Operations and Supply Chain Management

Track Journey: Operations Analyst / Supply Chain Analyst


What this track is about

The Operations and Supply Chain Management track is for students who want to understand how products and services are planned, produced, and delivered at scale. This pathway focuses on designing efficient systems, managing uncertainty, and improving performance across complex operations.

Students in this track learn how decisions made upstream and downstream affect cost, speed, reliability, and customer satisfaction. The emphasis is on using data and structured thinking to improve real operational systems.


The role this track prepares you for

This track is commonly aligned with roles such as Operations Analyst, Supply Chain Analyst, Logistics Analyst, Operations Manager, or Project Manager, depending on prior experience.

In these roles, professionals work closely with manufacturing teams, suppliers, logistics partners, and internal stakeholders to keep systems running smoothly and improve them over time.


What this role looks like in real life

Someone working in operations or supply chain roles typically spends their time doing the following:

  • Analyzing demand, capacity, inventory, and process data

  • Identifying bottlenecks, delays, or inefficiencies in operations

  • Supporting forecasting and planning decisions

  • Evaluating tradeoffs between cost, speed, and service levels

  • Coordinating with suppliers, production teams, and logistics partners

  • Tracking performance metrics and recommending improvements

This role requires comfort with constraints, data, and cross-functional coordination.


Skills you use every day in this role

Professionals in operations-focused roles rely on a core set of skills:

  • Process analysis and optimization to improve efficiency and throughput

  • Forecasting and planning to manage demand and uncertainty

  • Decision modeling to evaluate tradeoffs and scenarios

  • Systems thinking to understand end-to-end flows

  • Stakeholder coordination across functions and partners


How this track builds those skills

The courses in this track closely mirror how operational decisions are made in practice.

  • Supply chain management courses focus on how goods and services move through complex networks.

  • Decision models teach structured approaches to evaluating tradeoffs under uncertainty.

  • Project management courses build skills for coordinating timelines, resources, and stakeholders.

  • The consulting or industrial practicum provides hands-on experience solving real operational challenges for real organizations.

Together, these experiences reflect how operations and supply chain teams work in industry.


Course offerings in this track

Students following this pathway often take a combination of the following courses:

  • EGRMGMT 563: Supply Chain Management

  • EGRMGMT 580: Decision Models

  • EGRMGMT 560: Project Management

  • EGRMGMT 556: Consulting or Industrial Practicum

Course selection may vary based on individual goals and prior experience.

Resource site for Duke MEM students