Modul

The assessment is carried out as partial exams (according to § 4(2), 1 of the examination regulation) of the single courses of this module, whose sum of credits must meet the minimum requirement of credits of this module.

The assessment procedures are described for each course of the module seperately.

The overall grade of the module is the average of the grades for each course weighted by the credits and truncated after the first decimal.

The student

• is familiar with basic concepts and terms of Supply Chain Management,
• knows the different areas of Supply Chain Management and their respective optimization problems,
• is acquainted with classical location problem models (in the plane, on networks and discrete) as well as fundamental methods for distribution and transport planning, inventory planning and management,
• is able to model practical problems mathematically and estimate their complexity as well as choose and adapt appropriate solution methods.

At least one of the coursesFacility Location and strategic Supply Chain ManagementandTactical and operational Supply Chain Managementhas to be taken.

Supply Chain Management is concerned with the planning and optimization of the entire, inter-company procurement, production and distribution process for several products taking place between different business partners (suppliers, logistics service providers, dealers). The main goal is to minimize the overall costs while taking into account several constraints including the satisfaction of customer demands.

This module considers several areas of Supply Chain Management. On the one hand, the determination of optimal locations within a supply chain is addressed. Strategic decisions concerning the location of facilities like production plants, distribution centers or warehouses are of high importance for the rentability of supply chains. Thoroughly carried out, location planning tasks allow an efficient flow of materials and lead to lower costs and increased customer service. On the other hand, the planning of material transport in the context of Supply Chain Management represents another focus of this module. By linking transport connections and different facilities, the material source (production plant) is connected with the material sink (customer). For given material flows or shipments, it is considered how to choose the optimal (in terms of minimal costs) distribution and transportation chain from the set of possible logistics chains, which asserts the compliance of delivery times and further constraints.

Furthermore, this module offers the possibility to learn about different aspects of the tactical and operational planning level in Suppy Chain Management, including methods of scheduling as well as different approaches in procurement and distribution logistics. Finally, issues of warehousing and inventory management will be discussed.

The courses Introduction to Operations Research I and II are helpful.

The total workload of the module is about 240 hours. The workload is proportional to the credit points of the individual courses.