters degree from MIT.

These students also happen to be pioneers. They make up the inaugural cohort of the blended SCM (SCMb) program, which allows students to apply online course credits toward a masters degree — one that is identical to that received by full-time residential students.

More than 1,900 learners have completed the rigorous MicroMasters slate of five courses; of those, 622 have passed the comprehensive final exam to earn the credential and qualify to apply to the SCMb program.

“Each of the five SCx courses in the MicroMasters curriculum is an intensive 13-week program,” says Chris Caplice, director of the SCM MicroMasters program and executive director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. “Completing it takes a lot of grit, personal effort, and determination.”

Read More on MIT News
Student-Industry Interconnection Transforms the Fabric of Supply Chain

May 23, 2017

By Yossi Sheffi, Ph.D.

More and more companies today are finding innovative ways to collaborate with supply chain research centers. When the projects are well planned and supported, the benefits of such partnerships can be substantial. Supply chain professionals often are surprised by how much value they derive, and the students involved enjoy the unique experience of applying their classroom-based knowledge in the real world.

One initiative that has proven to be especially rewarding for both parties is collaboration on graduate program theses or capstone research projects. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Network, the typical research project process starts with finding prospective sponsor companies. Each center has an outreach program that companies can join to interact with faculty, exchange ideas, engage in research, and attend special events.

As part of their membership, partner companies can sponsor master’s program research projects. Those who are interested pitch their project ideas, and the relevant center matches projects with students. Each research project is focused on answering a question, and that question must be research, rather than consulting-based. Examples of typical research topics include setting the optimal delivery frequency for products, improving demand forecasting, and finding how a vendor-managed inventory program can be cost- and value-justified.

“Students are very good at tackling clearly defined problems, especially ones that involve quantitative analyses and modeling where they have to collect data from a variety of sources,” says Bruce Arntzen, executive director of the supply chain management program at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. Research questions that require students to analyze scenarios or alternative solutions to understand the key drivers of decisions also are well suited to these projects, he adds.

Read More of this APICS Magazine Article
MIT’s Digital Supply Chain Program Commences Second Course – 12-week course on supply chain design open to students worldwide

September 21, 2015

September 21, 2015 (Cambridge, MA). The second installment of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics’ (MIT CTL) ground-breaking online supply chain course, Supply Chain and Logistics Fundamentals, will start on September 30th, 2015. Called Supply Chain Design, the SC2x course is part of the three-part SCx series and will run for 12 consecutive weeks. A year ago MIT CTL opened a new chapter in supply chain education with the launch of its SCx online program. The curriculum is part of the MITx initiative, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s selection of massive open online courses, or MOOCs.

The three courses in the supply chain MOOC, CTL.SC1x, CTL SC2x, and CTL.SC3x, are meant to be taken sequentially and cover supply chain logistics and fundamentals, design, and strategy. The first one, CTL.SC1x, was hugely successful. In its first two runs (fall 2014 and summer 2015) it had more than 50,000 registrants from 186 countries.

“We aim to build on this success with SC2x. Having covered the fundamentals of supply chain management, we are now moving on to how practitioners design the supply chains that support almost every industry across the globe,” says Dr. Chris Caplice, Executive Director, MIT CTL.

Global supply chains are complex structures that involve several firms crossing multiple time zones and continents. The design of a supply chain is critical to its overall success, and ultimately, the firm’s success. SC2x covers all aspects of supply chain design and will be taught by MIT CTL faculty.
Find more information on SC2x and enroll for the course here.

Contact:
Sarah J. Smith, Communications Specialist
MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics
+1 617.253.4592 / sajsmith@mit.edu

About MIT CTL. Launched in 1973, MIT CTL is one of the world’s leading centers for supply chain education and research. Part of the MIT School of Engineering, MIT CTL coordinates more than 100 supply chain research efforts across the MIT campus and around the globe. The center also educates students and corporate leaders in the essential principles of supply chain management and helps organizations to increase productivity and improve their environmental performance. For more information, please visit: http://ctl.mit.edu, and visit the MIT CTL blog: Supply Chain @ MIT.
Research Expo a global window on new supply-chain ideas

February 2, 2015

Some 130 masters’ students from more than 25 countries gathered at MIT on Jan. 21 to present 80 research projects displayed on electronic posters.

Research Expo 2015 not only presented research in supply-chain management from around the globe — the projects were sponsored by companies and more 250 executives viewed the posters — it was also the culmination of a month-long series of events and networking opportunities.

Read the full article.

MIT News
MIT Research Expo 2014- Smart Minds are in Supply Chain Management

January 23, 2014

By Bob Ferrari

This week, Supply Chain Matters had the opportunity to be invited to MIT’s Global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Research Expo 2014 which was held on the MIT campus. These was the third consecutive year that we have attended this event and remain impressed with the caliber and potential of supply chain focused candidates within MIT’s international student programs.

Read the full article here.

Supply Chain Matters
MIT creates global network for supply-chain research

March 27, 2008

This Boston Globe article announces the launch of the MIT Global SCALE Network, an alliance of leading research centers dedicated to supply chain excellence. MIT-CTL is part of the Network which spans North America, Latin America and Europe.

boston.com