‘MOS contributes directly to the bottom line’

The Executive Master of Operations and Supply Chain Management (MOS) helps you take the next step in your career. ‘You obtain a better view and exposure in your business, you gain knowledge that you can apply immediately in daily practice and in many cases, a large number of participants have already recuperated the costs after three modules,’ says Freek Aertsen, Academic Director of the program. An interview.

What are the latest developments in the field of supply chain management and how does TIAS respond to these?

 ‘There are a number of developments in the field of supply chain management. For instance, more data is available for steering cases. Sustainable supply chains are also a big issue. And in the third place: the consumer's influence. After all, we are increasingly ordering things online. And that has significant consequences for the logistics chains.

Data in general is becoming bigger all the time; this is handled during various modules. We try to keep the program as practical as possible. For instance, we use models to learn to predict when a machine will break down.

Sustainable supply chains for example are all about reusing materials. In the program, we play the sustainability game, in which the participants are responsible for a power plant whereby they have to buy the raw materials. This is about preventing wastage.

And finally, the role of the consumer. With supply chain management, the question is, where do you put your stocks? You will preferably want to have your stuff as close as possible to the consumer. A good example is Amazon in Manhattan. The internet giant offers among other things the option of delivering a shipment within one hour. How do you accomplish that in a high-density environment? It then becomes important to be able to predict what consumers will buy. There is a big chance that that will also actually be bought.’

How does a MOS participant develop? What is the starting point when he or she commences and where does it take him or her?

The participants grow in how to tackle issues and how to define solutions. They gain problem-solving ability in a number of areas and obtain a broader view of the problem domain and on purchasing solutions. Moreover, they obtain knowledge and ideas about companies and other logistics challenges. They also come to the conclusion that having theoretical models helps a lot with structuring reality. People develop and arrive at better problem analyses and consequently come to better solutions. An example of this is a participant who has looked at how to reduce the lead time in the development of large ships. Six weeks seemed possible, but after following the MOS he arrived at five weeks.’

What is your personal contribution to MOS?

‘We steer very much towards further developing the profession. Ensuring that companies in the profession take good decisions. For that, you need people who understand how the profession is organized. We are primarily a functional program with ditto knowledge. Our contribution is very much in learning and applying that functional knowledge. Thus, we help the profession to move on. We use the growth model as a starting point; people have to grow, companies have to grow. We talk a lot about our role therein. For instance, by giving lectures, by bringing lecturers together who are at the forefront of technological knowledge. And in this way to realize growth in our profession.’

TIAS School for Business and Society How is that reflected in the program?

‘Our program contributes to the business result. We also deliver people who are critical, so that there is less wastage. And getting the wastage out of the system, that is always very interesting from a financial perspective.’

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