<p>Is supply chain management a useful degree if someone with an industrial engineering degree could get the same job or is there something gained within a supply chain management degree that would put them ahead of a person with an industrial engineering degree in the eyes of an employer? I think that supply chain management is the "lite" version of industrial engineering degree so that a person industrial engineering degree would always get the job over the person similarly qualified with a supply chain management degree.</p>
<p>They’re different degrees with different purposes. </p>
<p>An Industrial Engineering degree is an analytical tools degree. You study specific tools and mechanisms to solve problems. An SCM degree is a management degree. You study the basics of supply chain management and other business aspects to coordinate your supply chain with other business functions in the organization.</p>
<p>Here’s how the two work together: The CEO holds a meeting and sets a business strategy. The director of supply chain management works with with other business functions (finance, operations, human resources, accounting, marketing, etc.) to determine their organization competencies and translate the business strategy and organizational competencies into specific operating strategies. These operating strategies are then translated to specific actions. The Supply Chain Manager then meets with her team of industrial engineers and has them redesign the supply chain to perform these actions.</p>
<p>So an SCM degree is a “big picture” degree that coordinates with non-supply chain people, whereas an IE degree is a “doer” degree enabling you to actually design and perform specific changes. </p>
<p>So which one is better? As a 22 year old fresh college graduate, you probably don’t have the managerial experience to be successfully hired as a high level supply chain manager, so the IE degree will be more useful. You might see SCM grads hired as “cheap IE’s” (i.e. IE light, as you said). This isn’t because SCM = IE light, but because SCM grads with no experience are not qualified to actually work in an SCM role. But later in your career, the supply chain management degree is the more valuable one, since it leads to higher positions in management and higher pay. That’s why it’s pretty common for students to major in industrial engineering, go to work for a few years, then pick up an MBA and move through the organization.</p>
<p>BanjoHitter thank you for clarifying this to me. What you says makes a lot of sense because I was originally confused about the usefulness of an scm degree.</p>
<p>I stumbled across this forum while performing a completely unrelated Google search, and what I have read I find to be intriguing. </p>
<p>As a graduate of a Top 5 Undergraduate SCM program with experience working in the field, I do believe there are some misconceptions being floated around about the value of an SCM degree and the contrast it offers to an IE degree.</p>
<p>I’d like to offer a bit of commentary on BanjoHitter’s remarks. First, I’d like to commend you on your excellent writeup Banjo - perfect or not, there seem to be many college students (and perspectives) who are simply lost in the intricacies of IE vs. SCM while attempting to choose between one or the other. Great job attempting to clarify things.</p>
<p>I agree with most of what was said here, but there are a few points that I feel need to be clarified or expanded upon. Further, while I have knowledge of the fundimentals of an IE degree, I have not personally endured the curriculum and will therefore focus on SCM clarifications here.</p>
<p>An IE degree is an analytical tools degree - this is an excellent description and is 100% true! “An SCM degree is a management degree” - this is partially true by nature, however it is not the most fitting description of the curriculum.</p>
<p>While you may learn to be a better cross-functional team leader as well as learning fundamental business skills, an SCM degree offers much more in the way of specialized instruction than Banjo’s description might lead you to believe. It is important to know that there are many different SCM theories and while they all have a large degree of overlap, every school has the option of teaching based on whichever theory they choose. This is something that is important to remember when looking at an undergraduate SCM program. </p>
<p>Every program will likely have at least one course in each of the following SCM areas: </p>
<p>Operations (Forecasting, Production, Modeling, Quality Control / Six Sigma)
Sourcing (Strategic, Tactical, Operational, Supply Base Mgmt, Supplier Relationship Mgmt)
Logistics (Transportation, Warehousing, Inventory Management, Lean/JIT)</p>
<p>That said, I can not accurately offer you a contrast of the courses you might expect to take in an IE program. It should be clear, though, where the overlap between the two degree programs lays. SCM offers plenty of analytical tools (mostly within operations), and a good degree program will offer the students practical application opportunities.</p>
<p>As for which degree is better - I’ll try to give you the most objective view possible, but I am certain that my views have been tainted by my success working with an SCM degree. As new grads, I would say that at least 50% of SCM students do enter the workforce in some type of analyst role. This could be similar to what has been previously referred to as “IE light”, however one must remember that this is simply an entry-level position with the objective of allowing the SCM grad time to refine his or her knowledge of the specific industry chosen. There are definitely exceptions to the analyst role, with roles offering greater responsibility being offered to newly-hired SCM grads who have gained sufficient experience through previous work experience and internships.</p>
<p>Regardless of where one may start, after one’s first promotion, career paths of those with SCM degrees tend to differ significantly from those with IE degrees. </p>
<p>As Banjo said, IE people tend to become the “Do it” individuals within an organization, while SCM people tend to become the “Direct it” individuals. I would also agree that the career advancement opportunities for an SCM grad generally exceed those afforded to an IE grad.</p>
<p>Lastly, I wanted to address a comment I read in a thread which linked to this one. It seems to me that a chief concern amongst those individuals whom are conflicted between IE and SCM is entry-level pay. Let me offer you a piece of advice from somebody who has completed the circuit - entry-level pay should be of no concern at this point in your academic careers. First, you want to choose something that you will find interesting and enjoy. Remember, you’re going to be waking up every morning for the rest of your life to work in a field that you are now choosing. In 10 years, if you find your job to be absolutely dull, you’re going to regret that you even cared about entry-level pay when you chose to enter that line of work. </p>
<p>Another thing to remember is that your undergraduate degree will only offer you tools that you (may or may not) need to succeed in your career. Your career success and compensation (entry-level and beyond) are a factor of how well you are able to apply your knowledge and differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack.</p>
<p>For now, keep your mind off of the money, and later you won’t even have to think about it. Best of Luck</p>