When the pandemic first shut down Manitoba last March, it became clear to the public that items such as groceries, toilet paper and other hot commodities suffered from breaks in the chain of supply.
The need for supply chain management has actually seen a growing demand for professionals over the past two decades, according to an assistant dean at the University of Manitoba’s Asper School of Business.
The school is introducing a master’s degree in supply chain management and logistics, with the first class set to begin in September 2021.
“Winnipeg is a continental hub of transportation and logistics, and we have developed this program to train leaders in supply chain management,” Bruno Silvestre, a professor of supply chain management and director of the Transport Institute, said.
According to the Canadian Supply Chain Sector Council, the Canadian supply chain and logistics sector employs about 800,000 workers and has added an annual average of 13,681 new jobs between 2006 and 2014.
SOU’WESTER
A semi passing a sign pointing to CentrePort Canada Way.
Manitoba has a strong base and demand for the proposed program, Silvestre said. Manitoba has over 4,300 businesses and 40,000 workers directly employed in the transportation and logistics sector, according to provincial statistics from 2018.
This workforce covers CentrePort Canada, North America’s new 20,000-acre inland port, over 1,000 for-hire trucking companies including six of Canada’s largest trucking companies, Canada’s number one airport for scheduled freighter flights (James Armstrong Richardson International Airport) and rail access to North America’s only arctic seaport at the Port of Churchill in northern Manitoba, according to provincial statistics from 2018.
The new master’s program would be of interest to those looking to advance or start a career in the field of supply chain management, Silvestre said. The classes include managing everything from raw material to the ultimate customer, the River Heights resident added.
“We have an emphasis on relationship management in the classes, in how to do business with all your partners,” Sylvestre said. “There is an emphasis on sustainability and the environment aspect, as well as the social aspect. We do talk about an awareness of what is happening to the natural environment, when you work with suppliers and your company’s employees.”
The new program is only the fourth such offered in Canada, but it stands apart from other Canadian programs through real-world industry experience which allows students to apply their knowledge practically within businesses that have significant supply chain and logistics operations, according to Sylvestre.
The Asper School of Business is making 10 fellowships available in the amount of $15,000 for admitted students who have a degree from a Canadian university. “The program itself is roughly $27,000, so the fellowships will make a difference for a number of students,” Silvestre said.
An online information session will be held on Thurs., Jan. 21 for the new program. Applications for the fall 2021 term close on May 1. For more information, contact [email protected]
Susie Strachan
The Sou’wester community journalist
Susie Strachan is the community journalist for The Sou’wester.
Susie got her first paying job as a journalist in the late ’80s on the Free Press Weeklies, then followed that with 20 years as a reporter, photographer and specialty editor at the Winnipeg Free Press. She then spent 10 years working for WAVE magazine with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, before returning to her roots as the reporter/photographer for The Sou’wester.
A little bit about Susie:
She learns a lot from the people she interviews;
She believes that community weeklies provide an invaluable record of community events, places and people;
Thanks to all the interviews she’s done, she’s never met a hobby she won’t try, at least once. She’s been thrown out of an airplane while strapped to an instructor, learned to skijor and do it moderately well, and tangled with all sorts of fibre arts. Do not get her started on tie-dyed fingers, lopsided clay pots, the explosion in the basement while brewing ginger beer and other epic failures.
Call her at 204-697-7150 or email her at: [email protected]
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