Journal of Commerce
Logistics Education Is Changing To Reflect A Broadened Definition Of The Supply Chain

Ask anyone who teaches logistics what's new in the world, and the answer is likely to be "everything." It used to be that logistics courses were largely confined to materials management - the process of physically moving goods from here to there. Now it includes everything from transportation to forecasting and product design.

The supply chain bug bit Penn State University, too. It revamped its program to create a supply chain and information systems major in the business school. "I suppose you could say we're trying to walk the talk," said John Tyworth, chairman of the department of supply chain and information systems.

The new program combined the operational, logistics and information technology faculty at the undergraduate level. The school is now doing the same for its graduate programs.

"In the past logistics was focused on moving, storage - the classic Council of Logistics Management model - but didn't have the manufacturing piece," Tyworth said. "The focus used to be supplier to supplier; now it's customer to customer."

Among the innovations are an emphasis on sourcing and procurement, and even product design.

The Penn State program has more than 400 students at all levels of study, and counts among its graduates Gus Pagonis, who headed the U.S. military's logistics in the first Persian Gulf war and moved on to overseeing logistics for Sears, Roebuck and Co. Other graduates include Ron Schnur, vice president of strategic supply for Coors Inc., and Karen Johannes, group vice president of global client support and corporate quality for Manugistics, Inc.

Tyworth sees other schools jumping into the logistics field. "The competitive space is really heating up, whether they're coming out of a traditional logistics or operational program, and that was the motivation for us to develop our program."

Corporate recruiters play an important role in how logistics programs evolve. IBM Corp. regularly gives Penn State feedback about the skills it wants from graduates in logistics. "They're not interesting in hiring plumbers (technical graduates) out of business school, because they'll get those people from engineering schools," Tyworth said. "They want people who are comfortable with supply chain planning software. They want people who are aware of concepts and principles and work in teams, who can communicate with the plumbers."

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REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Wyatt DuBois in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or wed112@psu.edu .

Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, marketing, insurance and real estate, management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the eBusiness Research Center, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.

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