MSc
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Training in logistical effectiveness and efficiency
Course Overview
Why take this course?
Logistics and supply chain management bring together the business skills to manage the activities and flows of information between suppliers, manufacturers, logistics service providers, retailers and consumers.
This course focuses on the integration of analytical techniques for optimisation with the decision issues and technology relating to logistics and supply chain management.
What will I experience?
On this course you can:
- Have access to ultra-modern computing facilities, and use specialist mathematical and statistical computing packages
- Participate in practical sessions to solve real-life case studies using our simulation software
- Develop the problem-solving, decision-making and interpersonal abilities essential to professional roles in this field
What opportunities might it lead to?
Logistics analysis is critical to success in both manufacturing and service industries. Competitive advantage will increasingly come from the supplier's ability to rapidly respond to changing customer needs, for which effective logistics are of prime importance. This means that there will be a range of companies and organisations in both the public and private sector, demanding for your skills and expertise.
Here are some routes our graduates have pursued:
- production management
- transportation management
- quality control
- distribution
- facilities planning
- supply chain management
- passenger transportation
A business-focused course providing all the vital implementation skills to solve logistics and supply chain management problems in order to streamline their processes.
Key Facts
- Duration
- 1 year full time, 3 years part time
- Entry
A second-class honours degree in a relevant subject, or equivalent professional experience and/or qualifications.
English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.0 with no component score below 5.5- Fees
UK/EU/Channel Islands and Isle of Man full-time students: £5,000, part-time students: £1,670 in year 1 and £3,330 in year 2*
International full-time students: £11,900, part-time students: £3,970 in year 1 and £7,930 in year 2*
*Please note that all fees are subject to annual increase.- Contact
- technology.admissions@port.ac.uk
+44 (0)23 9284 2555 - Department
- Mathematics
Structure & Teaching
Supply chain management is a philosophy, the implementation process and the control of this process through which different entities within a supply chain aim to streamline their activities to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of meeting final customer requirements. A variety of different techniques will be investigated, ranging from conceptual frameworks, analytical approaches, to computer-based models.
Here are the units you will study:
- Supply Chain Management. This unit enable you to develop advanced skills so that you can deal with problems of supply chain management across different products, locations, and companies. The types of problems studied in this course are encountered in industry (e.g. retail, discrete or continuous production and logistics service providers) as well as in service organisations (e.g. banks, hospitals and law firms). Managers dealing with such problems are known under various titles, including production, operations, supply (chain), inventory, purchasing, distribution or logistics managers.
- Logistics Modelling. Most problems arising in the fields of logistics and supply chain management have sufficient complexity and detail that they require the use of sophisticated modelling techniques. This unit looks at two of the most commonly used methodologies for modelling and solving logistics problems: simulation and heuristic techniques. In both cases a computer package is used to assist solution. The techniques will be demonstrated with a range of case studies drawn from the field of logistics including transportation, supply chain configuration and management, warehouse design and layout, container port layout, production planning and vehicle routing.
- Operations Management. This unit teaches operations management techniques that are relevant to logistics. The commonly used techniques of linear and integer programming will be taught using Microsoft Excel based methods for solution. You will look at case studies covering production planning, transportation, logistics planning and supply chain configuration. You will also be taught about locating facilities such as factories, distribution centres, cross docking centres and retail outlets. The effective scheduling of labour force and machines will be demonstrated, and current state-of-the art production planning models will be covered.
- Strategic Logistics. This unit looks at the field of logistics from a strategic point of view. A number of quantitative techniques for strategic decision making such as decision analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis, data envelopment analysis and queuing theory are introduced in the context of logistics applications. The topic of strategic decisions in transportation modelling is then covered. The unit is completed by the analysis of a number of case studies relating to different applications of logistics with respect to financial, environmental, societal and economic objectives.
- Project (Masters Logistics). This unit allows you to conduct research into a larger scale or challenging logistics problem. The project may be practical or theoretical and may arise either from the supervisor's research interests or from your own desire to study a particular topic or situation. Typical areas of logistics in which the project will be conducted include (but are not limited to) transportation, supply chain configuration and management, warehouse design and layout, container port layout, production planning, green logistics, facility location and vehicle routing.
Teaching and Assessment
Our enthusiastic team of lecturers have a wide range of industrial and research experience, ensuring that you graduate with cutting-edge knowledge. You will be taught through a mixture of lectures, seminars, tutorials, practical computer-based sessions, laboratory and project work.
How are you assessed?
We assess you in a several ways, but a large portion of the assessment is based on a major project at the end of the year. Here’s how we assess your work:
- examinations
- coursework
- laboratory assignments
- a dissertation
Facilities & Features
Specialist Software
Access our modern computing laboratories
Maths Café
Drop in any time to the Maths Café
University Library
Our library offers a wealth of information including 400,000 books
Specialist Software
Access our modern computing laboratories equipped with a wide range of powerful hardware and software, including multimedia applications. After the necessary training, you will be able to use the computer algebra package MAPLE and the numerical methods and matrix algebra package MATLAB. These are just a few of the programs that will facilitate your learning and bring the subject to life.
Maths Café
Drop in any time and get one-to-one help with that tricky maths or stats problem. With handouts on key topics to take away and computer-aided learning packages, we can get the problem solved and help you improve your numeracy skills.
University Library
Modern, comfortable and a great learning environment, our library offers a wealth of information including 400,000 books, DVDs, maps and thousands of online ejournals and newspapers. Many electronic resources are available anywhere, 24/7 and our friendly staff are always on hand to help.
Careers & Opportunities
Career prospects
Logistics and transportation are important to any firm where customer service is a strategic objective – whether its core focus is on products or services.
When you graduate from this course you could find employment in a wide range of logistics-related careers. Not only in the traditional areas of manufacturing logistics, distribution and supply chain management, but also postal and express delivery, the fire and rescue emergency operations and even the military and defence industry.
Career planning
One of the benefits of studying at Portsmouth is the support that we provide to our Master's and Research Degrees students in career planning. Our careers and recruitment service – Purple Door – can assist you in career research and finding employment opportunities. Help is also available if you wish to find a part-time job while studying your degree. We offer our postgraduate students and alumni one-to-one appointments with a careers adviser, or an online service for those not able to travel back to the University. Our alumni can call on our career services for five years after graduation.
In addition, regular employability events offer you the chance to meet employers, find out about different career sectors and improve your applications or CV. The Graduate Summer Programme provides a range of guidance and employability seminars and workshops.