Customized Executive Education for Supply Chain Excellence
“Quinlan Executive Education has appreciated the opportunity to partner with the Transformance Advisors team in the design and delivery of a highly customized supply chain management program for one of our corporate clients. Their deep industry expertise led to learning experiences that were relevant, practical, and immediately implementable for the participants.”
– Catherine Jones, Director of Executive Education, Loyola University Chicago
Profile
Ranked a top national university and a best value for education, Loyola University Chicago (LUC) is one of the largest Jesuit universities in the United States. Loyola holds the esteemed Carnegie classification of research intensive university and offers premier programs in business, law, medicine, nursing, and social work.
The Quinlan School of Business was founded in 1922 and is fully accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the premier business school accrediting organization worldwide.
For more than 20 years, Quinlan’s Executive Education (QEE) division has conducted hundreds of workshops, certificate programs, retreats, and customized training programs for organizations. They specialize in lifelong professional development with programs that are practical and immediately applicable.
“Our programs are practical and immediately applicable. Beyond that, these programs offer a transformative experience, providing participants with the knowledge and skills to improve individual and organizational performance.”
– Catherine Jones, Director of Executive Education, Loyola University Chicago
Challenge
The QEE team worked with Constellation Brands Beer Division (CB) to define a custom program covering best practices and emerging trends in supply chain management. A recent merger had added ownership and control of a massive brewery in Mexico to a supply chain team that had previously been focused on warehousing and distribution. The CB team was now responsible for the production, transportation, and warehousing for the number 3 beer company in the United States. Their brands include Corona Extra, Modelo Especial, Tsingtao, Victoria, Corona Light, Negra Modelo, Pacifico Clara, and Modelo Chelada.
CB challenged QEE to provide a complete program that covered dozens of critical supply chain management topics, with an emphasis on lean supply chains, and was customized to emphasize critical challenges faced by CB. In addition, the program needed to include a pre- and post-course knowledge assessment that would verify the CB team was improving their understanding of the material covered.
Given the need for deep industry expertise and the high degree of customization required by the client, the QEE team partnered with Transformance Advisors (TA) for program development and delivery.
In TA, they found an organization that specializes in lean transformations, supply chain management, and knowledge assessments. In addition, the educational events available from TA covered all of the desired topics and have been developed with a mass customization approach that allows for the effective creation of unique courses for clients with specialized requirements.
The QEE team challenged TA to leverage current materials, but customize the course to:
- Emphasize topics most relevant to CB
- Use metrics from CB to demonstrate immediate applicability
- Highlight opportunities for improvement
- Incorporate group exercises to stimulate discussion and problem solving
- Integrate with a team-based business simulation emphasizing collaboration
- Include a pre- and post-course knowledge assessment
“The team from Transformance Advisors could not have been more flexible and adaptable in helping us deliver a customized supply chain management program for one of our corporate clients.”
– Kristi Hodges, Associate Director of Executive Education, Loyola University Chicago
Engagement
Leveraging the Hybrid Supply Chain Management Course and our Online Supply Chain Management Knowledge Assessment, the TA team created a customized course and a 90 question knowledge assessment.
The course contained 5 modules covering:
- Lean and Value Based Supply Chain Management
- Sourcing and Procurement
- Inventory and Demand Management
- Warehousing and Distribution
- Transportation and Logistics
Each module included pre-reading assignments, lectures, group exercises, and multiple rounds of the team-based business simulation called “Links.”
The knowledge assessment included 15 questions from each module.
Customization included using data, metrics, interviews, and pictures from the client.
Each module covered 2 full days for a total of 10 days spread over a 5 month period.
“The Loyola University Chicago Supply Chain Management program was an awesome experience. The faculty was extremely knowledgeable in all facets of supply chain and helped those new to the material, like myself, get acclimated to the supply chain real-world environment. I’ve learned far more than I could have thought possible.”
– Ramon Villanueva, Supply Coordinator, Constellation Brands Beer Division
Results
Feedback from the participants was extremely positive.
Getting everyone on the same page made it easy to see how the roles and responsibilities of each functional area needed to be aligned.
A number of quick fixes and cross-functional improvement projects were identified.
In terms of the pre- and post-course knowledge assessment, there was a dramatic improvement in the number of people that moved into the “stellar” category in terms of understanding the material.
“The material in the Loyola University Chicago Supply Chain Management program reflects relevant industry best practices. We shared this knowledge with our S&OP stakeholders and made some exciting improvements to our process.”
– Jessie Luchsinger, Director Sales and Operations Planning, Constellation Brands Beer Division
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