Getting a product from the manufacturer to your doorstep involves a complex chain of contracts, transportation, customs, inventory control, planning and demand forecasting, among other steps. When parts and demand for a product come from around the world, the supply chain becomes an intricate network.
“A supply chain that can deliver around the globe on time at low cost takes years to build,” says Yossi Sheffi, director of MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL). “It brings real competitive advantage [to a company], and that’s why supply chains are important and becoming more so.”
In 2008, in response to the increasingly global nature of business, Sheffi and his colleagues at CTL set up the MIT Global SCALE (Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence) Network. This international supply chain management program now encompasses four centers around the world: MIT-CTL, in Cambridge, with 30 to 35 students; the Zaragoza Logistics Center in Spain, also with 30 to 35 students; the Center for Latin American Logistics Innovation in Colombia, with 12 to 15 certificate students; and most recently, the Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (MISI).