Home  »  ISCM Overview  »   {Add Location}

The Integrated Supply Chain Management Program (ISCM) is a consortium of non-competing companies that was started in January 1995 by a group of faculty and staff from the Center for Transportation and Logistics and the Sloan School of Management. The purpose of the program is to accelerate the implementation of supply chain management principles within the sponsor companies, and to advance the state of the art of supply chain management.

The ISCM Program enables sponsors to learn about the state-of-the-art and future supply chain practices in two main ways:

1. Facilitating best-practice-sharing and exchange among sponsors.

ISCM sponsors share their own best-practices and develop a collective wisdom at ISCM events. The learnings are practical, reality-based and tested by real companies. We capture learnings from each event in a knowledge summary, enabling sponsors to quickly share learnings across their respective organizations.

The primary vehicle for facilitating sharing and exchange are Quarterly Sponsor Collaboration Events. Each quarter, ISCM sponsors meet to share learnings, research findings and penetrate a specific set of supply chain issues. Event themes and topics are selected by sponsors. Each event respectively focuses on different aspects of improving how the supply chain integrates internally (with various functional areas, including manufacturing, procurement, planning and distribution) and externally with customers, suppliers and partners.

Because the sponsors do not include competing companies, consulting companies or software providers, the exchange among the sponsors tends to be open, honest and very practical.

2. Creating new supply chain knowledge through ISCM and MIT research projects (see our Current Agenda).

The ISCM Program funds research projects focused on creating knowledge for sustainable supply chain improvement. ISCM research projects explore unsolved supply chain problems, infusing new technologies with innovative approaches. The ISCM Program also leverages existing supply chain research at MIT to bring new knowledge to sponsors. Research projects range in size and scope, from detailed and company-specific to broad and cross-industry.

We welcome companies interested in research and exchange to improve their supply chain performance. Please contact us if you would like to learn more about how your company can participate and benefit from our work.