World-leading research expertise is at the heart of the Centre for Digital Supply Chain Excellence, launched by Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University.
The university sees strong commercial potential for the game-changing solutions the Centre will allow businesses operating in a vast range of sectors that are supply chain dependent.
It is funded by the Digital Supply Chain Hub program, supported by the Digital Catapult.
The first testbed project focuses on the spare parts supply chain, in a collaboration between the Centre for Digital Supply Chain excellence, the NBT Group, Vytech Solution, Troy Group, Womble Bond Dickinson and North East Automotive Alliance.
Professor Robert MacIntosh, Pro ViceChancellor for the faculty of Business and Law at Northumbria University and chair of Chartered Institute of Business Schools, said: “Supply chains are hugely significant in a whole range of sectors and the new Centre for Digital Supply Chain Excellence is an exciting resource for the North East.
“It brings together insights from practice and world-leading research expertise to test and deploy innovations in our digital and physical hub, driving best practice and improving efficiency for our partners. Importantly, it will also allow our students to acquire insights and skills from some of the leading players in industry, which is key to the ethos of the Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University.
“We invite any public or private organisation, from any sector, to join us in the Centre for collaborative work, such as networking, flagship programmes and projects, fundedprojects, CPD courses and consultancy, for example.”
The Centre is a physical and digital space attached to the Research Group associated with the Department of Marketing, Operations and Systems (MOS) and Newcastle Business School at Northumbria. It looks to address the pressures on manufacturing, service and public sectors and their supply chains caused by competitive market, geopolitical issues, the pandemic, environment and energy crisis.
With an initial focus on the manufacturing supply chain, the digital testbed enables the development of an agnostic digital twin of an entire spare parts supply chain, accessible to a wide range of sectors, including the NHS, FinTech and construction.
Northumbria University’s Dr Alireza Shokri, Associate Professor (Reader) in Operations and Supply Chain Management and Director of the Centre for Digital Supply Chain Excellence said: “The Centre offers an exciting opportunity to co-create knowledge, impact and innovation to excel supply chain and operations of organisations in any sector. For example, the testbed provides a digital platform to test and try innovative supply chain solutions without disrupting the real-world environment and has a number of objectives.
“With the opening of the Centre and the first testbed in place, we want to move quickly to a position where we can identify strategic partners who can enhance the potential of the project, regional and national stakeholders who will promote the work we are doing and both trade bodies and businesses for whom continual innovation in operations and supply chain performance, is critical to them.”
For further information: alireza.shokri@northumbria.ac.uk
www.northumbria.ac.uk