Current Projects

“CTL Port Resilience Project – part of the DHS-funded Center of Excellence, “The National Center for Secure and Resilient Maritime Commerce”

Supply Chain Response Project at CTL

Emerging Market Supply Chains, a research study by Dr. Edgar Blanco

  • 2007 event
  • 2006 briefing on the “New Breed of Supply Chain”

Demand Management

Past Projects

Auto-ID Application in the Supply Chain

This research project has several facets and sub-projects, some of which are described in the spreadsheet list of student projects. In general, the projects include:

  • Smart Objects Study: This project entails several studies that examine the benefits of unit-level traceability in the manufacturing and logistics processes. Several specific studies on-site are being conducted. Each one will contribute to a broader study being done with Stanford University to understand the potential long-term and disruptive impact of RFID on the supply chain.
  • Study of RFID application across leading practitioners and early adopters.
  • Study of RFID application in the logistics processes at consumer products manufacturers, including the linkage through to the trade customer.


Clockspeed – Supply Chain Design in the Internet Age

This research project entails applying and further developing the analytical supply chain design processes and principles presented in the book Clockspeed by Professor Charles Fine. He will make site visits to ISCM sponsors to apply and advance these supply chain design concepts. To date, Prof. Fine has conducted five Clockspeed sessions with ISCM sponsors. Much of the focus is on how new technologies and information systems integration are affecting business and supply chain design, including outsourcing and strategy.

Network Master and Multi-Tier Supply Chain Coordination

Led by Jim Rice, this project studies how companies could coordinate flows across the supply network (see the project site for downloads, including “Supply Chain versus Supply Chain: The Hype and the Reality,” an article published in Supply Chain Management Review, September–October 2001).

The work entailed developing a vision of possible structures, including one possibility as a “Network Master” (click here for a white paper on this subject). However. this role may be played by multiple parties as opposed to the single, most powerful “channel master” that many describe today.

Creating Lasting Values in Supply Chain Collaboration

This project was conducted by the MIT Integrated Supply Chain Management Program in collaboration with the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum under the direction of Stanford Prof. Hau Lee.

This research project seeks to gain a deeper understanding of how to develop collaborative efforts, measure and value their impacts, and maintain and improve ongoing relationships. The research will be based on the case studies of a few collaborative efforts between selected sponsors from different industries and their respective key customer and supplier partners. These case studies will help us to gain insights and to develop hypotheses on strategies that can create lasting value in supply chain collaboration.

Supply Chain Visualization

This project entails the development of an interactive supply chain learning and design tool with a tangible user interface, a process knowledge database, and a system dynamics model to allow users to visualize the supply chain across multiple companies. The work is focused on developing the system to enable multiple users to simultaneously build, adjust, exercise, and assess the performance of various supply chain designs. Prof. Thomas Malone of the Center for Coordination Science, Prof. Hiroshi Ishii of the Media Lab Tangible Media Group, Dr. Jim Hines of the System Dynamics Group, and Jim Rice of the Center for Transportation & Logistics are collaborating on this project to develop what we refer to as “the magic table.”

The Supply Chain Process Handbook

This project involves ongoing work with the MIT Sloan School Center for Coordination Science (CCS) in developing the Supply Chain Process Handbook (SCPH). A proprietary web-based tool, the SCPH serves a practical purpose as a supply chain knowledge repository and a high-level purpose as a supply chain process redesign tool (see the attached page for additional information about the SCPH project). This includes sponsor access to the proprietary knowledge and an active plan to develop ISCM cases that illustrate the supply chain process redesign capabilities of the SCPH (see the attached page for additional information about the SCPH project).