Professional MBA student boosts skillset with operations and supply chain management specialization
Zac Lee, ’24 PMBA, learned to appreciate the complexities of the operations and supply chain industry while he was enrolled at the Moore School and in the early years of his career.
As Lee has experienced, while the work sometimes seems daunting, the operations and supply chain industry will continue to be a relevant field of study “as it is hugely impactful on the globally connected world in which we live.”
“The item you bought online yesterday that you depend on for quality of life could be made of 20 components that are produced in six different countries across the globe and shipped via three different modes of transportation to the point of purchase,” Lee said. “Understanding the potential failure points along networks of supply chains and being able to mitigate these issues is critical to maintaining the global economy and getting people the products they depend on in a timely fashion and at a price they can afford.”
The Moore School agrees. Understanding the importance of educating operations and supply chain managers is why a strong emphasis has been put in the MBA programs. The leaders in top companies also agree; the undergraduate and graduate operations and supply chain programs now have two Top 5 rankings with industry-renowned Gartner. The undergraduate program stayed No. 3 while the graduate program climbed a spot to No. 5 this year from No. 6 in 2022 for the biennial ranking.
Considering the program’s reputation, Lee said the operations and supply chain management specialization offered at the Moore School was the ideal fit for him.
“When selecting a university to pursue a higher education, several colleagues spoke highly of their PMBA experience at the Moore School and of the program’s top ranking,” Lee said. “Now as a graduate, I cannot say enough about the quality of instruction, the professionalism of the faculty and administration and the real-world examples that every class entailed. The Moore School is truly world-class in many regards.”
Lee says that management science clinical professor Carrie Queenan's Operations Management course and management science department chair Sean Handley's Global Sourcing: Strategies & Applications class were especially impactful.
“I appreciated Queenan’s real-world examples from manufacturing and Handley's insights into how complex supply chain and logistics can exist in today's globally kinetic environment,” Lee said. “Additionally, the cost accounting principles taught early in Managerial Accounting is surprisingly the course I reference the most in my current role. I have a much greater understanding of how costs in a manufacturing setting are allocated and how this impacts a company's profit and loss position.”
As the Finished Products manager at New-Indy Containerboard, Lee’s everyday duties include leading the production and shipping areas of an integrated pulp & paper mill. He says a challenge in any operations management role is keeping an eye on the day-to-day responsibilities and another on how the business unit is controlling the organization’s key drivers — leading factors affecting performance for a company.
“I think it's extremely challenging for companies — especially as they scale their operations — to identify their key drivers of profitability and achieve the alignment that they need from the top to bottom of the organization,” Lee said. “Only when the organization knows these drivers and is aligned on controlling them can the company operate at a very high level. The PMBA program really helped me understand how to identify what truly drives profitability and how to communicate that importance to the value-additive levels of the organization.”
Lee says that he would recommend earning an MBA early in one’s professional career so they can leverage what they have learned to benefit themselves and their organizations for the rest of their career.
“I found the operations and supply chain specialization very insightful and beneficial to my career,” Lee said. I’m extremely grateful I had the opportunity to attend and be supported at the Moore School.”
In the next 5-10 years, Lee said he hopes to use his PMBA to continue progressing through roles of increasing diversity and responsibility in a manufacturing setting.
-Peyton Palazzo