By Augusto Chiericati*
The World Economic Forum released last January a report about “The Future of Jobs”.
Researchers asked HR managers from leading companies what are the skills sets that will be needed by workforce in 2020. The top three are: Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking and Creativity.
In the Short International Program “Operations, Logistics and Lean Management” students will practice all those sets of skills through lectures, project works, visits to Italian and European companies and living 3 weeks among students and teachers from dozens of nations.
During that experience, those interested in developing their career in Supply Chain, Operational Excellence and Process Improvement will find all updated techniques in such areas.
Globalization, advanced supply chains and economic crises are changing the rules of market continuously. Choices to overcome the hurdles can be difficult, and urgency to find an answer can lead to bad decisions. Those who are winning and confirming their position in the market are telling us what are the most important rules to follow.
First of all: find value. You are doing value if your customers are happy with what you are doing. That seems to be very easy to identify, however how many companies are providing the right product or service to their customers? Are you always happy when you buy a product or when you ask for a service? Understanding what market is asking and having the know-how to do that is the first step for success.
Once you recognize what you are doing to make people happy, you must analyze your processes. That phase is crucial for understanding how efficient you are and for putting the base for the improvement of the processes. Making a good product is not sufficient for succeeding, you must be efficient in delivery, cost, service and, of course, in maintaining high quality standards.
Someone said that whatever comes to us, good or bad, is usually the result of our own action or lack of action. Transformation is the result of recognition of the need for change, of developing a plan to change and of taking action accordingly. Change management is one of the most fascinating activities that every organization must perform, and one of the hardest. In Lean Management literature there is plenty of material that help a change agent to prepare a plan, manage it and understand how to influence people to be on board in a Lean Journey.
Speaking with data, facts and figures and actively going where the events are happening are the activities at the basis of problem solving. As said above, these are the most important skills one should have for making companies greater, and for making himself greater.
All those topics will be dealt with in the Short International Program “Logistics, Operations, and Lean Management”. Students will discuss about the main supply chain methods, how to develop the proper operational system, how to identify value and what are the means and techniques that can help organizations to improve the processes that provide their value.
Three weeks in such environment will be an experience that will give a boost in student’s development of relevant competences and skills, especially for those interested in making things better.
*Faculty Short International Program Logistics, Operations, and Lean Management
