The journey of a consumer product from raw material to store shelves used to be a simple one. Factories in the U.S. made the products. U.S. companies shipped them, and consumers like us bought them in corner stores and big-box retailers.<\/p>\n
Everything changed with unilateral trade deals that began proliferating in the mid-1990s, making it cheaper for companies to manufacture and sell abroad and lengthening the supply chain. Products now regularly journey across oceans and pass through different cultures.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupply chains have become much more complex,\u201d said Anthony Ross, Rockwell Automation Endowed Chair in Supply Chain Management at 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s Lubar School of Business. \u201cAt the same time, consumers became much more sophisticated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lubar School of Business has offered responsive, high-quality programs meeting the needs of major U.S. industries for 50 years. To meet the challenges introduced by global markets, the recently reaccredited school dramatically expanded and improved how it teaches supply chain management, collaborating with Rockwell Automation, the world\u2019s largest company devoted exclusively to industrial automation products and software.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal was to educate people in the science of the supply chain, to address the increased complexity and responsiveness that\u2019s now required to compete in the global economy,\u201d said Lyman Tschanz, a 1981 Lubar graduate and vice president of manufacturing at Rockwell.<\/p>\n
In 2010, Rockwell Automation provided a $2.5 million endowed supply chain grant to Lubar to establish the Rockwell Automation Endowed Chair in Supply Chain Management. The goal is to strengthen the supply chain program to attract the best and brightest students and supply chain researchers from around the world to Milwaukee.<\/p>\n
The grant enabled Lubar to recruit Ross, then a professor at Michigan State University, to become the first endowed chair. Early success led to the formation of the Supply Chain Management Institute.<\/p>\n
Five years in, about 400 Lubar undergraduates study supply chain management, four times more than at the time of the grant. Graduates earn an average starting salary of $45,000, up from $38,000 when the program was much smaller. They\u2019ve fanned out through the world, and many of the recent grads are working at Rockwell Automation.<\/p>\n
With more than 700 51ÁÔÆæ alumni working at Rockwell Automation\u2019s Milwaukee headquarters, 51ÁÔÆæ is a key university from which Rockwell recruits new hires with business and engineering degrees. Many belong to a \u201cPanthers at Work\u201d alumni group at Rockwell Automation that\u2019s supported through the 51ÁÔÆæ Alumni Association.<\/p>\n
Nicholas Johnson, a 2014 Lubar graduate in supply chain management, supervises 44 employees as production supervisor for a Rockwell Automation office in Richland Center, Wisconsin. He credits Lubar for preparing him for the job and early promotions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had many opportunities within the school and throughout the community,\u201d said Johnson, who joined a student group focused on supply chain management and interned with Rockwell Automation. \u201cAt times, this breadth of opportunity challenged me to perform outside of my comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin heeded the call of Lubar\u2019s supply chain researchers to involve local businesses in students\u2019 research. In 2012, faculty members helped Goodwill Industries study optimal locations for its warehouses to streamline delivery of products to its network of stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw the value throughout the whole organization but starting with donated goods,\u201d said Vicki Holschuh, senior vice president and chief retail officer at Goodwill.<\/p>\n
Researchers also worked with Children\u2019s Hospital of Wisconsin on sourcing health care products and sorting out which products are better kept in stock versus buying directly from suppliers as needed. Another project provided a comprehensive modeling of coal inventory management for We Energies.<\/p>\n
Consumers probably don\u2019t notice it, but Lubar\u2019s research in the supply chain management field speeds cereal and rubber bands to them at a far lower cost. And with alumni holding key positions in corporations like SC Johnson, Children\u2019s Hospital of Wisconsin, Rockwell Automation, Harley-Davidson and Johnson Controls Inc., the school\u2019s influence will continue to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Lubar School of Business is celebrating 50 years of offering responsive, high-quality programs that meet the needs of major U.S. industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":486,"featured_media":33406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174,175],"tags":[],"section":[132,246],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[162],"class_list":["post-33398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-research","section-business","section-business-world-affairs","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-business"],"yoast_head":"\n