Author: Sime Curkovic

Wow!..."Michigan State University will begin offering 6,000 Michiganders FREE tuition EACH YEAR....The Spartan Tuition Advantage, will automatically cover the full cost of tuition for Pell Grant-eligible Michigan high school grads w/ a family income of $65,000 or less." https://www.wilx.com/2023/10/09/msu-offer-tuition-free-program-michigan-residents/ ___”5 Michigan universities made the top-100 of this year’s “Best U.S. Colleges” rankings by the Wall Street Journal.”...https://lnkd.in/g-BS7P_Y. Another rankings list…”Forbes’ annual list showcases 500 of the finest U.S. colleges, ranked using...

Top 11: Two Michigan Universities made the list (one in Kalamazoo & the other in Ann Arbor): Western Michigan University Haworth College of Business…"As noted in the intro, numbers and rankings never tell the whole story, and this list would be incomplete without adding Western Michigan's dedicated Food and CPG Marketing program. Deeply embedded within the CPG industry, WMU offers a bachelor's degree in food marketing and sends students on to work at...

A solid, albeit somewhat generic/broad, overview for those looking to get acquainted with the supply chain field…Common Careers in Supply Chain Management: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/supply-chain-management-jobs/ We sourced the below salary data from the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM). Buyer/PlannerMedian Annual Salary: $72,800Required Education: Bachelor’s degreeJob Description: Buyers and planners work on the front lines of organizations’ supply chains. They create forecasts for demand, obtain and distribute products and maintain data to determine products’...

When a MFG company sells something for $1, $.50-$.80 of that might be in Direct Material costs.  So, if a company wants to cut costs to increase pre-tax profit, it will look to where most of its costs come from (i.e., DM).  In other words, it will go to its supply chain since most of its Direct Material costs come from buying stuff from suppliers.  Also remember, if you cut costs by $1,...

Subject: Read: One of the most reprinted articles in the history of the Harvard Business Review (HBR).Students (per my class lecture): The "Core Competence" Article. This article is older, but it is one of the most reprinted articles in the history of the Harvard Business Review (HBR).  It keeps getting reprinted because it is a classic and its premise is still very relevant.  HBR is a journal with articles written for...

Please Watch Out for Power BI or Tableau. Do not be a victim of technology. Students: More and more employers are asking students during job interviews if they know how to use Power BI or Tableau.  For example, Eaton Corp in Galesburg, MI uses Power BI to visualize data and Kellogg's is called Tableau world because they use Tableau so much. It becomes easier for managers to solve problems and...

ESI = early supplier involvement & CE = concurrent engineering (everyone does this for their "core" material needs)ESI = early supplier involvement and CE = concurrent engineering, and they mean the same thing.  Before companies go into production with new products, they have to design those products, it is called the new product development process (NPD).  Companies expect suppliers to do a lot of the design work for the parts...

Subject: Read: These stats came out from ISM Supply Chain Weekly (you get this if you join ISMWorld.org - $35 for students)Students:Companies within the same industry (and even across different industries such as aerospace, steel, chemical, etc.) are dependent on each other. The flows are more intertwined ("Integrated" supply (no chain) management) than ever before. In a recent study, 90 percent of manufacturing companies report having some level of outsourcing (no...