Managing Financial Challenges in the Supply Chain: Surviving COVID and Beyond

This program is designed for mid-level and senior managers and is available as part of our Executive Certificate in Management and Leadership.

Program Dates: There are no currently scheduled dates for a public offering of this program.
Delivery: Live Online - 3 sessions OR 1 day In-Person
(Participants need to complete all sessions to meet the program requirements). 
Program Cost: $1195 

Private Delivery Available: If you have a group of 15 or more, please contact us at execed@lehigh.edu to arrange for a private offering of this program!

Program Overview

Before the current crisis, manufacturing estimates were relatively predictable, and budgeting was a straightforward process. Standard cost was predictable and variances were relatively low. That was the scenario most supply chain professionals and manufacturing leaders knew and could manage well. Today, COVID-19 and demand disruptions have caused massive uncertainty in the budgeting process and have created impactful and unplanned financial variance. Further, supply chains are being disrupted and reorganized, causing additional budgeting and planning challenges. At one point in March / April 2020, air freight shipping from China to the US went up by over 400% while global airline flights were reduced. Contract issues have also abounded, leaving leaders challenged to handle the financial implications.

Building a Resilient Manufacturing Supply Chain will help you manage these new realities. This targeted program will teach you what you need to know right now to overcome current and future uncertainties. Two live, two hour sessions, plus assignments and a hands-on simulation, provide practical approaches for topics such as business substitution variance, standard cost, and cost behavior. Participants will gain a better understanding of tools such as break even and NPV to assess impact as well as a model to address scenarios and uncertainties. In addition, the program offers exclusive access to experts in the field who provide context, share tactics, and answer individual questions. Throughout, there is an emphasis on practical, immediately actionable content illustrated by actual business examples.

This program will give you the specific financial tools and knowledge to help you manage the uncertainty in today’s crisis in a “crash course” format. Short online sessions and meaningful yet manageable assignments allow you to learn while remaining in the flow of work. You will leave better able to understand the financial side of supply chain management, create more agile plans for the future, and participate more meaningfully in discussions with senior leaders.

Impact and Benefits

  • Understand manufacturing financial targets and expectations
  • Recognize the importance of cash flow and it's impact on inventory
  • Discover how manufacturing contributes to the organization's income statement
  • Learn and apply the performance measures used for manufacturing supply chains
  • Be able to calculate standard costs and understand the financial impacts of different types of variances
  • Develop supply chain plans and budgets, and understand the causes and business consequences of variances in volume and cost

Who Should Attend?

  • Onsite (plant) leadership teams
  • Current and future company leaders
  • Directors and managers of supply chain
  • Leaders of cross-functional teams
  • Production managers
  • Financial managers in manufacturing
  • Mid-level managers
  • Supply-side managers
  • Buyers
  • Supply chain and logistics professionals

Instructor

Joseph Perfetti is an author, educator, executive speaker, and subject matter expert in corporate finance, strategy and agility. He has taught executive education programs at Harvard, Wharton, and Duke University, and at leading corporations and consulting firms including Lockheed Martin, Stanley Black and Decker, Google (Alphabet), Merck, UnitedHealth Group, CVS, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Union Pacific and Comcast.

Mr. Perfetti authored a chapter on Agile Governance in the Handbook of Corporate Governance, 2ndEdition (Wiley Press). His upcoming book, The Agile Dashboard, will be published in 2020. He is also an author of numerous articles published in Dialogue, CFO Magazine, and Fortune. He is also the host of the LinkedIn Live show The Agile Dashboard presented by Duke Corporate Education.

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