Think I'm a Business Major?

I get asked all the time what it is that Supply Chain Management majors such as myself actually study. To finally put it all to rest, the better question is what DON'T we study. Supply Chain Management is tied, quite literally, to every aspect of a business' operations. Packaging (Marketing), Shipping (Logistics), Strategy (Management), and Servicing (Outsourcing). We SCM majors spend our time trying to figure out how a company can do what it does faster, cheaper, and better. I'll let you figure out what that means when you're dealing with a multinational corporation that works in 30+ countries.

One thing that we SCM majors are OBSESSED with is called value-added processes. Value-added processes are any process or anything you do that adds value to what your company is producing. For example, if a worker in a BMW factory is screwing down bolts in a car's axle, he is doing a value-added activity. If he gets up and walks down the assembly line to work on the next car, he is wasting time. Not adding value. Every single solitary SECOND that your employees are not doing something that directly contributes to the production of a product or execution of strategy is not a value-added process. You know the expression "time is money?" We SCM people came up with that.

So where am I going with this? In case you all thought I wasn't enough of a yuppie, here's an example for you:

I'm walking along through campus and my final destination is the business college starbucks, where I plan to get my reading for the day done as well as write my first little assignment for my class tonight. On the way there Shannon and I have to make a few pitstops at the honors college to visit Keith and to get some other stuff done. And the whole way as we're doing these things - every single STEP on our detours off the shortest and quickest possible route to the Starbucks - I'm thinking, This is SO not a value-added process.

There is no hope for me.