Supply chain class visits Target DC

Business Management

by Bill Ritchie

 
Bill Ritchie leads class trip to Target fulfillment center - 2018

In September, Bill Ritchie's Supply Chain class hosted a panel discussion where students heard first-hand accounts of management challenges and successes from Target, Inc's operations managers, many of which were JMU alumni. The trip provided an opportunity to gain a realistic job preview prior to campus interviews with Target, Inc. 

As a follow-up to the classroom panel discussion, Ritchie and his Supply Chain class boarded a JMU bus to travel to the Target, Inc. distribution center in Stuarts Draft, Va. on Oct. 8. Joining them on site was the JMU Department Chair, Laura Leduc. The purpose of the class trip was to provide the supply chain students an opportunity to observe and discuss the inner workings of a more than 1 million square foot facility that handles thousands of cartons of merchandise every day. 

As the students traveled to the site, they reviewed a teaching case that Ritchie and Eric Schorling, Senior Operations Manager for Target, Inc., developed specifically for the visit. The students learned about the operational challenges of balancing inbound merchandise with processing and effective delivery to the retail stores. Students noted that the trip helped them understand the realities of the complexities associated with supplying the Target, Inc. retail network. 

As a professor in one of the foundational courses in the new Global Supply Chain Management minor program at JMU, Ritchie is looking forward to return visits to Target, Inc. and other local supply chain-related businesses.

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Published: Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Last Updated: Thursday, November 2, 2023

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