NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ–Rutgers Business School Executive Education announced the launch of a $4,995 certificate program slated to explore the impact of the “Internet of Things (IoT)” on the future of supply chain strategy in the business world.

The IoT is the concept of the Internet as a network with the potential to connect everyday objects and allow them to send and receive data.

A press release announcing the new program featured a video of a recently retired Johnson & Johnson (J&J) executive who will teach in the program.

Ron Guido was formerly J&J vice president of global brand protection and supply chain integrity. But now he is an independent consultant.

“Supply chain in the digitized network is a very powerful topic right now for supply chain professionals and leaders of supply chain management,” said Guido.

“Most notably it’s because two mega-trends are taking place: The first is that there’s a public demand for rapid delivery. All of us as consumers or in a business to business environment — we want product now,” Guido added.

“The second is the adoption of digital technologies, so the convergence of digital technology to satisfy the consumer need for, for getting the deliveries on time is what’s driving the new supply chain of and the supply chain of the future.” 

The upcoming program, to be held at the Heldrich Hotel at the corner of George Street and Livingston Avenue, is  an “accelerated certificate,” Mini-MBA program, focusing on the Supply Chain in the Digital Network.

Guido is teaching one of the 10 modules in the program, according to the program’s manager, Margaret O’Donnell. 

The program will be offered for the first time from November 30 to December 4, and again in June next year.

It will consist of  five all-day sessions and will make use of case studies, interactive sessions, class exercises, and networking opportunities with the instructors and other participants.

“There is space available, but seats are limited,” O’Donnell said in an email.

She added it would be a relatively small group, like most mini-MBA programs: “In general, Mini-MBA programs range from 8-10 on the small side to about 30 on the large side”

“The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) is profoundly reshaping the supply chain and is reinventing the entire industry. Many companies have focused their IoT strategy on how the technology can cut costs and improve efficiency,” said Jackie Scott, global program director of Rutgers Business School Executive Education, according to the release.

She added: “However, IoT can also serve as a foundation for greater differentiation and innovation. Companies that embrace new technology will be better positioned to unlock fresh revenue streams, provide better customer experiences … and create real value.”

Those who take the program “will gain a better understanding of new technology and how to lead innovation in the organizational structure (e.g., talent, globalization, mergers & acquisitions, financial drivers, Centers of Excellence), technology (e.g., IoT, Machine to Machine technology, Robotics, Omni-Channel Enhanced Customer Experiences, digital manufacturing) and processes (e.g., predictive analysis, advanced analytics, cloud computing, risk mitigation, procurement, fulfillment, lean and green principles),” according to the release.

To demonstrate how retailers, for example, are using the IoT, Princeton resident Greg Kahn, CEO of GK Digital Media said that a number of airlines  have begun equipping their flight attendants with smart phones so they have personalized information on customers. 

“As they walk in, they will be alerted as to whether or not it’s the customers birthday and [attendants] will be able to greet them upon entering a plane,” Kahn said. 

“That can also occur in a retail environment,” added Kahn.

“This program masterfully identifies how digital disruption is permeating the basic functions of supply chain management,” said Guido, the former J&J executive.

Guido said that supply chain teams hoping to create a unique customer experience, “must have” the certificate.

“This isn’t your father’s supply chain,” Guido said.

“The program astutely recognizes the changing landscape of demand capture and fulfillment … and guide(s) supply chain professionals into the new frontier of digitized commerce.”

Rutgers Professor of Finance and Economics Farrokh Langdana, Ph.D., said the focus of supply chain research has shifted: “The ‘old’ focus of discussion and research in supply chains was the optimal establishment of these supply chains. Companies, entire sectors, ‘lived and died’ by their supply chains.”

“The more recent focus on discussion and research in supply chains focuses on the exogenous shocks that buffet supply chains and can generate cycles of disruptions over multiple continents,” said Langdana, who is also Director of the Rutgers Executive MBA program at the university, according to the release.

“These shocks can range from natural disasters, to political coups driven by economic disaster, to exchange rate collapses from broken exchange-rate pegs. The Rutgers Mini-MBA in Supply Chain Management will equip attendees to master both these aspects of supply chains, to not just survive but to thrive in this hyper-connected global economy.”

The MBA program is only opened to “experienced supply chain leaders” who can afford the tuition and want to study “the massive shift … and impact,” of technology on the supply chain business.

“Funding may be available for those receiving unemployment benefits,” says O’Donnell.

“The majority of participants attending our Mini-MBA programs are using tuition reimbursement funding provided by their employers. However, many of our programs, including this Supply Chain program, have been approved by the New Jersey Department of Labor for workforce training grants.” 

Scott, the Rutgers global program director, said that the university was pleased to partner with some of the best subject matter experts and thought leaders “in the world of next-gen supply chain strategy.”

She added that RU was glad to leverage the expertise of its “award-winning Supply Chain Management Department” and “Center for Supply Chain Management.”

For more information on the program, contact Margaret O’Donnell, program director, at (848) 445-9417 or by email: [email protected].

Business Reporter at New Brunswick Today | dschatz@nb.today

Dave is an award-winning business reporter who has authored over 200 articles for New Brunswick Today.

Dave is an award-winning business reporter who has authored over 200 articles for New Brunswick Today.