Operations & Supply Chain Management (OSCM): digital tools and artificial intelligence (in collaboration with EY)
Duration: 104 hours
Dates: 25 September 2026 – 19 March 2027
At: Aula del Dipartimento di Tecnica e gestione dei sistemi industriali (Vicenza), University of Padova
Challenge, EY Digital Factory – Brescia (only for experiential workshop module 5)
(EY office in Padova, if any)
Dates and times of lessons: 13 days, 8 hours each; one Friday every two weeks from 25 September 2026
Enrolment fee: 4,200 euros (early bird registration with 10% discount for confirmation of enrolment by the end of May 2026)
Scientific Coordinator: Pamela Danese
Goals:
- Provide a solid understanding of models, operational approaches, and digital and artificial intelligence tools to support managers for the management of internal and external processes of the supply chain, understood as a supply, production and distribution network.
- Focus on the company's internal and external operations processes for the supply, distribution and management of materials in a collaborative perspective.
- Provide practical knowledge, which can be immediately experienced in one's own work, thanks to practical and interactive lessons, business games, examples and business applications
- Develop a wealth of knowledge and tools useful for analyzing and addressing recurring managerial problems in supply chain management. The theoretical and operational aspects and examples are applied to different contexts and types of companies, thus adopting a wide-ranging perspective.
Recipients and recipients:
Operations managers, supply chain managers, consultants, production planning and control managers, production managers, planners, plant/production managers, purchasing managers, distribution managers, people in general interested in deepening the topics of operations and supply chain management.
Registration and payment methods: write to: pamela.danese@unipd.it attaching an updated course track vitae
For information: Pamela Danese: pamela.danese@unipd.it
Teachers:
- Pamela Danese, University of Padova
- Antonio Cavallin Toscani, University of Padova
- Marcos Dieste, University of Padova
- Alessandro Persona, University of Padova (and/or any other professors of the University of Padova, experts in the field of industrial plants)
- Andrea Vinelli, University of Padova
- Alessandro Zironi, University of Udine
- Davide Merlin, Partner at EY (and any other EY experts)
- Public Speaking coach and consultant
- Any company testimonials
Syllabus:
MODULE 1: Operations and supply chain management and supporting digital and AI tools
The module aims to introduce the concepts of operations and supply chain management, the field of action (the supply network), and map critical processes from a logistic-production point of view. The module also intends to map some digital and artificial intelligence tools to support operations and supply chain management processes, which will be covered in depth in the subsequent modules of the course.
MODULE 2: Demand Forecasting and Planning, and Inventory Optimization
The module illustrates, through practical exercises, the functioning of the main techniques for the calculation of demand forecasting. It provides some examples of tools to support Sales Forecast & Demand Planning and, related to this, how to manage stocks, illustrating the main Inventory Optimization techniques.
MODULE 3: Operations Planning
The module explains the application of material requirements planning (MRP) for materials management and capacity requirements planning (CRP) for production capacity planning. Demonstrates how to use tools to support medium- and short-term planning, all the way up to finite capacity planning.
MODULE 4: Shop floor management
The module deals with multiple topics of shop floor management: the productivity of machines and systems; the main leaks and breakdowns, micro-stops, speed reductions, defects, start-up losses, scraps and rework; MES systems; the calculation of the overall OEE efficiency. It will provide application examples and illustrate tools to increase OEE; techniques to reduce the effects of micro-stops; Total productive maintenance (TPM) to manage maintenance in order to maximize plant efficiency, and spare parts management policies. Finally, it intends to illustrate some operational approaches and tools to support the collection and analysis of data in production.
MODULE 5: Labour-intensive online business games
This module aims to provide participants with a labour-intensive operational process simulation in which to experiment with the improvements that can be achieved through the introduction of tools related to Operational Excellence and Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation features.
MODULE 6: Collaborative Materials Management Between Supply Chain Actors
This module aims to explain the benefits of collaborating between suppliers and customers for materials management; It describes through practical cases the application of techniques - such as vendor managed inventory, continuous replenishment, CPFR, consignment stock - and the related supporting tools.
MODULE 7: Procurement and Supplier Management
This module covers procurement strategies, operational approaches and tools for Vendor Relationship Management
MODULE 8: Digital warehousing
This module aims to address the following topics: the main types of warehouses, warehouses for load units, packages, special materials; manual and automatic warehouses; the characteristics of e-commerce warehouses; picking activities; the main processes in warehouse management; the digitalization of processes through WMS (Warehouse Management System) systems; the main features and innovations; KPIs to measure the efficiency of a digitized warehouse; visual commissioning.
MODULE 9: Transportation management
This module will cover: the classification of transports, primary and secondary transports; transport costs and outsourcing tariffs, TPS (Transportation Management System) systems for the planning, execution and monitoring of transport; the main techniques for designing a transport network and methods for identifying opportunities for improvement; external costs for the assessment of the sustainability of transport; the new frontiers of transport.
MODULE 10: Risk in the Supply Chain
The module aims to provide a perspective on the dimensions of supply chain monitoring that may be related to transactional risks. From risk management on third parties (customers and suppliers), to data analytics techniques for the prevention and detection of anomalies/illegalities/malpractices, to the measurement of the degree of maturity of IT processes and tools to protect the company and the entire supply chain, with a particular focus on the issue of incident management.
MODULE 11: Digital tools to evaluate products and shopping experience
The module explores the use of advanced digital technologies to assess the shopping experience and key product attributes. Innovative tools are introduced to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data on consumer behavior, supporting the design of products that are more sustainable, desirable and aligned with market preferences.
MODULE 12: Sustainability in the Supply Chain
The module covers the main standards for assessing sustainability performance in the supply chain, such as life cycle analysis (LCA) and other emissions reporting techniques. It also illustrates how these tools can be leveraged to make supply chains more sustainable.
MODULE 13: Public speaking
This cross-cutting module provides practical guidelines for more effective communication.
Lifelong Learning Courses