OPM 501 Logistics Management

Content:

Producing goods individually on the spot, right when and where customers demand them is not economically and technically feasible, in general. The logistics function bridges the temporal and geographical gaps between production and consumption. This involves transportation and storage, but also sorting and allocation processes. Advances in information and communication technology have been transforming the underlying economics. In addition, the interaction between different supply chain members has been recognized as a key factor. This course aims to provide insight into key decisions regarding the design and management of logistics activities. To this end, it introduces quantitative models that link managerial levers to logistics performance, thereby allowing appropriate
trade-offs. Core topics include capacity management, logistics network design, and transportation planning.

Learning outcomes:

This course helps students understand how to align logistics decisions with an underlying business strategy. Students will become acquainted with fundamental logistics planning tasks. The course enables them to analyze logistics decisions by means of quantitative techniques and to make the right trade-offs between different performance criteria.

Prerequisites:

• Formal: none           
• Recommended: Basic knowledge in operations management (e.g. BSc course “Produktion”), basic knowledge in mathematics (including Linear Programming) and in statistics (probability distributions)